Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Brother Wolf stopped them. Li Du said, “Why? It must have been the bastard who passed here and ran away into the woods.”
“No,” Brother Wolf shook his head. He walked forward a few steps and squatted down. Li Du approached and saw some fresh traces of deer dung. A deer must have passed by this place, and some of the excrement was taken away.
Brother Wolf looked at the deer dung, followed Ah Ow and Ah Meow into the woods and looked, and then came back into the stream to look again.
After some observation, he motioned for Ah Ow and Ah Meow to smell the dung and said, “He is a master, but he has gone astray. There!”
Li Du asked, “What happened? Did he run along the stream?”
Brother Wolf replied, “He has set two lines here. One is the white-tailed deer which is wounded and bleeding, and the other is from an animal he had caught. He must have tied his clothes over it. That’s the smell that Ah Meow and Ah Ow sensed. However, he also found a piece of deer dung, spread it on himself and continued down the stream.”
Li Du was shocked. He said, “How did he do all this in such a short time? And how did he catch an animal that agreed to have his clothes tied over it?”
Brother Wolf said, “He used a shotgun. One animal ran off, leaving a bloody trail, and another animal got hurt and was unable to escape, so he caught it.”
“Then he bandaged the animal’s wound with his clothes and let it go. The animal struggled to escape, and the blood came from the wound through the clothes.”
“There was a problem. More and more blood seeped through. I saw it in the woods, the blood was more and more visible from the stream to the trees.
“And boss, look at the river stones and the grass growing by the bank. It’s obvious that they have been trampled down, and some stones were kicked over. You can see these traces, can’t you?”
Li Du looked at the stones in the river. Because of the water and the sun, the stones above and below were of different colors. The top was whiter and smoother because of the sun and the friction from the flow of the stream. They were darker below because that part was deep in the mud.
Indeed, as they went down, they could find some stones upside down in the water.
This made Li Du greatly admire Brother Wolf. German Special Forces are extraordinary!
However, the Ukrainian soldiers were excellent as well. They ran after Markelov for two or three hours, until it was almost evening, and they were not able to get him.
They followed in the right direction. There were traces of deer dung on the road behind them. Ah Meow and Ah Ow successfully tracked Big Markelov’s scent.
Only experts could know how hard it was to do all this. Firecracker exclaimed, “This fellow is not sure we are chasing him, but he runs for his life without stopping. His desire for survival and careful thought are amazing.”
Brother Wolf said, “His endurance and willpower are more amazing. He has almost collapsed, but like a true elite soldier, he won’t give up!”
Li Du could hear the admiration in Brother Wolf’s tone. He went after him and considered the situation. Then he said, “Actually, Markelov is not really our enemy. I am considering to recruit him as one of my men.”
Brother Wolf flatly shook his head. “No, they are murderers…”
“No, the police said that they did not kill people. They have deserted the Ukrainian army, and they used to have access to lots of confidential information. That’s why Ukraine put forward the diplomatic request to catch them.”
Brother Wolf said, “Then they are more dangerous.”
Li Du smiled and said, “As long as we don’t go to Ukraine, we can find a way to clear up the identity of these two brothers. And even if the Ukrainians find out that I hired them, they wouldn’t act against a private citizen.”
Brother Wolf breathed heavily and said, “Either way, before you hire him, we must catch him first!”
It was evening and the sun was setting.
The chase had been going on for five hours, and Li Du was so exhausted that he would have fallen to the ground if not for his willpower and glucose solution.
Big Markelov was in a worse condition. He could not run anymore, and the distance between the two sides was closing. Li Du saw him with the help of the space-time bugs.
The fellow was now very discomfited, almost naked, with dried deer droppings hanging on his beard and body, and he was walking in the cold stream. He could not run anymore.
The stream entered a large cave, into which Big Markelov retreated as well. He did not run, but hid, and raised his shotgun with trembling hands.
Li Du was relieved. This fella finally stopped running!
When he stopped, his heart was beating faster, his lungs were hurting, and his throat was burning. He wanted to spit, but there was no saliva. His mouth was dry.
Ah Ow and Ah Meow wanted to go into the hole. Li Du stopped them, breathing heavily, and said, “Stay here. Don’t go in, it’s too dangerous.”
Brother Wolf nodded, “Right, he can’t have the strength to run away, so he will set up an ambush here, and I think he wants to estimate how likely it is that we will keep pursuing him. If we hang around long enough, he will come out sooner or later.”
Firecracker cautiously asked, “What if he does not come out, but escapes from another cave opening?”
Brother Wolf said, “This cave should have no other exit, or the stream wouldn’t stop flowing when it reaches here. We know it flows below into the underground reservoir.”
In the evening, the mountain wind grew stronger.
Li Du looked at the direction of the mountain wind and smiled. He took out a big bag of sleeping powder and said, “Let’s go to the mouth of the cave and scatter this stuff. It’s enough to make an elephant keel over.”
The mountain wind blew right into the cave.
Brother Wolf’s eyes lit up. “Boss, you took this along? Well, leave it to me!”
The rest of the matter was simple. Brother Wolf spread the powder at the mouth of the cave, and after a few minutes, he was ready to go in to explore. Li Du stopped him, and then told Ah Bai a few words and let the monkey climb in from the top of the cave.
A few gunshots were then heard. Li Du and the others got nervous. They stood near the mouth of the cave, watched, and then saw Ah Bai dragging a shotgun out. The shotgun made a sharp noise as it collided with stone.
Seeing this, the four of them were happy. Needless to say, Big Markelov was captured and Ah Bai had taken his gun.
The four people carefully pinched their noses and went into the cave. The cave was long and curved deep far inside. The river flowed far inside.
A big, naked man was crouching in the corner of the cave, unable to resist his captors.
He was not unconscious, but he was exhausted and weak from the inhalation of anesthetized powder, or he was weak. When he saw Li Du and the others went in, he barely moved a little and that was his last struggle.
