Racing Along the Old Road

Back to being herself, Zhou Mei left the wedding planning company, glanced back, and sighed. "I never imagined that the first time I ever walked through the doors of a wedding planning company, I'd end up putting on such a grand show. I wonder whether my actual wedding will ever be this glamorous."

"That wouldn't be hard, would it? It was only thirty-eight hundred!" Lin Xiaosu said.

"Thirty-eight hundred is nothing, of course. But the grandeur of spending millions at that jewelry store today—that'll always be a dream!" Zhou Mei said. "Ruolan, right?"

Miao Ruolan smiled gently. "I don't have dreams like that! I think spending millions on something like that is foolish. I'd even find it unbearable to put on airs like rich people for a single day."

"Fine, fine, you're so noble!" Zhou Mei shot her a glare. "Whoever's noble gets to pay for lunch today!"

"Why should I pay? We helped you solve the case and didn't charge you a cent. You should treat us!"

"Fine, fine, all right! My cousin runs a villa up by the east gate. They serve country-style food. Let's go eat there and make her waive the bill!" Zhou Mei stomped on the gas, drove out of the city, and headed for Clear Water Villa.

At the same time, the entire county seat had descended into chaos.

The provincial department's on-site conference had just ended when an emergency meeting was convened at lightning speed.

Those attending included the leaders of the county's four major governing bodies, police officers from across the province, road administration personnel, and the entire judicial system.

The meeting had only one topic: the major May 16 case!

The order was to act immediately, establish a special task force, handle the case with utmost priority, and arrest everyone involved, with no upper limit!

The task force had already been formed, officers had already been deployed, highways throughout the region had been sealed off, and the Armed Police had been mobilized!

One by one, the big shots who could once make Fengcheng tremble with a mere stomp of their feet were arrested.

Whenever police cars arrived at an organization, everyone inside was terrified.

No one knew who from their own workplace had been implicated until that person was dragged out and taken away. Only then did they realize that person was finished.

One after another, batch after batch...

Only Clear Water Villa outside the city remained peaceful and tranquil.

Homestyle dishes were brought out one plate after another.

Zhou Mei kept watching the updates in the group chat.

Her cheeks remained flushed as well.

The major May 16 case had shaken the entire province.

She had participated in the case from beginning to end. It could even be said that she had always been on the front lines. When the time came to reward contributions, she would definitely earn herself some shining police stars this time...

Suddenly, a message popped up.

Zhou Mei's expression changed sharply...

"What happened?" Lin Xiaosu asked.

"Four of the Five Tigers have already been arrested. Only their leader, Brother Hu, had an incident. He broke out of Golden River Villa, killed three people, and headed north along the Golden River!"

"North of the Golden River is mountainous terrain!" Miao Ruolan's heart skipped a beat.

That was right. The north was mountainous. He wanted to hide in the mountains.

Once a vicious murderer like him entered complicated terrain, finding him would be extremely difficult. Even if they found him, subduing him would be just as hard. Brother Hu was no ordinary man.

"Golden River Villa is less than ten miles from here!" Lin Xiaosu said. "Let's go after him!"

"Exactly! We might be the people closest to him... Let's go!" Zhou Mei rushed out of Clear Water Villa, jumped into the car, and with a roar of the engine, sped toward Golden River Villa.

Five minutes after her car left, two police cars came after it. Captain Zhang was inside.

The moment he received the emergency news, he rushed over from the county seat, but he was still five minutes too late.

Zhou Mei drove very fast, almost as fast as she possibly could.

Lin Xiaosu had already activated the Heavenly Dao Insightful Eye. From far away, he spotted a police car at the entrance to Golden River Villa and could even see bloodstains by the roadside.

Zhou Mei shouted, "Which way do we go?"

There were two roads ahead of Golden River Villa, both leading into the mountains. One was a newly built road, while the other was the old road. The new road was certainly easier to travel, and ahead was a bridge spanning a gorge. From there, they could reach Dingxi Province.

The old road, meanwhile, passed straight through the mountains.

For the moment, she had no idea which road Brother Hu would take.

"The old road!" Lin Xiaosu said.

Zhou Mei had originally been speeding toward the new road, but when she heard Lin Xiaosu, she yanked the steering wheel sharply. The car nearly scraped past a boulder ahead before racing toward the old road.

Miao Ruolan's face changed.

Driving that fast on a road like this...

If they overturned, Lin Xiaosu and she might have time to react, but Miao Ruolan herself would definitely be in trouble.

There was little traffic on the old road, and countless fallen leaves made it look especially desolate.

The car sped past, sending leaves swirling into the air. An old ox ahead was startled and abruptly turned around, nearly dragging the old man leading it into a ditch.

Yes, this was already pure countryside.

Fortunately, the village-to-village road program in recent years had reinforced road surfaces everywhere. Since the government was paying for it anyway, people naturally spent the money, which was why this road was still fairly smooth.

Ten miles, twenty miles, forty miles. They drew closer and closer to Golden Mountain, yet Zhou Mei saw no sign that any vehicle had passed ahead of them.

Doubt began to rise in her heart. Had they chosen wrong?

If they had, they would never catch him.

The provincial on-site conference had just been held, but it only covered this province. Even if Dingxi Province received a joint-defense notice, its response would always be a step slower. As long as Brother Hu seized that gap, crossed into Dingxi Province, switched cars, and disappeared into the crowd, catching him would be harder than reaching the heavens.

She suddenly felt she really had made the wrong choice. If she were Brother Hu, and her goal was to enter Dingxi Province as quickly as possible, she definitely would not take the old road. She would take the new one.

Why had I trusted him?

He had never even been around Brother Hu at close range. Even if his nose was sharper than a police dog's, he couldn't possibly smell Brother Hu from here.

Just then, Lin Xiaosu raised his gaze. "There!"

Zhou Mei looked up and saw a vehicle high up on the mountain road. It was a Road Leopard.

The Road Leopard was large, powerful, and had excellent off-road performance.

It was exactly Brother Hu's favorite ride.

The vehicle had just crossed the midpoint of the winding mountain road above them.

Her car had only just reached the foot of the mountain.

The straight-line distance looked to be no more than seven hundred meters, but the real distance between the two vehicles was more than ten kilometers.

Worst of all, there was no way to drive fast on this winding mountain road.

Even an experienced driver had to proceed cautiously. One careless mistake and they would plunge off the road. Once they fell, there was a ninety-nine percent chance their lives would no longer be in their own hands.

"Zhou Mei, let me drive!" Lin Xiaosu said.

"This..." Zhou Mei's heart skipped a beat. How good were his driving skills, exactly? She could not drive fast here at all. Could he?

"If you drive, you'll never catch him!" Lin Xiaosu said. "Stop the car!"

The car came to an abrupt stop!

Lin Xiaosu and Zhou Mei switched seats.

They had switched, but Zhou Mei's heart was still pounding.

Miao Ruolan spoke up. "Xiaosu, didn't you say you haven't gotten your driver's license?"

Damn!

Zhou Mei's heart leaped into her throat. You don't even have a driver's license, yet you're taking the wheel now? My god, I must be insane...

"A license... that's just a formality!" Lin Xiaosu hit the accelerator, and the car shot forward.

A bend lay ahead.

He jerked the steering wheel, and the car skimmed past the cliff face. Both women screamed at the same time...

After that, they had no idea how to describe what happened...

Lin Xiaosu's driving was perilous beyond belief. Each time, he escaped danger at the very last instant. Before the sweat on their backs could even seep out, the next danger was already upon them...

Zhou Mei clutched her seat belt tightly and stared at the cliffs flashing before her like a revolving lantern, never daring to let out the breath she held.

Even Miao Ruolan was tense.

Yet soon, a strange feeling came over her. Lin Xiaosu's driving was terrifying, but his expression remained incomparably calm.

That expression gave her a certain sense of security.

At some point, he had even opened the window on his side. As the wild wind howled, his hair whipped about, making half his face seem even more relaxed and unhurried, as though unmoved by storm or wave.

Looking at the calm on his face, Miao Ruolan's thoughts quietly drifted elsewhere...

Back to that morning that had just passed...

That "husband" she had called him—perhaps the man in front of her did not remember it at all, but she did...

She remembered how her heart had fluttered in that moment...

On the winding mountain road above, the Road Leopard sped past over their heads once more...

The distance between them had been cut in half!

Brother Hu in the Road Leopard also saw the car below. Beneath his thick beard, his face turned livid.

"Boss, it's Zhou Mei's car!"

"Zhou Mei! She's the one who, together with that Lin family bastard, forced us into this dead end!" another man shouted.

"They dare chase us in that piece of junk? Kill them!"

Brother Hu said sinisterly, "Stop at the bend ahead! Set a trap!"

Very quickly, the trap was set, and the Road Leopard sped away.

After that delay, Lin Xiaosu closed the distance between the two cars again. Three minutes after the Road Leopard drove off, his small car raced past and rounded the bend ahead.

The moment they rounded it, Zhou Mei screamed, "There's a roadblock!"

Two huge rocks lay on the road ahead.

The rocks had been placed viciously. They could not be seen from this side of the mountain road, and the instant someone rounded the bend, the roadblock would be right under their wheels. Under normal circumstances, if the vehicle did not slow down, it would definitely hit one of the rocks. Once it hit, it would tumble into the hundred-meter abyss below.

By the time Zhou Mei screamed, the car had already lost any chance to adjust its direction.

Her heart nearly burst from her chest.

Yet Lin Xiaosu merely turned the steering wheel slightly, with an extremely small movement.

With a boom, the left wheel struck one of the rocks. The collision sent half the car airborne, but that very lift let the car slide sideways through the gap between the two rocks, a gap less than two meters wide.

On the mountain road above, Brother Hu's eyes widened. Damn, that worked too?

"Was that luck, or are his driving skills really that insane?" The two men in the back seat looked at each other in disbelief.

"Who cares... Boss, give me the gun. I'll take him out!" one of the men in the back shouted.

"Sanzi, good man!" Brother Hu reached out and handed a pistol to his loyal brother.

The vehicle stopped by the roadside ahead.

Sanzi got out of the car.

Lin Xiaosu did not see any of this.

But the instant he sped around another bend above, a man suddenly appeared ahead!

The dark muzzle of a gun rose in the man's hand, and the instant Lin Xiaosu's small car rounded the bend, he fired!

It was an extremely accurate shot!

It was aimed right at Lin Xiaosu's head!