C72

"What do you want?" After I pressed the answer button, the watchman said to Jiang Shan, "You won't be able to escape. It's best if you don't make unnecessary struggles!"

"I'm sorry …" For some reason, Jiang Shan apologized to me, followed by a few seconds of silence. I didn't answer him, but waited for him quietly. After about a minute, I heard Jiang Shan sigh and say, "I've caused you trouble!"

"That's what you wanted to say when you called me?!" At this moment, I was very angry. I forcefully suppressed the anger in my heart and coldly laughed, "Do you want to beg me to catch you when the time comes?"

"Not really!" It seemed like he was lighting a cigarette. A while later, he heard the heavy breathing of someone on the other end of the phone as he said to me, "It can be considered a threat, Professor Liang and Comrade Wang Meiqing are both in my hands. Moreover, your partner is also heavily injured, I don't want to …"

Jiang Shan didn't continue speaking. At this moment, my heart was also extremely anxious. I felt that something was very wrong with Jiang Shan's condition. He didn't seem to be that concerned about escaping. Instead, he gave me the illusion that he was breaking down.

I asked him, "Do you want a life and death struggle?"

"Hehe …" On the other end of the phone, Jiang Shan smiled. "You are all good people. Good people should be rewarded. I hope you can trust me!"

"I'm sorry, I can't trust you!" "Do you take me for a fool?"

"Then what do you want?!" Jiang Shan's tone of voice instantly became very cold. He said to me, "My patience is limited. If you insist on this, I won't be able to guarantee their safety!"

My heart chills. It seems that Jiang Shan is like a dead pig that isn't afraid of boiling water. The tone of his voice is very decisive. If I continue to insist on my opinion, I really can't guarantee whether he will be able to do something stupid or not.

From what County Head Mu said to me just now, it's not hard to tell that they are trying to complete some kind of ceremony. Their attitude was very firm, and it could be seen that this ceremony was extremely important to them.

What kind of ceremony was this? Now that Elder Liang and Auntie Wang have fallen into their hands, even though Jiang Shan promised me that he would ensure their safety afterwards, I can't guarantee that they won't go back on their word.

I held the phone for a long time in silence thinking, Jiang Shan did not hang up the phone, it seems that he was very patient. I looked at my watch. Ten minutes had passed, and it would take the SWAT team about three hours to get there.

Right now, it was ten o'clock in the evening, and three hours later would be the first hour of dawn. By that time, the County Head Mu's ceremony would have definitely been over, if they did not fulfill their promise, wouldn't the two of them be in danger?

No!

I really can't sit still. I'm not a coward, and at the same time I'm not a deserter who abandons his comrades. Besides, both of them had watched me grow up, and I couldn't possibly ignore them.

"Let's make a deal!" After thinking about it for a long time, I said to Jiang Shan, "It's suitable for you to trade me for them!"

I continued, "My name is Lu Xiaochuan, my father is the leader. You know my dual identity, I am the best choice to be your hostage!"

"Aren't you afraid?" Jiang Shan asked me doubtfully.

"Ha …" I smiled. "What are you afraid of?" Unlike some people who can only live in a dark basement! "Can you do it, say something!"

"… …"

Twenty minutes later …

I saw Jiang Shan at the entrance of the Shanghe County Public Security Bureau. He looked to be in a miserable state, his head was wrapped in thick gauze, and his face was full of stubble. In his hand was a pitch black handgun. He grabbed Elder Liang's arm with one hand and pointed the gun at Elder Liang's temple with the other.

Slowly pulling to the side of the road, I didn't get off the car in a hurry. Instead, I pressed the earplugs in my ears, "Little Wei, is everything ready?"

"En!" Wei Shijie said to me: "Don't worry, as long as he is in place, I will inform you. Brother Little Chuan, pay attention to your safety, don't be reckless!"

"Alright!"

Walking out of the car alone, I found that the lights in the courtyard of the Public Security Bureau were now brightly lit. A group of people wearing big red robes were kneeling around the rough old locust tree in an orderly fashion. They were kowtowing in a pious manner and seemed to be chanting some kind of incantation.

Since my position was a little far from the locust tree, and with the barricade of iron fences outside the Public Security Bureau, I could not see the situation clearly.

I walked towards the mountains and rivers. In order to let his guard down, I held my gun in my hand and aimed the gun at myself. As I slowly walked forward, I raised both my hands above my head, indicating to him that I was not a threat.

Seeing me walk over, Jiang Shan immediately pointed the gun between my eyebrows. "Throw your gun over. Hurry!"

I smiled at him and looked at the gun in my hand unwillingly. Afterwards, I squatted down and slid the gun to the foot of the mountain. Standing up, I nodded towards Elder Liang and Auntie Wang, then said to Jiang Shan: "I have a lot of sincerity, right?"

"Yes!" Jiang Shan nodded at me, then pushed Elder Liang and Auntie Wang in front of me. He had been aiming his gun at me the entire time, so when he saw me, he tilted his neck to the side, gesturing for me to hurry over.

Auntie Wang looked at me worriedly. Her tears flowed from the corner of her eyes. Elder Liang stroked his smooth beard in front of me. He patted me on the shoulder and said, "Good boy. See you later!"

After Elder Liang finished speaking, he directly pulled Auntie Wang's arm and walked into the car I was driving. I watched the car drive off into the distance and walked up to River Mountain's side.

I held out my hands and asked, "Do you need handcuffs?"

Jiang Shan shook his head, "Forget it, you're quite good. Come with me!"

I followed Jiang Shan into the courtyard of the Public Security Bureau. The moment I entered, Jiang Shan ordered the guards to completely close the door of the Public Security Bureau. I stopped in my tracks and chuckled at him, "It seems that you are afraid as well!"

"Cut the crap!" Jiang Shan kept a safe distance from me. He pointed the gun at my chest and said, "After midnight, it's over!"

"Is that so?" I turned my head to look at the locust tree. The night wind was rather strong and there were a lot of dark clouds floating in the sky. It seemed that it would rain soon!

The locust tree swayed violently in the cold wind, and its leaves were scattered in the wind. At this moment, I saw around the old locust tree, stood eight old people holding torches. Amongst these people, I also saw two former acquaintances.

One of them was the village head, while the other was the old man in the mailroom. These elderly people were covered in red sheets. They were holding a short knife in their left hand and a long torch in their right. They looked very pious. Their eyes were closed and they stood there motionlessly like statues.

The eight of them were standing on a small round white dot of ash. When I looked at it carefully, these white dots should be about the same distance from each other. It should be the location of the Eight Trigrams.

Next, my gaze was attracted to the roots of the locust tree. I noticed that a big hole had been dug out from the trunk of the old locust tree. The hole was about two meters tall and one meter wide. There was a person sitting cross-legged at the entrance of the cave. I couldn't see his appearance clearly because the two sides of that person's body were currently covered with black and white cloth, making them look like the yin and yang of the Eight Trigrams.

Just then, an evil wind suddenly blew from all around, it coincidentally blew into the hole, the cloth on the man's body floated up, in that moment, I suddenly stopped, the person inside the tree hole was County Head Mu.

Jiang Shan pointed the gun at my back and said, "Stop looking and come with me!"

He led me to the hollow tree. He bent down to look at the County Head Mu and said: "Uncle, it's about time!"

"Alright! "Let's begin!" County Head Mu slowly raised his head, but at that moment, his eyes met mine. He abruptly stood up and asked Jiang Shan, "Why is he here?"

County Head Mu's expression was very agitated. I didn't know what was wrong with him, but I felt a bit of unease in my heart. I stretched out my hand and touched the drum in front of my chest.

Jiang Shan looked at me and said to the County Head Mu, "He came himself!"

"But …" I saw that County Head Mu still wanted to say something, but Jiang Shan pointed at the watch on his wrist. He showed County Head Mu the time on his watch, "There's not much time left, hurry up!"

"Sigh!" County Head Mu sighed heavily. He looked at me with a complicated gaze, and after a while, he sat down cross-legged again.

Just then, the County Head Mu put his hands together and chanted an incantation. As he chanted more and more, I noticed that the surrounding wind gradually became stronger. In the midst of the wind, I seemed to hear a faint sound of someone wailing. If I listened carefully, it sounded like it came from underneath the locust tree.

Immediately after, County Head Mu's hands started to form hand seals nonstop, his movements was extremely skilled. At this moment, in my eyes, he looked just like a real mage. Compared to that amiable county magistrate, he was like the difference between heaven and earth.

Following the continuous hand seals, the eight elderly men started from the east, kneeling down on the ground clockwise. Before each of them knelt down, they cut their own wrists with the short knife in their hands. "They stuck their torches into the white ashes on the ground, then stretched out their wrists and let their blood drip onto the rising flames.

The blood that dripped onto the high temperature flame instantly evaporated, and white steam slowly rose into the air. At that moment, perhaps it was because I had been staring at the flames for such a long time, I seemed to see many small white figures within the steam. These so-called "figures" floated back and forth, like ghosts.