Chapter 175 - 172: Found a Clue

Chapter 175: Chapter 172: Found a Clue

At 3:00 PM, Lin Feng received the tracking devices delivered by a courier and fitted the equipment onto his two Golden Eagles.

Then, he sent them to find the group of poachers. He’d heard that Captain Shi had mobilized a large number of people, but they still hadn’t found any useful clues.

Lin Feng could only hope that Chasing Wind and Ao Xue would be up to the task and find the criminals’ lair.

Ruan Tianzhong agonized all night. After researching Lin Xian Village, his curiosity got the better of him, and he decided to come see the place for himself.

The main reason was that Lin Xian Village’s secret was too intriguing. If he could get his hands on it, why the hell would he bother with poaching?

’This world is so unfair. The money I’ve made over all these years doing business that could get me shot is less than what that guy makes in a single day.’

His eyes gleamed with malice. The boss of Lin Xian Village was just an ordinary young man who had somehow stumbled upon a great opportunity.

’It’s amazing no one has dared to make a move. Just grab the guy, force the secret out of him, and all that wealth would be yours.’

He thought those people were idiots—sometimes ruthless, but other times hesitant and indecisive.

’And what about those foreigners? They were never good people before, always just taking what they wanted. It’s strange they haven’t made a move this time.’

As he entered the vicinity of Lin Xian Village, he finally understood what people online meant when they called it "magical."

’A secret like this, and no one has been tempted? Looks like it’s my turn to get rich.’

’All I have to do is get my hands on the secret, flee abroad to change my identity, find a place to develop quietly, and it would be hard not to get rich.’

He had bought an entry slot from someone for eight thousand yuan, which made him understand Lin Xian Village even less.

They didn’t charge an admission fee, yet they limited the number of visitors. They weren’t even willing to make money that was right in front of them.

Arriving at the plaza outside the village, he only glanced at the Land God Temple from a distance. He wasn’t stupid enough to go inside and worship.

So many people had met with misfortune after worshiping the Earth God. The announcements about those who were recently arrested were still posted online.

All he could say was that the people who got caught weren’t too bright. With so many examples, they still hadn’t learned their lesson.

He did, however, try out the Arrow Tower. He wanted to eat at the Restaurant, but there were no tables available.

As for the Jade Grape Tree, he went to take a look, but unfortunately, the entire area was fenced off, and he couldn’t get in.

Ruan Tianzhong explored the entirety of Lin Xian Village, even checking some remote areas and planning his route of entry.

A little after 3:00 PM, he heard someone call out "Boss Lin" and quickly walked in the direction of the voice.

Looking at the approachable Lin Feng, he couldn’t see anything special about him.

As Ruan Tianzhong got closer, Lin Feng glanced in his direction and frowned slightly.

There was someone in the crowd who gave him a very bad feeling, making him instinctively dislike the person.

It was a man in a black leather jacket with a very ordinary face and dark skin, who looked like an old farmer.

This was the first time Lin Feng had ever experienced something like this. He was puzzled; he didn’t even get this feeling from the bad people who showed up to worship the Earth God.

’That’s strange,’ he thought. ’There’s definitely something wrong with that person, or I wouldn’t be feeling this way.’

Unfortunately, the man just glanced at him from the crowd and then turned and left.

Feeling uneasy, Lin Feng went straight to the surveillance room and started reviewing the footage.

He quickly found the man on camera. The person was indeed strange. He hadn’t entered the Land God Temple to worship and had even gone toward West Mountain and North Mountain.

He didn’t seem like a tourist here for fun, but more like someone casing the layout of Lin Xian Village.

’Could this person be after me?’

It wasn’t surprising Lin Feng would guess that. The fact that the man gave him such an uncomfortable feeling was abnormal in itself.

After a moment’s thought, he clipped the video footage and sent it to Captain Yu.

"Captain Yu, could you take a look at this for me? Does this person’s behavior seem abnormal to you?"

Ruan Tianzhong would never have imagined that just trying to see if there was anything strange about Lin Feng would cause him problems.

At that very moment, he was planning how to bring his men over, where to enter Lin Xian Village, and how to carry out Lin Feng’s kidnapping.

When Yu Yongfeng received Lin Feng’s message and watched the video clip, he immediately sensed something was wrong with the man.

His posture while walking and some of his reactions all indicated that the man was highly alert.

Especially the way he wandered all over Lin Xian Village. It might look like a curious tourist, but taken all together, it looked more like he was casing the joint.

He immediately ran a check on the man through the internal system. Nothing could be allowed to happen in Lin Xian Village.

"Ruan Tianzhong, male, 43 years old, from Yun Province. An foreign trade merchant, mainly dealing in medicinal herbs, also does business in Southeast Asia."

Upon seeing this, Yu Yongfeng quickly reviewed the man’s information and soon discovered something was off about his travel history.

’His business is mainly in the Southwest and the Yun Gui region, so why has he been coming over here so often recently?’

Unfortunately, he couldn’t investigate further on his own, so he could only report the situation up the chain of command.

A suspicious person appearing in Lin Xian Village was a matter concerning the village’s security, and it quickly drew the attention of the higher-ups.

An investigation report on Ruan Tianzhong was soon compiled into a file and placed on a superior’s desk.

"This man is definitely a problem. Have someone tail him and continue pursuing leads."

"Sir, should we notify Lin Xian Village?"

"Not yet. Just have them strengthen their security measures."

Lin Feng had no idea that the man who repulsed him was indeed a problem. At that moment, he was watching the flight paths of Chasing Wind and Ao Xue.

Comparing their routes to a map, he quickly discovered that the two Golden Eagles had lingered in three specific locations for a long time.

Furthermore, at the final location, one of the Golden Eagles was circling over a certain area.

He connected the three spots on the map with a line and quickly saw the issue.

’Are the poachers planning to exit from here?’

The area where the line extended was a tri-province border region, not only with developed waterways but also convenient transportation.

Thinking about it, if the poachers were transporting animals, leaving from here would indeed be quite convenient.

He debated whether to hand over this information. It had been gathered by Chasing Wind and Ao Xue, and he had no way to explain his source.

However, he then recalled that he was already a mysterious figure in others’ eyes, so he probably didn’t need to explain this kind of thing.

Lin Feng organized the information, thought for a moment, and sent it to Director Cheng Kang.

"Mr. Lin, is this information real?"

Cheng Kang looked at the information Lin Feng had sent. He didn’t ask how Lin Feng had obtained it; he was already aware that a suspicious individual had appeared in Lin Xian Village that day.

"I came across it by chance. You’ll need to investigate the specifics yourselves."

"Thank you, Mr. Lin."

Cheng Kang immediately contacted Captain Shi. The Wuyuan County forest police force alone didn’t have the resources to investigate the information Lin Feng had provided.

After Shi Jing learned the news, he began to mobilize personnel to investigate the areas mentioned in the intel.

They currently only had a single clue: the poachers they’d been chasing for years were somewhere in the mountains, but they had no idea of their specific location.

The mountain range here was enormous. Trying to find those people in such a vast area without any leads was practically impossible.

"Director Cheng, where did this lead come from?"

"Someone provided it. As for who exactly, I can’t tell you."

In any case, he had already reported the situation. If Captain Shi was capable enough, he could naturally get the information from the higher-ups.

While Wuyuan County investigated Ruan Tianzhong, Captain Shi’s side pursued the poachers. Both operations moved forward simultaneously.

Wu the Second was leading his men, transporting the "goods" piece by piece toward the target area.

Unfortunately, the mountain paths were treacherous. It would take at least ten-plus days to transport all the goods.

"Second Brother, those two damn beasts came again today. Too bad we can’t shoot them down."

"Just focus on moving the goods and don’t cause any more trouble. If you stir up anything else, you can dig your own grave. By the way, the boss sent a message. He said there’s a new mission, and he wants us to hurry up and not waste any more time."

"What kind of mission? Don’t tell me it’s capturing more goods. We’ve been stuck in these mountains for over half a year. I want to get out and relax a bit first."

"Don’t worry, this mission is simple. It won’t take long. From what the boss said, as long as we complete this new mission successfully, we won’t have to come back to the mountains again."

This piqued everyone’s interest. They all wanted to know what kind of mission could possibly be so profitable.

Unfortunately, Wu the Second didn’t know either. They would only find out after they finished transporting the current goods and met with the boss.

With this news, everyone’s motivation soared, and the speed at which they transported the goods noticeably increased.

Even the few who had been grumbling started to transport the goods diligently, wanting to finish up as quickly as possible so they could find the boss and get started on the new mission.

If they could really strike it rich, none of them wanted to come back to the mountains to capture "goods" ever again. It was just too miserable.

Captain Shi’s operation moved quickly. After they reported the situation, they received even greater support.

"Captain, can we really catch them this time?"

"Don’t worry. As long as they’re in this area, there’s no way they can escape. This equipment is really useful. We can investigate the situation without having to send men in."

Before, they could only send men into the mountains to search, which easily alerted the enemy and put them on guard.

Then, those bastards would kill all the protected animals and flee quickly, making it incredibly difficult to catch anyone in the mountains.

"Captain, technology is so advanced now. If we could install surveillance cameras all over the forests in the future, maybe no one would dare to poach anymore."

"We will someday. Our technology will only get more and more advanced."

These men worked through the night. At a little past 3:00 AM, the investigation team finally had a breakthrough.

"Captain, Captain, we’ve found a clue!"

Shi Jing asked excitedly, "What clue? Did you find the poachers?"

"We haven’t found them yet, but we discovered tracks of people walking in the mountains, and they’re recent—from the last two days. We also found animal droppings along these tracks. It has to be those damned poachers!"

Watching the video footage they had collected, Shi Jing became thrilled. Now there was finally hope of catching them.

It seemed technology was truly powerful. If they had sent men in to search, not only would the mountain paths be difficult, but they never would have moved this quickly.

The person from the signals intelligence team walked over and said, "Captain Shi, we can’t use the large drones for searching, and with the equipment’s battery limitations, for deeper searches, we’ll need people to carry the equipment in first."

"No problem, we’ll carry it. Thank you for your help."

"No need to thank us. We’re also testing the equipment’s performance. We should be thanking you."

Shi Jing didn’t stand on ceremony any longer. He began assigning tasks, shouldering the equipment they mentioned, and headed into the forest.

"Captain, this equipment is amazing. In the past, when we went deep into the forest, communication was a huge hassle. Now with this gear, we don’t have to worry about signal issues at all. We can contact the outside at any time."

"It really is amazing."

Shi Jing thought about whether he could apply to the higher-ups to form a similar information-warfare squad when he got back.

"Captain, the lead must be correct. Look, all three locations pass right through here."

"Then pick up the pace. We absolutely cannot let them get away this time."

Thanks to the information provided by Lin Feng, once they found the tracks in the mountains, it was easy to analyze the poachers’ route.

So, the next steps were simple. One group went to the tri-province border to investigate, while another followed the tracks they had found.

They knew full well that to transport the animals out, the poachers must have people stationed at the tri-province border.

This transport channel also needed to be uncovered. Otherwise, if the poachers escaped, this route would eventually spring back to life.

Meanwhile, in Wuyuan County, the investigation into Ruan Tianzhong quickly uncovered strange activities within the company registered under his name.