Chapter 166: Armed Police Commander She, Captured Little Animal

Du Ruo relied entirely on his eyes.

From the moment he could see the two men, he had not once averted his gaze from them.

He was not looking at the guns or bows in their hands, but at their muscles.

Whether it was a martial artist or an ordinary person, whenever someone wanted to make a movement or exert force, their muscles would react first.

For instance, when the man nicknamed Monkey reached for the handgun behind his waist, he did not just move his wrist; his shoulder had to move first, followed by his arm, and then his wrist.

For instance, when Monkey held a shotgun with one hand and wanted to pull the trigger steadily, he inevitably had to grip the handle tightly first, which would cause a noticeable shift in the muscle lines of his arm.

This was the primary reason why Du Ruo was able to dodge the firearms and forcefully rush in to kill them both up close.

If he had relied solely on so-called spiritual perception, Du Ruo could have worked himself to death and still never gotten close to them.

The coordination between the two men was exceptionally practiced. Judging by their habits, they probably hunted by having one person use high-magnification binoculars to spot prey while the other hunted with a bow and arrow.

When attacking people, one provided covering fire from a distance while the other protected at close quarters. Their tacit cooperation allowed them to understand each other's intentions without needing much communication at all.

"Hoo..."

Du Ruo confirmed that there was no lingering sensation of being watched, and immediately dropped to a sitting position on the ground. Just moments ago, his nervous system had been under extreme tension, and his overall physical exertion was significant—especially during his final dodge against Monkey's two gunshots. Thanks to the protection of his "Qi," Du Ruo had been able to fluidly combine Baji Quan and Natural Sect qigong movements.

Without the protection of his "Qi," those two sudden directional shifts alone would have caused severe damage to his joints, muscles, and ligaments.

Lying on the lawn, Du Ruo picked up his phone and dialed Xing Anming's number.

"Master Du, how is it? Did you find the tiger and the bear? Uncle Xiong told me you haven't returned for several days, and I was just about to call and ask how things were going."

Xing Anming's voice carried a heavy fatigue, yet he still sounded quite enthusiastic toward Du Ruo.

"I'm on the mountain now. I just ran into those two poachers—one has a gun, and the other has a bow."

Du Ruo squinted up at the sky. Feeling physically exhausted, he did not beat around the bush and directly delivered the most crucial piece of information.

"What? You ran into them? Are you alright? They have guns, so don't conflict with them. Make sure to protect yourself, and send me your location. I'll contact people immediately to rush over there."

Xing Anming's shocked voice came through the receiver. It seemed as though his fatigue had instantly vanished. Immediately afterward, the harsh sound of chairs scraping against the floor echoed from the other end as he likely began barking orders to prepare the rest of the team while still on the phone with Du Ruo.

"We've already crossed paths. The moment they saw me, they nocked their arrows and shot, so I didn't hold back and took care of both of them. I'm hanging up now, I'll text you the coordinates."

Du Ruo was extremely tired and really didn't want to explain much over the phone. After speaking, he hung up, sent the location, and even appended a message: "My phone is about to die, bring a power bank."

"Move out now! Get in the car and head up the mountain. I've sent the coordinates to your phone."

Xing Anming and his team had already run to the parking lot while on the call; the moment they received the coordinates, they set off immediately.

"Hello, Captain She? We have a lead. You're still searching the mountain, right? I'm sending you coordinates. Could you please take two teams and head quickly into the mountains..."

Xing Anming made the call from inside the moving car. Anxious that Du Ruo might still be in danger and knowing it would take time for their own team to drive there, his only option was to contact the armed police already searching the mountain, hoping they could arrange for someone to reach the scene as fast as possible.

"Turn on the siren and drive faster!"

***

Xing Anming urged anxiously, wishing he could attach wings to himself to fly there.

***

Half an hour later...

"Captain She, the thermal imaging drone has detected a large heat source one kilometer ahead, matching the direction we're heading. The trees around the heat source are too dense for the drone to see through."

On the mountain, several squads of armed police, fully armed and carrying live ammunition, were advancing rapidly in a spread-out formation with high vigilance. Suddenly, the officer operating the drone reported to the captain.

"Surround them. Drone, hover and maintain visual surveillance."

Captain She waved his hand, and immediately all the armed police began closing in on the destination.

***

The black bear was having a very painful day. It had initially felt lucky, stepping out of its cave for a stroll only to stumble upon fresh food.

Just as it was eating happily, a creature walking upright had suddenly appeared behind it, shoved it aside, and refused to let it eat meat. Could a bear tolerate this? And then...

At this thought, the black bear felt the area between its hind legs ache all over again. Fortunately, that human had merely beaten it up and left without even stealing its food.

The black bear had waited for a long time. It wanted to run away, but was reluctant to abandon the food; it wanted to eat the food, but was terrified that the human might suddenly leap out and beat it again.

After waiting for over half an hour, confirming that the other party had left and its scent was no longer in the air, the black bear finally began to gorge itself. Yet before it had eaten for long, it lifted its head and realized it was completely surrounded by a group of creatures walking upright.

The black bear was so frightened it forgot how to run. Subconsciously covering its crotch, it stood frozen, staring blankly at the crowd surrounding it from twenty meters away.

"Captain, it's not a person—it's just a black bear eating."

The armed police officers surrounded the black bear with rifles raised.

They found it somewhat bizarre: the black bear had blood stained around its mouth, and beside it lay an animal carcass eaten beyond recognition.

Yet upon seeing humans, the bear neither acted ferocious nor tried to flee. Instead, it sat on the ground covering its crotch with an expression of utter grievance, an utterly bizarre sight.

"Fall back. Don't provoke this black bear. Send the drone back up to search; the coordinates are right around here."

Captain She did not hesitate much. He waved his hand to signal a retreat and ordered the search to continue. Encounters like this were common, and it was the very reason they had spent the past few days searching only the areas near the crime scenes. The Lesser Khingan Mountains were simply too vast; throwing their small force in was like searching for a needle in a haystack.

They had only hoped to unearth more clues near the crime scenes, but unfortunately, the perpetrator was too meticulous, leaving them empty-handed after days of searching. They had never expected a new breakthrough to emerge just as they were about to call off the search.

"Captain, we've got something. This time we can clearly see a person..."

As the armed police withdrew, the black bear scrambled away in a panic in the opposite direction, leaving behind even the leftover musk deer carcass. It now wanted nothing more than to stay far away from these upright, two-legged monsters.

***

Du Ruo lay on the grassy ground. Ever since he killed the two men, he had not budged an inch from the spot, quietly reviewing the details of the recent fight in his mind while cultivating the Primordial One Qi Skill.

At that moment, Du Ruo heard a faint buzzing sound. Following the direction of the noise, he saw a small reconnaissance drone hovering above the clearing. Had Du Ruo's hearing not been abnormally acute, he might never have noticed it. It seemed to be continuously shifting angles, trying to capture more footage.

"No wonder martial artists have a hard time surviving in modern society. Everyone else plays with a full map hack while martial artists are still stuck in melee combat—what a joke."

Du Ruo muttered under his breath. He had been able to perceive Monkey observing him with high-magnification binoculars from hundreds of meters away, yet when this drone's camera turned toward him, he hadn't received a shred of early warning or felt any sensation of being watched.

Fortunately, Du Ruo did not know that this drone also possessed thermal imaging capabilities; otherwise, he would have been even more speechless at the opponent having both full map awareness and wall-hacks.

About ten minutes later, a series of footsteps approached. However, these people did not march recklessly across the lawn like Du Ruo had; instead, they took a wide detour from afar and flanked the area from both sides of the woods.

"Stand up and put your hands over your head!"

A group of armed police secured the bodies of Old Hu and Monkey without disturbing the crime scene. Captain She walked over to Du Ruo with several officers. Seeing Du Ruo lying relaxed on the lawn with his hands pillowed behind his head, Captain She did not lower his guard in the slightest and issued a stern command.

Du Ruo said nothing. He slowly stood up and complied with their demands.

"Name and identification."

Without ordering a physical frisk, Captain She stepped directly in front of Du Ruo and demanded his credentials.

"Du Ruo. My ID is in my backpack. Will you get it, or should I take it out?"

Du Ruo looked at Captain She with a smile. He could understand the officer's tension; since they were strangers, cautious treatment was only basic protocol.

"Hello, Master Du. I'm from the Armed Police detachment, last name She. Captain Xing notified us to come here. However, please take out your identification, and I hope you understand."

Hearing Du Ruo state his name, Captain She's expression relaxed slightly. He waved a hand at the surrounding armed police, signaling them to lower their rifle barrels.

"This is my ID and my hunting license."

Du Ruo unzipped his backpack, pulled out the documents, and handed them to Captain She.

"Are you injured? Do you need medical attention?"

Captain She simply checked the ID against Du Ruo's face to confirm it matched, then took two steps forward to return the documents into Du Ruo's hands while casting a concerned, up-and-down glance at him.

Anyone with eyes could see the state of the scene: the turf torn up by the double-barreled shotgun and the scattered arrow fragments nearby were proof enough of how fierce the battle had been.

Now that Du Ruo was confirmed to be an ally, Captain She was obligated both by reason and duty to show concern for his well-being.

"I'm fine, Captain She. These two started shooting the moment they saw me, so I didn't hold back. After taking them down, I haven't touched either of them. The one with the bow—that weapon should be the murder weapon you've been looking for. You can definitely extract some traces of the victims from the bowstring.

As for anything else, I don't know. I was in the forest and ran into a black bear eating a musk deer, noticed an issue with its wounds, and tracked it here by following its footprints."

Du Ruo briefly recounted what he knew and the process of his encounter with the two men.

"Understood. Captain Xing is on his way here with forensic investigators. Right now, our job is just to secure the scene; the specifics will be handled by the forensics team. Master Du, you probably won't be able to leave for the next couple of days, as we'll need to question you further. It's standard procedure, so I hope you understand."

Having heard Xing Anming describe Du Ruo's background, Captain She maintained a courteous tone. As armed police officers, they never knew when they might need to enlist a martial artist's help in the future. Even without cooperation, basic respect was due to a person of such formidable strength.

"That's all fine. But before that, I suggest you deal with that large black canvas bag first. Ever since I took care of these two, I've been hearing movement from inside the bag, though it seems a bit faint now. I'm afraid if we delay any longer, the little guy inside might not make it."

Du Ruo nodded in understanding, then pointed toward the large black canvas bag lying beside the two corpses. While he was lying on the grass earlier, he had heard noises coming from it—presumably an animal captured by the poachers. Before, he had avoided disturbing the crime scene, but now that the authorities had arrived, it was time to check on the creature inside.