Chapter 126

One-Eye's forceful knife had yet to flash out when he was suddenly hooked around the neck by an unexpected arm. One-Eye turned his hand and stabbed in great alarm; as the person behind him was forced to turn to avoid it, he waved a stick and hit the side of his neck. At the same time, his arm, not moving aside, met the criminal's knife. The blade let out a faint clang as it swept over the fat arm—there was a metal shield buckled onto it!

Having no time to sigh about how base his opponent was, One-Eye lost his opportunity to resist; the stick, which was the thickness of a wrist, chopped accurately at his artery; the next instant, his hand went weak, and he knew nothing more.

Luo Wenzhou had just come out of the little dark room carrying someone over his shoulder and hadn't yet had time to adjust to the change in light when he saw a flash of cold light, and a switchblade fell onto the dirt. He looked up in astonishment and met Lu Jia's dark gaze. The fat man threw the unconscious One-Eye aside.

"He's not dead." Lu Jia fixed his gaze on Lu Guosheng for a moment, then with difficulty tore his bloody gaze away from the murderer. "I understand human speech."

Luo Wenzhou said, "…your skills aren't bad."

"My dream when I was little was to join the special forces." Lu Jia looked down at the quivering fat on his body and, smiling wryly, said, "Long story."

Just then, Fei Du's voice came out of their earpieces, somewhat blurred from the effect of the jammer. He said, "I'll take you two out for drinks tonight, and you can talk about childhood dreams then. Right now, take note of the yard gate at your right side front, two doors down, about fifty meters away. They're assembling to go on patrol."

Luo Wenzhou swore quietly, indicating with an expression for Lu Jia to pick up One-Eye. "Shouldn't they first go check the power distribution or the master valve at a time like this?"

"Oh, they may not be as well-behaved as you.—It's not dark yet, not the period when electricity use is highest. These rats who have been stewing in the sewers for I don't know how many years will first react by becoming psychologically stressed… My aerial photographs are on a bit of a delay. I see they're already doing a headcount, so they'll notice that one-eyed gentleman's absence soon." No matter what, Fei Du's voice always sounded somewhat careless. He paused slightly, then asked, "What time counts as setting a record for the adult fifty-meter dash?"

Carrying a rather tall and robust Lu Guosheng over his shoulder actually didn't impact Luo Wenzhou's movements at all. With a few steps to run up, he propped himself with one hand and jumped over a low wall. Lu Jia followed close behind, not lagging at all; he really was a battle-ready, nimble fat man, rather in the style of Kung-Fu Panda's "Dragon Warrior."

Luo Wenzhou turned his head and gave him a look, found that he didn't need to look after this joker, and immediately ran on ahead, casually joking with Fei Du. "Anyway, a contestant like you, who'd need a minute to climb over, isn't setting any records."

Lu Jia: "…"

He was feeling as though he didn't exist.

The two of them rushed on. When they'd charged out of the little enclosure, some people forced their way into the yard with the dark little room. Seeing the door to the dungeon open, they swept a flashlight over it like a search lantern and immediately found that Lu Guosheng was gone. A number of men with good reflexes exchanged looks, then crossed the low wall one by one, quickly carrying out a search of the little yards. Just then, by unlucky coincidence, One-Eye woke up!

The murdering thief didn't act rashly; he kept still, hanging there like a dead dog, pretending to be unconscious. Then he calmly began struggling out of the bindings on his hands—Lu Jia hadn't tied them at all firmly in his hurry. A moment later, he managed to struggle free. One-Eye carefully cooperated with the jostling of Lu Jia's movements, keeping his hands behind his back and pulling them into his sleeves. The blade hidden in a pocket inside his cuff slid into his palm. Then he began to fight, fiercely slashing the blade at Lu Jia's neck.

The instant he gained momentum, Lu Jia noticed something was wrong and instinctively tossed aside the person on his shoulder.

One-Eye fell to the ground. Before he was standing firmly, he threw himself right at Lu Jia, the small weapon slashing through the air, making a weak, sharp noise. Lu Jia stuck out the stick at his waist, blocking the blade with a clang.

One-Eye shook out his aching hand. Gritting his teeth, he said, "You aren't the police. Who are you guys? What are you… Shit!"

Before he could finish delivering his lines, someone suddenly kicked him in the back.

One-Eye felt all his organs shake for a moment, groaning from the breath caught in his chest, knocking his head against Lu Jia's short stick. Lu Jia took the opportunity to catch his neck with the stick, squeezing and pulling him aside.

One-Eye struggled briefly before ceasing all activities once again. Before he lost consciousness, he heard the person who'd attacked him from behind saying shamelessly, "Sorry, I am the police."

But with this delay, the fastest pursuers had already gone around the enclosing wall and seen them.

Luo Wenzhou said, "Can you carry two people?"

Lu Jia could fight and run; carrying two people's weight naturally wasn't worth thinking about. But hearing these words, he paused slightly. "You…"

"If you can't carry them, then drag them as you run. It won't kill these two." Saying so, Luo Wenzhou tossed Lu Guosheng to Lu Jia. "Remember, sir, if he dies, everything we've done goes down the drain."

Lu Jia subconsciously reached out to catch the unconscious Lu Guosheng. All the muscles hidden under his fat tensed. He felt like a stone about to split open.

He stared fixedly at Luo Wenzhou with his eyes that were crowded almost to the point of being invisible. "You aren't worried I'll embezzle the goods?"

"Don't dawdle!" said Luo Wenzhou.

Not saying a word, Lu Jia ran off, dragging the two of them.

He'd dreamed of joining the special forces since he was little; he'd been obsessed with military matters, collected every issue of Small Arms for five years. But his older brother had thought that being a soldier was bitter, tiring, and dangerous, with no future in it. He'd wanted him to study more. His brother had been thirteen years older than him. Their parents had been ill when he was little, and later they'd both died. As far back as he remembered, he'd been raised by his big brother.

His brother had started driving trucks very young in order to make a living. He'd had a fairly high income by the standards of the time, but he'd remained a bachelor, because he'd wanted to make more money so Lu Jia could attend a good school without any worries and get into a good career.

But his young little brother couldn't understand his earnest intentions. Compromising, he'd tested into a middling, ordinary university, and spent all day at a boxing hall near the school, unwilling to study seriously. Boxing halls weren't popular then, and they weren't regularly managed. The place had just been renovated with very crude materials. He'd breathed in poisonous gas during strenuous exercise and fallen seriously ill, left school and spent two years in the hospital, becoming a heavy burden on his big brother.

His treatment had used a great quantity of medicine containing hormones; while blowing him up like a balloon, it had also consumed all the family resources. For his sake, his brother had had to desperately scrape for money; he'd never complained.

But fifteen years ago, he'd been left behind forever on National Road 327, dying without an intact corpse.

And the murderer he dreamed of hacking to pieces was now entirely unconscious, being dragged by him.

Lu Jia felt his mind go blank. He could only run, following Fei Du's directions over his earpiece. Each time he remembered that he was holding Lu Guosheng, he felt as though he were stepping on the blade of a knife. At some point he'd started crying, his cheeks streaming with tears. Worried that that gang's accomplices would be around, he didn't dare to give vent loudly. He could only open his mouth wide, letting out a silent cry, all his veins standing out as he endured a wrenching desire to kill.

Luo Wenzhou, covering the retreat, looked rather grave. There were quite a few familiar faces among the crowd of people charging towards him. Whether they'd killed someone or stolen money before, after over a decade of hiding, they'd all become the same kind of person—desperate criminals.

Luo Wenzhou touched his phone. Fei Du's heart seemed to beat in unison with his—he said at once, "The whole ecological park is within range of the aerial photography. At present there aren't any unrelated people approaching."

"Got it," Luo Wenzhou said quietly. "I'm a practiced hand at brawls, but I'm not very excited about bombs. If I really do turn into popcorn, what will you do?"

"Pour on some butter and eat you while watching the next American blockbuster," Fei Du said heartlessly. But where Luo Wenzhou couldn't see, he drove the car into a very concealed spot where he could see that gas station—sheltering a group of wanted criminals here, there'd have to be someone to watch them. Since the person watching them wasn't in the ecological park, he had to be at the gas station. This place was a certain distance from the ecological park. Cutting off the signal was the same as temporarily cutting off their link.

Fei Du looked out from a miniature telescope, looking over the few idle workers at the gas station. He quietly said, "Don't worry, I'm keeping an eye out. If anyone acts suspiciously, I'd rather kill the wrong one than let them go.—Should I get someone to assist you?"

"No, backup will be here soon, I can handle this for a while." Luo Wenzhou heard the danger in his tone and hastily said, "Tell your people not to show themselves. You, too!"

He'd just spoken when the two people in the lead came up. Luo Wenzhou knocked one over empty-handed. The other one had a big stick that he brought down on him from directly overhead. Luo Wenzhou crouched, pulled out a set of handcuffs, and used them like nunchucks, smashing them over the hand holding the weapon.

"P-police! He's police!"

"Fuck, where'd a cop come from?"

"Hurry… Damn it, how come there's still no signal?"

These people dreaded the sight of the police like mice feared cats. It was instinct to be terrified at the sound of a cat's cry, but it didn't mean that the mice couldn't tear a cat apart if there were enough of them.

"What are you shouting for? Is seeing a police officer novel enough to get so excited about? Bumpkins." Luo Wenzhou took a breath and stroked his chin with the paw holding the handcuffs. He smiled. "I really don't understand. How is shutting yourself up here all day any different from sitting in prison? If you're sitting in prison, at least there are people to protect your legal rights. What are you doing here? Waiting to get paid to die for someone?"

His words were sensible and sincere, but his attitude wasn't very endearing. It very quickly drew an enraged attack from all sides.

Interestingly, Luo Wenzhou found that while he was worried about alerting their accomplices, they also seemed to be restraining themselves to avoid attracting his accomplices—after all, when the police went out, they rarely fought alone. The wanted criminals wanted to kill him to silent him and escape as quickly as possible, while Luo Wenzhou wanted to delay them. With the tacit understanding that they would remain silent, the two sides began to fight.

Fei Du ignored Luo Wenzhou's bragging. He picked up another communications system. "It's me. Approach the northwest corner of the ecological park. Thirty meters from the dormitory buildings are Lao Lu and my friend. Someone go assist…"

Before he'd finished, he heard Luo Wenzhou curse in exasperation. Fei Du looked up at once. "What's the matter?"

Luo Wenzhou blocked a spade with his shoulder, stumbling. He instantly felt a sense of crisis and subconsciously rolled away; a layer of dirt was blown off the ground.

"Fuck. Someone's sniping with a silencer," Luo Wenzhou said quickly. "I didn't see clearly whether it was an airgun or…"

Before he'd finished, there was a whizzing sound behind him. Luo Wenzhou didn't have time for careful observation. He threw himself forward rather desperately, ducking behind a little cart carrying mud, pushing the cart forward to block an oncoming flying axehead.

Fei Du's gaze cooled. Turning to his own people on the other channel, he said unyieldingly, "Move faster. Apart from Lu Guosheng, it doesn't matter whether the rest are dead or alive."

Luo Wenzhou said in great alarm, "Fei Du, you prick, no!"

Just then, Lu Jia's panting voice suddenly cut in. "President Fei, someone's coming!"

Fei Du twisted his earpiece at once.

They didn't come with very great fanfare, moving extremely fast and noiselessly, coming over from the great wilderness at the ecological park's back gate, extremely covert. The aerial photography couldn't cover everything, and it was on a slight delay. By the time Lu Jia found them, it was too late to hide. He ran out of the ecological park and met them head on. On his earpiece, everything was silent aside from the banging of Luo Wenzhou's fight. A few gun muzzles raised as though in precaution, locking on him.

Lu Jia looked them over for a moment, slowly let go of Lu Guosheng and One-Eye, and raised his hands. "I'm the one who reported the case. My friend is inside."

The armed police had arrived at last.

Because Luo Wenzhou had advised them beforehand that there might be explosives in the ecological park and that the other side might have eyes in the area, the armed police had approached the ecological park from the west. That area was wild and deserted, with only one security camera in an orchard, already spoiled by the suddenly cut power. Within a minute, they had the scene under control.

With backup arriving, Luo Wenzhou withdrew immediately, exercising his recently wounded flesh. He spat out an overworked breath and, leaning against a wall, slid down to the ground and lit a cigarette.—He really was physically exhausted, and even more mentally exhausted.

With the armed police arriving on time, Fei Du's "hand," holding the fatal knife, had already silently retreated into the shadows. Luo Wenzhou's communication device was silent for a time. Before he'd finished smoking his cigarette, the armed police had already gathered up the twenty-some-odd wanted criminals like a bolt of lightning. At the same time, coming and going like the wind, they silently searched through their settlement.

"You must be our comrade from Public Security?" An armed policeman came over to say hello. "There really is a bomb down there. You said they may have accomplices. Are there concrete leads? Will it be dangerous to simply remove the bomb now?—Right, have you notified your superiors? When are your people coming over?"

Luo Wenzhou paused faintly.

Reasonably speaking, those people had already locked on the Longyun Center. They should have been able to find the segment showing Lu Guosheng meeting Wei Wenchuan in the revolving restaurant's main hall at once. It would only have been proper for them to have reacted immediately. Even though they'd blocked the whole district's cell phone signal, temporarily removing the danger of a bomb being remote-activated by a phone, the other side should have done something in response; why had there been no movement?

Was it taking them so long to investigate the security camera records?

Just then, Fei Du, who hadn't spoken in a long time, said, "I don't know. I didn't have anyone tamper with the security camera records at the Longyun Center. It would have been too dangerous compared to simply taking them.—But…do you remember that mysterious radio program?"

Thoughts quickly turned through Luo Wenzhou's mind. He leapt off the ground. "Everyone withdraw. Let's hide. I have an idea—"

When the armed police had arrived, Fei Du had quietly removed the block on the signal in the area. Luo Wenzhou used his own phone to call Tao Ran, in the end deliberately ordering, "This is too urgent. I don't know how to deal with it. Go inform the old leadership."

He bit down heavily on the word "old." Tao Ran had read Lao Yang's testament over and over; he immediately understood his implication. And just after the police received the news, One-Eye's phone, unreasonably but not unexpectedly, rang. One-Eye, was startled awake by a half a bottle of water being poured over him, then, trembling, took one call and made another under the eyes of a circle of armed police. While the aftermath of the explosion was still going on, the "sheepdog" was caught red-handed, preparing to make a clean break.

At this point, the slippery stronghold had finally been entirely pulled up by the roots, while the fact that there was a mole in the City Bureau had been indisputably brought into public view.

Luo Wenzhou, escorting the "sheepdog," appeared in front of a crowd of confused colleagues from the sub-bureau. Bearing a bruise on his cheekbone, he smiled at the bewildered criminal policemen. "There's a gang of guys from the 'pornography eradication' department at the Longyun Center in Beiyuan who just stopped a crowd of suspicious individuals suspected of being connected to this case. Could I trouble you to help me deal with them?"

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