Chapter 257: A Trio of Schemers

In the dense forest, while the Chi Army was engaged in fierce battle with the encircling forces, Su Tianyu had already led Li Mingsheng and Secretary-General Lu on a detour toward Dragon City.

Old Li's meaning just now had been very clear - Zone One's upper levels ordering abandonment of hostage rescue had obviously made him feel uneasy.

Though Su Tianyu didn't quite understand Dragon City's upper-level political situation, he could also sense that Li Mingsheng trusted no one at this moment - he was very afraid he couldn't return.

This being the case, Su Tianyu also didn't dare take Li Mingsheng to meet the encircling forces, because once they had killing intent, not only would Old Li perish, but he as temporary armed guard would definitely die along with him.

Su Tianyu felt somewhat speechless inside - he had originally just wanted to grab onto a thick strong leg, but hadn't expected the game between Dragon City's upper levels to be so bloody - even someone like Old Li, nominally the number one figure, couldn't completely control the situation.

This job wasn't easy to do!

......

In the forest, though Su Tianyu knew the official army helicopters were all equipped with thermal detectors, he still specifically led the two toward the mountain ridgeline, deep forest, and uninhabited areas to flee, which Secretary-General Lu found very hard to understand.

Behind them, Secretary-General Lu demanded between pants: "If we want to avoid the main force, we shouldn't run toward places with fewer people! There's nothing here - if helicopters come, won't they just lock onto our position with one thermal detector scan?!"

Su Tianyu ran in front, replying without turning his head: "Don't talk, conserve energy."

"You...!" Secretary-General Lu wanted to argue.

Li Mingsheng glanced back at him: "Listen to him."

Hearing this, Secretary-General Lu gritted his teeth, probing: "Mayor, aren't we overthinking? Is it really necessary to avoid the main force?"

"What do you think?" Li Mingsheng replied.

Hearing this lukewarm response, Secretary-General Lu said nothing more, just continuing to run wildly with the two.

About half an hour later, the three had completely left the Chi Army and official army's battle zone - even gunfire was hard to hear, with only occasional RPG artillery roars coming through.

"Can't go on, I... I really can't run anymore, let's rest a while - it should be safe here," Secretary-General Lu collapsed sitting on the ground, panting heavily.

About twenty meters ahead, Su Tianyu stood beside a large tree, observing all four directions for a while, already roughly clear about his position.

As an officer who had been on battlefields and graduated from the Advanced Army Academy, basic sense of direction and position were required standard qualities. Judging current location through running time, movement speed, and starting point wasn't difficult for Su Tianyu.

This should still be inside the Kasalo border, about 200 kilometers from Dragon City's urban area. Su Tianyu had seen maps of Dragon City's surroundings before and traveled out several times, so the surrounding terrain wasn't completely unfamiliar, but claiming to know it like the back of his hand would definitely be boasting.

Wanting to return quickly required clear routes and objectives, so after confirming his rough position, Su Tianyu immediately turned and walked to Li Mingsheng's side: "Mayor, we're about 200-plus kilometers from Dragon City, and it's all mountain roads - not easy to walk. I need to go look ahead."

"Good, go ahead," Li Mingsheng was also over fifty - after running so long, his energy was quite depleted as he sat on the ground constantly panting.

Su Tianyu looked at him pausing briefly, discreetly passing over a pistol, which the latter expressionlessly accepted, very skillfully hiding it under his leg.

With Li Mingsheng taking the gun, Su Tianyu felt somewhat more at ease, immediately shouldering the military pack taken from the Chi Army and running toward the perimeter under heavy load. He needed to stand high to roughly see the terrain, then choose the return route.

After all this exertion along the way, Su Tianyu's energy was also somewhat depleted - he clearly felt his body was much worse than when he first returned to Dragon City.

Recently, if not staying up late then eating rich food daily - Su Tianyu had lost almost all the good habits developed in the army.

After jogging seven to eight hundred meters, Su Tianyu reached the top of a small hill, looking up to see that the eastern direction he faced was a large plain with slightly undulating terrain, while the western direction had a large canyon with what seemed to be two pastures below. Passing through there should bring Dragon City into view.

Su Tianyu squinted examining the surrounding terrain, combining Li Mingsheng and Secretary-General Lu's energy levels in his mind to begin planning the return route.

Behind, in the dense forest.

Li Mingsheng sat on the ground, calling between breaths: "Little Lu, when you came, did the Supervision Assembly side say anything to you privately?"

Behind a tree trunk, Secretary-General Lu immediately shook his head: "No!"

"Come, come over here, let's talk," Li Mingsheng waved looking very tired.

In the moonlight, Secretary-General Lu blinked, slowly standing up.

......

In Dragon City's urban area, in that warehouse's small command room, someone stood in the dim light saying softly: "...Isn't it too risky?"

"No choice even if risky - we can't make decisions in this matter," another person replied arms crossed. "Without integration, it's life and death."

After both were silent for a while, the man in the dim light finally said softly: "Then let's do it!"

On the hillside.

After checking the surrounding situation and planning the withdrawal route, Su Tianyu walked back toward where he came from.

The forest branches were thick, the road difficult, and light extremely dim - Su Tianyu didn't run fast, wanting to conserve energy, so only walked normally back.

At this moment it was very close to dawn's first light - there were some insect sounds in the forest as Su Tianyu used his gun stock to beat the thick weeds on both sides, cautiously wanting to startle away wild animals that might be hiding or sleeping in the grass, like snakes, scorpions and other aggressive beasts.

"Bang!"

Just as Su Tianyu was walking normally back, a gunshot suddenly came from the distance - judging from the position, it should be where he had just come from.

Su Tianyu suddenly looked up, only pausing slightly before immediately raising his gun and running frantically back along his footprints, vaguely hearing several more gunshots.

Why would there be shooting?

Had someone come?!

Su Tianyu didn't dare shout or rashly fire, because if someone had come, making a sound would instantly expose his position.

After running wildly for some distance, Su Tianyu suddenly heard sounds from the left - he instantly stopped, sweating on his forehead as he hid behind a tree trunk with gun ready.

On the left, a figure appeared, less than fifty meters from his position.

"Whoosh...!"

Su Tianyu let out a light breath, moving his gun barrel toward the figure's direction.