Chapter 41: Two Shots Ring Out, SWAT Work Goes to Waste

Since he had already been completely written off as a charlatan, Cen Lian simply took the lead and descended through the iron door that had been revealed once the drug-manufacturing raw materials were cleared away.

Actually, his supernatural cheat was exceptionally well-suited for scouting. As long as a living human within his line of sight exposed even a single strand of hair, the system would dutifully display their entire lifetime criminal record.

Wu Qiushan quickly followed him down.

Accompanying them were several ordinary police officers and SWAT officers. Among them, the four SWAT officers appeared towering in stature compared to them, with thoroughly well-developed, muscular physiques.

"There's no telling how many years they spent digging to carve out this place," Cen Lian observed, surveying the rather crude tunnel. "People escaping from here should have left plenty of traces behind."

The latter half of his sentence was directed at Wu Qiushan.

Wu Qiushan offered a rare eye-roll.

"This damn place only has one path. Where else could they possibly run, phase through the solid walls?" Although he said this, his actions were entirely honest as he raised his flashlight to scan the various marks and indentations around them.

This dark, narrow passage must have been an escape route specifically reserved by them. The so-called "walls" were actually rugged, highly uneven rock formations, and traces of primitive minerals could even be seen embedded within them.

Cen Lian had no way of knowing the current battle situation up top or just how much intelligence they had already gathered on this syndicate.

"What stage is your investigation at now?" Cen Lian asked. "Did you find anything useful from their lair?"

"Oh, plenty," Wu Qiushan said, closing his eyes slightly as he searched his memory for the details. "This syndicate has a history spanning a full decade. It initially took shape in Yunzhong City, and later expanded toward Kang'an City. However, because the manager they dispatched to Kang'an City had rather excessive and complicated physiological demands, he had several escorts from local entertainment venues brought over there."

Cen Lian waited for him to continue. Everything he had mentioned so far was already basically established through the recent investigations.

"At first, nothing went wrong. Later on, one of the escorts accidentally discovered their drug-manufacturing equipment while leaving their residence. That young woman was somewhat educated, and realizing something was amiss, she intended to take pictures to report it to the police later. To her surprise, she was discovered by them and shot dead on the spot. She is Gao Xiaoxue, the body we later identified as Victim Number One."

Cen Lian sighed.

China's anti-drug enforcement and public awareness campaigns were exceptionally thorough. Coupled with various historical reasons, the tolerance of Chinese citizens toward narcotics was virtually zero. Therefore, even marginalized members of society like petty thieves and sex workers would have calling the police as their instinctive first reaction upon discovering a drug lab.

It was just that the first victim, Gao Xiaoxue, was only twenty-one years old when she died. Lacking experience in dealing with such vicious and desperate criminals, she ultimately perished at the barrel of their guns.

Wu Qiushan clearly heard several people nearby let out sighs, evidently feeling a deep sense of pity for Gao Xiaoxue.

Cen Lian had already guessed what happened next from these words.

"So they murdered all the escorts who had previously visited their lair," Cen Lian recalled the five headless corpses. "Has anyone confessed to where the heads of those bodies are hidden?"

"Yes, Qiang Yan has already led a team over there." Wu Qiushan and his group had clearly already captured several core members.

As the group continued forward, Cen Lian suddenly halted and held out a hand to stop them.

"There are people ahead," he lowered his voice, carefully adjusting his angle to observe the fleeting text bubbles.

This tunnel was clearly not a straight line, and the sections they had traversed thus far could only be described as winding and convoluted.

This was not due to any special architectural design by the drug syndicate. Judging from the jagged rocks protruding from the walls on both sides, every detour they made was because they had encountered massive, impassable boulders and had no choice but to route around them.

The mountainous terrain around Yunzhong City consisted mostly of stone mountains. Although there was a certain amount of soil mixed in, the overall geology was difficult to excavate.

These drug traffickers were obviously not foolish enough to use heavy machinery deep inside the mountain, so their escape tunnel had to be kept as simple as possible.

The text bubbles that had just popped up were located right at a bend in this escape tunnel. Cen Lian continuously adjusted his position to observe, discovering three distinct text bubbles appearing there.

"It looks like we've blocked their way out," Cen Lian said with a resolute tone. "I can see at least three people over there. Who brought the thermal imaging equipment?"

One of the SWAT officers acknowledged the call and pulled out the infrared thermal imaging device.

Such equipment nowadays was handheld and portable, making it simple and convenient to use.

The SWAT officers fiddled with it for a moment before reporting, "We can detect about six or seven people in the area past the corner. Further back, the rock formations block the signal, so we can't be sure if there are any others."

Cen Lian silently retreated a few steps.

"Call for backup!" He looked straight at Wu Qiushan.

While he was speaking, Wu Qiushan had already raised his walkie-talkie to request reinforcements.

There were twelve of them here now—four SWAT officers and eight regular police officers. Without knowing exactly how many opponents there were or what weaponry they possessed, launching a reckless attack would be tantamount to suicide.

None of these dozen or so individuals seemed foolish enough to chase after undeserved glory.

The SWAT officers proactively moved to the front to shield the others against potential sneak attacks.

The environment here was intensely cramped. If they truly ended up in a narrow clash, the situation would become extremely perilous for them.

The people on the other side were desperate fugitives. Knowing they faced execution if captured, they would certainly show no mercy.

"They're moving," one of the SWAT officers tensed up. "It looks like they still intend to make a last-ditch resistance."

"The main issue is that there are too few of us here," Wu Qiushan furrowed his brows deeply. "We didn't anticipate that they would still be hiding inside when we came down. The number of personnel we brought is still a bit too low."

Just as he was regretting this, Cen Lian spotted a text bubble flashing into view, the figure holding something that resembled a weapon.

Immediately afterward, he heard a gunshot.

Cen Lian instantly tackled the SWAT officer in front of him to the ground, dodging the bullet before raising his weapon and firing a single shot in one fluid motion.

One text bubble vanished.

The turn of events happened with extreme suddenness, but the SWAT officers were all rigorously trained. Aside from the one directly tackled by Cen Lian, the other three SWAT officers immediately shoved the regular police officers beside them to the floor and scrambled to find cover.

Cen Lian and the SWAT officer he had tackled took shelter behind a protruding boulder.

A barrage of dense gunfire erupted. It was abundantly clear that the drug traffickers realized they had no hope of survival and intended to drag down as many people as possible before they died.

While a few of the regular police officers had not yet recovered their wits, both Cen Lian and Wu Qiushan instinctively began returning fire.

The four SWAT officers raised their blast-proof shields and likewise returned fire.

Cen Lian silently calculated how many rounds remained in his magazine. Satisfied that he had enough, he suddenly broke cover from his hiding spot and fired three rapid shots in succession, *bang, bang, bang*.

Another text bubble went down.

He was somewhat dissatisfied with the result. Having been away from the field for too long, his accuracy in mobile rapid-fire had indeed declined; it took him until the third shot to hit his intended target.

The SWAT officer beside Cen Lian couldn't help but swallow hard.

"Brother, are you really not a retired special forces soldier?" The officer was starting to wonder if his own SWAT credentials were just for show.