Chapter 86: Shang Fuyan—In Danger!
In the end, it didn’t become a neat “turtle-in-a-jar” capture.
Whether it was luck or something else, just as Lin Jiangye rushed in, the cars in front of the cultists finally started moving.
They didn’t care that a traffic officer was approaching. They stomped the gas, cut into the adjacent lane, and the speed shot up to fifty—surging forward.
When they passed the traffic officer, they didn’t stop, and they didn’t even slow down. If the officer hadn’t reacted fast, he would’ve been hit.
“Hey! You—” The officer fell hard on his backside. Before he could even make out the license plate, the car disappeared from his view.
And just as he struggled back to his feet, a galloping horse blasted past him from behind.
The moment Lin Jiangye saw the car move, he realized they were running.
He patted the white horse beneath him. “Good baby—now it’s all on you!”
The horse let out a loud whinny, lifted its hooves, and chased at top speed, sticking to the car’s tail.
The horse’s speed was basically on par with the sedan. But the car was bulky and had to constantly dodge vehicles, weaving and changing lanes—so the actual distance it covered wasn’t much more than the white horse’s path.
So the fugitives could only watch, helplessly, as Lin Jiangye drew closer and closer.
“Faster! Faster!”
“I’m already going fast! There are cars in front—what do you want me to do?!”
“Ram them!”
“What the hell is wrong with you?!”
Lin Jiangye was practically sprawled over the horse’s back. As he closed the distance, he noticed the car’s roof was smooth—no ridges, no handles, nothing to grab.
Which meant he couldn’t jump onto the roof, then smash a window and break in.
His eyes locked onto the car. Suddenly, he yanked hard on the reins, forcing the white horse to veer sideways.
That single shift made two bullets whistle past harmlessly.
“So they really do have a gun.”
Lin Jiangye narrowed his eyes, pulled the horse toward the far-right lane, creating distance from surrounding vehicles.
Then he cut back behind the car again and exchanged a glance with the man behind him.
Shang Fuyan drew his gun and fired twice at the wheels—blowing out a tire.
With one tire gone, controlling the car became difficult. And with Bixi and the others constantly harassing the windows, the men inside didn’t dare roll them down to keep shooting at Lin Jiangye.
Lin Jiangye pointed at the remaining tires. Shang Fuyan instantly understood and fired two more shots, blowing out a second tire.
Now the car lurched forward for another hundred meters or so, then finally couldn’t continue. Not only did it stop—it flipped forward several times and slammed violently into the guardrail on the far-right side.
Thankfully, earlier they’d cleared vehicles from the right lane, so no innocent bystanders were dragged into it.
The two men dismounted. Lin Jiangye approached the wreck cautiously, while Shang Fuyan first led the white horse aside, stopped other cars from pulling over to gawk, and contacted the local police.
Bixi, Chang Geng, and Qi Ming circled above, acting as aerial eyes, monitoring the ground.
[Someone came out! He’s hiding behind! Human, be careful!]
With birds watching for him, Lin Jiangye could track their movements to the greatest extent—this was exactly why Shang Fuyan could retreat and play support without worry.
Lin Jiangye pulled his handgun from the back of his waist, checked the ammo, racked the slide, fired a warning shot into the sky—then stood before the overturned car and said coldly:
“Either come out right now and squat with your hands on your head, or later you won’t have it so easy when you want to surrender.”
A four-seat sedan held six grown men. The space was already cramped. After the car flipped, two of them were pinned inside, completely unable to move.
But the most fatal thing was the pain ripping through their bodies—an arm bone was broken, the sternum felt cracked…
Even if they could somehow escape Lin Jiangye, those two had no way to run.
So—
“They’re behind the car! They’ve got two guns!” The two men used the last of their strength to shout it out.
The moment those words came out, the other four cultists who’d crawled out immediately changed color.
They probably hadn’t expected to be sold out.
But for mid-to-upper cult members, they were there for profit in the first place. Piety? Loyalty? None of that mattered.
If they couldn’t get away, why should the others escape smoothly?
With the birds’ lookout and the betrayal from those two, Lin Jiangye quickly pinned down the remaining four’s positions and weapons.
Only two had guns—both small handguns.
The other two only carried cold weapons.
Good. For Lin Jiangye, that wasn’t hard to deal with.
He softened his footsteps and moved like a cat, soundless, to the overturned car’s underside.
Then he grabbed a wheel, pushed off lightly, and climbed up the car door like a monkey.
The vehicle shook slightly, but the four hiding behind it didn’t imagine anyone would climb up. They were busy glancing around, thinking the car had rocked because the two outside were moving.
The only people who could see Lin Jiangye were the two trapped inside—one stuck in the passenger seat, the other in the back by the window.
Their eyes bulged as they stared at him, but since they’d already betrayed their companions, they naturally wouldn’t warn them now.
If anything, they felt a tiny bit smug.
Since they’d come this far, how could only they two get caught?
Lin Jiangye’s body was practically pressed flat against the car’s underside. From that high position, he could clearly see the four men.
Without hesitation, he fired one shot each at the two men holding firearms.
When the first gunshot rang out, the other gunman even thought his partner had fired—until he heard the familiar scream and realized something was wrong.
That tiny moment of delay was more than enough for Lin Jiangye’s second shot.
With the firearms gone, the next thing waiting for them wasn’t Lin Jiangye—
but three raptors circling above, ready to strike, and two wolves on the side, bristling and making low huff huff sounds.
Especially Yuheng and Kaiyang—Lin Jiangye had personally taught them how to deal with humans.
Bite the arm. Then whip and throw hard to the side. With a North American grey wolf’s strength, unless someone trained year-round, they’d be flung dizzy and disoriented.
Even if they still had weapons, Bixi and the others could create chaos from above.
Three birds plus two wolves versus two humans who didn’t train regularly—
in three minutes, it was settled cleanly.
On the other side, Lin Jiangye shot through the last two men’s hands, making them unable to hold their weapons. He seized the opening, swept a leg sideways, and kicked one of them flying.
The last man left trembled and surrendered.
By the time Shang Fuyan returned, the fight was already over.
Unfortunately, they didn’t have rope or handcuffs, so all they could do was wait for local police to come and take the suspects.
Shang Fuyan watched the four men while Lin Jiangye climbed back onto the car door. Right in front of the two pinned inside, Lin Jiangye seized the handle and forcibly ripped the car door open with brute strength.
The sheer power made the two half-dead men stare in shock, silently thanking fate they’d betrayed early.
“Don’t shout, don’t scream, don’t resist—if you still want to live.” Lin Jiangye’s tone was harsh, but to their ears it was practically heavenly music.
After yanking the door open, Lin Jiangye cut their seatbelts, then ripped away everything around them that could be dismantled.
Only with help from bystanders did he finally extract the two cultists.
“Th… thank you…”
In response to their thanks, Lin Jiangye showed an expression of disgust—then, to the crowd’s horrified cries, he dislocated both men’s arms.
“Alright. Now you can give first aid. Don’t look at how badly they’re hurt—they’re criminals. Who knows if they’ll take you hostage.” With dislocated arms plus heavy injury, even if they wanted to resist, they couldn’t.
“None of the others resisted, right?” Lin Jiangye asked when Shang Fuyan came over.
Shang Fuyan couldn’t help laughing. He stepped aside and showed Lin Jiangye the scene behind him.
The four cultists were tied up like rice dumplings. Not only were grey wolves watching them, a crowd of bystanders were glaring at them viciously.
“Bystanders provided tools.” Earlier, to avoid innocent injuries, Shang Fuyan had to force other vehicles aside. Now that the danger was gone, he could ask for help.
After seeing his police ID and hearing these men were heinous cultists, the bystanders didn’t need any further explanation—they eagerly tied them up.
“Good.” Now the criminals truly couldn’t threaten them anymore.
But what neither of them expected was this:
They didn’t get hurt at the cultists’ hands.
They got hurt by “their own people.”
Local police arrived quickly. Seeing the cultists bound tight, relief spread across their faces.
Their plan had a huge leak, but thankfully the two from Yue City had plugged it for them.
That way, even if their superiors scolded them later, their credit would still remain.
However, after they brought the suspects back to the station, the mood inside was the opposite of relaxed.
It was silent.
No—dead silent.
The local man who’d found them the white horse—Ciren Sangmu—looked grave. His gaze toward Shang Fuyan and the others was full of guilt and shame.
“About the team leader… I’m really sorry. I’ll report this truthfully.” It was bad enough the leader missed the hidden chamber—what he should never have done was exclude these two, then keep treating them with the same attitude even after they’d made major contributions.
At that moment, the team leader staggered out from inside.
He looked utterly drained, and the way he stared at Shang Fuyan and the others was gloomy and sinister.
Everyone nearby watched him warily, terrified he’d say something offensive again.
Once the case report went up, Shang Fuyan was almost guaranteed to become deputy captain of Yue City’s Criminal Investigation General Team. In rank alone, he’d tower over this leader.
So at this moment, even if they couldn’t flatter him, they absolutely couldn’t offend him.
Even if they’d offended him before—surely they couldn’t double down now!
Shang Fuyan gave the leader a cold glance, said nothing, then turned his back and spoke to Lin Jiangye instead.
This case was basically over. As for anything beyond the original plan—since nobody had included the two of them, it naturally wasn’t their place to interfere.
“Are you staying here for a few days,” Shang Fuyan asked, “or coming back to Yue City with me?”
Shang Fuyan was an official officer; once the operation ended, he had to return to his unit.
But Lin Jiangye didn’t need to rush. March was the season of everything reviving—if he went to the grasslands, he might see all kinds of wild animals.
Lin Jiangye thought about it. He was tempted by Western Qiang’s wildlife—snow leopards, for example. If possible, he even wanted to see wild Bengal tigers.
Of course, for that last one, he’d definitely need to stay inside a fully secure vehicle to watch.
His precious Yuheng and Kaiyang couldn’t beat a wild Bengal tiger!
As for the rest… probably not many would dare provoke North American grey wolves.
Just as he hesitated, a figure suddenly rushed toward him.
“It’s all your fault!”
A gunshot cracked.
When Lin Jiangye snapped back to awareness, he found himself held tightly in Shang Fuyan’s arms.
The next second, screams erupted everywhere.
People rushed to Shang Fuyan, yelling for an ambulance. Only then did Lin Jiangye finally realize—
Shang Fuyan had been shot.
Lin Jiangye’s breath seized. He hurriedly struggled out of Shang Fuyan’s embrace.
But the moment he moved, Shang Fuyan—who had been holding him—went limp and collapsed into his arms.
Only then did Lin Jiangye see where the bullet had hit:
the middle of Shang Fuyan’s back.
If Shang Fuyan hadn’t blocked it just now, the one shot would’ve been Lin Jiangye.
“Captain Shang… Captain Shang!” Lin Jiangye completely panicked. He half-dragged, half-supported Shang Fuyan out. Luckily, because there were already many injured, an ambulance was parked right at the station entrance.
People quickly cleared the cultists away. They grabbed Shang Fuyan and rushed him onto the ambulance.
Lin Jiangye wanted to go too—but the ambulance was already full. If he went, he’d have to drive after it himself.
He paused, left a phone number with the doctors and nurses working on Shang Fuyan, then stepped back and watched the ambulance depart.
He did not chase it immediately.
Instead, he turned and walked back into the station.
The team leader—the one who fired—had already fled. No one expected him to attack Lin Jiangye. Even less did they expect Shang Fuyan to take the hit. In the few seconds everyone was stunned, the man slipped away.
“Find him… and snap every bone in his body.”
The young man’s voice was cold and sinister. It sent chills down everyone’s backs.
Ciren Sangmu tried to stop him—only to realize the ones moving weren’t Lin Jiangye himself.
It was the three birds and two wolves with him.
Once people learned the “two big dogs” beside Lin Jiangye were actually purebred grey wolves, they all sucked in a sharp breath.
Wolves.
Even if they were raised in captivity—they were still wolves.
As his cubs moved into action, Lin Jiangye took a deep breath and looked down at his bloodstained hands.
This was Shang Fuyan’s blood.
It was the first time Lin Jiangye had ever seen Shang Fuyan injured. During the chase, during the arrests—everything had been fine. Yet now, back at the station, in what should’ve been the safest place, he’d been attacked…
“Think carefully about how you’re going to handle this,” Lin Jiangye said. “Handle it badly, and I’ll tear your station down.”
Ciren Sangmu jerked his head up and met Lin Jiangye’s eyes—so dark there wasn’t a shred of emotion to be found.
He was serious. If they tried to brush it off, Lin Jiangye really would destroy this place.
“You can’t do that,” Ciren Sangmu forced himself to say, trying to calm his own panic.
But Lin Jiangye didn’t answer. He only let out a low, eerie smile—then turned and walked away.
That wordless reaction made Ciren Sangmu and the others deeply uneasy.
The moment Lin Jiangye stepped out, crows came to report immediately. Not long after, Kaiyang came back too.
[Found him!]
Lin Jiangye followed behind Kaiyang and sprinted in a certain direction.
Seeing he truly seemed to have located the former leader, Ciren Sangmu and the others hurried after him.
The aura Lin Jiangye had just given off was too terrifying. The former leader had broken the law, yes—but the law could punish him… right?
Ciren Sangmu had a horrifying sense that Lin Jiangye might literally tear the man apart.
Maybe it wasn’t just a “sense.”
Earlier, Lin Jiangye genuinely wanted to rip him into pieces—he’d only changed his wording at the last second.
“This is really bad…” What rotten luck!
Just minutes ago they’d been celebrating that they’d captured all the cultists—and then this happened.
They’d rather not have caught the cultists at all!!!
Police attacking police—if this got out, forget Yue City letting them off. Their superiors would never let it go either!
“Ciren…”
“Don’t talk. First bring him back. Then… we’ll leave it to fate.” (:???)
Ciren Sangmu had no choice. This had already happened. Even if they wanted to intervene, they couldn’t.
Lin Jiangye pressed his lips together. The coldness rolling off him was so sharp that even Kaiyang felt a little afraid.
After a few minutes of running—one man, one wolf—they spotted the man pinned flat to the ground beneath Yuheng’s entire weight.
The police jacket on his body had already been ripped off. That small Party member badge had fallen to the side, smeared with mud—and stamped with a huge shoe print.
Lin Jiangye had seen that kind of badge on Director Zhou, on Shang Fuyan, and on people like Li Wei, Jiang Heping, Yan Zhou as well. When he went to Nanhai, even Lin Xia—the head of the Nanhai branch—had worn one.
Those people always polished that tiny badge until it shone, especially on important occasions, when they would pin it neatly over the heart.
But now, this one had not only been discarded—it had been trampled into the dirt.
“It’s all your fault! If it weren’t for you, they could’ve gotten away! I wouldn’t have ended up like this!” Former team leader Zhang Wei, crushed under a seventy-to-eighty-kilo wolf, was still screaming hoarsely.
Lin Jiangye didn’t indulge him. He walked up, grabbed the man by the collar, and lifted him straight up.
“You actually laid hands on Captain Shang…”
It was early spring in March—yet Zhang Wei felt bone-deep cold.
When Ciren Sangmu and the others rushed over, what they saw was the former team leader collapsed on the ground, limp, almost completely incapable of moving.
Ciren Sangmu tried to haul him up, but the moment his hand touched him lightly—
Crack.
A crisp sound of bone fracturing rang out right beside everyone’s ears.
Ciren Sangmu’s hand jerked in shock, and he hurriedly placed the man back down.
But it was already too late.
Inside Zhang Wei’s body, it was as if a domino chain had been triggered. After that first crack, more followed—several… then over a dozen sharp, brittle snaps.
And yet, despite how terrifying it sounded, Zhang Wei stayed unconscious the entire time—no sign of waking at all.
Ciren Sangmu and the others formed a circle around him, staring at Zhang Wei on the ground—at the gun in his hand, and at that Party badge placed over his chest.
Their emotions were… complicated.
“Enough… call an ambulance,” Ciren Sangmu said. His head felt swollen, aching, like it was about to explode.
This was even more explosive than being told there was a cult on their turf—after all, Western Qiang had seen plenty of cults before, and they’d arrested many.
Ciren Sangmu pressed a hand to his forehead and called the superior above the former team leader.
Normally, they weren’t allowed to report over someone’s head—but with the situation like this, they had no choice.
When the call connected, he described everything that happened today in the most concise words he could manage.
After he finished, there was a long silence on the other end. If Ciren Sangmu hadn’t heard breathing, he would’ve thought the call had been hung up.
After a while, the other side let out a long sigh—followed by a pained groan.
“You… you people really know how to bring trouble to me!”
Ciren Sangmu sank down on the ground, watching doctors and nurses carefully—painfully—lift the man onto a stretcher.
“Chief… I really have no choice here… please save us…” Ciren Sangmu felt like crying.
The leader on the phone thought for a long moment, then suddenly asked, “Then what about that person? If Zhang Wei is there, where’s Consultant Lin?”
Right.
Where was Lin Jiangye?
Ciren Sangmu’s foggy brain cleared a little. He looked around—
No person.
No crows.
No wolves.
Wait—
Did he run?!
On the phone, the leader felt like his heart was about to seize. He slammed the desk and roared:
“Find him first, and protect his safety! Who knows if there are still people like Zhang Wei out there!”
They’d already lost Captain Shang Fuyan—there was no way they could let Yue City’s consultant get taken down too.
“Th-then… the former leader?” Ciren Sangmu asked quietly.
“He betrayed the organization. Not only did he embezzle and take millions in bribes, he also enabled the cult to harm lives… He had a gun in his hand, right? When facing an armed criminal with a firearm, if he resists, we have the right to shoot him dead, don’t we?”
The voice on the phone was icy.
Honestly, after everything Zhang Wei had done, the fact he was still alive surprised him.
If it were back when he was young, he might’ve just shot him on the spot!
Worst case, he’d take a disciplinary penalty. XD
