Chapter 180: K’s Final Decision, Priest, How Sure Are You About Killing Him?

The phone call from Guo Ping could be described as heartening, and it even caused Liu Yang to show a hint of surprise in his eyes.

No one had expected that after dozens of police officers had spent hours searching the Xishan area without finding any clues, Su Ming, within less than half an hour of arriving, was able to uncover traces of the butcher’s previous hiding.

It was really… almost too fast.

Moreover, if he hadn’t just heard wrong, Su Ming had made a conscious decision to have Guo Ping search near the foot of the mountain as soon as they entered the Xishan area. Was it possible for him to make such a sharp and accurate judgment, to counter-surveil the butcher’s move down the mountain instead of continuing to hide on Xishan?

After all, Xishan was filled with dense vegetation and trees, covering a vast area. It was the largest primitive mountain range in the entire Gusu city.

Even though the drug cartel leader had tipped them off in advance, the butcher surely knew the police were on their way to Xishan.

It was very likely that, after executing the poison execution, the police would soon follow up and arrive at Xishan.

In such a situation, the best choice for the butcher should have been to run up the mountain, using his counter-surveillance abilities to evade for an extended period.

But instead, the butcher chose… to go the opposite way?

He boldly escaped the Xishan area and immediately concealed himself in Gusu City.

He had complete confidence in his counter-surveillance abilities, not even worried about being caught by the police who were simultaneously ascending the mountain, or being accidentally encountered and captured?

Although Liu Yang felt a bit of unspeakable shock, he didn’t hesitate for a moment and immediately followed Su Ming to the location where Guo Ping had discovered the butcher’s traces.

…

Arriving at the location where Guo Ping found the clue, they were at the foot of the mountain, only about five minutes’ walk from the Xishan parking lot.

When Guo Ping saw Su Ming and the others arriving, he immediately pointed to a large tree trunk and a dense pile of grass beside it, speaking seriously.

“If nothing goes wrong, the butcher should have hidden in this grass pile for a while to evade Liu Ju and the others who were heading to the wooden house halfway up the mountain.”

Guo Ping then gently peeled away the grass pile, revealing a large area of flattened Western Leaf Grass, which was clearly visible to everyone. He continued to explain.

“Between the tree trunk and the grass pile, from the trampled flowers and plants that haven’t yet stood up, we can clearly tell… someone must have hidden here.”

“The time they stayed should not have been short; otherwise, these plants would have already stood up by themselves, instead of still lying flat like this.”

Listening to Guo Ping’s words, Su Ming looked at the flattened Western Leaf Grass, and keenly noticed a few Ghost Thorn plants nearby. He immediately took a few steps forward to examine them closely.

“Apart from the Western Leaf Grass, there are several Ghost Thorns here, and their thorn tips have almost completely fallen off.”

“But did you notice… there aren’t many thorn tips on the ground here, which means they likely didn’t fall by themselves.”

“It’s obvious that someone’s clothes or pants got covered in a significant amount of Ghost Thorns.”

“Besides the butcher who was responsible for the execution, I don’t think anyone else would need to hide in this grass pile so late, right?”

“Even tourists or people exercising wouldn’t hide here.”

“It seems very likely that Liu Ju and the butcher just missed each other. The butcher hiding in this grass pile probably saw you all head up to the wooden house halfway up the mountain.”

Standing nearby, Bai Yu, who was holding a pipe, quickly organized his thoughts and spoke.

“Judging from the timeline and walking speed, it seems that when we arrived at Xishan, the butcher, after completing the execution, was just about to reach the foot of the mountain.”

“Since we were in a hurry, we didn’t bother to conceal our steps. Instead, we made a lot of noise heading to the worker’s wooden house at the mountainside.”

“This is likely why the butcher realized we had arrived at Xishan and hid in this grass pile in advance.”

“Of course, with his counter-surveillance abilities, even if he didn’t hear the noise, he probably would have been able to deduce we were coming, especially since K had already informed him that the poison had been exposed.”

“As for where the butcher is currently hiding, I think we can first determine where he would go immediately after descending the mountain, in order to further track him down.”

Everyone, including Liu Yang, nodded in agreement with Bai Yu’s words.

Su Ming squinted his eyes, looking at the Ghost Thorns with the thorns almost all gone. He had a faint idea in his mind and then spoke softly.

“In fact, the breakthrough point might lie in… these seemingly insignificant Ghost Thorns.”

“Because no matter where he went first, the butcher would definitely have taken care of the Ghost Thorns stuck to his clothes or pants.”

“The few Ghost Thorns inside the grass pile, with their tips almost gone, show that the butcher must have gotten quite a bit of them on him.”

“But in order to ensure his own safety, when he came out of this grass pile and headed down the mountain, he definitely didn’t have time to clean off the Ghost Thorns.”

“Carrying so many Ghost Thorns on him would make him incredibly conspicuous as he walks down the road. If he wanted to enter the city and hide his tracks, he would need to find a suitable place to clean them off.”

“Is there a remote public restroom nearby, one that is in a blind spot of surveillance, where the butcher could clean off the Ghost Thorns?”

…

Meanwhile, on the top floor of the Xing Sheng Building in Cangshan District, Lushan City.

K, who had been staying up late, battling wits with the police, had dark circles under his eyes, clearly showing signs of fatigue.

While typing away on the keyboard to check the latest news from Taicang City, he calmly spoke into his custom-made phone with the speakerphone on.

“Mm? Butcher, are you sure you’re safe now?”

“It seems those scentless dogs are still running in circles on Xishan.”

“Since you’re safe now, make sure to leave Gusu City as soon as it gets light. I’ll help monitor the dogs’ movements.”

“Remember, you need to be extra careful and cautious. The vulnerabilities in our organization have already piled up, and I don’t want…You, who like to treat others as prey, to end up as the prey of those dogs.”

After finishing, K hung up the phone and, using a custom-made web crawler script, he had already seen the latest post about Taicang City.

【Shocking! Li Bin, Director of Guangming Hospital, arrested for attempted murder of a 16-year-old girl】

Seeing this headline, K immediately felt a surge of anger. He hadn’t expected that Li Bin, this useless man who only knew how to climb the social ladder, not only failed to deal with the Bomber Sister but also got caught in the act.

Watching as the gaps seemed to grow wider, K struggled to resist the urge to smash his computer.

He looked at the priest standing by the railing, observing the distant night, and had already mentally prepared for the worst. Without any emotional fluctuation, he asked:

“Priest.”

“If it were you, how confident would you be in taking down the lead dog and stopping the organization’s vulnerabilities at the source?”