141: Chapter 140 Sweeping Away the Trap

Sensing Li Dongping's vital signs getting weaker and weaker, Cao Xiao almost burst into tears. Li Dongping had no other external injuries; only the artery in his wrist had been severed, causing massive blood loss. The blood in his body had decreased to the point where it could barely circulate, and the artery had to be sutured immediately for a blood transfusion.

Instead of taking the helicopter, he drove Ni Zhen's car and sped toward the hospital. Those few minutes felt incredibly long to Cao Xiao, and he constantly urged Duan Hong to drive faster.

Seeing their old acquaintance Cao Xiao arrive carrying a man covered in blood, the Central Hospital was thrown into a state of chaos. Fortunately, they had been notified in advance to prepare for emergency rescue. Cao Xiao immediately stated Li Dongping's blood type, and the plasma was already ready. After the doctors gave their all, they finally managed to save Li Dongping's life after half an hour.

Cao Xiao was filled with self-reproach; if he had gone there earlier, nothing would have happened to Li Dongping. He would never believe that Li Dongping would commit suicide out of guilt without any warning. Even if Li Dongping had slit his own wrist, it was definitely not of his own free will; there had to be a major hidden truth behind it. The family of three was now admitted to the same hospital, with two of them in critical condition—the word 'tragic' was an understatement. This matter had to be dealt with immediately. Ordering four bodyguards to strictly protect the safety of Li Dongping's family, Cao Xiao, fully armed, headed toward the police station with Duan Hong and Li Quanshuo.

"Major Cao, we can't determine for now whether Mr. Li Dongping committed suicide. However, based on information provided by Old Chen, the guard at the detention room, and inferences from surveillance footage, before Li Dongping's incident, Old Chen had gone out for about twenty minutes to buy breakfast, and the key to the detention room was on his desk. During that time, a person in black appeared suspiciously in that area. That person came prepared and didn't reveal any physical features. There's no surveillance on the streets of Baishui Town, so we're still sending people to find witnesses," Tang Shaolin said, hurriedly stepping forward to stop Cao Xiao, fearing he might act impulsively upon his frantic arrival.

Cao Xiao said coldly, "Finding this much is enough. Once my Brother Li wakes up, the truth will naturally come to light. My patience has reached its limit. I will request Commander Xu to issue an order. I hope Director Tang and Captain Tan can lead their men to cooperate with us in going to the Xinyuan Coal Mine to arrest people and strike at the heart of the matter!"

"Alright, once we receive Commander Xu's order, we will cooperate with Mr. Cao's actions." Tang Shaolin did not hesitate. Although he did not fall under the jurisdiction of the military region, it was common for the military and police to cooperate in fighting crime. He could make this decision himself without needing to consult his superiors.

"Good!" Tan Fei also nodded in agreement.

"Then please get ready immediately. I'll call Commander Xu right now to request orders. We leave in five minutes. Do not turn on the sirens, and maintain confidentiality!" Cao Xiao didn't waste any more words and pulled out his phone to make the call.

"Hello! I'm looking for Commander Xu. This is Cao Xiao." The call connected, but it wasn't Commander Xu himself who answered.

"Cao Xiao, it's Xu Fanghou. Did something happen over there?" Xu Fanghou's deep voice came through the receiver.

"There has indeed been another major turn of events. I'm afraid more accidents will happen, so I want to directly take out the source, the Xinyuan Coal Mine. It just so happens that many foreigners are gathered there today; they should be the shareholders of the Xinyuan Coal Mine. Construction is also underway in the mine shaft, so they must be plotting something shady. We can catch them all in one fell swoop. Even if there's no evidence, we can temporarily detain them under other pretexts to prevent further incidents. Without these people in the way, it will be easier for us to find evidence. So, I'd like to ask Commander Xu to issue an operational order for the Pan City Public Security Bureau and the Armed Police Detachment to cooperate with me."

"The identities of those foreign shareholders at Xinyuan Coal Mine are not simple. Can you be sure there's a problem there?" Xu Fanghou asked seriously.

"I've obtained some of their construction data. They've drilled a vertical shaft five meters in diameter and over three thousand meters deep below the coal seam. This alone proves that Xinyuan Coal Mine has major issues. There must be something incredibly precious underground attracting them, and since they haven't reported it to the local government, they are suspected of illegally mining national strategic resources. If that charge isn't enough, it could be espionage or endangering public safety," Cao Xiao said with great conviction.

"Good! In that case, it saves a lot of trouble. As long as the evidence is solidified, we won't be the ones losing face. I'll call them and issue the order now. However, try not to open fire; if the other side uses weapons to fight back, then there's no need for restraint," Xu Fanghou said firmly.

After hanging up, Cao Xiao had Duan Hong start the helicopter. To prevent news from leaking and the targets from escaping early, they had to control the scene first. Not to mention the targets weren't soldiers, even if they were, they couldn't escape Cao Xiao's grasp. The three of them could catch everyone on their own, but bringing the police and armed police along made the arrests legitimate. They only needed to go there to prevent anyone from escaping.

"Director Tang, Captain Tan, I'll go ahead. I've already prepared the arrest warrants; they'll be valid once Director Tang signs them. You can bring this evidence later and arrest them based on the charges listed on the warrants." Cao Xiao handed over the evidence he had prepared along with the arrest warrants.

"Phew! With these, we won't have to be so cautious. You go ahead; we'll get there as fast as we can." Only then did Tang Shaolin let go of the last bit of worry in his heart.

The helicopter didn't fly very high, staying at a low altitude of about a hundred meters. In less than five minutes, they reached the Xinyuan Coal Mine and landed directly on the open ground outside the office building.

The loud noise of the helicopter had already alerted the other party, but the main figures didn't come downstairs; they sent a few bodyguards down to investigate. However, Cao Xiao didn't waste words with them, directly knocking them to the ground. He stood at the office building entrance, pointing his gun at the door to block the exit. Furthermore, he jammed the electromagnetic signals to prevent them from contacting the outside world. Seeing Cao Xiao and his team fully armed and blocking the exit, while communication signals were also being jammed, the people in the office were frantic. After the main figures discussed for a few minutes, they seemed to make an important decision and said something to the seven bodyguards outside the office. Those bodyguards then cautiously appeared at several windows on the front of the third floor. Every one of them had a handgun. After hiding their positions, they peeked out to observe Cao Xiao and his team, and then simultaneously aimed their guns at the three of them.

Their movements, which they thought were undetected, had long since fallen into Cao Xiao's eyes. Cao Xiao had already quietly communicated with Duan Hong and Li Quanshuo. Seeing one of the bodyguards about to fire, Cao Xiao shouted. The three of them simultaneously performed a quick roll to leave their original spots. At the same time, a gunshot rang out, and a bullet hole appeared where Cao Xiao had been standing. Less than a second later, several more shots followed. By then, Cao Xiao and the others had already assumed firing positions, and their guns roared.

Taking them by surprise, they killed several bodyguards who had carelessly exposed their heads. Then, the three of them simultaneously pulled grenades from their waists and accurately tossed them into several rooms on the third floor. Three massive explosions shattered all the glass in the entire building. The remaining four bodyguards fared no better, all being blown apart inside the rooms.

The Xinyuan shareholders in the office were used to living in luxury; they had never seen such a scene. The explosion points were close to the office, and without any psychological preparation, they were scared out of their wits. Having dealt with the bodyguards, Cao Xiao didn't bother with the Xinyuan shareholders and simply waited at the main entrance for Tang Shaolin and the others to arrive.

A few minutes later, Tang Shaolin and Tan Fei finally arrived. The armed police filed into the office building through the main entrance. Hearing Cao Xiao recount what had just happened, Tang Shaolin and Tan Fei said nothing, only shaking their heads with bitter smiles.

Cao Xiao didn't need to worry about the arrests; Tang Shaolin and the others would handle that. Instead, Cao Xiao led Duan Hong and Li Quanshuo toward the mine entrance. During the few minutes of waiting, he had already detected what was going on with that large drill shaft in the coal seam and had some guesses about what was hidden in the Xinyuan Coal Mine. Now he had to go down and deal with it; otherwise, it would cause trouble again once the miners cleared the tunnels.

There were indeed treasures underground here, but not the precious minerals Cao Xiao had imagined. Instead, at a depth of five thousand meters, there was a massive complex of lava caverns. They were likely formed in ancient times by volcanic activity after the magma channels cooled. Large and small, they were interwoven like a spiderweb, connecting in all directions, covering a surface area of over three hundred square kilometers. Almost completely isolated from the surface, this place had evolved over millions of years into a complete underground ecosystem. It contained a vast number of biological species never discovered by humans, with a rich variety of plants and animals. It was essentially a closed, self-sustaining underground biosphere. Its scientific value alone was immeasurable, let alone the many valuable organisms within it. Its economic value was an astronomical figure. It wasn't just worth the billions of huaxia currency spent on drilling; it was worth spending a trillion us dollars. This was of great significance to all of humanity; continuous research could lead to massive developments and breakthroughs in biotechnology and medicine.

Compared to this place, the super oil field discovered in South Africa was nothing. Since he had this stroke of luck, he had to get a piece of the pie. However, with something this big, he wasn't sure if the state would allow private participation in its development. Therefore, before the state discovered it, he would go down to collect some valuable items and gather various biological samples and environmental data for research. That way, even if he couldn't participate in the investment, he could get huge benefits first. This would also be very helpful for the industrial mother machine to upgrade its technological civilization knowledge reserves. If he could participate later, that would be best; if not, he didn't mind. He wasn't greedy; this was an unexpected windfall. Regardless, he could use the harvest from this trip for his own research and development in the future. As long as his products didn't duplicate those developed by the state, he could still reap massive profits. The international market was so large that it was impossible for the state to occupy all of it at once.

Half an hour later, they arrived at the collapsed section of the mine tunnel. The miners were working intensely. The arrival of the three fully armed men caused the miners to stop their work. Cao Xiao lied and said he was a police officer and that the place had been taken over by them, ordering everyone to leave. The miners didn't object, but they didn't leave immediately either; their gazes all turned toward a middle-aged man wearing glasses. Seeing that the man was neatly dressed, Cao Xiao knew he was the person in charge of the construction here.

"Unless the boss agrees, even the police cannot interfere with our normal construction!" the man said, looking directly at Cao Xiao without fear.

Cao Xiao looked at the man indifferently and said, "I presume you have some status in Xinyuan Coal Mine and are in charge of on-site construction, so you must know quite a bit. All your Xinyuan shareholders have fallen into my hands; I don't have time to argue with you." He then turned to Duan Hong behind him. "Brother Duan, knock him out."

Duan Hong walked up to the man coldly, ignoring his warnings. With a single hand-chop, the man slumped to the ground. Cao Xiao told the miners to take this man to the surface and hand him over to the police.

Most of the earth and rock from the collapse in this tunnel had been cleared, with only two meters of thickness left to break through. If digging continued, it would be breached in half an hour at most. However, Cao Xiao didn't plan to go down. At this position, the underground space could already be entirely covered by his detection range, so there was no need to risk going down. Besides collecting biological samples and environmental data, he also needed to clear the dangerous creatures in the underground space.

He had long guessed that the Xinyuan mining disaster was not simple, and now it seemed that was indeed the case. This mining disaster was likely man-made, and the person who manufactured it was Li Dongping! A total of twelve people died in the disaster, and strangely, the Baishui Town government knew about it less than an hour after it happened. Normally, for a disaster like this, the production enterprise would do everything possible to cover it up. After suppressing the news, they would privately compensate the families of the victims; under the power of money, it would be difficult for the government to find out. But this time, the government found out very promptly and organized rescue work in a short time. Another suspicious point was that no bodies of the victims were found during the rescue; there were only piles of black ash and mixtures of melted metal.

After standing blankly for over ten minutes, Cao Xiao's face suddenly filled with wild joy, but he quickly suppressed his smile. After taking a deep breath to calm his mind, he said to Duan Hong and the other, "Brother Duan, Brother Li, let's go out!"

Duan Hong and the other had long since become accustomed to Cao Xiao's occasional bouts of erratic behavior and silently followed him out of the mine.

Just as they returned to the surface, his phone rang with a text notification. He checked and saw it was a missed call from Cheng Xiaodao. Cheng Xiaodao and the others were currently at the hospital protecting Li Dongping's family. Cao Xiao thought something had happened and quickly called back.

After finishing the call, a smile appeared on his face again. It turned out that Li Dongping's whole family had regained consciousness. Cao Xiao immediately couldn't wait to fly to the Baishui Town Central Hospital by helicopter.

"Uncle! Waaaah!" Just as he got off the helicopter, a figure threw herself into Cao Xiao's arms, wailing loudly.

"Shanshan, I'm sorry, Uncle came late! Don't cry! Everything is fine now!" Cao Xiao patted Li Lanshan's back to comfort her.

Li Lanshan kept sobbing, not saying a word, holding onto Cao Xiao tightly and refusing to let go. Cao Xiao could only comfort her patiently. It took a long while before he finally calmed her down and she stopped crying, then he led her into Li Dongping and his wife's ward.