Chapter 4

Chapter 4: The Third Brother Forced to Act

Qin Yu hadn’t paid any particular attention to the four men and one woman, but after Old Cat mentioned it, he also glanced toward the window out of the corner of his eye. The four men were all dressed in fleece-lined leather jackets, work pants, and worn leather boots. Their eyes were sharp, and the skin exposed to the air had a reddish tinge.

　　”I don’t think they’re from inside the special zone.” Qin Yu lowered his head and remarked quietly.

　　”How can you tell?” Old Cat was a little curious.

　　”Dressed too thick, signs of frostbite on them,” Qin Yu replied concisely, “looks like roughnecks from the unplanned zones.”

　　”What’s a roughneck?”

　　”Someone who makes a living on the edge of a knife.” Qin Yu scratched his nose.

　　Old Cat heard that and felt a little uneasy himself: “So if the two of us just blindly play hero, we’d probably get our asses handed to us, right?”

　　”Did you bring your service weapon?” Qin Yu asked.

　　”Came out to eat, of course I didn’t bring it.” Old Cat shook his head.

　　”Then I’d say hold off for now,” Qin Yu frowned and thought for a moment, “let’s call the unit.”

　　While the two were exchanging words rapidly, the four men had already gotten the girl to stand up with them and were settling the bill, preparing to leave.

　　”Damn it, they’re leaving.” Old Cat’s hands trembled slightly as he picked up his glass, and he said in a flustered, almost incoherent tone: “Should we follow them?”

　　”Who do you think you are, Nezha with his Wind Fire Wheels?” Qin Yu replied, exasperated, “They came by car, you’re going to chase them on two legs? Are you kidding me?!”

　　”I totally forgot…”

　　Qin Yu stole a glance at the four men and added with a slight frown: “If those four roughnecks are really up to something, they’re a hundred percent carrying weapons. Even if we jumped out, we couldn’t stop them.”

　　Old Cat was actually very nervous inside. Although he was also on a frontline case team, those guys were free-agent level operators, and the dangerous jobs never fell to him. So in practice, his mouth had always been more useful than his gun, and he’d never been part of any large-scale live arrest operation. Even so, he still said to Qin Yu: “If we were ordinary people, fine, forget it. But we’re wearing this uniform, and once we’ve seen it, we can’t just look the other way. Think of something fast…”

　　”No gear on us, no numbers advantage, can’t follow them, and it’s too late to notify the unit now… what the hell am I supposed to come up with.” Qin Yu was sweating: “Unless a miracle happens, otherwise…”

　　Just then the restaurant door opened, and six stocky young guys walked in, swept their eyes around the room, and then the leader, Old Three, called out: “Qin Yu!”

　　The moment his voice fell, Qin Yu and Old Cat spun around simultaneously, staring at Old Three and the others in stunned disbelief, and almost in unison their eyes lit up as they muttered: “Holy shit, a miracle.”

　　Old Three was wearing a light green police uniform, leading five brothers from the unit over. He tilted his head, an e-cigarette dangling from his lips, and looked at Qin Yu with a scowl: “First thing you do when you get here is hit up a restaurant, you must be loaded, huh? Come here, step outside, let me and you…”

　　”Old Three, did you come here to work a case?!” Before Qin Yu could even respond, Old Cat stepped forward and grabbed the other man’s arm.

　　Old Three looked completely baffled: “What case?”

　　”Didn’t you follow us here?” Old Cat looked confused.

　　”Yeah! I asked around and heard he was here.”

　　”Then that works out perfectly. How many people did you bring? Are there more unit brothers outside?”

　　”…!” The more they talked, the more confused Old Three got: “Wait, what are you even saying?”

　　”Are you an idiot?! I ran into it too, why are you hiding it from me?” Old Cat smacked him on the arm and asked urgently: “Do we take them down in here or outside?”

　　”No, I think we’re talking about two completely different things.” Old Three pointed at Qin Yu and said: “I came here for him.”

　　Old Cat froze, then discreetly gestured toward the four men at the bar: “You’re not here to arrest those guys?”

　　”Arrest them? What did they do?”

　　”What a coincidence then.” Beads of sweat broke out on Old Cat’s forehead as he said in a low voice: “Those four are holding a girl hostage, and we stumbled onto it. Me and Qin Yu were just figuring out what to do when you showed up… don’t say another word, let’s pin them down right here, we’ve got enough people.”

　　”???” Old Three stared blankly for a long moment: “What the… I… I… you… I came here for Qin Yu.”

　　”Isn’t Er Jie Restaurant in your unit’s jurisdiction? Why are you still going on about looking for Qin Yu right now?!” Old Cat said quietly: “Figure out how we’re making the arrest.”

　　”I… what the hell am I supposed to figure out… I wasn’t prepared for this?!” Old Three was completely deflated, and glanced up again at the four men: “I don’t even know what they’re about.”

　　The moment Old Three and his group walked in, the four men across the room had already noticed them. Seeing these people in police uniforms, and watching them meet up with Old Cat and Qin Yu, they felt a sudden unease in their hearts.

　　The four exchanged glances, immediately sandwiched the girl between them, and lowered their heads to head for the exit.

　　”Stop dragging your feet, figure out how we’re doing this, give me a plan…?!” Old Cat’s heart was pounding hard as he pressed Old Three and the others in a hushed voice.

　　Old Three retreated a step in utter dejection: “You two are the ones who stumbled onto this, what plan am I supposed to come up with?”

　　”You’re the main force here, the two of us have nothing on us.”

　　”Main force my ass!” Old Three was sweating hard. He turned to the police brothers he’d brought and said: “We can’t just ignore it now that we’ve run into it… Old Cat’s an idiot, but if we bail, he’ll definitely snitch on us.”

　　”What do we do?”

　　”Xiao Hu, notify the unit. Everyone else spread out a bit.” Old Three said quietly with his head down: “Guo Er, go do a spot check, ask them for their residence permits. If they don’t have those, ask for their special zone entry and exit documentation… if they make any move to get physical, open fire.”

　　”I’m doing the spot check, bro?” The young man called Guo Er looked like he was about to cry: “Send Old Cat instead!”

　　”Those two aren’t in uniform, you go.”

　　”…Damn, this really sucks.” Guo Er cursed under his breath, steeled himself, and sidled two steps over, blocking the path of the four men directly: “Black Street Police Department. Let me see your residence permits.”

　　The four men stopped in their tracks at the sound of his voice and looked over at Old Three and the others with expressionless faces.

　　The girl stood in the middle of the four men, sweat streaming down her temples, her small fists clenched tight.

　　”I’m talking to you. Take out your residence permits and let me have a look.” Guo Er repeated himself.

　　”We came from the unplanned zone to pick up goods,” the short middle-aged man said quietly, “we don’t have long-term residence permits.”

　　”Show me your entry and exit documentation.” Guo Er extended his palm.

　　”Sure.” The short man lowered his head and reached toward his pants pocket.

　　Old Three was a seasoned veteran, and when he glanced at the other man’s clothing, he instinctively took a step back, his right hand feigning a move behind his back, but his real intention was to reach for his gun.

　　The short man had barely slipped his hand into his pocket when the girl suddenly let out a sharp scream: “Help me, they kidnapped me.”

　　”Nobody move!”

　　The words had barely landed when the companion beside the short man flicked his sleeve back, gripping a T-34 military grenade in his right hand and roaring: “Pin’s pulled. Anyone moves, everyone dies.”

　　”Ahh!!!”

　　In an instant the restaurant erupted into chaos, and the diners covered their heads and scattered in all directions.

　　The short man yanked the girl back with him, his expression completely calm, and said: “Cover me, I’m going out the back.”

　　Old Three’s forehead was dripping with sweat. His right hand rested on his holster as he pointed at the middle-aged man holding the grenade and shouted: “Stay calm, brother. This thing not going off is one situation, but if it goes off, that’s a whole different story.”

　　”Bang!”

　　The words had barely left his mouth when Old Cat suddenly exploded into action, grabbed a wine bottle off the table, and smashed it hard against the other man’s wrist.

　　”Whoosh!”

　　The middle-aged man stepped back, his expression ferocious, without a moment’s hesitation he hurled the grenade straight into the crowd.

　　Qin Yu suddenly burst into motion, grabbed Old Cat by the collar, and backpedaled several steps in rapid succession.

　　”Boom!”

　　A massive blast erupted. A crater tore open in the floor from nowhere, countless chunks of brick and debris flew into the air, two tables were blown to pieces, and three officers were hit by shrapnel and flying debris and fell to the ground.

　　Old Three lay flat on the ground and shouted at the top of his lungs: “Take cover, shoot the one who threw the grenade…”

　　”Bang bang!”

　　Two gunshots rang out. Old Three had just started to push himself up when a burst of blood mist suddenly erupted from his backside, and he collapsed face-first to the ground again with a thud.

　　”Holy shit, holy shit!” Old Three frantically felt his own backside, and when he saw the blood flowing freely, he glared wide-eyed and cursed: “I swear to your mother, Old Cat… you really are something else…!”