Chapter 221: Chapter 142: Hidden in Plain Sight? What Kind of Master is This!_5
While the three of them were chatting happily, a crisp sound suddenly emanated from Zhang Beixing’s phone.
DING DONG—
Hearing this, Zhang Beixing instinctively looked down. He saw that, in the middle of the night, Sophia Zhou had actually sent him a message. However, because he had enabled a privacy feature, he couldn’t see the content of the message.
Zhang Beixing murmured in surprise, "Isn’t that little girl asleep yet?"
He then unlocked his phone and focused on the screen. He saw that on VX, Sophia Zhou had sent him a voice message. Zhang Beixing stood up, walked over to the window, and tapped it open.
Sophia Zhou’s apologetic voice came through, "So sorry, Beixing. Something came up with my brother, so I might have to cancel our plans for today. I can’t go with you to Tiananmen. How about tomorrow? I’ll definitely go with you tomorrow. I really have no choice today. I’m so, so sorry!"
So, she had an urgent matter to attend to!
Zhang Beixing understood. He replied with a simple ’OK.’
He then slipped his phone into his pocket, just about to return and continue his conversation about clothes with Liu Yi. As Zhang Beixing inadvertently glanced out the window, his eyebrows shot up.
He saw three military vehicles slowly driving into the Yanjing Police Station compound.
What are military personnel doing at the Yanjing Police Station this early in the morning? And so many of them. Could it be because of those terrorists?
They’ve really stirred things up this time. Looks like they’ve caught a big one! Zhang Beixing thought, somewhat surprised.
「Meanwhile, outside the police station.」
After some travel, Zhao Ruchang, Liu Pan, and their men finally arrived. Upon disembarking from their vehicles, they entered the building and headed directly to the interrogation room.
「Inside the interrogation room.」
Besides the young female officer accompanying Zhang Beixing and Liu Yi, all on-duty personnel of the Yanjing Police Station, including the Chief, were gathered there. Across from them sat Zhou Fan and the others, who had finally regained consciousness.
Because Zhang Beixing and Liu Yi had been careful to subdue them without causing serious injury, always leaving some leeway for unforeseen circumstances, Zhou Fan and the others weren’t badly hurt. They had merely been unconscious for a while and had now woken up.
The police officers present were initially stunned and unsure how to react when Zhao Ruchang and his group suddenly burst in.
Only the Chief, who already knew what this was about, stepped forward and extended his hand to Zhao Ruchang, "Hello, Comrade. You’ve finally arrived."
"Hello, Comrade." Zhao Ruchang shook his hand and then got straight to the point, "What exactly happened here? Our men were conducting a drill perfectly fine, so why were they suddenly brought here?"
This... this is a long story! Thinking of the statements from Liu Yi and Zhang Beixing that he had read, the Chief of the Yanjing Police Station felt rather speechless.
He quickly organized his thoughts and then began to explain the whole situation.
Upon learning that Zhang Beixing and his companion had only met Zhou Fan briefly, yet they could tell something was amiss, and later even uncovered the conspiratorial conversation of Zhou Fan’s group, ultimately leading to Zhang Beixing and Liu Yi together taking down Zhou Fan and his four comrades, Zhao Ruchang’s group was quite surprised.
These civilians were clearly not ordinary.
The expressions on the faces of Zhao Ruchang and his team were extremely odd.
"So, the five of you couldn’t overpower these two civic-minded citizens?" Turning his head to look at Zhou Fan, who was sitting aside, now conscious, Liu Pan couldn’t help but ask.
He was the most incredulous one in the group! As the martial arts instructor for Zhou Fan and the others, he knew very well how formidable their combat skills had become under his intensive emergency training. It was no exaggeration to say that, against opponents of equal skill, it would be incredibly difficult for anyone to even get close to them!
And yet, here they were, captured by civic-minded citizens, thoroughly thrashed, knocked unconscious, and sent to the police station.
What the hell. Are civilians this formidable nowadays?
When did Yanjing get such experts? Liu Pan frowned deeply, murmuring to himself, trying to make sense of it. I haven’t heard of any martial arts grandmaster coming to Yanjing recently! Even if one had, and they happened to encounter them, they wouldn’t necessarily possess such strong practical combat skills!
Currently, many contemporary martial arts grandmasters lacked robust combat abilities and were even weaker at handling stressful situations. When facing Zhou Fan’s group, even if such a master could defeat them in a fight, it shouldn’t have been such an overwhelming victory, let alone resulting in all five being captured alive!
This would require at least the strength of a Pseudo Grandmaster. Furthermore, they would need abundant practical combat experience, emergency handling abilities, and keen insight. Such an individual... There aren’t many Pseudo Grandmasters in the entire country, let alone one who meets so many conditions! What in the world is going on here?
"Zhou Fan, back then, how many moves did you exchange with those people?" Wang Fengyi asked, his curiosity piqued.
In his view, the two civic-minded citizens who had acted righteously had defeated Zhou Fan and his four men simply because Zhou Fan’s group was incompetent and outskilled; there was no other explanation. But Zhou Fan, even if you’re that incompetent, you’re still a King of Soldiers. Your strength shouldn’t be underestimated. Though it’s not pleasant to say, you should have at least put up a fight. That way, even if you failed this time, it would sound a bit better when word got out, and I, Wang Fengyi, wouldn’t completely lose face because of you.
Unexpectedly, upon hearing Wang Fengyi’s words, Zhou Fan and the others immediately lowered their heads.
After a long pause, Zhou Fan finally managed to force out two words: "Two moves!"
He himself felt extremely embarrassed uttering these words. His face burned, and even his ears turned red. He was highly trained, while his opponents seemed ordinary. Yet, he had only lasted two moves... No, strictly speaking, he’d been taken down in just one. If word of this got out, it would be a total loss of face.
Seeing Zhou Fan admit this, the other four elite soldiers also began to mutter. Although their voices were faint, one could still make out what they were saying—mostly things like "two moves," or "one move."
After that, the group fell silent.
Seeing them like this, Su Dakai thought it was a good thing there weren’t any cracks in the floor. Otherwise, these guys would be scrambling to crawl into them. He was also secretly alarmed. These civic-minded citizens were truly hidden experts!
He couldn’t help but look towards Liu Pan, only to see him nod solemnly.
A true expert, Liu Pan thought.
At this point, Zhao Ruchang, Commander of the Yanjing Military Sub-district, looked at the Yanjing Police Chief and asked the most crucial question, "Where are those citizens who acted righteously now?"
"They’re in the lounge. I had Officer Xu attend to them." The Chief slapped his forehead. Oh dear! I was so preoccupied with contacting you all and getting Zhou Fan’s group awakened that I completely forgot to tell Officer Xu and those two civic-minded citizens about this whole situation. I’ve just been so busy, it completely slipped my mind! Realizing he hadn’t updated Zhang Beixing and his companion about the situation for so long, he couldn’t help but give a wry smile.
Hearing this, Zhao Ruchang waved his hand. "It’s alright, I can tell them myself. The lounge, you said? Let’s go and see who these two kind-hearted, civic-minded citizens are."
"Sure, I’ll take you there now."
With that, the Chief pushed open the door and led the way out, the others quickly following. Liu Pan, also curious about which master could be so formidable, followed closely behind.
Just as the group had stepped out of the interrogation room and were approaching the main hall,
TAP TAP TAP—
A burst of hurried and somewhat disorganized footsteps was heard.
Then, a young woman with a tan complexion and a woman in her thirties with flowing, wavy hair, wearing a wedding ring on her ring finger, swiftly walked in.
Upon seeing Zhao Ruchang and the others, both women’s eyes lit up. They quickly approached and said, "Hello, we’re Zhou Fan’s family. How is Zhou Fan doing right now?"
Before anyone could reply,
SQUEAK—
The door to the nearby lounge suddenly opened.
Zhang Beixing, having seen so many military personnel arrive at the police station, had stepped out. He had come out eager to see what all the fuss was about, operating on the principle that the more excitement, the better. However, before he could take in the scene, his eyes landed on a very familiar figure among the newcomers.
Looking at the young woman standing behind the woman with wavy hair, Zhang Beixing frowned and said in surprise, "Sophia Zhou?"
Sophia Zhou, who happened to look over at that exact moment, was equally stunned to see Zhang Beixing. "Beixing? What are you doing here?"