Whoever Wants to Hurt Yue Xiaofei Will Have to Step Over My Dead Body First! (Third Update)

That voice hit like a boulder plunging into water, drawing every eye in an instant.

"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"

Everyone turned toward the sound.

A black Audi rolled up and stopped at the edge of the police cordon.

The door opened, and a middle-aged man stepped out.

The men Hou Tao had brought instinctively parted to let him through and raised their hands in salute.

"Director Ruan!"

"Director Ruan!"

"Director Ruan!"

The newcomer was Ruan Zhongxian, head of the Jiangbei Provincial Public Security Department.

He stood straight, clean-shaven and scholarly, with gold-rimmed glasses perched on his nose.

His white police uniform shirt lent him an air of authority.

"Director Ruan, thank goodness you're here!"

Hou Tao scrambled over as though he had spotted a lifeline. A fawning smile covered his face, but his voice trembled with tears.

"Commissioner Jin... he's gone too far! He just ordered his men to open fire and said they could shoot anyone who got in the way! He thinks he's above the law!"

"Enough!"

Ruan Zhongxian frowned and cut him off coldly.

His gaze swept over the scene, irritation stirring inside him.

That old bastard Gao Tianxiong really was up to no good!

He knew Jin Dapao was stubborn as a mule, yet he'd asked me to come and talk him down.

But now that I'm here, I have to handle this properly.

If word gets out that I can't even rein in my own deputy, how am I supposed to hold my head up?

"Come on, Jin. Is this really worth getting so worked up over?"

Director Ruan put on a false smile and strolled toward Jin Dapao.

"You broke the rules by bringing the Flying Tiger Squad to Jiangcheng. By rights, you should face disciplinary action."

"But since you did it for work, I'll let it slide."

"Take your men back to the Provincial Capital and submit a written self-criticism. Then we'll put this behind us. How does that sound?"

Director Ruan certainly knew how to play the scholar!

In just a few words, he had branded Jin Dapao a rule-breaker.

If Jin accepted that, he would face at least one disciplinary penalty when he returned!

And Ruan could use the opportunity to assert his authority!

But Jin Dapao had no intention of playing along!

"A written self-criticism? Shove it up your ass!"

Jin Dapao roared, spraying spit across Ruan Zhongxian's face.

"I'm here to save someone!"

"My nephew was kidnapped and locked in a basement. He was nearly beaten to death! But that bastard Hou Tao brought men to stop us from leaving. That's obstruction of official duty!"

"Not only am I taking Yue Xiaofei out of here today, I'm investigating this to the bitter end!"

Jin Dapao's voice rang so loudly it hurt the ears of everyone nearby.

"The Gao Family runs Jiangcheng like its own kingdom. There's no way their hands are clean!"

"I want to see just how many filthy secrets they're hiding!"

What?!

Hou Tao's face changed at those words.

I'm finished!

That lunatic Jin Dapao is serious!

If the Gao Family falls, won't I be in danger too?

I can't let him investigate!

Director Ruan's expression remained unchanged, but the corner of his eye twitched.

"Jin Dapao!"

Director Ruan suddenly raised his voice, trying to overwhelm him with bluster.

"Don't push your luck! I'm the head of the Jiangbei Provincial Public Security Department, and you're only my deputy! You're in no position to make a scene in front of me!"

"So what if you're the head?"

Jin Dapao lifted his chin, eyes bloodshot, refusing to yield an inch.

"Goddamn it!"

"You haven't spent a single day working on the front lines. All you do is sit in an air-conditioned office playing cards!"

"A bookish wimp who climbed the ladder through a woman thinks he can throw his weight around with me?!"

The words sent a shockwave through the crowd.

Everyone present drew a sharp breath.

No one had expected Jin Dapao to expose Ruan Zhongxian's sore spot in public.

"You... what did you say?!"

Ruan Zhongxian's face went deathly pale, then flushed a dark red.

When he was young, he had been a handsome man who caught the eye of a provincial big shot's daughter.

The young lady had a vicious temper and was known in their circle as the "shrew."

Ruan Zhongxian had been more than happy to fawn over her for years, eventually marrying into her wealthy family.

With his father-in-law's connections, he had risen swiftly through the ranks to become head of the Provincial Public Security Department.

Among the higher-ups, no one called him by name. They referred to him as so-and-so's son-in-law.

They had even given him a nickname: Spineless.

It was true!

But it was also Director Ruan's greatest sore spot, one no one usually dared mention.

Now that Jin had exposed it before everyone, Director Ruan shook with rage.

He pointed a delicately crooked finger at Jin Dapao and shouted at the Flying Tiger Squad members:

"Flying Tiger Squad, listen up! Arrest Jin Dapao immediately!"

It was a vicious move. He wanted to use the Flying Tiger Squad to get rid of Jin Dapao.

That would satisfy his grudge while keeping his own hands clean.

But the Flying Tiger Squad members did not budge.

They stood shoulder to shoulder like an iron wall, guns aimed forward, without a trace of hesitation in their eyes.

It was as though Ruan Zhongxian's order were nothing but a dog barking.

"You..."

Director Ruan's face turned a mottled red.

Unwilling to believe it, he tried again. His tone softened slightly, but it still carried an air of unquestionable authority.

"Flying Tiger Squad! I order you to stand down!"

"You don't have to arrest Jin Dapao!"

"Just leave this place!"

He had it all worked out.

Once the Flying Tiger Squad withdrew, Jin Dapao would be alone. Hou Tao's several hundred men would be more than enough to take him down.

And Yue Xiaofei would not escape either!

But the Flying Tiger Squad members still did not move.

Director Ruan shouted himself hoarse, yet not one of them took a step.

He was utterly stunned.

He could not understand how they dared defy his orders.

"Are you all trying to mutiny? Anyone who disobeys will face disciplinary action. I'll have every last one of you fired!"

"Hahaha!"

Jin Dapao burst into laughter and said with contempt, "Ruan Zhongxian, a pretty boy like you will never understand!"

Then he looked over the Flying Tiger Squad members, pride filling his eyes.

"I've never treated them as subordinates."

"They're my brothers—brothers I trust with my life! We face hardship together and share the good times together!"

"Even if the sky falls, we'll hold it up together!"

Jin Dapao raised his voice, every word ringing with conviction.

"We never turn our guns on our own brothers! Company Commander Yue taught me that, and I taught them the same!"

Not far away,

tears sprang to Yue Xiaofei's eyes as he listened to Jin Dapao.

He had never imagined his father was held in such regard by his comrades.

He had once resented his father for spending years on the battlefield and hardly ever coming home.

He had never realized how many people his father had influenced through his words and actions.

"Jin Dapao, don't think a few achievements and the Flying Tiger Squad you built make you so special!"

Humiliated and furious, Director Ruan started ranting again. "You're resting on your laurels! Throwing your seniority around! Do you really think no one can deal with you?"

"Achievements?"

Jin Dapao's eyes widened as if he had heard a joke.

"I earned them with my own damn blood!"

As soon as he finished speaking, he tore open the buttons of his white shirt, exposing his upper body.

The entire scene fell deathly silent.

"Hiss..."

Sharp intakes of breath rose all around him.

Jin Dapao's body was crisscrossed with scars.

Knife wounds!

Bullet holes!

Every one of them was twisted and gruesome.

Those scars were the brightest medals a man could wear!

"See this scar?"

Jin Dapao pointed to the knife scar on his chest, his voice low and firm.

"Back when I was with the 7th Armored Company, we went to the border to arrest a gang of drug traffickers. They fought back, and I got this in a knife fight."

"I nearly didn't make it back alive!"

"And this bullet wound!"

He pointed to a scar on his back. "I got this in Jiangbei while handling a kidnapping case. I charged in first, and one of the kidnappers shot me."

"If I hadn't been lucky, I'd have died in the line of duty."

Jin Dapao's voice rose.

"Every scar on my body marks a time I faced death!"

"Ruan Zhongxian, you spend all day kissing up to people in your office. Do you have scars like these?!"

Director Ruan had no answer. His face looked sourer than if he had swallowed a fly, and he instinctively took a step back.

"Xiaofei, let's go."

Jin Dapao led Yue Xiaofei toward the edge of the encirclement again.

"Stop them!"

Ruan Zhongxian panicked and shouted at Hou Tao's men, "I'll reward whoever stops Yue Xiaofei handsomely!"

Hou Tao's men steeled themselves to act.

"Just try it!"

Jin Dapao swept his knife-sharp gaze across the crowd and roared:

"Anyone who wants to hurt Yue Xiaofei today will have to step over my dead body first!"