Chapter 2 Nowhere to Hide

  On the eastbound coal train, Liu Handong was panting heavily and still in shock. Too many things had happened within a short hour, his brain couldn't process it all. His right hand started bleeding again, and the wound on his waist was soaked with sweat, burning with pain.

  Liu Handong had a canvas waist pack tied around his waist, which held all his worldly possessions. It was these discharge certificates, ID card, bank cards, keys, mobile phone, sunglasses, coins and a third-class merit medal that blocked most of the knife thrusts, allowing him to narrowly escape with his life.

  His neck had a bruise, slightly swollen, as if he was wearing a flesh choker. The other party had made up their mind to kill him because the kidnapping had been discovered and they wanted to silence him. This excuse seemed a bit far-fetched, Liu Handong felt that the other party had planned to kill him from the moment he got in the car.

  Why did they kidnap that little girl, Liu Handong didn't care about it. He was now in a precarious situation himself. The accomplices of the kidnappers were clearly the dregs of the police force. He could quickly take away the two injured kidnappers, which meant someone had been following them all along... Thinking of this, a flash of inspiration struck Liu Handong - these people were trying to frame him.

  Yesterday's Huaijiang Morning Post had a news report that the black cab driver who recently molested and killed a young female passenger in the suburbs was prosecuted, or may be sentenced to death. Liu Handong has no computer, his mobile phone can't access the internet, newspapers are his only source of information. This piece of news he happened to see appeared in his mind, causing him to quickly make connections.

  Liu Handong didn't dare to believe in the police's detective abilities, the crashed car was his own, the bloody dagger had his fingerprints on it, and he was the one who resisted arrest and escaped. Even jumping into the Huai River couldn't wash away the evidence. With kidnapping and murder added together, it was a surefire death penalty.

  He tried his best to calm himself down and carefully analyzed that the scrapped Passat was bought by himself for 5,000 yuan from a small repair factory, and the black market transaction did not even show his ID. The frame number could not be verified, and the license plate was a fake good worth 400 yuan. It's not very difficult for the police to start investigating his identity from these clues, but at least it takes some time.

  No one can prove their innocence, even if the kidnapped little girl is found, it's useless, because she may not have seen the kidnapper clearly, or doesn't know how many people are involved, and it's hard to guarantee that she won't mistakenly think you're in cahoots with the bad guys, otherwise, she wouldn't run away.

  The train continued to head east, and the police, if they weren't stupid, would definitely know that they had jumped off the car and it wasn't safe on the train. Liu Handong took advantage of an opportunity to jump off the train and slowly walked back along the tracks. The sky started to rain, getting heavier and heavier, with lightning flashing across the night sky, followed by rolling thunder. There was a culvert nearby, which was always crowded with scavengers and homeless people at night. Liu Handong, soaked through, walked over and found an empty spot under the culvert to sit down and rest.

  The old man sleeping next to him got up and stared at him, his glasses gleaming with a faint light in the dark of night. Liu Handong felt somewhat alert and shifted back a bit. The man asked: "Are you injured?"

  "Hmm." Liu Handong didn't want to say more.

  "Disinfect." The old man handed over a 250ml bottle of Erguotou baijiu.

  Liu Handong took it and poured it on the wound on his waist and right hand. The stimulation of the alcohol made him shrink violently, but the old man pulled out a handful of cotton from his quilt, lit it with a lighter, signaled him not to move, and pressed it onto the wound. Miraculously, the bleeding stopped.

  "Thanks, what's with the sloppy clothes?" Liu Handong said.

  "The petition is over." The old man turned over and fell asleep again.

  It stopped raining when it was still dark, and Liu Handong left the cave. The road outside was muddy and difficult to walk on, so he walked for a long time before hitching a ride on a private long-distance bus heading into town. He spent five yuan to get to the long-distance bus station, then transferred to a public bus to return to his rented house. It was a four-story building from the 1960s, and Liu Handong lived in the west wing on the top floor. The summer heat was unbearable, and the shared toilet often clogged up. The only advantage was that the rent was cheap.

  There's nothing valuable in the house, just two sets of spare clothes and a quilt. The quilt cover was made by Liu Handong's mother with her own hands. He thought the police wouldn't find him so quickly, so he wanted to take his things away.

  Just as he finished folding the quilt, a dense footsteps came from the corridor. At 8 o'clock in the morning, it was impossible for so many visitors to come to the building. He poked his head out and saw a group of men going up the stairs downstairs, all wearing black T-shirts, flat heads, gold chains, and they looked like gangsters at first glance.

  Liu Handong had a hunch that these people were looking for him. The tube building only had one corridor, and there was no way to escape. The window of his room was installed with cast iron bars, and the only passage was to go up to the rooftop, either by climbing down the drainpipe or the anti-theft net. However, when he came out to take a look, the iron gate leading to the rooftop was locked with a large three-ring iron lock, and this route was impassable.

  The thugs have arrived, after seeing Liu Handong, they slowly took out the long knife and galvanized steel pipe wrapped in newspaper, and walked over without a word. Liu Handong retreated several steps, grabbed a large wrench from behind his own door, and rushed forward fiercely. He knew that if he didn't fight with all his might now, there would be no life to fight for later.

  The other side did not expect Liu Handong to be so fierce, and retreated several steps, but the people behind him continued to advance. The leader, a burly man, pointed at Liu Handong with his knife and said: "Kill him!"

  Liu Handong's mind suddenly flashed a scene of himself being chopped into pieces, his mother beside him in unbearable pain. In an instant, he was filled with strength, glanced down at the floor below, and pounced on the burly man, slamming him into the railing. The rusty old railing from the 60s broke under the force of the impact, and the man fell from the fourth floor. Liu Handong followed close behind, jumping down together with him. The two crashed heavily onto the concrete ground below, but thanks to the human cushioning effect, Liu Handong still felt dizzy and his ears rang. Turning back to look, he saw the group of people on the upper floor rushing downstairs wildly, one of them pulling out a handgun from his waist.

  "Bang, bang", two shots rang out. The first bullet hit the cement floor and splashed up a cluster of debris. The second bullet hit Liu Handong's back, feeling like being scalded by fire, not very painful.

  The big man under him was bleeding from his mouth and nose, motionless. Liu Handong got up and ran, sprinting to the front of the building just as two police cars were speeding towards him from a distance. He quickly turned around and ran in the opposite direction. Having lived here for only two days, he had familiarized himself with the surroundings by wandering around several times. He quickly ducked into a bustling morning market selling chickens, ducks, and vegetables, shaking off his pursuers.

  He was shot in the back, and now it hurts. Liu Handong pulled a piece of clothing from a clothes rack by the road and put it on, walking through the crowd. The courage he had when jumping off the fourth floor has dissipated, replaced by deep fear and confusion. He could understand why the kidnapper wanted to kill him before, but now that they are still pursuing him relentlessly, it's hard to comprehend.

  A little girl walked past in front of him, Liu Handong suddenly came to his senses, the kidnapper must have thought that the hostage had been hidden by himself, they were not here to kill him, but to find someone.

  Involved in a sudden case for no reason, Liu Handong felt that his luck had reached the bottom. At this point, he couldn't rely on anyone else and could only count on himself to survive.

  He walked to a small shop selling tobacco and liquor, saw the public phone, thought that he hadn't called his mother yesterday, hesitated for a moment, and still made a call. It was his stepfather who answered, and Liu Handong hung up directly.

  Liu Handong picked up a copy of the Huaijiang Morning Post and flipped directly to page eight, where the "Case Focus" section was still carrying a follow-up report on the black cab driver murder case, with no mention of last night's incident.

  The Morning Post's Focus column reporter is usually idle, but even trivial neighborhood disputes are reported. However, last night's major case was not reported, and there are only two possibilities: either the police are still investigating and don't want to expand the impact, or someone has covered up the case, just like those two robbers who vanished into thin air. The truth is much deeper than I imagined.

  His back ached, Liu Handong reached out to touch it, the bullet was slightly under the skin and hadn't penetrated deeply. It seemed that the 6-4 pistol's power was too weak, there was little bleeding and he could still hold on. Liu Handong decided to go to the scene of last night's case to take a look, maybe he could find some clues. Still the same phrase, now he could only rely on himself.

  A nondescript Chery sedan was parked by the roadside, covered in dust, apparently untouched for over a month. Liu Handong grasped the keychain in his hand, with the four-pronged anti-theft key protruding from between his fingers. He walked over and smashed the car window with one punch, crawled into the driver's seat, removed the panel under the dashboard, pulled out several wires, found two to short-circuit, and the car started up.

  Half an hour later, Liu Handong arrived at the scene of last night's accident. The road was still bustling with cars and dust flying everywhere, excavators roaring, workers wearing safety helmets shuttling back and forth, a busy scene. The damaged Passat had already been towed away, and there was no sign of the car accident at the scene.

  Liu Handong parked the car by the side of the road, got out to observe the scene, and sized up the pile of precast concrete slabs. The guy who had tried to strangle him in the back seat last night had been thrown off, his face pierced by rebar, but he hadn't died on the spot. It was almost impossible to rescue him in a short time, as carelessly pulling out the rebar would cause secondary injuries, unless... they lifted away the entire precast slab. He observed again, and this pile of precast slabs had one less than the other piles. His guess was correct - the opponent had the ability to mobilize engineering machinery in a short period of time. Maybe everyone on this construction site was their person.

  Looking around, it's now late summer, the trees are lush and the crops are thriving. Not far away is a village. In a situation of darkness, fear and helplessness, people will definitely head towards the direction of light. The girl in the sack is likely to be in that village.

  Liu Handong got back into the car, just about to start the engine, when he suddenly saw someone in the back seat through the rearview mirror. He quickly turned around, and a pair of familiar-looking eyes were staring at him.

  It was that girl from last night.

  He had searched everywhere, but the person he wanted to find was delivered right to his doorstep. Liu Handong couldn't contain his excitement as he started the car and said, "You have to be my witness, I didn't kidnap you, don't be afraid, I'm taking you to the police station."

  The girl's face turned pale with terror as soon as she heard the words "police station", and she shook her head vigorously.

  Liu Handong slammed on the brakes and asked her: "Where is your home? I'll take you back."

  The girl still shook her head, looking extremely anxious.

  "This won't work, that won't work, what exactly do you want to do? What's your name? Can you even speak?" Liu Handong said angrily. This girl didn't say a word no matter how he asked her, it was infuriating.

  The girl still shook her head.

  Liu Handong realized that the girl was mute.