novelraw Chapter 155 : Following the Trail
Chapter 155 : Following the Trail
It was already past 8 PM.
The approaching summer meant it wasn't completely dark yet.
Unsure if there were enemies in the truck's cargo area, Shen Han immediately rolled to the side along the bottom of the compartment as she leapt in.
She quickly swept her gun around, finding no anomalies, and finally breathed a sigh of relief.
The detection glasses on her nose bridge had night vision capabilities.
Even in the pitch-black closed compartment, she could see clearly.
As she crouched in the corner surveying the interior, the scene before her sent a chill down her spine.
The compartment was spacious, with cement bags piled along both sides.
Some bags were damaged, spilling out grayish dust.
In the center lay about twenty people scattered haphazardly!
Roughly judging by their figures, Yan Ni wasn't among them.
Just as Shen Han was about to move forward for a closer look, the truck's tailgate was gently pulled open slightly.
Then, Ren Hui crawled in, supporting himself.
He lay on the dusty floor of the compartment, silently closing the door back to its original position.
Before Shen Han could ask, he began explaining in a whisper: "Their people are coming this way. I couldn't hide. If I'm caught, they'll definitely slit my throat."
Ren Hui couldn't see anything. He grimaced, inwardly cursing himself again for getting involved in this dangerous operation.
Shen Han led him to a position further inside, grabbed some cement dust, and haphazardly smeared it on both their faces.
Then she whispered instructions: "Lie down. Don't move no matter what happens. I'll ensure your safety."
With that, she began examining the person closest to her feet.
It was a male, between 25 and 30 years old, unconscious but with basic vital signs intact.
His clothing didn't reveal his profession. All items that could prove his identity had been removed, and he wore no accessories like necklaces, rings, or watches.
Moving slightly closer, Shen Han could even smell faint traces of drugs on his face.
After focusing her glasses carefully on his face for 5 seconds, she began examining his limbs.
The man's wrists showed signs of being bound, and a plastic tag was attached to his ankle.
The tag noted brief information such as height, weight, secondary gender, and date.
Shen Han wiped away the dust on the tag with her finger, paying special attention to the date at the bottom.
It wasn't the man's birth date, but a date from two days ago, presumably when he went missing.
After examining five people, Shen Han felt a ball of anger in her chest, like a volcano ready to erupt at any moment.
The tags shrunk around these people's ankles were almost no different from livestock ear tags.
When human rights are wantonly trampled, vibrant lives become as expendable as weeds.
As the investigation reached this point, a commotion suddenly came from outside the truck.
Shen Han had to halt her actions.
She found an inconspicuous spot and lay down like the surrounding unconscious people.
Her head rested against the edge of a cement bag, with a few torn bag pieces draped over her forehead, both concealing her face and not completely blocking the detection glasses.
She couldn't yet order her team members outside to launch an assault.
Based on the information revealed in the conversation of the two men from the brick house earlier, a batch of people had already been transported away in the afternoon, and this truck was also set to depart tonight, likely heading to the same concentration point.
As such, they couldn't carry out the final arrest operation here.
After hiding in the truck for a while, Ren Hui also figured out his current situation.
He thought to himself: With the evidence and criminals caught red-handed, shouldn't that person order an attack now?
But as he waited and waited, he heard no movement inside or outside the truck, nearly dying of anxiety.
Shen Han lay motionless by the cement bags.
She knew Gu Junwan must have gone to the command center by now, and her wife would certainly be able to deduce her plan.
She wasn't worried about the external action arrangements, which her wife was deploying.
The current vulnerability on her side was what made her most nervous.
If the people outside jumped into the compartment to count heads, they would immediately discover two extra people.
If it came to that, Shen Han would have no choice but to open fire and engage in immediate combat.
However, this would greatly increase the difficulty of finding the other concentration point.
Arrest, interrogation, information screening - each step would take time.
And time was what they lacked most right now.
At the Peace Palace command center.
Although there was no communication, Gu Junwan knew from the changes in the surveillance footage that Shen Han planned to follow the trail.
Not just her, but most people in the command center also understood Captain Shen's intentions.
If she had wanted to take down this stronghold, the angle of view from the detection glasses would definitely not be like this.
At this moment, a military officer stepped forward and saluted the Empress: "All standby personnel of the Xuan Leopard Special Operations Brigade have arrived around the building materials factory. Please give your instructions!"
Gu Junwan didn't take her eyes off the static image on the holographic screen.
After a few seconds of thought, she spoke: "Have an assault team sneak to a position near the truck, ready at any time."
"The rest of the action personnel should maintain vigilance and prepare to move to the next combat scene."
After saying this, she called the special task force leader to her side.
"Confirm the identities of those criminal suspects in the building materials factory as soon as possible."
"As for the evidence chain, it must be locked down! Not a single black and evil force criminal can be let go!"
The special task force leader solemnly accepted the order.
Even if the Empress hadn't personally instructed, he would have diligently and responsibly handled the case according to the law.
At the same time, this veteran investigator with rich experience felt some guilt in his heart.
He had been watching the Zhou family for so long but hadn't discovered the problematic building materials factory.
If it weren't for this coincidence, plus Captain Shen's extraordinary decisiveness and execution, those bastards at the building materials factory would have slipped away right under everyone's noses.
Many of the key links involved in this current operation, if any one was missing, would have made it impossible to catch these blood-sucking demons!
"Your Majesty, please sit down for a while. Captain Shen's operation over there will continue for quite some time."
Xu Zhao's voice sounded from behind her. Gu Junwan turned slightly to see that a chair with armrests had been placed beside her.
She nodded slightly and slowly sat down.
Recently, with Shen Han not by her side, she hadn't been sleeping well at night and had lost quite a bit of weight.
Moreover, given that Omegas naturally have a weaker constitution, constantly forcing herself to stay up late might not affect her willpower, but her body might give out first.
Tonight's operation was extremely important and could face major changes at any time.
Therefore, Gu Junwan had to keep herself in good condition.
If any thorny situations arose on Shen Han's end, she needed to be able to mobilize resources to resolve them with the swiftest response.
After sitting down, Gu Junwan softly said to Xu Zhao: "I'd like a glass of warm water."
"Make sure you take care of yourself too. You don't need to stand all the time."
Xu Zhao acknowledged and turned to prepare the drinking water.
Before leaving, she glanced once more at the holographic projection. The surveillance image was almost motionless.
Only the occasional, very subtle rotation gave people the intuitive feeling that the person providing the detection video was still making minor adjustments to the angle of view.
Thinking of Shen Han lying in the dark with her head and face covered in cement dust, nerves taut, Xu Zhao felt a pang in her heart.
Compared to the dangerous and lonely situation the other was in now, what was her own little bit of hardship?
Xu Zhao couldn't help but wonder, if she felt so anxious, how much more must the Empress be hurting?
Hopefully, everything would go smoothly from here on out. After the dark night passes, dawn will surely come!
At this moment, more sounds came from the projection.
It was the voices of the people outside the truck.
"Damn it! There might be mountain deer running nearby. Made me take a fall!"
"Who told you to try hunting deer for blood? Serves you right!"
"Why hasn't the delivery guy arrived yet? Kang Zi, call and ask where they are!"
In the sand and stone pile area, four men were huddled together smoking.
One of them was holding a hunting rifle, cursing and swearing, obviously still angry about the earlier chase.
The man called Kang Zi had just taken out his phone and was about to dial when a dim beam of light moved towards them from the distance.
Kang Zi squinted at the light source, then put his phone away.
He exhaled a large puff of cheap cigarette smoke and laughed: "They're finally here."
An old van drove straight to the sand and stone area, stopping in front of the four men.
The driver's and passenger's doors opened simultaneously, and two men jumped out of the car.
The driver was a middle-aged man with a limp, but his walking speed wasn't slow at all.
The one who had been sitting in the passenger seat was a dull-looking young man, about 25 years old, with messy hair and a particularly sturdy build.
"Sorry to keep you waiting. We ran into a small problem on the way, which delayed us, so we're a bit late."
The middle-aged man explained while fumbling for his cigarette case in his pocket.
In the light of the van's headlights, his ingratiating smile and yellowed teeth were fully exposed.
The man holding the hunting rifle didn't reach out to take the offered cigarette, only urging: "Stop dawdling, hurry up and unload."
"By the way, did you inject those sheep with the sedative as I told you to? You old dog better not have cut corners again like last time and just knocked them out?"
The middle-aged man couldn't give out his cigarettes but didn't seem embarrassed.
He carefully stuffed several cigarettes back into the box, then turned and shouted at the young man following him: "Go! Open the car door and unload quickly with Dun Zi."
After saying this, he rubbed his hands and bowed, nodding to the four men in front of him: "All done, 3 milliliters per person. I followed the instructions strictly!"
As he spoke, the van's back door was opened.
Two young men, one tall and one short, carried an oval bamboo chicken coop towards the truck's compartment.
Three unconscious people were squeezed into the narrow cage.
Unaware of where their fate would take them.