Inside the storefront.
The bald man with a military coat draped over his shoulders stood on the wooden staircase. His gaze coldly swept over the burly young man Zhu Wei had knocked to the floor. He asked in a quiet voice, “Whose dog slipped its leash and dared to cause trouble in Old Man Ma’s shop?”
Sweat beaded on Qin Yu’s forehead. He looked back toward the entrance and saw more than twenty people had already pulled open the door and crowded inside, completely blocking the exit.
“We’re from the Police Department.” Zhu Wei snapped back to reality. Reaching into his pants pocket with his left hand, he pulled out his badge, holding it to his chest as he said, “Unrelated personnel stay out of this. We’re here investigating a Drug Trafficking case involving medicine.”
“Heh.” The bald man sneered. “Who’s selling counterfeit medicine here?”
Zhu Wei, gripping his gun, pointed at the counter and shouted, “We saw these people making a transaction with our own eyes when we came in.”
“You saw it? Does that mean you represent the law?” The bald man stood motionless on the steps, pointing toward the crowd at the entrance. “Ask them. Did anyone see people in this room selling medicine?”
As soon as he spoke, the twenty-odd people at the door remained dead silent. Gripping their weapons, they stepped forward, completely surrounding the Group Three members in the center of the room.
Hearing this, Zhu Wei stood awkwardly in place, at a loss for words. He was also starting to feel intimidated; none of the people who had rushed in looked like pushovers.
Qin Yu hesitated briefly before stepping forward to speak.
“Fuck!”
Right then, the burly young man Zhu Wei had knocked down suddenly sat up. Clutching his profusely bleeding head, he cursed, “You goddamn bastards, you dare hit me here?”
“Don’t move,” the young officer next to Qi Lin pointed at him and shouted.
“Don’t move? Fuck your mother!” The burly young man sprang up from the floor. Without another word, he swung his fist, landing a heavy thud against Zhu Wei’s head. “Waving that lousy gun around, who the hell are you trying to scare? Your daddy?”
The punch sent Zhu Wei stumbling back three or four steps.
“Don’t start a fight.”
“Don’t move, this is assaulting a law enforcement officer.”
The Group Three members were fairly united. Seeing Zhu Wei get hit, they immediately stepped forward to surround the burly young man.
“So what if I assaulted you?!” The burly young man had nearly been beaten to death by Zhu Wei earlier, and his anger was boiling over. He turned, snatched a box-cutting knife from the counter, and lunged forward with a roar, “Fuck your mothers! Never mind just you few pieces of trash—even if Fatty Li sent five hundred more men, if I’m not happy, none of you are walking out of here.”
With a furious roar, the young man charged at the group, thrusting the knife forward.
Qi Lin had been trying to stay out of the way, but he never expected the young man’s first stab to be aimed squarely at him. Zhu Wei had immediately sidestepped the moment he saw the knife.
“Fuck!” Qi Lin cursed. Realizing he couldn’t dodge in time, he could only awkwardly stick his butt out and lean back, trying to protect his vitals.
“Thud!”
Just as the blade was about to plunge into Qi Lin’s body, Qin Yu pushed through the crowd and grabbed the thrusting knife barehanded.
His hand closed around the blade. Blood gushed out, streaming onto the floor.
Trembling in shock, Qi Lin staggered back two steps, staring at Qin Yu in astonishment.
Silence. After a brief pause, the burly young man glared fiercely at Qin Yu and yelled, “You can grab a blade barehanded—what, are you fucking immune to blades and bullets?”
With that, the young man tried to yank the knife back for another stab.
Qin Yu’s left hand shot out like lightning, clamping down on the young man’s wrist. He looked up at the middle-aged man on the staircase and called out, “Big Brother, we’re not here to cause trouble. The department keeps getting reports about counterfeit medicine being sold here. We had no choice but to come check it out. But the moment we walked in, your brother here went for a gun. My colleague had to fight back to control the situation; he didn’t have a choice.”
The bald man, draped in his military coat, sat down directly on the staircase. He lowered his head and pulled out an e-cigarette, ignoring him.
Qin Yu kept his iron grip on the burly young man’s wrist, smiling as he continued, “I just arrived in Songjiang. I don’t know how things work here on Tu Zha Street. Since this is a misunderstanding and there’s no medicine being sold here, we’ll head back. Does that work for you, Big Brother?”
“If there’s no medicine being sold here, what gave you the right to hit my people?” the bald man asked with a faint smile, taking a drag from his e-cigarette.
Qin Yu fell silent for a few seconds. “Big Brother, it’s exactly because people like you exist that we can put food on the table. We all depend on each other; no one has it easy in this world… So it’s best we don’t make things difficult for each other. Don’t you agree?”
“And if we do make things difficult for you, what are you gonna do about it?” the burly young man demanded viciously.
The bald man took another drag, turned his head, and spat a glob of yellow phlegm, still not saying a word.
Qin Yu paused briefly, the smile never leaving his face. He looked at the bald man and said, “Big Brother, we might not be able to crack cases on Tu Zha Street, but once you leave Tu Zha Street, don’t you still have to do business?”
Hearing this, the bald man’s arm paused slightly. He finally opened his mouth. “Let them get the hell out.”
“Just let them leave? So I got beaten for nothing?” The young man snapped back at the bald man, then turned his dark glare to Qin Yu and the others. “You can leave. Strip off your shirts and frog-hop your way out of Tu Zha Street.”
“Don’t push it too fucking far!”
Guan Qi, usually an introverted member of Group Three, tightened his grip on his gun and roared.
“Smack!”
Hearing him, Qin Yu turned back and grabbed Guan Qi’s arm. With a deadpan expression, he said, “If we have to hop, we hop. What’s the big deal.”
Guan Qi replied with intense frustration, “Group Leader Qin, if we don’t walk out of here, are they going to have it easy? Damn it, so what if they have numbers, they can’t fucking—”
“I said listen to me!” Qin Yu glared at him, his voice rising to a roar.
Guan Qi gritted his teeth and swallowed the rest of his words.
“Shirts off. We frog-hop out,” Qin Yu shouted to his men.
From the stairs, the bald man suddenly asked in a soft voice, “There are plenty of people in this line of work. Why target our operation on Tu Zha Street?”
Qin Yu paused, then answered, “We got some tips. Higher-ups told us to come check it out. I don’t know the exact details either.”
The bald man stood up slowly and headed upstairs, his back to Qin Yu. “Tu Zha Street is a bit chaotic, and it doesn’t take kindly to strangers. Don’t come poking around here for no reason in the future. With so many people outside, if everyone just gave you one stab, where would the Police Department go to find the killers?”
With that, the bald man disappeared up the staircase.
…
Five minutes later.
All eight police officers, including Qin Yu, squatted in a row, stripped to the waist, frog-hopping their way down the street toward the outskirts of Tu Zha Street.
Dozens of young men armed with weapons lined the roadside, watching them with cold, silent stares.
Almost every household in the buildings lining the street had their windows open. Some people smoked, others stood with their arms crossed, all indifferently watching Qin Yu and his team bounce toward the exit.
No one knew how long the eerie silence lasted before someone from a building on the right suddenly shouted, “Fuck your mothers! Come back and we’ll kill you!”
The furious shout echoed through the night for a long time.
Immediately after, a barrage of glass bottles, medicine jars, and assorted garbage rained down from the upper floors, shattering on the street.
“Run!”
Qin Yu was the first to jump to his feet, shouting the order. The battered group scrambled away, vanishing into the night.
…
Inside the second floor of the storefront.
The bald man sat on a rickety wooden chair. Frowning at the burly young man wrapping gauze around his head, he asked, “Did the brothers disperse?”
“Yeah, they’ve all left,” the young man nodded.
“Call a few guys over and move the goods,” the bald man ordered softly. “Hold off on distributing any product for the next few days. Keep a low profile.”
The young man stared in disbelief. “Are you scared, Third Uncle? No way. Those guys were obviously clueless rookie cops. Do we really need to watch out for them? Do you know how high medicine prices have gotten outside? So many poor patients on Tu Zha Street rely on us to stay alive. If I give the word, thousands of people on this street will rush out to back us up. Why should we care what they think?”
“Just do what I tell you, and don’t act stupid with me.” The bald man crossed his arms, his tone clipped. “Hurry up and call two guys over.”
“I… I… damn it, the longer you do this, the more of a coward you become.” Ma Lao’er grumbled resentfully. But he couldn’t win the argument with Third Uncle, so he headed out to gather some men to move the stash.
…
On the street at the edge of Tu Zha Street.
Qin Yu threw his shirt back on, then dragged a first-aid kit out of the car, haphazardly wrapping his injured palm with gauze.
Beside the vehicle, Guan Qi glared furiously and cursed, “Damn it! Law enforcement getting steamrolled by thugs, getting stripped to the waist, frog-hopping out of there… This is too fucking humiliating. If word gets back to the team, we’ll never hear the end of it.”
“We shouldn’t have caved! If we didn’t take off our clothes, what were they really going to do to us?!” Zhu Wei, now full of bravado, complained to Qin Yu. “You’re just too timid. I’m telling you, nobody handles cases like this in Songjiang… You’re the Group Leader, but when push comes to shove, you don’t step up and take charge…”
Qin Yu pulled the gauze tight with his teeth, then looked up at the team. “Gather around. I’ve got something to say.”
“What is it?” Guan Qi asked.
“Get over here!” Qin Yu scowled, raising his voice.
The men exchanged glances. Morale was rock-bottom, and they trudged over to Qin Yu with evident impatience.
“Check your ammo. Anyone not wearing a bulletproof vest, grab one from the car. Lao Hei and Xiao Liu, stay on the vehicles…” Qin Yu issued the orders with a completely deadpan expression.
Hearing Qin Yu’s words, the entire squad stared at him in utter confusion.
…
Over ten minutes later, back inside the storefront.
Ma Lao’er was at the back door, barking orders to three guys around his age. “The vehicle won’t be here for a bit. Once you finish loading the stash from this room, go check Shop Three. There’s still some stuff over there.”
“Where are we moving it to?” someone asked.
“Take it back to the warehouse first.” Ma Lao’er grumbled, slacking off. “Third Uncle is just being paranoid, making us bust our asses for nothing. If it were up to me, we’d leave the goods right here and keep selling…”
“Tap, tap!”
Right as he finished speaking, the sound of approaching footsteps came from the left side of the back door.
Ma Lao’er turned his head, cigarette in hand—only to see Qin Yu, fully geared in a light green bulletproof vest and wielding a riot shotgun over half a meter long, charging straight at him.
“Fuck!”
“Thud!”
Qin Yu’s eyes were ice-cold as he raised his right leg, kicking Ma Lao’er’s chest.
Whoosh!
Crash!
Ma Lao’er flew backward half a meter, his back crashing into and toppling three crates of goods. He hit the ground in a daze.
“Don’t move. Move and I’ll shoot you dead.” Guan Qi pointed his gun at Ma Lao’er’s head.
“Crash!”
Without a second of hesitation, Qin Yu yanked the door open, stormed into the storefront, and rushed straight for the second floor.
Up in the second-floor room, a walkie-talkie crackled with static. A drug runner fleeing downstairs screamed over the comms, “Third Uncle, those cops are back!”
Third Uncle froze, then immediately sprang up, reaching for his gun.
“Clack!”
Qin Yu racked the shotgun slide as he entered the room. Tilting his head, he stared down Third Uncle and shouted, “The layout in Tu Zha Street is just too complicated. We hopped for ages but still couldn’t find our way out. Big Brother, how about you come with us and point the way?”
Third Uncle stared at Qin Yu in absolute shock. “You doubled back…!”