"Zhang Li!"
Su Mingfeng's voice was as cold as a Siberian cold front.
Zhang Li, the guard stationed outside the compartment, jolted and shoved the door open. "Sir!"
"Notify Teams Two and Three. All personnel, prepare for combat!" Su Mingfeng looked past Zhang Li toward the rear of the train, his gaze as though he were looking at two dead men. "Target: the third boxcar from the rear! Orders: capture them alive! But I don't mind if they end up with a few extra holes or broken bones!"
"Yes, sir!"
Zhang Li did not ask why. As Su Mingfeng's most trusted guard, he heard murderous intent like mountains of corpses and seas of blood in that icy tone.
He turned and rushed out. Shrill whistles and urgent commands soon rang out beyond the compartment.
Su Mingfeng took a long look at Nuannuan, who lay unconscious on the hospital bed. The wounds covering her body were like poisonous thorns piercing his heart.
He bent down and gently touched her burning forehead with his rough fingertips.
"Nuannuan, don't be afraid. Uncle is going to avenge you."
With that, he turned resolutely, grabbed the sidearm hanging on the wall, and strode out of the compartment.
When he appeared in the blizzard again, all his tenderness and grief had vanished, replaced by a soldier's iron resolve and killing intent.
More than twenty fully armed soldiers had already assembled where he stepped off the train.
Every one of them was an elite selected from across the army, carrying the fierce courage of veterans who had survived a hundred battles.
"Sir!"
The leader of Team Two, a dark-skinned man, gave him a crisp military salute.
"Have you confirmed the target?" Su Mingfeng asked coldly.
"Reporting, sir! Following your instructions, we've pinpointed the third boxcar from the rear! Its door is wired shut from the outside. Highly suspicious!"
"Good." Su Mingfeng worked the bolt of his gun with a sharp metallic click. "Team One, remain in position and guard the scene! Everyone else, follow me!"
"Yes, sir!"
The combat squad of more than twenty quickly spread into formation in the snow. With Su Mingfeng at the point, they silently moved to surround the rear of the train.
Their movements were swift and professional. They advanced through knee-deep snow without making much noise.
Before long, they reached the target car.
Its iron door was tightly shut, its handle wrapped in thick wire tied in a dead knot.
Su Mingfeng gave the soldiers behind him a look.
One soldier immediately stepped forward and drew military multipurpose pliers from his waist. With a few sharp snaps, he easily cut through wire thicker than a finger.
Su Mingfeng stepped forward himself and yanked the heavy iron door open.
Clatter-
A stench of sweat, urine, and blood rushed out of the dark car, making every soldier present frown.
Inside, more than a dozen children of different sizes huddled in the farthest corner like frightened quail, staring in terror at the "men in green" who had suddenly appeared at the door.
On the other side of the car, a tall, thin man lay unconscious on the floor.
In another corner lay a corpse that had long since gone cold. A huge gash had been torn across its throat, leaving it looking utterly horrific.
Su Mingfeng swept his gaze over the car before finally fixing it on the unconscious tall, thin man.
"Was it him?"
He pointed at the man and turned to ask the oldest boy, who had stepped out from among the children.
Although frightened, the boy nodded firmly.
"There was... another one..." The boy pointed at the corpse, his voice trembling. "Those two... kidnapped us..."
Su Mingfeng's gaze grew colder.
He did not need to ask anything more.
Nuannuan's wounds and the fear in these children's eyes were the best evidence.
"Drag him out!"
Two soldiers immediately rushed into the car, dragged the still-unconscious man out like a dead dog, and threw him onto the snow.
The shock of the freezing snow slowly brought him around.
He opened his eyes groggily. The first things he saw were more than a dozen pairs of gleaming military boots and more than a dozen dark gun muzzles.
Then he saw the man standing at the front, wearing a general's uniform, his face full of murderous intent.
"Who... who are you?"
Still not fully awake, the tall, thin man asked instinctively.
Su Mingfeng did not answer.
He merely raised his foot slowly and stamped on the man's injured hand, which was still wrapped in bandages.
Crack!
There was a sharp sound of bone breaking.
"Aah-!"
The man let out an inhuman scream, jolting fully awake as he rolled across the snow in agony.
"My hand! My hand's broken!"
Su Mingfeng remained expressionless, as though he had merely crushed a dry twig.
He looked down at the howling trafficker, his voice devoid of warmth.
"Which hand did you hit her with?"
Sweat poured from the man's head in agony. Unable to make out what Su Mingfeng was saying, he could only beg over and over. "Sir! Comrade of the People's Liberation Army! Spare me! I was wrong! I'll never do it again!"
Su Mingfeng had no patience for his nonsense.
He raised his other foot and brought it down hard on the man's other wrist.
Crack!
Another bone broke.
"Aaaah!!"
The man's screams sounded especially harrowing across the empty snowfield.
Not one of the soldiers around them showed any sign of pity.
Their gazes were as cold as their commander's.
No punishment was too harsh for a trafficker utterly devoid of conscience like this.
"I'll ask one more time." Su Mingfeng slowly crouched down and tapped the barrel of his gun against the man's face, which was contorted in agony. "Which hand did you use to inflict those wounds on my niece? If you don't talk, I'll shatter every bone in your limbs, one by one."
Niece?
The girl in the red padded jacket, as stubborn as a little wolf cub, flashed through the man's mind.
He finally understood what kind of person he had provoked.
Fear instantly overwhelmed the pain.
Looking into the emotionless eyes of the man before him, he had no doubt that he would do exactly what he said.
"My... my right hand... no! Both hands! I used both!" he sobbed incoherently. "Spare me, sir! I'll never do it again! It was Liu Guifang! Liu Guifang from Li Family Village sold that girl to us! We were only doing what we were paid to do..."
He wanted to shift the blame onto someone else.
But Su Mingfeng no longer wanted to listen.
He stood and waved a hand at the soldiers behind him.
"Take him away. Hand him over to the military tribunal."
His voice became calm, but everyone who knew him understood that beneath that calm lay a thunderous fury about to erupt.
"And send a telegram to the military subdistrict down the mountain immediately! Have them send men to surround a village called Li Family Village! There's a woman there named Liu Guifang. I want her brought in alive, or her body if she's dead!"
"Don't let a single one get away!"