Urban Martial Saint

Lanwan Karaoke Hall, crime scene.

The area had been cordoned off, and news of the recent shooting incident had spread rapidly throughout the county. Such a high-profile case in such a small place was bound to draw the entire county’s attention.

County bureau personnel had arrived, and the case had been handed over to the criminal investigation team for full investigation. The scene was swarming with police officers, and many reporters who weren’t able to interview the police were interviewing the onlookers instead.

Ye Qing arrived at the scene in Old Fifth Yang’s Q7, and as soon as he got out of the car, he was surrounded by a group of reporters who had mistaken him for Boss Yang. Instead, a young man in a military uniform stepped out of the car, leaving the reporters dumbfounded.

The driver had dropped Ye Qing off inside the perimeter that had been sealed off; Old Fifth Yang had already arranged it. As soon as Ye Qing crossed over, Deputy Director Zhou Hongbin, who was in charge of the case, came over.

”Director Zhou, this is Mr. Ye, the person mentioned by Fifth Brother,” introduced the driver.

”Hmm!” Zhou Hongbin sized up Ye Qing and said, ”Does Boss Yang not trust our investigative ability? What’s the meaning behind sending someone like this over?”

The driver, a bit embarrassed, quickly said, ”Mr. Ye is a recently discharged ex-military man with strong investigative skills. He could be of assistance.”

”Hmph, what does it matter if he is ex-military!” Zhou Hongbin said coldly. ”No matter how strong his investigative ability might be, can it surpass our police dogs?”

Ye Qing frowned, and the driver became even more embarrassed, unsure of what to say next.

Seeing Ye’s expression, Zhou Hongbin sneered and said, ”But since he’s someone sent by Boss Yang, I will, of course, show some courtesy. However, you’re here only to assist; make sure you understand your role.”

The driver repeatedly thanked him and left awkwardly. Zhou Hongbin nonchalantly called over two officers to accompany Ye, clearly not intending to let Ye meddle in the matter.

The two young men who came over had one of them take a glance at Ye Qing, and couldn’t help but be surprised, saying, ”Ye Qing, is that you?”

Looking closely, Ye Qing recognized him as his high school classmate, Lin Peng, with whom he had had a decent relationship. He hadn’t seen Lin for years and was surprised to learn that he had become a police officer.

Seeing a familiar face, Ye Qing finally showed a hint of a smile and asked, ”Lin Peng, how did you become a police officer?”

”Family expectations, you know. Both my mom and dad are police officers. What else could I do?” Lin Peng replied with a laugh. ”Not like you, went to a top university. What are you doing now?”

Ye Qing brushed at his military uniform and smiled, saying, ”Just got discharged.”

”You joined the army?” Lin Peng’s eyes widened. Ye Qing was known as a top student in their class, having been admitted to one of the most prestigious universities in the country. But now, he stood there in a military uniform—what was that all about?

Ye Qing simply smiled and didn’t continue the topic, instead asking, ”What’s the situation now?”

”We’re still looking for where the shooter fired from.” Lin Peng turned towards the other side and pointed at a row of buildings, saying, ”The sniper must have been hiding in that building, but we haven’t figured out which room.”

Ye Qing walked to the entrance of Lanwan, bent down to closely examine the bullet hole traces on the floor, then looked up to survey the surroundings.

”A gentle breeze, Second-Level, bullet holes at a thirty-degree angle, a distance of four hundred fifty meters!” Ye Qing mentally calculated for a moment and then suddenly looked up towards the building, pointing to one of the rooms and saying, ”The sniper fired from that room!”

”Huh?” Lin Peng hesitated, then followed Ye Qing’s pointed direction and asked, ”How do you know that?”

”You don’t need to worry about that. Send someone to check it immediately,” Ye Qing said.

”I’ll report to Director Zhou first.”

Lin Peng hurried to find Zhou Hongbin, and after hearing Lin’s words, Zhou immediately burst into laughter, ”Tell him to stop joking around. We’re conducting a thorough search and can’t just act rashly. Besides, I asked you to keep him company, not to let him interfere with the case. Our criminal investigators have been dispatched, is it his turn to get involved?”

Lin Peng didn’t have much faith in Ye Qing either and could only return to Ye Qing’s side and quietly tell him to stop making random comments.

Ye Qing frowned. If they followed Zhou Hongbin’s pace of investigation, the shooter might escape Jiuchuan County before they could find any clues.

”Lin Peng, want to make a name for yourself?” Ye Qing asked him.

”Of course,” Lin Peng replied earnestly.

”Then follow me!” Ye Qing said and then headed straight for the building.

Lin Peng hesitated for a moment but still followed Ye Qing. Director Zhou hadn’t paid any attention to Ye, so he didn’t notice the commotion on their side.

Ye Qing led Lin Peng into the building. Although police officers were barricading the area, no one stopped them since Ye Qing was in a military uniform and had Lin Peng with him.

They went directly to the room Ye Qing had pointed out. He pushed the door, which to his surprise, was unlocked.

Ye Qing stepped inside the room, turned on the light, and there, two people were lying unconscious on the couch, a man and a woman.

”What’s going on!” Lin Peng immediately rushed over, checked the two for signs of life, and relieved to find they weren’t dead, quickly called for assistance.

Ye Qing approached the window and saw several shell casings on the ground beside it—this was indeed the spot where the shooter had opened fire!

Seeing this cartridge case, Lin Peng’s eyes instantly bulged. He looked at Ye Qing in shock and exclaimed, ”You... how did you know the gunman fired from here?”

”I calculated it!” Ye Qing picked up the two cartridge cases and walked straight over to the two unconscious men.

As Lin Peng reported the situation to Zhou Hongbin, he hurried after Ye Qing, anxiously asking, ”How did you calculate it? Can you tell fortunes?”

”What fortune? I said it’s based on the position and angle,” Ye Qing explained. ”The gunman used a sniper rifle. By looking at the bullet holes’ angles and directions on the ground, you can calculate the gunman’s exact location. In Special Forces counter-sniping, this kind of calculation is used to find the enemy sniper’s position in the shortest time possible and then counterattack!”

”Ah!” Lin Peng listened, dumbfounded. Of course, he was unaware of all this. However, looking at Ye Qing now, his eyes held much more admiration.

Ye Qing found some water and poured it over one of the men to wake him up. As soon as he regained consciousness, he immediately started yelling for help.

”It’s okay, it’s okay, I’m a policeman,” Lin Peng ran over, and the man finally responded as if seeing a lifeline, anxiously saying, ”There are... there are criminals...”

”I know that!” Ye Qing interjected. ”How did the criminal get in?”

”He held me hostage downstairs before running into my house, and then he knocked both me and my wife unconscious,” the man recounted, looking around, he urgently asked, ”Is there anything missing from my house?”

Lin Peng reassured him, ”Nothing from your house is missing, you can rest assured about that.”

Finally taking a breath of relief, the man listened as Ye Qing asked in a grave tone, ”What did the criminal look like? How did he get in? Did he come by car or on foot?”

After thinking for a moment, the man replied, ”I didn’t get a clear look at his face, but he must have been around one meter seventy-five. He must have come by car because I saw him get out of a black Santana.”

”Do you remember the license plate number?” Ye Qing inquired.

The man answered, ”I can’t remember it clearly, but there were two fours in it; the number seemed quite unlucky.”

Before Ye Qing could ask more, Zhou Hongbin and his team burst into the room. Seeing the situation inside, Zhou Hongbin’s complexion changed—this indeed was where the gunman had fired from!

Zhou Hongbin shot Ye Qing a glance, clueless as to how Ye Qing had pinpointed this location. However, his expression was somewhat ugly now. While he hadn’t made any progress, Ye Qing and Lin Peng had taken the lead, putting him, the Deputy Director, in a rather dim light.

”Lin Peng, what kind of work is this!” Zhou Hongbin angrily rebuked: ”How could you act rashly!”

”Director Zhou, this is the place where the gunman shot from,” Lin Peng reported urgently.

Zhou Hongbin snapped, ”I’m not asking about that, I’m asking why you took action on your own!”

At a loss for words, Lin Peng realized Zhou Hongbin was deliberately picking a fight. At this point, saying anything would only earn him a rebuke.

Zhou Hongbin glared at Lin Peng in annoyance and commanded, ”Take these two back for their statements and take the cartridge cases back for testing as evidence.”

A group of police officers came in to handle the situation while Ye Qing fell silent for a moment before turning and walking out of the room.

”Where do you think you’re going!” Zhou Hongbin blocked his path.

”Catching someone,” Ye Qing replied.

”Catching who?”

”The gunman!”

”Do you know where he is?”

”No.”

”If you don’t know, who are you going to catch?” Zhou Hongbin became infuriated and said, ”This is a matter for our Criminal Investigation Detachment, not for you to interfere with. You’d better just stay put!”

Ye Qing glanced at Zhou Hongbin and stated, ”Boss Yang asked me to find the gunman as quickly as possible.”

”Don’t you fucking use that bastard Yang to pressure me!” Zhou Hongbin grew even more incensed, but immediately regretted his words. Honestly, he was indeed afraid of Old Fifth Yang!

”This is a matter for the Criminal Investigation Team; obviously, we’ll be the ones to capture him. You’re not specialized in this field and lack criminal investigation knowledge. How can you go about capturing people?” Zhou Hongbin challenged.

”This is my business!” Ye Qing, staring at Zhou Hongbin, asked, ”Are you letting me go or not?”

Grinding his teeth, Zhou Hongbin finally spat out, ”Go if you want, I won’t stop you. However, I’m too short-staffed to offer any help.”

”I don’t need many people, just assign someone who can drive to follow me,” Ye Qing demanded.

Zhou Hongbin was reluctant to assign anyone, but thinking of Old Fifth Yang, he eventually had Lin Peng accompany Ye Qing.