/
Ch1 - Case
The winter winds were bitingly cold in Beijing, especially out in the suburbs where breath became icy mist the moment it mingled with air. In the dead of night, at those ungodly hours when even owls stayed home, a faint rustling noise disturbed the eerie silence. A dark silhouette nimbly wove through the pitch-black forest and slipped into the small courtyard of a rural residence.
The chill air enveloping the figure was swiftly dispersed by the warmth of a charcoal fire. Upon his entrance, a young man in a winter-weather police uniform stood up and greeted quietly, “Captain Liang.”
Liang Feng plucked off his padded cap and scanned the room before asking, ”Where’s Chief Zheng?”
“Further inside, talking with Captain Zhang.”
Liang Feng nodded and strode deeper into the house.
He pushed open the door and was assaulted with the acrid stench of cigarette smoke. There were several policemen, bundled up in heavy overcoats on account of the shoddy heating system, sitting around a slapdash conference table pieced from miscellaneous furniture. They all looked up vigilantly when they heard the door creak, except for the man seated in the middle, who didn’t even spare him a glance. Liang Feng’s anger blazed as he planted himself before the conference table and stiffly asked, “Chief Zheng, you were looking for me?”
His tone was confrontational. The man at the head of the table waved the others away, “You guys go on and prepare first, we move in a few hours!”
Chairs scraped and clattered as his colleagues stood up and filed out until the room was empty save for two. Chief Zheng gestured at a chair, “Lad, take a seat first.“
Liang Feng didn’t move, “Chief Zheng, I know what you want to say. I can’t agree.”
Seeming to have expected that answer, Chief Zheng sighed wearily and crushed his cigarette out in an ashtray, “Lad, the plan for this operation is just about finalized. Your squad’s been tailing the suspects for a while already, but we’re at a critical juncture now, and it’s about time to change hands.”
“Change hands?” Liang Feng sneered sarcastically, “I never knew our bureau had a habit of swapping generals mid-battle. Do Zhang Liang and Deng Tao really understand the situation? Do they know what’s keeping those criminals banded together? My squad’s been keeping tabs on them for half a month now, all for this day! This is serious, Chief Zheng.”
Chief Zheng’s expression became more anxious, his fidgeting fingers rapped loudly on the wooden tabletop, “Liang Feng, these are orders!”
“Bullshit orders!” Liang Feng took a sudden step forward and pressed his hands against the table, “It doesn’t matter which desk jockey stuck their nose in, but they don’t know what they’re doing here! Chief Zheng, this is the biggest case our sub-bureau’s gotten this year. That inane order could ruin everything!”
His words had jabbed Chief Zheng right in the sore spot. His fingers froze and curled up in agitation. All too familiar with his superior’s temperament, Liang Feng’s eyes brightened as he pressed his advantage, “A life is a life, mine’s not more valuable than anyone else’s. Chief Zheng, you know me, I’ve been in the force for eight years, you’ve watched me get this far step by step, what danger haven’t I faced before already? There’s no reason to disrupt the operation just because someone decided to shoot their mouth off – this is our last chance!”
Outside, the northern winds roared up again, sending the old shutters banging against the house. After half a minute of silence, Chief Zheng finally sighed and conceded, “Lad you’d better keep your eye on the ball, you can’t afford to make any mistakes!”
Liang Feng grinned as he affirmed, “Rest assured sir!”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Aera akfcas vjsr qglbg, jc jgwfv gbyyfgs tjv bmmeggfv ja bcf bo atf cjalbcji yjcx’r reyrlvljgs ygjcmtfr lc atf bearxlgar bo Dflplcu. Mlnf mglwlcjir tjv ygbxfc lcab atf njeiar, rabifc wliilbcr bo vbiijgr kbgat bo mjrt jcv ubiv atja kfgf lc atf qgbmfrr bo yflcu agjcrofggfv, xliifv akb jcv rfnfgfis kbecvfv rfnfc batfgr. Ktf mglwlcjir’ qgfmlrlbc jcv ygeajilas tjv ifoa ofk agjlir ab obiibk jcv tjv lcrajcais jaagjmafv atf jaafcalbc bo atf yegfje’r tlutfg-eqr. Oljcu Mfcu tjv ubaafc lcnbinfv lc atf mjrf yfmjerf tf kjr qjga bo atf kfra qgfmlcma’r mglwlcji lcnfralujalbc yegfje, ktlmt kjr gfrqbcrlyif obg atf jvwlclragjalnf gfulbc atja atf lcmlvfca tjv bmmeggfv. Coafg cfjgis j wbcat’r kbgat bo jgveber lcnfralujalbc, atfs’v olcjiis qlccfv vbkc atf ibmjalbc bo atflg mbcclnlcu rerqfmar.
They acted on the information as soon as it was confirmed, surreptitiously surrounding the trafficker’s location and getting ready to close in. After having persisted for such a long time, it was finally the moment for Liang Feng’s unit to shine. But who knew that at the last minute, they’d be cut out of the operation by orders dropping in from above. To add insult to injury, he couldn’t even cuss out the person who’d instigated it all.
That person was his second uncle, who’d personally paid a visit to Bureau Chief Yan.
Liang Feng, as someone who’d come from a model upper-crust family that’d produced two generals and four high-ranking government officials, had surprised everybody when instead of choosing a career in politics, military, or business, decided to join the police force. That decision had greatly displeased his elders. Whether it was scandalous or not came second, the problem of safety was their number one headache. His family had stymied and obstructed him numerous times in hopes of pressuring him out of the force. But not only did he persevere, he’d even crawled up to the position of captain based on his own skill and grit.
With actual achievements under his belt, his elders had more or less gotten off his back. If he kept at it for a few more years and got promoted to chief or worked his way into the Ministry of Public Security, then his years of muddling around in the police scene would have amounted to something. However, tolerance didn’t signify acceptance, and even his most open-minded relatives couldn’t have imagined that Liang Feng would get involved in such a case.
How could they accept it?! Were armed criminals a joking matter?!
Their phone calls had gotten right to the head of the central office. It was only because Liang Feng had managed to hide it nearly up until the minute of mobilization, and had his superior’s support, that he’d managed to stay on the operation. Although, he knew that after this, he’d have a hard time getting involved in any more important cases.
“Captain Liang! Did we get the go?” someone asked, as he arrived at the ambush point.
Liang Feng grinned, “Course we did. Original plan, 3 AM, we enter from the west side.”
“Whew!” Ning Gang sighed heavily, “I thought we were gonna get elbowed out this time by those damn glory hounds from headquarters!”
Most of his coworkers didn’t know about his family background and thought that someone was trying to steal their credit. Liang Feng smiled but didn’t explain. He instructed, “This time the ringleader, Jiang Kunpeng, is a hardened criminal who’s got weapons and ammunition smuggled in from Russia. According to informants, they’ve even gotten some highly deadly stuff. We’re not clear if those are RPGs or bombs, so don’t let your guard down!”
“Relax boss, we’ve already gone over it a dozen times already!” His subordinates replied.
“There’s no such thing as too many times!” Liang Feng’s expression hardened, “Go over the plan again, make sure everyone’s on the same page!”
Everyone immediately sobered up. The case was a big one, so of course, it was shockingly dangerous. They were throwing all their personnel at it, so any mistakes would be disastrous. After carefully reviewing the operation, Liang Feng ordered them to do an equipment check.
Liang Feng’s phone suddenly started vibrating. He swept a glance at it and instantly hung up. However, the calls had no intention of stopping, arriving every half a minute, accompanied by a flurry of text messages. Liang Feng decided to just shut his phone off. Ning Gang tisked, “What, did all your flings decide to check in at once?”
Liang Feng had an air of being noble and upright and was a police officer to boot, but he was in truth a through and through playboy, a bonafide casanova. Everyone in the western branch, and even the main bureau, was well aware. Although at that moment, he wasn’t receiving any calls from women. Liang Feng yawned, “Jealous? I’ll introduce you to a few later.”
Having been poked fun at instead, Ning Gang’s face flushed, “Afraid I’ll have to pass, I’m taken already!”
The fact that Ning Gang’s wife had him totally whipped was also common knowledge. Muffled laughter sounded from the room inside, easing the tense atmosphere. Liang Feng smiled and waved, “I’m going for a smoke, you guys carry on.”
Liang Feng strode outside. The courtyard was dark and cold, unlit for safety’s sake. The only sound was the rustling of the forest. Standing in a corner shielded from the wind, Liang Feng lit a cigarette and took a deep draft. This time he’d poked too many hornet’s nests. Those calls he’d received were all from Uncle Wang, one of his grandfather’s close confidants. It seemed news had gotten all the way up to the top. Who knew which busybody decided to bring it up to the old man. He wouldn’t care if it were anyone else, but he’d been raised by his grandfather and didn’t want him to worry. Looked like his career as a police officer was just about coming to a head.
“Captain Liang.”
Someone spoke up suddenly from his side. Liang Feng looked over and found it was the guy on night patrol, xiao-Song. A newbie, who’d entered the force only half a year prior. In the old veterans’ eyes, his hairs hadn’t even grown in fully yet, and so they’d assigned him to patrol duty. When they moved out, he’d probably remain in the surrounding area. Still, his face was pale, his jaw was clenched, and his hand twitched intermittently as if to check whether his gun holster was still hanging there.
Liang Feng flicked his cigarette onto the floor, ground it out, then grinned, “Nervous?”
His thoughts seen through at a glance, xiao-Song immediately shook his head, “No, I’m just
..”
Ignoring the lad’s weak protest, Liang Feng asked, “Have a girlfriend?”
Xiao-Song blanked at the question, mumbling a bit before answering, “I, I dated someone before, but it didn’t work out
.”
“This is just the same as picking up women, practice makes perfect. If you chicken out at the door, you’ll probably be rubbing it out for a lifetime. Buck up! You’ve got to have the moves and they’ve got to be fast, but most importantly they’ve got to be good.” Liang Feng smirked as he threw out an innuendo.
Xiao-Song’s face instantly turned into a tomato, but he wound down significantly. He bit his lips and mumbled, “You guys be careful too Captain Liang
.”
“Enough of that, it’s nothing you need to be worrying about.” Liang Feng casually patted his head, “Do your patrol. We’ll be moving out in a while.”
Liang Feng looked up at the sky. The night was dark as ever, the light of the moon and stars faint, the silence haunting. The slight cheer that had been built up earlier disappeared without a trace. He turned and headed back inside.
One hour later.
Numerous footsteps clattered within the alleyway. Soon after, a loud bang broke through the still night. A thick door was smashed open by a battering ram and swung inwards. The dogs in the village began to bark. In the chaotic clamor, three squads simultaneously charged into a small courtyard. The sound of gunfire suddenly rang out.
One, two, three 
 even in the dim light, with bullets flying past his ear, Liang Feng was still keeping a headcount. Five criminals plus two henchmen that hadn’t participated in the bank heist made for a total of seven people. The building was two stories and had six rooms in total. They’d be in deep shit if they missed anyone.
Though, the cops weren’t paid for nothing. Breaking in and clearing both floors took only half a minute. By then, all seven people were already secured and on the floor. Ning Gang wiped the cold sweat off his forehead, and walked over to Liang Feng, “Boss, we’ve done it!”
The operation had gone more smoothly than expected. Liang Feng sighed lightly, standing up, “Check upstairs, make sure the cash and gold is all there.”
“Got it.” Ning Gang ran upstairs.
Liang Feng looked at the mess scattered about. The seven suspects had already been dragged out one by one. Most of them covered in blood, two were already dead. His gaze paused on one of the prone men. Wait a minute! That man hadn’t been included in their intelligence!
This was bad! Liang Feng’s heart skipped a beat as he immediately booked it. The layout of the building had already been confirmed and the second floor had already been swept twice by several squads, there was no way they could’ve missed anyone. If someone was hiding, the only place they could be in was a bunker that was left out of the blueprints! Just then when they were breaking in, he’d vaguely seen a small set of wooden doors, just around
 around the eastern side of the main hall!
“Captain Liang!”
Behind him, people had already begun shouting, but Liang Feng didn’t hear them. Outside the battered glass window, a vague figure was raising his arm, as if he were about to throw something. What was he holding? A bomb? A grenade?! If he managed to fling an explosive into the room, the situation would immediately take a turn for the worse. There were too many people gathered in the main hall. The lives of his squad members, the success of the operation
..
The wind rushed past his ears. He leaped out the window. The glass burst clamorously as Liang Feng crashed straight into the man, sending them both off balance and tumbling on the ground. A round metallic object fell out of his hand and rolled to the side.
It was a primed hand grenade!
Too late! Thank goodness!
Two thoughts simultaneously flashed by. There was no time to dodge, the grenade was already exploding in his face.
For a few moments, he was in immense pain, then his world was enveloped by black.
The author has something to say:
Ha ha ha, I bet everyone wasn’t expecting it to be young master Liang, eh? XD
Does everyone still remember this role model? =w=