Case Files Chapter 65: Owl of the Night (5)

Translated by Vivian of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Addis

 

When Guan Jin woke up feeling refreshed, he discovered that Lu YunYang, who had driven him back, was still in his kitchen, contently preparing breakfast.

“How come you’re still here?”

“I’m also going to go to the police station today, your place is closer, and I can also drive you there. Also, I can make breakfast and we can eat together.” Lu YunYang listed out the reasons.

Guan Jin frowned and thought about it for a moment; it seemed that there were more benefits for him, so he didn’t bother to argue.

After eating a filling breakfast, Guan Jin changed and waited for his “chauffeur” to drive him.

Lu YunYang walked to the door and suddenly turned back, getting closer to Guan Jin. “Since I serve you so wholeheartedly, can I make a tiny request?”

“What?” Guan Jin looked at him warily.

“I want to have a courtesy for when we go out.”

As Guan Jin quickly thought back to what courtesy there would be when going out, Lu YunYang’s lips had already brushed the corner of Guan Jin’s mouth.

“Maintaining courtesies is our fine tradition.” Lu YunYang grinned, his eyes crinkling.

“What kind of courtesy is this?! It’s not like you’re French!” Guan Jin wiped the corner of his mouth and glared at him.

“This is how our family educates children. It’s a family tradition.”

Thus, on the way to the police station, their argument about etiquette had already turned into the weird direction of the conflict and merging of Eastern and Western cultures…

“Guan Jin, you’re back! If you need something, ask Little Bai, we’re leaving first!” Ding Ding was the first to rush out, followed by Gu Xiang and Wen JingHan.

“Where are you guys going?”

“Zheng Fei and Chen QiaoYu went to the west district for that case, remember? When they were catching the shooter, they accidentally stumbled upon something even bigger,” said Wen JingHan.

“Even bigger?”

“Do you still remember the sniper that shot a suspect from two of our previous cases?”

*****

At a commercial building site on Zitong Road, the two seven-story office buildings were originally supposed to be completely demolished and rebuilt, but because of funding problems, the project was put aside, so it had been vacant ever since.

“This morning, we just caught the main criminal of the shooting case from the south building, but he was shot and killed by a bullet that came from the north building. I’m so frustrated!” complained Zheng Fei, who was still wearing a bulletproof vest, standing in front of a group of policemen.

“Is it the same sniper?” asked Guan Jin.

“Definitely. Although they haven’t run tests on the bullet yet, it’s the same caliber and the serial numbers are consecutive. I’ll bet you the chief of police’s wushamao ¹ that it’s definitely the same person.”

“…Why are you using the chief of police’s wushamao to bet?” asked Ding Ding.

“Because I don’t have one.”

“…”

“Everyone’s here. That guy sure is hard to deal with. All of the police from the west district as well as the Special Cases Unit is squeezed inside this dilapidated building, but the opponent is only one person, one person!” Chen QiaoYu, who had come out of the command room on the fifth floor, said furiously.

“What happened to your arm?” Guan Jin keenly noticed that Chen QiaoYu’s left arm was wrapped in gauze.

“Oh, I was outside and was accidentally scraped by that person’s bullet, but it’s just a skin wound, nothing serious.” Chen QiaoYu waved her left hand to show she was fine.

Guan Jin’s expression darkened. Being scraped by a sniper’s bullet was no different than taking a stroll around hell’s gateway.

“Why’s he still hiding in there, what does he want to do?” asked Lu YunYang.

“To take us down with him. He’s occupying a good position, his marksmanship is extremely accurate, and he’s very fast. Once one of us exposes ourselves, he’ll shoot, and even though he’s surrounded, he’s not panicked. Three of our people have been shot, but since we have bulletproof vests, it wasn’t life-threatening. Even so, we can’t let our people be human shields. This guy wants to kill one to break even, then kill another to make a profit.” Captain Wang, the leader of the west district’s Serious Crimes Unit, felt extremely frustrated by the current situation.

“Have you tried sneaking up from behind? Or killing him directly?” asked Wen JingHan.

“These buildings are empty, so no matter which direction we go from, he can quickly find a vantage point. And, he’s very good at hiding, so our snipers can’t get him at all.”

“Don’t you guys have thermal imagers? Snipe him directly through the wall,” suggested Guan Jin.

“I like your way of thinking, but we’re not the army. The police sniper rifles aren’t that powerful.”

“Where is he right now?”

“The second floor, but we’re not sure about his specific position.”

As he leaned against the window, Guan Jin carefully observed the structure of the other building, and he suddenly had an idea.

“Do you have dummies? Something like the cardboard dummies that are used in shooting ranges, but of course, a plastic dummy would be better.”

“What do you want it for?” asked Wen JingHan.

“Get one that’s… that’s around his height and figure.” Guan Jin nudged Lu YunYang.

Lu YunYang blinked in confusion.

“Go,” Captain Wang ordered some people, after he saw Wen JingHan nod towards him.

He turned around, wanting to ask Guan Jin what he was going to do, yet he saw that Guan Jin was taking a gun from one of the police snipers and fiddling with it, curling the corner of his mouth in disgust as he did so. The police sniper was stunned and stood to the side, scratching his head.

“Um…”

“Be patient, let’s see what idea he has.” Wen JingHan patted Captain Wang’s shoulder.

*****

Ten minutes later, a policeman came over carrying a plastic dummy. It was wearing a casual suit and actually looked a tiny bit like Lu YunYang.

“Go to the third floor, fourth window from the left, and when you receive my signal, walk around at the window for no longer than ten seconds. Then, put the fake person at the window and retreat to a safe place.” Guan Jin swung the gun over his shoulder and lifted his chin at Lu YunYang.

Lu YunYang pointed at himself and nodded, baffled.

“Captain Wang, put your people on standby, and tell them that when they hear a gunshot, rush into the other building. Don’t forget to outflank them later, and be careful he climbs down from the back of the building. Everyone else, just stay and wait here.” After getting a walkie talkie, Guan Jin walked out of the room.

The remaining people in the room looked at one another.

“Say, is that your new leader?” Captain Wang asked Wen JingHan.

“Since he wants to lead, just listen to him this once.” Wen JingHan looked at Guan Jin’s receding back and frowned slightly.

When Lu YunYang saw Guan Jin leave, he quickly followed his instructions and led two policemen holding the dummy to the third floor.

“Are you there yet?” Guan Jin’s voice sounded from the walkie talkie.

Lu YunYang crouched next to the window and replied, “Yes.”

“Now look out the window and pretend you’re deploying people.”

Lu YunYang stood up, looked around, and gesticulated. Ten seconds later, he retreated back next to the wall and helped the policemen put the fake person in front of the window.

Lu YunYang leaned against the wall and looked at the fake person thoughtfully. Suddenly, he widened his eyes and looked at the other building in disbelief. Could he be—— Lu YunYang turned around and ran out of the room, sprinting to the sixth floor.

*****

Meanwhile, in a room on the sixth floor.

Guan Jin held his breath, unmoving as he stared at the lower right corner of a window on the fourth floor of the other building through the rifle’s sight. 

Sure enough, around twenty seconds later, the barrel of a gun poked out of a window without glass, pointing towards the window Lu YunYang had appeared in just then. The muzzle paused for less than a second and practically instantly switched directions, pointing right towards where Guan Jin was.

Now! Practically at the same time Guan Jin steadily pulled the trigger, the gunshot from the other side also sounded. Before Guan Jin even let go, he quickly darted to the side, and a bullet flew past his cheek, nearly grazing him. With a clang, the bullet lodged itself in an abandoned metal cabinet in the room.

“Guan Jin!” At the same time when Lu YunYang rushed into this large office, there was a commotion outside: “He was shot, quick, outflank him from both sides.”

Lu YunYang looked at Guan Jin, who was leaning against the wall and breathing slowly. He slowly walked over, a hint of anger in his eyes.

“It’s a shame I didn’t hit a vital organ, but I’m afraid he won’t be able to use guns anymore,” Guan Jin thought out loud, and didn’t notice the storm brewing in Lu YunYang’s gaze.

“You set him up. You calculated the best position beforehand and took advantage of the fact that he wanted to show off to the police, and told me to go to the window as bait. When he saw me appear in the third floor window, he immediately calculated where on the fourth floor he could get a better angle from. Thus, he quickly moved to the fourth floor. You were already waiting here beforehand, because this is the best angle from that fourth floor angle. The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind. But what I don’t understand is how you knew he would definitely expose himself. You know that he’s very good at hiding,” Lu YunYang asked with a cold expression.

Guan Jin smirked. “What’s so hard about this? He’s an assassin, and although he seems a little immature based on his decision to taunt the police, he has first-class marksmanship, he’s smart, and his intuition is very accurate. It was a piece of cake to determine where to position himself to shoot you, but with his eyesight, he discovered it was a fake person in less than half a second. Thus, he immediately realized that we purposely used a fake person to lure him, and in reality, we were going to snipe him. And, the best position to snipe him from is right here. Thus, he quickly changed the direction of his gun to point towards me, but there wasn’t enough time and he was too impulsive, so he forgot that his position isn’t the best angle to shoot me from, which is why half of his arm would definitely be exposed.”

“But he is very fast, and he would’ve hid again right after he shot. The moment you saw his arm, he also pulled the trigger. How could you guarantee you would shoot him and not the other way around?”

“If I waited for him to expose his arm before shooting, my brains might have been blown out by now. I pulled the trigger when the muzzle of his gun began changing directions, and according to the bullet speed and the distance between the two buildings, I could at least hit the hand he exposed and still retreat unscathed.” Guan Jin kissed the gun lightly.

“Retreat unscathed?” Lu YunYang reached out and stroked the hair next to Guan Jin’s ear. “More like it brushed past you.”

“Huh?” Guan Jin looked at his hair out of his peripheral vision, and the tips of it seemed to have been burnt by the heat of the bullet. “I know what I’m doing, and it didn’t even graze——” Before he could finish his casual remark, he was cut off by Lu YunYang’s frantic mouth.

This man usually looked polite and refined, but when he was angry, he was also fierce, and he practically wanted to swallow him, biting and sucking Guan Jin’s lips and tongue. This was the first time Guan Jin had been kissed with such fiery passion, and the shock left his mind blank. Only after his tongue started hurting was Guan Jin able to come back to his senses and push Lu YunYang away.

“Y-you’re fucking crazy!”

“You’re the crazy one.” Lu YunYang lightly wiped the corner of his mouth. “Do you know how dangerous that was?! Who do you think you are? The grim reaper? You think you created hell and you can go and leave whenever you want?”

“Hey, you don’t need to have such a sharp tongue!” Guan Jin was shocked by Lu YunYang’s harshness, which he rarely showed.

Lu YunYang suddenly smiled bitterly and reached out, pulling Guan Jin into an embrace. “I know you’re very strong, and I also know you don’t show your weaknesses or seek help from others, but take into account the feelings of the people who care about you. If you go on like this, then it’ll take ten years off my life.”

Guan Jin felt very uneasy when facing this type of care, and his two hands stopped midair, as he had no idea where he should put them.

“Ahem, scourges stay for a thousand years ², so even if you lived for ten less years, it’s not much of a loss.” This counted as consolation, right?

Lu YunYang really didn’t know whether he should laugh or cry, but there was no way around it; who had made him fall for such a special person?

When he looked up, Lu YunYang raised an eyebrow at Guan Jin. “But seriously, you’re decisive, courageous, and strategic, so amazing!”

“Relax, I’ll protect you in the future.” Guan Jin was proud that he had finally found his place in front of Lu YunYang.

“Guan Jin! Did that shot come from you? I admire you!!!” Ding Ding was the first to rush up.

The two people who were “cuddling” with each other in the room were speechless.

“My bad, you two continue!” Before she even stopped, she quickly turned around and ran away, calling, “Everyone, go back down, don’t you understand to see no evil?”

Wen JingHan walked in by himself, since Ding Ding probably didn’t dare to stop him.

“If you two are done talking, I have something to say.” Wen JingHan stared at their red lips and smiled ambiguously.

“What is it?” asked Lu YunYang, as if nothing had happened.

“That person got away again.”

“What?! Such a big group of police can’t even catch an injured person?” Guan Jin felt that he had wasted his efforts.

“He got lucky and escaped from the underground warehouse. Before, when we got the structure layouts of this area, there weren’t any underground warehouses, since they were built later. The people in Captain Wang’s team are already chasing after him, so let’s hope they can catch him.”

“Forget it, this must be fate, so you guys shouldn’t force it.” Guan Jin held the gun out to Wen JingHan. “Let him go.” Actually, he felt a little conflicted, since he didn’t know if he wanted that person to be caught or to escape.

“Don’t you feel like it’s a pity he got away again?” asked Lu YunYang, walking behind him.

“I already won, and if they can’t catch them, it’s because of the incompetence of these policemen. Besides, that guy is actually pretty good.”

“You sound a little sympathetic when you say that.”

“Hey, you sounded jealous just now.” Guan Jin glanced at him.

“Ah, Little Jin, you can finally discern my mood, it feels really gratifying.”

“Don’t stick so close to me, I still haven’t gotten even with you.”

“I don’t mind if you kiss me back.”

“Blech… I mind!”