After Wang An and Wang Li left, the shorter man—the one surnamed Liu—returned to the group of railway police. By this time, the officers had dispersed, standing among the fallen bandits.
An older officer, whom the others called Brother Cui, spoke up
"Xiao Liu, where on earth did you run into two ruthless characters like those?"
Hearing this, Liu looked at the bandits wailing all over the ground and said
"Looking at their letters of introduction and police IDs, they are on official business from DJ County in Heilongjiang Province."
Another officer surnamed Han said with a look of bewilderment
"DJ County? Isn't DJ County right over in that Little Khingan Mountains area? And if you go further that way, you hit LQ County."
The others didn't chime in, but Brother Cui said
"I don't know; I've never been there. All I know is that it's freezing over there, about ten degrees lower than here."
After a pause, Brother Cui added
"Those two guys are way too fierce. A whole gang of bandits, and they managed to take them all down by themselves. If we hadn't been afraid that we'd mistake them for bandits too, I reckon those two who escaped would have been dropped right here by them."
After Brother Cui finished, the others began to echo his sentiments. However, it was obvious that this group of railway police didn't realize—or rather, didn't consider—that the reason those two bandits were able to escape was that Wang An and Wang Li had intentionally let them go.
And the reason Wang An and Wang Li let them go was that they were carrying sacks full of money and valuable treasures on their backs.
To the railway police, the personal safety of the people was the most important thing; as long as there were no casualties, they bore no responsibility.
As for the safety of property, that was a different story. After all, wealth is an external possession; as long as a person is alive and in one piece, everything is fine.
Besides, who told you to carry so much money when leaving the house? So, while it's naturally better to save the money, if it's gone, there's nothing to be done. No one is to blame; it's as simple as that.
Liu said with a smile
"This is nothing. Over by the sleeper carriages, they injured five more bandits. They all hit them in the wrists and kneecaps; their marksmanship is truly incredible."
Brother Cui subconsciously glanced toward the sleeper carriages, then looked in the direction where Wang An and Wang Li had chased the bandits, and said thoughtfully
"So it turns out this whole gang of bandits was cleaned up by our brothers from Heilongjiang, and we ended up becoming their logistics support."
After Brother Cui spoke, the officers looked at one another, all stunned for a moment, but then they all burst out laughing together.
After the laughter subsided, Brother Cui ordered
"Xiao Liu, go on the train and let the boss know. While you're at it, call a few male attendants down to lend a hand in hauling these bastards onto the train."
When mentioning the bandits, Brother Cui's face was full of disgust and hatred, as if he wished he could execute them all on the spot.
Liu agreed and turned to run back toward the train.
Meanwhile, Wang An and Wang Li had already caught up to the two bandits carrying the sacks.
However, the two of them did not fire their guns. Instead, they followed behind at a leisurely pace, occasionally shouting, "Stop, or we'll fire!"
This was Wang An's idea. He wanted to wait until they had run a bit further before making his move—at the very least, they needed to be a good distance away from the railway tracks.
Mainly, he needed to find a suitable place to hide the money. Otherwise, if the money he had gone to such great lengths to secure was discovered by railway maintenance workers, it would be incredibly frustrating.
At the same time, Wang An wanted to create a sense of pressure to make the two men voluntarily drop the money.
One must realize that when a person is running for their life, even the clothes they are wearing feel like a burden, let alone a heavy sack.
Otherwise, the phrase "throwing away armor and shields" wouldn't exist.
Sure enough, whether it was to make their bodies lighter to increase their chances of escape, or because they felt the money was less important than their lives and freedom, the two bandits sprinting with the sacks dropped them one after another.
Once the sacks were gone, the two bandits indeed ran significantly faster than before. However, Wang An was no longer in a hurry to chase. He looked back at the distance to the train; they were roughly over a *li* away. Thus, Wang An said to Wang Li
"Kill them both now."
With that, Wang An and Wang Li stood their ground and pulled the triggers on the two men running frantically.
There was no other way; only the mouths of dead men can keep a secret.
After the shots rang out, the two bandits were hit in the back of the head and collapsed instantly. Wang An casually picked up one sack, and Wang Li picked up the other. Wang Li followed Wang An toward a nearby hillside.
Hiding things is actually a highly technical task, especially in the pitch black of night.
First, and most importantly, one must ensure that the hidden items are not found or discovered by others.
Second, one must ensure that they can find the items themselves in the future.
Finally, one must ensure that the items will not be damaged by natural disasters, such as flooding, fire, or being gnawed by animals.
Using the light of a flashlight, the two of them quickly found a small abandoned cave. Caves like this were usually former dens for animals like foxes or wolves.
Such abandoned dens were the most suitable for hiding things. Because of the scent left behind by the previous inhabitants, their own kind generally wouldn't enter, nor would other small animals like mountain rats, raccoons, or rabbits.
Furthermore, there are countless such caves in the mountains, and they generally don't attract the attention of mountain foragers or shepherds. Therefore, hiding the items inside was absolutely the best choice for Wang An and Wang Li at the moment.
Before placing the items in the cave, Wang Li suddenly asked Wang An with curiosity
"Fourth Brother, let's see what's inside?"
Wang An had originally wanted to hurry back, mainly because the train certainly wouldn't wait long. If this train had to yield to another, it would inevitably move forward immediately to wait at the next station.
On second thought, a minute or two wouldn't make a difference. So, Wang An nodded
"Fine, let's take a look."
The moment they opened the sacks, the two of them were stunned. They had never imagined that the people in the hard-seat carriages would actually have more money than those in the sleeper carriages.
Stacks upon stacks of "Big Unity" ten-yuan notes were incredibly eye-catching. The thickness of the stacks varied, and there was more loose change, but there were fewer gold and silver ornaments.
The hard-seat carriages were a mixed bag of people; everyone knew the principle that "wealth should not be exposed."
*** *Thanks to "Black A-Niu Ge" for the tip, thank you, thank you!* *Thanks to "Book Friend 20210724134246341" for the tip, thank you, thank you!*
(End of Chapter)