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墨書 Inktalez
Let's turn back the clock to just a few minutes ago. Old Shao was on his way to Kant's Home while Jiang He was trying to hail a taxi.
Jiang He had already turned away seven taxi drivers because he knew that at a speed of thirty or forty miles per hour, even reaching Shangde Road would be pointless. He needed someone who could drive fast. But five minutes had passed, and Jiang He still hadn’t found a driver willing to take him.
Now five minutes had gone by, meaning Ding Derun still had fifteen minutes left. Regardless of whether Ding Derun could make it to Shangde Road, his partner would be safe. Jiang He was sixty percent sure that this was all a trap set by the kidnappers.
It was as if the kidnappers were sending a reminder; the police had been wrong from the very beginning.
A tractor pulled up in front of Jiang He. The driver was a muscular man in his thirties, shirtless and glistening with sweat from the sweltering summer heat, exuding a scent reminiscent of cumin that made Jiang He think of barbecue stalls under the moonlight.
"Why don’t they pick you up? You give me a hundred, and I’ll take you," the tractor driver said.
Jiang He replied, "Can you drive at one hundred twenty?"
The man shook his head.
Jiang He had no choice but to look for another vehicle.
"Unless you add fifty more," the man said.
"Let’s go!"
With that, the tractor roared to life and sped down the street at over one hundred miles per hour.
The kidnappers might have intended this, as the road from here to Shangde Road was clear with few cars, which worked in favor of Jiang He and the tractor he was riding.
Criminal Police Officer 957 had just become a traffic officer. This was his first solo mission, and while he was filled with excitement, an SUV rushed past him like a gust of wind, nearly knocking him over with its wake. He quickly reported to his superiors, who instructed him not to create chaos and to manage traffic properly.
957 knew that all the traffic police in the city had been dispatched; he had heard that a multi-car accident had occurred at an intersection, resulting in significant injuries, but fortunately, no one had died. Now, with all the traffic police occupied with their duties, he wouldn’t have been on duty at this hour otherwise.
As 957 pondered what all those traffic officers were up to, he suddenly felt a strong gust of wind.
A tractor, belching black smoke, zoomed past him at an incredible speed—definitely over a hundred miles per hour. What shocked 957 even more was that someone was clinging tightly to the back of the tractor.
He had never imagined that being a traffic officer could be so exhilarating.
Meanwhile, Jiang He, sitting on the tractor, was deep in thought about where Ding Derun was driving and what the kidnappers might make him do once they arrived.
Quickly, Jiang He came to two conclusions. Given Ding Derun's driving skills, Jiang He believed they had already covered two-thirds of the distance. The five roads ahead had formed a complete symbol; once Ding Derun reached Shangde Road, there would be no further routes. This meant that if the kidnappers intended to execute their plan, they would have to do so within the next ten minutes.
Ding Derun was solely focused on driving and didn’t want to think about anything else. His earpiece had fallen to the floor of the vehicle; he could hear a buzzing sound from it but didn’t have time to pick it up or listen to the police. The only words he needed to hear were those of the kidnappers.
Time was running out, and he still had some distance to cover before reaching Shangde Road. He needed to speed up.
What terrified him most was the thought of his phone ringing with instructions from the kidnappers before he reached Shangde Road. Fortunately, there weren’t many cars on this road, allowing him to travel at maximum speed. If he maintained this pace, he might just make it in time.
Just then, out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a blurry figure in the distance.
It was a woman standing by the roadside, looking around anxiously and pacing back and forth. The familiar motion immediately put Ding Derun on high alert. He recognized this behavior; he had seen it before—Old Wang had acted similarly just yesterday.
After only a brief glance, Ding Derun realized that this woman was a novice scammer. Her anxiousness betrayed her; true scammers should strike unexpectedly. Moreover, with so few cars around and such high speeds, she should have chosen a busier area where vehicles moved slower.
“Don’t choose me! Don’t choose me!” Ding Derun nearly shouted in desperation.
The thing that could scare Ding Derun happened. Perhaps this woman was desperate for money, or maybe she was simply seeking death; in any case, she stepped off the curb and walked into the street.
At that moment, Ding Derun was in a dilemma. He didn’t have many options. If he wanted to stop, he had to hit the brakes right now; otherwise, in just a few seconds, he would run over this woman. But if he chose to brake, he would definitely get entangled with her, and then he would never reach Shangde Road on time.
At a speed of one hundred twenty kilometers per hour, he had to make a decision now: brake or not brake, kill or not kill.
A thought flashed through Ding Derun's mind almost instantaneously: "At this speed, given my age and slower reflexes, it’s only natural. Besides, I’m following the orders of the kidnappers; all lives should be counted against them. I might as well just hit her. There are cameras in the distance; they must have captured her hesitation by the roadside. That’s typical scamming behavior. I’ll bear some responsibility, but it won’t be too great."
"And there’s no time left. Even if it means killing someone, I need to save my partner." Ding Derun pressed down hard on the accelerator; he had made up his mind to kill this woman.
Without a moment's hesitation, Ding Derun floored the gas pedal and charged straight at her.
He gripped the steering wheel tightly, confident that after hitting her, he could steer directly towards Shangde Road.
The car collided with the woman, sending her flying into the air. Blood splattered across the windshield as Ding Derun didn’t pause for even a moment. She soared like a marionette suspended in midair. He couldn’t know how many bones were broken or how much damage her entrails sustained.
Inside the car, Ding Derun howled; at that moment, he disregarded everything else.
In just a matter of seconds, Ding Derun's car vanished from the street.
The woman fell heavily to the ground, and a bloom of blood erupted upon impact.
In the next moment, a wig landed on her body.
This was not a woman at all; it was merely a man dressed in feminine clothing with a wig. If Ding Derun had had more time to observe or if he hadn’t been so rushed, he could have easily discerned from the man's tall stature and prominent Adam's apple that he was not a woman. But Ding Derun simply did not notice.
At this moment, Ding Derun was solely focused on saving his old partner; everything else was unimportant.
Ding Derun considered himself a responsible and kind person. He would do anything for his son and his partner, even willing to sacrifice his own life if necessary. But as Jiang He had asked, did the lives of his family hold more value than those of others?
Ding Derun did not answer directly, but in his heart, he believed that was indeed the case.
So when he was scamming, it didn't matter who the other person was, whether they were in a difficult situation or had urgent matters to attend to. It didn't matter if they were poor or a driver; as long as he could get the money, he disregarded everything else. Just like now, as long as he could save his son, he didn't care who he might harm in the process.
Finally, Ding Derun arrived at Shangde Road within the allotted time. He leaned on the steering wheel and laughed heartily; he had made it. This was the first time he had ever driven recklessly as an experienced driver.
Tears of laughter streamed down his face.
A tractor was stopped in the road, and he couldn't stop in time because there lay a bloodied person who was still bleeding.
Jiang He jumped off the tractor and rushed to the man's side.
"He's still breathing; call for an ambulance," Jiang He urged quickly.
Seeing someone injured, a passerby hurriedly dialed for help.
Jiang He crouched in front of the man and examined him closely. At a glance, he realized this was a man dressed as a woman, but Jiang He couldn't understand why he would do such a thing. He noticed several bones protruding from the man's body, bruises covering him everywhere, and blood pouring from various wounds.
The man lay with his eyes closed, his body occasionally convulsing.
From Jiang He's experience, he knew this man wouldn't last until the ambulance arrived. Blood was oozing from all his orifices, indicating severe internal injuries.
The man suddenly opened his eyes, staring intently at Jiang He. He wanted to say something, but ultimately nothing came out. He closed his eyes again, and even his breathing ceased.
Such severe injuries were caused by a violent impact, yet there were no tall buildings around; it couldn't have been a fall from a height. The most likely scenario was a car accident, but Jiang He hadn't seen any skid marks on the street, indicating that the driver hadn't braked upon seeing the man but had instead crashed directly into him.
Jiang He was seventy percent sure that the driver who hit him was Ding Derun.
With this thought in mind, Jiang He spoke up, "Ding Derun hit someone with his car. Is Xu Yiman there? I'll send you the location."
"Okay," came Xu Yiman's voice through the earpiece.
At this moment, both the project team and all the detectives in Jingzhong City were in disarray. In less than two hours, so many changes had occurred. All the detectives were scattered throughout the city; some were investigating the whereabouts of forty thousand, others were at Baohua Road and Morning Dew Street tracking down the kidnapper's phone calls, some were at Kant's Home working on cases, and others needed to follow up on Ding Derun...
The earpiece occasionally crackled with snippets of conversation from others; it was all quite chaotic.
The only person who remained calm was Ding Derun.
Ding Derun had been waiting for a call from the kidnappers, but the phone never came.
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