Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

There was no signal at Wuming Village where Xiang Wan was currently at.

After he left the village and entered the forest again, he did not know how she was doing.

He had treated the Wuming Village like a base, lest it might be a long battle to seek out the Dark Clan’s base. Therefore, he had actually left quite a lot of men behind, as well as Cheng Zheng. Hence, he was quite sure that Xiang Wan would be safe.

Nevertheless, when he thought of her wounded leg, he would feel a little heartache.

… When she woke up but did not manage to see him, would she be angry?

Bai Muchuan seemed lost for an instant as he thought of Xiang Wan.

At this moment, Quan Shaoteng was handling the aftermath of the mission at Vulture’s Mouth.

By right, he should rush to help Quan Shaoteng handle all the aftermath…

But there was a sudden uncontrollable impulse in him.

He wanted to see her badly.

Even if it was just a look and a greeting on how she was doing…

In this battle, Huang He and Fang Yuanyuan were not the only ones who had a narrow escape with death.

Weren’t it the same with them? If he was not careful, both of them would have already been separated by death…

If he didn’t manage to dodge the bullets fired at him, he might not even have time to leave behind some last words for her?

Bai Muchuan suddenly felt a little unsettled.

His heart was pounding with unease, his pulse vibrating within his ears.

Somehow, he felt a little flustered.

An unexpected sense of urgency dominated him.

“Comrade… I need to go back to the Wuming Village! Please send me there!”

Bai Muchuan arranged for others to join Quan Shaoteng whereas he got a police jeep to head straight to Wuming Village with Salimu.

This place was dozens of miles away from the Wuming Village and the road condition was especially tough.

But at the moment, he only wanted to meet Xiang Wan.

When the jeep was driving along the mountainous road, the uneasiness in Bai Muchuan’s heart relaxed a little.

… It felt like he was secretly going back to meet his lover whom he had not met for a long time.

Such a feeling was rare for Bai Muchuan.

He never experienced these when he was a teenager, and found himself unable to resist such a feeling.

“Boss, what are you smiling at?” Salimu was sitting on the front passenger seat when he turned to look at him.

Was he smiling?

The smile on Bai Muchuan’s face slowly disappeared as he looked back at Salimu.

“Uh… Did I see wrongly?”

Salimu rubbed his eyes and gave up looking at Bai Muchuan.

“Alright! You did not smile… But you didn’t respond to me when I talked to you?”

When Bai Muchuan was thinking about Xiang Wan, he was indeed smiling.

It was just that he himself did not notice as he had done so subconsciously.

“Silly fellow!” Bai Muchuan asked Salimu with a smile, “What’s up?”

“… Wow boss, you’re smiling again! You look so kind and benevolent!” Salimu had not seen Bai Muchuan smile for a long time and was surprised.

But… the words “kind and benevolent”, was it really suitable?

“How did you get into college with your poor mandarin?”

“… It’s special enrollment!” Salimu said as a matter-of-factly as he patted his big and round backpack. “My professor says I’m an exceptional talent!”

“Hur! you’re indeed exceptional!”

Bai Muchuan gave him a dirty look, but Salimu did not notice his expression and continued to talk.

“I feel so mentally drained from this mission! Boss, when I joined Serious Crime Division One, I’d thought it would be cool, exciting where I can boast to my classmates. I also thought of posting on WeChat Moments occasionally to act tough. But I realized that it’s not cool at all… and not suitable to act tough, either!”

Salimu started to talk softer and softer.

That his voice seemed to have been concealed in the sounds of the wind…

“It’s my first time seeing so many dead people…”

He muttered another sentence, his state of mind was in a turmoil.

Bai Muchuan did not answer him immediately.

When the jeep went around and past the steep curve, he finally said something.

“Young men sure have lots of thoughts… you’re motivated this second and depressed the next!”

Salimu: “…”

Salimu seemed a little dazed as he felt Bai Muchuan was behaving like an elder as though showing off his seniority. “You’re not much older than me! Captain Bai, are you in your thirties?”

Bai Muchuan’s hand twitched; he felt a pulling sensation on his arm—his wound hurts.

Mm, it must be this simpleton that triggered the pain!

“Your Mandarin is poor,” he retorted, “your eyesight doesn’t seem to be well either?”

Urgh! Salimu looked at Bai Muchuan’s stubby beard that he had yet to shave and pursed his lips.

“… So my eyes are playing tricks on me again? You’re still a twenty-something?”

Bai Muchuan: “…”

He couldn’t help taking a look at the rearview mirror.

He saw a man with a stubby beard, a pair of bloodshot eyes with some grazes at the forehead, and a pale face… He became an aesthetically pleasing “melancholic-looking uncle”.

The past two days had been a hell of a time.

Bai Muchuan gave a swipe on his chin. “This is called the mature beauty of a man! You don’t understand!”

…

Detective Bai had always been well-known for his looks, but now that he got poked fun of by Salimu, he found himself caught in a little dilemma.

While on the way to Wuming Village, he kept thinking if he should tidy himself up before meeting Xiang Wan?

However, before he entered the village, he knew that there was no longer a need for that.

The entire village seemed to be in chaos—before the jeep got near, they could already hear a commotion.

Bai Muchuan’s relaxed mood instantly became tense.

“Drive faster!”

…

A group of people walked over to them when the police jeep drove into the village.

The one who was walking right in front was Cheng Zheng.

When he saw Bai Muchuan, he was stunned for a moment and rushed to him.

“You’re here!?”

His greeting felt so strange that even Salimu sensed something unusual.

Cheng Zheng was not an enthusiastic person. He would usually leave Bai Muchuan alone if he saw him.

What was the reason for such a “warm” welcome?

Salimu took a look at the people over a distance who seemed busy looking for something and something came to his mind…

The next moment, he asked, “Something happened to Xiang Wan?”

Only when something happened to Xiang Wan would Cheng Zheng’s forever cold and apathetic face turn pale… No, maybe he looked more like a stern spirit?

Sure enough, Salimu was spot-on.

The moment Cheng Zheng heard his words, his face was filled with regret.

“We just came back and found out that—she has disappeared!”

Disappeared.

Bai Muchuan’s hand that opened the car door suddenly felt weak.

When he got off the jeep, his knees went numb as well.

His heart was as if it was dipped in ice water, like he had lost strength.

When he got shot in his arm, he did not feel like this.

When he had a narrow escape with death in Vulture’s Mouth, he was never like this, either.

They had found the Dark Clan’s base and completed their mission, yet it turned out like this. This had totally taken him by surprise—his spirit was instantly defeated.

He stared at Cheng Zheng fiercely. “What exactly happened?

Cheng Zheng remained silent.

A while later, under Bai Muchuan’s compelling gaze, he apologized solemnly.

“I’m sorry. We went to save Cheng Xin and did not expect that…”

They did not expect that the matter did not end with Lima, Xie Wanwan, and Fang Yuanyuan…

All three of them had suffered—how could Xiang Wan be let off the hook?

…

Cheng Xin had followed Hassan to come to the village.

As a police officer, she also helped the team by running errands and stuff.

Bai Muchuan had thought about Xiang Wan’s injuries and thought that maybe leaving a woman around would be convenient at times.

For instance, he had asked a granny from the village to help Xiang Wan get changed out of her wet clothes, but she took almost 30 minutes to finish the task…

And what would happen when he needed to leave the village? What if they were unable to find another female villager to help out? He couldn’t be expecting Cheng Zheng to do that?

Bai Muchuan thought that Cheng Xin would be able to help Cheng Zheng out by helping to take care of Xiang Wan, as well as help to settle matters where it would be inappropriate for a man to do so.

He knew that Cheng Xin had a temper, but at the very least, she was a police officer and should not do anything outrageous.

However…

He was wrong.

In Cheng Zheng’s presence, it was easier for Cheng Xin to throw a tantrum.

Earlier in the morning, after Cheng Xin quarreled with Xiang Wan, she ran out of the village and did not come back for a long time.

Cheng Zheng brought an armed police officer with him to look for her where they found a group of travelling merchants who used horses to carry goods.

In Nanmu, transportation was still not as developed.

The natives still adopted primitive methods of transportation—use of animals to carry goods.

That group of merchants led their horses and walked, not sure where they were going. Cheng Xin was tied up and thrown onto one of the horses.

There were more than 20 travelling merchants armed with guns and knives.

Cheng Zheng dared not act rashly. He let the armed police officer go back to the village to get more people while he followed them. When the reinforcements arrived, they carried out the rescue.

They never knew that after they rescued Cheng Xin, they would go back and realized that Xiang Wan was gone.

Not only Xiang Wan had disappeared, the 70-year old granny who helped her change clothes—the owner of the house where Xiang Wan was staying at—was found dead behind the house.

…

Bai Muchuan was gnashing his teeth after hearing Cheng Zheng out.

“You left her alone in the village?”

“She’s not alone,” said Cheng Zheng, “a few officers kept watch on duty outside the house. They did not enter the house as they were all males and only kept watch outside…”

“How did she disappear?” Bai Muchuan’s expression was as though he was about to kill someone.

As for Cheng Zheng, it was rare that he admit his mistake before Bai Muchuan.

“She must have been brought out of the house by the window…”

Bai Muchuan stroked his injured arm; he felt that his wound hurt terribly at that moment.

He did not ask Cheng Zheng anything more but dashed into the room directly.

She was gone, and the house was empty.

That seemed to be the best way to describe it.

Xiang Wan’s personal belonging was still inside the house. It was her mobile phone that had been soaked in the lake water and left on the bed.

The tiny window was wide-opened. There were footsteps on the window sill and a small piece of fabric that got pulled off…

It was the fabric that Xiang Wan was wearing…

The howling winds were as though sobbing.

Bai Muchuan walked inside with a stern face and touched the blanket.

… It was still warm!

The window was wide-opened where the cold wind kept blowing in—the blanket was not cold yet.

“She’s just been taken! Chase!”

According to Bai Muchuan’s deduction, she was taken not more than 20 minutes ago.

Yet in these 20 minutes, he missed the chance to meet Xiang Wan.

What he didn’t know was that Xiang Wan saw him inside the jeep while the jeep drove into the village. She was being thrown onto a horse, unable to shout or move. She could only stare at him in desperation as someone led her and the horse away…