Chapter 3: This Shot Shattered Materialism
Heng City, the northern secondhand market.
This was a typical lawless zone, where haphazardly built bungalows crisscrossed like a maze, and the air was thick with the stench of rotting vegetable leaves and machine oil.
Qin Bingruo crouched beneath a second-floor windowsill of an abandoned warehouse, receiving reports from her team through her earpiece.
"Captain Qin, the targets have entered the periter. There are three of them, and they are all ard. One of them is carrying a long black bag, suspected to contain a high-powered modified firearm."
Qin Bingruo touched her left chest.
Before departing, she had inexplicably returned to her office, rummaged through her drawer to find a heart-protecting steel plate that had been confiscated previously, and stuffed it into the lining of her bulletproof vest.
The position was exactly over her fifth left rib.
"Move in!"
Qin Bingruo gave a low command and vaulted down.
The iron door on the first floor of the warehouse was smashed open, and the white smoke from tear gas instantly filled the entire space.
"Police! Drop your weapons!"
An ear-splitting roar was the only response Qin Bingruo received.
Bang!
It was the sound of an illegally modified shotgun; the pellets tore a dense row of deep craters into the wall.
Qin Bingruo nimbly hid behind a concrete pillar and returned fire. Two of the criminals fell to the ground, but the third one was exceptionally fierce.
He was the main culprit of this operation, nicknad "Mad Dog."
He pulled a sawed-off automatic rifle from his black bag and fired wildly in Qin Bingruo's direction.
"Cover !" shouted Qin Bingruo.
She attempted to flank them, but the mont she darted across an open area, a chilling sensation, like being stared at by a venomous snake, instantly washed over her.
Behind a pile of chaotic debris, Mad Dog's muzzle was aid directly at her chest.
The distance between them was less than five ters.
Qin Bingruo could even see the hideous scar on his face.
Bang!
A bullet left the chamber.
Qin Bingruo had no ti to dodge, and the muzzle flash rapidly expanded in her pupils.
In that instant, the face that flashed through her mind was none other than Zhang Xuanyao's cynical grin.
"At this position on your left rib, pad it with a steel plate. The thicker, the better."
Clang!
A crisp sound of tal striking tal echoed through the empty warehouse, drowning out even the subsequent gunfire.
Qin Bingruo felt an overwhelming force slam into her chest, sending her flying backward like a kite with a broken string, until she crashed heavily into a wooden crate behind her.
Agony.
It felt as if she had been struck head-on by a heavy hamr; the air in her lungs was instantly squeezed out, and everything went black before her eyes.
"Captain Qin!" Her team rushed forward like madn, their dense wall of fire instantly suppressing Mad Dog.
A dozen seconds later, Mad Dog was pinned to the ground and handcuffed behind his back.
"Captain Qin! Are you okay?" Deputy Captain Xiao Wang rushed to Qin Bingruo's side, his hands trembling.
Qin Bingruo lay on the ground, gasping for air. With trembling hands, she unzipped her jacket and tore open the outer layer of her bulletproof vest.
That piece of raw iron plate appeared before everyone's eyes.
In the very center of the steel plate, a deep dent was clearly visible. The bullet had deford due to the violent impact and was embedded in the edge of the dent.
If not for this steel plate, the rifle bullet would have easily torn through the bulletproof vest, shredding her heart and lungs.
A trace of blood slowly seeped out from the edge of the steel plate.
That was from a fractured rib caused by the massive impact, but compared to losing her life, it was negligible.
The entire scene fell into a deathly silence.
Xiao Wang stared at the steel plate, his eyes nearly popping out of his head. "Captain Qin... since when did you start stuffing this thing into your bulletproof vest? This... this just saved your life!"
Qin Bingruo didn't speak; she stared fixedly at the deford bullet.
The ti was 22:15.
Accurate to the second.
She struggled to sit up, pushed away the hands of the team mbers helping her, her expression extrely complex.
"Xiao Wang, get the car ready."
"Where to? Captain Qin, you need to go to the hospital to get your ribs checked!"
"Back to Mount Longhu."
Qin Bingruo gritted her teeth, her voice trembling slightly.
"To Qingfeng Temple."
Late at night, at the foot of Mount Longhu.
The door of Qingfeng Temple was pushed open once again.
Zhang Xuanyao was squatting in the courtyard, washing his face by the moonlight. Hearing the commotion, he didn't even turn his head and said casually, "Officer Qin, have you co with handcuffs this ti, or with a silk banner?"
Qin Bingruo stood at the doorway, her uniform covered in dust and blood, her face pale, but her eyes were brighter than ever before.
She walked step by step behind Zhang Xuanyao, the movent tugging at her injury, causing her to gasp in pain.
"Who exactly are you?" Qin Bingruo's voice was sowhat hoarse.
Zhang Xuanyao wrung out the towel, turned around, and looked at her slightly disheveled appearance.
In his 【Heavenly Eye】 vision, the streak of blood-red cracks above her head had disappeared, replaced by an even richer golden light.
Surviving a great disaster brings great fortune.
"The master of Qingfeng Temple, Zhang Xuanyao."
He waved the towel in his hand.
"I also moonlight as an emotional counselor, fortune teller, feng shui expert, and exorcist. Since we're acquaintances, I'll give you a 20% discount next ti."
Qin Bingruo pulled the deford steel plate from her pocket and slamd it onto the stone table with a "bang."
"Predicting the car accident could be called a coincidence. But predicting that I would be shot, down to the exact position and ti..."
Qin Bingruo stared at him.
"Zhang Xuanyao, this has already exceeded the realm of scientific explanation."
"The world is vast; there are plenty of things that science cannot explain."
Zhang Xuanyao walked to the shrine and lit another stick of incense.
"For example, you have two broken ribs right now, yet instead of rushing to the hospital, you ran here to find a quack like —that's not scientific either."
Qin Bingruo was silent for a mont.
She was a staunch materialist, but everything that happened tonight had completely shattered her worldview.
"I owe you my life." Qin Bingruo took her wallet from her jacket and pulled out all the cash inside, a thick stack, approximately two or three thousand yuan.
She placed the money on the altar table. "This is for incense. Also, regarding Young Master Lin's car accident, I will write a detailed report to clear you of suspicion."
Zhang Xuanyao looked at the stack of money, a glimr of light appearing in his eyes, but he quickly concealed it.
"Ahem, Officer Qin, you are too kind. Saving a life is better than building a seven-story pagoda; I am just accumulating Karma."
He tucked the money into his sleeve with lightning speed.
Qin Bingruo left.
The courtyard of Qingfeng Temple returned to deathly silence, with only the screen of the secondhand phone flickering tirelessly. Zhang Xuanyao stuffed the stack of banknotes into the inner secret pocket of his Daoist robe, patted it to confirm the satisfying thickness, and then squatted back onto his small stool, feeling content.
He tore open the package of Old Altar Pickled Cabbage noodles, poured in boiling water, covered it, and casually propped his phone back up on the brick.
The number of people in the livestream room not only didn't drop but, because the recording of the car accident had gone viral online, a massive influx of new viewers flooded in.
"Ding ding ding—"
The dense notification sounds were like a death summons.
【Online viewers: 58,000 】
【Followers: 120,000 】
The comnts were flashing by too fast to read, like a white waterfall cascading across the screen.
"Great Master, did that Young Master Lin really kick the bucket? It's on the news—major traffic accident on the Heng City Ring Road!"
"Strear, are you human or a ghost? Your prediction was accurate to the second; is this even scientific?"
"Forget about science, upstairs. I saw the police go up the mountain just now; why hasn't the strear been taken away yet?"
Zhang Xuanyao slurped a mouthful of instant noodles and raised an eyebrow at the cara.
"I am a law-abiding citizen. Officer Uncle... oh no, Officer Sister ca to bring warmth. As for science, I call this big data analysis, plus a little bit of ancestral intuition."
As soon as he finished speaking, a brilliant golden light exploded in the center of the screen.
It was the most expensive gift effect on the livestreaming platform—【Interstellar Rocket】.
One, two, three...
A full ten rockets, accompanied by deafening sound effects, completely covered the entire screen.
The sender's ID was none other than: 【Heng City's Finest Flower】.
Imdiately following, a bolded, colorful comnt stretched across the screen.
【Zhang Xuanyao, I will never forget your life-saving grace. This is money for the temple's renovation; there is more to co.】
The livestream room completely exploded.
"Holy crap! Is that Captain Qin? No, wait, is that the policewoman from earlier?"
"Ten rockets! That's fifty thousand yuan! Great Master, what on earth did you do to that police beauty?"
"Life-saving grace? Could it be that the policewoman also had an accident earlier?"
User Comments
0 comments from readers