Chapter Fifteen: Unexpected Capture

  When I woke up, I felt like I was lying down, my head hurt a lot and my eyes were covered. The sound of the car engine near my ears told me that I was still on the military vehicle. But I immediately understood one thing - the people who knocked me out and took me away must not be from the government troops, because they didn't need to knock me out and take me away, I was originally going to follow them anyway.

  I struggled hard to get up, but immediately someone shouted: "Don't move!"

  This person's voice is somewhat familiar, and after a rough thought, I remembered: it was that **** who asked me to bring them a bucket of water too.

  I said cautiously: "We met before, it was not long ago that I brought a bucket of water for you...do you still remember?"

  That guy seemed stunned for a moment, then he furiously shouted: "So it's you, do you know that because of you, we lost three men. I didn't think you'd fall into my hands, you're going to accompany my three brothers in their graves..."

  He said, exerting himself to kick me with one foot, this foot just kicked on my chest, I only felt a pain in my chest, a sweetness in my throat, and couldn't help but spit out a big mouthful of fresh blood.

  Someone immediately said, "Wu Laosi, don't hit him, be careful not to beat him to death, or we'll lose our hostage. If the soldiers following behind find out that we've lost our hostage, we'll all be finished."

  The person speaking had a very cold tone, as if it was a zombie from TV talking, the voice made me feel scared, and I couldn't help but get goosebumps all over my body.

  The person known as "Wu Lao Si" seemed to be somewhat intimidated by this man, his voice trembling with a hint of fear: "Sorry, boss, I was momentarily enraged and forgot that he's our only hostage, almost messing up the whole thing, please forgive me!"

  It turned out that this person was the leader of Wu Lao Si and his gang, and I secretly cursed my bad luck. Although I was relieved that someone knew about my kidnapping and had come to rescue me, at the same time, I also knew that Wu Lao Si and his gang would not let me go easily as their only hostage. The feeling of having no control over one's own life and death is really hard to describe, and it's also very helpless.

  "That 'boss' said, 'This time let it go, next time will not be so lenient. All of you remember, do not harm our hostage, he is our only hope for survival, once something happens to him, we will undoubtedly die."

  More than ten people responded in unison: "Yes!"

  My heart was secretly counting, a total of about fifteen people's voices, plus this "boss", there were sixteen people on the bus. It seems that my hope of being rescued is even more slim, with so many people staring at me, and they are all fully armed, my own chance of escaping must be very slim, and it will not be easy for others to rescue me either. Alas... why am I so unlucky? Wanting to hijack a bus to escape is normal, but why did they just happen to hijack the one I was on? Is it that I'm destined to have such bad luck, or is this some kind of fate?

  The engine of the military vehicle was very loud, but it still couldn't drown out the rumbling sound coming from another vehicle behind. It seemed that the car following us wasn't too far away.

  The military vehicle had been driving for about ten minutes when the man called "Lao Da" suddenly said, "He Lao Wu, get rid of the tail behind us."

  A slightly feminine-voiced man said: "Shall we fight now? Is it a bit too early?"

  "Alright," said Lao Da after some consideration, "if we go any further, we'll reach our place and that would expose our hiding spot, which would be dangerous."

  The person who just spoke responded with a sound, and the speed of the military vehicle slowed down noticeably. Then I heard a faint metallic collision sound, and suddenly my heart understood something: they have more powerful weapons, possibly rocket-like ones. If that's true, then the soldiers following behind are in trouble.

  I didn't have time to think much, and just as I was about to loudly remind the soldiers behind me, a woman's voice rang out: "Shut up, or I'll blow your brains out with one shot!"

  Originally, apart from the sixteen people I just heard making a sound, there was at least one more woman on the bus. Just now she didn't speak, and I thought there were only sixteen people on the bus. Carelessly, I was discovered by this escaped fish, and the muzzle of a gun was also pressed against my head.

  Then someone I didn't know stuffed something into my mouth, rendering me completely speechless.

  At the moment when I was extremely anxious, I heard a series of explosions entering my ears. The initial explosion was relatively small, but the next one was quite frightening, and I involuntarily bowed down.

  The woman's scornful laughter immediately rang out: "You little brat still want to remind others, yourself so timid, aren't you afraid that I'll really shoot you with one bullet?"

  I felt my face turn red, I didn't know if it was because of anger or because she had hit the nail on the head and I was embarrassed. For a moment, I forgot to retort, of course, I also couldn't retort her, I simply couldn't speak.

  This woman continued to mock me without any restraint: "Look at you, a big and tall guy, how come you're so timid? You're just an inexperienced student who hasn't seen the world, even if you have some cultural quality, you can't accomplish great things..."

  I felt really angry, shook my head hard and suddenly stood up, rushing forward. I would rather be beaten by them, scolded by them, than listen to this woman making fun of me again. I am a man, I don't want to be looked down upon by a woman!

  I don't know when, but my personality quietly changed. I started to hate the feeling of being looked down upon by others. I want to rebel, no matter who looks down on me, I will let them know that I am not the loser they think I am!

  My sudden movement caught them completely off guard. So I actually managed to successfully rush out. The military truck had no cab shield, and that thin layer of canvas could not withstand my impact force at all. With one swift motion, I burst through the canvas and rushed into mid-air.

  I heard several surprised voices, and I felt a hand grab my clothes for a moment. But under the force of my impact, the person trying to catch me failed. I felt like I flew out, and that feeling was quite strange. However, immediately after that, I heard a loud crash, my head suddenly hurt, and the whole person felt dizzy. I hit something, possibly a tree by the side of the road, or...

  I barely managed to hold on without fainting, and when I looked up, it was indeed a huge tree that we had crashed into. Why do unlucky people always have such bad luck? In my extremely unwilling situation, I fainted again.

  When I woke up in a daze, my mouth was still blocked, my hands were tied behind me, and my legs were tightly bound. The whole person couldn't move at all.

  I looked around and found myself in a narrow, gloomy and damp place. The place looked like a cave.

  The entrance to the cave is probably not far from here, and I can see some sunlight shining in. Behind me, it's unclear, but it seems very deep. And under my feet, there are many relatively intact iron rails, it appears that this cave should be an abandoned mine.

  My heart skipped a beat as I hastily observed carefully and finally confirmed what this place was.

  This is an abandoned mine tunnel, and it's even an abandoned gold mine tunnel. Now it's being used by **** as their temporary base.

  The tunnel seems to be very long, and the suspected entrance I saw is not an entrance at all, but just an escape route. However, over time, this escape route has collapsed and can no longer be used for escape, and there are no longer any escape devices left.

  This is also why those **** dared to leave me alone here without anyone to take care of me.

  I'm sure this mine is very complex and may exist like a maze. People who are unfamiliar with it will find it difficult to find the exit once they enter.

  I don't know how long I was unconscious, but at this time my stomach started rebelling, shouting loudly.

  The old saying goes that the sparrow on the city wall has long been frightened out of its wits. I'm in a similar state now, thinking that rather than starving to death here, it's better to take a risk and see if I can escape. So, I didn't care about anything else, and using all my strength, I stood up against a huge boulder on one side of the mine tunnel. Then, I used a not-too-sharp stone on the side of the boulder to rub against the rope binding my hands, trying to wear it out.

  Hard work pays off for those who are diligent, and soon I successfully freed my hands. Then extremely quickly, I untied my legs, disregarding the numbness from being bound for too long, and took big strides rushing in one direction.

  In this process, unexpectedly no one came over to check on me, they were quite confident in their binding skills and must have thought it was impossible for me to escape.

  Although I was very hungry and exhausted from two consecutive faints, at this critical moment of life and death, I still used all my strength to sprint wildly in the mine tunnel.

  I roughly know the direction of some tunnels and what the corresponding devices are, which gives me a greater chance to escape. When I was young, I also passed through several tunnels in my hometown, but those tunnels were not as complicated as this one, with fewer forks and easier to identify directions.

  The elderly often say that reading ten thousand volumes of books and traveling ten thousand miles are not without reason. Some seemingly insignificant experiences can often bring us unexpected convenience or gain.

  I am now benefiting from the experience of going to the mine with my father when I was young. At least I won't be confused in the mine and can't even tell the direction. From the lighting, escape and other facilities that were installed in the mine, we can see where the exit is. Even if many facilities have been removed or destroyed due to the long years, as long as we observe carefully, there will still be clues to investigate, especially for identifying directions.

  There is no concept of time in the mine tunnel, anyway I ran all the way and had no time to pay attention to the issue of time. So when I saw that faintly red sunlight at the entrance of the mine tunnel, I was overjoyed and roughly knew what time it was now.

  It's almost dark. In an unfamiliar place, this is a very serious problem. It's easy to get lost in the dark, and there are at least seventeen **** behind me, who will definitely come after me if they find out I've escaped. I must leave here as soon as possible, the farther the better.

  The exit of the mine is in a big mountain, no, it's surrounded by a group of big mountains. Everywhere here is big mountains, opposite to the entrance of the mine, about 50 meters away, there is a towering mountain into the clouds. I looked around and found that almost all were surrounded by big mountains, which are divided into layers like a maze wall built by humans. The exit of the mine is also in a big mountain, located in the middle of the mountain waist, not far from the top of the mountain, there are also traces left due to mining, everywhere. This is a very easy place to hide people.

  Where there are mines, there must be roads. Along the road, I can definitely leave here. I looked carefully for a while, from the direction of the sunset and some big trees nearby, and finally roughly distinguished the direction.

  At this time, my physical strength was in a state of severe overdraft, and I only felt that sitting down to rest for a while was the best. But thinking about the current situation, I had to grit my teeth and continue walking down the mountain. At the foot of the mountain, there is a muddy highway that has almost been abandoned for a day. The faint traces of its previous use can still be seen. I judged that this road had not been used by vehicles for at least ten years. The weeds on the road surface and the sparse trees were enough to support my judgment.

  They also walked up the mountain because there were no signs of military vehicles passing by.

  I don't know how to drive, so I never thought of finding that military vehicle and escaping quietly like in the TV series.

  I just want to leave here as soon as possible, find the nearest bus station, and then rush back to school regardless of everything.

  Or go home? Such a thought suddenly popped up in my mind. When people are in urgent need, the first thing they think of is always their own home. Isn't it said that "a golden nest and a silver nest are not as good as one's own doghouse"? It seems I am also a very traditional and homesick person.

  Thinking of going home, I suddenly had the energy, and ran down the mountain in big strides. However, not long after, I found that I overestimated myself, and got lost.

  I wandered in the great mountains for a long, long time, but I still couldn't find the right road. Those abandoned highways crisscrossed like a maze, and they couldn't lead me out at all.

  I don't know when the sky turned dark, and I was extremely frightened in my heart. Also, I don't know if it's not the end of the world, but just as the darkness fell, I saw a flashlight shining from afar.

  "Is anyone there?!"

  The flashlight beam immediately shone over, and a voice asked loudly in a tense tone: "Who are you? Why are you still on this mountain at this hour?"

  I had long forgotten that voices might attract ****, and didn't care about all this, loudly replied: "I am a student, got lost here, please help me."

  The people opposite me heard my words and quickly ran over. There were three of them, all between 40 to 50 years old, obviously local farmers, each looking older than their age, with a weathered appearance.

  The big uncle who was in charge looked at me with a lot of suspicion, probably because he saw the bloodstains and wounds on my head. He suddenly doubted my identity: "Are you really a student? What are you doing here?"

  I tried to appear calmer: "I was kidnapped, several bad guys kidnapped me and I escaped when they weren't paying attention. You see, they even hit my head and threatened me not to report it..."

  Perhaps it was my last sentence that made the three peasant uncles believe me, they hastily came forward to take a look at the wound on my head, and then one of the older uncles said: "Child, I am Song Jiabao, a villager here, you say you were kidnapped and want to call the police, right?"

  I nodded: "Yes, Uncle Song, do you know how to find a police officer or where the station is?"

  Song Jiabao thought for a moment, then turned his head to look at another younger uncle: "Zhu Guoyun, you've been out and about more often, your vision is broader than mine and Wang Fenglin's. Why don't you tell this...this student about our situation here?"

  "Old man Zhu Guoyun nodded and said: 'I'm Zhu Guoyun, but I don't know what your name is?'"

  "I'm busy saying: 'I'm Jin Cang, a university student. You can just call me Jin Cang.'"

  He nodded: "It's very remote here, and there aren't many people living here. It was okay when the mine was open before, but now almost no one lives here because the mining has made many of the water sources undrinkable, so people have all moved away. Recently someone came to steal trees, the government sent us over to protect the forest, we are the few remaining forestry workers." He paused for a moment, looked at me and said: "There is no public transportation here, nor is there a police station, possibly except for a handful of people who have stayed behind, it's just us few people."

  "I was at a loss for what to do: 'Th...then can you help me...'"

  The person who called Wang Fenglin stepped forward and said: "How many people kidnapped you?"

  I suddenly understood what he meant, he was worried that the number of people kidnapping me would be too many and would harm them three: "There are seventeen people, they are part of the terrorist attack a few days ago ****, they have guns..."

  Wang Fenglin was startled: "A gun? ****? This... this... you're the hostage who was taken away by ****?"

  I knew his concern was normal, so I didn't say much more: "Sorry to trouble you. I'm tired and hungry now, can I have some food and water? With food and water, I can think of a way to leave here by myself."

  My words made Zhu Guoyun and Wang Fenglin look at Song Jiabao together, waiting for Song Jiabao to make a decision. Song Jiabao thought for a moment, then said in a deep voice: "He is injured and has no car, it is impossible for him to leave here alone. From here to the place with a bus station, there are at least over 100 kilometers, we must help him."

  Wang Fenglin looked like he wanted to say something but stopped himself, while Zhu Guoyun nodded and said: "Song Dage is right, Jin Cang can't get out of here alone, we have to help him. Besides, since **** has arrived, it's not safe for us to stay here either, we must leave immediately, and it just so happens that we can take Jin Cang with us, killing two birds with one stone."

  Wang Fenglin wanted to say something, but Song Jiabao had already said: "Let's go, our car is at the foot of the mountain. It only takes twenty minutes to walk from here. There's food in the car, and after you've eaten, we'll send you out of the mountain."

  I nodded gratefully, my voice a little hoarse: "Thank you, thank you..."

  Song Jiabao patted me on the shoulder: "What about the people who were with you? Are they all dead?"

  I was taken aback: "What did you say is..."

  Song Jiabao said strangely: "Didn't TV say that there were ten hostages taken away? How, you don't know where the others are?"

  I shook my head: "I was taken away by them later, the ten hostages who were taken away before me, I don't know where they are now either."

  "What kind of world is this? It's too cruel, killing so many university students, soldiers and ordinary people, taking away hostages... I think it's hard for them to come back... otherwise, why haven't we heard any news about the hostages returning?"

  I knew he was telling the truth, but I couldn't help saying: "They promised that once they reached a safe place, they would release the hostages..."

  "Can you believe those words? If they can keep their promises...then pigs will climb trees..."

  I don't know what else to say, so I'd better keep silent.

  Song Jiabao shook his head and said while walking with the weak light of the flashlight: "We speed up, I'm worried that those **** will find our car, it'll be troublesome then..."

  Then Zhu Guoyun and Wang Fenglin supported me on either side, and the four of us quickened our pace down the mountain.

  We soon arrived at the car driven by Song Jiabao and his family.

  This is a very old Jeep, probably because it's suitable for driving on mountain roads, so Song Jiabao and his family drove it here.

  We hastily got on the jeep and felt a little relieved, as if leaving here to reach a safe place was just around the corner.

  Song Jiabao drove the car. He was the oldest and probably the leader of the three. He gave me some food and water, telling me to eat quickly to recover some strength.

  The car's noise is very loud, and the muffler must be having a problem. However, we can't take care of these things now, our only thought is to escape as soon as possible.

  "Our car is going too slow and making too much noise, so we might be discovered by those people. If that happens, we'll split up and escape separately. I'll take the car with Jin Cang, while Zhu Guoyun and Wang Fenglin will jump off and return via the mountain path. Everyone, pack your food and water now, in case we need to follow my previous plan and escape separately later. Whoever gets back first must report to the police immediately and get them to come rescue us."

  Wang Fenglin and Zhu Guoyun both nodded in agreement, I naturally had no opinion, being able to follow them was already good enough, how we got back didn't matter, as long as we could get back that was the best.

  Song Jiabao's concern was not unfounded. Less than half an hour after the car started, a bend in the road about 500 meters ahead suddenly lit up with lights. Song Jiabao immediately whispered: "This is bad, whoever is on the highway at this time can't be a good person. According to my previous plan, let's split up and escape back separately. Remember, whoever gets back first must report to the police in time."

  Zhu Guoyun and Wang Fenglin immediately carried some food and water, jumped off the car and hid in the grass beside the road. I and Song Jiabao continued to drive forward.

  Song Jiabao's plan was for him and me to attract the enemy's attention, while Wang Fenglin and Zhu Guoyun, who were familiar with the terrain and roads, went back to fetch reinforcements. This wasn't a bad idea - it would be impossible for the four of us to escape together, our only hope lay in splitting up.

  As for why we arranged to lure the enemy and send troops to rescue, I think it's because Songjiabao is older and has experience in dealing with enemies, while I have injuries on my body and my physical strength hasn't recovered yet. Moreover, I'm not familiar with the terrain and roads here, so the two of us are suitable for staying behind to lure the enemy; Wang Fenglin and Zhu Guoyun, on the other hand, are in their prime and are familiar with the terrain and roads here, making them more suitable for going back to send troops to rescue.

  Song Jiabao after all has more life experience than us, his arrangement is very reasonable.

  I hastily ate some food and drank some water, feeling my strength recovering, and I also felt a bit more spirited.

  At this time, our car had already arrived at the bend, and I recognized that the light was emitted by a military vehicle. In front of the military vehicle, the person standing there was the one wearing a mask who I had seen in school before.