Chapter 94

Liu Handong took the stun gun, pressed the switch, and blue sparks crackled.

"Be careful not to use up all the electricity," Xiaofang said, then lay down on the seat and closed his eyes to rest.

Twenty minutes later, the vehicle arrived at a residential area in the city. This was an old neighborhood built in the 1980s, with no property management. In such places, utilities like water, electricity, and gas were checked and recorded by company staff who came to the door.

It was rush hour, and the neighborhood was filled with parked cars. Many residents were walking their cats and dogs, creating a lively atmosphere. The drug squad's cars stopped near the central flower bed, with the two vehicles parked far apart. The plainclothes police got out of the cars as if nothing was happening and dispersed.

Xiaofang led Liu Handong to a building at the edge of the neighborhood, right next to a smelly river.

"Stay here and keep watch," Xiaofang said, handing Liu Handong a walkie-talkie, then turned and left.

Liu Handong was not happy about being assigned to the outer perimeter, but he knew better. Drug enforcement was not simple, and as a newcomer, he had to start as an apprentice. If he wanted to be a frontline officer instead of a support role, he had to show his skills.

Liu Handong put on the air tube earphones and heard Captain Geng's deployment orders. They spoke in code. The team was already going up to "check the meters." It wouldn't take long to finish. Bored, he lit a cigarette and thought about asking Ma Ling out for the evening, hoping to make a move.

Suddenly, a loud noise came from a distance. The air conditioner unit on the second floor of a residential building fell to the ground. A person's upper body appeared at the sixth-floor window, holding a gun. It was Xiaofang. Without hesitation, he climbed out of the window and started to climb down the drainpipe and the window grilles below, moving nimbly.

Liu Handong threw his cigarette and rushed over. He knew the criminal had escaped. From the way he was moving, it was clear he was skilled.

Sure enough, a medium-built, muscular man ran towards him. The path was full of obstacles—parked cars, electric scooters, street vendor carts, elderly people playing chess, and women pushing strollers. The man moved with incredible agility, running without stopping and not hitting anything. A car suddenly swerved out, unable to brake in time, but the man did a perfect forward flip and leaped over it.

A parkour expert!

Liu Handong knew he couldn't catch up, so he decided to surprise him. He quickly hid behind a car and, when the man ran past, suddenly pounced, knocking him to the ground.

The man reacted quickly, curling his body and kicking out with his knees in a powerful move. Liu Handong, hit in the chest and abdomen, staggered back, feeling his blood boil and almost spitting out a mouthful of blood.

The man didn't stay to fight. He did a quick somersault and continued to run. The two-meter-high wall was no obstacle for him. He ran up to it, kicked off the wall, and leaped over it.

"Damn, he's like Yan Qingyu!" Liu Handong cursed. This was a character from an anti-Japanese spy drama, "The Unparalleled Patriot," which was currently being broadcast on major TV channels, bombarding viewers' visual nerves. Even Liu Handong, who didn't watch TV, knew about this character.

Liu Handong's competitive spirit was ignited, and he chased after the man. He was tall and could easily grab the top of the wall. Modern neighborhoods had electronic fences, but this old neighborhood still had glass shards for security. Liu Handong's hands were immediately cut, but he ignored the pain and climbed up. When he jumped down, he almost sprained his ankle, making him so angry that his eyes turned red.

The parkour expert jumped into the smelly river, an uncovered sewer filled with all sorts of filth—foam, algae, garbage, and drink bottles. The water was deep green and only reached the waist, but the bottom was thick with mud, making it impossible to walk. The man simply swam with his hands, moving forward in a frog kick.

Liu Handong was a few seconds behind. By the time he reached the riverbank, the man was almost ashore. If he got into the shantytown on the other side, he would be impossible to catch! Liu Handong thought and ran a few steps, diving into the smelly river in a standard swimming dive.

The crowd on both banks gasped in amazement.

Xiaofang also chased over. He was not as impulsive as Liu Handong. Seeing the glass shards on the wall, he quickly took off his jacket, wrapped it around his hands, and then jumped up. Just as he was about to jump over the wall, he saw Liu Handong dive into the smelly river and couldn't help but exclaim, "Damn!"

The smelly river was not wide, and the parkour expert was already ashore, stepping through the mud. He was drenched and stank, with mud all over his hands and feet. He kicked off his shoes and continued running in his socks.

Liu Handong's leap had shortened the distance, but he was still a step behind. When he got ashore, he also kicked off his shoes and ran barefoot.

On the other side of the smelly river was an old shantytown with low, flat houses and narrow, maze-like alleys. The parkour expert, unfamiliar with the area, jumped onto a roof and ran along the ridge, breaking tiles and scaring off sunbathing stray cats.

It was dinnertime, and the residents of the shantytown were startled and came out to watch. They saw two drenched men chasing each other on the roofs and started cursing, even throwing things at them.

Liu Handong was frustrated. Police officers were usually impressive and dignified, but he, on his first drug enforcement case, was covered in filth and being pelted with rotten eggs and vegetables. It was utterly embarrassing.

The parkour expert had excellent stamina, clearly trained in parkour. His movements were incredibly agile, and he was not a bulky, muscular man. Liu Handong, with his military-trained endurance and physique, couldn't catch up.

But he gritted his teeth and kept chasing, just to prove himself!

The distance grew, and suddenly the parkour expert slipped and fell through the roof of an old, dilapidated house.

Liu Handong was delighted, "Fall and die, you bastard!" He sped up, seeing the man run out of the yard and head for the street, limping and clearly injured, his speed noticeably slower.

He continued to chase, and the street was just ahead, bustling with traffic. The parkour expert ran across the fast lane, causing cars to screech to a halt and honk furiously. He raised his hand to signal the cars to stop and looked back to check his pursuers. Suddenly, a man jumped out of a stopped car and tackled him to the ground.

Liu Handong was relieved. Reinforcements had arrived, and it was Xiaofang who had tackled the drug dealer. The kid was smart. But with his build, he might not be able to handle the parkour expert, so Liu Handong had to help.

It was only a dozen meters from the roadside to the scene, but those dozen meters felt like a life-and-death challenge.

Another police officer got out of the car, helping to hold down the parkour expert. He pulled out handcuffs from his belt, grabbed one of the drug dealer's wrists, and the situation was under control. Liu Handong, panting and slowing down, was just about to reach them when he saw a strange smile on the drug dealer's face. In his other hand, he held a small, oval, grass-green grenade!

A grenade can't be pulled with one hand. The drug dealer brought it to his mouth and bit off the pin, then calmly opened his hand.

Xiaofang and his colleague saw the grenade at the same moment, but it was too late.

The pin was pulled, the handle released, and the American Army standard grenade would explode in a few seconds. This was a busy street with heavy traffic, and the consequences would be catastrophic!

In that moment of life and death, a foot stepped on the grenade. It was Liu Handong. He quickly bent down, picked up the grenade, and rolled on the ground, pressing it under his body.

Everyone screamed in horror. Xiaofang and his colleague closed their eyes. In that split second, Liu Handong would be torn apart, but his sacrifice would minimize the casualties.

Time seemed to freeze, and the air stopped moving. Everyone could hear the ticking of the seconds. One second, two seconds, three seconds passed, and the grenade still didn't explode. Liu Handong slowly got up, raised his right hand, and held a grenade without a pin but with the handle still tightly gripped, preventing it from exploding.

Despair flashed in the drug dealer's eyes. The pin was still in his hand. Xiaofang quickly drew his gun, reversed the grip, and struck the drug dealer's head. The drug dealer's head tilted, and he forced a mouthful of spit, spitting out the metal pin, which rolled a few times on the ground and fell into a nearby sewer.

A colleague pulled out the stun gun and zapped the drug dealer's neck, finally subduing him. They handcuffed his hands behind his back and, for extra security, cuffed his feet as well.

Sirens wailed, and a van pulled up. Captain Geng jumped out, his expression extremely serious. "What happened? You couldn't even catch one person?"

Xiaofang put his gun back in the holster and said, "We caught him and seized a fun toy. It's in the hands of the new guy."

Liu Handong proudly showed Captain Geng the grenade.

"Damn!" Captain Geng pulled Liu Handong into the car, sat in the driver's seat, and stepped on the gas. The car roared to life and sped off. He gripped the steering wheel and glanced at Liu Handong in the rearview mirror, warning, "Hold on tight, don't let go."

Liu Handong smiled nonchalantly, "Don't worry." In reality, his legs were stiff, and his underwear was soaked.

The car drove away, and two people got out of the van. One held a camera, and the other held a microphone, filming the scene. Xiaofang shouted, "Don't panic, everyone. We're filming a TV show. It's just a simulation exercise."

The crowd was skeptical but dispersed under the urging of the traffic police. The drug squad officers escorted the prisoner and continued their mission.

Liu Handong sprawled in the back seat of the car, one hand holding the grenade, the other reaching for a cigarette box, but the cigarettes were soaked with the smelly water.

"Captain Geng, give me a cigarette," Liu Handong said casually.

Without turning his head, Captain Geng tossed him a pack of soft Zhonghua.

Liu Handong took one, but his lighter was wet and wouldn't light. Captain Geng threw him a Zippo, and Liu Handong lit it, took a deep puff, and casually put the lighter in his pocket.

Captain Geng was on the phone, "Old Li, notify the city bomb squad to be ready. We're on our way."

The other end probably asked a question, and Captain Geng replied, "American M67 grenade, no pin, in the hands of a rookie, sitting in the back of my car."