Chapter 1185: I Want to Make You Stay (63)
“Thirty million dollars? Son, that’s an exorbitant price. A few-million-dollar one would be more than enough. A few million dollars is not a small amount. Besides, how did the topic of a hundred-million-dollar ring come into the discussion all of a sudden? Did she bring it up on purpose?” Mrs. Yan gibed.
“No, we just mentioned it casually. Mother, just stay out of our matters. I’ll handle them well, alright?”
“No. Only when I compare the two of them do I realize that Fang Erlan is far worse than Yu Caiwei,” Mrs. Yan lamented with a sigh.
Yan Ge changed the subject and said, “I’ll have to get to work soon. Rest here by yourself. I’ll bring you out for dinner after work.”
“Go ahead, you don’t have to worry about me. I’ll wait for you in the car.”
“Alright.” Yan Ge closed the door and began walking toward Fang Erlan.
Noticing the grave expression on her face, he squatted down and held her hand. “Don’t take my mother’s words to heart,” he said.
“I was just joking with you when I asked that question.”
“Yes, I know. So don’t be upset anymore,” Yan Ge said, smiling.
Fang Erlan gazed at him and nodded.
——
An Xiaoning received a call from Pan Zhenghui in the evening.
Pan Zhenghui spoke at an immense speed and did not stop to catch his breath at all. He wished he could say everything in one go.
“Xiaoning, hurry and come back. We’ve already found some new lead. Do you want to drive here yourself or would you like us to pick you up along the way?”
“The latter.”
“Alright, wait for us by the entrance of Wei Ni Estate. We’ll be on our way…” said Pan Zhenghui. When he was hanging up, she could hear the faint sounds of Pan Zhenghui rus.h.i.+ng the other police officers.
An Xiaoning began getting ready and packing her belongings. Since Jin Qingyan was still working overtime at the office, she sent him a text message to tell him not to wait for her because she would be going out to handle some matters.
She carried her bag on her shoulder and walked toward the entrance of Wei Ni Estate. Three minutes later, the police car showed up.
She entered the car to see that Pan Zhenghui was sitting inside. As soon as she closed the door, he immediately said to the police officer who was driving, “Step on it, hurry.”
He then said to An Xiaoning, “Bad news, the situation is far worse than we had imagined. The officers from the special forces are all rus.h.i.+ng there now in batches aboard helicopters.”
“How many officers were sent?”
“About four to five hundred. We’re trying to keep the situation under control first. We’ll continue to transfer more men over if necessary.”
Realizing that things were escalating, An Xiaoning asked, “So many people? Did you just receive the news?”
“Yes. However, that place is a little far from here and closer to the village side. The news hasn’t spread to the city yet. We’ll be taking a helicopter there later. I heard that the number of victims is increasing exponentially,” said Pan Zhenghui, who was getting a major headache.
An Xiaoning found the matter to be rather serious after hearing his description. She asked, “Has it been reported on the news yet?”
“How can there be reports of it? That’ll only invoke fear amongst the citizens and make the situation worse. We’ve already informed the constables in the affected villages to carry out an emergency evacuation,” Pan Zhenghui said while his jaw trembled uncontrollably. She could tell that he didn’t wish to go to such a dangerous place. However, he did not have a choice.
“Is that area densely populated?”
“The younger villagers have all gone out to work in the cities. The Mid-Autumn Festival is arriving soon and we’re not sure how many of them have returned to the village for the festive season. If most of them have, there would be more people in the village. If not, the village will mainly be occupied by the elderly and the children. It’s almost seven o’clock now and there’ll be a few more hours until the sky turns dark completely. I’m guessing we’ll need about fifty minutes to arrive there if we take the expressway. When we arrive, the military troops should probably be almost done with handling those people. We can relax a little so long as the situation is kept under control. My only worry is that things might get out of hand. If that happens, there’ll only be more and more victims. This time, we and the archeological team will definitely face the music, even if we handle the situation well.”
Although An Xiaoning had no idea what the exact situation was like, she could more or less guess what was going on. She wound the windows down and allowed the breeze to enter. She then leaned her head against the window and looked out at the pa.s.sing scenery.
About thirty minutes into their journey, they were already almost reaching their destination, all thanks to how fast they were traveling.
At this very moment, she received an urgent call from Lin Mingxi.
An Xiaoning picked up immediately, only to hear some screaming sounds. She sat up straight and said, “Mingxi?”
There was still no response apart from the shrieks of terror that came from men, women, and children.
Just as An Xiaoning was about to hang up and call Gu Beicheng instead, Lin Mingxi began panting heavily and said, “Xiaoning… Xiaoning, hurry and come here, hurry…”
“Where are you now? Mingxi, where are you?” An Xiaoning asked worriedly, gripping her phone tightly.
“Beicheng and I are on a bus on Beiying Street.”
Her eyes widened in shock, and she said in a moment of panic, “You guys hang in there, I’ll be there in a few minutes. Just a few minutes.”
An Xiaoning ended the call and said to the police officer who was in charge of driving. “Drive at the fastest speed possible, hurry!”
“What happened? Xiaoning?” Pan Zhenghui asked, noticing the sullen expression on her face.
“Mingxi and Beicheng are at Beiying too!”
“They’re there too? Are they alright?” Pan Zhenghui asked in a high-pitched voice.
“Yes, they can still endure it for a while. How many incinerator rifles have we brought?”
“The special forces brought a lot of them. We have two small ones in the car.”
“Only two? Give me one,” An Xiaoning said with a frown, extending her arm. Fortunately, she had brought two guns herself, together with 200 bullets.
Pan Zhenghui prompted Team Leader Zhang, “Give Xiaoning one.”
Team Leader Zhang immediately did as he was told. An Xiaoning stared at the switch.
Although the journey only required a few more minutes, the short amount of time felt like years to her.
Her stomach twisted into a knot, and she was filled with panic.
She wished that they could go faster.
Amidst her eagerness and panic, they finally arrived in the Beiying area and were about to drive into the town. However, the sky was already pitch dark.
As soon as they approached the towns, they were greeted with the sight of fires everywhere.
To everyone else, all that they could see were mutants that had been set on flames. Unbeknownst to the rest, there was a far more terrifying sight than meets the eye, one which An Xiaoning could see.