Chapter 5

Chapter 5 Three Steps, Devil’s Leap

After the explosion.

　　Qin Yu fell to the ground, shook his head, and asked Lao Mao with a mouth full of alcohol, “You okay?”

　　”Thank god Lao San and the others showed up, otherwise… we’d have been done for if we’d gone at it ourselves. I’ll say this much… Lao San and his crew really are hardcore soldiers…” Lao Mao wiped the sweat from his face, still shaken.

　　Qin Yu saw the guy was fine and immediately shoved him aside, turned his head to scan the surroundings, then called out in a low voice to a colleague not far away, “Give me your gun.”

　　The other person was hiding behind a wooden table, glancing over at Qin Yu with a terrified look, clearly a bit dazed.

　　”Gun. Now!” Qin Yu growled again.

　　The other person snapped back to their senses and, without even thinking, slid the gun across the floor toward him, then crouched back down behind the table and didn’t move.

　　The gun was an A2911 model, but built on the frame of an M1911, though modified and with an increased capacity of nine rounds — a weapon exclusive to frontline police units. Qin Yu had never handled this type of gun before, only seen it in magazines. But the mechanics and feel of firearms are universal. He took it, gave it a quick once-over, then out of habit ejected the magazine to check it, racked the slide, and chambered a round — all in one smooth, clean motion.

　　Gun in hand, Qin Yu crouched and rose, stepped sideways two paces to open up his angle, extended his left arm as a brace, gripped the gun one-handed, and pulled the trigger without hesitation.

　　”Bang bang bang!”

　　Three shots rang out. The middle-aged man who had thrown the grenade earlier had the back of his skull blown open and dropped to the ground on the spot.

　　Yes, Qin Yu had not chosen to wound — he had chosen to kill. Because the other side was fully armed and had struck with lethal intent. Showing mercy meant potentially more casualties on your own side.

　　After firing three shots, Qin Yu didn’t look anywhere else — he just ducked down.

　　”Bang bang bang…!”

　　Sure enough, a volley of bullets came through, sending chunks of wall flying in all directions. Qin Yu tracked the sound to locate the shooters, leaned his body forward in a crouch, and fired two shots toward the outside in a flash — but missed. On top of that, the other two gunmen reacted quickly and were clearly well-trained: one provided cover while the other kicked open a window and slipped out.

　　They didn’t go through the door because they had no way of knowing whether police were waiting outside to close in, whereas the window offered an element of surprise.

　　Seeing the two men flee, Qin Yu didn’t bother chasing them. He held the gun and ran up the stairs toward the second floor.

　　In the main hall, Lao San sat on the floor with his left hand pressed against his backside, staring in stunned disbelief at Qin Yu — who hadn’t even blinked before choosing to kill — looking completely dumbfounded.

　　”Holy shit, is Xiao Qin always this ruthless?” Lao Mao cried out as he scrambled to his feet, shouting at Lao San and the others, “Go after him, help Xiao Qin — he’s on his own.”

　　Lao San shot him a sideways glare, ready to burst with rage. He felt like his rotten luck had everything to do with this Li Fugui — nothing good ever happened whenever this guy was around.

　　……

　　Second floor.

　　Qin Yu ran toward the back door and glanced down through the window. Through the glass, he could see the short middle-aged man dragging the girl across the street and ducking into an alley in a cluster of old buildings on the other side.

　　After a moment’s deliberation, Qin Yu gritted his teeth and muttered, “Damn it, no backup? There’s only one of them left — worth a shot!”

　　”Clang!”

　　Qin Yu threw open the window, and with cold wind rushing in, leapt out.

　　After landing, Qin Yu pushed his body to the speed it was capable of — crossing the road in under three seconds — and positioned himself alone at the entrance of the alley, raising the gun slightly and pulling the trigger.

　　”Bang bang!”

　　Two shots rang out.

　　Not far away, the short middle-aged man heard the gunfire and immediately pulled the girl to the side of the alley wall, standing in the shadows with a deep frown.

　　”Hey, from the unplanned zone?” Qin Yu called out.

　　The short middle-aged man checked his weapon and replied in halting Mandarin, “Yeah. People are starving out there on the roads outside the city, so we came in to find something to eat. Where did you pick up our trail?”

　　”Didn’t pick up anything — we just stumbled into this,” Qin Yu answered honestly.

　　”Can you look the other way? I’ve got cash in my bag. Say the word and it’s yours.” The short middle-aged man licked his lips.

　　Qin Yu blinked. “I get it — it’s rough out there on the roads. But I’m wearing this uniform, and I walked right into this situation, so I can’t just let it go. Keep the cash. Leave the person.”

　　The short middle-aged man’s eyes wavered. “I’ve also got a gold fish charm in my pocket. Let me take the person, and I’ll leave you the cash and the charm.”

　　”Can’t do it,” Qin Yu refused without hesitation.

　　”…Fine, I’ll leave the person.” The short middle-aged man hesitated, then reached out and gave the girl a shove. “Walk forward. Slow at first, then fast after three seconds. If you don’t listen, I’ll put a bullet in you.”

　　Qin Yu licked his lips and leaned forward to peer into the alley. “Come on over.”

　　After a moment’s hesitation, the girl immediately started walking forward, while the sound of footsteps inside the alley grew uneven.

　　Three seconds later, the girl quickened her pace.

　　Qin Yu hesitated briefly, then stepped into the alley and waved his hand. “Get over here, quick!”

　　The girl looked up at Qin Yu, her eyes urgent. “He didn’t leave.”

　　The words had barely fallen when the short middle-aged man stepped out of the shadows, raised his hand, and took aim at the alley entrance.

　　”Bang bang bang…!”

　　Rapid gunfire erupted in the darkness. The girl screamed in terror, covering her head with both hands and crouching down on the ground.

　　A second later, a dull thud echoed through the alley as the short middle-aged man hit the ground.

　　Qin Yu stood in front of the girl. Cautiously, he didn’t advance further into the alley — instead, he raised his arm and, without hesitation, fired two more shots into the gunman’s head.

　　”Ahh!”

　　The girl was still screaming with her hands over her ears.

　　Qin Yu ignored her, walked over to the short middle-aged man with gun in hand, and kicked him in the head. Only then did he glance at the graze wound on his own shoulder from a stray bullet. He let out a breath and muttered, “Slippery bastard — that was way too close.”

　　”Holy crap, he’s dead?!”

　　A familiar voice came from the alley entrance.

　　Qin Yu turned at the sound and saw Lao San standing alone under the dim light, hand pressed against his backside. “Where’s Lao Mao and the others?”

　　”They’re chasing on the other side — the gunfire got scattered and they went left.” Lao San caught his breath and looked back. “The gunman’s dead?”

　　Qin Yu blinked, walked over to Lao San, glanced around at the surroundings, then suddenly reached out with his left hand and yanked him into the alley.

　　”What the hell are you doing?” Lao San was confused.

　　”You want to go a round with me?!” Qin Yu suddenly asked, his face completely blank.

　　Lao San froze — only then did he remember that he’d come to the restaurant to deal with Qin Yu in the first place.

　　”You said you wanted to talk to me earlier. Talk then. Say it here.” Qin Yu narrowed his eyes and asked again.

　　”What are you getting at?”

　　Qin Yu raised his hand and pressed the gun against Lao San’s head. “CNM, have you ever been to the unplanned zone?! Military supply trucks passing through Sankazi and Yanwang Gorge — every last one of them has to get out and pay tribute just to get through. I fought my way out of there alone, and now you think you can lecture me on how things work? Huh?!”

　　Lao San froze.

　　”Bang!”

　　A single shot rang out, scaring the soul right out of him.

　　Seconds later, Lao San collapsed to the ground gasping, eyes wide as saucers.

　　Qin Yu tossed the gun onto Lao San’s chest. “From now on, dangerous jobs like this — we do them together. Don’t you dare mess with me. Otherwise next time I get scared, there’s no telling who this gun ends up pointed at.”

　　With that, Qin Yu walked over to the girl, looked down, and asked, “What kind of mess did you get yourself into, girl?”

　　……

　　An hour and a half later, inside the police department’s affiliated hospital.

　　Lao San lay on the operating table and answered a call. “Captain Yuan.”

　　”Where are you?” Yuan Ke’s voice was cool and flat.

　　”I’m at the hospital.”

　　”You ran into a case at the restaurant just now?” Yuan Ke asked again.

　　”Yeah.” Hearing this, Lao San immediately launched into a boastful account. “We were on a routine patrol and ran into a bunch of desperate criminals from outside the zone at Er Jie’s restaurant.

I spotted something was off right away and went up to do a check — next thing I know, they pulled guns on us. I could see this was a major case, so I led the team straight at them… heh, the main perp and accomplices were killed on the spot, but two got away. Doesn’t matter though — the district’s already issued orders to catch them… hehe, Captain Yuan, I just heard from the department that the main perp apparently goes by some name like Matsushita something…

he’s been flagged in the system for four years, got a bunch of killings on him… You’d say we brothers have got something going for us, right? Not only did we happen to run into him, we took him down on the spot and cracked a cold case in one shot. Captain Yuan, you’ve got to put in a good word for me with the commissioner — can an ordinary person catch a drifter like this? I’ve been a second-grade inspector for two years now, it’s time to move up. And since our unit cracked the case, that’s a win for the whole department!”

　　”A win my ass!”

　　”Captain Yuan, why are you cursing at me?”

　　”I’m cursing you out, you think your mom’s dead? I genuinely want to put a bullet in you…”

　　”???!” Lao San was stunned.

　　”CNM, Matsushita was brought in by my brother. The job was almost done, and you went and played the damn hero.” Yuan Ke ground out through clenched teeth. “You’re absolutely useless!”

　　”No, Captain Yuan… hear me out…” After a moment of total bewilderment, Lao San launched into a rambling explanation. “I was talking out of my ass just now, let me start over… what actually happened was, I went to go rough up Qin Yu, but then I ran into that idiot Lao Mao, and he said there was a case…”

　　”Beep beep!”

　　Yuan Ke had already hung up.