The mountains surrounding Pengcheng weren’t particularly high, but they stretched on endlessly, one after another. The lush trees on the mountains not only blocked out the sky but also obstructed the searchers’ view.

Lin Shuyue observed her surroundings as she walked, and soon caught up with the main group.

Armed police and regular police officers cleared the way at the front, followed by the able-bodied men of Suishan Village, carrying various tools.

A young man, about seventeen or eighteen years old, noticed Lin Shuyue. He let out a snort of derision. “Searching for a murderer isn’t something a woman can do. I suggest you go back down the mountain, so you don’t end up hindering us instead of helping.”

“Hongzai, what kind of talk is that?” An older man looked at the youth disapprovingly. Then, turning to see the young woman’s delicate and youthful appearance, he thought of his own daughter at home. His expression softened, and he gently said: “Little girl, the mountain is dangerous. We’re searching for a murderer. It’s not appropriate for a young woman like you to come along. Listen to your uncle, don’t linger here. We’re afraid something might happen, and we won’t be able to look out for you.”

“Yeah, don’t end up being more trouble than you’re worth, and then we’ll have to go looking for you too. Women are such a hassle,” the one called Hongzai muttered rebelliously. His companions nearby echoed his sentiments.

Lin Shuyue didn’t even glance at the youth. She simply nodded to the older man. “Thank you for the warning. I’ll be careful.”

Lin Shuyue’s expression remained calm, but inside, a fire was burning. She appreciated their concern, as it was well-intentioned, but Hongzai’s words were incredibly offensive. From his expression to his tone and the content of his speech, it was clear that he looked down on women. It was his deeply ingrained male chauvinism at work.

She had no intention of arguing or explaining. Actions speak louder than words.

Just then, the man in the brown jacket from earlier walked over to them.

His gaze swept over Lin Shuyue briefly, pausing for a moment on the camera slung across her chest. “Are you a reporter?”

Before Lin Shuyue could answer, he spoke in a quick, steady voice: “My surname is Hang. If you just want information, come to the police station tomorrow morning and find me. That’ll be enough for you to file a report. The mountain is dangerous. There are snakes, insects, rodents, and a suspect who could be hiding anywhere. Go back down the mountain. There’s no need to risk your life for a firsthand news story.”

The plainclothes officer accompanying him, who was holding a police dog, also added his voice: “Little comrade, our team leader is looking out for your well-being. He usually doesn’t even talk to reporters. Our Team Leader Hang is a man of his word. You can rest assured and head back down.”

Lin Shuyue smiled and nodded, watching them walk away. However, she didn’t go down the mountain. Instead, she chose to circle around from another direction, keeping a safe distance from the main group while remaining out of their sight.

The others, assuming she’d taken their advice, stopped paying attention to her and split into smaller groups to continue the search.

Searching for a single person in a vast mountain range was like looking for a needle in a haystack. Even with a unit of armed police, hundreds of special police officers, and two to three hundred local residents, it was still incredibly difficult to cover the entire mountain.

They had been walking for over ten minutes without finding a single clue.

The countdown timer had now reached 01:30:56.

Lin Shuyue trailed far behind them, the radar system working continuously. The suspect’s trail had yet to appear.

They had now reached the halfway point of the mountain, where there was a small platform. Lin Shuyue instinctively looked back, taking in the entire view of Suishan Village. Her eyesight was always excellent; she could even clearly see the situation at the flat-roofed house where the murder had occurred.

The murderer had entered the mountain almost two hours earlier. Furthermore, based on the information from the plump shop owner, the murderer frequently went into the mountains, meaning he likely had good wilderness survival skills. He might even have a safe haven somewhere in the mountains.

Lin Shuyue looked around, proceeding with even greater caution.

01:00:20.

As the main group continued to penetrate deeper into the mountain, the trees became even denser, and the shrubs were taller than a person. The thick, soft layer of fallen leaves on the ground made it impossible to leave any traces, let alone discover the murderer’s trail.

Not just her, but even the search party of over a thousand people ahead had found nothing.

Lin Shuyue glanced at the screen: 00:56:11. Her heart sank. She had less than an hour of life remaining.

The incident with the human trafficker had taught Lin Shuyue that she could never be complacent and could never underestimate her opponent. She had to suppress her anxiety and remain calm at all times.

“You guys go ahead. I’m just gonna take a leak, be right back.”

“Hongzai, should we wait for you? What if you’re unlucky enough to run into him? You’ll be screaming for help, haha…”

“You puk gai jai (bastard)! I’m a grown man, standing tall and proud. You think I’m afraid of some coward who preys on little girls? Get lost, get lost!”

Somewhat familiar sounds of laughter and banter came from about seven or eight meters to her left front. Lin Shuyue lightened her steps. The voices stopped, and she could only hear the sound of a belt being unbuckled and someone relieving themselves.

Lin Shuyue consciously averted her gaze.

Her eyes involuntarily fell on the Good and Evil Radar. Compared to before, a red dot had appeared at the boundary between light gray and dark gray! Lin Shuyue immediately looked in the direction of the red dot on the radar.

A man wearing mud-caked camouflage clothing jumped down from a tree, landing as silently as a cat. He had a wooden club tucked into the back of his waistband. He took a few quick steps, stood behind the man who was urinating, and raised the club high.

The man, mid-stream, collapsed limply. The attacker caught him, preventing him from making a loud thud as he fell.

Lin Shuyue witnessed this entire scene. She instinctively raised her camera. The camera showed that the young, almost boyish, man has a bloodthirsty smile.

He looked down at the man on the ground and reached behind him to pull out another weapon—an axe.

Lin Shuyue’s heart clenched. She picked up a stone and threw it in the opposite direction.

The sound of the stone landing startled the man, who was about to strike again. He glanced at the main search party in the distance, reluctantly lowered the axe he was holding high, and cautiously walked in the direction from which the stone had been thrown.

Lin Shuyue hid behind a tree, even her breathing becoming quieter.

The man’s footsteps grew closer and closer. Lin Shuyue gripped the red brick rewarded by the newbie gift pack. Her current body was too weak. It was highly inadvisable to confront a man who had gone on a killing spree and was armed with a deadly weapon.

She maneuvered the brick, preparing to strike a fatal blow from behind when Duan Taoyong got close. She’d already examined the description of this ‘remarkably unremarkable brick’ on the way up the mountain. In her hands, the brick felt like an extension of her arm.

“Hongzai, what’s going on? Are you constipated or something?” The voices of those coming to look for him grew closer, and the footsteps were jumbled, clearly indicating that more than one person was coming.

Just as the man was about to come around to the front of the tree where Lin Shuyue was hiding, the people from the main group, who had been waiting for the young man to finish relieving himself, came back to look for him. The man with the axe immediately spun on his heel and swiftly walked away.

Lin Shuyue breathed a heavy sigh of relief. Her hand, which had been gripping the brick, was sweating profusely.

Brick versus axe, plus being in a different body—Lin Shuyue really didn’t have much confidence that she could win against him.

The people who had come back to look for Hongzai had already seen Zhang Xu lying in his own urine and immediately called for help. Lin Shuyue immediately moved to another hiding place.

Team Leader Hang and the others quickly arrived.

Team Leader Hang carefully examined the scene, checked Hongzai’s wound, and said, “The suspect slid down from the tree, suddenly appeared behind Hongzai, and attacked him from behind. He’s very strong, capable of delivering a fatal blow with one strike. But what he intended to do was certainly not just knock Hongzai unconscious. He must have been interrupted by someone or something while he was in the act.”

Team Leader Hang’s gaze searched the surroundings, landing on a stone in the distance. He remembered the stubborn-looking girl with the camera slung across her chest from earlier, and his brow furrowed slightly. “The suspect is nearby, very likely hiding in the trees above us. He’s extremely brazen and utterly reckless.”

“Wang Ming, take Jiang Zhou with you, pick three more people, and get the injured man down the mountain. Doctors are waiting at the bottom.”

“Everyone else, follow me. Try not to spread out too much. Get to know the people around you. If anyone goes missing, alert us immediately.”

“Brothers, we’re searching for a vicious criminal right now. We must be extremely vigilant! To prevent any more incidents like this from happening.”

The place where Zhang Xu had relieved himself wasn’t far from where the main group had been resting. The fact that he dared to attack in such close proximity showed that his audacity knew no bounds!

The villagers, who had been joking and laughing just moments before, were now completely convinced by Team Leader Hang’s words. They realized the gravity of the situation and the brutality of Duan Taoyong!

“Yes, Team Leader Hang.”

Everyone agreed. The police officers and armed police consciously positioned themselves on the outer perimeter of the villagers, forming a tight protective cordon. Team Leader Hang, without realizing it, fell to the rear.

00:30:28

Lin Shuyue continued to follow behind them.

She kept glancing at the Good and Evil Radar.

The red dot representing Duan Taoyong on the Good and Evil Radar had disappeared.

Duan Taoyong had vanished without a trace, and the main group ahead hadn’t found so much as his hair. The search dogs had followed the scent for a while but then lost track of the target.

They walked for a while longer. The layer of decaying leaves on the ground grew thicker, the shrubs became denser, and the trees grew larger. This was a remote part of the mountain, rarely visited by people.

The red dot reappeared on Lin Shuyue’s radar system. The red dot was about two hundred meters away from the main group, but only a few dozen meters from Lin Shuyue!

A large tree, so big it would take two people to wrap their arms around it, had a large fork in its trunk. In the middle of this fork was a huge tree hollow. This hollow was extremely well-hidden. From above, the view was unobstructed, but from below, it was completely invisible.

This was Duan Taoyong’s third, and safest, hideout in this mountain. In the past, if the weather was good, Duan Taoyong would spend his time up here. He was only about 1.65 meters tall and relatively thin compared to the average adult man, so this tree hollow was just big enough to accommodate his entire body.

He worked in a factory, where there were many men. Inevitably, the men would talk about women. Duan Taoyong had even gone with them to hair salons outside to find prostitutes, but those mature, adult women didn’t hold much appeal for him. It was young girls who truly aroused his desires!

Today’s events were an accident. He hadn’t originally intended to take the two girls’ lives. But since he had, Duan Taoyong didn’t regret it. On the contrary, the blood had made him even more excited.

And this excitement reached its peak when he saw Hongzai alone!

He had originally intended to knock Hongzai unconscious and then quickly finish him off with the axe. His axe had been with him since he was twelve years old, and it had always drunk the blood of animals. Today, it had finally tasted human blood, and Duan Taoyong felt that the two children’s blood wasn’t nearly enough to satisfy his axe!

Duan Taoyong licked his dry lips.

He now felt that ordinary people could no longer satisfy him. He wanted to use the blood of the police to really christen his axe!

Just thinking about that scene made Duan Taoyong incredibly excited!

Footsteps approached from below the tree. Duan Taoyong retracted his gaze and looked back, spotting a woman wearing a white T-shirt and jeans…

A cruel smile spread across Duan Taoyong’s lips…