International Mercenary 140

  Liu Ziguang's injury was not serious, one bullet hit his right chest, fortunately it did not hurt the lung or major blood vessels, just a through-and-through wound, looks scary but actually no big deal.

  It's also thanks to the fact that the robbers were holding 54-style pistols, which fired 7.62mm bullets with extremely strong penetration power but poor stopping power. If they had been using the new 92-style pistol, he wouldn't have been so lucky. The 9mm bullet would have wreaked havoc inside his body, and even if he hadn't died, he would have lost a layer of skin.

  The operation was nothing special, just stopping the bleeding, cleaning and dressing the wound, and that's it. But the news was tightly sealed off, no reporters were allowed to interview, no visitors were allowed, Liu Ziguang lay in a single-person ward, guarded by two special police officers.

  The first shift of guards still looked at him with a frown, but the second shift completely changed their attitude. Some details of the bank robbery had already spread within the public security system, and everyone knew about Liu Ziguang's heroic act of shooting down the robbers with his double-barreled shotgun. Although the case was not yet fully resolved, the outlook was already clear: Liu Ziguang was absolutely a hero in the eyes of all.

  In the hospital ward, Liu Ziguang lay on his back in bed, telling a big mountain to two little policemen. His right chest was bandaged, but it didn't affect his movements at all. With a wave of his hand, spittle flew everywhere.

  "It's not hard to hit accurately, the key is to keep your hands steady and your heart calm, it's not about aiming with your eyes, but aiming with your heart..."

  The two little policemen listened attentively, afraid of missing a single word, and from time to time poured Liu Ziguang a cup of tea, almost kowtowing to him on the spot.

  Just as they were talking, the door was lightly knocked on, and a SWAT officer pressed the gun handle to open the door. When he opened a crack in the door, he saw two female police officers wearing uniforms.

  It was one of their own, the SWAT officer opened the door, two female police officers each held up a bouquet of flowers and said in a low voice: "Hu Secretary's daughter entrusted us to send it." As they handed the flowers into the SWAT officer's hands, they turned around and left.

  The SWAT officer was stunned, and after a few seconds, he closed the door and brought in the two bouquets of flowers, exclaiming: "We're blessed, we're blessed! The number one beauty of Jiangbei City's police force has even sent someone to deliver flowers for us!"

  Two bouquets of flowers were placed in the hospital room, and immediately there was a bit more vitality, and the atmosphere became much livelier. The secretary of the political and legal committee's daughter sent flowers to Liu Ziguang, the meaning of which was self-evident. The two policemen completely relaxed, sitting on the edge of the bed, chatting with Liu Ziguang like old buddies, the three people were having a great time.

  The door was suddenly knocked again, and several tall and sturdy men in plain clothes walked in. The two special police officers had just stood up to ask questions, but they swallowed their words and changed to a salute instead.

  They were the leaders of the municipal bureau, the heads of the criminal police brigade. They had expressionless faces and simply nodded in greeting. They showed a document, then pressed Liu Ziguang onto the bed and handcuffed him from behind. They lifted him up and left immediately, swift as the wind. The two special police officers hadn't even fully reacted when the hospital room was already empty.

  The criminal police team took Liu Ziguang away in a police car, and two minutes later, another police car arrived. Several capable men walked into the ward, looked at the empty bed, and asked: "Where is Liu Ziguang?"

  "The report has been taken away by the people from the Procuratorate, and they have Director Ma's signature." Little Special Policeman saluted and replied, recognizing the newcomer as Vice Director Song of the Municipal Bureau.

  "Playing a discordant note." Deputy Director Song furrowed his brow, unsure if he was criticizing the people from the Criminal Police College or these two young special police officers.

  ……

  Liu Ziguang was handcuffed again, the teeth of the handcuffs were stuck very tightly, making him extremely uncomfortable. The scene from the pre-trial room at the branch bureau a few days ago flashed back to his mind, humiliation and anger ignited a flame in his chest.

  Sitting in the back seat of Santana, two robust detectives sandwiched him, one on the left and one on the right, all expressionless. The police car sounded its siren, weaving through the traffic flow, and soon arrived at the Municipal Bureau, directly entering the underground parking lot. The two detectives escorted him onto the elevator, all the way to the interrogation room.

  This is a windowless house, with white walls and a cement floor. In the center of the room stands an irregularly shaped table. Liu Ziguang, this country bumpkin, wouldn't know that this kind of table was learned from the Hong Kong police. The irregular shape can increase the psychological pressure on the criminal, making them confess quickly.

  The room was very dark, with only the desk lamp shining. Liu Ziguang was pushed onto an iron chair, and three police officers lit cigarettes, whispering a few sentences in low voices. Then one of the police officers extinguished his cigarette butt, walked over, turned up the lamp to its brightest setting, and shone it directly into Liu's eyes, making them dizzy.

  "Say, where did you get that gun!" a deafening voice sounded in his ear.

  "It was taken from a bandit." Liu Ziguang leaned back in his chair and said slowly.

  "Nonsense! You're clearly the hijacker! Killing people to silence them, and you think we don't know? Let me tell you, we've already got a handle on your situation. Now, this is your last chance: confess and get leniency! Resist and face severity!" The shouting was accompanied by the sound of palms slapping the table.

  "Honesty is rewarded, stubbornness is punished. You think I'm a fool? If you really understood the situation, you would have let me go long ago. Why bother deceiving me here?" Liu Ziguang shook his head and cited classics, making several public security comrades so angry that they were about to take down the rubber baton on the wall and beat him severely.

  However, they couldn't do that because the case had a great impact and Liu Ziguang didn't have any evidence to grasp in their hands, so they couldn't use police weapons, not even those underhanded tactics that could cause hidden injuries, they could only use conventional methods.

  What's more important is that Liu Ziguang was not arrested at this time, strictly speaking, he was only detained for questioning, and could be held for no more than 48 hours. If nothing useful came out of the interrogation during this period, then they would have to let him go.

  Cornered, the police pulled out their trump card and showed a photo of Liu Ziguang's chest tattoo, which was not exactly a tattoo because the pattern was ancient and had a five-pointed star inlaid with a sickle and axe pattern that was clearly branded on with an iron.

  "This is the mark on your body, according to our investigation, this is the emblem of the Ryazan Airborne School in Russia. Tell me, where did you go and what did you do during these eight years when you were missing?" a slightly older policeman asked sternly.

  Liu Ziguang was beyond tears and laughter, heaven knows how they mistook this iron factory emblem for the insignia of the Ryazan Paratrooper School, but it doesn't matter, let them be mistaken.

  "You all know already, why are you still asking me what I'm doing? Even if I did something in the past, what does it have to do with you? You're not Interpol, are you?" Liu Ziguang sneered.

  As he spoke, he tossed the handcuffs behind his back onto the table with a clang, startling several police officers, and his gaze at Liu Ziguang was no longer right.

  A person who can pry open handcuffs made of steel and remain calm under the intense lighting in a police interrogation room is no ordinary person.

  A few people whispered to each other, confirming that the guy in front of them was not an ordinary person. The results they searched for on Baidu were correct - the emblem was indeed the insignia of the Ryazan Airborne School. Liu Ziguang had no record of his whereabouts for eight years after he went missing, and yet his shooting skills were so precise, and his psychological quality was so excellent. Based on this analysis, it was likely that Liu Ziguang had been an international mercenary for many years, and very possibly fought in places like Chechnya, Kosovo, South America, and belonged to the kind of people who had truly seen bloodshed.

  Several police officers' feet were shaking, as a small-town detective, how could they deal with such a powerful character? This kid really wanted to refuse to confess, and their criminal investigation techniques were useless. Even if they let them go and tried to extract a confession through torture, it would probably only be scratching the surface.

  It only disappointed Director Ma's expectations, and it was impossible to make this case airtight in a short period of time. The several detectives present were all cultivated by Director Ma, and they knew the grudges between Director Ma, Secretary Hu, and Deputy Director Song. That's why they rushed to bring Liu Ziguang in for questioning before Deputy Director Song could, wanting to investigate his background and confirm that he was indeed an accomplice of the robbers, while Li Youquan was a misidentified innocent bystander. This way, the case handlers Secretary Hu and Deputy Director Song would be affected, and their rival Director Ma would benefit from it.

  But now it seems that this hope is shattered, the time is very limited, in fact they don't even have forty-eight hours, as soon as Deputy Director Song finds out about the situation, he will come immediately to take people away.

  Liu Ziguang stretched his wrist and took a cigarette from the table to light it for himself, saying loudly: "Nothing's going on, I'll leave first."

  The police officers stood up in anger and blocked his way, scolding him: "You're not allowed to leave until everything is clear!"

  Liu Ziguang looked down on the few young police officers, flexed his joints and made a cracking sound. Although he knew this was within the municipal bureau, these police officers still felt a chill run down their spines, cold sweat dripping down. A good man doesn't take advantage of the weak, this little guy is a ruthless killer, if he really makes a move, they wouldn't be able to handle him.

  At a tense moment, the door of the interrogation room opened and a ray of sunlight came in. Several tall figures appeared at the entrance.

  Song Deputy Director walked in with big strides, and upon seeing the scene inside, he understood, but being an old hand at such matters, he didn't say anything, only tightly grasping Liu Ziguang's hand and shaking it vigorously.

  "Comrade Little Liu, I represent the public security organ and the vast number of victims and their families, to express our heartfelt thanks and sincere condolences to you!"

  Several reporters followed closely behind, raising their cameras and snapping away, capturing the scene of Deputy Director Song and Liu Ziguang shaking hands.

  Song, the deputy director, suddenly found that Liu Ziguang's upper body was exposed, so he took off his own windbreaker and put it on him, enthusiastically introducing to the reporters: "Don't take pictures of me, take more pictures of our heroic and courageous hero."

  A flash of light, Liu Ziguang was smiling brightly, and the several police officers behind him also followed with a forced smile.

  Something came up today, so there's only one update, sorry.

  February 5th