Chapter 1661 - A Melodramatic Affair

Lin Ming was startled and hastened to say: "Chief, please think twice!" Seeing a flash of hesitation cross Suo Pu's face, he pressed on: "In my humble opinion, it might be better to stall and meet their demands for now. Let's finish the important business first. Everyone aboard surely understands what matters most..."

Lin Ming's gift for reading people was fully honed. In an instant, he grasped why this normally low-key Chief had suddenly decided to act this way.

His meaning was clear: the best solution to this trouble was to return the woman, then order everyone to keep silent about it. That way, there would be no "rumors" when they returned.

As for whether they reclaimed the woman afterward or simply washed their hands of the matter—that would depend on how everyone felt.

Suo Pu thought to himself that it was not so simple. He could silence the escort bureau's men, but not the special reconnaissance team members aboard. After every mission, they were required to write reports separately and independently—there was no way to cover this up single-handedly.

Suo Pu ordered: "Don't panic. Let's go to the bow first and take a look."

Lin Ming's heart was drumming. What he feared most was this mob of soldiers charging aboard all at once. The Chiefs had few men, and even with their "machine gun," how many could it kill? This was not a battlefield with great distances between opposing sides—it was merely a gangplank away. In close combat, their side was certain to suffer. Who knew what kind of calamity might result? At this thought, Lin Ming broke out in a cold sweat; his back was drenched.

Looking at the dock, he saw pitch darkness and dead silence. The peddlers and laborers who ordinarily worked the docks had all fled. The shops and boats moored along the river showed not a soul, not a light. Only near the stone embankment were twenty or thirty soldiers, each armed with swords, spears, or clubs, holding torches that lit up this stretch of the dock as bright as day. They cursed and shouted that they had come to "catch thieves."

They called themselves soldiers, but their clothes were so ragged that without close inspection, one could hardly tell they were wearing uniforms.

Lin Ming noticed they were making noise but not charging forward. He knew there was still room to maneuver. He stepped forward, placing himself between Suo Pu and the crowd, and shouted loudly: "I am Lin Ming, a centurion of the Jinyiwei! I am on patrol in Guangdong under orders to investigate a case! Here is my badge and warrant!"

As he spoke, he brandished his badge. He did not actually possess a Board of Punishments warrant, but the mere mention of such a warrant—which allowed one to arrest anyone at will—was a powerful deterrent.

He announced his identity immediately, hoping to overawe the soldiers somewhat.

In the final years of the Tianqi reign, the Eastern Depot had been extremely domineering, and the Jinyiwei, as their henchmen, had been feared everywhere. That prestige still lingered. Upon hearing "Jinyiwei," the soldiers hesitated—none dared rush forward. Lin Ming felt somewhat reassured. The cabin door had been thrown wide open, and kerosene lamps now blazed inside, making everything brilliantly visible within and without. He saw Suo Pu standing motionless in the bright glow, calm and composed, utterly unperturbed. He could not help but feel a secret admiration—what a fine performance! With exaggerated deference, he made a ceremonial bow toward Suo Pu, then turned and called out again: "My lord is present! Whoever is in command, step forward and speak!"

The noisy crowd suddenly fell silent. Hundreds of eyes stared at this young man bathed in lamplight. Not a cough was heard. They waited for him to speak.

All the soldiers looked puzzled. Gradually, they began whispering among themselves.

...Over the murmur of voices, Lin Ming shouted again: "Who among you is in command? Step forward and speak!" He had not expected Suo Pu to remain so impressively composed in the face of such pressure—calm and self-assured, handling the crisis with ease. Perhaps, he thought, there was still room for compromise.

Yet instead of coming forward to parley, a voice bellowed from the crowd: "What Jinyiwei! This is a gang of human traffickers! Impostors! Get them, brothers!"

"Who dares!" Lin Ming roared back at the top of his lungs, nearly rupturing his throat. "Attacking an official boat is rebellion! Call out your commander—we'll settle this with him! Whoever wants to commit the crime of exterminating his clan, come and try!"

By now, he understood: by insisting they were "bandits," the other side was preparing to massacre them and silence all witnesses. His heart hung suspended once more.

At that moment, a voice came from the crowd: "Why waste words! Hand over the kidnapped woman at once! Spare your lives, and we won't pursue charges of impersonating officials and trafficking in women! Otherwise, don't blame us brothers for drawing our swords in righteous indignation!"

These absurd words made Suo Pu smile despite himself. But the other side's refusal to show themselves proved they still harbored some fear of Lin Ming's "Jinyiwei" credentials. Lin Ming, clever as ever, immediately said: "Why won't you show yourself, brother? You claim we're bandits and you're officials—since when are officials afraid of bandits? Let's settle this openly and clear the air..."

Before he finished speaking, a sudden burst of gunfire erupted from the stern cabin—dadadada—a sound Suo Pu knew all too well: the three-round bursts of an M77b1 modified into a light machine gun, issued to the special reconnaissance team. He was stunned. Before he could react, the machine gun roared, and the dock erupted into chaos. The few dozen men scattered instantly. Screams, shouts of terror, groans of pain... all in a jumble.

In that instant, all the kerosene lamps went out, plunging everything into darkness. At the first shot, Suo Pu had thrown himself flat to the deck. He could hear the whoosh-whoosh of something whistling past his ears—arrows, he realized—and crawled hastily back into the cabin. There he saw Kang Mingsi holding a Glock 17 in one hand while dragging Lin Ming inside with the other.

Suo Pu switched on his flashlight. Centurion Lin was drenched in sweat, and a dark stain was spreading on his thigh—an arrow shaft protruded from the wound, its fletching still quivering.

"Damn it, they shot arrows!" Kang Mingsi cursed. "Playing underhanded!"

Suo Pu now understood why the gunner in the stern cabin had opened fire without orders. Outside, the steady rhythm of three-round bursts continued, and the frantic shouting on the dock gradually faded into the distance. He knew the enemy had fled. Tonight, at least, there would be no more trouble.

"Cease fire!" he shouted.

The gunfire stopped. Suo Pu moved to a window and peered out. From the dock to the city gate, everything was pitch dark. But atop the city walls, torches had multiplied and alarm gongs were clanging. Faintly, he could hear shouts: "To the walls! Arm yourselves! Bandits!"

"We can't stay here," Kang Mingsi said, wiping cold sweat from his face. "We've drawn blood now..."

Suo Pu smiled slightly: "It's no matter. These soldier-bandits call us bandits, and we can just as easily call them bandits!"

"Master Suo is right—we mustn't run. If we run, we become the bandits." Lin Ming had taken an arrow in the leg. The special reconnaissance team's medic had already come over to cut away his trouser leg and was using a sterilized scalpel to open the wound and extract the arrow. Though the pain drenched him in sweat, he hurriedly said: "Whether upstream or downstream now, they'll surely have made preparations. There's a naval patrol here—they can easily get hold of boats. Traveling the river at night, we'd definitely suffer..."

"But staying here isn't safe either..." Kang Mingsi said. "You saw—they were shooting arrows right at the dock!"

"No, it's all right. Now that this commotion has grown so large..." Lin Ming caught his breath. "If these soldiers failed on the first try, they certainly won't return tonight."

Though he had taken an arrow, it was not in a vital spot, and he knew his life was not in danger. His heart was already half-settled. That "machine gun" was truly formidable—just dadada and men dropped on the dock. Everyone spoke of the Australians' wondrous firearms, but seeing was believing!

Suo Pu said: "You're right. Night navigation is indeed unsafe."

Lin Ming endured the pain and continued: "Let's wait until dawn tomorrow. When the city gates open, we'll report a robbery."

"Robbery? It was soldiers coming to seize a woman by force," Kang Mingsi protested indignantly.

The medic applied ointment and dressed the wound, then gave Lin Ming a dose of coca extract. The pain in his wound immediately lessened considerably. He managed a smile: "If we report soldiers rioting, nobody will take the case. We can't explain it clearly, and we'd get tangled up in litigation. After all, we're not truly an official boat—we couldn't withstand scrutiny. Report it as a robbery, and both the prefecture and the county will let it slide. Anyway, we don't expect them to catch anyone."

"With all the commotion on the dock, surely we can't conceal it."

"Of course we can't conceal it. But who wants to place a chamber pot on their own head?" Lin Ming forced a smile. "Better to let things pass quietly."

He suddenly remembered something else: "Chief, send some men to the dock at once. There will be wounded who aren't dead yet. Finish them off one by one, or leaving survivors will only cause trouble!"

Suo Pu nodded: "I understand." He led some men out of the cabin. The dock was now deathly still. The few dozen soldiers who had been swarming toward the salt boat just moments before had vanished without a trace. Only a dozen or so bodies lay scattered across a pooling layer of blood.

Kang Mingsi stared blankly at the scene, feeling a sense of unreality:

Fighting over the star courtesan of a pleasure house, jealous rivals coming to blows—such a clichéd, melodramatic plotline worthy of a rich second-generation heir... and somehow I stumbled right into it!

Mobilizing a hundred underlings to square off for the hottest escort in the nightclub—something this stylish actually happened to me... This is—"Too cool!!!"

If those "Eight Beauties of Qinhuai" fanatics in the Council of Elders find out, they'll be absolutely green with envy...

The corpses were mostly contorted grotesquely—chests blown open in gaping, bloody holes, or half their skulls shot away. The power of the 7.62mm NATO round was no joke. All were stone dead. Only one soldier, whose right arm had been torn clean off by a bullet, was still breathing and occasionally moaning in pain.

Suo Pu crouched beside him and said: "Don't be afraid. Just answer honestly, and I'll save your life!"

The soldier managed a weak nod. Fearing he might pass out, Suo Pu first had him swallow a dose of coca water. Once his spirits revived somewhat, Suo Pu asked:

"Who sent you to seize the woman?"

(End of Chapter)