NOS Chapter 101

Chapter 101: Boundary Marker (9)

Chapter 101: Boundary Marker (9)

Who fired the shot? Yu Chunming didn’t know. His ears were ringing intensely at that moment, and his vision was going black.

It seemed like he was fainting at the sight of blood, but Yu Chunming had never fainted at the sight of blood before. Why would he suddenly faint now?

So Yu Chunming lowered his head, wanting to take another look at Jiang Min’s still wide-open eyes.

The light in her eyes was already gone. A thin layer of gray haze quickly covered her pupils. Jiang Min’s hand seemed to move, but it was only for a moment before she fell silent.

Yu Chunming knew she was dead. The bullet had pierced her forehead, shattering her skull and brain tissue. A mixture of brain matter and blood flowed all over the ground. When her breathing stopped, her beautiful body would soon develop skin redness due to loss of pressure, then swelling, with the flesh dissolving to reveal bones.

Of course, the cold weather would delay this process. If no one found her, Jiang Min might maintain her current appearance until spring came next March.

Just like… like all the dead, with expressions of terror and silence, silently watching this world that had already gone away.

Jiang Min was no different.

Yu Chunming clenched his teeth, letting tears overflow from the corners of his eyes, then stream down, and then freeze into ice, forming a thin layer of white frost on his face and eyelashes.

He had to force those jumbled forensic science and criminal investigation scene examination knowledge out of his mind and force himself to realize that his biological mother, Jiang Min, had died on the frozen Ning Nie Li Qi River to save him.

This thought made Yu Chunming sob. He knelt on the ground with a “thump,” covering his mouth and dry heaving.

“Come out!” someone roared.

The car that had rushed towards the bridge pier had stopped on the riverbank. The thick snow had trapped the tires. Before long, someone stumbled out of the driver’s seat. The person was clutching a gun, pointing it at the bridge pier, and shouting, “I know you’re still alive. Get out here!”

Yu Chunming didn’t raise his head, but he could clearly hear the person banging the car door hard with the gun handle, and intermittently threatening, “I’m telling you to come out!”

Who was he talking to? Yu Chunming’s mind was in a state of chaos. He was still clutching Jiang Min’s phone, feeling breathless and unable to make a sound. He was struggling to suppress the sobs rising from his throat, and trying to hold his breath so that the strong smell of blood would never enter his nostrils again.

But the bloodstain under his feet grew larger and larger. In this frigid weather, the scalding blood quickly subsided, and then solidified with the ice surface of the Ning Nie Li Qi River.

Yu Chunming realized that his nostrils were filled with Jiang Min’s scent. It wasn’t just the pure smell of blood, but a mixture of orange perfume and cosmetic oil. This scent had accompanied Yu Chunming for nine years, and now, it was finally about to become a complete nightmare.

“I’m going to kill you!” Finally, the person behind the bridge pier couldn’t restrain himself. He jumped out, holding the gun, grabbed Yu Chunming’s collar, and dragged him onto the riverbank like a dead dog.

Yu Chunming instinctively struggled. First, he grabbed the hot barrel of the gun, and then he was kicked to the ground by the person. The cold snow and sand immediately flooded into his nostrils, and Yu Chunming coughed violently. He curled up on the ground, clutching his stomach, letting the person point the gun at his neck.

But the expected bullet didn’t arrive as scheduled. After a long while, Yu Chunming moved slightly and gently raised his head.

“It’s you?” An incredulous voice rang out above his head.

That’s right, the person who drove onto the riverbank and ended Jiang Min’s life with one shot was none other than the fugitive suspect Qian Guowei. He was wearing a long black leather coat, and half of his face was swollen and purple, obviously because the skin had been completely frostbitten.

Yu Chunming also saw that Qian Guowei had a thick, dirty cloth wrapped around his forehead under his cotton hat, with bloodstains on the cloth. That should have been the wound Jiang Min left for him three weeks ago.

How did Qian Guowei survive? Perhaps a hunter had passed by and saved him when he was still clinging to life, or perhaps Jiang Min, as a woman, wasn’t heavy-handed enough, and actually let this murderer, who deserved to die, struggle to catch a breath.

And now, he finally vented that breath.

He looked at Yu Chunming’s face with disbelief, and his hand holding the gun trembled slightly: “Not Li Guanglai?”

“Li Guanglai?” Yu Chunming was stunned.

Qian Guowei seemed to have his brain damaged by the cold. Without rhyme or reason, he grabbed Yu Chunming’s neck and carefully looked at the face he had seen in Bei Lin Village.

“Where’s Li Guanglai?” Qian Guowei roared.

Yu Chunming couldn’t speak because he was being strangled.

Qian Guowei continued to talk to himself: “Li Guanglai, Jiang Min, that bitch, harmed me with Li Guanglai. She harmed me with Li Guanglai!”

“You… cough cough!” Yu Chunming tried to pry Qian Guowei’s hand open.

Qian Guowei had almost lost his mind: “If it weren’t for Jiang Min, Li Guanglai would never have found me. Tell me, tell me! Where exactly is Li Guanglai?”

“Cough cough…” Yu Chunming vaguely heard his throat bones “crackling.” He struggled to utter a few words, “You, you let go first…”

“Let go?” Qian Guowei shouted in uncontrollable anger, “You tell me first, where exactly is Li Guanglai!”

“Hu Yang Village, cough cough!” Yu Chunming was on the verge of fainting from lack of oxygen. He stubbornly answered, “Li Guanglai’s last known location is, is Hu Yang Village, right near, cough cough, right near the Jin Gou Mountain No. 1 Patrol Station…”

These words made Qian Guowei’s hand loosen. Yu Chunming immediately lost his support and collapsed on the ground.

“Jin Gou Mountain No. 1 Patrol Station?” The man, who had just been as crazy as a madman, gradually calmed down after hearing this. He took a few steps back, looked at Yu Chunming, who was crawling at his feet, and suddenly smiled, “That’s right, that’s right…”

That’s right about what?

Yu Chunming’s oxygen-deprived brain couldn’t think at all. He was picked up from the ground by Qian Guowei, and then stuffed into Guan Yao’s red “SUV.”

In the afternoon in the border region, the temperature didn’t rise at all, and there wasn’t a ray of sunshine to be seen in the sky. Walking in the snowy mountains and forests, it didn’t take a few minutes for everyone to freeze stiff.

“It’s a hunter.” Han Chen, who had entered the mountain to search first, walked over with his arms crossed and his hands in his pockets. He pointed to the other side of the mountain depression, “There are two hunters over there, saying they’re hunting rabbits.”

“Hunting rabbits?” Wang Zhen frowned, “Did they catch any?”

“Didn’t catch any,” Han Chen replied, “The hunter said he was seeing things. He originally saw something running past the mountain ridge, but when he took the gun and walked out of the house, he found nothing. He fired a blank shot and went back.”

“Seeing things?” Wang Zhen took off his sunglasses and looked around.

“Master, no, Uncle, be careful of snow blindness,” Han Chen reminded.

Wang Zhen “tsk”ed: “I’m still not at ease. Guan Yao, take people to that mountain ridge to take a look and see if you can find anything. I’ll take those two kids to the vicinity of the watchtower.”

“Yes,” Guan Yao replied.

The group going to Jin Gou Temple to investigate split into three groups. Guan Yao stayed in place to look for traces of the gunshot. Han Chen guarded the snakehead and continued to Jin Gou Temple. Wang Zhen took the children to the watchtower to explore the road.

Before long, the forest became quiet again.

“Something’s not right,” a young police officer from the city branch’s criminal investigation brigade said, “I think the footprints on the ground over here are a little off.”

Guan Yao was thinking something with his head lowered. Hearing this, he immediately looked in the direction pointed by the police officer.

Sure enough, dozens of footprints were densely distributed under the mountain ridge mentioned by the hunter. The size, pattern, and depth of these footprints were basically the same, indicating that they belonged to the same person.

“Strange,” Guan Yao squatted down and narrowed his eyes, “Look at the sole patterns of these footprints… don’t they look like the cotton boots we issued for winter?”

Hearing this, two police officers in charge of peripheral communication immediately lifted their feet to take a look. After looking, they said in surprise, “It really is!”

“Did Han Chen just lead you through here?” Guan Yao asked immediately.

The two police officers shook their heads: “No, we only asked the hunter, we didn’t go to the mountain ridge to investigate.”

“Didn’t go to the mountain ridge to investigate…”

These words made Guan Yao’s heart hang in an instant. He circled the pile of footprints three times, and finally said to himself: “Changqing wears size 43 shoes. These footprints look about the same size. Could it be, could it be…”

Before he could finish speaking, the walkie-talkie hanging on his waist suddenly rang. Wang Zhen’s urgent voice came from the other side: “Guan Yao, I saw a black car at the top of the watchtower. This car is heading towards the northeastern border line!”

Heavy snow makes it difficult to travel in the Jin A Lin Mountains. Most of the villagers are hibernating at home. In this kind of weather, those who drive out are mostly small vendors who go from village to village selling frozen tofu. But small vendors generally only drive tricycles with plastic sheds, and are unlikely to drive small cars that have difficulty traveling on mountain roads.

“I’ve seen this small car. When we came to Hu Yang Village to investigate before, this car was parked in front of a villager’s house. The license plate matches. Guan Yao, that place is very close to you. Quickly take people to chase after it and take a look,” Wang Zhen ordered on the walkie-talkie.

Guan Yao’s spirit perked up. He put away his revolver and baton, immediately went down the mountain ridge, and led those police officers who also carried equipment to turn the car onto the main road according to Wang Zhen’s instructions.

Before, Min Chao had checked the tire tracks outside Hu Yang Village, and one of them matched the pickup truck driven by Chen Yupei. And in Qianjinping, there were eyewitnesses who confirmed that this car had appeared on the highway at the mountain pass.

In other words, after the pickup truck left, Li Guanglai may not have left with it. He is very likely still near Hu Yang Village, and the statements of those two children also confirmed this.

Guan Yao and others were chasing in the right direction. Coming to Jin Gou Mountain was not only to find Qian Guowei, but also to find Li Guanglai, who was always following behind Qian Guowei.

Now, Li Guanglai seems to have appeared, so where is Qian Guowei?

A red car with a broken headlight was driving on the long border line.

Yu Chunming huddled in the back seat. He pressed his chest and took two quick breaths, finally recovering from the suffocation just now.

Qian Guowei searched him and took away all his communication equipment and confiscated the baton. At this time, the man was staring ahead with all his attention. He was gripping the steering wheel tightly, seemingly afraid that the person in the back seat still had the strength to fight him.

“Where are you taking me?” Yu Chunming asked.

Qian Guowei didn’t say a word.

“Are you going to kill me?” Yu Chunming asked again.

Qian Guowei’s eyes flickered slightly, but he still kept his mouth tightly closed.

Seeing him like this, Yu Chunming, who was lying on the back seat, suddenly reached out to open the car door. He flattened the seat with one hand, and then, before Qian Guowei could react, he suddenly pulled out a broken seat belt and strangled his neck.

Squeal—

There was a loud noise of friction with the ground from under the car. Yu Chunming had already raised his hand and released the seat belt, smashing the thing into Qian Guowei’s face. Qian Guowei stepped on the brakes, stopping the red “SUV” outside the forest.

At this time, the back door of the car was already wide open. Yu Chunming didn’t have time to turn around to see if he had hit Qian Guowei. He directly jumped sideways, throwing his whole body into the snow.

Although the snow in this place was thick, it was not soft enough. Yu Chunming fell on it, and the pain in his bones and flesh made him dizzy. But in the midst of the chaos, Yu Chunming saw at a glance that Qian Guowei had already pushed open the front door and got out of the car.

“Stop!” the man roared.

Yu Chunming staggered to his feet, wanting to run deeper into the forest. Qian Guowei directly took out the hunting gun he carried with him and pointed it at his back.

Click! It was the sound of the gun being loaded.

“Stop,” Qian Guowei said through gritted teeth, “Do you think I won’t shoot?”

Yu Chunming staggered, barely holding onto a tree.

“If you can successfully smuggle me out of the country, I can consider letting you live,” Qian Guowei gently squeezed the trigger, “But if you take another step forward now, I will kill you like I killed Jiang Min.”

Yu Chunming’s breathing tightened, but he stood still.

Seeing this, Qian Guowei chuckled, and said, “I know who you are. Back then in Bei Lin Village, didn’t you tell me yourself?”

Yes, in Bei Lin Village, when Qian Guowei was about to deliver a fatal shot to Yu Chunming, who was heavily injured and falling to the ground, Yu Chunming had used the words “Jiang Xin” to stop the hand pulling the trigger. It was this moment of hesitation that gave Yu Chunming a chance of survival.

But hesitation doesn’t mean affection. Qian Guowei, this “ghost” who has been wandering in the world for more than thirty years, lacks nothing more than kindness and loyalty.

Who has he loved?

He hasn’t loved anyone.

It is said that Jiang Min, who was once the love of his life, has truly died at his hands, and now, Yu Chunming, the only person who is related to him by blood, can he touch his heart?

Of course not.

Yu Chunming closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and slowly turned around.

“That’s right, that’s right.” Qian Guowei smiled with satisfaction. He threw the seat belt away and found a black and thick hemp rope from the trunk, throwing it at Yu Chunming’s feet, “Tie yourself up, be quick about it.”

Yu Chunming stood still.

“I’m telling you to be quick, don’t you understand?” Qian Guowei said loudly.

Yu Chunming clenched his fists, and in the face of the other person’s manic gaze, bent down and picked up the hemp rope.

“That’s good, tie it up.” Qian Guowei changed to a smiling face again.

Yu Chunming pursed his lips and, as required, tied his hands together.

“Get in the car.” Qian Guowei pointed to the back seat with the gun, “Then sit honestly. If you dare to make trouble again, I’ll break your legs.”

Yu Chunming obeyed obediently.

Qian Guowei raised his eyebrows, chuckled, bent down, and uttered a sentence that sounded incredibly disgusting to Yu Chunming.

“That’s great,” he said, “This is my good son.”

[Author’s Note]

It’s almost over

PS: It’s almost over, let me say, this is a free article, everyone support Changpei’s official version.

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