Ch90 – Robbery
During the nine-day period between National Day and the Mid-Autumn Festival, Yu Hao was forced to train without a break.
“Let me rest for a short while!” Yu Hao said, “I’m about to fall apart!!”
Fu Liqun casually grabbed a mosquito while Zhou Sheng packed up a set of mock math problems for the midterms and said, “Everything in this world is a flying point; whenever you see something fly by, catch it quickly, and then you’ll get better”
“That, is, it!” Fu Liqun said, “We’re done, let’s go. Life exists in sports.”
After the National Day holidays, the weather gradually cooled down. In late October, the three of them began to work their respective jobs. In order to not affect their studies, they rescheduled all their part-time work to the evenings. Yu Hao carried his skateboard on his back and went to a.s.sist Xiao Yujun in finishing up, then at 9 o’clock went to play with the boys he got acquainted with recently. After Zhou Sheng finished tutoring his junior high school kid, they would meet up, have supper, then go home.
Yu Hao has been to the newspaper office twice; the office was in utter chaos, as if everyone was escaping in a hurry during an apocalypse. Xiao Yujun prepared a table for him in the office and went out for some interviews herself. After discussing with the interns on matching ma.n.u.scripts with their appropriate attached pictures, he went to the park at 9 o’clock to practice skateboarding.
On this autumn night, the neon lights in the park illuminated a large open s.p.a.ce. Not long ago, Yu Hao met people who rode fancy bicycles, did inline roller skating, skateboarded, and those who danced hip-hop here. Everyone was around the same age, so it didn’t take long for them to get friendly with one another. These guys treated Yu Hao really well too and often instructed him on how to use his board — they were all G.o.ds at it and were much more experienced than the members of his college’s club. Thus, Yu Hao often came in the evening and would wait outside the natural park for Zhou Sheng.
Oddly enough, after confirming their relationship, Zhou Sheng stopped getting jealous. In the beginning, Yu Hao was afraid that he might beat people up, but Zhou Sheng said, “It won’t be too late to punch each and every one of them if a problem crops up.”
Yu Hao was practically speechless. Still, according to his observations, this group of guys were all straight, and they only played together because they had hit it off. No one had any other intention. Also, everyone envied Yu Hao’s equipment a lot, especially his skateboard.
“You’re really rich.” A boy said, “To buy such an expensive board.”
Yu Hao was really muddle-headed at first, but after he knew the price, he had even picked a fight with Zhou Sheng. It was too expensive! Still, you really do get what you pay for.
“The bearings and wheels are all new ba?” During their break time, everyone looked at Yu Hao’s skateboard.
Yu Hao could say, “Changed it last month, my boyfriend helped me set it up. Didn’t you guys see it before?”
“Tsk tsk tsk.”
“Dog abuse.”
“I want a boyfriend too, introduce me bei.”
“There’s no more!” Yu Hao, “It wasn’t easy for me to get this one myself.”
He was just skateboarding, yet he still got a.s.saulted. At 10 o’clock, everyone said goodbye to Yu Hao, and they all went their separate ways. Yu Hao stepped on his board and looked at his watch; Zhou Sheng wasn’t here yet, but he should’ve finished tutoring already, so Yu Hao gave him a call.
“That kid fell asleep while I was reading.” Zhou Sheng said on the phone, “Laozi asked him to work on some problems yet he laid on the table to sleep. He was too tired in the day, and I still need to tutor him for another 20 minutes. Go to the bar to find a seat first and order a drink ba.”
Yu Hao didn’t want to spend money. He said, “Okay, call me when you get here.”
Zhou Sheng had just hung up when Xiao Yujun called him, “Dear, finished sorting everything?”
“You just got back from the interviews?” Yu Hao stepped on his skateboard and practiced jumping over obstacles. He had his earphones on as he said, “Go back and rest up ba.”
“I have to rush for the last train.” Xiao Yujun replied.
After Yu Hao got acquainted with Xiao Yujun, he thought she really lived a tough life. She had to wake up at 7 o’clock every day and sleep at 2 o’clock at night, and had to rush about everywhere, exhausting herself completely — all because she wanted to buy a house in Ying City. She had a younger brother too, and her parents favoured boys over girls.
Yu Hao would sometimes call her “Jiejie”, and Xiao Yujun also likes Yu Hao very much. She always praised him as a sensible and gentle boy and always laments by saying ‘if only you weren’t gay’.
“Are the ma.n.u.scripts okay?” Yu Hao asked.
“Yes.” Xiao Yujun answered, “If they’re not, then when I get back at night I’ll……”
The call got cut off.
Yu Hao, “?”
Yu Hao looked at his phone. There should have been a loss of signal on the subway. He stepped on his skateboard, looked left and right, then called back.
The other side hung up immediately.
Suddenly, Yu Hao felt like something was a little off. He didn’t call back again and instead sent her a message. If Yu Hao was how he was in the past, then perhaps after the other side hung up he would a.s.sume that the signal temporarily cut off and wouldn’t call back again. However, Xiao Yujun has always been the type to move around alone at night. Yu Hao reminded her several times before to pay attention to her safety, and Xiao Yujun would always casually promise him to stay safe. Public security in Ying City was generally good, and the Public Security Bureau was located near the newspaper office, so nothing should happen.
Yu Hao stepped on his skateboard and pressed the quick dial b.u.t.ton, Zhou Sheng had just left after his lesson.
Yu Hao described the general route. He and Xiao Yujun had taken the subway once together late at night, and it wasn’t too far from the park. There were fewer vehicles on the road at night; Yu Hao rushed onto the road in spite of the prohibition and whooshed across the bicycle lane, darting to the rear of the subway station.
“I don’t have much money on me.” Xiao Yujun opened her bag and said, “If you want it, I’ll give it all to you. Take all the money, I won’t report this to the police.”
The robber pointed at Xiao Yujun’s bag and said, “Hand the laptop over.” His voice was very strange, as if he had a voice changer.
Xiao Yujun observed the robber, then pulled out the laptop from her bag.
“What’s the pa.s.sword?” The robber was very calm.
Xiao Yujun suddenly let out a loud shout, threw the bag over, then turned tail and ran. But that robber reacted even faster than she did; he took a few steps forward, wrapped an arm around her neck, and dragged her back!
An arm suddenly looped around Xiao Yujun’s neck so she couldn’t breath for a moment. She brutally rammed backwards with her elbow, but the robber nimbly avoided it and threw the phone away, then pushed past her elbow from the back with one hand, pushed her neck, and pressed her down on the ground!
Xiao Yujun gasped in fear; her entire body was trembling. The robber dragged her up and said, “Don’t put up any futile resistance, I don’t want to kill you.”
Xiao Yujun’s eyes widened. The robber was extremely cool-headed. “Pick up the bag and do as I say. Quick.” As he spoke, he released one of her hands.
Xiao Yujun began to realise that this person wasn’t a simple robber, and that she had gotten into quite a bit of trouble. She slowly took her laptop out from her bag.
“Turn it on.” The robber continued.
Xiao Yujun couldn’t stop trembling, “I……I can’t recall it right now, I’m too nervous……” She hadn’t finished talking before a sharp knife touched the side of her neck.
Xiao Yujun typed the pa.s.sword with one hand; the robber lowered his head to look at the keyboard, but suddenly, a skateboard flew silently towards the back of his head!
Yu Hao was in mid air with one leg controlling the board while he tried to ruthlessly kick the robber, perfectly avoiding Xiao Yujun in the process. If his kick lands, the back of the robber’s head would definitely be smashed in and get sent flying! But that robber reacted at lightning speed — he closed the laptop with his left hand, grabbed it, then bent over to avoid Yu Hao’s skateboard that flew over, then brandished his knife again!
Yu Hao almost got stabbed by the knife, but fortunately, he managed to avoid the tip of the blade in the nick of time. The two of them pa.s.sed by each other in mid air; the robber hugged the laptop with his left hand and held the knife horizontally across with his right hand. Yu Hao was experienced with wielding daggers, so he managed to see through his movements in an instant and ducked down.
“Go! Hurry!” Yu Hao shouted.
However, the robber was obviously trained. As soon as Yu Hao got up, he executed a jumping roundhouse kick and hit him right in his chest!
Yu Hao got kicked and immediately suffered a sharp pain in his chest before falling to the ground. Xiao Yujun had already ran out of the small alley and shouted, “Help! Help——!”
The robber stuffed the laptop into Xiao Yujun’s backpack, hiked it up, and threw it over his shoulder to carry it on his back. He held a dagger as he walked towards Yu Hao; Yu Hao struggled to get up and couldn’t stop gasping for breath as he looked at the Beijing Opera mask that he was wearing. This guy knows how to fight……Yu Hao knew that he wasn’t this guy’s opponent, he just needed to stall him for a while……
“You f.u.c.king son of a b.i.t.c.h.” Zhou Sheng’s voice rang out, and Yu Hao instantly knew it was safe!
Zhou Sheng rushed into the alley like a whirlwind and roared, “You think you’re all that just ‘cause you have a knife?!”
The robber flashed his knife, and Yu Hao’s heart began beating wildly, but when he saw Zhou Sheng’s first punch, he knew that this guy wouldn’t stand a chance!
Zhou Sheng’s fist was even faster than the enemy’s knife, and he managed to hit his mask with just one punch. The wooden mask cracked and got dented from the impact. The robber spun around and let loose a flying kick, but Zhou Sheng blocked it with his left fist while he rapidly punched the back of his knee with his right fist!
Yu Hao shouted, “Nice!”
Yu Hao ran towards Xiao Yujun. The robber in the alley and Zhou Sheng had exchanged five to six moves; this was Yu Hao’s first time seeing Zhou Sheng going all out in reality. That one time long ago when he beat down Lei Hongbo with one punch couldn’t have been considered a ‘fight’ at all. Yu Hao saw Zhou Sheng lock that robber’s wrist with one hand, while he used his other hand to drag him and slammed him brutally against the wall with a loud “bang”. He thought, too OP……
The robber tumbled over, then stretched his foot out to sweep Zhou Sheng off his feet. Zhou Sheng almost tripped, and he laughed, “You’re pretty skilled……”
“Beware of that thing in his hand!” Yu Hao realised that the robber had taken out a black razor-like device. Zhou Sheng got electrocuted as he was caught off guard and shouted loudly.
The robber turned around and fled at full speed. Zhou Sheng rubbed his arm, then pursued him with full force. Yu Hao supported Xiao Yujun up to stand steadily before he getting up to give chase.
“Don’t let him get away!” Yu Hao said, “He has Junjun Jie’s laptop!”
Zhou Sheng looked back, waiting for Yu Hao, and the two of them ran past the subway station. This was a straight path, and if they kept running, they would arrive at the park. The robber ran up to the fencing that surrounded the park and flipped over. Zhou Sheng rushed to the fence, crouched down, and Yu Hao stepped onto Zhou Sheng’s shoulder to jump right in.
Zhou Sheng retreated, and took two steps as a run-up to jump over the fence, then chased the robber with Yu Hao. At 11pm, the park’s neon lamps were all turned off, so it was pitch dark. The two of them ran through the side gates and arrived at a road.
“He went that way.” Zhou Sheng said, “Chase him!”
Yu Hao couldn’t see the guy at all, so he could only follow Zhou Sheng as they ran. The two of them ran along the road at the other end of the park.
The robber came out of the bushes, carrying Xiao Yujun’s bag on his back. He went to the roadside to hail a cab and got into the car.
The cab had only stopped for a few seconds before driving off.
Yu Hao and Zhou Sheng came out from the outside of the bushes. Yu Hao took a photo of the license plate number.
Zhou Sheng rubbed his shoulders and looked at Yu Hao.
Yu Hao said, “Are you alright?”
Zhou Sheng said, “It’ll be fine in a bit, that b.a.s.t.a.r.d even had a self-defense device on him.”
Yu Hao said, “If we had attacked him just now, we might have been able to restrain him.”
Zhou Sheng said, “It would’ve been troublesome if he had pepper spray; it’s better not to take that risk. Was the photo you took of the license plate clear?”
“New phones are really good at taking stills of moving objects.” Yu Hao enlarged the photo on his phone’s screen and took a screenshot of the cab’s license plate number.
Zhou Sheng said, “This doesn’t seem like an ordinary robbery, that robber had a clear motive. Let’s go and find Huang Ting, he’ll definitely care about this.”
Xiao Yujun had already called the police as soon as she could. After recording her testimony, she stood in front of the police station as she held a skateboard and handed it to Yu Hao.
“Are you okay?” Yu Hao was a little worried.
Zhou Sheng frowned, “What kind of interview materials do you have in your laptop?”
Xiao Yujun had already settled down. She said, “Reporters encounter all sorts of situations; we’ve seen much of the world, it’s fine. Huang Ting will be here soon. If you don’t mind, let’s talk at my house ba.”
At 1am in Xiao Yujun’s house, the atmosphere was a little tense.
Xiao Yujun was slighlty dissatisfied with Huang Ting, because it took him nearly three hours to get here after receiving their call, but as a policeman, his work takes priority. Yu Hao was really afraid that Xiao Yujun would say something, but fortunately, everyone maintained a rational and restrained mutual, implicit understanding.
“The case has already been reported, and the testimonies have been recorded too.” Xiao Yujun said lightly, “You didn’t need to especially make the trip here.”
“But I’m already here anyway.” Huang Ting said, “Tell me the situation in detail ba.”
Xiao Yujun’s house was very messy. Huang Ting patiently inquired about the full account; this robbery case was under the jurisdiction of the Yundong District, so it wouldn’t reach him.
Yu Hao repeated the contents of his testimony again, and finally, Huang Ting asked the same question as Zhou Sheng, “What kind of interviews have you been doing recently?”
Xiao Yujun’s eyebrows were set in a deep furrow. She wrote down her interview topics for the past half a year on a piece of white paper.
Huang Ting said to Zhou Sheng and Yu Hao, “Thank you, I’m extremely thankful for you guys. Go back and rest first ba?”
Zhou Sheng said, “We’ll leave later. Yu Hao and Jun Jie worked for awhile, I need to make sure that no one will come looking for him.”
Huang Ting understood that this was just an excuse for Zhou Sheng. Zhou Sheng’s att.i.tude clearly showed that he intended to intervene in this matter, and Huang Ting wasn’t in a position to stop him.
Zhou Sheng just stared at Huang Ting, and Huang Ting no longer insisted. Yu Hao suddenly had a hunch — did Zhou Sheng guess something? And did Huang Ting know more than he was letting on?
“These are all until June.” Xiao Yujun said, “Summit Meeting interviews, dest.i.tute households, medical troubles, brave deeds……none of them const.i.tute a motive for robbery……besides three of your cases, there’s nothing related to drug trafficking or the underworld.”
Reporters sometimes have a professional intuition that was akin to half of that of a policeman — this was what Yu Hao felt after following Xiao Yujun to do this part-time job. It could have been through gossip or asking around, but they were always a.s.siduously and desperately searching for the truth behind all the clues they found — in this regard, they were very similar to the police.
Huang Ting didn’t say anything.
“Go back earlier.” Zhou Sheng answered.
“They’ve contacted the cab driver.” Huang Ting glanced at his WeChat. The police in charge of the case sent him a message, ‘his phone is turned off. We can’t determine its location.’
Zhou Sheng didn’t speak. Xiao Yujun asked, “Where did the robber get off?”
Huang Ting answered, “Outside a snack street that people generally go to for supper. It’s open until 2am, so it’s still not too late to go over there now.”
“Send us the location?” Zhou Sheng looked up at Huang Ting.
Huang Ting frowned. Logically speaking, it was already a violation of the regulations for his friend to disclose the progress of the case to him, but Zhou Sheng didn’t give in at all as he looked at Huang Ting.
“Without our photo, would you have been able to find the cab driver?” Zhou Sheng said, “Cut the c.r.a.p, if you want to solve the case, then be a little more open.”
Huang Ting said, “Look at it on my phone ba. Yujun, keep writing.”
Xiao Yujun began recalling her interviews in the first half of the year, but she had lost both her phone and her laptop. She said, “There’s no backup either.”
Yu Hao, “Do you have a cloud backup?”
Xiao Yujun immediately turned on her iPad and scrolled through the shared backup to check.
Zhou Sheng expanded the map on Huang Ting’s phone to include the area within a 3km radius; including residential areas, office buildings, malls, hospitals, schools, fire stations……
“How many characters are missing from the laptop’s pa.s.sword?” Zhou Sheng asked.
“Two.” Xiao Yujun said, “The last eight are all numbers, the day I confirmed my relationship with my ex. I’ve gotten all the way to the beginning of the year, but I still don’t have a clue. Take a look and see which might have led to the robbery? They shouldn’t have though……”
Huang Ting glanced at the white piece of paper and said, “Don’t try to recall anymore ba, let’s stop here for today.”
At 2am, Zhou Sheng found a case of suicide by jumping off a building, and he revealed a strange smile.
“I think Officer Huang already knows what happened with this case ba?” Zhou Sheng said.
Xiao Yujun, “?”
Yu Hao, “???”
Huang Ting narrowed his eyes and said in a low voice, “Student Zhou Sheng.”
Zhou Sheng leaned back on the dining table, “I’ll use a piece of crucial information in exchange for your information.”
Xiao Yujun said, “What are you guys talking about?”
Huang Ting answered, “No. Go back.”
Zhou Sheng, “You really don’t want to? This is the only chance I’m giving you. If you blow it, don’t come looking for me next time.”
Huang Ting took a deep breath and seemed to be considering it. Yu Hao said, “Zhou Sheng, you know something?”
Zhou Sheng responded with an “mhmm”. Yu Hao saw that the atmosphere was a little stiff, and he was afraid that they would get into a dispute, so after thinking about it a little, he said, “Let’s be a little more frank and sincere, shall we? We shouldn’t keep trying to conceal the truth, and we should trust one another a little more. We’re all just trying to get the laptop back, right?”
“I want to be more frank and sincere too.” Xiao Yujun cried bitterly, “But my parents gave birth to a stupid me, so what else can I do? Huang Ting, don’t treat them as kids. If it weren’t for them today, I wouldn’t know if I could have even lived until now to see you.”
Huang Ting suddenly said, “I can’t help it either! There are some things I can’t say!”
Xiao Yujun, “There’s no recording here anyway, who would confront you for saying it? Wait……what do you mean by that?”
Yu Hao, “Actually I have no idea what they’re talking about at all……”
“Okay.” Zhou Sheng spoke up instead, “Since Wifey asked me to trust you, then I won’t continue this tug-of-war. Officer Huang, where did the 1.2 million we found last year in the reservoir go?”
—