Long Ge hadn’t seen the ocean in a long time. Standing on the beach with the salty sea breeze in his face, he found it rather pleasant. The heat was remarkable — barely into early May, and the beach was already filled with people ready to swim.

This was Zou Kaigui’s hometown — a small town called Kan Xia.

After receiving that message from Ba Yunye, Long Ge had once again asked Ge Mingliang to investigate Zou Kaigui, tracing him to Shui Yuan Village in Kan Xia Town. He’d asked plenty of favors from Ge Mingliang over the years; fortunately, their bond as comrades ran deep, and Ge Mingliang said he’d find time to come visit his old squad leader.

With nothing else to do, Long Ge flew over, changed trains and buses a few times, and made his way to this seaside fishing village. These days, the village’s family-run seafood restaurants were doing thriving business, and many villagers had prospered because of it. Long Ge rarely ate seafood — this time he ate his fill, and in the process struck up a friendship with Jiao Zi, the owner of a seafood stall. They got to talking about Zou Kaigui.

“Used to gamble on lottery tickets… and lost a lot of money.” The half-grey-haired Jiao Zi said. “Beat his wife now and then — fine, that’s his business. But he beat his daughter too. Beat his daughter — okay, whatever. But then he beat his son as well! So naturally his wife took the son and ran.”

“Now he’s searching the whole world for his daughter.” Long Ge squinted — the sea breeze made it hard to keep his eyes open. The kelp hanging from the fishing boats drifted nearby, reeking of brine.

“Heh heh…” Jiao Zi chuckled. “Maybe he has more money than he can spend on his own and needs to spread it around.”

“He’s wealthy?”

“Has money. From what people say, he got rich overnight — no one knows what dealings he got into.” Jiao Zi answered with an air of mystery, then asked in return, “Why are you asking about him? Didn’t he… disappear?”

Long Ge gave an easygoing smile. “He owes me tens of thousands of yuan — I came to look for him. Figured he might be hiding out here.”

Jiao Zi shook his head. “He’d never come back here. You don’t know…” He lowered his voice. “His ex-wife remarried in the next village over. She’s so full of hatred she tells people all the time that the daughter was basically destroyed by him.”

Long Ge put on a surprised expression. “Wasn’t his daughter abducted by human traffickers? The police station has a case report on file.”

“That’s true enough — when it happened, the whole village turned out to search for the little girl.” Even Jiao Zi couldn’t explain it. “But his ex-wife told the police the same thing: ‘Even if traffickers took her, Old Zou was the one who brought them there.'”

“Not his biological daughter?”

“Aih!” Jiao Zi sighed, tapped his own temple, “Biological daughter — it was just that the little girl had a problem…” He pointed to his head.

Long Ge nodded thoughtfully. Another table of customers sat down; Jiao Zi got up to attend to them and left.

A herd of wild yaks — close to a hundred of them — looked unhurried and calm. They had probably been pent up hiding from the sandstorm and had come out for a wander.

“As a herd, they’re harmless,” Ba Yunye walked up and gave Xiao Zi a reassuring pat.

“Won’t they come over here?”

“This water isn’t drinkable. When they’re not in danger, they’re actually quite shy.”

The balance of Xiao Zi’s inner scale — between going back and finishing the journey — tipped back and forth with every new unexpected scare.

Ye Xun no longer cared at all whether Xiao Zi stayed or went. He splashed a few buckets of water over his own vehicle, gave it a perfunctory rinse, and then busied himself marking the location with a handheld GPS. Diao Zhuo noticed that throughout the journey, every time Ye Xun stopped, he would immediately record the position. After they confirmed that Zou Kaigui had indeed passed through the lake area, the frequency of his marking increased dramatically — as if he wanted to record every single step, and he was constantly photographing the surrounding landscape with his camera, even more eager than those on the team who were actually responsible for the search and scouting.

Ye Xun had casually indicated that his ultimate goal was Zou Kaigui’s body — so why was the route to the body so important? Or was there something beyond finding the body and swiftly collecting the insurance payout — another purpose he had in mind?

“Is Director Ye planning to get into our line of business in the future?” Ba Yunye seemed to have also noticed Ye Xun’s frequent route-marking and said with a laugh, “It’s not easy to operate in here… get it wrong, and neither vehicles nor people come back out.”

“Making fun of me.” Ye Xun smiled awkwardly. “Just showing off to friends when I get out.”

“Bang!”

“Bang! Bang!”

Several sharp cracking sounds rang out from somewhere in the distance — like gunshots.

Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked around to locate the source.

The yak herd was startled and ran off in the opposite direction, kicking up a cloud of dust. Five grey figures leaped out of a pickup truck.

When they spotted the convoy, they seemed to make up their minds and came running toward it — glancing back over their shoulders as they ran, shouting something as they approached.

Diao Zhuo swung his hand. “Into the vehicles, go!”

These were poachers, most likely cornered by wildlife protection officers and fleeing in desperation. The gunshots moments ago were possibly warning shots fired by the officers in the distance, or shots fired by the poachers to scatter the yak herd.

“What is it? Why are we leaving?!” Xiao Zi cried in protest — she hadn’t even decided whether to keep going yet.

Ba Yunye shared Diao Zhuo’s thinking. Poachers understood better than anyone that they couldn’t escape on foot. The moment they spotted a convoy of SUVs, their first priority was to seize vehicles to continue their escape. To steal the vehicles, equipment, and food, these bastards were capable of anything. Five people would need to take at least two vehicles — one SUV and one truck. The team had no weapons, and the poachers might press their luck and ransack all the supplies, water, and food.

“Stop arguing — get in the vehicle first!” Ba Yunye yanked Xiao Zi up and shoved her into He Ma’s passenger seat. Poachers, in order to bag more prey, used double-barreled shotguns — with a wider spread than a single-shot rifle, devastating enough to fell a wild boar, let alone an ordinary person.

“But I…”

“They have guns!!” Ba Yunye slammed the door shut.

Xiao Zi went into complete shock, completely bewildered, and instinctively screamed, “Ahhh — drive! Go, go, go!!”

“Master Ba!” He Ma wasn’t paying attention to her — he leaned out looking for Ba Yunye.

“Here!” Diao Zhuo had turned the vehicle around; the passenger-side door was flung wide open.

Ba Yunye leaped in, and the convoy sped away.

Several poachers cursed and chased a few more steps, then, out of sheer frustration, made to fire their guns. One of them hurriedly restrained another. “Lao Jin! Don’t waste the bullets!”

The convoy drove on for a good stretch, then gunshots rang out from behind — it sounded like a firefight had broken out.

Ba Yunye raised her binoculars anxiously and looked back. “The protection officers have caught up, but there’s only one pickup truck… why isn’t it moving? The pickup truck can’t move for some reason… God almighty, they’re in trouble! Diao Zhuo, stop!”

Diao Zhuo hit the brakes and reached for the binoculars.

The poachers had actually shot and killed the officer in the passenger seat. Several of them were dragging the officer in the driver’s seat out of the cab.

“The protection officers’ backup hasn’t caught up — we can’t just sit by and do nothing,” Ba Yunye showed her hot-blooded, impulsive side. “They’ve seized the protection officers’ pickup truck, and next they’ll very likely come after our vehicles. Our food and equipment absolutely cannot fall into their hands!”

“Of course — our rescue team’s job doesn’t stop at finding Zou Kaigui.” Diao Zhuo said this and picked up the radio. “Attention! Two protection officers down, casualties unknown, at the rear — give immediate support! Immediate support!”

The three vehicles ahead immediately fanned out in three separate directions.

The poachers seized the pickup and sure enough came charging after the convoy.

All trace of mischief had vanished from Ba Yunye’s eyes. “They’re coming after us! Odds are they want our pickup, fuel, and rations. Damn it! They have shotguns — watch out! Who’s driving the pickup?! Tell him to get out — I’ll drive it!”

“What are you planning to do?” Diao Zhuo clearly didn’t agree with her suggestion.

“Keep them from taking the pickup.”

“You can’t get out of this vehicle right now.”

“If you can do better, go ahead!”

“If they get the pickup, they don’t necessarily need the rest. In this terrain, every SUV we have is a target for them.” Diao Zhuo glanced at her. “Outsmart them — understand?”

“Outsmart them with what? We have no guns.” Ba Yunye’s hands itched fiercely — she was desperate for a crate of weapons and equipment to drop from the sky so she could roll up the whole gang of ruthless, thuggish poachers in one sweep.

Diao Zhuo picked up the radio again. “All other vehicles maintain a straight course.”

Ba Yunye startled. “You…”

“In a moment I’ll fall back deliberately. When they force us to a stop, you scream a few times — cry if you can, cry loudly — so they know you’re no threat. At most two of them will get out to force me to step down.”

“You want me to play the coward? Why don’t you?!” The hot-blooded young woman was clearly not on board.

“I’ll play weak too. If they only want the vehicle, seeing me act like a pushover means they won’t shoot. I’ll use the excuse of showing them the food and equipment in the cargo hold, take two of them to the back, and the moment we’re out of sight of the other three poachers, we make our move — each of us takes one down at the same time.”

Ba Yunye nodded. “If you can’t finish one off in time, I can take down two on my own without a problem.” She waited a long moment, but Diao Zhuo still didn’t respond. She added, “What? You don’t believe me? Hmph — I’m someone who dared to ride a bicycle around the whole of Chongqing for fun.”

He was exasperated. “Less nonsense.”

“I’m serious.”

In the stolen pickup truck, Diao Zhuo’s large command vehicle was drawing closer by the second, and was nearly about to surge ahead to cut it off, when Ye Xun’s vehicle suddenly veered and sank almost half its body into a swamp hidden beneath the snow — with a grating screech it ground to a halt, rear wheels spinning helplessly.

Plans never keep up with changes. The pickup, which had been about to cut off the command vehicle, seized an opportunity: it yanked hard on the wheel, hit the brakes, and simultaneously blocked both the command vehicle and Ye Xun’s stranded SUV. Four men climbed out with guns raised, hard-edged menace on their faces, forcing everyone out of both vehicles.

“Damn it!” The plan was in shambles. Ba Yunye couldn’t stop herself from swearing.

Diao Zhuo elbowed her arm. “What are you waiting for — cry!”

Ba Yunye let out a full-throated wail, like she was at a funeral — fake-crying and screaming at the same time. “Help!! Spare me!! Please, I’m begging you!”

Ye Xun, Xiang’an, Diao Zhuo, and the wailing Ba Yunye all climbed out of the vehicles. Lao Jin, with his gun to back him up, dispensed with any pleasantries and bellowed a single “Get lost!”.

Ye Xun looked miserable, utterly reluctant, and shot a pleading look at Diao Zhuo. Diao Zhuo — who had his hands laced on top of his head in a show of fear — caught his eye and gave him a signal: whatever happens, retreat first.

Lao Jin looked at the two vehicles, made a quick assessment, and ordered: “Lao Ma, San Shui — move the stuff over to Lao Pang’s truck! Tuzi, you’re with me.” Lao Ma and San Shui slung their guns over their shoulders and began hauling full jerricans of fuel from the back seat to the pickup. Then they went around to the rear and popped the trunk to start loading tents, sleeping bags, and food. Lao Jin and Tuzi, meanwhile, climbed into the command vehicle — their intention was obvious: they didn’t want the half-buried SUV, but planned to strip its gear and drive off in the command vehicle.

Ba Yunye kept up her weeping and walking slowly, stumbling along. Diao Zhuo pretended to comfort her as they shuffled forward. Knowing these “hikers” had no weapons to fight back with, Lao Ma and San Shui were perfectly at ease, paying no mind to the two of them dragging their feet. Once they had cleared out the SUV, they pulled open the rear door of the command vehicle, hauled the fuel drums inside out to the pickup truck as well, then sauntered back and opened the door to get in.

At that instant, Diao Zhuo and Ba Yunye struck with the swiftness of lightning, charging straight at them. Diao Zhuo, with his powerful build and raw brute strength — a single punch could leave a man seeing stars — and Ba Yunye, armed with the precise and devastating combat techniques she had trained in the military, brought both men down almost simultaneously. They seized the shotguns.

Ba Yunye was more familiar with firearms than Diao Zhuo. The moment the shotgun was in her hands, she chambered a round directly and pressed the barrel against San Shui’s back. After leaving the army, she hadn’t touched a weapon in years. Now, taking it up again, the heavy solidity in her hands, the faint smell of gunpowder, and the trace of blood in the air awakened her sleeping memories of military life. The thundering of iron horses and clashing of steel broke through her dreams and materialized as a quiet composure and cool beauty in her eyes.

Diao Zhuo quickly subdued his man too, forcing Lao Ma to stand with his hands raised, too afraid to budge. He cast a glance at Ba Yunye on the other side of the vehicle — just one glance. In that instant, her arresting, formidable beauty struck deep into his chest, all the way to the very bottom.