Unqualified Onlooker

Chapter 36: Unqualified Bystanders

"What is this?" Cheng Yun asked in confusion.

Zhou Jiaxing, wearing his police uniform, with the other two in plainclothes, smiled after a brief exchange. "Boss Cheng, mind if we sit here for a bit?"

"Of course, no problem," Cheng Yun replied immediately, then quickly realized. "Did you find him?"

"We did, he's around here somewhere," Zhou Jiaxing said. "Thanks to the information you provided, we checked the nearby surveillance footage, and it didn't take long to find him after comparing it."

"So, what now?" Cheng Yun was still a bit confused.

"We wait," Zhou Jiaxing said, sitting down on the sofa and checking his watch. "We'll stake out from here and make the arrest after things quiet down tonight."

"I thought only police in TV shows arrested people at night," Cheng Yun said awkwardly.

"For any difficult case or suspect, we basically make arrests at night. There are fewer people around then, and less social resistance. Otherwise, if the suspect goes berserk with a weapon, or lies on the ground shouting that the police are beating him, it'll be all over the news the next day," Zhou Jiaxing shook his head. "This guy is difficult in terms of identity, case, and personality."

"Mm," Cheng Yun nodded.

He had seen the Black man twice. He was as strong as an ox, over 1.9 meters tall and weighing over 100 kilograms. Three men like Zhou Jiaxing probably couldn't hold him down.

Furthermore, the topic of 'foreigners committing crimes,' or even 'Black people committing crimes,' was becoming increasingly sensitive online.

At this moment, a plainclothes officer next to him added resentfully, "In my opinion, we should just rush him. If that bastard resists, just shoot him dead!"

"Shoot him?" Zhou Jiaxing glanced at him sideways and patted his waist. "The higher-ups know people think like that. Didn't you see I didn't even bring my gun? If shots were fired, how would you report it? And if someone filmed it and the media swarmed in, bam! Front-page news tomorrow!"

"Damn it!" the plainclothes officer cursed.

"What exactly did that Black guy do? It sounds pretty serious," Cheng Yun couldn't help but ask.

"You don't need to know that," Zhou Jiaxing said, glancing outside intentionally or unintentionally.

Cheng Yun didn't mind. He poured them each a glass of water and then said, "In that case, you'll need more manpower to catch him. If he tries to run, he'll be hard to chase and impossible to block."

Zhou Jiaxing's eyes turned cold. "You're telling me! If he really starts running wild on the streets, through alleys and lanes, we can't catch him if we chase together, and we can't block him if we split up. That's why we want to try and corner him in his building tonight! But lately, a lot of other things have come up, we're so short-handed we've had to borrow people from traffic police. See, these two were borrowed from the police station!"

"Manpower is that tight?"

Zhou Jiaxing nodded. "But it's okay. Once we have him cornered, he can't escape. Catching people is the easiest part of our job."

Cheng Yun roughly understood the situation.

Just then, Zhou Jiaxing received a call. Shortly after, a Volkswagen pulled up outside the hotel, and a sturdy man got out, pushing open the glass door and walking straight in.

"Damn it!" the man stared directly at Zhou Jiaxing.

"Captain Liang!" Zhou Jiaxing called out, nodding.

"We might have to move after midnight. Take turns keeping watch, and you can rest if you're tired. I've created a new WeChat group; check it for updates. Everyone must act together. I don't know if that kid has any weapons!" the man called Captain Liang said, standing opposite Zhou Jiaxing. He glanced at Cheng Yun, Cheng Yan, and Heroine Yin watching a movie at the front desk, then continued, "I borrowed two people from SWAT. They're with Old Chen and will join you later."

"Two SWAT officers?"

"Yeah, I wore my tongue thin just to get two guys. Those bastards." Captain Liang said.

"What equipment do they have?"

"Riot forks and shields, what else!?" Captain Liang glanced at Zhou Jiaxing. "The higher-ups want us to catch that bastard quietly and go through the procedures quietly. Don't make a scene, or it'll be hard to handle if it blows up."

"Understood."

"Understood my ass!" Captain Liang's face showed some fierceness. "The higher-ups want you to avoid trouble, but you don't need to be timid. That bastard is strong enough to flip a bull, so when it's time to act, don't hold back. Don't get hurt by being hesitant."

"Got it," Zhou Jiaxing nodded fiercely, a hint of ferocity in his eyes.

"I'm leaving then."

"Alright!"

After Captain Liang left, Zhou Jiaxing looked at Cheng Yun and smiled. "Boss, what time do you close?"

"Very late," Cheng Yun said, then pointed at the car gradually driving away. "Is that your captain?"

"Squad leader. His name is Liang Bo."

"Oh," Cheng Yun nodded.

The clock slowly approached ten, and the night deepened.

Zhou Jiaxing looked at the two police officers beside him. "You guys get some rest. I'll wake you up later."

"It's fine."

"Don't be sluggish later!"

"The college entrance exams just ended, and summer vacation has started. We're really busy. We usually stay up late."

"Alright then!" Zhou Jiaxing didn't ask further.

Cheng Yun also looked at Cheng Yan beside him. "What about you? Don't you usually go upstairs to sleep at this hour?"

Hearing this, the police officers all looked at Cheng Yan.

This girl was incredibly beautiful.

"No," Cheng Yan shook her head, her expressionless face and cool voice replying, "It's rare to have a chance to watch the excitement. I'll watch it here with you."

"Uh, okay."

Time ticked by, and Zhou Jiaxing and the two police officers couldn't help but feel sleepy. Cheng Yun saw them rub their eyes several times. Zhou Jiaxing, however, kept his eyes either on the street outside or on his mobile phone screen, occasionally sending voice messages.

Cheng Yun could tell from the voice messages that the Black man seemed to have become suspicious, as the police weren't being very discreet. However, the Black man was inside a building, so he couldn't sprout wings and fly away. The police had already gone door-to-door warning residents not to open their doors to strangers.

Around 1:30 AM, the number of pedestrians outside finally dwindled. Even the barbecue stall became quiet, with the owner sitting and playing on his mobile phone, preparing to close up shop.

At this moment, a voice message came from Zhou Jiaxing's mobile phone: "Magou, get ready, we'll start the arrest in five minutes."

Zhou Jiaxing replied, "Roger that."

After speaking, he glanced at Cheng Yun somewhat sheepishly, stood up, and started stretching. "Magou is my nickname, given to me by my mom. When I was sick as a child and almost died, people said a lowly name would help me survive, so she gave me this name! By the way, do you have any handy tools around here? Preferably something small and convenient. These two guys aren't even carrying police batons."

Heroine Yin suddenly pressed the spacebar and said, "I have a short... whoa!"

"Whoa, what?" Zhou Jiaxing stared at her.

Heroine Yin blinked her eyes, her face flushed, and she quickly waved her hands. "No, it's nothing."

"Hmm?"

"I'll go find something for you," Cheng Yun said, giving Heroine Yin a fierce glare before heading upstairs.

Heroine Yin looked wronged and quickly crouched down, vigorously dusting off her shoes. Being stepped on wasn't the issue, but these were her newly bought shoes!

Not long after, Cheng Yun came down with a rolling pin. "I just opened for business, so this is all I have."

"We'll make do with it. Sigh, these two idiots," Zhou Jiaxing sighed.

The two police officers exchanged glances. "Didn't your Captain Liang tell us to come empty-handed?"

"He told us to be in plainclothes, but you should at least carry an extendable baton or a high-intensity flashlight!" Zhou Jiaxing rolled his eyes. Although he was young, he was still two or three years older than the two police officers.

"..."

At this moment, a voice came from the mobile phone: "Is all units ready?"

Zhou Jiaxing quickly replied, "Ready."

"Initiate action!"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Jiaxing drew an extendable baton from his waist without a word, flicked it open with a swish, then took out a high-intensity flashlight and threw it to the empty-handed police officer. "Be careful with it, it's good quality. Don't blind our allies!"

"Don't worry!"

"And don't you dare break it, it cost several hundred!"

"Heh heh!"

The three immediately rushed out.

Cheng Yun and Heroine Yin also quickly ran out the door and stood on the sidewalk, watching the direction they left.

It was then that Cheng Yun realized the location they went to was diagonally across the street!

No wonder Zhou Jiaxing kept looking across the street. Cheng Yun had been thinking that if the Black man got into a car and ran, they wouldn't be able to see him from here!

So that's how it was!

On the other hand, Cheng Yan, who had previously said she wanted to watch the excitement, sat calmly behind the front desk, still flipping through her book. She glanced at Cheng Yun and said lightly, "Just watch from here, don't wander off."

"Oh," Cheng Yun nodded in agreement.

They walked a bit closer to the roadside, and Heroine Yin whispered, "So this is what the law enforcement officers are like in your world?"

"Yeah, what else would they be like?"

"In our world, the law enforcement officers all carry swords. They're so thin you could kick several over with one kick, and their swords are so dull it's hard to even chop vegetables. They even have the nerve to ask you for money," Heroine Yin said with some indignation, clearly having been ripped off before. "I thought no one broke the law in your world, but I didn't expect there to be law enforcement officers specifically for these matters."

"If there were no rules and no enforcement, our world probably wouldn't be much better," Cheng Yun said. He saw Zhou Jiaxing and the other two meet up with Old Chen and two SWAT officers holding shields and long forks. Zhou Jiaxing, Old Chen, and the two SWAT officers went into the building, while the two remaining police officers, who were both quite burly, were stationed outside to guard.

Cheng Yun and Heroine Yin watched from the entrance of the hotel. Besides them, there were two other spectators: a middle-aged owner of the barbecue stall and a young man who seemed to have just come out of an internet cafe and was looking to grab some barbecue to fill his stomach.

Less than two minutes after Zhou Jiaxing and the others went up, a tall, dark figure suddenly slid down the old building's drainpipe with great speed. In the blink of an eye, he went from the fourth floor to the third, then in another blink, he was on the second floor. Then, he actually jumped straight down from the second floor.

THUD!

A muffled sound echoed as the figure landed.

Zhou Jiaxing and the others were waiting for the quiet of the night, but it was clear the other party was also waiting for them.

Fortunately, Zhou Jiaxing and the others likely had experience with this and had prepared for such a possibility—

There were two taller police officers downstairs!

Although the two police officers were standing close, they noticed the dark figure almost before Cheng Yun did. They shouted sternly as they moved to surround him, and the moment the figure landed, they pounced on him.

The high-intensity flashlight flashed with a blinding light!

However, the dark figure was wearing polarized glasses. He quickly twisted and swung, his powerful burst of strength directly sending the officer holding the high-intensity flashlight flying. He then rolled on the ground, narrowly dodging the other officer. Instead of trying to escape, he charged at a nearby police officer, shielding his head with one hand and twisting his body to throw a punch at the officer's face.

BANG!

The police officer collapsed on the spot.

Cheng Yun, just watching from the side, could imagine the immense power of that punch! A height of over 1.9 meters and a weight of over 100 kilograms made it easy to take down a thin, tall man around 1.8 meters tall!

Forget police officers, even special forces soldiers would be on their knees!

Perhaps Zhou Jiaxing and the others hadn't anticipated the Black man's stamina, or perhaps they had, but the police force was simply short-handed, and there was nothing they could do.

Just as Cheng Yun was momentarily stunned, the Black man had already taken off, running at high speed towards a dark alley.

Another police officer, who had been thrown off, quickly got up. He picked up the high-intensity flashlight from the ground and charged forward, shouting, "Stop! Don't run! Stop! Police!"

The two people at the barbecue stall were taken aback. They only reacted after hearing the word "police" at the end.

The barbecue stall owner, seeing the Black man's physique, knew he couldn't afford to offend him and immediately stood still, not daring to move. The young man, however, was braver. As the Black man ran past him, he casually picked up a folding stool and threw it.

"Bang!"

The stool hit the Black man, causing him to stagger while running at high speed, but he didn't fall.

The young man was stunned for a moment, seemingly hesitating. It was only when the police officer behind him ran past that he gritted his teeth and followed.

Seeing this, Cheng Yun's heart began to race. He quickly ran towards the fallen police officer who hadn't gotten up, intending to check his injuries. At the same time, he turned to Heroine Yin and asked, "Should we chase after him too?"

"When you need to be cowardly, you must be cowardly," Cheng Yan's cool voice came from behind him. She followed behind Cheng Yun and said, "The police officer on the ground is more important. I won't look down on you for this."

Heroine Yin, however, crossed her arms and held the opposite opinion: "Cowardly? What's there to be afraid of with these small fries? I can fight a hundred of them!"

Cheng Yun fell silent.

The Black man was running in a completely different direction from him, unlike the guy at the barbecue stall who had the advantage of location. He didn't even have an electric bike, so chasing after him like this would seem foolish, unless he revealed Heroine Yin's heaven-defying physique.

In just an instant, he grabbed Heroine Yin and chased after them, reminding her, "Remember what I told you to do."

Cheng Yan was left standing beside the police officer, sighing.

At this moment, the Black man had already disappeared into the dark alley, almost completely out of sight.

Less than a minute later, the police officer and the barbecue youth stared blankly as Cheng Yun overtook them. After running for several hundred meters, he was still maintaining his sprinting speed. Then, a woman, not tall but with excellent proportions, who looked like a minor, also overtook them. The woman's stride wasn't fast, but each step was incredibly large, as elegant as if she were dancing ballet.

"Holy crap!" the barbecue youth slowly stopped. He really couldn't run anymore. He might as well go back and pay for the barbecue.

The alley was so dark that only a dim streetlamp illuminated it. They could only vaguely see the Black man's figure turn left and run into another alley. It seemed they wouldn't be able to catch him.

But Heroine Yin remained very calm. She looked at Cheng Yun questioningly, and after receiving his consent, she bent her knees and leaped. The entire person seemed to vanish from the alley.