I thanked them and the others remained in the technical department while I went to the interrogation room alone. Xiao Yuande, who was with Liu Yuning during the interrogation, knew I had arrived and temporarily excused himself.
I sat next to Liu Yuning. Facing Nian Hanmo, he said, "Officers, I'm really not lying, you just can't find it. How could a shrewd person like Pierce only have one hideout? You know he's an old fox."
Nian Hanmo no longer called Pierce "master." I could tell he had given up on the gang and was cooperating with us. I whispered a few words to Liu Yuning. She told me some of what had been interrogated, and I reviewed the confession. I then looked up and said, "Nian Hanmo, do you know the location of the air-raid shelter? Even if his people aren't there, we can go take a look, right?"
"You haven't found it? It's in the gaps of that banyan tree. Cut it open and you'll find the entrance."
"What? Why didn't you say so earlier?" I had noticed something strange about that banyan tree before, but I never would have thought the entrance was there.
Nian Hanmo waved his hands, causing his handcuffs to clink. He gave a bitter smile, "It's my fault for not telling you earlier. I'm sorry!"
"Do you know what? He Zhiming is missing again!" I cursed.
"That's not my responsibility. It's your own fault for not being careful!"
I didn't want to argue with Nian Hanmo anymore. After leaving the interrogation room, I set off for the mountain village for the third time. I was actually furious. After several attempts, if I didn't find it this time, I would definitely teach Nian Hanmo a lesson when I got back, even if it meant quitting the police force.
Of course, I was just thinking about it. When we returned to the banyan tree, Gao Mingqiang brought a chainsaw and cut through the tree. Beneath the soil, we indeed found an entrance. It was covered with dirt, but the outline of an iron door was still faintly visible.
But how had they gotten in before? The tree didn't look like it had been chopped. The few of us pried open the iron door with force, revealing a staircase below. Xiao Yuande, holding a flashlight, went down first to clear the way for us.
Then came Liu Yuning and I, followed by Gao Mingqiang, Xiahou, and the others. We all held our guns, as Pierce might still be below. We had blamed Nian Hanmo without cause.
After walking for a while, we stepped on something on the ground. It made a crunching sound. When the flashlight beam hit it, we saw that the ground was covered with metal bars. I had initially thought it was human bones or something.
After descending, we indeed found a deep, quite spacious passage. Rooms were densely distributed on both sides. This was indeed an air-raid shelter. Not far away, we could smell canned food. In some rooms, before the walls, we saw many wooden barrels piled together, as well as boxes of mineral water.
Judging by the surrounding signs, people had lived here recently. We split into groups, holding our guns and searching each room. Some rooms were locked, but Xiao Yuande yanked them all open. No one was found in any of them. After passing through many rooms, we reached the end of the air-raid shelter and found a large secret room. I thought this must be the secret room Nian Hanmo had mentioned.
The room was empty, with walls all around. We shone our flashlights everywhere, noticing many mixed shoe prints on the ground, making it impossible to distinguish whose they were. Just as we were intently searching, we suddenly heard a movement from above, a rustling sound, as if some soil was being loosened overhead.
We simultaneously aimed our guns upwards. Unexpectedly, a piece of soil in the middle fell with a crash, revealing a familiar figure above!
My uncle!
I had initially thought it was Du Yuting or Pierce, but it was him. However, he seemed changed. His complexion was strange, his pupils dilated, his teeth slightly bared, and he let out a cold chuckle, "You still haven't found them?"
"Uncle! What are you doing?" I felt that my uncle was very abnormal at that moment!
"I'm not doing anything. I'm here to bury you!" As he spoke, my uncle poured mud and sand into a huge opening. He was holding an iron shovel, scooping up the mud and sand from the side!
"He Zhiming, are you crazy? Do you know what you're doing?" Liu Yuning cursed.
"I know. I want to bury all of you so you won't look for them anymore. I can't let you find them!"
"Why?" I asked, surprised.
"It's nothing. It's an order. Alright! Go to hell!"
Liu Yuning was about to curse again, but I stopped her. I said to her, "Uncle is not acting right. We shouldn't stay here. Let's find a way out from somewhere else!"
"That's right, I can see it too. His eyes are very strange," Xiao Yuande said.
We immediately turned and ran. The next second, a lot of dirt fell behind us. Fortunately, we ran fast, or we would have been buried by the mud and sand by now. My uncle had truly gone mad, trying to kill us.
We ran desperately, retracing our steps through the passage. We planned to climb up the stairs from before. But after only a few steps, we felt mud and sand falling from above. At the same time, an extremely cold and eerie laughter echoed, "I knew you would try to escape from here. Haha, I'm sorry, your way out is blocked!"
It was my uncle's voice again. After his voice faded, the stairs above were quickly sealed off, making it impossible to proceed. Gao Mingqiang immediately panicked, "What do we do? Are we really going to be buried alive forever in this air-raid shelter?"
"Calm down. Now we can only try to find another way out!"
"Will there be one here?" everyone wondered. Actually, I wasn't sure either, but I knew we couldn't stay here any longer, as the mud and sand on the stairs were accumulating more and more.
I led everyone back near the room where supplies were stored. As soon as we steadied ourselves, my uncle's strange shouts came from above again, "I found you again! Let me open a hole for you! Hahaha!"
Immediately, another opening appeared above us, but it was quickly covered by mud and sand. Countless amounts of mud and sand rained down on us. Gao Mingqiang immediately yelled, "Move!"
We continued to walk. The mud and sand behind us collapsed with a rumble, as if an ancient tomb was about to collapse. My uncle's footsteps could be heard constantly above us. He seemed to be chasing us.
"Let me tell you, the structure of this air-raid shelter is very fragile. If I dig out most of it, it might collapse! Hahaha! You can just wait to be buried in the deep basement! No one will ever find you!"