"Focus on driving!"
Scarface snapped. "Let’s unload this batch of goods first. We got lucky this time—snagged a clouded leopard, too. The buyer said they’ll add thirty percent to the price."
Hearing this, Baldy chuckled and was just about to speak...
"WEE-WOO—WEE-WOO—WEE-WOO—"
Suddenly, the sound of a police siren came from behind.
The expressions on both men’s faces changed at the same time.
Before they could say a word, flashing police lights appeared at the intersection ahead. Several traffic cops were setting up a roadblock, inspecting vehicles one by one.
"Damn it, how are they so fast?" Scarface’s face was ashen.
"Boss, what do we do?" Baldy panicked.
"Turn right! Get on the service road. I remember there’s an old alley over there we can cut through!" Scarface said quickly, his eyes scanning ahead as he pointed.
Baldy took one look and immediately yanked the steering wheel. The van forced its way into the right lane, ignoring the protesting honks from the cars behind it, and plunged into the mouth of a narrow alley.
The alley was old and the road was uneven. The van bumped along, scraping against the walls on both sides with a grating screech.
A few minutes later, it emerged from the other end of the alley and turned onto a relatively quiet side road.
"Damn..."
Scarface let out a sigh of relief. "I thought we’d been found out."
"Probably just a random spot check."
The burly baldy agreed.
Both of them relaxed, thinking they had shaken the police.
"WEE-WOO—WEE-WOO—WEE-WOO—"
The sirens blared again from behind.
And it sounded like more than one car!
"What the hell! How did they find us?"
The burly baldy looked in the rearview mirror in terror. Several police cars were bursting out of the alley, in hot pursuit!
The scarred man panicked too. He leaned out the window, looking left and right, trying to find another side street. But he didn’t notice—
High above, a Beaked Eagle shadowed their every move like a silent tracking beacon, exposing their location to the converging police cars below.
Qi Zai was now a Spirit Beast, its intelligence far surpassing that of an ordinary bird.
At first, it couldn’t be sure which vehicle was the target. But when this van suddenly made an illegal lane change at the police roadblock, darted into an alley, and then fled frantically from the pursuing sirens, it immediately locked onto the car that was clearly ’guilty as sin’!
And so, a peculiar chase began to unfold.
On the ground, the poachers’ van scurried through the streets and alleys of the Lantian District like a headless fly, trying to shake its pursuers.
High in the sky, Qi Zai circled steadily, keeping the van at the center of its vision.
The police perimeter adjusted and tightened, following Qi Zai’s "aerial guidance."
More and more police cars joined the blockade.
Patrol cars, traffic police motorcycles, and even vehicles from nearby police stations received the order, all converging on the airspace where the Beaked Eagle was circling.
On the streets, many pedestrians and drivers witnessed this bizarre scene.
A majestic Beaked Eagle was circling and gliding high above the city.
Below, piercing sirens wailed from all directions as police cars, like streams flowing into the sea, sped toward the same point.
"Look! What a huge hawk!"
"That’s no hawk, it’s clearly an eagle! How strange, what’s an eagle doing flying over the city?"
"So many police cars. What’s going on?"
"Are they chasing that van? Look, all the police cars are following the eagle’s direction!"
"..."
The crowd buzzed with discussion. Some pulled out their phones to film, while others pointed and gestured.
Inside the van, the burly baldy was sweating buckets, his hands trembling on the steering wheel.
"Boss... we can’t shake them! There are more and more cop cars! And that bird in the sky... has that bird been following us this whole time?!"
Scarface finally realized what the problem was.
He snapped his head up, looking at the sky through the windshield.
The Beaked Eagle was still there, and it even seemed to be flying a little lower. Its cold, golden eyes seemed to lock right onto them, even from a hundred meters up.
A chill shot up his spine to the crown of his head.
"It’s the bird... The bird is guiding the police!"
The scarred man’s voice trembled.
He finally understood why the police could stay on their tail so precisely, no matter which way they ran!
"Ram through it! Break out!" Scarface roared hysterically.
The burly baldy gritted his teeth and slammed on the gas. The van, like an untamed horse, charged toward an intersection up ahead, trying to force its way through the gap between two police cars that were converging!
However—
"SCREECH~!"
"BANG!!"
A police car from the side decisively accelerated and slammed viciously into the van’s rear flank.
At the same time, two police cars pulled sideways at the intersection ahead, completely blocking the way out.
From the left and right, more police cars closed in, sirens wailing and red and blue lights flashing.
A dozen police cars, at an ordinary city intersection, had the poachers’ van completely surrounded, forcing it to a dead stop.
"Occupants of the vehicle! Hands on your head, get out of the car!"
"Get out now!!"
The stern command, amplified by a loudspeaker, echoed over the intersection, drowning out the gradually subsiding sirens.
Dozens of officers, armed with guns or batons, took up strategic positions, their weapons and gazes all focused on the van.
The air seemed to freeze, with only the low hum of the engine and the occasional radio command breaking the silence.
Inside the van, it was dead silent.
In the driver’s seat, the burly baldy’s forehead was slick with cold sweat. His knuckles were white as he gripped the steering wheel, his hands trembling uncontrollably.
He swallowed hard and turned his head to look at the passenger seat.
"B-Boss... wh-what do we do?"
In the passenger seat, the scarred man’s face was ashen. A muscle in his cheek twitched, and his ferocious gaze was mixed with despair.
He stared intently at the surrounding police cars and the muzzles of their guns, then looked up again at the Beaked Eagle still circling at a low altitude. A bestial growl rumbled in his throat.