The air inside the car seemed to have solidified, so oppressive it was almost suffocating.

Qi Yun and Brother Peng dared not even breathe, their eyes fixed intently on the grizzly bear ahead and the hunting rifle in Mendeleyev's hands, their hearts in their throats.

The next second, a vicious glint appeared in the bear's eyes; it suddenly rose up, let out a low growl, and charged rapidly towards the vehicle.

"Bang!"

A flash of fire, and the sharp crack of gunfire shattered the silence of the snowfield, as Mendeleyev fired the moment the grizzly began its charge.

No one could tell which part of the grizzly's body the bullet hit, but its massive body abruptly halted, its initial leap forward interrupted, stumbling back instead.

"Roar!"

The grizzly let out a deafening roar, echoing across the open snowfield, shaking the snow off the nearby trees.

It was hard to tell whether the roar was one of pain or anger.

But Mendeleyev didn't care about that; seeing that the creature hadn't gone down, he adjusted his firing stance and immediately pulled the trigger again.

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

Another series of gunshots rang out.

Perhaps it was because of the poor visibility at night that Mendeleyev didn't hit the vital spots, or perhaps the grizzly's thick hide and flesh were just too resilient.

Despite emptying five rounds, the bear's body only trembled violently, yet it stubbornly refused to collapse.

It howled at the sky, the force of its voice rolling through the air, making their eardrums ache.

Mendeleyev's arm trembled slightly from the rifle's recoil as he swiftly retracted his body from the window to reload.

At that moment, Chen Wei suddenly opened the car door, leaving a quick "Stay in the car!" before swiftly getting out.

This action shocked the three people in the car.

Qi Yun's heart tightened, the word "don't" stuck in his throat as he saw Chen Wei's figure reach the front of the car.

Just as Chen Wei gripped his knife, ready to leap forward, the grizzly suddenly turned its body, limping away in retreat.

Chen Wei was taken aback; it ran?

The battle intent he had been building up dissipated instantly, his initially tense body relaxing somewhat, but he maintained his vigilance, tightly gripping the knife and watching the grizzly's retreating figure to prevent it from making a sudden return.

Qi Yun and the others snapped back to their senses and quickly opened the car door to approach the scene.

Brother Peng looked at the sparse blood trails on the snow, clicked his tongue, and turned to the imposing Mendeleyev with the hunting gun, joking, "Old Men, a master at outlining human figures, are you?"

Mendeleyev laughed awkwardly, feeling a bit embarrassed, "Haven't shot in a long time, my marksmanship's a bit rusty..."

Qi Yun didn't pay attention to that, patting Chen Wei's shoulder, sighing, "Brother Wei, don't take such risks next time."

Chen Wei nodded slightly, "Don't worry, I know what I'm doing."

Seeing this, Qi Yun said no more, knowing the other had confidence because of his skills.

Suddenly, a beam of white light appeared in the distance, accompanied by the roar of a car engine, getting closer.

"Should be my men arriving," Mendeleyev said.

Soon, an off-road vehicle pulled up beside them.

The car door opened, and two burly men stepped out of the vehicle.

"****"

After Mendeleyev gave some instructions to the two, they returned to the car.

"You guys can take my car and head back to the city first, we'll wait here."

Qi Yun nodded at this and asked, "When will the other people arrive?"

Mendeleyev checked the time on his phone, "Should be another two hours."

"Alright, be careful." Qi Yun patted him on the arm, advising, "Let us know when it's done."

Mendeleyev gave a reassuring smile, "Don't worry." With that, he handed over the car keys.

Qi Yun took the keys, looking at Chen Wei and Brother Peng, "Then let's go first, leave this side to him."

...

After another three hours of rough travel, they could vaguely see the city lights ahead.

Qi Yun frowned, turning to Brother Peng, "Brother Peng, try contacting Mendeleyev; theoretically, they should have arrived."

Brother Peng nodded, pulling out his phone and dialing Mendeleyev's number.

However, only a busy tone came from the other end, unable to get through.

Seeing the full signal bars on the screen, Brother Peng frowned, tried again, but with the same result.

"Can't get through to him," Brother Peng said to Qi Yun as he kept trying.

Hearing this, Qi Yun felt a surge of unease.

Based on Mendeleyev's previous comments, he seemed to have some trust in that person from the capital. Surely the other party wouldn't do something like backstabbing, would they?

However, Qi Yun had little contact with people from the Big Goose, so he wasn't sure of their ways...

"Perhaps they're on their way back; I remember there's a stretch of road with no signal." Brother Peng suggested with a frown.

Qi Yun pondered for a moment, then sighed, "Let's hope that's the case."

For now, they could only pin their hopes on this reasoning, since they didn't even know who the other party was; even if Mendeleyev was indeed taken away, they didn't seem to have a move.

Before long, the car stopped at the hotel entrance, and the three returned to their room.

Brother Peng continued trying to call Mendeleyev, and Qi Yun also tried several times, all to no avail.

Another twenty minutes had passed since earlier. Even if they had been crossing the no-signal stretch, they should have been reachable by now.

The outcome was quite clear.

"Old Men probably ran into trouble!"

"Should we go back and take a look?" Brother Peng suggested.

Qi Yun didn't answer immediately. He stood up, walked over to the window, lit a cigarette, and after thinking for a while, he said, "We're not fit to show up; if the other party did take Mendeleyev away, the only reason I can think of is they're worried about the arms shipment news leaking."

"We still know nothing about the situation; rushing back could not only fail to help but also put us in danger, giving the other party a chance to wipe us out."

Brother Peng frowned, scratching his head, thinking of a plan.

It was then that Chen Wei, who had been silent, spoke up.

"Let me go alone. I'll park the car far away; there's a forest over there. I'll walk through the woods. Even if they're still on the scene, they won't notice me."

Hearing this, Qi Yun thought for a moment, then nodded, "Alright, Brother Wei, take a trip. Be sure to stay safe, don't force it."

"Peng and I will try to contact Mendeleyev's wife, see if we can get some information, and maybe get in touch with the other two."

Chen Wei nodded slightly, "Don't worry."

With the plan set, the three immediately began to act.

Chen Wei turned Mendeleyev's Wrangler around back, while Qi Yun and Brother Peng rented a car from the hotel and headed straight for the KTV they had visited earlier in the day.

It was already half past midnight; the supermarket must have closed by now, so they could only try their luck here, hoping the people in charge could connect them to Mendeleyev's wife.

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