Chapter 370: Chapter 369

Tang Guohui, the lieutenant of the second team, noticed that the military order didn’t present much competition, so he decisively raised his hand and declared, “I am from Ji Province. My hometown is less than a hundred miles from the incident site. I am familiar with the terrain and speak the local dialect.”

Indeed, with such exceptional conditions, he finally won over Geng Wei from the first team and Nie Zhengguo from the third team, securing this mission for the second team.

In addition, Wu Qingyun, Zhang Wanxiang, and Liu Xiangjun, all three from the Automobile Company who accompanied Ling Chengyan, received special assignments.

The time was tight, the task urgent; it was already the ninth day of the twelfth lunar month. With the deadlines for solving the case, eliminating bandits, and purging before the Spring Festival, they didn’t have much time left.

After determining the personnel, Tang Guohui led his squad of thirty people and set off first that night, heading towards the incident site.

On the way, the provincial department comrades released the action plan: firstly, set an ambush on the section of the road where the incident occurred, then track the criminals on their return, and after confirming the identities of involved personnel as much as possible, then proceed with arrests to avoid letting any escape and not missing any possible hidden commanders behind the scene.

This action plan’s determination involved discussions with Ling Chengyan and the special training team, and all felt that since they were taking action, they should strike thoroughly to clear everything up and prevent any resurgence in a few years.

The Ling Family’s elder and second brother cooperated with the operation as civilians, and after loading up, they departed from the provincial city, arriving at the incident road section between around nine to twelve at midnight.

At this time, there were few vehicles on the road, yet it wasn’t too late, being the most rampant time for the criminals to commit crimes.

In the twelfth lunar month, with harsh cold weather, the outdoor night temperature dropped to ten degrees below zero, making water freeze instantly.

In such weather, hiding in ambush on rugged rocky slopes, less than ten minutes left anyone, even padded in military coats, thoroughly frozen. In half an hour, limbs were basically numb and devoid of feeling.

However, the performance of the special training team members left the provincial department people secretly astounded. While they couldn’t stand it after just over ten minutes, needing to move their limbs to warm up and promote blood circulation, the special training team members quietly stayed ambushed, not moving an inch, even regulating their breathing lightly.

After waiting for half an hour, seeing that the provincial department people couldn’t endure anymore, their teeth chattering, everyone dragging snot, it was sure that before the attack, people would freeze out, so the second team leader Tang Guohui directly ordered them to the periphery, farther from the road, where there was a mountain hollow to avoid the wind, moving would not alert them.

The provincial department people, feeling somewhat embarrassed, also knew that staying there would not only be unhelpful but could turn counterproductive, so they quietly retreated back to the periphery.

Another nearly hour passed. Just when the special training team members were reaching their limits too, the roar of vehicle engines approached from afar, and the convoy appeared—

Tang Guohui slightly moved his fingers, issuing orders to the team members beside him through hand gestures. The team members conveyed it one by one via gestures, and everyone held their breath in unison, focused, and stared at the still pitch-black road surface.

The sound of the vehicle engine grew increasingly louder, and finally, the car lights’ glow swung around the protruding stones, illuminating over.

The headlights lit up the road, and the ambushed team members and truck driver almost simultaneously saw five or six large stones haphazardly strewn across the road.

The mountain road was already winding and narrow, with a slope on one side and a relatively steep ravine on the other. Vehicles wanted to pass through, they had to stop and clear the stones off the road.

Where Tang Guohui was situated, on a large boulder atop the slope, he surveyed the entire stretch of mountain road and the ravine below.

He held an infrared night vision device in his hand, closely monitoring the movements in the ravine beyond the mountain road.

The truck driver slowed down and had to stop the vehicle before the stones.

It seemed that the driver was also hesitant, waiting in the vehicle for a solid two to three minutes before finally opening the door and getting out, seemingly ready to clear the obstructing stones.

The car’s headlights illuminated a vast stretch of road in front, but the vehicle’s sides and rear remained shrouded in darkness, and even with tail lights, they barely served a lighting purpose.

Tang Guohui tightened his grip on the infrared night vision device—the target appeared on the other side of the vehicle.

But at that moment, the passenger side of the truck opened, and someone shone a flashlight and shouted, “Ling Er, what’s it like up front, can one person handle it?”

“Hey, it’s quite challenging!” The driver murmured, then stood up straight and shouted, “Since you’re awake, come down and lend a hand. There are two large ones, one person’s really not enough.”

“Alright, I’m coming!” The person in the passenger seat opened the door and walked toward the vehicle’s front holding a flashlight, while the target Tang Guohui was monitoring through the night vision squatted under the vehicle, stealthily advancing along the vehicle towards the front.

Tang Guohui pressed the auxiliary light button on the night vision device, and then the targets within became clearer—there were two to three people clinging to the vehicle sides, approaching the driver and his companion, each wielding weapons, or rather tools more fittingly.

Two people held shovels in their hands, while others gripped pick heads, sledgehammers, and even a manure fork.

These items were the most common tools in the village for work but became instruments of wrongdoing, even murder, when wielded by these individuals.

Tang Guohui quietly gestured, and a few nearby ambush points near the road moved, quietly following behind the villains to guard against the people in the vehicle being injured.

In front of the vehicle, the passenger walked over, glanced at the stones on the road, and flipped over to place the flashlight on the vehicle, intending to free up his hands to move the stones. However, at the moment he turned back, he caught sight of the bandits surging up from both vehicle sides, their shovels and manure forks raised.

“Not good!” The person only had time to shout two words, using the flashlight as a weapon, it was thrown out, directly hitting the bandit holding a shovel.

“Ouch!”

Bang!

The bandit’s scream and the flashlight falling to the ground reverberated in succession.

The driver had just picked up a reasonably small stone and sensed the situation, reacting quickly. The stone in his hand became a weapon, tossed powerfully, it hit the person holding the manure fork.

Another scream merged with the dull thud of a stone falling!

Both of them, seasoned drivers, possessed physical strength and courage. After scoring a hit, they rushed forward, snatching the shovel and manure fork, unleashing a barrage of blows, crashing down furiously. The three people following behind were struck by these two as well, and along with the initially hit two, they didn’t dare to cling to things any longer, rolling and scrambling, fleeing down the slope on the opposite side of the road.

The passenger retrieved the shovel, wanting to pursue, but was stopped by the driver shouting, “Don’t chase, quickly move the stones, go!”

The passenger seemed to suddenly understand, hastily turned around, and they used the shovel and manure fork in their hands as pry bars, swiftly removing the remaining stones, clang, clang, dropping the shovel and manure fork, getting back into the vehicle to start it and attempted to leave quickly!

“Don’t let them escape!”

“Block them!”

The vehicle barely moved out when twenty to thirty people rushed up from the slope below, chaotically swarming onto the road, surrounding the truck.

The driver glanced at the passenger, as if seeking advice.

The passenger seemed frightened too, with a deathly pale face, lips trembling, “Drive, get out.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep