Chapter 51: Count Me In

“It seems my mysterious treasure tree has new energy to absorb!” Chen Xian murmured excitedly to himself.

001 sent back information: there were nine robbers in total, armed with machine guns, submachine guns, grenades, and other weapons, suspected to be foreign mercenaries. After robbing the bank, they escaped in two off-road vehicles, with the police in hot pursuit.

Without delay, Chen Xian tracked 001’s trail, hailed a taxi, and sped away.

...

In H City, on a road at the edge of downtown, a dense chorus of police sirens split the air, piercing the eardrums. Police cars roared in pursuit. Several hundred meters ahead, two high-performance off-road vehicles—one black, one white—raced at speeds even greater than those of their pursuers, forcing the regular traffic to swerve hurriedly aside.

Ratatat! Bang bang bang!

From the windows of the fleeing vehicles, several masked heads appeared—these were the ruthless bank robbers. Clutching machine guns and submachine guns, they unleashed a wild barrage at the police cars behind, their weapons spewing fire like furious beasts.

Bullets whistled through the air, striking the police cars in a hail of sparks and metallic clangs. One police car’s windshield shattered under dozens of bullets; a single shot struck the head of the officer at the wheel.

The car immediately veered out of control.

Crash!

It slammed into a roadside tree, smoke pouring from the hood. The other officers scrambled out. Among them was a strikingly formidable female officer—Fang Jing. Her beautiful eyes burned with fury and grief as she looked at her fallen colleague.

But now was not the time for sorrow. Ignoring the blood trickling from her forehead, she turned to her team and commanded urgently, “Xiao Cheng, quick—call 120, get Xiao Ma medical help! The rest of you, with me! We’re not letting those bastards get away!”

Without another word, she darted over, flashed her badge at the owner of a Mercedes SUV, and declared, “Sir, the police are in pursuit of armed robbers. I need to commandeer your vehicle!”

The Mercedes owner glanced at her bloodied but resolute face, hesitated not a second, and handed over the keys with a sense of justice. “Officer, take the car—just make sure you catch those criminals. The safety of our city depends on you!”

Fang Jing nodded, took the keys, and leapt into the driver’s seat, the other three officers piling in swiftly. With a heavy foot on the accelerator, the Mercedes engine roared like a wild beast, shooting forward. The officer in the passenger seat watched as the speedometer soared past 100 kilometers per hour within seconds.

The Mercedes shot past the other police cars, closing rapidly on the two off-road vehicles ahead.

Ratatat!

Bullets rained down on the Mercedes, like a downpour.

Fang Jing’s brows were knitted, her eyes cold as ice; her hands worked the steering wheel, weaving the vehicle in a serpentine path down the road, dodging deadly bullets one after another.

The gang leader in the lead vehicle saw the Mercedes drawing closer, bullets failing to drive them off. He growled, “Throw the grenades! Blow those dogs to hell!”

At the wheel, Fang Jing’s sharp gaze caught sight of dark, ominous objects in the hands of the robbers ahead.

“Grenades!” she cried instinctively.

If they hurled those grenades at her car, she and her team would be blasted to pieces.

“I am Deputy Chief XXX of the Provincial Police Headquarters! You are surrounded—resistance is futile! Surrender now, lay down your weapons!” A commanding male voice boomed from up ahead.

At the intersection before the robbers, several armored vehicles blocked the road, sealing off escape. Heavily armed SWAT officers leveled their submachine guns at the two fleeing vehicles, ready to turn them into sieves.

The gang leader, seeing this, bellowed, “Forget the ones behind—use the grenades on those in front! Blast open the armored cars and carve us a bloody path out!”

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

The robbers obeyed, redirecting their aim and hurling grenade after gleaming grenade at the armored vehicles.

“Take cover! Grenades!” the Deputy Chief shouted urgently.

He hadn’t anticipated the robbers carrying so many grenades; this level of firepower rivaled that of a reinforced military platoon.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Dozens of grenades exploded in a chain of fireballs and mushroom clouds. Several armored vehicles were sent flying, the road torn and pitted with craters.

“The way’s clear, but there’s a giant pit dead ahead—no way through. Biaozi, I didn’t expect so many of them, even armored vehicles. If we stick together, we won’t make it out. We split up: you take the left, I’ll go right. Scatter their forces—maybe someone will break through. We’ll regroup outside the city,” the gang leader barked into his phone to the other vehicle.

“Got it, boss!”

With a screech, both off-road vehicles, braving a hail of bullets, swerved around the craters and veered off in opposite directions.

Fang Jing, at the wheel of the Mercedes, took off after the vehicle driven by the gang leader—her goal was simple: they had killed her colleague. She would bring them to justice and avenge her friend.

At that moment, at the crossroads, a red taxi had been forced to stop by the enormous crater ahead.

“Damn, this is like an action movie!” The slightly overweight taxi driver stared at the smoking crater, the wrecked armored vehicles, and the scattered police, his small eyes shining with excitement. “Sir, the road’s been blown up—do you want to get out and walk, or should I try a detour?”

“No need, driver. Please, take the fastest route—follow the off-road vehicle on the left!” said Chen Xian, his eyes flashing with intensity from the passenger seat.

“Chase the robbers?” The driver’s chubby cheeks quivered.

Thinking the driver was afraid, Chen Xian pulled out twenty thousand yuan and offered it to him. “Catch up with that vehicle, and the money is yours!”

He believed that for such a reward, the driver would agree to pursue the criminals.

But the driver’s response surprised him.

The burly man glared, pulled out a red certificate from his pocket, and said indignantly, “Sir, I’m a retired soldier! Are you insulting my character? Put your money away! I have a sense of justice, too. Count me in on catching those criminals!”

He had just produced his certificate of honorable discharge.

With that, the driver spun the wheel fiercely and slammed his foot on the accelerator. The red taxi roared like a beast, tearing after the robbers’ off-road vehicle.