Trafford's Trading Club

Chapter 1189: Chapter 30: In a Flash, Light and Darkness

“Calling in, we have a wounded comrade on the ninth floor, one suspect down, requesting assistance…”

Zhou Yusheng let out a sigh, watching Luo Qi who had just come in… observing his every move.

“Maybe there’s still a chance.” Luo Qi stood up, having already checked the injuries of the two fallen comrades… At least they’re still breathing.

Zhou Yusheng subconsciously nodded.

He looked at Luo Qi, this man around his own age… A man whose gaze alone conveys determination.

“I chased this guy all the way here, didn’t expect I’d find you guys here.” Luo Qi surveyed the surroundings and casually asked, “Brother Zhou, did you also hear the commotion and come after it?”

Having collaborated many times before, most members from the First and Second Teams knew each other, not to mention working in the same building day in and day out, they were bound to recognize each other.

Zhou Yusheng shook his head, then nodded, his thoughts a mess—he hadn’t fully processed all that had transpired.

Luo Qi didn’t say much, silently patting Zhou Yusheng on the shoulder.

His eyes still shone brightly… piercing. Zhou Yusheng lowered his head, looking at his comrades on the ground, perhaps to evade, or just to look at these two young men.

“They… did well!” Luo Qi grabbed Zhou Yusheng’s shoulder firmly, then held Zhou Yusheng’s face with both hands, straightening it to face him, “Don’t forget our identity, whether scared or fearful, whatever happens, we must stand at the forefront, even if we fall… Now, take a deep breath!”

Dazzling…

Zhou Yusheng suddenly shivered, like someone drowning suddenly able to breathe again, he took a deep breath of air tinged with the faint scent of gunpowder.

“I’m okay.” Zhou Yusheng exhaled slowly, looking into Luo Qi’s eyes, “What’s the situation now?”

Luo Qi quickly replied, “Hard to say… These guys don’t seem like ordinary robbers. We’ve already rescued one hostage, but there’s still another being taken upstairs; that’s the real headache. Inside the building, it’s tough for the snipers outside to get a shot. We’re trying to drive the guy holding the hostage to an open space.”

“Already… rescued one?” Zhou Yusheng murmured, his mouth slightly agape… How long has it been?

“Ye Yan was the one who saved them.” Luo Qi smiled slightly, “That kid is quite something… Alright, you stay here and keep watch, make sure not to leave any gaps in our encirclement, and be careful yourself.”

With that, Luo Qi exhaled, lifted his spirits, and started walking towards the door.

“Wait, Captain Luo!”

“What is it?” Luo Qi turned around inquisitively, seeing Zhou Yusheng seemed hesitant to speak.

“Aren’t you… afraid?”

“What’s there to fear?” Luo Qi quickly patted his chest twice, a grin playing on his lips, “Aren’t you here too? Brother Zhou, five years ago during that drug bust, you weren’t afraid going alone deep into enemy territory, and three years ago you didn’t fear facing six robbers alone. If you’re not afraid, why should I be? I don’t meddle in the Second Team’s affairs, but… Brother Zhou, haven’t you rested enough already?”

Zhou Yusheng froze in place.

Resting… Just treating all these days of despair as rest?

That figure walking away, just like his eyes, radiated a light hard for Zhou Yusheng to face.

Suddenly, he understood why Luo Qi’s gaze was so bright.

Because of trust… He trusted himself, and was willing to trust others.

Scenes from the past flashed through Zhou Yusheng’s mind.

He had once achieved commendations, first-class ones.

He had been in danger, the kind that could easily lead to ruin.

On paper, his career should have been promising… But Gao Wen came along, the son-in-law of a higher-up.

Gao Wen had also gained commendations, also been injured, and risked life and limb, nothing to pick fault with… Starting from the same line, the only edge Gao Wen held was an extra layer of identity.

There’s simply too many people in the system, everybody is excellent, everybody is capable, but when it comes to choosing the best, it wouldn’t be Zhou Yusheng.

Perhaps it’s fate, being in the same place with someone just as capable, just as outstanding, yet having more resources than himself.

Including Luo Qi… Luo Qi didn’t have much in the way of resources, but he genuinely has the ability to lead such a capable team of subordinates.

What do I have?

Zhou Yusheng subconsciously questioned himself.

He had ability, but he became disheartened.

He also had time, but he spent it elsewhere.

He once tried, but after one setback, he couldn’t get back up.

He felt proud, and proud people are the most vulnerable, hence he fell apart, choosing a path of self-destruction, blaming no one but himself.

—You’re a useless man, besides losing your temper with your spouse, what else can you do?

The relationship with his wife had worsened over time, at some point, the trajectory of his life had diverged.

Zhou Yusheng looked at the two young men lying in the pool of blood, awaiting rescue. Just minutes ago, they had asked him: Brother Zhou, have you ever been involved in any major cases before?

I’ll tell you later… That’s the only answer Zhou Yusheng could provide them.

I once had glory… It was once.

I once had glory, and that’s enough—even if I’m down now, I once had glory… Things to reminisce about, the last shred of dignity to cling onto when fallen.

Time hadn’t passed by much, but the reinforcements had arrived… When they rushed into the room, hurriedly attending to the two young men he had led astray, Zhou Yusheng took a deep breath.

“You carry the wounded away first, I’m going to support Captain Luo!”

Zhou Yusheng declared with resolve to the reinforcements, then took a deep breath, collecting the bullets from the injured young officers,

When they saw Zhou Yusheng with a stern expression, rushing out, the rescuers were taken aback.

“What’s with him?”

This didn’t seem like the kind of person who retreats at the first sign of trouble, someone who had long resigned to fate, just intending to get by.

…

Zhou Yusheng caught up with Luo Qi quickly—this took Luo Qi by surprise.

At that moment, Luo Qi was pressed against the wall at a hallway corner.

“The reinforcements have taken care of our wounded, don’t worry.” Zhou Yusheng skipped unnecessary details, his eyes sharp as a hawk’s, “The perpetrator’s holding a hostage, if they’re professionals, they’ll anticipate we plan to lure them to a spot favorable for the snipers, they won’t fall for it.”

“Are the perpetrators inside?” Zhou Yusheng directly asked.

Luo Qi nodded, “Two men, one hostage.”

“No time to wait.” Zhou Yusheng took a deep breath, “Quick and decisive.”

“Do you have a plan?”

Zhou Yusheng nodded, then swiftly turned, and with the grip of his handgun, smashed it into the fire alarm device on the wall.

In an instant, the piercing sound of the alarm bell echoed throughout the entire under-construction building!

…

“Don’t…don’t kill me…”

The security guard fell painfully to the ground, blood continuously flowing from his shoulder — it was pierced by a bullet from the assailants.

He was truly terrified, his face covered in dust, yet he didn’t dare move because the cold barrel of the gun was aimed at the back of his head — behind him were two fierce-looking Southeast Asian men wearing vests and gun holsters…seemingly able to speak Chinese.

At that moment, the sudden and sharp sound of the alarm bell instantly heightened the nerves of these two assailants.

“Damn…what are they trying to do!”

“Brother! What should we do now? There’s only two of us left!”

The man called Brother rapidly said, “We have hostages, they won’t dare to attack, this is our only chance!”

“You have no chance, surrender!” At the entrance, a shadow suddenly dashed forward, directly interrupting the two assailants’ conversation.

Zhou Yusheng’s gaze was fixed firmly on his gun barrel, aiming directly at the two assailants, posing in a shooting stance, “You’re surrounded! At most, our people will be here in two minutes! Don’t count on your accomplices, it’s just you two left! Surrender!”

“Surrender? Hahaha!!!!” The assailant sneered, casually firing his SMG.

This forced Zhou Yusheng to immediately hide back against the entrance wall.

“Come out! If you don’t come out, I’ll kill the hostage! I’m counting to three!”

“Wait, no need to count!” Zhou Yusheng took a deep breath and stepped out.

“Put your gun down!”

Zhou Yusheng slowly crouched down and placed his handgun on the ground.

“Kick it over!”

Zhou Yusheng gritted his teeth and forcefully kicked the handgun away…right after, the other assailant swiftly picked up the kicked handgun.

“You, come over!”

Zhou Yusheng slowly approached, with a slight look of fear in his eyes, “I can replace the hostage…let this security guard go, he’s wounded and losing so much blood, he’ll die after a while, and then you won’t have a hostage…on the contrary, if I take his place, you’ll still have a chance!”

“You don’t have any bargaining power with me!”

“Think carefully!” Zhou Yusheng gritted his teeth, “Shoot me, shoot him, you’ll have even less chance of escaping! Using me might still give you a shot! There’s no time to think, our people are already on their way! Rest assured, I won’t move, I just want to save the hostage.”

With that, Zhou Yusheng suddenly pulled out handcuffs, cuffing one side directly onto his left wrist while opening the other cuff, “Watch closely, I’ll lock myself up…just release the hostage!”

The eyes of the two assailants, including the hostage, were now tensely fixed on Zhou Yusheng’s actions, watching as the handcuffs were about to clasp Zhou Yusheng’s right wrist.

“Release him!” Zhou Yusheng suddenly shouted.

For a moment, the nerves of the two assailants tightened again, lost in a brief lapse — and just at this flash of a moment, a force instantly knocked down the assailant holding the hostage!

From…outside the window!

Upon Zhou Yusheng triggering the alarm bell, he and Luo Qi immediately split up, with Luo Qi using the scaffolding on the building’s outer wall to stealthily crawl behind the assailants…waiting for the right moment!

As he successfully knocked down the assailant holding the hostage, Zhou Yusheng, like a scorpion hunting, instantly charged towards the other assailant!

Luo Qi tackled one, Zhou Yusheng collided with one, four people simultaneously fell to the ground and began to wrestle with each other.

After that, the assailant tackled by Luo Qi’s muscles suddenly swelled up, astonishingly kicking Luo Qi one meter away!

“Stupid cop!!!”

The assailant broke away from Luo Qi and then without a word, began to fire with the SMG, Luo Qi seeing this turned pale and leapt again.

This time he leapt towards the hostage guard!

With the guard, Luo Qiu rolled over behind a load-bearing wall…during the tussle, Zhou Yusheng managed to snatch back his assigned gun from the assailant who initially picked it up, and fired, hitting the opponent, allowing him to break free!

Faced with the assailant who was firing the SMG, Zhou Yusheng also had to roll to the side and hide behind a wall — next to him were Luo Qi and the hostage guard, just about a meter apart!

“I will kill you all!!!”

Seeing his brother lying on the ground vomiting blood, clearly beyond saving, the assailant’s brutality was exposed…the terrifying gunfire directly suppressing Luo Qi and Zhou Yusheng from taking any action.

“Don’t kill me…”

The guard fearfully shielded his head, curling up…Luo Qi took a deep breath, making a move that surprised Zhou Yusheng.

He actually took off his own bulletproof vest and put it directly on this guard.

Zhou Yusheng saw this and froze for a moment…but instantly he bit his cheek, repeatedly doing deep breaths!

Luo Qi seemed to have guessed what Zhou Yusheng wanted to do and quickly stopped him with his eyes.

“Old Luo, you once asked if I was rested enough.” Zhou Yusheng suddenly lifted his head, “I tell you now…I’ve rested enough!”

“Don’t!”

Suddenly, Zhou Yusheng pounced!

But at that moment the assailant seemed to have predicted it and sneered viciously, swiftly dodging Zhou Yusheng’s sudden attack, then raising his gun and shooting Zhou Yusheng in the arm, causing his gun to drop to the ground.

Luo Qi saw the opportunity and also pounced out, this time knocking the assailant to the ground, kicking away his SMG.

Zhou Yusheng, enduring the pain, instinctively reached for his gun, but the assailant, with remarkable tenacity, propped himself up with one hand and kicked Zhou Yusheng in the abdomen.

At this moment, the three fell to the ground.

A handgun lay within reach for all three!

Like stacking Arhats, Luo Qi and Zhou Yusheng simultaneously pinned the assailant…in this life-and-death moment, the assailant’s brutality was fully unleashed.

He roared, using astonishing muscle power to break free from Luo Qi and Zhou Yusheng’s hold, seizing the handgun!

The pair scrambled onto the assailant again, desperately entangling him…Zhou Yusheng stretched to snatch the handgun.

Amidst the rolling, the shouting never ceased.

Life and death came in an instant…a loud noise at that moment froze everything.

The gun…was still in the assailant’s hand.

But pulling the trigger was Zhou Yusheng’s hand.

And the bullet, it entered Luo Qi’s body.

The dazzling light gradually faded from Zhou Yusheng’s eyes…