Chapter 170: Chapter 166: The Arrest

Yang Dingbang tiptoed over and stepped gently on the floorboard. It felt hollow underfoot. He turned to look at his comrade.

His comrade saw his expression and understood immediately. There was something underground. He made a questioning gesture.

Yang Dingbang nodded to confirm there was a problem. His intuition told him that someone was definitely hiding below.

He carefully drew his foot back, then lay prone over the spot, pressing his ear to the floor and listening intently. Just as he suspected, he heard faint movements from below.

’Since there are people down there…’

At that thought, Yang Dingbang exchanged a look with his comrade and gave a hand signal.

His comrade turned and quickly exited the woodshed. He scrambled up a peach tree, leaped over the wall of the old man’s yard, and sprinted toward the street to report to their superior.

He stood there quietly, waiting for reinforcements. About half an hour passed. Suddenly, the noises from below grew louder. He quickly dodged behind the kitchen stove and watched as the section of the floor he had stepped on earlier slowly began to rise.

A man with a receding hairline climbed out and walked toward the stove.

Yang Dingbang held his breath and retreated further into the corner behind the stove. He heard the man’s footsteps draw near. The man walked toward a cupboard. Seizing the opportunity before the man could react, Yang Dingbang shot to his feet and, with lightning speed, struck him on the back of the neck.

The man went down without a sound. Yang Dingbang caught his falling body, lowered him to the ground, and cuffed him to the leg of the cupboard.

Just as he was about to inspect the secret entrance, he heard someone else muttering as they climbed up. “Old Baldy, you planning on finishing your meal up there before coming back down? Dammit! Living like rats down here day in and day out… When the hell is this going to end!”

Yang Dingbang shrank back into the corner and made a loud chewing sound.

“Old Baldy!” the man called softly as he approached. Something felt wrong. He spun around and bolted for the hidden entrance.

Yang Dingbang lunged forward and sent the man flying with a powerful kick, knocking him to the ground.

“The police are—” Before the man could finish his shout, Yang Dingbang stomped on his chest. The man’s head lolled to the side, and he passed out.

The man with the receding hairline, who was cuffed to the cupboard, was startled awake by the commotion. He discovered he was in handcuffs and thought in a panic, ’It’s over, it’s over! The police are here!’

Yang Dingbang drew his pistol, aimed it at the entrance to the cellar, and shouted down, “Listen up! Our policy is leniency for those who confess and severity for those who resist! If you disarm and surrender, you can receive lenient treatment!”

Just as Yang Dingbang began to relax slightly, he faintly heard a flurry of hurried footsteps outside, which was immediately followed by dead silence.

A moment later, the comrade who had gone for backup pushed the door open, leading a team inside.

Yang Dingbang recounted what had just happened to the team leader. “Political Commissioner Xu,” he added, “the people below know we’re here. There’s another man by the cupboard, cuffed to the leg.”

Several officers went behind the stove and brought out the man with the receding hairline. He had been woken by the commotion earlier and had only been feigning unconsciousness since the reinforcements arrived.

Political Commissioner Xu looked at the man and asked, “Spit it out. Are there more people down there?”

The man kept his head down, refusing to look up or listen.

Political Commissioner Xu waved a hand. “Take them away for a thorough interrogation.”

Yang Dingbang remembered the second man’s unfinished warning. He was certain there were more people below. “I’ll take some men and check it out,” he said to Political Commissioner Xu.

“Alright,” Political Commissioner Xu nodded.

Pistol raised, Yang Dingbang cautiously led two officers down the wooden ladder. In the cellar, they found cotton batting spread on the floor, a pile of excavated dirt to the side, and a pitch-black tunnel.

Staring at the tunnel, Yang Dingbang sucked in a sharp breath.

’Who knows how long they’ve been hiding here. What on earth are they planning?’

“Tell the Political Commissioner! Others have escaped through the tunnel!”

After shouting the order, Yang Dingbang ducked into the tunnel with another officer.

The tunnel was so narrow that one could only pass through by hunching over. It was pitch-black inside. Hunched down, he moved forward as fast as he could.

After about ten or twenty minutes of pursuit, Yang Dingbang saw a sliver of light ahead. ’The exit,’ he thought. Raising his pistol, he quickened his pace. He pushed aside a curtain of dry grass at the opening and climbed out into a small, abandoned courtyard with a few dilapidated, tile-roofed houses on the verge of collapse.

The officer behind him climbed out as well. They split up to check the houses, but every room was empty.

They exited the courtyard and found themselves facing a vast, lush green rapeseed field. There wasn’t a soul in sight.

Yang Dingbang frowned. “This is trouble. Who knows where those rats have scurried off to?”

The officer with him said, “Don’t worry. Political Commissioner Xu has already taken people to arrest Old Man Gou. We’ll know more once they get a confession.”

Yang Dingbang nodded. “All we can do now is head back to the power plant and wait for the interrogation results.”

The group got their bearings and headed for the power plant.

An officer behind Yang Dingbang pointed at his ear. “Captain Yang, you’ve got blood on your ear.”

Yang Dingbang shook his head. “It’s nothing.”

One of the men cursed, “Sooner or later, we’ll round up every last one of them and make them face justice!”

＊＊＊＊

Li Xiangyang didn’t yet know that his wish—the one he’d shared with Lin Lan about wanting everyone in the Lexing Team to know about them—was about to come true.

Thanks to the broadcasting services of two big-mouthed gossips, Zhang Yazhen and He Cuicui, the news had spread through the entire sub-team in a single morning: the young widow had hooked up with the pork seller from the Eucalyptus Forest. For a while, the village was abuzz with all kinds of talk.

Some said the young widow had skills, snagging a young bachelor—and a butcher, no less. Now she’d never have to worry about putting meat on the table.

Others felt that this wasn’t the old society anymore; the expectation for a widow to remain chaste was long outdated. She wasn’t breaking up anyone’s family, so what was wrong with her finding a young man?

Yang Liying heard the village gossip too. When she went to Lin Lan’s house to grind beans, she asked the moment she saw her, “Did Xiangyang come over to help you dig potatoes this morning? The busybodies in the village are saying all kinds of things!”

Lin Lan admitted it openly. “He did. He helped me finish digging up the potatoes and even had a meal here before he left.”

Yang Liying frowned. “So, his father agreed to it?”

“Xiangyang said his dad will think about it for a few days before giving him an answer,” Lin Lan said, looking at Yang Liying. “Liying, I’ve already agreed to give things a try with him.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep