As soon as Wang An approached, he heard a police officer using a megaphone, repeatedly shouting.
"People inside, listen up! We are the DJ County Police. You are surrounded. Come out immediately to cooperate with the investigation..."
Hearing this, Wang An curled his lip, feeling utterly speechless.
With a setup like this, no matter who it was, they wouldn't voluntarily come out!
If they ran, it would be no big deal, but "cooperating with an investigation" was like feeling for yellow mud in one's crotch.
Just ask yourself: if there's yellow mud in someone's crotch, would you think it's mud, or would you think it's shit?
This was a matter of common sense and instinctive human thinking. Don't blame people for not cooperating; when you, as a police officer, tell them there's something wrong with them, they are absolutely beyond defense.
Therefore, among the Thirty-Six Stratagems, the one ranked first is always "Run."
Seeing Zhang Shuya and the others, Wang An asked, "Big Sister, what's the situation now?"
Zhang Shuya replied, "See those clumps of shrubs ahead? They're in there."
Wang An observed for a moment and couldn't help but frown.
He had to admit, these people really knew how to hide; the main thing was that the shrubs were packed very closely together.
From the inside, they should be able to see outside clearly, but from the outside looking in, you couldn't see a thing.
Wang An sucked on his teeth, suddenly recalling the scene back at Wild Boar Ridge when he, Mu Xue, and Wang Li had been firing blindly into the dense forest.
Thus, Wang An suggested to Zhang Shuya
"Big Sister, why not just let off a few bursts? I feel like after a few bursts, they'll definitely run faster than anyone."
Hearing this, Zhang Shuya looked at Wang An with a face full of helplessness and said irritably
"What kind of joke is that? They haven't done anything, and you want to just shoot them dead? We are the people's army; everything we do must be based on evidence. Do you take us for bandits?"
Wang An blinked and gave an awkward smile, but in his heart, he was thinking
There's nothing wrong with being the people's army, but this "everything based on evidence" thing is a bit...
Setting aside everything else, look at those people in the Forbidden Zone; not one of them was left with a whole corpse. He wouldn't mention the fierce bandits because they got what they deserved and their deaths were not to be regretted.
But the key issue was that there were a bunch of old women in there too!
If you trace it back, what crime did those old women commit? Even if they committed the crime of smoking opium paste, was their crime punishable by death?
So, in reality, it was just that Zhang Shuya and her group were saying whatever sounded right.
Besides, sometimes many things are just the way they are!
Otherwise, could someone explain what was going on with those messy incidents that Qiao Xiaohu said had been happening frequently in the county town lately?
Not just in the county, but including the province and even the entire country—what was the situation, or rather, how serious was it?
Of course, Wang An only dared to think it; he absolutely wouldn't dare say it out loud.
Not only would he not dare, he wouldn't say it. After all, it wasn't his call to make, so it was better not to complain recklessly.
To be honest, it was only because Wu Dong, Zhang Shuya, and the others had an unusual relationship with Wang An that they used their power to come here.
Otherwise, with nothing having happened, would they mobilize a joint military-police operation based solely on suspicion?
Are you kidding? Are these people someone an ordinary person could boss around?
Don't give me that crap; who do you think you are? Would they even acknowledge you?
After a while, the shouting continued, and the group still hadn't approached.
However, whether it was Jia Renlu's people or the military and police, everyone rationally refrained from firing.
Jia Renlu's people didn't dare, because once they fired, the nature of the situation would change.
And Zhang Shuya and the others didn't dare either!
So the current situation had reached a complete stalemate.
Truthfully, Wang An didn't have any good ideas right now. Without using guns, this matter was truly difficult to handle.
After another while, Wu Dong and Wang Shuai walked over.
Before they even reached them, Wu Dong asked
"Xiaoya, how do we handle this? We can't just keep wasting time here."
Hearing Wu Dong's complaint, Zhang Shuya immediately became like a tigress, glaring at Wu Dong and shouting
"You're asking me? Who am I supposed to ask? If I hadn't listened to you guys and used artillery last time, would I have been demoted to this tiny county town?"
Seeing that Zhang Shuya was angry, Wu Dong immediately said with a flattering smile
"Wasn't that just to vent for you? Besides, we only mentioned it at the time; we didn't think you'd actually agree!"
As soon as Wu Dong said this, Zhang Shuya wanted to refute him, but she only moved her lips without speaking.
Then, Zhang Shuya simply gave Wu Dong a sidelong glance and said irritably
"Get lost to the corner, just looking at you annoys me."
Wu Dong gave a sheepish smile and stood there. Although he didn't "get lost," he stopped talking.
Hearing their conversation, Wang An instantly recalled why Zhang Shuya's expression had been clearly off when he previously mentioned her coming to the county town to "plate herself in gold."
This wasn't "plating in gold" at all; she had been demoted!
What a mess!
But this was actually normal. Without asking for the facts, they had just set up artillery and blasted away.
Although the people in the Forbidden Zone had done heartless things, they were indeed members of the people.
And was shelling them with artillery something that Zhang Shuya and her colleagues should have done?
But it had to be said that from this point, one could see that the power behind Zhang Shuya was absolutely terrifying.
Regardless of who died or what crimes they committed, so many lives were gone for real.
And with so many people participating on-site, no matter how you put it, this was something that should not happen in New China.
Many things that ordinary people find inconceivable or think are monumental are, in the eyes of many powerful figures, nothing more than a fart.
It was only then that Wang An understood why Zhang Shuya had such a strong reaction when he offered his suggestion earlier.
Zhang Shuya, Sun Nian, the four people with Wu Dong, and Wang An—seven people stood together in total silence. The scene could be described as quite eerie.
Finally, Wang An thought of a way to break the deadlock.
With the power behind Zhang Shuya, as long as she could earn more merit, she would likely be promoted back up very quickly.
And that hollow stone mountain was useless to Wang An, but to Zhang Shuya and the others, it was definitely a powerful tool for earning merit.
Thinking of this, Wang An gently pulled Zhang Shuya's sleeve and said to her
"Big Sister, come with me for a moment, I have something to tell you."
The reason Wang An only spoke to Zhang Shuya alone was actually a move of necessity.
Because whenever a secret was discovered by an ordinary person first, they would inevitably be "squeezed like a toad until they pissed themselves."
Therefore, it was better for as few people as possible to know about many things, so as to avoid a lot of trouble.
(End of Chapter)