Chapter 7

As the sky began to lighten, Ma Guoqing's stomach ached severely. He sat in a chair, pressing a teacup against his stomach, drenched in cold sweat. He hadn't slept all night, having come from Iron Slag Street to handle another case. A BMW driver had been caught driving under the influence and had verbally abused the traffic police. Even the usually good-natured Ma Guoqing couldn't stand it and directly handcuffed the driver, locking him in the detention room.

Around six o'clock, the head of the station arrived and released the drunk driver, claiming that the wrong person had been arrested. The actual driver had already turned himself in.

The drunk driver was a young man in his early twenties, with a golden Hermès belt buckle. He swaggered out of the detention room and flipped Ma Guoqing the middle finger.

Ma Guoqing had seen this kind of thing many times. The drunk driver clearly had connections, and the head of the station was under immense pressure from above. Normally, he would have let it go, but thinking of the cancer diagnosis in his pocket, Ma Guoqing's courage suddenly grew. He pushed the drunk driver back into the detention room and shouted, "Don't think you can escape punishment just by finding someone to take the blame."

The drunk driver flew into a rage: "F*ck, try touching me again, and I'll make sure you're dead!"

Ma Guoqing swung a punch.

The deputy head of the station quickly held him back: "Old Ma, don't be impulsive. Come with me, I have something to tell you." He dragged Ma Guoqing aside and whispered, "Just let it go. The traffic police have already covered it up. This guy has a lot of connections; we can't afford to provoke him."

Ma Guoqing, still seething with anger, said, "Is there no law left?"

The deputy head replied, "There's a higher power watching over us. By the way, Old Ma, I have something to tell you. In this round of comprehensive evaluations, your score was the lowest..."

Ma Guoqing slumped into a chair, not even noticing when the deputy head left. He had worked as a police officer for half his life, and now he was deemed unqualified in the comprehensive evaluation. He wondered if there was any justice in the world and what he had done wrong.

The drunk driver was eventually released, picked up by a luxury Bentley. Ma Guoqing took out his diagnosis and looked at it, the oath he had taken when he joined the police force echoing in his ears. He shed a tear.

"All my life, my biggest flaw has been being a good guy, not offending anyone. My colleagues from the same batch are now captains, and I'm still a frontline officer. Why? Because I have a conscience but no courage. Since I'm about to die, what do I have to fear?"

Ma Guoqing made up his mind to make the drunk driver's life miserable, even if it meant taking the case all the way to the Political and Legal Affairs Commission.

His colleagues gradually came to work, and the instructor held a meeting to issue a bulletin. A recent kidnapping had occurred, involving the only daughter of Xia Qingshi, the chairman of Qing Shi High-Tech, the largest taxpayer in the province. The kidnapper was a jobless youth named Liu Hane Dong. The area around Huahuo Police Station was densely populated with migrants, making it a likely hiding place for the criminals. Everyone was instructed to be vigilant during patrols.

Ma Guoqing, standing at the door, heard this and began to suspect. Last night, when they were checking the temporary residents at No. 108 Iron Slag Street, there were two people: a man named Da Dong and a woman named Xiao Fan, who fit the description in the bulletin.

The instructor continued, "Liu Hane Dong is a former soldier with excellent physical fitness. He even stole a police car the night before last. He is very dangerous. The victim is 14 years old and has a mental illness, possibly suffering from Stockholm Syndrome, which means she may have developed a dependency on the kidnapper. This point must be taken seriously."

The colleagues took notes, muttering that with Qing Shi High-Tech's billions in revenue, the kidnappers would likely demand a huge ransom.

Ma Guoqing returned to the office and searched for Liu Hane Dong's information on the police intranet. Liu Hane Dong was from Jiangbei, 27 years old, 1.82 meters tall, and had an eight-year military service record, including a third-class merit and a disciplinary record.

He then looked at Shu Fan's file. Since she was under 16, there were no photos on the intranet, but Ma Guoqing, based on his intuition, was certain that the mute girl he had seen last night was Shu Fan!

He shut down the computer, thought for a moment, and took a Type 54 pistol and eight rounds from the safe. The station's equipment was poor, with only three Type 64 pistols and one outdated Type 54. The officers usually didn't carry guns, as they were more of a burden and dangerous to use. Losing a gun would be a major problem.

Ma Guoqing, as the station's firearms manager and one of the qualified officers to carry a gun, was allowed to take it home, though he had never done so before. This was the first time.

The heavy pistol in his waistband seemed to ease his stomach pain. Ma Guoqing changed into civilian clothes and went home. His home was in Huanghua Community, across the river from Iron Slag Street. It was a 15-year-old building, which he had bought for 800 yuan per square meter and was now worth 5,000 yuan.

His wife was out buying groceries, and his daughter was at work. The family photo on the table showed a happy family. Ma Guoqing picked up the frame and wiped it, saying to himself, "Wife, I've been a wimp all my life, but it's time to stand up. Daughter, forgive your father; I won't be around to see your wedding day."

In the kitchen, his wife had prepared breakfast. Ma Guoqing, enduring his stomach pain, ate and then left with the gun.

...

Early in the morning, Liu Hane Dong knocked on the door of Room 202. Zhu Xiaoqiang, still half-asleep, heard that Xiao Fan wanted to borrow the computer and quickly got up to open the door.

Xiao Fan went online and received an email, beaming with joy. She pointed to the screen for Liu Hane Dong to see. His English was good enough to understand that it was a reply from the Memphis Police Department, stating that the situation had been relayed to her father.

This girl was indeed smart. Knowing that the people around her father were unreliable, she had the police relay the message to him. At 14 or 15, she could write a clear English letter and find the Memphis Police Department's email, showing a high level of computer and English skills.

Liu Hane Dong felt relieved that Xiao Fan's family knew what was happening and would take action immediately. However, he couldn't let his guard down; the bad guys could appear at any time.

The biggest problem now was the lack of money. Without money, they couldn't survive or conduct investigations. Liu Hane Dong decided to find a job to earn some money. At that moment, Zhang Dajie and her husband Wang Zhigang came over to thank him. Wang Zhigang, now sober and reformed, heard that Liu Hane Dong was looking for work and patted his chest, saying, "Leave it to me, brother."

Wang Zhigang drove a disabled person's vehicle and helped people move goods at a small commodity market. This place was always short of labor. Liu Hane Dong and Xiao Fan rode in his vehicle and quickly found work unloading goods from a truck and moving them to a warehouse on the third floor.

There was no forklift or elevator, so everything had to be done by hand. The goods were ten tons of carbonated drinks, each 24 bottles wrapped in heat-shrink plastic. Liu Hane Dong and three others worked tirelessly, sweating profusely under the scorching sun. Liu Hane Dong, taking off his sweatshirt, revealed a well-built, bronze-colored physique, moving swiftly up and down the stairs.

Xiao Fan sat on a pile of goods, her white legs swinging as she watched Liu Hane Dong work.

After half an hour, they had only moved a small portion of the goods. The small boss called for a break and offered cigarettes to the workers. Xiao Fan, from somewhere, brought a bottle of chilled Fanta and handed it to Liu Hane Dong, then tiptoed to wipe his sweat with a handkerchief.

"Hey, your little wife really cares about you," a crude worker joked.

"Sh*t, she's my sister," Liu Hane Dong cursed, gesturing for Xiao Fan to drink first.

Xiao Fan took a few sips and passed the bottle to Liu Hane Dong, who drank greedily, leaving a small amount for her.

"Hey, let's get back to work," the small boss clapped his hands, and they continued to work hard, finally moving the ten tons of drinks into the warehouse. The small boss gave each of them a hundred yuan.

Liu Hane Dong, holding the money, said, "We have money now, let's go to the supermarket."

Xiao Fan was delighted, skipping along happily.

Just then, Wang Zhigang was heading home for lunch, and the two of them rode in his disabled vehicle to a nearby RT-Mart supermarket. On the way from the underground parking lot to the supermarket, they saw seven or eight cars stuck in traffic, honking impatiently. At the front was a white Range Rover Evoque, trying to reverse into a tight spot. The driver, a young woman, was struggling to park the wide vehicle.

Wang Zhigang, stuck in the garage, honked in frustration, muttering, "It must be a woman driving."

Liu Hane Dong got out of the car and saw the young woman, flustered and sweating.

"I'll help you," Liu Hane Dong said.

To his surprise, the woman got out and said, "Just park it for me, thanks."

Liu Hane Dong didn't refuse. He got into the car, put it in reverse, and with a quick turn of the steering wheel, the Range Rover Evoque smoothly backed into the spot, the entire process taking no more than three seconds.

The young woman's mouth dropped open, and she murmured, "So cool."

Liu Hane Dong got out of the car and started to walk away. The young woman, coming to her senses, pulled out her wallet from her Gucci bag and called out, "Hey, I haven't thanked you yet."

Liu Hane Dong, without turning back, waved his hand. Xiao Fan ran up to him, linked her arm with his, and they walked away together.

"Even the way he walks is so cool," the young woman said, still in a daze.

At RT-Mart, the shelves were filled with a dazzling array of goods. Xiao Fan pushed the shopping cart, running ahead. She saw 750ml bottles of Paris mineral water and habitually took two, but then checked the price, stuck out her tongue, and replaced them with Kunlun Mountain mineral water.

Liu Hane Dong walked over and, seeing the 5.6 yuan per bottle price of Kunlun Mountain mineral water, pretended to be angry: "Buy this and you might as well drink tap water. Spoiled brat."

Xiao Fan pouted, on the verge of tears.

Liu Hane Dong said, "You dare to cry after doing something wrong? We only have 100 yuan, so we need to be careful with our spending, got it?"

Xiao Fan nodded and put the Kunlun Mountain mineral water back. She pushed the cart to the rice and flour section, weighed ten pounds of discounted rice, took a few packs of dragon beard noodles, and some plastic-bagged soy sauce and vinegar. The most luxurious item in the cart was a bottle of Lao Gan Ma chili oil, priced at 8.5 yuan.

After buying the items, they left RT-Mart and walked down the street. A white Range Rover Evoque slowly approached from behind, the window lowering. The young woman cheerfully said, "Hey, what a coincidence, where are you going?"

...