Chapter 48 (1/2)

Chapter 48 The Hardboiled Detective

“You could say that.” Xiao Ping quietly said as he looked at Li Jiangbei. “Actually, that day when the Black Hawk squadron was activated, I went to the scene.”

If anyone from Meng Si Ni Company were to see Xiao Ping at this moment, perhaps they wouldn’t be convinced by what they saw. The Xiao Ping who usually wasn’t the least different from the majority of vulgar middle aged men had such an imposing manner, to be so steady, like a mountain.

“What?! You went to the crime scene? Then why did you…” Hearing him, Li Jiangbei almost jumped out of his chair again.

But before Li Jiangbei could finish, Xiao Ping interjected. “I know you want to ask me why I didn’t intervene and stop them. The reasons are simple, first off, I’m no longer a policeman. Second, I wasn’t armed. And, last but not least, the four men had already thrown the tear gas grenades and were fleeing the scene.”

When Xiao Ping finished speaking, Li Jiangbei became silent. Only after a long time, Li Jiangbei squeezed out a ghastly smile and said, “In that case, you didn’t see their abilities?”

“Although I didn’t see how their marksman opened fire, I heard his gunshots from a distance. Furthermore, I saw the end result after the tear gas had dissipated.” Xiao Ping calmly said. “In a flash, three shots were fired and none of them missed their mark. This guy is an expert of experts. It seems like he may be a person which I had wanted to catch in the past.”

“You’re saying that this guy is…” Li Jiangbei’s expression changed greatly.

“Perhaps it is him.” Xiao Ping sighed, clearly realizing that he was incapable of forgetting that face.

A painful glint flitted behind his eyes, which didn’t go unnoticed by Li Jiangbei. Li Jiangbei started reminiscing of Xiao Ping’s past as well, and his breathing subconsciously became heavy.

“Are you visiting me this time with the intention of catching him with your own hands?” Li Jiangbei stared at the eyes of Xiao Ping which had regained their calm, as if he wanted to peer into Xiao Ping’s thoughts.

“Nope, not at all.” Beyond his expectations, Xiao Ping shook his head. “I just came to inform you that if you send normal policemen, you will just be sending them to their deaths. Therefore, other than those Black Hawk members, the others under you should not act blindly when they run into those criminals.”

“You came to tell me these things?” Li Jiangbei looked at him in disbelief. “Didn’t you see the fight earlier? In the clash earlier, two of the Black Hawk died.”

“Even when I was the leader, the Black Hawk had casualties.” Xiao Ping calmly looked at his agitated comrade, “When up against a powerful foe, casualties are unavoidable; you must believe in your men! Oh, and also, let me remind you that the job of the police is first to save people, not to kill criminals. At the site earlier, I coincidentally heard that in their hands there were still two hostages, I also heard that you guys haven’t even checked the hostages’ ident.i.ties.”

“We…” Li Jiangbei wanted to explain to him that every single witness at the scene of the crime had already become mentally unstable thanks to the criminals. Furthermore, in the chaos when the criminals broke out of the marketplace, they didn’t get a clear glimpse of the features of the hostages. At that moment, Secretary Xiao Chen hurriedly walked into the conference room.

“Bureau Chief Li.” Xiao Chen interrupted his words, and nervously said, “The Mayor has arrived, and is in your office.”

“Let him wait for awhile.” Li Jiangbei without pausing for thought, waved Xiao Chen away. “Just tell him that I’m in a meeting with a very important person.”

For a moment, Xiao Chen was startled but when he saw his superior continuously and resolutely wave him away. Xiao Chen could only hurriedly walk out, exactly in the same manner he entered.

“It’s not early anymore, anyway since he has already arrived,” Xiao Ping watched Xiao Chen’s back slowly fade away and was suddenly a little melancholic, “I shall not hinder your meeting anymore.”

“You…” As Li Jiangbei looked distractedly, Xiao Ping had already stood up and walked out of the room.

“Don’t you wish to personally enact revenge for her?” Li Jiangbei screamed out the words he was suppressing in his heart. “At that time didn’t you fly into a rage? Didn’t you want to subject them to the law?”

As his scream reached the ears of Xiao Ping outside the room, the footsteps paused.

Li Jiangbei’s heart was stirred as he thought that Xiao Ping would turn around, but after the footsteps paused for a moment, he still could hear them walking away slowly.

He slumped powerlessly onto his chair.

At this exact moment, he heard footsteps coming closer to the room.

“Could he have turned around?” Li Jiangbei stood from his chair and thought. But when the room’s door was pushed open, Li Jiangbei disappointedly sat back down.

“Meeting with an important person?! Who’s more important than me!?”

“Xiao Ping just made a return visit.” Li Jiangbei replied, disregarding the question as he looked at the Mayor who was barely keeping from bursting out in fury.

Following the Mayor, Xiao Chen couldn’t help but tense up, thinking that this time, surely the Mayor would fly into a terrible rage.

But instead he was met with the Mayor’s stunned look.