Animal Detective

Chapter 534: Chapter 438: Black and White Confrontation

It was already past ten in the morning by the time they arrived.

The pool hall was already open for business.

Wang Feng’s SUV pulled over to the side of the road.

Inside the vehicle, Qu Guofeng put an arm around Liu Jia’ang’s shoulder and offered him a cigarette. "Here, have a smoke. Relax a little."

Liu Jia’ang, in handcuffs, took a deep drag and coughed violently, his smile still stiff.

Wang Feng, in the front passenger seat, paid him no mind, his eyes fixed on the entrance to the pool hall diagonally across the street.

His men had already dispersed to set up a perimeter.

Two of them had also gone into the pool hall, pretending to be customers.

On the way here, the bureau had run a check on the pool hall. The owner’s name had no "Fei" in it.

They had a household registration photo, which Liu Jia’ang confirmed was not Brother Fei.

But there was definitely something wrong with this guy. According to Liu Jia’ang, not only did Brother Fei come here often, but he also had a small, private room reserved for him deep inside the mahjong parlor.

Therefore, Wang Feng speculated that this place was likely a distribution den.

He had already arranged for another team to go after the owner, a man named Wu Ning.

After finishing the cigarette, Liu Jia’ang nodded at Qu Guofeng.

Only then did Qu Guofeng take out his burner phone and dial Brother Fei’s number.

The phone rang for a while before someone picked up.

After a glance at Qu Guofeng, Liu Jia’ang said hurriedly, "Brother Fei, it’s me, Angzi."

He knew he wasn’t in serious trouble and had agreed to cooperate in capturing Brother Fei.

The plan was for him to call Brother Fei and ask if he was at the pool hall. As for the pretext, they had discussed it. They decided he would say that after using yesterday, his cravings were acting up and he hadn’t gotten a proper fix. He wanted to ask Brother Fei about borrowing some money to buy a little more.

As soon as the call connected, Wang Feng also dialed the bureau’s tech department.

They could use the number to triangulate the call and pinpoint Brother Fei’s exact location.

"Brother Fei, you know me. When have I ever borrowed money and not paid it back?"

Liu Jia’ang seemed to be getting into character, his words flowing more smoothly as he pleaded, "Bro, I’m really dying here. Just spot me a little, please."

Beside him, Qu Guofeng listened, a slight, imperceptible frown creasing his brow.

On the other end of the line, Brother Fei sounded a little impatient. "Alright, alright. Just come find me yourself. Same old place."

"Okay, okay, okay, I’ll be right there."

Liu Jia’ang’s tone was full of impatience.

The call ended.

Liu Jia’ang quickly looked at Wang Feng. "Captain Wang, I... I did okay, right?"

Wang Feng glanced at him and gave a slight nod.

Meanwhile, Shen Xin and the other three were in Pan Wenhai’s car, right behind them.

They were outsiders, after all.

And even Pan Wenhai, strictly speaking, wasn’t in the same division as Wang Feng.

So, the specifics of how to handle the case were still primarily up to Wang Feng’s team.

The car in front had tinted windows, making it impossible to see what was happening inside.

But they figured the call was probably over.

Shen Xin remarked on how quickly Wang Feng’s team operated.

Shen Xin had some familiarity with how Chen Guanglin and Jiang Wengang handled cases; they followed the principle of thoroughly investigating the periphery first and only making a move when they were confident.

Pan Wenhai chuckled. "We have no choice. We’re too close to the border here. The slightest hint of trouble, and those drug traffickers immediately flee the country."

"Once they’re out of the country, catching them becomes much harder."

"Back in the 2000s, during the strictest crackdowns, we’d arrest them and interrogate them on the spot. We’d use... methods. One interrogation would lead to a whole chain of suspects, and we’d go round them up one by one."

"As soon as we caught them, they were sentenced. We didn’t give them any chance to redeem themselves by cooperating. The principle was: find one, deal with one."

"After more than a decade of that ’slaughter,’ the overall situation finally improved. They weren’t as brazen as before. Only then did we start cultivating informants and trying to play the long game."

"It’s because we wiped out that whole batch of them that the number of traffickers dropped so much."

"Of course, it’s also related to the guys down south changing careers. Now they’re all into scams. I hear it’s even more profitable than drug trafficking."

Pan Wenhai’s tone was calm, but listening to his description, Shen Xin could imagine a world of fierce clashes between black and white.

They waited for nearly ten more minutes.

Inside the car ahead.

Wang Feng stared out the window, idly spinning his phone in one hand.

In the back, Qu Guofeng was also silent, watching the pool hall.

The atmosphere was heavy.

Liu Jia’ang couldn’t take it anymore. "Captain Wang," he couldn’t help but ask, "when... when are we making our move?"

From the front, Wang Feng glanced at the rearview mirror but didn’t speak.

Just then, a burly man appeared at the pool hall across the street.

Liu Jia’ang exclaimed, "Captain Wang, that’s Brother Fei! Get him!"

Qu Guofeng’s hand landed on his shoulder. "Shut up," he said coldly.

Wang Feng sat up a little straighter.

Across the street, Brother Fei, carrying a black tote bag in his right hand, looked left and right before getting into a BMW 5 Series parked by the curb.

In Pan Wenhai’s car.

Shen Xin, sitting in the passenger seat, found it strange. "Something’s not right with this guy," he said. "It looks... like he’s about to bolt."

Carrying a bag, looking around warily after stepping outside... All his actions screamed that he was making a run for it.

From the back seat, Ding Yuwei asked anxiously, "Did we spook him?"

Jiang Wengang thought so too, and he looked toward the car in front.

Pan Wenhai had already pulled out his phone and was calling Qu Guofeng to ask what was going on.

Just then, Brother Fei drove away.

But the car in front didn’t follow.

Instead, Wang Feng rolled down his window, stuck his arm out, and gave the car behind them an "OK" sign.

It seemed to mean everything was under control.

Pan Wenhai’s call didn’t go through.

Only then did the car in front start its engine.

Pan Wenhai immediately started his own car and followed.

But by now, the 5 Series was gone.

However, Wang Feng’s car moved with clear purpose, as if they knew exactly where their target was going.

’Shen Xin’s first thought was that they were tracking him through traffic cameras. But cameras have blind spots, and in high-traffic areas, it’s easy to lose someone.’

But Shen Xin found it strange.

’Brother Fei was clearly spooked. Was he just overly cautious, or did something go wrong with Wang Feng’s plan that tipped him off? That didn’t seem likely. Those two were battle-hardened veterans; they shouldn’t make that kind of mistake. Unless...’

A thought struck Shen Xin, and he suddenly realized a possibility.

’Perhaps Wang Feng’s team had intended to spook Brother Fei all along. Because this was a city district, and the pool hall was a legitimate, operating business with customers inside. Drug traffickers are vicious. The chances of one surrendering without a fight were almost zero. Attempting an arrest inside the pool hall would be too risky and difficult to control. It would be better to spook him, let him flee on his own, and then arrest him in a safer location.’

But if they did that, Shen Xin thought, there would be a problem.

’After being spooked, Brother Fei might notify his supplier and leak information. If he used the same phone he’d used to talk to Liu Jia’ang, it wouldn’t be a big issue. They could intercept his texts or even trace his supplier by seeing who he contacted. But if he used a different phone, they could theoretically identify it by checking the data from nearby cell towers, but that would be very difficult to do in a short amount of time. If Wang Feng had considered the first possibility, he must have considered these other scenarios as well.’

Shen Xin pressed his lips together, unsure of what exactly Wang Feng was thinking.

By now, the car was on a road leading out of the city.

After turning at an intersection ahead, Jiang Wengang’s eyes lit up. He pointed forward from the back seat and said, "That’s his car."

About a hundred meters ahead in the flow of traffic was a brown 5 Series.

Jiang Wengang had memorized the license plate earlier; it was the one Brother Fei was driving.

Pan Wenhai relaxed a bit, patiently following Wang Feng’s car. Then he warned, "If there’s action in a bit, you guys stay in the car. Drugs are rampant here in Dehong, and so are guns. There’s a high chance he’s armed."

Shen Xin nodded, feeling the tightness at his waist.

’He was still carrying his issued sidearm, after all.’

They passed through several more traffic lights. After asking Pan Wenhai, they learned they were heading in the direction of Yingjiang.

But they weren’t on the highway.

Now that they were out of the city, the traffic had thinned considerably.

In the car ahead, Wang Feng drew his pistol from his waist and chambered a round.

In the back seat, Qu Guofeng did the same.

Beside him, Liu Jia’ang’s eyes went wide, his heart pounding in his chest.

Wang Feng grabbed the walkie-talkie. "Prepare to move," he said coldly.

There was another intersection ahead.

There wasn’t much traffic. After they passed through it, Shen Xin noticed several cars turn in at once from the left and right lanes of the intersection.

They followed for a short distance before one of the SUVs suddenly accelerated, overtook the 5 Series, and then slammed on its brakes.

The 5 Series’s brake lights flashed as it came to a screeching halt.

The cars on its left and right quickly closed in, boxing it in.

The moment it stopped, the 5 Series roared back to life, burning rubber as it shot forward, ramming hard into the gap between two sedans.

With a loud CRUNCH, the 5 Series failed to break through and stopped in place.

Behind them, Pan Wenhai had already braked hard, keeping his distance.

Shen Xin’s heart pounded as he watched, suddenly feeling like he was back in Huibei Village.

The impact seemed to have deployed the 5 Series’s airbags; white smoke billowed out.

But he hadn’t given up.

Amid the roar of the engine, he rapidly reversed.

A sedan moved to block him.

CLANG! With another deafening crash, the sedan was knocked sideways two meters.

The next moment, the 5 Series swerved hard again, charging directly toward the greenbelt on the right.

The curb here was quite high; the 5 Series seemed to go airborne before landing tilted and plowing through the greenbelt.

One of the front wheels was bent out of shape.

He ignored it and just kept driving, the undercarriage scraping against the ground and sending sparks flying in broad daylight.

But in this condition, it obviously couldn’t get far.

After just a few dozen meters, the 5 Series’s engine died, and it veered into the curb again.

The car door was kicked open. Brother Fei jumped out, bag in hand, and without looking back, fired two shots behind him. BANG! BANG!

It was impossible to tell what he hit.

Amid a screech of tires, a large group of officers leaped from their cars and gave chase.

Beside the road was a field, with a drop-off in elevation.

Panicked, Brother Fei leaped into the ditch, nearly face-planting in the dirt.

He struggled back to his feet and scrambled forward on all fours.

The group of officers was well-trained.

Qu Guofeng was slightly stooped, but he moved surprisingly fast, leading the charge and closing the distance in an instant.

With a flying tackle, he brought the man down.

The moment they hit the ground, he reacted with lightning speed, grabbing Brother Fei’s right wrist and twisting it hard to the right. As he fell back, he wrapped his legs around the man’s arm.

He had him in a cross armbar.

By then, other team members had arrived. One kicked the fallen pistol away, while others quickly pounced, pinning down Brother Fei’s legs.

Only then did Brother Fei let out a squeal like a pig being slaughtered.

Shen Xin, still in the back, hadn’t joined the action.

But the car chase on a public road, the reckless abandon after crashing, the immediate gunfire...

In broad daylight!

Ever since coming to Dehong, he had constantly heard them talk about how harsh the environment was.

But it wasn’t until this very moment that Shen Xin truly understood the kind of danger Wang Feng and his men faced.

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