Capítulo 5: Hunting with Clairvoyance
Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Xia Ping'an followed Mo Yanshao downstairs and came to the field of the neighborhood. Up until this moment, only did he realize that on the field, two Black Hawks, painted in gray and green, were parked there. The logos of the National Order Council were emblazoned on the helicopters.
A few squad members of the Special Forces Unit, dressed in black combat uniforms, were standing beside the helicopters with their guns.
Luckily, there weren't many people in the neighborhood now. Therefore, the Black Hawks did not cause too much of a commotion. Only a group of uncles, aunties, and housewives gathered around and looked at the helicopters curiously. They were whispering among themselves, pointing at the helicopters.
The security guards of the neighborhood also stood around to maintain order.
The dimensional invasion which occurred yesterday was still fresh in everyone's mind. Therefore, everyone speculated that the arrival of these two helicopters was related to the incident yesterday.
Under the watchful gazes of the crowd, Xia Ping'an, who was still wearing sportswear, followed Mo Yanshao and quickly arrived in front of one of the Black Hawks.
Nine people were seated in the helicopter. Seven of them were members of the Special Forces Unit, and they were fully dressed in combat uniforms. There was also a brawny bald guy and a pretty lady with a cold temperament.
The bald guy was as well-built as a bull. The muscles on his body were bulging like rocks on a hill. Beside him was a meter-long, broad machete that looked like a fodder chopper.
The short-haired beauty appeared to be in her 20s. She had short black hair and fiery red lips. Her leather outfit perfectly accentuated her hourglass figure. A gun and a dagger could be seen in the pockets on each of her thighs. One could tell from a glance that she was not to be trifled with. She was a thorny rose.
She was focused on operating a tactical computer in front of her. Her fingers were typing on the keyboard at an astonishing speed. Different maps kept switching on her screen.
"Big Tu, this is Xia Ping'an. I'll leave him to you," Mo Yanshao said to the brawny guy. Then, he looked at Xia Ping'an and said, "You will follow them."
Xia Ping'an nodded. He nimbly got onto the helicopter and sat beside the brawny guy. Mo Yanshao ran towards the other helicopter.
"Not bad, kid. You have clairvoyance, and yet, you have kept it hidden for so long." As soon as Xia Ping'an was seated in the helicopter, the bald brawny guy grinned at him, revealing his mouth full of metallic teeth. His look was daunting. He passed a pair of noise-canceling headphones to Xia Ping'an.
Xia Ping'an took the headphones and wore them. The helicopter shut its door, and the rotor blades spun frenziedly, emitting a loud noise. Everything on the field was blasted away by the strong wind. The onlookers all ran away in a hurry.
The helicopter rose into the air swiftly. The other helicopter also followed suit. Then, the two helicopters parted ways in midair and flew towards two different directions.
The neighborhood slowly turned into a speck and disappeared in sight. Beneath their feet, the buildings and the cars in the city could be briefly seen before they hurried past.
After flying for a few kilometers, another Black Hawk with grayish-green painting rendezvoused with them in midair and it followed behind them.
This lineup put Xia Ping'an at ease.
"Go to where you last discovered the tracks of the two escaped demonic rats first." Seeing that the helicopter was gradually making its way to the outskirts, Xia Ping'an did not act courteous and went straight to the point. "Also, please show me the recordings of the two demonic rats," he told Big Tu. I need to verify what they look like."
"No problem," Big Tu said right away. Then, he ordered the short-haired beauty, "Lingshan, please show him the recordings."
The short-haired beauty did not say anything. She clicked on something on the tactical computer and turned the screen towards Xia Ping'an.
The first recording Xia Ping'an saw was the footage captured by a commando yesterday using the camera placed on his helmet.
The background of the recording was green in color, which meant the recording was captured with a night vision camera. The commando unit followed the bloodstain on the floor and entered a logistic park located in the outskirts of the city. They discovered the bodies of two dead workers on the ground. The bodies were badly bitten. The image shook, and the next moment, a few squad members entered into one of the warehouses. They conducted a search in it.
One of them said, "We discovered the dead bodies of two victims. Squad Seven, enter the warehouse. Turn on your infrared camera. The targets might be still around."
A few seconds later, the infrared camera captured a moving source of heat. The squad closed in on the source quickly. Then, intense gunshots could be heard. From the recording, Xia Ping'an could see that the demonic rats suddenly popped up from behind a bunch of wooden crates. Amid a shower of bullets, the demonic rats dashed forward and pounced on two of the commandos. One of the demonic rats slit the throat of a squad member with its sharp claws. After that, the demonic rats quickly escaped.
The second recording was captured from a bird's-eye view. It was most likely captured by a drone.
It was dawn. The two demonic rats had escaped out of the city and were dashing frenziedly in the woods along the river outside of the city. The recording captured by the drone was only five seconds long. One of the demonic rats even paused, raised its head, and looked up at the drone. Then, before the drone could launch an attack, the two demonic rats had jumped into the river, disappearing without a trace.
The third recording took place in the wild. The sky was bright, and the drone captured the two demonic rats reaching the shore. Then, they fled into a vast area of reeds in the swamp and vanished.
"That's enough." Xia Ping'an nodded his head. He had memorized the appearance of the two demonic rats. He then fell silent.
...
Half an hour later, the two Black Hawks arrived at the location where the two demonic rats were last spotted—the swamp area 160 kilometers northwest of Xianghe City. This swamp was more than 20 square kilometers wide. In the distance, all they could see was an endless mountain range. Their current location was very close to the national park of Yizhou Province.
When they looked down from the helicopters, they noticed that most of the swamp was covered by the shade of reeds and weeds. The geography of the surrounding mountain range was also quite complicated. The rivers crisscrossed across the valley. There were also waterfalls and a large wayward pine forest. It would be hard for them to locate their targets.
The helicopters hovered above the swamp. The bald guy looked at Xia Ping'an and asked, "Can you locate the whereabouts of the two demonic rats?"
Xia Ping'an shut his eyes and focused his attention on recalling the looks of the two demonic rats which he had seen just now.
A few seconds later, an image popped up in Xia Ping'an's mind:
The two demonic rats were situated in an underground hole, not moving an inch. Zooming out, Xia Ping'an saw the wayward pine forest above the hole where the demonic rats were hiding. Nearby, there was a steaming thermal hot spring, two bald peaks, and a large grassland. The surrounding was becoming clearer in his mind.
"The two demonic rats have left this swamp and have entered into the mountain range." Xia Ping'an opened his eyes and pointed in one direction. "They are roughly 80 kilometers away from here, in the wayward pine forest."
"Can you label their whereabouts on the digital map?" the bald guy inquired.
"Yes, I can." Xia Ping'an nodded and took the digital map from the bald guy. After scanning through the map, he drew a circle on the map, saying, "They're roughly here."
The bald guy patted the pilot on the shoulder and made a gesture. The two Black Hawks immediately flew over towards the direction that Xia Ping'an had pointed them to.
"The drones can pass over the target area to monitor and search for the targets," the short-haired beauty said. She had finally spoken. Her fingers were deftly typing away on the keyboard.
Not long after, Xia Ping'an saw the video feed sent from the high-altitude drones appear on the display of the short-haired beauty's computer. The drones were swiftly approaching the area that he had marked on the digital map.
Before the helicopters had made their way over, the drones had already reached the area. They were wandering over a large area of wayward pine forest, sweeping the area using thermal imagery scanning systems and detecting movements on the ground. This area of wayward pine forest was more than 60 square kilometers large. It spanned across a valley and the mountain slopes.
The elk, bison, and pronghorn in the forest and valley were constantly being picked up by the drones' thermal scanners. However, there were no signs of the two demonic rats.
"These two demonic rats are very cunning. They had burrowed underground and cannot be picked up by the thermal scanners!" Xia Ping'an exclaimed.
The bald guy licked his lips and looked at Xia Ping'an. He asked, "Can you pinpoint the hiding place of the two demonic rats further?"
"I am sorry. Other people's clairvoyance might be able to more precisely locate them, but I don't have the ability to do so yet. I can only narrow it down to a rough area," Xia Ping'an apologized as he shook his head.
...
More than 10 minutes later, two Black Hawks reached the outskirts of the wayward pine forest. The two helicopters lowered their ropes and then the members of the special force grappled down one by one rapidly. They then began searching the area carefully.
"You just stay on the helicopter. If you discover anything, let us know ASAP," the bald guy instructed as he took up his knife that was as big as a fodder cutter. After telling Xia Ping'an this, he leaped off the helicopter and down the rope like a ferocious tiger.
The short-haired beauty also kept away her tactical computer and stuffed it into a tactical bag on the helicopter. She then grabbed the shotgun next to her and then followed the bald guy, leaping off the helicopter.
The two Black Hawks then moved away, flying towards an open field more than 20 kilometers away before landing.
A Black Hawk could stay in the air for more than six hours per mission. Due to the fact they were uncertain on how much time the pursuit team would need to search the wayward pine forest, the helicopters had to land first. They would not waste their time meaninglessly in the air. As for aerial attacks and surveillance missions, they would be covered by the drones which had greater air time.
When the helicopter landed, Xia Ping'an got off and went to pee in the nearby shrubbery.
As he looked around at the beautiful scenery in the valley around him, a sense of surreality welled up again in Xia Ping'an, causing him to enter into a trance.
This should be the boundary of Yellowstone National Park. In his previous life, he had come here before when he came to North America to study the mountain topography as recorded in the Classic of the Mountains: East, a chapter from The Classic of Mountains and Seas. The entrance fee was calculated according to the number of vehicles. Each vehicle had to pay around 25 USD.
However, right now, this place was the 5A Grade National Park of Yizhou Province, Great Flame Republic. There was no entrance fee required.
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