RPAGF Chapter 783 This is going to turn the world upside down!
Chapter 783 This is going to turn the world upside down!
Liu Shicai, bound and limp, struggled to move around on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed). The thick hemp rope made his arms red, but he dared not exert any force, afraid of touching his weak wife on the kang.
He slowly moved to the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), first gently touching his wife's hand with his bound hand. When he saw his wife slowly open her eyes, he carefully pressed his head against her lower abdomen.
The movements were so light, as if afraid of startling a butterfly. His cheek was pressed against the warm fabric of the clothes, and he could even vaguely feel a slight fetal movement.
Liu Shicai held his breath, taking a deep, greedy inhale. The faint smell of blood from his wife lingered in his nostrils, and his eyes instantly reddened: "Son... I'm sorry to you, and I'm sorry to your mother... But I will definitely save you! Remember, if anyone asks in the future, say that it was the People's Liberation Army that saved your life, that they didn't abandon you and your mother..."
His wife reached out her weak hand and gently touched his hair, tears streaming down her face.
With his wife's help, Liu Shicai struggled to sit up and took a deep breath, as if he had made the biggest decision of his life. His voice trembled slightly, but he spoke clearly, word by word: "I... I was a puppet soldier in my early years, a auxiliary soldier under the little devil. I didn't do anything heinous, but this identity has always been a thorn in my side. After liberation, I ran back to my hometown and happened to be there when Factory 615 was recruiting... When I filled out the form, I only wrote 'from a poor peasant family, loyal and honest.' The factory... the factory was short of people at that time, and they weren't checking too strictly... That's how I got in."
Originally... I thought this matter would remain buried in my heart..."
Everyone in the room was stunned by these words. No one had expected that the head of security at Factory 615 would have such a past.
Liu Shicai didn't dare to look up, and continued, "But... but just two years ago, when the factory received that top-secret 'Mission No. 100' from higher-ups, and was collecting gold from all over the country, an investigation team was sent down to investigate. I don't know how... how they found out about my shameful past..."
Liu Shicai's voice was filled with lingering fear, "The investigator Zhao who was in charge at the time... he... he didn't expose me on the spot, but instead approached me privately... hinting that I... should 'be pragmatic' and 'show some appreciation'..."
“I panicked! Sir, I was just an ordinary worker back then. Even though I served as a military assistant for a few years, I didn’t get any extra money! I… where was I supposed to get the money to ‘show my appreciation’?” He glanced instinctively at his weak wife on the kang (heated brick bed), his eyes filled with guilt and pain. “Later… later… it was my wife, she was in the electrometallurgical workshop, she felt sorry for me… so… so she secretly plucked… plucked some gold powder and slag from the production line, saved it up, and melted down a small piece. I… I gave it to Investigator Zhao…”
"I handed over the little bit of gold dust I had saved to Investigator Zhao. Later... later he indeed didn't cause me any more trouble. In fact... I was even promoted to a team leader in the workshop..."
At this point, Liu Shicai lowered his head even further: "I thought that was the end of it, but less than half a year later, Deputy Director Zhao came to me again. This time, he didn't want gold, but he wanted me to help him refine gold dust."
He brought me several bags of gold dust, asking me to mix it with the gold from the factory and refine it into gold ingots, then give them to him. Back then, the factory was very strict, and I was always on edge every time I refined it, afraid of being discovered. Moreover, the gold dust was of low purity, so the weight would be less after refining. To make up for this, I could only secretly skim some off from the refined gold at the factory…”
"And so... I worked on it with my heart pounding for a while. I realized... I realized that no one in the factory seemed to have noticed. My courage... just... just slowly grew! Just then... just then 'Mission Number 100' came, and the gold from the factory was piled up like a mountain, and I... I was bewitched... thinking... why not do a big heist... make as much as possible... and then... I'll quit..."
"Alright!" Jiang Xia interrupted his long-winded narration about how he embezzled gold from the factory. He was now more concerned about the whereabouts of the geological team. "You can talk about your petty thievery later! Focus on Heixiazi Gully! Geological team! What do you even know?!"
Startled by Jiang Xia's shout, Liu Shicai trembled and hurriedly nodded, "Yes, yes, yes... Heixiazigou... I... the reason I know a little is because... after the geological team went missing last year, the higher-ups organized several search and rescue operations... I... I was also a member of the search and rescue team..."
These words made the old geologist's eyes widen in surprise.
The old man suddenly straightened his back, his breathing becoming rapid, and his cloudy eyes fixed on Liu Shicai: "You went? What did you see! Did you find my student!"
Liu Shicai avoided Li Lao's gaze fearfully, his voice even lower: "No...we didn't see...our...our search team, actually...actually, didn't even go to Heixiazi Gully, where the exploration team went missing, to look for people..."
The old geologist slapped his thigh: "So that's it! No wonder! No wonder we couldn't find even a scrap of clothing during the three large-scale search and rescue operations! Someone deliberately pointed us in the wrong direction! Bastard! Bastard!" The old man trembled with anger.
"No! Three times! You went to the wrong place every time?" The old geologist's trembling hand pulled out a record. The record book had rough, curled edges, indicating that it had been frequently read.
"The last time, didn't the document say that we would go together with the rest of the team? I don't believe they would lie!"
The elderly geologist slapped his notebook in front of Liu Shicai.
Liu Shicai swallowed hard, his throat dry and bitter.
"The last time we went was to Heixiazi Gully. Although it's called that on the map, it's actually two forked gullies separated by a ridge. The gully to the north is the main gully, which is the 'missing coordinates' written on the document; the gully to the south is the secondary gully, less than three miles from the main gully in a straight line, but it requires a mountain path and takes a whole day to get around. The villager who led the search team was actually one of Liu Daba's men."
┻━┻︵╰(‵□′)╯︵ ┻━┻, the room was filled with the sounds of gun bolts being pulled back, even the usually composed Sergeant Cheng pulled out his Type 54 pistol and aimed it at Liu Daba La in the corner…
It took a long time for everyone to calm down again.
Chief Guard Cheng's gaze was sharp as a knife as he pressed, "How did you determine that you went to the wrong place for such a secret matter? And how did you know the real location?"
Liu Shicai glanced fearfully at Chief Guard Cheng, then pointed to Liu the Scarface in the corner: "It was...it was him...Later, Deputy Director Zhao asked me to help him smelt gold dust, and every time...every time it was this Liu the Scarface who secretly delivered it...After getting to know him better, one time he got drunk and started bragging..."
Liu Shicai imitated Liu Daba's smug yet dissatisfied tone:
"He...he said...'A few bespectacled idiots, carrying instruments, roamed the mountains and fields looking for mineral veins for us, working themselves to the bone, and in the end, it's all ours! We can just sit back and enjoy the fruits of their labor, digging up ready-made deposits! It's just that those corrupt officials up there are too greedy, taking too much for themselves! I'm really unhappy about it!'"
After Liu Shicai finished speaking, a look of lingering fear appeared on his face: "When I heard that... I immediately thought of that missing exploration team... I guess... I guess Deputy Director Zhao and the others, maybe... maybe they kept the news that the exploration team had found a mineral vein a secret, or even... maybe they even detained the people... just so they could secretly dig for gold themselves... So... that's why I said that just now..."
"Sir, your student might... might still be alive! Maybe they're keeping him/her somewhere..."
All eyes suddenly focused on Liu Daba, who was "unconscious" in the corner, and gun barrels slashed towards him again.
"Squeak..."
The door opened, and everyone glared angrily at Old Wang, who had just entered carrying a radio.
Old Wang was startled: "Hey, what's wrong with you guys?"
"cut……"
Everyone turned their heads again.
"Hey, what kind of attitude is this! They just kicked me out of the car, and now I'm getting this dirty look. Hey! Let me tell you, it's confirmed. They just called back from the rear. Guess who was in charge of those three search and rescue operations?"
Everyone remained silent, staring intently at Old Wang.
Old Wang broke out in a cold sweat and could only cough dryly: "Alright, alright. It's that Chief Commander Zhang from Dongfeng 113! Ha, I knew something was fishy. Luckily we acted in advance and surrounded them!"
Damn, now that you put it that way, the whole thing makes sense!
I originally thought these people were just using the Dongfeng 113 project to live off the government's money, but I never expected they had such a big plan!
"Immediately send a detailed telegram to the rear regarding the latest situation, especially the situation involving Heixiazi Gully! Request reinforcements to be dispatched immediately to prepare for search and rescue operations in the mountains!"
"Liu Shicai! Can you lead the way?"
"I……"