The kidnappers were still on the mountain when they saw the smoke, and they rushed pell-mell down.
The deep tropical mountain forest had large trees that reached high to the sky. They couldn’t directly descend the mountain right away from their location, as they would probably get lost in the forest; they could only look for and take a path that they were familiar with.
This mountain was originally a forestry station and often had lumberjacks come over to cut down trees. Now was the off-season when cutting down trees wasn’t allowed, so no one was around. In any case, there were a number of small paths in the mountains, so this wasn’t a completely primitive forest.
By the time the kidnappers ran over, it had already been more than an hour. The two people by the river had long finished eating the grilled fish, and there was no sign of them except for leftovers and a fire that had been put out.
“What do we do?” The kidnappers looked at one another. It hadn’t been easy to track them, but they had disappeared again.
“They showed up by the river, so they have to be walking along it.” The team leader’s eyes brightened. This was common knowledge – anyone who didn’t know the way in the mountains would usually follow the river so as not to get lost.
“That’s right. If we chase them along the river, we’ll definitely catch up.”
The kidnappers immediately ran downstream. The two hostages had run for an entire night and were hungry and cold in the mountains, so they definitely couldn’t be moving fast. If the kidnappers hurried, they might be able to catch up before sunset.
And so, a bunch of kidnappers ran helter-skelter as they gave chase along the river.
Not long after that, the river returned to its tranquil state. Some small animals popped out of the forest and looked around stealthily, before crouching by the river to drink. Once one small animal appeared, more followed suit. The herbivores drank while remaining vigilant, and the carnivores hid in the grass and stared at this banquet.
On a tall tree in the forest, Yu Tang watched those stupid bandits run far away, then lightly patted the face of the person in his embrace. “Junzhu, Junzhu…”
“Wu…” Sleeping very soundly, Song Xiao mumbled and burrowed into Yu Tang’s embrace.
Yu Tang couldn’t help breaking into a smile when he looked at Song Xiao, and he rubbed his face against that rosy one. “Those people have left; we should hurry and leave too.”
Song Xiao nodded with his eyes closed, and sat up to let the emperor hold him and jump down from the tree.
Shouldering the canvas bag, Yu Tang pulled Song Xiao along as they continued to follow the river. Walking behind the kidnappers was a lot safer than walking in front of them.
One hand in the emperor’s grip, Song Xiao used the other to rub his eyes, and he yawned nonstop.
“Still sleepy?” Yu Tang turned to look at him, then took off the canvas bag and gave it to him. “Carry it.”
Song Xiao was used to being bullied by Yu Tang, and obediently accepted the bag. Then, he saw Yu Tang crouch down in front of him. “Get on ba.”
“Ah?” Song Xiao stared blankly. The emperor planned to carry him. He hurriedly waved his hands. “No need, no need, I’m fine, I can walk.”
But Yu Tang didn’t allow him to protest, and hefted Song Xiao up on his back and patted that perky butt. “If you’re tired, then sleep a bit more.” His meaning was that Song Xiao could lean against his back and sleep.
Even though he wasn’t afraid of lingering in the mountains, he still wanted to get out as soon as possible. They couldn’t move quickly at night, and the kidnappers were now searching high and low for them, so they had to hasten on.
To be able to take an afternoon nap while they were fleeing was already extremely luxurious; how could Song Xiao have the nerve to continue sleeping? Moreover, the emperor would be running with him on his back while all he would be doing was sleep.
Song Xiao struggled and jumped down. “I’m not tired anymore, let’s go ba.”
“Where’re you going?” Sitting in Dugu An’s car, the great general was dragged along in a mad rush. The group of confused bodyguards saw their boss drive off, and followed behind him. However, no one knew where they were going.
“To the emperor’s side,” Dugu An said expressionlessly. Turning onto a quiet road, he glanced at the navigation device next to his hand, and continued forward at full speed.
“Hey, this isn’t a highway! You’re over the speed limit!” the great general hurriedly warned him.
“It’s fine.” Dugu An ignored him, expressing that it didn’t matter that he was over the speed limit.
“Of course it doesn’t matter to you, it’s not your car!”
The two of them made a racket on the journey; to be exact, it was the great general constantly reminding Dugu An to obey the law, while the secret guard with no regard for the law or rules continued to drive over the speed limit and run red lights.
After some unknown time on the road, the great general suddenly received a call from the family head. “You have a lead?”
As an experienced kidnapper, Clem wasn’t dumb all the time. After he was done speaking with the family head, he quickly turned off the phone. It was hard for the police to determine their exact position in such a short period of time, and they only had an approximate location.
“Uh…” The great general looked at Dugu An. “There’s a lead, but we have yet to verify it.”
The family head gave the great general an approximate direction and told him to hurry. Over at the Yu family, they were also utilising whatever power they had, and were notifying the local mafia to have them help in the search.
“As long as they haven’t crossed the American border, we can find them. Head in this direction first, and convene with Cobra in the border town,” Yu Taixian instructed calmly.
“Yes.” The great general hung up and promptly activated the GPS. When he realised that they were headed in the direction that the family head had stated, he was amazed and asked Dugu An how he knew.
“Searching for one’s master is an essential skill for a secret guard.” Dugu An shot him a glance. As a secret guard who kept up with the times, he naturally had to learn how to use modern technology to look for his master. When he had sent that text message earlier, he had already determined both his masters’ location. However, he later noticed that one dot remained unmoving while the other dot gradually got further and further away. There was clearly something very fishy about the situation, and while he had been following that distant dot, he had stopped to take a look at Song Xiao’s phone in passing.
The great general was very depressed at being looked down on by the secret guard, and he lowered his head to send Cao Gonggong a message.
【I was disdained by Anyi】
After a while, Cao Gonggong replied.
【As long as he can find the emperor, then let him disdain you for a while ba】
Cao Gonggong firmly believed that they should follow Anyi. As the leader of the secret guards who had never lost the emperor in thirty years, this person was very reliable. At the very least, he was more reliable than the great general, who had stared blankly as the emperor was shot with an arrow lethally.
The sky gradually darkened, and before night fell completely, Yu Tang and Song Xiao finally found… a signal tower.
Because of the lumberjacks, there was also a substation and signal tower here. It was just that the signal wasn’t very good, and they had to walk to the top of the mountain where the signal tower was before they could make a call.
Once Yu Tang’s phone had a signal, it instantly received countless messages with a nonstop ‘ding ding ding.’ Yu Tang raised his hand and was about to make a call when suddenly, the voice of a kidnapper rang out behind them.
“Over there!” The deep voice carried over the sound of footsteps, and at the same time, there was the sound of a gunshot.
The kidnappers had run along the river toward the sun for the whole afternoon but saw neither hide nor hair of the two of them. Only then did they realise that they had been duped, and as they hurriedly backtracked in their search, Clem dispatched people to wait on the mountaintop where the signal tower was.
Yu Tang hid Song Xiao in a tree and passed him the phone, then prepared to jump down.
“Don’t do it, there’s too many of them.” Song Xiao grabbed Yu Tang’s hand and shook his head.
Baobao Notes
Meant to publish this at six like usual, but forgot