Chapter 78: The Garbage Dump, Cement Pipes

On Sanlin Street, at a seaside waste collection station, an old man nearly seventy years old walked out with a flashlight and met Old Yang and his group at the entrance.

"Were you the one who called to report?" Old Yang asked.

"Yes, I called Little Liu at the patrol point. Aren't you looking for a fugitive?" the old man nodded and replied.

"Yes, there is a fugitive," Old Yang immediately got to the point: "What leads do you have?"

"It's not really an important lead," the old man replied with clear articulation. "I'm the night watchman here, and I keep two dogs. But these past couple of days, these two dogs seem like they can't get enough to eat, they've been howling with hunger every day and keep running out to the seaside to dig through garbage..."

Hearing this, Tang Baiqing was stunned: "How is this a lead? What can two dogs prove?"

"Don't interrupt!" Old Yang waved his hand to cut off the other's words.

"I've raised these dogs since they were puppies. I know what kind of shit they're going to take just by how they squat," the old man replied with certainty. "I live here alone, usually they eat whatever I eat... Unless they're starving, they never go to the seaside to dig through garbage. They're starving now because someone's taken away their food."

"Anything else?"

"I felt something was wrong, so I walked toward the seaside yesterday and saw that two old car mats that were thrown out in front of the factory were also gone," the old man turned and pointed toward the sea. "Over there."

"Did you go check?" Old Yang asked.

"Am I sick in the head?!" the old man frowned and replied. "I don't even know who's stealing the dog food. If I went over and ran into them, could I, an old man, handle them?"

Old Yang pondered for a while, looked back at the third floor where Tang Baiqing had killed someone, and suddenly asked: "You think they're by the sea?"

"Yes, that's the only place with no people. All other places are waste collection points with night watchmen," the old man nodded.

"Can you lead us over to take a look?" Tang Baiqing asked.

"I won't go, you go yourselves," the old man waved his hand. "What if there really is someone and they want revenge on me?"

"Over there?" Old Yang pointed toward the sea and asked.

"Yes!" the old man nodded.

"Let's go take a look," Old Yang immediately ordered.

......

Late at night, Old Yang, Tang Baiqing, and the other three followed the direction the old man had pointed, walking less than two kilometers before reaching the garbage storage point by the sea.

This garbage storage point contained non-hazardous household waste used for coastal land reclamation projects. It was also connected to the Su family, because sanitation waste would be transported here by workers after being sorted.

The storage point covered a large area and had a strong stench. After sneaking over, Old Yang and his group intentionally hid beside a pile of garbage.

"You don't need to follow anymore. We'll just sweep through quickly," Old Yang drew his service weapon and instructed Tang Baiqing in a low voice.

"Alright," Tang Baiqing nodded.

"Call the bureau, have Er Yang on duty bring people over," Old Yang then instructed his colleague. "Check your guns, be careful."

"This isn't even certain yet, do we need to notify Er Yang?" the police officer beside him frowned and asked.

"No, what the old man said makes sense. I feel we've really found a lead," Old Yang replied entirely based on experience and intuition. "Be careful. If we discover anything unusual, don't move first. Wait for people to arrive. That's more stable."

"Okay."

The officers following Old Yang were all veterans. After briefly discussing, they immediately spread out and entered the waste area. Tang Baiqing, who couldn't be of much help, stayed on the perimeter to wait.

If normal people were searching such a large waste area, it would probably take three hours to complete. But Old Yang's group was different. They were all criminal police officers with many years of experience. Their character might not be great, but their professionalism was quite strong.

After entering the waste area, Old Yang's group only roughly scanned the surrounding environment and could roughly judge which places were suitable for hiding, which were convenient for suspect activity, and which had complex terrain favorable for escape.

The four veteran officers maintained visual distance and searched for about twenty minutes before one officer suddenly walked over to Old Yang and said in a low voice: "Brother Yang, over here."

Old Yang and the others moved over at his call. The officer pointed to a row of huge hollow cement pipes not far away and said: "There are lots of footprints in the wet soil over there."

The beach had a lot of wet and unstable sandy soil, so footprints would be particularly obvious. Old Yang bent down to look that way and immediately rushed over with his gun drawn.

The pile of cement pipes was about four meters high, and the hollow width of each pipe was about the same as a sewer entrance. These pipes were stacked together, looking like horizontally placed honeycomb briquettes.

After searching for about another minute, someone on the left suddenly called out: "Found something!"

Old Yang ran over at the call and looked up at the second layer of cement pipes to see a plastic bag inside, along with two old car mats placed side by side.

"This is it. The car mats are for sleeping - lying directly on the cement pipes would be too cold," the officer on the left immediately climbed up, reached in to lift the plastic bag, crouched and moved outside, examining it in the moonlight: "It's leftover food. Damn, he didn't take this away, he must be coming back."

Hearing this, Old Yang immediately whispered: "Quick, get out, hurry!"

The officer put the plastic bag back in its original position and crouched down to withdraw.

"Come on, let's squat nearby and wait for our people to arrive, wait for him to come back," Old Yang beckoned, backing away with his gun drawn.

The four immediately retreated, hiding on the side of a garbage pile, taking up positions where they could observe the cement pipe area.

"Urge them again, ask where the bureau people are," Old Yang ordered, his forehead sweating.

"Tap tap!"

Tang Baiqing came up from behind and asked in a low voice: "How is it?"

"Feel like we've got it," Old Yang replied softly. "Someone's definitely living here, very likely that kid."

"That's good, that's good," Tang Baiqing nodded repeatedly.

The officer beside Old Yang took out his phone and was about to call their colleague on duty at the Police Bureau when they suddenly heard light footsteps from the southern direction of the cement pipe pile.

"Don't move, don't move!" Old Yang pressed down on his wrist.

In the moonlight, the burly Daxiong walked quickly toward the cement pipe pile, carrying a white plastic bag. In the moonlight, they could vaguely see it contained two pieces of clothing.

"It's him, he's back!" Old Yang immediately recognized Daxiong and excitedly instructed: "Spread out, seal off the surroundings, wait for our people to arrive."

The three officers nodded, while Tang Baiqing eagerly said in a low voice: "Let's catch him now! Five people should be able to handle one person, no need to wait for the bureau, right?"

"Don't make noise. He's quite strong, and probably knows the surrounding terrain..."

Just as Old Yang was replying softly, Daxiong, who had already walked to near the cement pipes, suddenly stopped.

In the moonlight, Daxiong looked down at the messy footprints in the sandy ground and suddenly took a step back.

"Why did he stop?" Tang Baiqing was confused.

Daxiong stared at the ground for a while, then hesitantly took two steps forward and looked up into the cement pipe where he had been living.

The faint light shone into the cement pipe, and Daxiong saw lots of yellow sand and footprints at the pipe entrance.

"Whoosh!"

This time Daxiong didn't hesitate, he turned and walked away.

"Damn it!"

Old Yang suddenly sprang up: "This kid is quite sharp, he's figured it out. Catch him!"

The three officers immediately rushed out at his call, while Tang Baiqing looked around and grabbed a rusty shovel, following Old Yang as they charged forward.

Daxiong looked back over his shoulder and broke into a run.

"Shoot him, shoot him!" Tang Baiqing shouted viciously through gritted teeth.

"Bang!"

A gunshot rang out.