It was a beautiful day, clear and sunny.

As the sun slowly climbed into the sky, the temperature in the mountain forest rose with it.

Fan Lei yanked open the zipper of his jacket, shrugging it off with one hand while the other clutched tightly to his handbag.

He tossed the jacket aside and glanced back.

Tian Kui was in the lead, following him at a steady, unhurried pace.

None of the police dogs were barking. They just watched him silently.

The feeling was like staggering across a desolate, empty desert, only to find yourself being stalked by a pack of wolves.

They didn’t rush in for the attack, but simply followed, keeping a constant distance.

They were waiting for you to collapse, so they could move in effortlessly and feast on your flesh and blood.

Fan Lei was speechless. His legs ached and burned, his lungs felt like they were about to explode, and every breath he took sounded like a broken bellows.

The handbag, filled with gold bars, now felt impossibly heavy.

Fan Lei didn’t let go.

For the past two days, huddled on the mountain, he had endured the cold and the endless insects. During every torturous night, it was the feeling of those cold gold bars under his fingertips that had helped him hold on until dawn.

With a stumble, Fan Lei pitched forward and fell to the ground.

He rolled onto his back, gasping for air.

The blinding sun filtered through the treetops, its dappled light making him feel dizzy and disoriented.

Through the leaves, he could still see the drone hovering overhead.

After a few minutes of rest, Fan Lei fumbled to get up again.

He couldn’t stand anymore, so he crawled on his knees to the base of a large tree and looked up.

The canopy blocked the sky.

He started digging at the ground with his bare hands, managing to scoop out a shallow pit before the hard-packed earth beneath became impossible to break through.

Fan Lei took all the gold bars out of the handbag, placed them in the pit, and quickly buried them, carefully covering the spot with dead leaves.

Looking up at the common oak tree before him, he searched for a sharp stone and forcefully carved a cross into the trunk.

He had to hide the gold bars so his wife and son could come find them later.

After finishing, he got back on his knees and started crawling forward again.

He had only crawled about ten meters when he turned his head and saw a dog digging at the very spot where he had just buried the gold.

It was Tiger Stripes.

The dog had only one thought in his head right now.

’Ooh, what delicious thing did he hide here?’

"Get lost!"

Fan Lei roared, grabbing the empty handbag and flinging it at the dog.

The pack of dogs immediately scattered.

Tiger Stripes ran faster than any of them.

Fan Lei scrambled back, looked at the already unearthed gold bars, and started burying them again, cursing under his breath.

When he was done, he glared at Tiger Stripes in the distance, seething with a rage so intense it felt like a physical pain.

But he couldn’t possibly catch him.

After muttering a few more curses, Fan Lei started moving again. He had to get far away from this spot so the police wouldn’t catch him here.

But just as he crawled away, Tiger Stripes trotted back over and started digging again.

"You..."

Fan Lei was on the verge of losing his mind, pounding the ground in frustration.

’How can a dog be such an absolute pest?’

"Get lost!"

Fan Lei crawled back, screaming, dug up the gold bars, put them back in the handbag, and then hurled it as far as he could.

’Having my son find the bag later will work just as well,’ he thought.

He glared at Tiger Stripes.

Tiger Stripes stared back at him, then turned and bolted, reaching the handbag in a few bounds. He clamped his jaws around it and picked it up.

"You son of a bitch..."

Fan Lei truly lost it. He grabbed anything within reach—even taking off his shoe—and frantically threw it all at Tiger Stripes.

But it was useless.

Clenching his fists and letting out a final, guttural roar, Fan Lei forced himself to calm down.

’It’s a dog. He probably thinks I’m playing with him.’

"Here, boy! Tsk tsk tsk!"

Fan Lei made a few clicking sounds with his tongue and beckoned to Tiger Stripes. "Good dog, that’s a good boy. Bring me the bag."

He pointed at the handbag in Tiger Stripes’s mouth.

There was no response.

Tiger Stripes gave Fan Lei a look one might give an idiot, then dropped the bag in front of Black Panther and barked twice, motioning for him to pick it up.

In his mind, Black Panther was his personal bag-carrying lackey.

Black Panther didn’t even give him the time of day.

Furious, Tiger Stripes opened his mouth to bite him, and Tian Kui excitedly joined the fray.

"What do you think you’re doing?!"

Shen Xin’s voice suddenly rang out.

Tiger Stripes did a quick roll to escape Black Panther’s attack range, then turned his head away as if nothing had happened.

Fan Lei’s eyes widened, his face a mask of confusion.

Shen Xin’s voice continued, "Fan Lei, give up. Don’t hold on to any false hope."

Shen Xin, who was rushing over in a police car, was speechless.

’The body cams are rolling, and there’s a drone overhead. Did you really think no one would see you burying gold bars and throwing your bag around?’

"Aaargh..."

Fan Lei let out another shriek of frustration, screaming until his voice was hoarse, before collapsing onto the ground.

He had given up the struggle.

He never would have dreamed that he’d be brought down by a pack of police dogs.

...

Over half an hour later, a winded Liu Baoqing and his team were the first to arrive on the scene.

All the police dogs were surrounding Fan Lei in a neat circle.

Tian Kui even seemed bored enough to be dozing off with his eyes half-closed.

Fan Lei didn’t struggle. He just held out his hands, as if to say, "Go on, cuff me."

"Unbelievable, Lao Liu. Truly unbelievable," Cui Xuesong said, shaking his head.

He would never forget this sight for the rest of his life.

Liu Baoqing said nothing, his eyes fixed on the now-cuffed Fan Lei.

Fan Lei looked back at him with an expression of complete resignation, as if he’d given up on everything. Then, in a cavalier tone, he said, "Go ahead and arrest me. It’s not like I have much longer to live anyway."

A flicker of emotion crossed Liu Baoqing’s eyes. In a heavy voice, he ordered, "Take him away."

「Behind Hidden Dragon Manor, at the head of a mountain trail.」

Shen Xin had originally planned to go up the mountain to see Fan Lei’s hideout for himself.

But the thought of climbing the mountain made him reconsider. He decisively chose to wait at the bottom with Zhang Hancheng instead.

Another half an hour passed before Liu Baoqing finally appeared with Fan Lei, Tian Kui, and the others, emerging as a great, dark mass from the trail.

Zhang Hancheng hurried forward to greet them, first thanking Liu Baoqing and his men for their hard work.