So fast. At that moment, one of them spotted David Carter, his eyes clearly lighting up. He pulled a photo from his pocket. Without any further hesitation, David Carter turned around nonchalantly and walked out of the ticket hall before the man could shout. He took off his coat and tossed it aside, ignoring the surprised looks from people around him, and quickly disappeared into the crowd. Several people followed him out and stood at the entrance of the ticket hall, looking around for a while, but by then, not even a trace of David Carter could be seen. One of them immediately took out his phone and dialed a number. “Contact the Public Security Bureau and have them issue a nationwide wanted notice. The suspect David Carter is still in S City. Order all S City police officers to carry firearms and seal off all highways, bus stations, train stations, and airports leading in and out of S City. Search all hotels, entertainment venues, and saunas. Attention, the suspect we’re dealing with is a retired soldier, trained in special operations, highly skilled in military tactics, with extremely strong counter-surveillance abilities, and is ruthless. He is likely armed and is an extremely dangerous individual. I advise officers to open fire and kill on sight once his identity is confirmed—do not hesitate for even a second…”

……

Someone had betrayed him. The slightly slick face of Brian Foster appeared in David Carter’s mind. He didn’t feel much anger at being betrayed; he had never trusted that kid from the capital anyway, so it didn’t matter whether he was betrayed or not. Maybe the guy thought turning him in would be a great achievement? A cold sneer appeared on David Carter’s lips.

……

He dialed a number. “Hello, I’m looking for Deputy Chief of Staff Deputy Chief Foster at the military district headquarters. Tell him my surname is Zhao, his old comrade—he’ll know who I am.”

Not long after, Brian Foster’s voice came through, though he kept it very low. “Rocky, is that you?”

“It’s me.”

“Damn, do you know what a mess you’ve made? The military district just issued an order—the special forces team is on standby 24/7, all because of you. You’re really something. Honestly, only the two Wangs and Tan Chenglin from back in the day could compare to you…

Brother, where are you now? Captain is right here with me. Even if I didn’t care about our old friendship, for Captain’s sake, I’d have to help you out…” He had just said this when the call was abruptly cut off.

David Carter closed his eyes. Though he was cold-blooded and ruthless, at this moment he couldn’t help but feel a pang in his heart. Captain, such a deep bond of brotherhood. Of all Brian Foster’s words, he only believed one thing: that Captain was right beside him. That kid Brian Foster was still too green—back in the army, he was always careless and never really learned anything. He couldn’t even get a few words out before asking where David Carter was, as naively as a fool in a cop movie. You could just imagine Captain immediately realizing something was wrong and hanging up the phone, or else who knows what information might have been leaked to David Carter.

The Northern S Military District was in the northwest of S City. David Carter could imagine how many people were waiting for him there. Betrayal always makes people lose their minds, and soldiers always answer betrayal and treachery with blood. Plus, he had already given them a hint before: I’ll come for you one by one. That’s probably what they were thinking, right?

A deeply mocking smile appeared on David Carter’s face, but the last bit of warmth in his heart was completely severed. From now on, David Carter had nothing left to tie him down—he was utterly alone.

He waved down a taxi. “Yin-Yang Mountain.” He handed over three hundred-yuan bills. The driver didn’t say a word, immediately started the car, and headed toward Yin-Yang Mountain in the southeast of S City.

Yin-Yang Mountain, also known as Ghost Mountain, isn’t very high—just a few hundred meters. But according to old legends, this mountain connects the worlds of the living and the dead: one half in the mortal world, the other half sunk into the underworld. Many ghost stories circulate among the locals. It’s said that before liberation, a battalion of Japanese artillery troops was once stationed in the mountain, but one night there was a huge thunderstorm, and fewer than ten Japanese soldiers managed to escape. The superstitious locals all said the Japanese had been struck down by divine retribution and sent to the eighteenth level of hell.

After liberation, a few archaeological or scientific teams came here, but found nothing unusual, so no one came again. Then came the era of mass production, the Great Leap Forward, and the ten years of the Cultural Revolution, with slogans like “Better socialist grass than capitalist seedlings” and “Surpass Britain and catch up with America.” Other places suffered, and the mountains were stripped bare, but no Red Guard dared touch a single blade of grass or tree on Yin-Yang Mountain. First, the elders stopped them; second, people really did go missing in the mountain from time to time. So to this day, Yin-Yang Mountain is lush with vegetation, many rare species have survived, and it even has a nationally protected primeval forest.

David Carter was planning to cross Yin-Yang Mountain and head to the southeast coast, a place teeming with all sorts of people—a perfect place to hide. If that didn’t work, he could always sneak out of the country, which would be easy enough.