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墨書 Inktalez
In just a few seconds, I plunged directly into the river. Instantly, a shiver ran through my entire body; it was winter now, and the water was icy cold, as if thousands of knives were slicing into my flesh. My vision blurred, and just as I tore off my gas mask, I felt the water rushing into my ears and nose. I quickly held my breath and desperately swam upward.
Fortunately, it wasn't the dead of winter yet, and the river's surface hadn't frozen over. If I had fallen onto ice, I would have likely shattered my insides. At that moment, a pair of hands grabbed my arm, and with a pull, I was flipped over to find a Rescue Boat had already stopped beside me.
"We found Captain Shao! We found Captain Shao!" shouted one of the officers on the boat into the radio. "Rescue the others quickly!"
As I climbed aboard, I was completely soaked. My body trembled uncontrollably; my teeth chattered, and I couldn't utter a word. My calves were cramping from the shock, making everything feel utterly terrible. This was just from a few minutes in the water; if it had lasted any longer, I might have gone into shock.
Even those who engage in Winter Swimming do so after systematic warm-ups; we had been caught off guard by suddenly falling into the water. Thankfully, I had arranged for a Rescue Boat beforehand; without that preparation, those who fell in would likely have met their end here.
At this moment, an officer began helping me remove my clothes. If I remained in them while the cold wind blew, I'd be freezing all over; even if I didn't die from it, I'd surely fall seriously ill. My hands were shaking so much that I could only let everyone assist me in stripping off my wet clothes. Huddled in the narrow cabin of the Rescue Boat, I wiped off the river water and wrapped myself in a pre-prepared Blanket, feeling warmth gradually return to my body.
Once I warmed up a bit, I finally asked, "How many people fell into the water? What's the situation now?"
The officer handed me a towel to dry my hair and replied, "We saw five or six people fall in. The other Rescue Boats are still searching; don't worry, they should be fine."
Now on the boat, I couldn't see what was happening on the bridge. Hearing the officer's words eased my anxiety somewhat. However, I never expected things to escalate to this point. We hadn't even had time to ask the victim anything before it reached this stage.
Thinking about this made me want to slap myself. But it was too late to say anything now; what happened had already occurred. We needed to figure out when exactly the robbers left and when they escaped from the vehicle—and what mode of transportation they switched to afterward.
"The search for all individuals who fell into the water has been completed; no casualties have been reported so far," came a voice over the radio. Hearing that there were no casualties brought me some relief; this was indeed a stroke of luck—no loss of life was better than anything else.
After changing into dry clothes, we hurried to the shore and found a vehicle to rush to the bridge and assess the situation after the explosion. Outside the cordon, drivers who had gotten out of their cars surrounded us, many taking photos and videos with their phones. I knew that within minutes, news of the Rainbow Bridge Explosion Incident would spread like wildfire online.
This truly added an invisible pressure on us; there had been too many incidents in Tianlan City recently.
Crossing past the cordon, we arrived at the explosion site. At that moment, thick black smoke still lingered like wisps in the air from where the bomb had detonated; the entire bridge reeked of gunpowder. The SUV had exploded simultaneously and was now toppled at the edge of the bridge, teetering on the brink of falling into the river.
The Riot Vehicle lay overturned on the roadside but fortunately hadn't exploded. Several officers were on the bridge using fire extinguishers to put out flames caused by debris from the explosion. Yuzelin stood on the bridge with her clothes torn in several places and blood oozing from multiple wounds.
A doctor stood beside Yuzelin trying to bandage her wounds, but Yuzelin's frequent movements interrupted her several times. "You all! Use a vehicle to pull this SUV wreckage back—don't let it fall into the water! There are still people down there!" Yuzelin shouted.
"Go ask if everyone who fell in has been rescued!"
"Don't just stand there! Hurry up and help transport the injured!"
"Give me a phone; mine is broken. I need to report this to the director."
Yuzelin stood on the bridge, directing everyone amidst the chaos. The scene was frantic, with some transporting the injured, others shouting into walkie-talkies, some extinguishing small fires with fire extinguishers, and others managing traffic outside. Everyone was busy, and I hurried a few steps to reach Yuzelin.
"Linzi, are you okay?" Yuzelin said with relief upon seeing me.
"Do I look like someone who’s in trouble? You, on the other hand, should stay still and let the doctor bandage you up," I replied, glancing at the overwhelmed doctor. "The people who fell into the water have all been rescued without casualties; they're currently under the bridge. How's the situation on the bridge?"
Yuzelin let out a sigh of relief. "That's good to hear. There are quite a few injured here, but no one is dead or seriously hurt. Most injuries are from debris thrown by the explosion; they’re mostly minor. Fortunately, only our two teams were close to the vehicles; everyone else is relatively safe."
"What about Juan Juan and Dezi…?"
Seeing my worried expression, Yuzelin smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry; they're fine. Yang Xiaojuan and Mary went to help transport the injured, while Dezi is reviewing surveillance footage to figure out when the suspects escaped."
Looking at the wreckage on the bridge, Yuzelin's expression darkened. "In just over ten days, so much has happened in Tianlan City. First, there was the Demon Boy Guo Guoqing murder case, then a copycat murder case, and now a bank robbery—the Rainbow Bridge Explosion Incident… Provincial leaders have already been alerted; it won’t be long before they arrive personally. Who would have thought that our small city would attract provincial leaders due to a murder case?"
Yuzelin's concern and frustration were palpable. I patted her shoulder and sighed. "At least we managed to corner them on Rainbow Bridge; if it had happened in the city center, the casualties would have been catastrophic..."
Upon hearing my words, Yuzelin fell silent. If we had indeed forced them into the city center back then, a bomb would have exploded within ten minutes, likely causing a chain reaction among vehicles and resulting in hundreds of casualties. If that had happened, we would have been in serious trouble.
The scene had been cordoned off for half an hour now, with vehicles stuck at both ends of Rainbow Bridge. Many drivers were starting to complain, worried about their schedules. Seeing this situation, I turned to Yuzelin and said, "The robbers left almost nothing behind; the only witness was blown to bits, and everything inside the vehicle was burned clean—there’s nothing left."
"Let’s move the road roller away and clear our vehicles to one side, leaving one lane open on each side for traffic to slowly disperse."
At that moment, Dezi sent word that they had found traces of where the killers had escaped. Yuzelin and I nodded in agreement to check it out together while leaving some officers from the Police Department behind to clean up the scene. We met Dezi in an alley about a kilometer from the bank—this was the only stretch without surveillance cameras.
As we looked around, we saw that the entire alley was littered with empty snack wrappers piled high like mountains—it resembled a garbage dump. Confused, I watched as Dezi pushed aside some of the trash bags until we uncovered something beneath them.
It turned out there were many foam pieces underneath those snack wrappers, and beneath that lay a mattress. Suddenly it clicked for me how the robbers had managed to escape. If they jumped from a moving vehicle without any cushioning below them, they would face tremendous inertia; however, if they had laid down soft materials on the ground like this foam for cushioning, they could jump out safely!
This area was indeed the only stretch without surveillance cameras—the killers could only have escaped through here.
We looked down three alleys; all were similarly littered with debris.
Unexpectedly, Killer played this trick of escaping like a cicada shedding its shell on us.
Yuzelin cursed loudly, saying, "Damn it, we’ve been played!"
I nodded; it was indeed the case. From the fact that the robbers could manufacture explosives, to their level of training, and the perfectly planned escape route they devised, this was definitely not something a bunch of social misfits could pull off on a whim by saying, "Let's rob a bank."
There had to be a well-organized group behind these people.
Thinking of this, I immediately called the department because I felt that this incident was definitely related to the Heavenly Domain Organization. If there was any organization capable of orchestrating such a meticulously planned heist right under my nose, it could only be the Heavenly Domain Organization. And if they were involved, things would get even more complicated.
With this thought in mind, I couldn't help but furrow my brow. At that moment, Yuzelin glanced at her phone and said to me, "The day after tomorrow, most of the provincial leaders will come to Tianlan City to discuss this case with the leaders here. At that meeting, you and I will probably have a hard time getting out of it."
I nodded in agreement.
"What time is it now? These leaders are just adding to the chaos," Yuzelin complained. "They never come around for discussions about development!"
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