Just as Jiang Ning had thought, the moment she appeared on the road in her car, she had already entered the surveillance range of the other party.
On the mountain behind the pig farm, a middle-aged man was sitting on a high tree branch, holding a pair of binoculars and intently observing all the movements in the surroundings.
Upon seeing the unfamiliar white vehicle, the man spoke, "Hei Mazi, someone’s driving over here."
At the foot of the tree, a tall and skinny man was leaning back comfortably; his skin was dark, and his face was covered with many gray spots.
Hearing Skinny Wang’s words, Hei Mazi, who had been scrolling through Douyin on his phone, looked up, "How many vehicles? Are they heading towards the factory?"
"Just one," Skinny Wang, still clutching the binoculars, checked again, "Seems like they’re just passing by."
At those words, Hei Mazi rolled his eyes in disbelief; he suspected that Skinny Wang had a smaller heart than a mouse – otherwise, why would he be so jumpy even after keeping watch for so long?
A few seconds later, as the white car continued straight along the cement road and away, Skinny Wang breathed a sigh of relief, "It’s just passing through."
Hei Mazi ignored him, shifted his body, found a comfortable position to lie down, and continued playing with his phone.
In the car, Qi Xingzhou rolled down the window, and a dark thrush bird flew in from outside and gently landed on the dashboard below the windshield, seemingly hitching a free ride.
But after a few seconds, Qi Xingzhou said, "Someone on the mountain across is watching us."
His tone was certain, and Jiang Ning was somewhat surprised to hear it.
She hadn’t yet shared the information obtained from the System with Qi Xingzhou, and without a doubt, it must have been the Dark Thrush that told him.
Jiang Ning slowed down, stealing a glance at the bird that was now inside the vehicle grooming its feathers, "Besides the two on the mountaintop, are there any others?"
"Let me ask," said Qi Xingzhou, and looked towards the Dark Thrush.
He didn’t speak, but after a few moments, the Dark Thrush spread its wings and flew out.
While slowing down, Jiang Ning saw the dark thrush fly straight towards the forest on the left.
It called out once, the sound haunting, and then, many black thrushes emerged from various corners of the forest.
At that moment, the Dark Thrush had summoned the rest of its avian family, clearly to gather intelligence.
Indeed, if they had always lived here, there probably was no one better than these small animals to understand the humans’ trails.
In order not to spook the quarry, Jiang Ning pressed on the gas pedal and continued along the cement road, waiting for the Dark Thrush’s return, not forgetting to observe the geographical environment on both sides of the road, correlating it with the red dots displayed on the map to figure out the other party’s layout.
After the Dark Thrush returned, Qi Xingzhou said, "Only the two men on the mountaintop are keeping watch outside; the rest are inside the factory and pig farm."
Jiang Ning nodded; Qi Xingzhou’s words matched the layout of the criminals’ positioning given by the System.
This group of people engaging in organized gambling was split between two locations, one being the abandoned factory, the other the abandoned pig farm.
It was unclear whether the other party considered the place too remote for visitors, or if they just had too much confidence in the two on the mountaintop, as those were the only two on lookout.
Jiang Ning had already given Zhang Lang the rough directions on her way over, and now, she sent him a precise GPS location.
Zhang Lang replied quickly, "Okay, okay, okay, we’re on our way, it’ll take about twenty minutes by car."
Jiang Ning drove a good distance away until after turning a corner, out of view of the two atop the mountain, then she stopped the car and called Zhang Lang.
"Don’t rush, take your time."
It was best to wait until she and Qi Xingzhou had dealt with the two on the mountaintop before the others arrived.