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墨書 Inktalez
The rain was getting heavier, and the trees by the roadside swayed in the wind. A flash of lightning struck in front of the vehicle, followed by a loud thunderclap. The old police officer lit a cigarette, carefully observing the road conditions. There were no pedestrians on the road, but the number of cars was not significantly less than usual.
In the confined space, smoke quickly filled the air. Zhang Qiu inhaled and began to cough violently. Rui Rui grabbed the railing and shouted, "Officer, put out the cigarette! There’s an injured person in the back!"
The old police officer glanced back, pulled out an ashtray, and extinguished his cigarette inside it, which was already filled with crumpled butts.
What usually took about ten minutes to drive took twenty this time. The old police officer drove straight through the main gate and parked at the basketball court south of the building. He opened his umbrella and stepped out first, then shifted gears, pulled the handbrake, grabbed some items from the car, and turned to Zhang Qiu and Rui Rui in the back seat. "You two behave. It's pouring outside; we'll use umbrellas to get you inside."
The old police officer and his partner each took an umbrella to escort one of them inside, but Rui Rui clung tightly to Zhang Qiu's arm. With no other choice, the old police officer signaled to his partner to take one of them while he took the other. The heavy rain made it impossible for even one umbrella to keep them dry, let alone two umbrellas for four people. In just a few steps, their pant legs were soaked from the rain, and half of their bodies outside the umbrellas were drenched. Zhang Qiu and Rui Rui in between managed to avoid much of the rain but had already gotten wet before getting into the car; now they were dripping wet.
Inside the interrogation room, bright lights shone down on them. Zhang Qiu closed his eyes and felt a bit of warmth. Just before entering, the old police officer instructed his partner to bring a first aid kit. When his partner brought it in to bandage Zhang Qiu's wounds, Rui Rui exclaimed incredulously, "You're going to treat him with that?"
"Yes," replied the old police officer naturally as he pulled out antiseptic and gauze from the kit.
"He's hurt so badly; why don't you call a doctor?"
"This is a police station, not a hospital. Where would we find a doctor? We have plenty of officers here; do you want me to find one?"
"Yes!"
Now it was the old police officer's turn to be surprised; after so many years on duty, he had never seen someone who committed a crime actively seeking out police assistance.
"Rui Rui," Zhang Qiu quickly grabbed her arm and said to the old police officer, "We won't look for anyone; please help me bandage it up. I feel very weak and need to go to the hospital."
"I've already seen your wound; it's not deep. Answer my questions first, then I'll take you to the hospital." The old police officer didn't sense anything wrong as he began treating Zhang Qiu's wounds, most of which were on his arms and back, looking quite gruesome.
After briefly treating his wounds, the old police officer sat down across from Zhang Qiu while his partner prepared to take notes. The old police officer's eagle-like eyes fixed on Zhang Qiu as he asked, "So how did you get those injuries?"
"I was attacked."
"I know you were attacked; who did it?"
Zhang Qiu fell silent. How should he answer that? Was it people from Azure Blue Rose? He didn’t care if someone used police power for their own benefit. It was ridiculous; even his uncle was a policeman—what was wrong with using police power? Even Chairman Mao did it; unite all forces that could be united. What Zhang Qiu truly worried about was that if Azure Blue Rose members were caught, they would expose people on his side. That would trigger a domino effect.
"You need to understand our policy: confessing leads to leniency while resisting leads to harshness!" The old police officer leaned forward, tapping his knuckles on the table with an authoritative gaze that looked down on Zhang Qiu.
“Zhang Qiu!” Rui Rui suddenly screamed, rushing to embrace the unconscious Zhang Qiu, tears streaming down her face. She turned to the old police officer and shouted, “Hurry, take him to the hospital!”
“Okay, okay.” The old officer hadn’t expected Zhang Qiu to faint. Based on his experience, it shouldn’t have happened, but there was no time to think; they needed to get him to the hospital quickly. If something went wrong, it would be serious. The old officer hurriedly instructed his colleagues, “Quick, help lift him into the car and head to the hospital.”
“Yes.” The officers snapped out of their hesitation; the look in the girl’s eyes just moments ago had been terrifying. If possible, he had no doubt she would have charged at them.
In the hallway, the on-duty officer came over to help. The two of them worked together to lift Zhang Qiu into the car. When Rui Rui tried to get in as well, the old officer stopped her firmly, saying, “You stay here.”
“But I’m injured too!” Rui Rui shouted, pointing at the bruises on her arm.
The old officer remained unmoved and told the on-duty officer, “Take her back and keep an eye on her for now.”
“Yes!” The on-duty officer pulled Rui Rui away. Her struggles only earned her scolding and forceful dragging until she could no longer see Zhang Qiu as the car door closed.
After starting the engine, the old officer pressed down on the accelerator. The police car sped backward out of the gate with a sharp turn before racing forward. Despite the heavy rain still pouring down, he increased the speed well beyond the limit. The police lights flashed back and forth while the siren pierced through the sound of rain, echoing in all directions.
On the road, the old officer kept thinking about this case; it involved Azure Blue Rose, which required extra attention. Azure Blue Rose was a key focus for both his department and higher authorities. Chen Hu, the boss of Blue Demon Entertainment City, had a notorious history of wrongdoing in Beilan County. He had been arrested multiple times before the twentieth century. Although things seemed quiet now, that was merely surface-level; rumors had circulated for over a year that he had gotten involved with drugs, but they lacked solid evidence to apprehend him. Recently, a team had gone out after hearing about some smoke from Azure Blue Rose, but unfortunately, there were no results after their response.
The old officer pressed down on his radio to make contact: “Captain Ma, Captain Ma, this is Wang Baoguo, this is Wang Baoguo.”
A reply came through the radio: “This is Ma Zhen, what’s going on?”
“Captain Ma, there was a large-scale brawl at Azure Blue Rose. By the time we arrived, everyone had already fled. I’ve notified nearby comrades to assist in capturing them.”
“I’m aware of this matter. Meanwhile, our department has dispatched officers to check all major hospitals and personal clinics throughout the county.”
“I’ve caught one! One of the men is injured and unconscious; I’m currently en route to the hospital. There’s also a woman detained at our station. Captain Ma, time is tight; I think we should try to get some information from them as a breakthrough.”
“You’re right; I’ll head over immediately.”
“Also, Captain Ma, we need guards for the suspect at the hospital; we can’t just stay there all day.”
“Understood; I’ll arrange that right away and report to the director.”
Zhang Qiu, lying in the back seat, suddenly opened his eyes as the police car made a sharp turn, jolting him awake. He could hear the radio conversations clearly. When the old officer asked questions, Zhang Qiu remained silent. But now, Rui Rui was locked inside; what would she do?
The only thing Zhang Qiu felt relieved about was that the person interrogating Rui Rui was Ma Zhen. He was an upright man and at least wouldn’t act recklessly. However, if Ma Zhen found out that Zhang Qiu was also involved, he would undoubtedly inform his uncle immediately, which would complicate matters further. Besides that, how would he be judged? What would the school do upon learning of this incident? What would his family think? Most importantly, where was Jiang Xue now? Was she safe? Countless questions swirled in Zhang Qiu's mind, giving him a headache.
"You carry him." The old officer drove directly to the hospital entrance and slammed on the brakes. The officer swiftly got out of the car and dragged Zhang Qiu out of the back seat, helping him onto his back. Security personnel rushed over from a distance; they had already recognized it was a police car and thought something serious had happened. Their expressions were grave, and the captain among them looked at the old officer and asked, "Comrade Police, do you need assistance?"
"Help me park the car and then bring two people to find me," the old officer said, shoving the keys into the security captain's hand before following the other officers into the lobby. He had decided that until someone from the station arrived, he would have the security team assist in guarding; these security personnel had undergone some training and should be capable of watching over an injured person. From Zhang Qiu's eyes, the old officer could tell he was not an ordinary individual, even though he was wearing a school uniform.
The security captain held the car keys in a daze for a while. When he finally sat in the driver's seat, he still felt somewhat light-headed. He had dreamed countless times since school about becoming an honorable People's Police officer; unfortunately, as an adult, he had become a colleague of the People's Police—security. Although he wore a uniform too, it felt worlds apart. Even as a security captain, he would rather be an ordinary police officer. He never expected that today he would actually sit in a police car—no! He was driving a police car.
The security captain cautiously started the ignition. With a slight tremor of the vehicle, all indicator lights on the dashboard lit up, and the windshield wipers quickly cleared away rainwater from the glass. Gently lifting his foot off the clutch, the police car slowly started moving. The security captain excitedly gripped the steering wheel and pressed on the accelerator to leave through the main entrance. Once there were no obstacles in his way, he immediately eased off the gas pedal and coasted at idle speed for a short distance to reach the parking lot.
Every second felt precious to him. Finally parked securely in the lot, he reluctantly took out his phone to take pictures for keepsakes. If it weren't for Comrade Police needing his help, he would have unhesitatingly traveled around in this car during his security duty to ensure it remained in good condition while People's Police were handling their case.
Just as the security captain accelerated away from the main entrance, the old officer and other officers stood in the center of the lobby. The old officer hurried toward the service desk: "Nurse, we have someone injured here."
"Ah, follow me!" Wang Jinghan ran to the front desk and followed the old officer. The old officer's uniform was already soaked with rainwater and stained with dark red blood. Seeing his disheveled appearance made Wang Jinghan instinctively think that one of their officers had been hurt; however, when she got closer, she was shocked to recognize that it was an injured person she knew very well on his back.
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