Chapter 23: Escape!

Wuni City is located northeast of the capital of Southern Thailand, Bangkok, approximately forty-some kilometers from the city center. However, from the vicinity of Krabi Town, where Zhong Yuan and his group were currently located, it would take about ten hours to drive to Wuni City.

The vehicle they were currently using had been seized from Brother Ma. Before heading to Wuni City, they certainly had to find a way to ditch the car.

Half an hour later, Zhong Da and Dong Cuo got out of the car at the edge of an uninhabited forest.

The vehicle continued forward.

After driving for another ten minutes, the car stopped on a hillside. Two or three meters to the right was a cliff, and twenty or thirty meters below, the seawater churned incessantly.

Xiao Hua stepped out of the vehicle.

After watching him walk a distance away, Zhong Yuan adjusted the steering, then opened the driver’s side door. With a sudden roar of the engine, the car lunged toward the low bushes by the roadside. At that same moment, Zhong Yuan leaped from the open door.

The car crushed the low shrubs, soared off the cliff, and with a thunderous crash, plunged into the sea.

Xiao Hua jogged over and helped the fallen Zhong Yuan to his feet. Without looking back, the two of them disappeared straight into the forest on the other side.

An hour later, Zhong Yuan met up with Xiao Hua, Zhong Da, and the others.

Although Dong Cuo’s injuries were not fatal, the pain was currently severe. Without anti-inflammatory and pain-relieving medication, the next two or three days would be agonizing. Furthermore, they needed a vehicle.

After consulting with Zhong Da, Zhong Yuan decided that he would go alone to secure a vehicle, while Zhong Da and Xiao Hua would hide in the mountains nearby with Dong Cuo. Once he found a car and obtained the medicine, he would return to pick them up.

Zhong Da said nothing. He did not know what to say. Things had come to this; the composure and confidence he had felt after killing Tan Wei had long since vanished.

Though they had escaped Brother Ma and left Lanta Island, the ten-hour journey to Wuni City remained. How they would traverse this distance and deliver Dong Cuo safely to his relatives remained a mystery.

The Buddha Hand Gang was no small organization; the entire southern region was their sphere of influence.

Now that they had killed so many of their men, they were locked in a life-or-death struggle with the Buddha Hand Gang. In the coming days, the gang’s men would surely be hunting them everywhere. Escaping the south safely would be no easy feat.

He felt regret, but regret was useless now.

And so, only silence remained.

Zhong Yuan left the area quickly. He first went to the nearest village, stole some clothes to change into, and then headed toward Paka County, over twenty kilometers away.

Paka County is located to the north-northeast of Krabi Town, far from the coast.

Zhong Yuan dared not take a bus; the Buddha Hand Gang had been entrenched in the south for many years, and their eyes and ears were everywhere. If he tried to hail a ride, he would inevitably be discovered by the gang.

Walking those twenty-plus kilometers would take at least four hours.

It was around three o'clock; this meant that if all went well, he would arrive in Paka County just as it turned dark.

The timing was perfect.

Night fell.

Located far from the coast, Paka County had few tourists. The streets, filled with a sense of age, were teeming with electric motorbikes and three-wheeled rickshaws.

Zhong Yuan, wearing a black baseball cap and a loose, military-green short-sleeved shirt, walked with his head slightly bowed, weaving quickly through the crowd.

An hour later, he had roughly scouted the entire county.

There were no car rental agencies, but there were plenty of rickshaws by the roadside. Some drivers were lying in their vehicles, dead drunk and snoring thunderously.

While these rickshaws looked battered, the backseat space was not small. Squeezing in three people would be more than enough, though the ride would be uncomfortable.

But in these extraordinary times, one could not be picky.

Moreover, the Buddha Hand Gang likely wouldn't expect them to escape by rickshaw.

Having made up his mind, Zhong Yuan found a rickshaw driver fast asleep in a quiet street corner. With a swift strike of his hand, he knocked the man unconscious, dragged him into a hidden corner nearby, and stashed him away.

At 10:08 PM, Zhong Yuan picked up Zhong Da and the others, then headed back toward Paka County.

Forty minutes later, the vehicle stopped on the outskirts of Paka County. Xiao Hua changed into the clothes Zhong Yuan had stolen and walked into the town.

Half an hour later, he returned with medicine, having also bought some food and water.

After a quick meal, Zhong Yuan led them another hour further north, stopping near a village to spend the night.

Traveling by rickshaw at night was too conspicuous, and for Dong Cuo’s sake, Zhong Yuan had to do his best to prevent the Buddha Hand Gang from discovering their escape route.

At 6:00 AM, the morning light was already bright.

After a light breakfast, the four continued their journey.

This time, they pushed on for nearly four hours straight.

Zhong Yuan figured that by now, the rickshaw driver should have awakened. Under normal circumstances, a missing rickshaw was a trivial matter, but at such a critical juncture, it was hard to guarantee it wouldn't attract the attention of the Buddha Hand Gang.

They had to dispose of the rickshaw before the gang received word. Otherwise, once they found the vehicle, they would discover the direction of their escape, making the journey north even more perilous.

By now, they were nearly a hundred kilometers away from Paka County.

Zhong Yuan dropped Zhong Da and the others at the outskirts of a nearby county, then drove off alone, finding a patch of uninhabited forest nearby to hide the vehicle.

After hiding it, he returned to the county on foot.

He scouted the town to get a feel for its layout before returning to meet up with Zhong Da and his group, who were hiding under an old concrete bridge by a river on the outskirts of town.

Zhong Yuan briefly checked Dong Cuo’s injuries. It was not too bad; although his foot was quite swollen, he had no fever. After taking the painkiller, his spirits were decent.

It was half-past eleven.

The four ate a little and began to rest.

Until nightfall.

At 8:00 PM, the small, non-tourist county had already grown quiet.

Zhong Yuan intended to do as he had the night before: hit the streets to "borrow" a vehicle from a sleeping rickshaw driver. Unexpectedly, not long after he left the concrete bridge, some people arrived.

The newcomers were two vagrants. One was a white man, tall and broad, his wild beard covering half his face. His deep-set eyes flashed with a sharp light the moment he saw Zhong Da and the others.

Seeing someone approaching, Zhong Da immediately wanted to take Dong Cuo and Xiao Hua away. Given their current situation, they were in no position to get into a conflict.

But the white man whispered something to his companion, and the two suddenly blocked their path, one on each side.

"You lot don't look like homeless vagrants," one of the vagrants asked, speaking in Southern Thai with a local accent.

Xiao Hua took the initiative: "Whether we are vagrants or not has nothing to do with you. Move!"

But the two didn't budge. The white man’s gaze swept over the injured Dong Cuo before he spoke: "Got yourselves into trouble?"

As soon as these words were uttered, although Zhong Da and Xiao Hua remained calm, Dong Cuo lost his composure, his face changing instantly.

This reaction immediately confirmed the white man’s suspicions.