"Woof~"

Bai Wan wagged its tail and started walking again.

It didn’t cross the road directly. Instead, it trotted along the curb for a bit, found a gap with a crosswalk but no traffic light, looked both ways to confirm it was safe, and then quickly dashed across.

Yang Qi and Officer Chen followed close behind.

Across the road was a small, somewhat desolate hillside overgrown with weeds. A few scattered trees dotted the slope, along with some small vegetable patches cultivated by nearby residents.

Bai Wan’s tracking speed clearly slowed, but its direction remained certain.

It moved in fits and starts, constantly correcting its path as it headed deeper up the hillside.

Although Officer Chen still had her doubts, the sight of Bai Wan’s professional and determined demeanor made her suppress the urge to ask questions. Instead, she grew more vigilant, scanning her surroundings, her hand unconsciously resting on the pistol at her waist.

After cresting a small hill, they saw several dilapidated factory buildings at the foot of the mountain ahead. They looked old, with rust-spotted tin roofs and broken windows.

Bai Wan suddenly stopped. Its nostrils twitched rapidly, and a low "huff" rumbled in its throat. It then raised its head, its eyes fixed on the corner of one of the factory buildings.

"WOOF!"

Bai Wan’s short, sharp bark shattered the mountain’s silence.

The next moment, it shot off like an arrow released from a bow, charging toward the factory.

"We’ve got something!"

Yang Qi shouted in a low voice and immediately gave chase.

Officer Chen’s heart tightened, and she followed right behind him.

However, before the two people and the dog could get close to the factory—

CRASH!

A figure suddenly vaulted over a half-collapsed low wall at the side of the building.

The man was tall and thin, with shoulder-length hair. His face was a mask of panic and ferocity.

The moment he landed, he saw Bai Wan charging toward him, followed by Yang Qi and Officer Chen. His expression changed drastically when he spotted Officer Chen’s uniform. Without a moment’s hesitation, he turned and sprinted deeper into the mountain, toward the denser woods.

"It’s Xu Dajin!"

Officer Chen recognized him at a glance and cried out in alarm.

The next second, she reflexively grabbed her walkie-talkie and reported in a rapid-fire voice.

"Captain Tan! Captain Tan! We’ve found Xu Dajin! His position is in the hills on the north side, near the abandoned factories! He’s running up the mountain! Repeat, Xu Dajin is running up the mountain!"

"What?"

On the other end of the radio, Tan Zheng was startled. A second later, he replied quickly.

"Roger! Stay safe, backup is on the way!"

"All units, head to the northern woods immediately!"

...

"WOOF WOOF~"

In the woods, Bai Wan’s four legs pumped as its brown-and-yellow body weaved through the bushes and grass, charging straight for the frantically fleeing Xu Dajin.

Yang Qi and Officer Chen were right behind it.

With others present, Yang Qi didn’t use the Spirit Crane Body Technique, relying only on his physical stamina to run.

"Stop! Xu Dajin, you can’t escape!" Officer Chen shouted sternly as she ran at full tilt, trying to intimidate him.

Xu Dajin turned a deaf ear. Like a startled beast, his feet moved even faster as he desperately tried to increase the distance between them.

At this tense moment in the chase, not far ahead on a forking path leading down the mountain, two young women were walking together, seemingly on a leisurely return trip after a hike.

When they suddenly saw a ferocious-looking man sprinting toward them, with a police officer and an aggressive-looking large dog in hot pursuit, the two of them froze in place, their faces filled with shock and panic.

’This is bad!’

Officer Chen’s pupils contracted, and her heart sank.

The worst-case scenario had just happened—

innocent bystanders had appeared, and they were too close to the suspect!

She reacted instantly, her right hand going to her waist. She drew her pistol, aimed it at Xu Dajin’s back, and placed her finger outside the trigger guard.

But Xu Dajin was now just a stone’s throw from the two women; firing rashly could easily result in an injury to a bystander.

"Run! Get out of the way!"

Officer Chen’s breathing was heavy, sweat beading on her temples. Not daring to pull the trigger, she could only use all her strength to scream, hoping to snap the two terrified women out of their stupor.

The shout jolted the two women back to their senses. They flinched and hurriedly turned to flee.

However, it was too late.

A vicious glint flashed in Xu Dajin’s eyes. Like a drowning man grasping at a final straw, he accelerated and lunged toward them. With a savage expression, he reached out to grab the closer of the two girls, who was so scared her legs had gone weak.

The girl’s terrified scream nearly pierced the air.

At that critical, hair-raising moment—

Yang Qi, who had been prepared for this, focused his gaze. He made a swift, almost imperceptible flick with his right hand at his side, a nearly invisible streak of light flashing from his fingertips. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

Entanglement Technique!

An invisible and intangible, yet incredibly tough, thread of Spiritual Power instantly shot across dozens of meters, precisely wrapping around the ankles of the charging Xu Dajin.

THUD!

Xu Dajin felt his legs suddenly get tangled by an immense force. He lost all balance, his forward momentum came to a dead stop, and his entire body pitched forward like a log, falling stiffly to the ground.

The instant he fell, Yang Qi formed another seal with his fingers from a distance. An imperceptible glint of light flashed as he shifted his palm slightly.

Small Transport Technique!

An invisible force crossed dozens of meters to envelop Xu Dajin, wrapping around his entire body and shifting him sideways.

As Xu Dajin fell face-first, his outstretched fingers brushed against a few strands of the girl’s fluttering hair. He was then moved off the mountain path. To everyone else, it looked as if he had tripped, and his own momentum caused him to tumble off the path and roll miserably down the slope.

"WOOF WOOF!"

Bai Wan, having caught up, immediately leaped down the slope. With a few bounds, it reached Xu Dajin, who was now dizzy and covered in scrapes from the fall.

Bai Wan didn’t rush in to bite. Instead, it cleverly circled Xu Dajin, feinting and barking. It used intimidating movements and a fierce aura to keep him pinned down.

The already panicked Xu Dajin grew even more frantic. He struggled to get up, flailing his arms and screaming in a mix of terror and rage.

"Get away! Get away, you damn dog!"

Just as Xu Dajin staggered to his feet, Bai Wan saw its chance. It executed a swift, low charge, cleverly using its shoulder to knock his ankle.

"AH~!"

Xu Dajin lost his balance again and fell to the ground with a scream, getting a mouthful of dirt and grass.

"AHHH~! I’ll kill you!"

Frustrated by the repeated setbacks, Xu Dajin completely lost it, his eyes practically splitting with rage.

He scrambled to his feet, grabbed a nearby tree branch as thick as a wrist, and swung it as he charged at Bai Wan.

Seeing this, Bai Wan agilely leaped back to avoid the swinging branch, but it didn’t retreat far. It maintained a taunting distance, continuing to bark and harass him.

"WOOF WOOF!"

"WOOF~ WOOF WOOF!"

Just then, a chorus of loud barks erupted from behind Yang Qi and Officer Chen.

The other police dogs from the search party had arrived as backup. They shot forward like bolts of lightning, rapidly closing in on Xu Dajin.

Xu Dajin had just forced Bai Wan back and was about to flee again when he looked up and saw several more aggressive police dogs charging at him. His face instantly turned ashen.

He let out a strange cry and immediately turned to dive into the denser part of the woods.

"Woof~"

Bai Wan decisively followed, continuing to harass him and slow his escape.

Within a few breaths, the other well-trained police dogs arrived. They worked in coordination, fanning out to form a loose perimeter, trapping the stick-wielding, ceaselessly roaring Xu Dajin in the middle. Despair was already visible in his eyes.

The low growls of the large dogs, their intimidating lunges, and their crisscrossing movements to block him off completely extinguished his hope of escape.

’We got him!’