Chapter 85: The Crows’ Pursuit
While Lin Jiangye lay in wait beside the big vat exit like someone guarding a stump for a rabbit, preparations had already been made at the other two exits as well.
After the local police confirmed the operation had begun, the team leader suddenly had a whim. Curious, he asked about the two “gilding” visitors from Yue City:
“Where are they?”
A subordinate asked around nearby, but no one had seen Shang Fuyan or Lin Jiangye.
“Tch. As expected—big-city people. They look down on us.” The team leader let out a cold laugh, making the people beside him fall briefly silent.
Sure, disobeying orders was bad—but the truth was, the team leader had been messing with those two from the start. The spot he assigned them was basically meaningless. Even if they vanished, it didn’t matter.
They probably knew that too, which was why they left at this moment.
Maybe from the moment they heard their “task,” they never planned to carry it out at all.
The others exchanged looks, helplessness in their eyes. They’d tried to persuade the team leader not to make things this ugly, but he acted as if possessed, targeting the two of them relentlessly.
At the beginning, he’d even wanted to give them no task at all.
Either way, the mission was already in motion. Since those two weren’t here, where did they go—did they really just stay at the hotel?
As police flooded into the temple, the cultists were pinned down immediately. Only the ones stationed around the Buddha statue sensed something was wrong. They hurriedly opened the hidden chamber, trying to hide inside.
But someone failed to conceal their movements while fleeing, exposing the hidden chamber right under the police’s noses.
A hidden chamber—inside the temple?!
Everyone’s hearts jolted. This was something they hadn’t discovered in their investigation.
They tried to open the door, but without precise intel they had no idea where the mechanism was.
The people inside wouldn’t open it for them. The people outside clamped their mouths shut too—would rather die than tell them where the switch was. The team leader was furious. He fired several shots into the door in a row, but it didn’t leave so much as a scratch.
“Leader… what do we do?” The subordinate’s heart sank. This was a massive oversight. Even if they’d caught plenty of cultists, they were probably all small fry. The big fish had likely already escaped inside.
The team leader’s face wasn’t pretty either. He’d drafted the plan—if this hole existed, others might not blame him, but he would still bear the main responsibility.
He thought for a moment, then immediately came up with an excuse.
“Later, we’ll push the mistake onto Yue City.”
Subordinate: ???
Leader, are you out of your mind? Aren’t you afraid the Yue City chief will charge over and smack you with the Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms?!
“That’s it! We’ll dump all responsibility on Yue City—and on those two people who came from Yue City! They did abandon their posts, didn’t they? If they’d interrogated those cultists properly, we wouldn’t have made such a major mistake!”
The more he talked, the more excited he became—completely missing the disbelief and faint contempt in his subordinate’s eyes.
The leader really had lost it.
Meanwhile, inside the hidden chamber, cultists and believers surged toward the three exits.
Some high-level members already knew they’d been targeted by police, so they’d left little by little over the past period of time. Among those remaining, some knew nothing at all; others stayed behind to gather intel and pack up the “ritual implements” of their headquarters.
Now the police were here. It was time to go.
They changed into ordinary tourist clothes, put on wigs, opened the door to the escape passage, and entered the twisting corridor.
After walking for a while, they finally reached the exit. They struggled to push open the cover above and climbed out—
and before they could say a word, they met a cold, severe face.
“!!!”
The first person to pop up nearly died of fright. Before he could even process who it was, Shang Fuyan smashed him unconscious with the butt of his gun.
The people below were probably too busy fleeing to notice what was happening above. Like dumplings dropping into boiling water, they popped up one after another—only to get handled by Shang Fuyan in turn.
After several went up without a sound, someone in the back finally sensed something was wrong.
“Something’s wrong! There’s someone up there! Someone’s lying in wait! Quick—switch routes!”
But their “three burrows” had all been watched.
Run into Shang Fuyan and you got knocked out with a gun butt.
Run into Lin Jiangye and you got knocked out with a vase.
But the most miserable group was the one that ran into Bixi’s team.
Small birds didn’t know how to knock people out. They only knew to stop people from leaving with their claws. With a large raptor assisting, it didn’t take long before the fugitives were wailing and clutching their faces, scrambling around in panic.
While nearby police were busy chasing down fleeing suspects, someone naturally noticed what was happening on Shang Fuyan and Lin Jiangye’s side.
The two of them didn’t waste words. They handed people over directly.
“These all came out of the hidden chamber passage. We’ve already knocked them out.”
“Huh?” The officers stared at the row of unconscious bodies on the ground, completely stunned. They never imagined the two “missing” men had been quietly catching criminals.
At first they didn’t believe it. But once they tore off the wigs and saw the crew cuts and real faces underneath, they finally confirmed these were indeed cultists from the temple.
But… how did the two from Yue City know they’d escape from here?
Shang Fuyan and Lin Jiangye didn’t explain. They weren’t afraid of being smeared. Before the operation began, they had already been wearing body cameras.
Once they confirmed someone here could take over, they immediately rushed toward where Bixi was.
Lin Jiangye whistled sharply. The sound was crisp and far-carrying, and very quickly he got a response.
[Human! We’re here!]
A red-billed crow, following Bixi’s instructions, flew swiftly to Lin Jiangye.
[Human! Boss and the others are chasing the rest! All the remaining bad guys have already been dealt with by us crows!]
“Awesome! When this is over, you and Bixi come to my place—I’ll buy you good stuff!”
The crow’s eyes instantly lit up.
[Anything is okay?]
As he ran, Lin Jiangye glanced at the little crow flying beside him and smiled, nodding.
“Human has money. Lots of money. Your boss knows that too—if you want something, just say it.”
[Crow wants a pretty nest!]
“Done!”
“Caw caw caw!” The red-billed crow rolled in midair like a puppy, thrilled out of its mind.
Soon, he and Shang Fuyan reached the second exit at the same time. On the ground lay many cultists still howling.
Their faces had been shredded by Bixi and the others—bloody enough to look horrifying.
Nearby pedestrians saw it too. At first they felt a bit sympathetic watching people get attacked by crows, but the moment Shang Fuyan calmly explained these were cultists, that sympathy evaporated instantly.
Crows really lived up to their “scavenger” reputation—now they were doing cleanup work on living people!
Lin Jiangye scanned around. When he didn’t see Bixi nearby, he told the red-billed crow to lead him to it.
But just as he was about to leave, a group of people suddenly appeared at the mouth of the alley.
It was the operation team leader. After receiving the news, he came to block them.
He’d been thinking up ways to dump blame—then he heard his subordinates say those two from Yue City had blocked the hidden chamber exits, and rage flared up instantly.
“You knew all along there was an exit from the Buddhist hidden chamber here!”
Shang Fuyan gave him a cold sidelong glance and ignored him, continuing to look at Lin Jiangye.
“Where’s Bixi?”
“Don’t know. According to the little crow, it chased after the others.” Chang Geng wasn’t here either—probably chasing with Bixi. Lin Jiangye worried the fugitives might have guns, and he was anxious.
Seeing both men ignore him, the leader got even angrier.
“I’m asking you a question!”
Lin Jiangye withdrew his gaze and looked at the man. His eyes were icy, as if the man wasn’t worth noticing.
“Move.”
The leader was about to speak again, but the moment he opened his mouth, a subordinate behind him clamped a hand over it and dragged him away.
Then another person stepped forward in his place.
“Hello, Consultant Lin. Is there anything you need us to help with?”
The man’s attitude was good, his eyes clear. Lin Jiangye’s gaze toward him held far more warmth than it had for the leader.
“Move. I’m going to find my bird.”
Not only did the man move aside, he stayed close beside Lin Jiangye.
“What kind of bird? Do you need our help?”
Lin Jiangye paused, then answered, “A raven. There should also be a small group of red-billed crows and a white-headed sea eagle with it. They chased the remaining cultists, but we don’t know the direction yet.”
As soon as he finished speaking, he spotted a red-billed crow perched on a shop nearby.
[Human! Boss told crow to come guide you!]
Bixi really was smart—leaving one behind to guide the way.
Lin Jiangye lifted his arm. The red-billed crow immediately landed on it, rubbing against his face.
[Boss was right! Human, you would definitely come!]
“Of course.” Lin Jiangye smiled. “Bixi is my cub. Now—where did they go?”
With a whoosh, the crow shot off at top speed—so fast Lin Jiangye didn’t even get the chance to stop it.
Only after flying a distance did the crow realize something was wrong. It looked back—
and the human wasn’t following at all.
No choice. It flew back to Lin Jiangye.
[Human, what’s wrong?] Why aren’t you following?!
Lin Jiangye wiped his face, didn’t bother explaining that human legs couldn’t outrun wings, and instead asked the police beside him, “Do you have a car? Drive and follow it.”
A car—yes, they had one.
But…
“It’s the noon rush hour.” Locals commuting wasn’t too bad, but with a ton of tourists… it jammed instantly.
Traffic.
That was trouble.
Lin Jiangye had no idea how far Bixi and the others had chased them. Within his visible range, he couldn’t see any large raptors at all.
So it was very possible the escaping cultists had already driven away.
“Do you have horses?” he asked again.
Horses—they did have.
But…
“You can ride?” The officer asked anxiously. This wasn’t deep countryside; it was still a crowded tourist area. If he hit someone—
“Hurry! There’s no time!” Lin Jiangye didn’t want to waste breath debating. His mind was entirely on Bixi.
The officer still hesitated. Shang Fuyan stepped in, pressed a hand on the man’s shoulder, pulled him into a corner, and said something quietly.
Then the officer immediately went to fetch a horse.
When Shang Fuyan came back, Lin Jiangye asked curiously, “What did you tell him?”
Shang Fuyan turned to him with a faint smile. “I told him you’re a Level-2 rider.”
Level-2 rider? What was that? A very “chuuni” rider?
Seeing Lin Jiangye’s baffled face, the smile in Shang Fuyan’s eyes deepened. He knew Lin Jiangye wouldn’t understand—that was exactly why he’d dragged the officer into a corner. If the officer had seen Lin Jiangye’s expression, the excuse would’ve been exposed immediately.
Soon, the officer led a white horse over.
But at that moment, a small accident happened.
As soon as the horse arrived, its legs began trembling, and it tried desperately to bolt.
Lin Jiangye took one look and immediately understood: it had sensed Yuheng and Kaiyang.
He had the two wolves step back several paces, then pulled a piece of dried fruit from his pocket. Holding the horse’s face, he soothed it gently.
“Don’t be scared. They won’t hurt you.”
The horse was still jittery, but after Lin Jiangye gave it the fruit, the panic gradually faded.
Not only because of the fruit—also because it realized those two “wolves” were behaving like big dogs, with no threatening intent at all.
[You scared me to death, wuu wuu wuu!]
After comforting it for a while, the horse finally calmed down.
Lin Jiangye pressed a hand to the saddle area and flipped up smoothly, landing lightly on its back. Then he reached a hand down toward Shang Fuyan.
“Get on.”
Shang Fuyan hadn’t expected Lin Jiangye would invite him up. The instant the invitation came, his eyes hesitated—like dark pearls, gleaming brilliantly in the sunlight.
He clasped the hand the young man offered—those fingers were long and slender. With a slight press of the fingertips, he swung himself up and settled behind him.
“Hold on tight. We’re moving! Contact you later!” Lin Jiangye waved to the others, then had the red-billed crow lead the way.
With a horse, their speed immediately shot up.
In Western Qiang, riding horses wasn’t rare—but riding a horse down a city street? Other than mounted police, people really didn’t see that.
The farther they followed the red-billed crow, the higher their hearts climbed.
They estimated their current location—already two to three kilometers from the second exit.
“No… more like five.” Two or three kilometers as the crow flies, but judging from the route the red-billed crow showed them, Bixi had likely chased those people for over five kilometers.
Before long they left the pedestrian streets and moved onto the main road outside.
Now a different red-billed crow took over leading them.
As it tracked the scent forward, Lin Jiangye felt the crow’s flight speed pick up slightly. He tightened his legs around the horse’s belly, and the white horse increased its pace as well.
“Earlier it was probably an e-scooter or something. Now they’ve definitely gotten into a sedan.” Their current speed was around fifty kilometers per hour—exactly the kind of speed a car could maintain in the city.
They pursued for nearly half an hour, and finally—at a traffic jam—they spotted Bixi and Chang Geng.
The two big birds were launching a furious assault on a car. Unfortunately, their small claws couldn’t do anything to a large metal vehicle.
The commotion caused by two raptors also caught the attention of a traffic officer standing at the intersection.
Just as the officer walked toward the targeted car, he happened to see Lin Jiangye and Shang Fuyan riding a horse down the road.
In that instant, the poor traffic officer’s mind was filled with a long, heartfelt “what the hell.”
The left side of his brain was asking why raptors were attacking a sedan.
The right side was asking why anyone dared to ride a horse on the road.
And then he realized Lin Jiangye was heading straight toward the car under attack.
Inside the car, several cultists were cursing up a storm—cursing the high-ups who’d already fled, cursing the flock of crows that came out of nowhere, cursing the local police for taking money but not doing their jobs—yet still daring to arrest them—
And in the end, the thing they cursed most viciously was the traffic jam.
“If it weren’t for those birds outside, we wouldn’t be hiding in here!” Those crows had razor-sharp claws—they’d personally seen them rake a companion’s face until it was a bloody mess.
That was why they didn’t dare get out.
The moment they stepped out of the car—without the vehicle’s protection—their fate would be miserable.
As they argued and cursed, the red light finally turned green.
At the same time, they noticed two people on horseback approaching their position.
“Police! They caught up—damn it!”
The driver tried to slam the accelerator, but there were simply too many cars ahead. Even if he wanted to move, he couldn’t inch forward at all!
Outside were vicious birds.
Not far away were police who seemed to be coming for them.
There was a traffic officer approaching.
And surrounding them—cars packed tight like a wall.
How was this any different from being a turtle trapped in a jar?
