usenovelonline Chapter 329 - 269: Men Die for Wealth
Chapter 329 - 269: Men Die for Wealth
The camera feed was shaky, but the navy blue, thin cotton jacket, the short stature, the buzz cut, and the square face—it was Fan Lei.
Zhang Hancheng quickly recalled the map in his mind.
Fan Lei’s position should be on Longwang Mountain, south of Shitang Mountain. Near there was a resort called Hidden Dragon Manor.
He quickly gave an order: "Liu Baoqing, hurry! Hidden Dragon Manor! It’s the closest point, and there should be a road leading up the mountain from there."
Without a word, Liu Baoqing called to Cui Xuesong, and they led their team as they piled into the police cars.
But he wasn’t finished. Zhang Hancheng quickly pulled out his phone and called Du Yong’s team, ordering them to organize and head to the west side of Longwang Mountain to cut off any escape.
After giving the orders, he turned back to the screen. He placed a hand on Shen Xin’s shoulder and gave it a light, firm squeeze.
He didn’t say a word, but his eyes said it all.
On the screen, Tianyi was still barking ferociously at Fan Lei.
Fan Lei was clearly starting to panic.
He had seen the vest Tianyi was wearing.
The words "POLICE K9" were particularly conspicuous.
Seeing that throwing rocks wasn’t scaring Tianyi off, Fan Lei hastily bent down, retrieved his carry-on bag from his hiding spot, and clutched it to his chest as he scrambled further up the mountain.
He was making a run for it.
Shen Xin looked up at Wang Qing.
Wang Qing understood and said quickly, "Almost there."
The drone was closing in fast.
Shen Xin grabbed the walkie-talkie and ordered, "Tianyi, stay on him."
On screen, Tianyi immediately gave chase.
Shen Xin quickly glanced at the screen again. It was covered in red dots. The one closest to Tianyi appeared to be Celestial Damage.
But Shen Xin was looking for Tian Kui.
His gaze narrowed, and then he found him.
Tian Kui was a little further behind the main group.
’That guy is probably slacking off again,’ Shen Xin thought.
Tiger Stripes was right beside him; their two dots on the map were almost overlapping.
Shen Xin picked up the walkie-talkie. "Tian Kui, gather all the dogs! Forward, now!"
Among this group of police dogs in training, Tian Kui was the undisputed king, his ability to rally the others unmatched.
Cai Zhe switched the display to Tian Kui’s camera feed just in time.
On screen, Tiger Stripes was sauntering around right in front of him.
Shen Xin’s voice, broadcast from the walkie-talkie, must have startled Tiger Stripes.
Tian Kui, however, had clearly understood Shen Xin’s intent. He shot forward abruptly.
The camera feed shook violently.
At the same time, Tian Kui’s long, drawn-out howl echoed through the speaker.
It was long and resonant, just like a wolf’s howl.
Normal dogs sometimes tilt their heads to the sky and howl like wolves.
As for Tian Kui... to be honest, Shen Xin truly felt he was an atavistic throwback, that he had wolf’s blood in his veins.
That’s why his howls sounded so much more wolf-like.
A powerful A-WOOO that he could hold for a very long time.
Dogs are pack animals. Besides communicating through scent—in other words, sniffing each other’s butts—howling is another vital means of contact.
For instance, to tell their packmates where they are.
In rural villages at night, one dog would often start barking, and then every other dog in the village would join in.
It was just like when all the lurkers in a group chat suddenly pop up and start posting.
That single howl reverberated through the mountain forest.
Shen Xin had no way of knowing the exact meaning it conveyed.
He guessed it meant something like, ’The boss is here! Everyone, to me, now!’
The effect was staggering.
On the screen, the scattered, chaotic red dots instantly converged on Tian Kui’s position, as if drawn by a magnet.
Zhang Hancheng’s eyes went wide. He was too stunned to speak.
He could almost picture the scene unfolding in the distance.
Police dogs sprinting through the mountain forest, through patches of dappled light and shadow.
Just then, Tian Kui’s howl had echoed from afar.
All the dogs had stopped in their tracks, turned in unison, and raced toward the source of the sound.
The scene truly embodied the saying: "Scattered, they are like stars across the sky; gathered, they are a single, raging fire."
"Tianyi, howl."
Shen Xin ordered again into the walkie-talkie.
He could see that Tian Kui’s group was slightly off course.
Through Tianyi’s camera, Fan Lei could be seen clutching his carry-on bag, refusing to drop it as he ran frantically through the trees.
The path was choked with saplings and branches, slowing him down.
In the mountains, a man could never outrun a dog, so Tianyi simply kept pace.
Hearing the command, he immediately tilted his head back and let out a howl of his own.
He must have heard Tian Kui’s howl as well.
Now, his howl served as a beacon, guiding Tian Kui and the pack.
Tian Kui immediately corrected his course. Howling as he ran, his speed was terrifying.
By now, the drone had arrived on scene.
Mao Ji Qiang, piloting the drone, hovered it in the air for a top-down view and immediately let out a curse.
Wang Qing saw it too. Peering through the canopy, he could clearly see dozens of police dogs charging in the same direction through the forest below.
The scene was like a wolf pack that had found its prey and was closing in for the kill.
On the GPS map, the situation was even clearer.
The red dots converged from all directions like the five fingers of a closing hand, trapping Fan Lei in the center.
On Tianyi’s camera feed, Fan Lei slipped and fell to the ground with a THUD.
He scrambled back to his feet and kept running.
He could hear Tian Kui’s howls, too, and they were getting closer.
Just then, the shape of a police dog emerged from the trees ahead of him.
He stopped dead. Before he could even catch his breath, another police dog burst out from a different direction.
He was surrounded on three sides.
"Get away! Stop barking! Get the hell away from me!"
Fan Lei picked up rocks from the ground and threw them.
It was useless.
He threw a few more rocks, but seeing they had no effect, he looked up to run. Just then, on the slope to his front right, Tian Kui revealed himself.
He stood with his head held high and chest puffed out, his powerful body like that of a wolf, looking down on Fan Lei from his high vantage point.
His sheer presence in that moment even overshadowed Tiger Stripes, who was peeking out from behind him.
Fan Lei froze. He whipped his head around. Behind him, the even more imposing Black Panther was slowly closing in.
Black Panther, who stood as tall as a man’s waist, was even more intimidating.
Then, one by one, more police dogs emerged, forming a tight circle around Fan Lei.
Most importantly, not a single dog was barking. They just stared at Fan Lei in silence.
Few people could remain fearless in such a situation.
"Don’t come any closer!"
Fan Lei yelled in a panic, fumbling to pull something out of his carry-on bag.
It was a kitchen cleaver.
WOOF!
It was Black Panther. In his training, a cleaver was classified as a weapon.
He instantly lunged forward, assuming a combat stance.
The moment he barked, all the other dogs joined in.
The instantaneous, deafening chorus of barks made Fan Lei flinch so hard he fell right on his backside.
The carry-on bag in his hands flipped over, and a package fell out of the unzipped opening.
It looked like it was wrapped in newspaper.
Fan Lei scrambled to pick it up.
Seizing the opportunity, Black Panther feinted a charge.
Fan Lei hastily raised the cleaver again and stumbled backward in a panic.
But after taking one step back, he remembered the package on the ground and rushed to grab it again.
In his panic, the object slid out from its newspaper wrapping.
Wang Qing, watching Fan Lei on the video feed, gasped, "Holy shit, a gold bar!"
It was palm-sized and gleaming yellow. That wasn’t just a gold bar; it was a gold brick.
Shen Xin saw it too.
On camera, Fan Lei was roaring and waving the cleaver to drive Black Panther back, then trying to pick up the gold brick again.
Beside him, Zhang Hancheng snorted.
Shen Xin had a flash of understanding as well. ’I was wondering,’ he thought, ’if Fan Lei had taken several million in cash, where would he hide it all?’
’So he took it in gold bricks.’
The price of gold this year was 280 yuan per gram. One million yuan in cash could buy about 3.7 kilograms of gold.
That was only slightly heavier than a standard brick.
’Makes it much more convenient to go on the run.’
Black Panther didn’t actually charge.
Tian Kui let out a bark, as if to say, ’I haven’t given the order yet, what are you getting so worked up about?’
Black Panther ignored him and continued to roar at Fan Lei.
’We’re not from the same unit. You can’t tell me what to do.’
Tian Kui grew furious. He leaped down from his perch and barked at Black Panther.
It looked like the two of them were about to start fighting each other.
Tiger Stripes jumped down after him, barking as well, as if egging Tian Kui on to teach Black Panther a lesson.
’That’ll teach him for always disobeying.’
Shen Xin quickly grabbed the walkie-talkie. "Tian Kui! Black Panther! Back down!"
The sound erupted from 41 walkie-talkies simultaneously, making Fan Lei jump.
But Shen Xin’s words worked. Black Panther immediately took a few steps back, and Tian Kui halted.
Zhang Hancheng took the walkie-talkie and said in a grim voice, "Fan Lei, look up. We have you locked down. There’s nowhere left to run. Surrender."
Stunned, Fan Lei looked up. Through a gap in the canopy, he saw the drone hovering in the sky.
"Surrender my ass!"
Fan Lei shrieked, pointing his cleaver at Tian Kui. "You! Get the hell away from me!"
Tian Kui didn’t even deign to look him in the eye. In fact, he looked eager for a fight.
Waving his cleaver, Fan Lei charged forward, slashing wildly.
"Tian Kui, fall back!"
Shen Xin shouted urgently.
It wasn’t that he feared they couldn’t handle the 51-year-old Fan Lei.
There were 41 dogs. If they all attacked, they could tear Fan Lei to pieces.
But there was no need for that.
He had a knife, after all. A cornered, desperate man could easily injure one of the dogs.
He was already a caged animal. Why take the risk?
Tian Kui dodged nimbly. He had been about to charge but stopped upon hearing Shen Xin’s command.
Waving his cleaver, Fan Lei managed to force his way out of the encirclement, slipping and falling once as he did.
But it was useless.
With 41 police dogs surrounding him and a drone overhead, where could he possibly go?
Fan Lei didn’t have time to think about that. He broke through the encirclement and just kept running.
The mountain path was rugged and tangled with undergrowth, making his flight difficult.
He lost his footing for a moment and was tripped by a tree root.
The carry-on bag fell again, and the gold brick tumbled out, landing in the grass.
He scrambled up and frantically searched for it in the grass.
After finding it, he stuffed it back into the bag, hastily zipped it up, and took off running again in a panic.
But after just a few steps, his foot suddenly met empty air.
It was a steep slope. He let out a piercing scream as he fell, and the carry-on bag was flung far from his grasp.
He didn’t even think about the cleaver, just frantically scrambled after his bag.
His pathetic state was like that of a miser desperately trying to stuff his pockets with gold—the more he panicked, the more it spilled out.
He was a perfect illustration of the saying, "men die in pursuit of wealth."
He slid down the slope on all fours, hitting something on the way that made him wince in pain.
Yet he still held on to the carry-on bag for dear life, panting like an ox.
Behind him, all the police dogs followed, watching in silence.
Fan Lei thought about going back for his cleaver, but one look at the pack of dogs made him give up the idea.
He struggled to his feet, wanting to run again, but his legs gave out and he collapsed back to the ground.
It was his right foot.
He didn’t know when he’d twisted it, but now a stabbing pain shot through it.
Fan Lei was 51, not a young man anymore. Between the mad dash and the sheer panic, his stamina seemed to have reached its limit.
He clutched the bag, glanced at the police dogs watching him like predators, and suddenly let out a raw, desperate howl.
Even through the microphones, Shen Xin and Zhang Hancheng could hear the utter despair in his cries.
He cried out several times in a row before breaking into a violent, dry cough that left him voiceless.
He sat where he was, gasping for breath for a full minute. He looked back at the assembled pack of police dogs, then hugged his bag, climbed to his feet, and started hobbling forward, limping badly.