When A Snail Falls In Love

Chapter 46.2

His response was belief, but not complete trust.

Po did not touch her, but he also did not release her. Instead, he confined her to a small side compartment.

Po's character was not so cautious. Xu Xu was now almost certain – Brother Lu was also on the train, and this was her idea.

Although Xu Xu did not know why Brother Lu was taking such precautions against her, she knew that this situation did not bode well for her.

The compartment windows were locked, and barred from the outside with iron grilles. The door was also tightly closed, and guarded by two heavily armed soldiers.

Xu Xu sat silently on the bed, holding her handphone.

When the handphone connected/ when she received a call, Xu Xu's heart skipped a beat. Ji Bai's deep voice, with a trace of anxiety, said: "Xu Xu?"

She replied almost immediately: "It's me. I'm ok."

Finally being able to hear her voice, Ji Bai felt as if his heart had resumed normal operation. However, since he was unable to see her, he was not fully at peace. After moment's silence, he said determinedly/ with resolve: "We'll be there in 10 minutes. Wait for me."

Xu Xu held her handphone, watching the mountains whizzing past outside the window.

He said he would arrive in 10 minutes.

When their large force attacked [1] and surrounded Po and Brother Lu, they would naturally fight to the death [2] , and employ any available means to escape. Moreover, she was imprisoned. How could they release such a protective shield?

"Ji Bai, I've been confined to the 4th compartment." Xu Xu said softly: "I may become a hostage."

She had just dropped her voice, when a loud roaring rose from all directions as the train entered a cave. Light and shadow intertwined with each other. On the phone, there was only static and silence.

On his end, the helicopter jolted abruptly, and Ji Bai sat immobile, grasping his handphone tightly. The SWAT captain at the front of the helicopter shouted above the whirring of the rotor: "Target found!!! Prepare to force them to surrender!"

——

The first signal [that something was wrong], was the earth-shaking sound of the explosion from the front of the train. It felt/ was as if the entire train had been subject to terrible pressure, then the loud crashing/ rending sound was quickly cut off/ stopped. Xu Xu, anticipating this, had kept as close to the compartment wall as possible, hugging/ holding onto the bed. However, her back was still bruised by the impact, and she felt a deep pain.

This was the sound of the forces using explosives to destroy the rail tracks, forcing the train to stop.

Very soon, the air thrummed with the sound of helicopter propellers, the roaring of vehicle engines, and the thudding of footsteps, all of which testified to the earth-shaking chaos outside the train. In only a few seconds, the compartment door was shoved open with a bang.

Po and Brother Lu stood sombrely at the door.

Xu Xu swiftly stood up: "What has happened?"

WIth one hand, Brother Lu held a gun to her head, while the other hand grasped her by the arm: "Come with us."

Xu Xu silently walked out of the compartment with them. The corridor was full of soldiers rushing to and fro, shouting loudly. Outside the train was an even more chaotic mass of human figures, the scene carried the turmoil and chaos of war.

The three of them had run a short distance forward, when Brother Lu turned her head to look at Xu Xu: "Cell phone?"

Xu Xu took the cell phone from her pocket and gave it to Brother Lu, who threw it against the carriage wall.

——

Streaking past a line of train carriages in disarray, Ji Bai held his assault rifle steady and led the SWAT team towards the fourth carriage.

Due to the incisive action of the combined forces of the Kachin Defence Force and the Chinese special task force, the clueless soldiers on the train did not put up any resistance. Very soon, the situation was totally under control. The special task force had also found a timed bomb in the carriage where the criminals were confined – this was in accordance with their earlier speculations: Po had been planning to create an incident. Whether he had been preparing to release the criminals, or kill them off in order to conceal his own crimes, there was no way of knowing.

But, where had Xu Xu gone?

Ji Bai and the SWAT team examined the absolute empty compartment. The pristine, white bed still held a faint impression. 10 minutes ago, she had sat there. It was seemingly quiet and calm, but a naggingly uncomfortable voice kept asking him, had she been taken hostage?

At this time, a SWAT officer picked up a shattered handphone from the ground: "Captain Ji!"

Ji Bai received it, took one glance, and shoved it into his pocket together with his own.

"Onwards!"

The search rapidly spread out to the surrounding hills.

The Interpol officers had been dispersed among the search groups, while Ji Bai and a team of SWAT officers/ special forces officers were right in front. However, the wilderness was vast, and Po and Brother Lu were exceedingly determined to evade capture. To find them in a short space of time would be easier said than done.

The sky gradually darkened. As the search groups moved further away, it was as if they had vanished without a trace, only occasionally keeping in contact via walkie-talkie or handphone. With a taut face, Ji Bai intently scanned the surroundings as far as his eye could see.

At this time, his team arrived at a small undulating hillock. When he looked up, he could only see the deep, silent woods.

Ji Bai's gaze was caught by a flash of white amidst the dark. Swiftly moving his torch over to the area, he ran towards it . . .

It was a piece of paper the size of his thumb, with writing on it. The paper was still white, hardly stained/ tainted by dust or earth. Obviously, it had not been there long.

Ji Bai felt a stab of anxiety and stood up quickly: "Search immediately in the vicinity for similar pieces of paper."

Very quickly, another piece of paper was found, this time with "30 – 40 years old" written on it, together with some careless scribbles.

Everyone's spirits lifted. Moving forward in the direction of the trail of paper, they speedily found a third piece, this time with "tyrannical, abusive character" written on it.

An officer asked hesitatingly: "Captain Ji, were these pieces of paper really left behind by the officer who was taken hostage? Why don't their contents have any connection to the case?"

It was already completely dark, with only faint glimmers of moonlight showing through the trees. Ji Bai was squatting in front of a patch of grass, reaching out with his hand to pick up a similar piece of paper.

"She left them behind." His voice was low and powerful. His heart, which had always been tough and unyielding, now felt as if it had been submerged in an icy current, resulting in a hidden and unbearable pain.

On the piece of paper, in the handwriting so familiar to him, these words had been swiftly written: "Ji Bai, Third Brother, Third Brother . . ."

[1] 大军从天而降- literal translation: 'armies descend from heaven'
[2] 鱼死网破- literal: contend until either the fish dies or the net gets torn; a life-and-death struggle
[3] 迫降- (dictionary definition: "forced landing" or "force somebody to surrender"- don't know which is appropriate)
[4] 发涨发疼- 涨 means 'swollen/ enlarged after absorbing water',疼 is 'ache, have a pain'.