Chapter 12 09

Chapter 12.09

Li Shang spun the car around, giving chase to the e-bike.

He Lin decided to get a clearer picture first, reconnecting to the radio channel: "What's going on over there?"

Lao Cai's voice crackled through: "This group tried to slip away, so we moved the operation up. We've got three accomplices, but the perimeter wasn't fully secured. The two main suspects climbed out a rear window and got away."

So, Li Shang hadn't been mistaken earlier.

He Lin glanced out the car window, understanding the problem.

Perhaps Captain Zheng's encirclement tactics worked in the city, but in this uneven, complex terrain, it was as leaky as a sieve.

Different arrest operations require different strategies based on the terrain. In a place like this, it would be considered urban combat in complex terrain. Simply put, their command was inadequate.

"Don't move!" A shout came from the walkie-talkie, along with some background noise. "Hurry! Hurry! They ran that way!"

Then, Captain Zheng's panting voice came through: "Captain He, rest assured, our people are already chasing them!"

He Lin replied, "Understood. We're in the vicinity and will see if we can assist."

The e-bike took two turns but remained within their sight.

The roads here were like a spiderweb—dense and intricate.

Many paths were barely wide enough for one car. Fortunately, at this time of day, there weren't many vehicles around. Li Shang drove fast, almost scraping the buildings as they passed.

As they continued the chase, they made another sharp turn.

"Slow down!" He Lin felt sweat soaking through his shirt. "We've already caught the accomplices. That should be enough for interrogation."

He Lin had previously thought Li Shang was level-headed, but he never expected him to drive so recklessly.

When Fang Jue was driving during chases, He Lin always felt he was too slow and wished he could take over himself. But with Li Shang, he just wanted him to take it easy.

"I'm being careful. It'll be fine," Li Shang replied confidently, his hands never stopping.

Easier said than done.

Speeding through a narrow, crowded area, the slightest mistake could lead to a collision.

He Lin's heart was in his throat for a full minute before he realized the police car wasn't just barreling ahead blindly. Li Shang had excellent vision. He kept an eye on the digital map while assessing the actual situation, calculating whether the gaps were wide enough for the car to pass through.

He paid attention to pedestrians and carefully avoided obstacles.

The key was that he remained unnervingly calm throughout all these maneuvers.

He Lin thought to himself that this person must be a veteran driver. This kind of keen situational awareness and coordination couldn't be developed overnight—it was the result of perfect hand-eye coordination.

He had only seen this kind of driving during SWAT arrest operations before.

But even realizing this, He Lin still felt his heart hammering.

Fortunately, under Li Shang's control, they were steadily gaining on the e-bike.

This chase finally seemed to be showing promise.

Just as they were only a few meters apart, the e-bike, having long realized it was being pursued, swerved into an even narrower alley.

The two vehicles narrowly missed each other again.

Li Shang didn't force it. Instead, he glanced at the map, turned the car around, and took a slightly wider route.

The e-bike vanished from sight ahead of them. Li Shang maintained his speed, and He Lin asked, "Can you determine their direction?"

Li Shang's expression was unusually serious as he replied with two simple words: "Pre-judgment."

Pre-judgment always involved predicting first and then judging. Before He Lin could even get a clear look at the map, Li Shang was already turning the steering wheel again. He wasn't even taking a straight path but rather a winding, complex route.

He Lin found it strange. The terrain in Bianyifang was complex, and it was their first time here. How could Li Shang be so sure which way the suspects would go? He asked, "Where are you heading now?"

Li Shang didn't answer. With a turn of the steering wheel, the car slipped through a narrow gap without a millimeter to spare.

He Lin was completely disoriented. While he was still trying to process it, Li Shang shouted to him, "Hold on tight!"

He Lin instinctively grabbed the handle to steady himself. The police car bumped down several steps of a staircase, then turned and came out sideways onto another road.

The car crossed an intersection and made a U-turn in the middle of the road.

Li Shang slammed on the brakes.

The tires screeched against the asphalt with a long, sharp sound.

The police car blocked off a section of the road and came to a steady stop.

In just those few short minutes, He Lin's back was soaked with sweat.

"Let's go," Li Shang said, unbuckling his seatbelt with a serious tone, as if he were the one leading the operation.

He Lin followed, stepping out of the car.

They were only out for questioning and had ended up assisting with the arrest, so naturally, neither of them was carrying a gun. He Lin pulled out an expandable baton and offered it to Li Shang: "Can you use this?"

Li Shang glanced at it: "Won't be necessary."

He Lin: "..."

Having a weapon was better than having nothing, especially for someone new to arrests—it could steady the nerves. But carrying it was indeed a bit cumbersome, so He Lin tossed the baton back into the car.

As they spoke, the e-bike came from the side, and the two vehicles found themselves face-to-face in a tight alleyway, blocked by the police car.

Li Shang's pre-judgment had been accurate.

Up close, He Lin finally got a clear look. The person riding in front was the man with the short, two-tone haircut, his limbs and face sun-darkened, yet a patch on his forehead remained pale.

The person on the back was a fair-skinned, slender man wearing glasses. These two were the main suspects the police had identified earlier.

He Lin remembered the files he'd seen: the two-tone haircut was named Fan Xiaozhuang, and the glasses-wearing man was Song Qing.

The e-bike stopped in the middle of a narrow path. It was too late for them to turn around.

He Lin shouted, "After them!"

Li Shang charged out right behind him.

The two men on the bike abandoned their vehicle and fled.

Having lived near Bianyifang for years, they were familiar with the area. They didn't run far before bolting up to the second story of one of the makeshift houses.

These were originally storefront spaces, with higher ceilings than typical residential buildings. The second floor was over five meters, nearly six meters, with residential units and platforms built on top. The structures were built close together, with many platforms close enough that daredevils could leap across them, making it a natural spot for parkour.

The two suspects, determined not to be caught, bolted ahead recklessly. To complicate the pursuit, they occasionally threw cardboard boxes and wooden planks backward and knocked over a bag of beans that had been drying on the rooftop.

He Lin had once excelled at the 400-meter obstacle course, and his skills were still sharp. These obstacles were nothing to him—he cleared them easily, tumbling to absorb the impact.

What surprised him was that Li Shang stayed right behind him, moving so lightly that he made almost no sound.

In no time, they had leaped across several platforms, chasing them over a hundred meters.

The two suspects reached a slightly larger platform where pigeons were kept. The birds burst into flight instantly, wings flapping.

Fan Xiaozhuang, bringing up the rear, spotted clotheslines and drying racks on the platform and flung them back to obstruct the chase.

He Lin paused mid-step, grabbed the rack to prevent the clothes from falling.

Li Shang leaned back, bending at the waist to dodge the oncoming clothesline wire.

After evading, he seamlessly switched to chasing Song Qing.

Seeing he was about to be caught, Song Qing ducked into a storage shed built on the rooftop. There was a window nearby; he clenched his fist and smashed it, shattering the glass.

Li Shang reacted swiftly, threw up an arm to protect his face and sidestepped to avoid the flying shards.

Song Qing grabbed a long, sharp piece of glass, wielding it like a weapon. He thrust it forward, shouting, "Stay the fuck back!"

Li Shang’s eyes went cold. Moving with lightning speed, he struck the hand holding the glass…

Meanwhile, He Lin reached Fan Xiaozhuang. Though slightly shorter than He Lin, Fan Xiaozhuang was bulkier. Putting all his force into it, he kicked toward He Lin.

He Lin dodged and reached out, appearing to block the attack but actually a feint to distract him.

Before Fan Xiaozhuang could react, He Lin grabbed his right wrist. Fan Xiaozhuang’s face twisted in pain as he tried to pull free, but his hand was trapped in a vise grip.

He Lin gave him no chance to recover, executing a swift, precise wrist-lock and elbow drop—a classic offensive move.

Gripping the man’s wrist with one hand, He Lin twisted his hips, pulling him forward. As Fan Xiaozhuang lost balance, He Lin slammed his other elbow down hard onto the man’s back with a thud.

Fan Xiaozhuang let out a howl, doubled over, gagging.

He Lin twisted his wrist, yanked his right arm behind his back. The entire motion was clean and efficient, without any flashy moves, pinning him in seconds to the ground.

With Fan Xiaozhuang down, He Lin pulled handcuffs from his belt and secured them around the man’s wrists.

He was still concerned about the other altercation.

Glancing up, He Lin saw Song Qing’s glass had been disarmed. Song Qing lurched to the edge of the rooftop, teetered for a second, then leaped, vanishing from sight.

Li Shang followed, pushing off the edge with one foot before jumping down without hesitation.

Suddenly, the rooftop edge was empty, save for a few floating pigeon feathers drifting down, the only signs of the fierce struggle.

Seeing this, He Lin’s stomach dropped with a wave of vertigo.

He quickly cuffed Fan Xiaozhuang to a nearby pipe, rushed to the edge, and looked down.

The height of over five meters was neither too high nor too low, but without proper landing technique, it could easily cause leg fractures.

Below, Li Shang was crouching, while Song Qing lay on the ground.

Noticing He Lin, Li Shang stood up calmly and gave a thumbs-up to signal mission accomplished.

He Lin let out a relieved sigh and called down, "Are you okay?"

"He might have injured his leg from the fall," Li Shang added. "He jumped on his own…"

He Lin cursed under his breath. Instead of jumping down, he found a staircase, took the stairs two at a time, and jumped the last few steps, landing a few feet away.

Song Qing’s glasses were shattered, and he lay moaning in pain.

He Lin strode straight to Li Shang. Standing a few centimeters taller, he looked down and demanded, "Why did you jump after him?"

"It’s not that high here," Li Shang replied calmly. "I was afraid he’d escape."

The justification was delivered so matter-of-factly that He Lin retorted, "A two-story roof over five meters isn’t high? Then what is?"

Li Shang frowned slightly and fell silent, sensing He Lin’s anger but saying nothing.

He Lin bent down to check Li Shang over—no broken bones, no apparent injuries. He scolded, "Catching him was inevitable. I was still here; there was no need for you to play the unnecessary hero."

As a newcomer, Li Shang hadn’t been issued a gun or handcuffs yet. He Lin took out a spare pair to cuff Song Qing.

He noticed then that Song Qing’s face was bruised and swollen, his right arm hanging limp, possibly broken. The man lay groaning in agony.

Some of these injuries didn’t look like they came from the fall. Frowning, He Lin asked, "His arm…"

Li Shang said simply, "He had a piece of broken glass earlier. I was worried he’d hurt someone, so I dislocated his arm."

He Lin fell silent.

He was beginning to understand why Song Qing had chosen to jump.

Sensing He Lin’s rising anger, Li Shang crouched down and, amid Song Qing’s continued cries, pulled and reset his dislocated arm with two crisp clicks—clean and efficient.

He Lin stared, speechless.

Li Shang looked up. "It’s fine, I know how to set it."

He Lin sucked in a sharp breath, recalling something that made his own arm ache sympathetically.

***

After cuffing Song Qing, He Lin brought Fan Xiaozhuang down from above and waited for Captain Zheng to take them away.

Soon, the anti-crime unit arrived, profusely thanking them.

He Lin didn’t want to reprimand his subordinate in front of outsiders.

Once Captain Zheng had taken the two suspects away, they moved the police car to the roadside. He Lin finally couldn’t hold back his stern criticism: "The commotion was too much just now. With all that speeding and jumping, if someone recorded it, they’d think we were catching some most-wanted criminal!"

Li Shang hesitated slightly before replying, "When apprehending suspects, one must give their all."

He Lin said, "No more driving like that. We need to be mindful of our methods during arrests."

Li Shang frowned slightly, not quite understanding He Lin’s logic. In his review, every move had been necessary—the fastest and most direct approach.

But out of respect for Captain He Lin, he remained silent for a moment before answering, "Understood."

After speaking, the fierce intensity Li Shang had shown during the arrest faded. He lowered his head, coughed lightly a few times, and blinked wearily.

He Lin’s heart skipped a beat. "Why do you look unwell?"

Li Shang's face turned pale—a pale, bloodless shade that made even his lips seem faded. He shook his head gently and said, "Maybe it's been too long since I've done any intense exercise."

"Then why were you running so fast just now?" He Lin remarked. "I'll drive."

Before they could switch seats, He Lin suddenly said, "Wait."

He went quiet, his gaze fixed intently on Li Shang.

Li Shang frowned slightly as He Lin leaned in closer, his expression growing more focused. He whispered, "Don't move."

The car was too quiet.

Li Shang’s body stiffened. He swallowed, his Adam's apple bobbing, and lowered his eyelashes to avoid He Lin’s gaze.

He looked almost resigned to his fate. Noticing his discomfort, He Lin asked, "What are you afraid of?" He reached out, gently tilting Li Shang’s neck to the side, and pointed. "You’re cut here. Doesn’t it hurt?"

On his fair neck was a two-centimeter-long cut, likely from when Song Qing shattered the glass. The blood had stained his collar and was already beginning to clot.

Only then did Li Shang feel the pain. His body relaxed, and he reached up to wipe it.

He Lin swatted his hand away. "Not worried about infection?" As he spoke, he deftly pulled an alcohol swab from his bag, tore it open, cleaned the wound, and applied a bandage.

Li Shang looked up at him, thoughtfully tracing the bandage on his neck with his fingers.

They got out to switch seats.

Li Shang sat silently in the passenger seat, frowning slightly, as if the dangerous acts—chasing suspects through busy streets, dislocating an arm, leaping from a building—had never happened.

He Lin slid into the driver’s seat and let out a long sigh.

After a moment’s thought, he decided his earlier reprimand hadn’t been enough and added sternly, "Write an 800-word self-criticism and hand it in next week."