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墨書 Inktalez
Under the muzzles of two automatic rifles, Fatty obediently tossed aside the bottle and raised his hands.
Two armed police officers, one crouching and the other standing, quickly took control of Fatty. At that moment, two more officers rushed in, shouting "Don't move!" while pointing their weapons at me.
I cursed Fatty in my heart; he was just a step away from shouting for us to surrender our weapons. I crouched down, hands on my head.
The room was small and clear to see. I noticed several feet passing by me, as if they were searching through our bedding. Then my arms were twisted behind my back, and cold handcuffs locked around my wrists. Strong hands pulled me up and pushed me out the door. Through the gap between people, I saw Fatty being held down by several officers as he walked ahead of me. Soon, we were shoved into a police car with iron bars, and the vehicle roared to life with a blaring siren.
There was nothing I could do now; Fatty, the troublemaker, had probably gone too far and killed those two stupid thieves. This was it— not only was Xiao Ting in trouble, but his comrades were also in danger. The authorities in Myanmar had no patience for gambling debts; if we didn't pay up quickly, it would be easy for them to cripple us or even kill us without any chance for justice. I let my thoughts spiral for a moment before spitting silently in frustration. What was the point of thinking about this? We were both in deep trouble already. If someone really died, not only would Fatty face serious consequences, but I wouldn't escape unscathed either.
The police car didn't take long to start moving before the sirens stopped. Perhaps due to the quiet night traffic, we sped along quickly. I could hear the wind howling outside. Before long, the car began to bump along the road, and our speed decreased slightly. At that moment, I noticed there were only four people in the back of the vehicle from the number of feet I could see, which struck me as odd. They had made such a big deal about capturing us; now it seemed almost farcical during transport. With Fatty's size, it should have taken at least two people to hold him down.
Due to road conditions, our speed continued to slow. My heart raced with anxiety; this wasn't heading to a police station—clearly we were leaving the city. It felt like they were taking us somewhere to silence us.
"Zhang Jianqiang!" a voice called out beside me. At the same time, the hand pressing down on my head released its grip.
That voice sounded familiar. Suddenly, a thunderous realization struck me as I looked up to see a familiar face—Liu Squad Leader.
I stared at him in shock; his expression was quite something. Liu Squad Leader was dressed in police uniform, looking paler than before—if anything could be called pale; it was more like he had lost some of his previous vibrant color. If I had to compare it, his face used to resemble ripe mulberries; now it looked like mulberries soaked in water. And now I should call him Liu Officer; his uniform was neat and tidy, his short hair still well-groomed as he sat upright next to me.
However, his expression was serious as he fixed his gaze on me: "You've gotten yourself into serious trouble."
At that moment, I finally had time to turn my head and look around. The spoils of Fatty's crime—the leather bag—wasn't in the car. The officer holding Fatty also released his grip as Fatty nervously glanced at the two officers. The compartment was small and separated from the driver's area; aside from the four of us, there was no one else or anything else inside.
I immediately turned to Liu Squad Leader. "Liu, Officer Liu, did you arrest the wrong people? We came here as tourists and haven't done anything."
"He’s called Song Gang, right?" Liu Squad Leader pointed at Fatty and then looked back at me. "Do you think the police would just arrest you for no reason? Someone reported what you two did this morning, and now we're taking action to keep you both off guard. Zhang Jianqiang, you're not usually this reckless; why are you pushing things to the limit?"
Hearing this made me break into a cold sweat. "Did someone die?" I exclaimed, looking at Liu Squad Leader.
"No one died." Fatty, sitting across from me, suddenly said, "I know what I'm talking about; those two swam to the other side. If they’re dead now, it’s someone else's doing—don’t try to pin it on me."
Liu Squad Leader looked at Fatty with some surprise. "No one died, but the hole you two dug is pretty deep. Someone wants you both to disappear. Do you understand what disappearing means?"
When I heard that the two idiots were still alive, I breathed a sigh of relief. The psychological pressure lifted instantly, and I no longer felt the initial panic. I thrust my handcuffed hands toward him. "Hurry up and unlock these. What kind of nonsense is this? Someone wants us to disappear, and you're just sitting here doing nothing? And then you ask me what I mean? My meaning is that all of you lazy cops should be fired. You don’t care about smuggling or robbery; we defended ourselves against those two petty thieves, yet you want us to disappear? Are you a cop or a criminal?"
"Damn it," Liu Squad Leader cursed as he pulled out a key and unlocked my handcuffs. "Don’t blame me for this; everyone involved in smuggling along this route has connections. It’s not just me as a precinct chief; even our bureau chief turns a blind eye. You two shouldn’t be snooping around here either—what are you trying to find out? Now everyone knows that two outsiders have come here. Both the underworld and the police are looking for you; it won’t be long before they realize you're in my custody, and they'll definitely come asking for you. You can go wherever you want; I can at most send you out of Dongxing. Once you're out of Dongxing, you'll be mostly safe. But don’t let your guard down; it’s best if you run far away."
Hearing this made me break out in a cold sweat; if Liu Squad Leader weren’t a cop, Fatty and I would be in serious trouble today.
I rubbed my wrist where the handcuffs had left marks and thought about how we couldn’t go back to Dongxing. From what Fatty said, this place was chaotic—far more than I expected. Since our main mission was to rescue someone in Myanmar, we might as well head directly to Yunnan along the China-Myanmar border and wait there. That way, if there was news from Myanmar, we could act quickly. Since Liu Squad Leader worked in Dongxing, I could also hand over the task of finding clues about Xiao Guolin to him.
I felt pleased with my clever idea and glanced at Liu Squad Leader just as I was about to speak when suddenly a thought struck me: Could Xiao Guolin's visit to Guangxi be related to Liu Squad Leader? Had he contacted Liu Squad Leader? This thought made my expression turn uneasy again. Xiao Guolin hadn’t been idle these past few years; he had contacted Cao Mingzhe and left something with him. He wrote me two letters that were vague at best. Now it seemed he had also been in touch with Liu Squad Leader—what was he up to?
According to Xiao Ting, Xiao Guolin had been leading a second Desert Archaeology project for the past few years. The second operation had evolved beyond mere archaeology work; it was now called the Lop Nur Geological Task Force, integrating multiple units—Xiao Guolin's workload must have been immense. Given this context, his continued contact with members of the previous archaeology team wasn’t just due to his energy but must have had some motive or purpose behind it. Especially since the three of us had basically distanced ourselves from that system: Cao Mingzhe had mental issues, Liu Squad Leader had retired from service, and I was even less involved—I was probably already categorized as one of three types of people who wouldn’t be informed about sensitive matters or allowed to participate.
With these thoughts swirling in my mind, I looked at Liu Squad Leader with a complex expression and slowly asked, "When did Xiao Guolin leave?"
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