Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
As the other side appeared in his field of vision, Big Markelov watched through the binoculars and saw the group. He saw how Li Du and the two elite soldiers went into the woods.
Through the lens, he could see the figures of three people, who seemed to be drinking coffee and chatting in the woods. He saw the figure of Li Du coming out to take the coffee.
However, the ones who mattered most were the two elite soldiers. He could see the figures of those two moving and would occasionally catch a glimpse of their coats. He could not discern the exact situation.
Discreetly, he sent a signal to his brother over the radio transmitter.
He sent out the signal three times, but there was no reply. Following this, he left secretly without any hesitation.
Li Du knew the hiding place of the older Markelov. He used the space-time bugs all the way, which had spent a lot of energy and was very tiring.
He had told Brother Wolf and Firecracker about the hiding place, but when they went to raid it, no one was there.
Li Du had consumed a lot of energy, but he still released the space-time bug to search again. Sure enough, even when the space-time bug searched with the utmost speed in the front of the cave, he did not find Big Markelov. There were only some traces of someone being there not long before.
Looking at this, Li Du picked up his coat and his knapsack, and making his way out of the hole, he said, “F**k, this bastard ran away and left his brother behind! He’s such a coward!”
Brother Wolf said, “He noticed something. We missed out on a lot of details.”
This was inevitable, Li Du guessed. He came back to his senses quickly and said, “Chase him! Lu Guan, Driver, take this silly bird and hide. Brother Wolf, Firecracker, Godzilla, let’s get on Markelov’s trail!”
Ah Bai jumped off Li Du’s back and was able to run on all fours, but it was still limping a little on its hind legs. It squeaked and jumped eagerly on Ah Ow’s back.
Ah Ow was stunned. While she knew Ah Bai was eager to join in the action, she did not expect the little insolent monkey to climb on her back and expect her to take care of the extra burden!
Li Du knew he must deal with Big Markelov, or he would have no peace for his whole life. The older Markelov would never forgive him for capturing his younger brother. If he didn’t catch them both now, payback time would surely come later.
At this time, he was certain Markelov couldn’t have run very far. Li Du let Ah Ow and Ah Meow sniff at the younger Markelov’s scent: the two brothers were together every day, so their scent should be almost the same.
After Ah Ow and Ah Meow smelled it, they immediately ran to the forest. Brother Wolf followed the route, while he and Firecracker looked for the tracks of Markelov leaving.
Although Big Markelov received good training on escape tactics, he was only human. He had no time or energy to conceal his traces while escaping. At most, he would attempt to minimize the tracks he left behind.
However, Brother Wolf and Firecracker were more capable than him. The traces he left could not escape their eyes and a thrilling chase began.
Brother Wolf said, “Boss, you had better stay back because you are tired. We can take care of this.”
Li Du said, “I am fine!”
Big Markelov was not easy to deal with. If he was desperate, he would fight to the death. In that case, Brother Wolf and the others may be in danger.
Li Du had the space-time bug check out the situation. He could give early warning and control the overall situation so that his men could deal with Big Markelov better.
Meanwhile, Ah Ow and Ah Meow had the advantage of moving more easily across the terrain and always led the way.
Big Markelov was in bad condition. He knew how bad his situation was. He was desperately running away, doing his best to escape. Li Du and the others chased him for more than an hour and did not catch up with him.
Li Du was exhausted and had to rest for a while, but with Ah Meow and Ah Ow tracking his scent, big Markov could not escape.
After having a rest, he took out the glucose drink that he prepared in advance to recover his strength quickly and then went on the chase again.
Ah Ow sniffed through the pinewood forest, chased along a downhill all the way, and finally stopped after a few hundred meters.
Li Du was nervous. He let out the space-time bug to check out the terrain. At this time, Brother Wolf followed, looked around, and said, “This clever bastard fooled us!”
Saying that, he picked up a boulder wrapped in a torn old T-shirt.
Big Markelov had been there before, and he knew that the other party would follow his scent through the animals, so he wrapped his clothes around the stone and rolled it down the hill to lead them down the wrong track.
When Ah Ow and Ah Meow sniffed at the boulder, they knew something was wrong. They tried to twitch their noses, looking for the tracks again.
The smell stops here? Li Du was surprised. “How did he do it?”
Brother Wolf calmly said, “Either he has some substance that would interfere with his scent, or he used the natural environment to conceal it. I am guessing the latter, or he would not have bothered with this trick.”
“Firecracker, look for a river. There must be a river or stream here, and he could wade through to throw us off track.”
As they had limited time, Li Du released the space-time bug, searched around and found a stream 200 meters above.
They took Ah Meow and Ah Ow to the river, and sure enough, when they got there, Ah Meow and Ah Ow were excited again and found fresh blood on a pebble.
Brother Wolf said, “He was injured, so he used strips of his T-shirt to bind up his wound, and the rest to fool us. Chase along the river, he can’t run far!”
Big Markelov was very unlucky. Li Du did not only have Ah Meow and Ah Ow who had a keen sense of smell but also experienced, highly skilled soldiers from the German elite troops.
As they ran down the riverbank, they heard a shot, which, needless to say, was fired by Big Markelov.
A little further downstream, there was more blood on the bank of the river, a trail that continued intermittently into the nearby forest.
Brother Wolf sneered. “This is deer blood. He shot a deer and is its blood to disturb us!”
Ah Meow and Ah Ow came to a similar conclusion. Instead of looking at the fresh blood on the ground, they looked in the opposite direction, sniffed and followed some invisible route.
Li Du looked carefully at the ground. From time to time, there was dark and fresh blood, which obviously indicated Markelov’s real escape route.
