National Forensic Doctor-Chapter 1206 - 1136: A Red Line

Wang Chengxue and Cao Yangming walked one behind the other in the dim forest, each bowing their heads as they watched the road, lacking any spirit for conversation.

It was noon at this time, but deep within Liangming Mountain, layers upon layers of plants did all they could to block the sunlight outside. The light that could penetrate was minimal, making visibility in the forest even lower than that of a city at dusk.

The ground beneath their feet was no longer the hard and familiar surface to humans but was soft, capable of reaching over their ankles with humus. This was also the main reason they dared not venture deeper into the forest.

On another note, it was because Wang Chengxue had some hiking experience and had traversed Liangming Mountain routes, so they were able to come this far.

Despite this, Cao Yangming regretted immensely and muttered again, "Should we just go out, Liangming Mountain has a road that passes through the middle, we have taken this road before. We find a more secluded stretch of road, quietly hitch a ride, and we’d be out."

"It’s not that easy; we escaped with guns. These kinds of road sections definitely have checkpoints," Wang Chengxue walked forward with his head down.

Cao Yangming didn’t have any hiking experience; he had already reached the point of collapse and said, "A road is so long, can they block all of it?"

"They block the head and the tail of the road, and you’ve got no way out."

"We get off the car a bit earlier, and then walk into the mountain; won’t they find it harder to track us?"

"The driver? Let him go, and he’ll definitely report us; kill him, and there’s a corpse in the car, how do you handle that? We’ll definitely be discovered. At that point, we might have just a few hours lead on the police, we won’t be able to escape, not better than now."

Cao Yangming shouted, "What’s good about now, I’m exhausted."

After saying that, he plopped onto the ground, splatters of mud everywhere, and who knows how many bugs crawled out as he looked up at the sky.

"There are snakes on the ground, and bugs that enter places they shouldn’t," Wang Chengxue scared him a bit, also taking the opportunity to rest, and then persuaded him, "Listen to me, let’s find a bigger cave to stay in, live like wild men for a month, no police can endure that. How many people would it take to search the mountain? Can they afford it? Once they withdraw, we can go down, and you can go wherever you like." freeweɓnovel.cøm

"Ah..." Cao Yangming sighed deeply, "I’d rather be poisoned by a snake. I really can’t walk anymore... what we’re walking can’t even be called a road; my hands are scraped raw."

The deep forest of Liangming Mountain also rises and falls with the mountain’s slope, the gradient follows a random pattern. Many times it’s a difficult climb up steep slopes, only able to claw onto trees to climb upwards or step on trees to prevent rolling down.

"Just hold on a bit longer, I know there’s a cave up ahead we passed before, there’s wood stored inside; we can live, smoke dissipates quickly from inside. We can sleep by the fire then get up in the morning and plan again. A month’s time is easy; just think of it as camping," Wang Chengxue said confidently.

If not for such experience, he wouldn’t dare enter such deep woods. Although he was somewhat lost himself, he fortunately carried a compass; finding the cave would be difficult but not enough to trap them inside.

Regarding this cave hiding plan, Wang Chengxue had previously conceived it. This is similar to how some people have imagined a perfect murder, or a perfect wedding, or a perfect encounter, some have imagined being the perfect sycophant, some have imagined being a time management master with a perfect harem, while others have imagined being the perfect stock god.

Wang Chengxue imagined a perfect escape in deep mountains.

This was also the most frequently discussed topic, besides sex, during their campfire talks on hiking trips.

Mountain roads are difficult; paths in deep mountains are especially hard to traverse. If not following established mountain paths, getting lost, injuries, accidents, diseases and more could be said to follow one after another.

Wang Chengxue and others had previously explored the forest’s edge, and bringing enough supplies was difficult even for a few people, while among various supplies, firearms were the most useful.

With a gun, there is protection, encountering bigger beasts would not be a panic. Most importantly, a gun allows for hunting; catching prey is in itself a form of supply.

Therefore, despite knowing that bringing a gun would attract more pursuit, Wang Chengxue decided to carry one.

Anyway, as long as they stayed in the cave for a period, it was like going out to have fun for a while, the police surrounding the mountain would naturally leave.

At least, there would be loopholes to exploit at that time.

Wang Chengxue used this detailed plan to convince an anxious Cao Yangming.

Entering the deep mountains alone was too dangerous; even though Cao Yangming had little experience in the mountains, his shooting was accurate, and his stamina was good. If needed, helping each other climb slopes would be extremely useful.

"We came lightly equipped; the sleeping bags we brought are thin types. If we can’t find a cave and have to sleep in the wild, we’ll have to climb trees; the forest is not safe at night," Wang Chengxue slightly frightened Cao Yangming.

Cao Yangming sighed again, a bit curious, and asked, "Are there wolves in the mountains? Leopards?"

"I heard there are leopards, but I haven’t seen one. Haven’t heard of wolves, but there are lynxes; I’ve seen quite a few. They’re fierce, feline, fast, sharp-clawed, can climb trees, and aren’t small—about the size of a medium-sized dog," Wang Chengxue explained, then chuckled, "A gun can take care of it with just one bullet."

Cao Yangming stroked the Remington slung across his back, feeling somewhat comforted.

He was the main force behind gun making; initially, he used the repair shop’s machinery to process some components, using the money earned to support the shop. Later, as the shop lost more money, he sank deeper into the business.

At first, he would check information to see how long he could be sentenced for his actions, deliberately avoiding making entire firearms. In the last two years, he stopped checking, not able to accept life imprisonment or the death penalty. But to stop entirely, the remaining value of the shop wouldn’t be enough for his retirement.

"Once we reach the cave, rest for a night, and tomorrow morning we’ll take air guns to hunt. There are a few types of wild chickens that taste particularly good; I can’t name them, but I remember what they look like," Wang Chengxue tried to say something cheerful to motivate Cao Yangming.

Cao Yangming perked up a bit, "We won’t be found by the police, right?"

"No way, the mountains are vast. We can hunt some game and hide out; there’s no need to worry. Their speed in searching through the mountains will definitely be slow, and they won’t find us here." Wang Chengxue pointed south, saying, "Liangming Mountain is a mountain range, with one mountain connected to another behind it. If they come this deep, they’d need a lot of people..."

Just as he was speaking, a buzzing sound came from the sky.

This sound, completely different from the mountain’s, instantly heightened Wang Chengxue’s alertness. He pulled Cao Yangming and lay down under a tree, peering through the gaps in the branches with all his might.

He couldn’t see anything, but the buzzing was unmistakable.

Cao Yangming caught his breath against the tree, then listened closely. After a while, he said, "It should be a drone, right?"

"Probably. It’s nothing unexpected." Wang Chengxue remained calm for a few seconds before adding, "This forest is dense. We can’t see above, and the drone flying over the trees can’t see us either."

"Makes sense." Cao Yangming visibly relaxed.

Wang Chengxue chuckled, adding, "It’s better than waiting by the roadside. If a drone flies along the road, there’d be nowhere for us to hide."

"If we started earlier, it might have been possible." Cao Yangming remarked, but his tone was much more relaxed, "Walking in the mountains has its perks too."

The two laughed lightly together.

Buzz... Buzz...

The sound of the drone continued for a while and then disappeared.

Having rested enough, Wang Chengxue and Cao Yangming got up and continued walking, hand in hand.

...

At the base of Liangming Mountain.

Jiang Yuan ate the hot pot cooked by the mess team while looking at the charts on the computer.

The images sent back by the drone have no meaning when viewed alone. There are too many images with ultra-high resolution, which is a burden and perhaps an impossible task for both humans and Level 3 notebooks.

Fortunately, Jiang Yuan knew what he was looking for, so he searched purely through the data.

Even before drones were invented, the image data captured by satellites was already mind-boggling. Relevant satellite remote sensing professions have invested massive resources in this.

Now, not only has satellite remote sensing technology been synchronously transferred to drones, but the latest AI technology is also massively developed in the drone field.

And for Jiang Yuan, Level 5’s Image Recognition and Analysis is enough to design and develop related domain algorithms, outperforming a thousand eyes in practical applications.

Additionally, with the temporary +1 skill, in these 400-plus minutes, Jiang Yuan is the "Sky Eye Hunter" (borrowed from the review of reader "Heart Can Open the Sky").

Before dinner time, the newly returned data began to be frequently highlighted in red by Jiang Yuan.

Lieutenant Colonel Zhang initially watched in confusion, but gradually gained some understanding.

"Are you using image segmentation to improve accuracy?" Lieutenant Colonel Zhang tentatively asked Jiang Yuan.

Jiang Yuan nodded, smiling, "Lieutenant Colonel Zhang’s skills aren’t bad. Have you studied this?"

"No, no. I am not qualified to do this... I just heard about it. It’s about using spatial and spectral characteristics for image segmentation, achieving internal consistency and heterogeneity or something... I learned a bit during school, but returned it to the teacher. Actually, I never really borrowed it in the first place. This should be used by those specializing in algorithm research, right? We usually just use the software..." Lieutenant Colonel Zhang just secretly checked some literature to avoid saying anything wrong.

Jiang Yuan nodded, "Software can’t break it down thoroughly, usually handling data above 300. For this, we don’t pursue generality; instead, it’s simpler."

"Impressive." Lieutenant Colonel Zhang laughed twice. Having been in the army for a long time, he could instantly pick up a hint of ’humblebrag’.

However, Jiang Yuan didn’t continue the conversation and kept fiddling with the computer.

Soon, Jiang Yuan extracted an image.

Lieutenant Colonel Zhang recognized it at a glance. It was part of the satellite image of Liangming Mountain. In the past two days, he’d almost memorized it.

At this moment, a curved red line appeared on the map.

"Confirm along the line to see if it’s the trail left by the two fugitives. If it is, intercept them further ahead." Jiang Yuan made a final check and called over Xu Taining.

Xu Taining glanced at it, nodded, and said, "Confirm traces and carry out interception simultaneously. I’ll call Old Dai."

With that, Xu Taining picked up the handset of the command vehicle and, after dialing, said, "Dai Zhi, the helicopter team you’ve prepared can depart now."