"Captain Hang, did you... run into sothing? If you trust your brothers, just say it. No matter how big the hurdle, it’s better to have everyone carry it with you than to shoulder it alone."
Whether it was sincere or not, eyes can’t lie. A touch of emotion appeared in Hang nglin’s eyes. "Old Song, I’m fine. Really, thank you."
"I just feel the more I look the more sothing’s off..." Old Song muttered as he sized her up from head to toe.
"Captain Hang, Old Song’s right. We’ve known you not just for a day or two. This isn’t your style. If you trust us, just tell us."
"Yeah, Captain Hang, whatever it is, we’re willing to carry it with you."
"..."
Everyone chid in, each expressing their stance.
"Since when did I turn into so fragile little Lin?" Hang nglin smiled and pressed her palm down. "I really am fine, relax. When I need help, I won’t stand on ceremony with you all."
"That’s good then." Old Song’s gaze shifted toward the silent village, and he couldn’t help mumbling under his breath, "We’re brothers after all, he shouldn’t let everyone down..."
"Woof woof..."
"Woof woof woof..."
"..."
A chorus of barking rose one after another from inside the village, and everyone’s expressions turned grave. "Captain Hang, could Song Qingping have startled that pack of wolves?" Lao Miao asked nervously.
"I’ll go take a look." Hang nglin looked at Lao Miao with a serious expression. "If you see the signal go up, you take everyone and move according to the original plan."
"Captain Hang, let go instead. You’re the team leader, how can you be absent?"
Hang nglin gave Lao Miao a push back. "This one, I have to go. You don’t know the layout of the village—if you go in, it’s just sending yourself to die." As the words fell, she was already halfway out.
"Captain Hang..." Lao Miao’s brows knitted tightly. After working side by side with Hang nglin for so long, he knew her temper sowhat. Even if he chased after her, he wouldn’t be able to change anything. But still...
"Captain Miao, let go help." A squad mber stepped forward.
"Forget it..." Lao Miao waved his hand. "Captain Hang must already have her deploynt set up. If we rush in blindly, we’ll only ss up her plan."
She’d always had a bit of a mad streak when handling cases, but never to the point of going this far off script like this ti. He didn’t know if it was his imagination, but he kept feeling there was a kind of desperate, all-or-nothing madness in Hang nglin this ti.
"Sigh!" He let out a heavy sigh, then gathered his thoughts and fixed his eyes on the night sky, waiting for the operation to begin. Rather than letting his mind run wild, it was better to perform well—maybe that was the greatest help he could give Hang nglin.
...
The small village surrounded by mountains was called Longyan Village. The na ca from a clear, sweet, ever-flowing spring in the village. For a hundred years it had never run dry. The elders in the village treated the spring as the water of life. If they didn’t drink a bowl every day, they felt completely ill at ease.
Six years ago, the Forest Wolf organization had settled in Longyan Village by moving in as multiple households. With Cai Hesen looking out for them, naturally no one ca to investigate.
"Get up quickly, don’t make a sound, and co with us."
"..."
The Seventh Squad led by Luo Ye, the Sixth Squad led by Shan Gang, and the Fifth and Fourth Squads led by two other officers slipped into the village from front, back, left, and right respectively. Using technical ans, they quietly opened each household’s door, showed their IDs, and evacuated the villagers.
Born under the red flag and raised in New China, the villagers hadn’t seen much of the world, but they knew what an officer’s ID was—after all, the village had produced a few army brats. So once they saw the IDs, no one resisted and no one asked much. One by one, smooth as could be, they followed along and were evacuated to the Grain threshing ground east of the village.
"Woof woof woof..."
"Woof woof woof..."
"..."
Just as victory was in sight, a wave of barking broke out across the village. Luo Ye frowned and ordered everyone to speed up.
Over on Shan Gang’s side and with the other two officers, none of them were rookies either; they knew exactly what to do. In an instant, the atmosphere grew abruptly tense.
Luo Ye’s side entered the third-to-last household. Inside lived an old man in his eighties. After squinting at their IDs, he wiped his cloudy eyes. "Comrades of the liberation army, have the devils invaded again?"
"Uh, no." Luo Ye replied briefly, grabbed the clothes by the kang and helped the old man pull them on.
"Then what are you doing?"
A rare chatty old man.
"Catching bad guys." Li Baoxiang cut in.
"It’s that lot in the orchard on the west side of the village, right?" The old man speeded up his dressing, curling his toothless mouth. "I’d long seen they weren’t good people. I even reported it to the Party secretary, but he didn’t believe . See, turns out I guessed right, didn’t I?
Those big ’fireworks’ they planted in their fields, I thought that was fishy from the start. But the Party secretary tricked everyone, saying they were just planting sothing pretty. Tell , who plants a whole patch of big fireworks just for fun?"
"You’re very perceptive, sir." Luo Ye praised him once, helped him off the kang, and Li Baoxiang hurried to get the shoes and put them on the old man, then hoisted him onto his back and ran out.
"Hey, hey, hey, young man, what are you doing? I’ve got arms and legs, it’s not like I can’t walk. And my body’s as strong as a young man’s. You’re looking down on , aren’t you? Put down right now. I don’t want you carrying . If anyone’s going to carry , it should be my grandson. How can I let an outsider carry ..."
The old man not only talked a lot, he nagged.
"Grandpa, if you want us to catch the bad guys, then stop talking and stop wriggling around." Luo Ye reminded him.
"How am I wriggling around? Young lady, that’s not right of you to say. I’m this old, you should respect —respect the elderly and love the young, right?..." The old man started nagging again.
Luo Ye raised her hand, then lowered it again.
"Young lady, do you think I’m annoying and want to hit ? That’s not right either. I’m this old, how can you hit ?..."
Li Baoxiang reminded him helplessly, "Grandpa, can you stop wriggling? If you get hurt, that’d be bad."
"Young man, put down. I can walk. If you keep carrying , that young lady’s going to hit . Aiya, when you get old, you just beco a nuisance..."
Luo Ye snorted coldly. With a flick of her hand, her ears finally quieted down.
Under everyone’s stunned gazes, Luo Ye ordered, "Liu Pingjiang, Li Jinqiang, head to the next house. Zhang Jialiang, Li Yutong, take the last one. Regroup here."
"Yes!" The four answered and rushed toward their targets.
Li Baoxiang looked at Luo Ye. "Captain, we’re just going to wait here?"
Ye nodded. "Put him down. We wait here."
"Why isn’t he talking?" After putting the old man down and seeing his mouth and eyes twitching but no sound coming out, Li Baoxiang stared at him in puzzlent. "Captain, is he having a stroke? Sothing feels really off."
"He’s fine, not having a stroke. He just fell for his own trick." Luo Ye said, and kicked the old man in the stomach. "Acting? Let’s see you act now!"
"Captain Luo..." Li Baoxiang stared at Luo Ye in shock. However he looked at it, this old man was well over eighty. What kind of act could he be putting on?
-----
First watch delivered. Special thanks to Xiao Yu of "Eternal Post-rainy Season" for the reward. Nu’an will hurry to type the next Chapter. (To be continued. If you like this work, you’re welco to go to Qidian (qidian) to cast a Recomndation ticket or a monthly ticket. Your support is my greatest motivation.)
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