164: Chapter 164 Citywide Manhunt • Escape

Early morning, Li Xin was awakened by a knock on the door.

Fists slammed hard against the door, one heavier than the next, lacking the gentle, light tapping of the Old Lady.

Li Xin sat up abruptly, kicked on his shoes, walked quickly to the door, and peered out through the crack.

Four or five people stood outside, all wearing dark clothes, some holding sticks, some empty-handed. The leader, he had seen before—the The Tall Thin Man who had searched him at the camp last night.

Li Xin stepped back and opened the door.

The The Tall Thin Man pushed the door open and entered, followed by several others who blocked the doorway. The room suddenly felt crowded.

The The Tall Thin Man stared at Li Xin for a few seconds.

"You... where did you go last night?"

"I didn't go anywhere, I was sleeping in the room."

"Sleeping? Are you pulling my leg?" The The Tall Thin Man sneered. "Someone saw you coming out of the mining area."

Li Xin said nothing.

The The Tall Thin Man waved his hand, and the men began rummaging through the room. They searched drawers, cabinets, and the backpack. The backpack only contained a passport, wallet, camera, and a few changes of clothes. The drawers were empty; the cabinet only had a few towels.

They found nothing.

The The Tall Thin Man walked up to Li Xin and stared at him.

"What exactly do you do?"

Li Xin's expression was calm as he spread his hands: "I'm just an ordinary tourist, here for sightseeing."

"A tourist?" The The Tall Thin Man laughed again, this time coldly. "Would a tourist run deep into a mining area? And come out of it? Do you take us for fools?"

Li Xin shrugged slightly, looking a bit helpless: "I just heard the scenery here was unique, so I came for a walk, accidentally went off course, and didn't expect to stumble into the mining area."

He took a piece of paper from his pocket and unfolded it.

It was a portrait, a black-and-white pencil sketch that looked about fifty or sixty percent like Li Xin. The eyes, nose, and face shape were somewhat similar, but not exactly the same.

"What is this drawing? It doesn't look like me at all." Li Xin shook his head, looking innocent.

"Whether it looks like you or not isn't for you to decide." The The Tall Thin Man put the portrait away. "Our boss said someone was causing trouble in the mining area last night. Something was tampered with. Whoever did it, if we catch them, we'll skin them alive."

He stared into Li Xin's eyes.

"You'd better tell the truth."

Li Xin didn't look away, watching him with a flat tone.

"I'm just a tourist. If you don't believe me, you can call the police and let them investigate."

The The Tall Thin Man was taken aback, likely not expecting him to say that. He was silent for a few seconds, then turned to speak in a low voice to the person beside him, who shook his head.

The The Tall Thin Man turned back and looked at Li Xin.

"Leave. Don't stay in Yekaterinburg. If I see you again, I won't be so easy to talk to."

He waved his hand, and the men filed out. The sound of footsteps echoed in the hallway for a moment, then vanished.

Li Xin closed the door and leaned against it.

His palms were covered in sweat.

He stood for a while, walked to the window, and looked down. The The Tall Thin Man and his group were still standing by the side of the road. Someone was on the phone, someone was lighting a cigarette. A black van pulled up, parked by the side of the road, and the door opened.

They seemed to be waiting for someone.

Li Xin stepped back, away from the window. He picked up his backpack and stuffed his things inside. Passport, wallet, camera. Then he took a folding knife from his space and tucked it into his pocket.

He walked to the back window, pushed it open, and climbed out. The backyard connected to a vegetable patch, and behind the patch was a small woods. Crouching low, he crossed the vegetable patch and dived into the trees.

He hadn't gone a hundred meters when a shout came from behind.

"He's running! He's at the back!"

Li Xin picked up his pace. The woods weren't dense, but there were many shrubs and vines that tangled his feet. He pushed aside branches, stepped on soft soil, and ran forward. Branches whipped his face, stinging painfully.

Footsteps followed behind, more than one person. People were shouting and cursing.

He passed through the woods and climbed a dirt ridge. Below the ridge was a dry riverbed filled with loose gravel, making it slippery to run. He stumbled forward, charging along the riverbed.

Figures appeared on the ridge behind him. Some jumped down, others took the long way around.

Li Xin turned into a side gully; the bottom was narrower, with steep slopes on both sides covered in thorns. He bent low, crawling under the thickets, his clothes tearing with a ripping sound.

The footsteps behind him grew closer and closer.

Ahead was a higher ridge, over two meters tall, with a forest on top. He accelerated for a few steps, leaped, grabbed the edge, and pulled himself up.

The moment he got up, his foot slipped, and he started sliding down. He dug his fingers into the soil; his nails cracked, the pain piercing. Gritting his teeth, he braced his knees against the ridge wall and pushed, pulling himself up.

Lying on the edge, he caught his breath and looked back. The group in the dry riverbed was still running, less than a hundred meters away.

He got up and dived into the woods.

The forest side was a large, gentle slope, not steep, but with lots of gravel, making it slippery. He tried to step on clumps of grass to increase friction. After running for about ten minutes, a winding dirt mountain road appeared ahead.

He ran up the dirt road, which twisted and turned around the mountainside. He hadn't gone far when the sound of motorcycles came from behind. More than one.

He looked back and saw three motorcycles coming up from below, two people on each, all holding sticks.

Li Xin left the dirt road and climbed up the hillside; it was steep and slippery with gravel, so he slid back half a step for every step he climbed. The motorcycles chased along the dirt road, stopped at the spot where he had just left, and the men got off to pursue him up the slope.

He climbed about fifty meters; ahead was a ridge. If he crossed the ridge, he should be able to shake them off.

Suddenly, his feet went soft—not because he missed his footing, but because the ground was sinking. Li Xin threw himself to the side.

A rumble came from behind—the sound of the mountain collapsing. Gravel, soil, and uprooted shrubs slid down from where he had just been standing. Millstone-sized rocks rolled down, smashing into pine trees; the sound of the trunks snapping was like firecrackers.

A landslide.

Li Xin lay on the ground, gripping a clump of shrub roots for dear life. Gravel rolled past him, striking his legs and stinging painfully. Soil poured into his shoes and pant legs. The dust choked him, making it hard to breathe.

The landslide lasted for a dozen seconds, then stopped.

He slowly raised his head; the hillside behind him had collapsed over a large area. The dirt road was gone, buried under gravel and soil. The motorcycles were also gone; he didn't know if they had been buried or had retreated.

Li Xin got up and limped over the ridge.

The hillside on this side was steeper, but the vegetation was dense, with trees to hold onto. He gripped the trunks and moved down, step by step. His knees hurt, his ankles hurt, and the cracks on his fingers were bleeding.

At the foot of the mountain was a river. The water wasn't deep but was swift. He waded across, the icy water making him shiver. After crossing, he looked back; no one was chasing him over the ridge.

He sat on a rock by the river, took off his shoes, and poured out the gravel and soil. The skin on his soles was rubbed raw, and his socks were soaked. He took new ones from his space to change into, then took out a bandage to wrap the cracks on his fingers.

"AI System, Scan and see if anyone is following."

[Zhuzi, no pursuers detected. However, one kilometer away, some people are returning to the city.]

Li Xin let out a long sigh of relief, stood up, and continued walking along the river. After another few hundred meters, he finally encountered a dirt road.

He continued north along the dirt road and, an hour later, arrived at a small village of wooden houses with a few dozen families, smoke curling from chimneys. He paused for a moment by an old motorcycle as an old man carrying a soup bowl walked out of a house.

Seeing Li Xin, he asked casually, "Young man, who are you looking for?"

"Old man, I'm just passing through. I was wondering if I could borrow a place to rest my feet?"

The old man looked at him and nodded. "No problem, no problem. You must be tired from outside. Come in, sit down, and have some water to rest."

"Okay, thank you, sir!"

Li Xin followed him into the house. The room wasn't big but was very warm; the stove was burning, and the kettle was bubbling. The old man served him a bowl of soup—smoked meat soup with potatoes and carrots.

"Thank you."

He held the bowl and drank slowly. The soup was hot, and the saltiness was just right.

The old man sat opposite him and lit a cigarette.

"Where are you from?"

"Yekaterinburg. I came here for hiking."

"Hiking?" The old man looked him up and down. "There was a landslide on the mountain. Did you know?"

"I know. I encountered it on the other side of the mountain just now and was almost buried."

The old man was silent for a moment.

"It's not peaceful over there. People from the mines, gold thieves, and a group of people whose origins I don't know are wandering on the mountain every day. You're alone; don't go over there anymore."

"Understood, thank you."

After finishing the soup, Li Xin took a few hundred rubles from his bag and placed them on the table.

The old man glanced at it and said nothing.

Li Xin left and headed north for half an hour until he reached a fork in the road, where he saw a wooden house with a sign hanging that read "Honey & Bread".

He pushed the door open and entered. The room was small, with honey, bread, and smoked meat on wooden shelves. A plump woman was looking down, knitting a sweater.

"Boss, I'd like to buy some food."

"The bread was just baked, very fresh." She stood up and took a loaf of bread from the shelf. "I smoked the meat myself, too. Do you want some?"

"Yes, and a jar of honey."

The proprietress packed the food and handed it to him. Li Xin paid and sat on the steps. Hot bread with smoked meat and honey—the taste was just right.

He ate slowly, looking toward the distant mountains. Sunlight spilled through the clouds, the hillsides alternating between light and shadow, with the wind through the pines brushing his face.

[Zhuzi.]

"Hmm."

[System cooldown has two hours left. Scan and see if there are any unexpected gains nearby.]

Li Xin opened the panel and brought up the Scan results.

[Okay, Scanned. Found an abandoned factory in the suburbs of Yekaterinburg, about fifteen kilometers to the southwest. The underground structure is abnormal; it is suspected to be a gold cache. Estimated at 15 tons.]

"What type?"

[It should be loose gold from the Tsarist era, a cache, ownerless. Can be Extraction in full.]

Li Xin stuffed the last piece of bread into his mouth and stood up.

"Let's go, let's take a look."

He walked along the road toward the southwest. After nearly two hours, he arrived at the abandoned factory. The factory area wasn't big, with a few dilapidated factory buildings; the windows were all broken, and the iron doors were so rusted that their original color was unrecognizable. The courtyard was overgrown with weeds, taller than a person.

He pushed through the weeds and walked to the innermost factory building. The walls were cracked, and the roof had collapsed halfway. The ground was covered with broken bricks, broken glass, and rusted sheet metal.

He crouched down and pressed his hand to the ground.

"AI System, Scan."

[Scanning... About twelve meters underground, brick-lined cache, 15.2 tons of gold, confirmed ownerless, can be Extraction.]

"Start Extraction."

[Extraction started, 15.2 tons, estimated time 18 minutes.]

The progress bar began to jump. He leaned against the wall, staring at the panel. The wall was brick; it was cold and pressed against his back.

Eighteen minutes later, the progress bar was full.

[Extraction complete, obtained 15.2 tons of gold. Cumulative gold: 2604.2057 tons.]

Li Xin stood up and brushed the dust off his hands.

He walked out of the abandoned factory and stood by the road. It was getting dark; the sunset dyed the distant woods orange-red. There weren't many cars on the road; occasionally a truck drove by, kicking up a cloud of dust.

He took out his phone and checked the train schedule. There was a night train to Lake Baikal that evening, departing from Yekaterinburg and arriving the next afternoon.

He hailed a passing truck; the driver was a middle-aged man, unshaven, wearing an old cotton-padded jacket.

"Where to?"

"Yekaterinburg."

"Get in."

Li Xin climbed into the passenger seat and closed the door. The truck started, the smell of diesel pungent. The driver didn't speak, and neither did he.

When they arrived at Yekaterinburg train station, it was already dark. Li Xin paid the fare and walked into the waiting hall. The hall wasn't big, the lights were dim, and a few people waiting for trains sat on the benches—some dozing off, some looking at their phones.

He went to the window and bought a sleeper ticket.

Ticket checked, boarded the train. The carriage wasn't new but clean. He found his berth, a lower bunk. He put his backpack away and lay down.

The train started and slowly pulled out of the platform. The city lights outside the window grew more distant and finally disappeared into the night.

Li Xin lay on the bunk, listening to the sound of the wheels hitting the tracks: clatter, clatter, clatter.

AI System flashed on the panel.

[Zhuzi, where to next?]

"Irkutsk Oblast, Siberia."

[What are you going to find?]

"Sukhoy Log."

He turned over and pulled the quilt up.

The night outside was deep, with occasional lights flashing by—small stations along the way.

He closed his eyes.