As Cheng Bin and Gu Xiaojun drove forward, their pagers kept beeping, with messages like "777", "431", and "895" repeatedly jumping up and down. These were actually some internally agreed-upon codes, representing the occurrence of certain situations, such as meetings, emergency notices from superiors, sudden homicides, public security incidents... Sometimes they couldn't be explained clearly on the pager, so they used codes instead.
After receiving the code, I would call back the designated landline. This was when mobile phones were not yet popular. Sometimes even a public phone would have to wait in line. In an era when communication was not so convenient, jokes often occurred.
For example, Cheng Bin once received a code from the Municipal Bureau. He happened to be visiting a village and there was only one phone in the office of the village chief of the neighboring village. When he went to borrow it, the village chief had gone out to a meeting. When he came back to borrow the phone and called, it turned out that the Municipal Bureau wanted him to go back for a meeting. By the time he called back, the meeting was over.
With the progress of the times, mobile phones finally appeared, but due to funding constraints, they are now only equipped to cadres at the deputy bureau level. Cheng Bin has this one in his hand, and he is using it to make a phone call to inquire about the control situation of all parties.
The vehicle stopped at a checkpoint on the national highway. In front of them were armed police soldiers and policemen wearing green military uniforms, wearing Liberation shoes, and carrying assault rifles, setting up a checkpoint. One of the uniformed police officers came over and saluted, recognizing their car, "Director Cheng!"
Gu Xiaojun and Cheng Bin opened the car door and walked out. "What's the situation now?"
"We just got a page and radio call from command... Let us intercept the sedan and inspect it!"
Gu Xiaojun took Cheng Bin's phone and replied to a message. He leaned over and said, "The traces from the trace department have been detected and confirmed to be from Santana's paint."
Cheng Bin walked up a slope and looked around. He saw that the national highway extending along the mountain was blocked by traffic due to control and inspection. Trucks, jeeps, and cars were interspersed in a long queue, and the sound of beeps and honks was endless.
"What's going on here... Are they afraid that the criminals won't see the police taking action?"
Cheng Bin's eyes widened. "If we continue like this, there will be serious problems!"
"The task force sent by the provincial department is fully responsible. Not only our city, but also 300 police officers have been dispatched from nearby counties and cities. The military sub-district in Songzhou has dispatched 500 officers and soldiers. The scale is huge and it's a carpet-style search... We in Shanhai City can only fully cooperate..." Gu Xiaojun said as the phone in his hand rang again.
He walked over and picked up the phone, his expression became serious, and after a moment, he said, "Wait a moment."
"What?" Cheng Bin frowned. He and Gu Xiaojun were in tune with each other, and he could tell something from the other's expression.
"My nephew Cheng Ran's classmate... said that Cheng Ran was in trouble."
Cheng Bin picked up the phone, and Yu Xiao's stuttering and extremely excited voice came in, "Uncle Cheng, Uncle Cheng! Cheng Ran hit someone, that person had a gun, they drove away, their license plate number is Rong G..."
"Speak slowly, what happened? How do you know that the other party has a gun? Is it not a replica gun? Or an air gun? ... The pistol on the waist? The pistol could also be a replica gun... He shot Cheng Ran... Wait, you said they moved the iron cage, there were four of them, and they drove a van?"
Cheng Bin's hand holding the microphone suddenly tightened, "Where did he go? Daxing, Daxing Road direction, OK! How is Cheng Ran, let Cheng Ran answer the phone?"
After a brief pause, Cheng Bin's voice rose loudly, "He caught up with us?"
"He took the wrong medicine, this little brat is looking for death!"
After hanging up the phone, Cheng Bin threw the phone to Gu Xiaojun, opened the car door, and sat in the driver's seat himself. Gu Xiaojun then opened the passenger door and sat in.
"Immediately contact Lao Zheng and the others, and ask him to bring the most capable people in his group to meet me at the Daxing intersection! No matter which order he has now or which intersection he has set up, ask him to bring his people with me immediately. The lower the profile, the better!"
…
…
The roads of this era were still bumpy and uneven, and many roads did not even have the asphalt roads of later generations. The main roads were asphalt roads, and the asphalt on some roads had not dried yet. Once you left the city, the road conditions were even worse.
On such a road, Cheng Ran, with a bruised face, was pedaling hard on a women's bicycle.
The potholes he passed by sometimes made his whole swollen face tremble... attracting the attention of people on the road.
…That picture is not too beautiful.
Firstly, the van had an iron cage at the back and leaf spring suspension. If it drove a little faster on this kind of road, the shock it caused would be considerable. In order not to attract too much attention, the van's speed was not very fast, sometimes fast and sometimes slow. Coupled with the traffic lights, Cheng Ran was actually able to keep up with the other party in the urban area.
At the same time, the relatively long distance between the two cars also gave Cheng Ran an extra layer of protection. If they were too close, the other party would probably see through them.
When leaving the city and heading towards the suburbs, Cheng Ran had already memorized the tire marks left on the road in front of the hardware store. So when he left the city and reached the suburbs, he could judge the other party's route by the tire marks left on the not-so-good road surface. He only needed to follow behind.
After being reborn, he ran every day for the past month and did not miss any opportunity for physical exercise, thus providing himself with the necessary physical energy for this critical moment.
Speeding against the wind, we drove into the Ring Road around the lake, passing the Economic and Trade Vocational School, the Water School, and the Railway Cadre School. The further we went to the middle section of the Ring Road around the lake, the more fishing villages and farmhouses there were around... Further ahead was Mount Li, a famous tourist attraction in Shanhai City.
Mount Li is the main place for worshiping Buddha in Shanhai City. There is a large Buddhist building complex on it. Since the historical evolution, the magnificent Thousand Buddha Hall has been built here. There are also buildings such as Wanghai Tower, Kuixing Pavilion, and Daxiong Hall. It also preserves the world cultural heritage, the Dali Stone Carvings, which is known as "Dunhuang in the North and Dali in the South" and is one of the eight major grottoes in the world. National leaders of all dynasties have visited here. It can be regarded as Shanhai City's business card to the outside world.
By the time Cheng Ran rode here, he was so tired that his mouth was crooked and he was sweating profusely, even his vest was soaked. He had not eaten lunch and had lost a lot of water. He felt that his physical strength was reaching its limit. At the next intersection, he felt that he must find a mountain spring left by the rocks to drink some water and rest.
Cheng Ran couldn't ride on the big slope. It would probably be faster to get off the bike and push it than to ride it. He remembered that after the long uphill slope, there was a small mountain road leading to Mount Li, while the main road was a series of S-shaped downhill bends. As long as you got up the big slope, you could see everything down there.
Cheng Ran had just pushed the bike to the top of the ramp when his heart skipped a beat.
There were many private cars parked at the S-shaped turn ahead, and the van was sandwiched between several cars. Two people were tampering with the license plates, only 20 or 30 meters away from him.
Fortunately, the other party was changing the license plate with his back to him. Anyone who glanced at this road at this time would be able to see him at a glance. Cheng Ran suddenly crouched down and pushed his bicycle to the dense grass slope next to him. He leaned the bicycle on the grass slope and slowly moved along the rock wall of the mountain.
From this angle, he saw two other people peeing with their backs to a tree ten meters away in the bushes over there. Among them was the man in the jacket with a gun on his waist.
Cheng Ran was at the foot of the path leading to the main mountain road of Mount Li. There was a red brick wall along the path towards the van. This wall just provided cover for Cheng Ran, so even if he was ten meters away from the opponent, he would not worry about being discovered. If the opponent came towards him, he would immediately run up the path. Five meters above was the bend of the mountain road.
Although there were cars parked outside at this time, there was no one else present. Such an environment, with the cover of other vehicles, probably became an excellent environment for the group to change the license plate.
Just as Cheng Ran was observing the terrain, footsteps were heard on the bluestone road at the corner of the mountain road. A figure that seemed extremely confusing yet extremely familiar to him walked down from the foot of the mountain and just walked out of the corner.
Wearing a pink Adidas cotton hooded sweatshirt and sweatpants, a pair of gray running shoes, and with a drawing board on her back and a ponytail, Jiang Hongshao walked out from the corner like a god descending from heaven.
The leaves in the forest were falling, and the afternoon light was mottled. The beams of light that penetrated the leaves coated the particles in the air with gold. If Cheng Ran had run into Jiang Hongshao who came to the best scenic spot in Mount Li to sketch at this time in the early morning, he would definitely not forget this picture-like scene.
However, at this moment, he only felt a lot of blood rushing to his head, and his entire scalp became numb.
There are desperadoes outside!
It's like a beautiful thing that's suddenly very close to a fire pit, and you want to protect it at all costs.
Jiang Hongshao was obviously also extremely surprised by such an encounter. She continued walking down with her big eyes full of surprise. At the same time, she stretched out a hand from her sweater pocket and slightly opened her lips.
Cheng Ran rushed forward like a cheetah, grabbed her wrist that was halfway raised with his left hand, and at the same time covered her mouth with his right hand, pressing her against the wall.
A fresh fragrance wafted into her nose. Jiang Hongshao, whose mouth was covered, had her eyes flickering and turning. It was obvious that she was quickly adapting to the current situation.
Seeing Cheng Ran signaling her to be quiet, she gently patted Cheng Ran's hand, and Cheng Ran finally reacted and withdrew his hand. Then Jiang Hongshao immediately stuck her head out of the wall to take a hidden peek, turned her head to face Cheng Ran, and asked softly, "Why are you here... Who are those people outside, and why are you hiding from them?"
This girl is just... so smart.
There was no need for further explanation, she could see many clues from Cheng Ran's abnormality.
She looked up and down at Cheng Ran, who was sweating, with a swollen face and exhausted, and finally couldn't help but say, "You look so ugly now..."
Cheng Ran: “…”
Shouldn’t you be asking what happened now, what’s wrong with your face, does it hurt, or should I blow it for you
The first thing you say is "You are so ugly!" What does that mean? You are a Virgo!
Will you still comfort people? I protect people's property, maintain social order and fight against criminals bravely, and this is what you say!
… Do you feel guilty about it