freenovelworld Chapter 776 Serving as an accomplice to a tyrant?
Chapter 776 Serving as an accomplice to a tyrant?
Inside the bungalow area, the operation was initially planned. Section Chief Liu, with his arms bound behind his back by two badge-wearing soldiers, showed no fear; instead, he stubbornly struggled and shouted:
"Do you know who I am? How dare you touch me? Do you know what my relationship is with Deputy Director Zhao of the Industrial Office? If you know what's good for you, release me right now! Otherwise, you'll be sorry!" His voice sounded particularly shrill in the silent night sky.
At this moment, another group of soldiers escorted over two elderly people, who were none other than Section Chief Liu's parents. Seeing that his parents had also been detained, Liu Shicai not only did not calm down, but became even more agitated, spitting as he spoke:
"Let go of my parents! They know nothing! Come at me if you dare! I'm telling you, this isn't over! This is illegal detention! I'm going to report this to my superiors! You'll regret it!"
A badged soldier strode up to Sergeant Cheng, saluted, and reported: "Report! The search of the house is complete. Three people have been apprehended, confirmed to be Liu Shicai and his parents. However, according to intelligence, his wife should also be here, but she has not been found yet."
Chief Cheng's cold gaze turned to Liu Shicai, who was still shouting: "Liu Shicai, where is your wife? Where is she?"
Upon hearing this, a fleeting hint of panic crossed Liu Shicai's face, but it was immediately masked by an even stronger arrogance: "My wife? She went back to her parents' home! What? Arresting me isn't enough, you want to arrest my wife too? What right do you have!"
Chief of the Guards simply watched the clown's performance with indifference.
Just then, two soldiers carefully dug out the gold ingots, which gleamed alluringly in the moonlight but were stained with filth, from a shallow pit next to the latrine with tools, and threw them onto the open ground in front of Liu Shicai with a clang.
It was dazzling and undeniably golden.
Liu Shicai's shouting stopped abruptly, but only for a moment. The color drained from his face and was replaced by an even more frantic and hysterical expression!
"Mine! That's mine!"
He struggled violently, his voice shrill and distorted with extreme agitation and anger, spitting as he shouted, "That's my hard-earned property! What right do you have to touch my things?! This is robbery! You're bandits!"
Chief Guard Cheng continued to frown, staring at him coldly.
The man's eyes were bloodshot and bulging, staring intently at the gold ingots, his face filled with greed.
"You bastards! Do you know who I am?! Deputy Director Zhao of the Industrial Office is my cousin!" He roared incoherently, his previous arrogance not only not diminishing, but intensifying, trying to cover up his inner panic and despair with a louder voice and more absurd reasons.
"You dare touch my stuff? I'll make you regret it! I'll skin you alive! Let me go! That's my money!"
Chief of the guards impatiently interrupted his shouting: "Liu Shicai, I'll ask you one more time! Where is your wife?!"
Liu Shicai struggled for a long time, but he was exhausted from making a fuss. Upon hearing this, he bit his lip tightly, turned his head to the side, and kept his mouth shut, making a final, futile resistance with silence.
Upon seeing this, Chief Guard Cheng sneered with disdain: "Hmph, she may run away, but she can't hide. It's only a matter of time before we find her."
"As for your mouth, there are comrades who can pry it open."
He ignored Liu Shicai, turned around and signaled the soldiers to take the man away, and began a thorough search of the house with Yan the scout.
Well, unfortunately, the device on that idiot can't pinpoint the exact coordinates; it can only give a rough estimate. However, knowing that the object is inside the house is already quite good; it's definitely a huge improvement.
The room was simply furnished. The two men carefully examined the floor, walls, cabinets, and even lifted the straw mat on the kang (heated brick bed) to check, but found no other hidden gold. Yan, the scout, finally focused his gaze on the earthen kang, a common feature in northern China. He tapped the surface, producing a dull, solid sound, and frowned, muttering, "Sergeant, do you think... this guy might have hidden something in the kang's firebox?"
Just as he was pondering whether he should find tools to dismantle and inspect it...
Suddenly, a series of rapid knocking sounds came from the radio behind me.
"Huh? A warning? Is it a signal from Wang Kui's end?"
"An uninvited guest?"
The two quickly spread out, just as the angry shouts of the guards outside rang out: "Halt! Don't move!"
"Stop them!"
"What's going on?" Captain Cheng frowned, his sharp gaze instantly turning towards the direction from which the commotion was coming. Under the moonlight, he saw several figures frantically fleeing towards the wasteland surrounding the bungalows, their movements chaotic, clearly indicating they were not well-trained individuals.
"Those guys outside, are they Liu's accomplices? Are there any who escaped? What's going on?!"
Detective Yan scanned the direction the group had fled, his gaze settling on a patch of overgrown weeds. The spot was about twenty paces from the yard, hidden behind a few dead trees. The pit was completely covered with dry grass and loose soil, the soil color blending seamlessly with the surrounding wasteland, and even the movement of the grass in the wind was no different from anywhere else.
If you hadn't just seen someone crawl out from there, anyone passing by at night would have just thought it was an ordinary patch of weeds and would never have guessed that there was a hiding place underneath.
"Damn it," Detective Yan cursed under his breath, his tone tinged with resentment and self-reproach, "This rat hole is dug in such a cunning way! Choosing such a secluded corner, using the shadows and weeds for cover, in the dark, you really couldn't spot it at a glance!"
Chief of the Guards' face darkened, his tone filled with deep self-reproach: "Our tactical reconnaissance was flawed! We only focused on the visible buildings and people, and failed to adequately assess the potential threats to the surrounding environment."
"They were just saying we were professionals, and now they've already been proven wrong. It seems that a few years of peaceful living have dulled their vigilance!"
“Indeed,” Detective Yan nodded with a similarly grave expression, “Although the operation was launched on short notice, that’s no excuse. Our awareness of the enemy situation wasn’t strong enough, and the search wasn’t thorough enough, allowing these few scoundrels to slip through. It’s our dereliction of duty!”
Despite their frustration, the two men had absolute confidence in their headquarters and the capabilities of their comrades at IDCPC, and did not take the fleeing figures in a panic too seriously.
If you hide well and aren't discovered, it just means the Dragon Tiger Guards' professional skills have declined. But if you show your face and try to escape?
Tsk, even if Little Grey's great-grandmother comes, he can't escape!
Seeing that the commotion was far away from the armored vehicle and Jiang Xia's location, the two stopped paying too much attention and began to discuss how to dismantle the kang (a heated brick bed).
"boom!"
A sudden, muffled gunshot rang out from outside!
The sound was not the crisp crack of a standard rifle, but the deep, resonant boom unique to old-fashioned black powder guns!
"Not good!" Chief Guard Cheng's expression changed, and he instantly drew his pistol and rushed out of the room!
On the edge of the bungalow area, near the dirt road close to the wasteland, several soldiers had formed a semi-circle around a group of people. In the middle of the circle were three men wearing mink coats with fierce expressions, clutching several homemade gunpowder guns of varying lengths, the barrels still covered with black powder residue.
"You little bastards who sprang from the grass! Get the hell out of here! Don't even try! If you dare take another step forward, I'll smash your head open! Open your eyes wide! We might as well all die here!"
As he spoke, one of the leaders, a burly man with a hideous scar on his face, pressed the reloaded muzzle of his musket firmly against the temple of a middle-aged woman they were holding hostage!
The gun barrel, still hot from being fired, hissed and steamed at the woman's temples, causing her to wince in pain.
"Liu the Scarface! You worthless bastard!" The woman was in so much pain that tears were welling up in her eyes, which were wide open in disbelief.
"How dare you!" she said, and with her other hand she suddenly scratched Liu Daba's face.
Before his hand could even touch anyone, it was violently struck down by Liu Daba's accomplice with the barrel of a gun. With a "smack," his hand fell limply to the ground.
"what…………"
The woman cried out in pain, but the sound was immediately swallowed back into her mouth by another person who grabbed a handful of snow mixed with mud from the ground.
The woman could only whimper.
Liu Daba seemed to be further agitated by the woman's struggles and whimpers, and he reversed the butt of his gun and struck the woman hard on the back of the neck.
The woman was struck so hard that her eyes rolled back and her body went limp, collapsing like a noodle. She was only kept from falling by Liu Daba's iron-like arms.
Liu the Scarface used the limp woman as a shield, tightly choking her in front of him, and roared wildly at the surrounding soldiers, spewing coded language:
"Get the hell out of my way! You hear me?! If you take another step forward, I'll burn this woman alive! We'll go our separate ways, and nobody's going to be happy!"