Chapter 24

Chapter 24 A Cry of Outrage at the Sight of Injustice

Inside Courtyard No. 88.

The little boy had just rushed out when a woman behind him grabbed him by the collar and yanked him back into the inner courtyard: “Get back inside and close the door, don’t go sticking your nose in other people’s business.”

From inside his room, Qin Yu recognized the woman who had pulled the boy back as the female landlord.

In the courtyard, the lead thug tilted his head and glanced toward the inner courtyard, then turned to Lin Nianlei with a grin: “See that? These days, people run from trouble the moment they see it. You think yelling a couple times is gonna get someone to help you? Keep dreaming!”

Lin Nianlei backed up to her doorway, her eyes darting alertly between the three thugs as she said with a pitiful expression: “Brother, the camera really isn’t with me, I already handed it in, please stop making things difficult for me…”

The lead thug stepped forward and grabbed Lin Nianlei by her dark hair: “Why does every word out of your mouth have to be a lie? If I wasn’t sure the stuff was with you, would I have come?!”

Lin Nianlei stared at the thug’s pockmarked face and his menacing eyes, her heart pounding wildly: “It really isn’t…”

“Bang!”

The thug instantly lost his patience, grabbed Lin Nianlei by the head, and slammed it hard against the door frame: “Damn it, I’ve been way too easy on you.”

Lin Nianlei hadn’t expected him to suddenly get physical and was left dazed from the impact.

“Dongzi, drag her inside, I’ll find another way to have a conversation with her.”

“What do you think you’re doing?”

“You don’t know what’s good for you, then we’ll just use you to warm up the winter.” The man on the left stepped forward, grabbed Lin Nianlei, and was about to kick the door open and haul her inside.

“Creak!”

At that moment, the door across the way was pushed open and Qin Yu stepped out: “What’s going on here, picking on a girl?”

The words had barely left his mouth when Lin Nianlei snapped her head up, and upon seeing Qin Yu, was overjoyed beyond measure, standing on her tiptoes and shouting: “Hey, hey… save me.”

Qin Yu was cold by nature and hadn’t wanted to get involved, but these guys were clearly not going to let it go, and if things blew up, Lin Nianlei would definitely file a report, and since he lived right here in this courtyard, it would be hard to explain himself when things got looked into afterward. On top of that, Qin Yu knew Lin Nianlei had some connections, and he didn’t want to get tangled up in bigger trouble, so he had come out and said something.

“Who are you?” the lead thug turned around and barked.

“I’m with the police bureau, I live here.” Qin Yu stood in the doorway and said plainly: “It’s pretty late, if you’ve got something to settle, come back another time, don’t waste everyone’s time here.”

“A cop?” The thug paused: “Which bureau are you with?”

Qin Yu didn’t answer the question directly: “I’m telling you to let her go, so let her go.”

“You’ve got a pretty tough mouth on you.” The thug frowned: “This is none of your business, go back inside and mind your own.”

The thug said no more to Qin Yu and turned back to grab Lin Nianlei, shouting: “Girl, I’m asking you one last time, are you handing it over or not?”

“I already told you, the camera…”

“Smack!”

Before Lin Nianlei could finish, Qin Yu had already stepped forward and grabbed the thug’s wrist: “Buddy, don’t start trouble in this courtyard.”

The thug turned back with a cold expression: “I’m Tiger from Tuzha Street, if you don’t know who I am, call someone at your bureau and ask around.”

Qin Yu frowned.

“Get lost.” Tiger shook his arm.

Qin Yu’s right hand gripped Tiger’s wrist like a vice: “Why won’t you just drop it?”

“Bang!”

Tiger suddenly spun around and drove a fist straight into Qin Yu’s chest: “You’re just a cop, do you even know your place?”

Qin Yu stood where he was and said nothing.

Tiger slapped Qin Yu across the head: “What do you think you’re doing, upholding the law? Come on then, try and arrest me…”

“Smack!”

Qin Yu’s left hand suddenly seized Tiger’s arm, and his right leg swept low across the ground.

“Thud!”

Tiger dropped to the ground on the spot.

“What the hell, Tiger is it? Does Tuzha Street have a lion too?!”

Qin Yu kept his head down and delivered three hard stomping kicks straight to Tiger’s head, sending him tumbling down the steps.

The two thugs on either side reached into their jackets and pulled out knives without any regard for Qin Yu’s identity, moving in to stab him.

“Clack!”

Qin Yu pulled the gun from Tiger’s body, quickly racked the slide, flicked off the safety, and leveled it at the man on the right, shouting: “You’re pointing a knife at a cop, you think I won’t shoot you dead?”

“You’re full of it…!”

“Bang!”

The gun fired.

“Ah!”

Lin Nianlei screamed and crouched down covering her head.

The bullet grazed the cheek of the knife-wielding thug on the right, and he froze on the spot.

“Didn’t you say I was bluffing? Then what are you dodging for?” Qin Yu glared: “Come on, stand still, I’ll press the barrel right against your forehead and fire.”

The two of them stood there stunned, unable to figure out what Qin Yu was about.

On the ground, Tiger shook his head and scrambled up: “Damn it, Dongzi, call for backup.”

“Bang bang bang!”

Qin Yu grabbed the gun by the grip and smashed it down on Tiger’s head seven or eight times: “Three of you, one gun isn’t enough? If you can’t stay on your feet, you can’t stay on your feet, don’t try to act tough with me.”

Tiger’s head was covered in blood, his body slumped against the doorway, completely out of it.

“Get down!” Qin Yu pointed the gun at the other two and shouted.

The two exchanged a glance and crouched down on the steps with dark expressions.

Qin Yu’s mind raced, and after a moment’s consideration, he turned to Lin Nianlei and said: “Go into my room and bring me the phone.”

Lin Nianlei was still crouched on the ground, not daring to lift her head.

“Bang!”

Qin Yu kicked her: “You can stir up trouble but you can’t handle it, what are you crying for. Go get me the phone, it’s on the bedside.”

Lin Nianlei snapped back to her senses, turned around, ran into Qin Yu’s room, grabbed the phone, and came back.

Qin Yu held the gun in one hand and dialed his colleague Zhu Wei’s number with the other: “I’ve got three suspects, come pick them up.”

Tiger heard this and immediately looked up and cursed: “You little punk, you’re actually serious about this?”

Qin Yu heard him and raised the gun grip, making as if to bring it down.

Tiger instinctively ducked his head and said no more, gritting his teeth and waiting for the bureau’s people to arrive.

……

Nearby, Qin Yu pulled Lin Nianlei aside a few steps and looked down at her: “Hey, why do you keep getting yourself into trouble, what did they want with you?”

“…I… I photographed some things they were doing,” Lin Nianlei replied, blinking: “It’s my job.”

“What did you photograph?”

“They’ve been inflating drug prices in the slums and secretly selling counterfeit medicine, I got photos of it.” Lin Nianlei thought it over for a moment before answering honestly.

Qin Yu’s heart sank the moment he heard this: “They’re selling fake medicine too?”

“Yeah, I’ve been tailing them for days, last time they already snatched one of my cameras.” Lin Nianlei nodded: “These scum have no humanity, they’ve been jacking up prices while you guys are cracking down, and when the people in the slums can’t afford medicine, they force them to sell their organs… feeding off other people’s misery.”

Qin Yu fell into deep thought upon hearing this.

……

Half an hour later.

The moment Zhu Wei arrived at the scene, he spotted Tiger and paused: “Hey, Tiger bro, what are you doing here?”

“Little Zhu Wei?” Tiger recognized a familiar face and immediately perked up, got to his feet, and said to Zhu Wei: “Let me make a call.”

Qin Yu walked over and asked Zhu Wei: “You know him?”

“Damn, why’d you arrest him, he’s a friend of Captain Yuan’s.” Zhu Wei replied under his breath.

“You little punk, if I don’t strip that uniform off you today, I’ll take your last name.” Tiger wiped the blood from his face, took out his phone, stepped to the side, and dialed Yuan Ke’s number.