“The Flying Tigers will split into two teams, attacking from the front and back doors to protect the civilians inside the bank. And those three Major Crime detectives, not even wearing bulletproof vests—what good are three pistols? Have them withdraw with the civilians under the cover of the Flying Tigers.”
“Set up a police line.”
“Establish a perimeter.”
“Protect and evacuate the civilians.”
“Take those who were grazed by stray bullets or trampled to the ambulances for emergency treatment. Do not let the media interview them for now.”
“Has the Public Relations department arrived? Have them restrict the media vehicles.”
“The Major Crime unit must quickly deal with Officer 7512’s body. Has the forensic department arrived? Take it away immediately to avoid media photos.”
“Collect the firearms from the killed robbers and secure Officer 7512’s issued gun.”
The temporary command center for the major bank robbery at Baojin Bank was continuously issuing commands, busy and tense.
Inspector Chief Chen Wujie’s car had barely stopped for a few seconds before the Flying Tigers were ordered to sprint out and charge into Baojin Bank in a pincer movement.
The imagined scene of three detectives struggling to cope did not materialize. As the Flying Tigers who entered through the main door positioned themselves to identify targets, Fang Zhenyue drew the fire of a Black Star gunman. Sanfu lurked on the right side of the bank’s seating, shooting from a tricky angle and killing a leg-wounded submachine gun robber.
A policewoman, who had entered the bank just before the Flying Tigers, used a vase as a cover. Although she could not see the Black Star gunmen, she kept firing in that direction, distracting and intimidating them.
The three detectives were not at all flustered; they each took a position and coordinated well, fighting beautifully.
Just as the captain of the Flying Tigers was about to shout for the Black Star gunmen to surrender, he saw one suddenly raise a large Black Star in his hand and throw it onto the open ground in front, shouting first,
“I surrender, I surrender!”
Fang Zhenyue seized the opportunity and leaped forward in two steps, his gun always pointed at the Black Star gunman. Seeing the man crouching behind the counter with his hands behind his head, he quickly secured his gun.
As he rolled to the ground, he kicked the Black Star gun towards the fully armed Flying Tigers, and then struck the gunman on the shoulder with a powerful blow. The man groaned, and even if he had any resistance left, the pain now made him curl up, temporarily incapacitated.
Fang Zhenyue did not stop moving; his hand clicked, and in the next instant, he had handcuffed the Black Star gunman’s hands.
By then, the Flying Tigers rushing in from the back door had also arrived at the scene, guns at the ready.
Where were the robbers?
Where were the robbers?
Looking at the teammate who had burst in through the front door, he had already stood his gun up and begun the after-action work of searching the scene.
“Hmm?”
“???”
…
Fang Zhenyue took a step back while clutching his shoulder, gasping for air heavily.
Sanfu hurriedly stowed his gun and ran over to take over the robbers, leaving the scene of the gunfight to other department brothers.
Jiayi, seeing the conflict had ended, slowly stood up from behind a vase.
Her chest heaved dramatically, her face flushed and hot, and her body hair stood on end.
She hadn’t yet recovered from the fearless and painless state of excitement when she suddenly stopped, looking somewhat bewildered.
Fang Zhenyue caught sight of Jiayi standing behind the vase, leaned against the wall to gather his senses, and waved to her.
Like a puppet, at his command, she obediently followed, walking through the Flying Tigers team members at the search scene to his side.
Fang Zhenyue glanced at the grey-shirted man’s corpse lying at the bank entrance and then at the gun in Jiayi’s hand.
He reached out, and she looked down at his palm, vaguely understanding his intention, and hesitantly turned the muzzle of the gun in her hand to place it in his palm.
Leaning against the wall, Fang Zhenyue clicked the safety off with a snap before handing the gun back to her.
Only then did Jiayi finally notice the injuries on Sir Fang’s legs, his waist, and minor scrapes on his face, with his right shoulder split open.
At this moment, everyone’s adrenaline levels were decreasing, gradually returning to normal, with all the pain and fear emotions returning.
Suddenly realizing just how dangerous the brief gunfight had been, and that she had killed someone…
Her heart thumped wildly, and as Jiayi’s awareness sharpened, her brain uncontrollably replayed everything that had happened in those few minutes.
She began to feel terrified retrospectively.
If she hadn’t been absorbed in the flow state, lying foolishly on the corpse of the police officer 7512 in military uniform, she might have looked around in panic. That would have made it very likely for her to make eye contact with the grey-shirted man passing by, who would probably have been wary enough to kill her upon being spotted.
Or if she had already been issued a firearm, carrying a lethal weapon on her waist, and had been discovered by the grey-shirted man, he would certainly have shot at her.
Moreover, if it weren’t for her sighting the face of the fourth plainclothes robber while in the flow state, she wouldn’t have been aware of the grey-shirted man’s presence. Without realizing his intentions in time, Sir Fang and the others might have…
If she hadn’t practiced shooting every day recently, if she hadn’t thought to use the police officer 7512’s issued firearm at the last moment…
Her body grew cold with fear, her hand holding the gun trembling uncontrollably.
Fang Zhenyue noticed her change, aware that all officers experience a stress reaction after their first kill.
His brows furrowed, enduring his physical pain, he lowered his voice as much as possible and said gently, “Give me a hand.” Lifting his uninjured left arm, he reached out to Jiayi for help.
The young policewoman was pulled from her state of fear by his words, her ringing ears and blurred vision slightly recovered. She quickly regained her composure, pushed herself under his arm, grabbed his wrist, supported his arm, and propped up his body to alleviate the force on his injured leg.
“Sir Fang, I’ll help you out.”
Although he pretended to rely on her assistance to walk, in reality, he was merely lightly resting on her shoulder.
He simply wanted Jiayi to feel needed, to prevent her from sinking into negative emotions and being unable to extricate herself.
After staggering a few steps, they encountered forensic scientist Xu Junhao examining the body of a man in a gray shirt.
Having confirmed that the man died from a gunshot wound to the heart without dispute, Xu Junhao solemnly allowed the Flying Tigers team to move the body after marking it, then turned to Fang Zhenyue and Jiayi and asked, “Are you alright?”
“External injuries, it’s fine.” Fang Zhenyue nodded.
“This was too dangerous, but fortunately, you’re both safe. Great job, congratulations,” Xu Junhao said, then patted Jiayi on the shoulder and moved past them to inspect the body of the gunman wielding a submachine gun.
Fang Zhenyue glanced at the markings on the ground at the bank entrance indicating the position of the body, then spoke to Jiayi:
“At that time, we didn’t notice there was a fourth robber at the scene. Yi Jiayi, thank you for saving the lives of me and Tan Sanfu.”
He addressed her with her full name, solemnly.
Jiayi, pale-faced, looked up to meet Fang Zhenyue’s eyes, and for some reason could no longer hold back. Suddenly, a surge of emotions overwhelmed her, and she began to cry:
“Sir Fang…”
She had not yet applied for a service weapon, had not taken the oath during the weapon issuance ceremony, nor had she received any brief psychological counseling or advisement.
Previously, she was solely focused on rescuing people and catching criminals, never considering what this represented or what could happen.
Typically, even the toughest men following the normal process experience fear and nightmares after shooting someone for the first time, let alone a young girl who, without any warning, faced such a life-and-death battle.
Thinking of how she had shot the gray-shirted robber and still bravely rushed into the bank, looking for a position to disrupt the robbers’ comfort in shooting, calculating positions for a surround attack, finding cover… She carefully followed the knowledge learned at the police academy, hiding behind a planter, timing the intervals between the criminal’s shots with a Black Star pistol, turning, easing the recoil, and shooting again, rhythmically firing at the position of the Black Star gunman, disturbing the enemy.
Everything was going well until the conflict ended; she maintained her composure throughout.
It was her first time attending such an event, her first time really shooting a gun, her first time killing someone, and her first time charging into the most dangerous battlefield, risking her life…
Fang Zhenyue felt a pang of guilt, thinking that he, as a leader, had not done enough. There were still many shortcomings he had not addressed, which had led this brave newcomer, who should have been enjoying the fruits of victory, to suffer such emotional trauma.
Not wanting others to see her emotional breakdown, and enduring the pain in his body, Fang Zhenyue took Jiayi behind a door, his arms slightly gathered to protect her in his embrace, gently patting her back and shoulders.
He was silent, frowning as he watched the orderly movement of other police station officers entering and exiting the bank, evacuating the civilians hiding inside; the forensic firearms team entered the bank to inspect the ballistics, and the forensic department, led by Sir Xu, began removing the bodies. Whenever someone looked their way, he discreetly gestured for them to ignore them and leave.
Fang Zhenyue used his body to shield everyone’s view, quietly creating a sanctuary for Jiayi to cry.
Jiayi vented without direction, and as her crying slowly ceased, she grew tired and calmed down, looking up at Fang Zhenyue somewhat dazedly.
She then realized that she didn’t know when she had sat down on a bench inside the bank’s door, with Sir Fang standing in front of her, leaning on the wall and looking down at her.
After crying, her ears stopped ringing, her heart calmed, and her body felt numb. Although there were still many aches, she felt more comfortable than before.
But coming back to her senses, she felt somewhat inexplicable, wondering how she could lose control of her emotions like that.
Why cry so embarrassingly?
Embarrassed, she looked at Fang Zhenyue, wiped her wet cheeks, and awkwardly said, “I’m sorry, Brother Yue.”
“It’s okay, you did very well. After I first killed someone, my legs were weak. Sanfu wet his pants the first time he killed someone. You just cried a bit, you’re already outstanding, truly among the best.”
“Really?” Jiayi looked up at him incredulously.
Fang Zhenyue cracked a smile, which tugged at the injuries on his face, causing him to hiss in pain.
“Ah!” Jiayi then remembered his injuries, with his shoulder still bleeding and his lips pale.
Looking around, she saw that the forensic team had almost finished inspecting the scene.
She quickly stood up. “Brother Yue, let me help you stop the bleeding.”
“Uh, you’ve finally stopped crying. Cry any more, and I’d faint, even if I were a bull,” Fang Zhenyue sighed exaggeratedly.
Feeling both guilty and anxious, Jiayi carefully supported him and walked him outside, her attention now fully on him, her own negative emotions indeed completely dissipated.
They had just stepped outside when someone came up to meet them, saw Jiayi and Fang Zhenyue, and quickly took over supporting Sir Fang, steering them towards the ambulance.
As the slanting sun shone down, causing people to squint, Jiayi raised her hand to block the light, also shielding the gazes of others.
People couldn’t see her reddened eyes, only her tall and straight figure, which stood out impressively among the busy staff.
Looking at such a back view, who shot the robbers and carried a formidable presence, one might forget that she was just an ordinary person who had recently become a detective.
Many people her age might not have graduated yet, not yet entered society, and are still called children.
…
…
Outside the police cordon, the major media saw someone coming out and instantly set up their short cannons, snapping photos continuously.
The media that was broadcasting live even shifted the camera from the host’s face to Fang Zhenyue and Yi Jiayi, following them with the camera.
The host also turned towards the two inside the cordon and broadcasted together with their figures:
“The one walking in front of the camera now is the CID’s brave detective who fought with the robbers!”
“Oh, it looks like she’s seriously injured!”
“One of them is a young female detective, said to be the sharpshooter who shot the gang leader dead with one shot!”
“Ah, I recognize her, this policewoman is the lucky star policewoman from the earlier reports at the Yau Ma Tei Police Station! Truly deserving of the name lucky star, in this robbery, the robbers were armed with heavy weapons, yet no civilians were seriously injured, nor were any killed.”
“… Thanks to our Hong Kong police team. I heard that one officer died in service, the battle was indeed fierce. Fortunately, the major case squad detectives remained calm and their shooting was godlike!”
“You can see, although the action team deployed the Flying Tigers, the Flying Tigers arrived at the scene and didn’t fire a single shot, the gunfight was already over. This major robbery relied solely on three brave detectives from the major case squad, who killed three fierce robbers and shattered the last robber’s spirit, making him surrender.”
“Among the four fierce robbers at the scene, one was in plain clothes and didn’t wear a mask. Some have speculated that this plainclothes man was the leader of the robbers, and some civilians who witnessed the gunfight said, the plainclothes leader died at the hands of our excellent policewoman from the West Kowloon Major Crime Unit!”
“Now we can see, the lucky star policewoman is rushing to the ambulance, apparently injured…”
“… Ah, look over there, the Flying Tigers, who didn’t fire a shot, are disheartenedly regrouping and leaving sadly.”
“… Wait, that white-browed officer walking towards the ambulance, heading to the two injured detectives, seems to be the famous O record Chief Police Superintendent, known as the White Browed Eagle King, who always breaks the power of evil, Superintendent Chen Wujie!”
“We can boldly speculate, is Superintendent Chen going to commend the three detectives for their brave performance?”
…
Sitting in the ambulance in the distance, Yi Jiayi, while letting the doctor disinfect and bandage her minor wound, watched as the doctor bandaged Fang Zhenyue’s wound.
She squinted and winced, crying out in pain on behalf of Fang Zhenyue.
She didn’t notice the movements of O record Chief Police Superintendent Chen Wujie, only saw Brother Sanfu coming over after reporting to the officer in charge at the scene and running over.
Glancing at the doctor disinfecting and bandaging Fang Zhenyue’s shoulder, she leaned close to Fang Zhenyue’s ear, and in a voice the doctor couldn’t hear, whispered:
“Did Brother Sanfu really wet his pants the first time he fired a gun and killed someone?”
“Looks can be deceiving—such a fierce detective, and yet he peed his pants.”
Fang Zhenyue chuckled, his furrowed brows from the pain relaxing as he ruffled her hair forcefully:
“Just kidding, you actually believed that?!”
Sanfu, who had run up close, saw Fang Zhenyue laughing and curiously asked, “What’s so funny?”
Jiayi immediately fell silent, but after making eye contact with Fang Zhenyue, they both laughed knowingly.