Aze immediately slowed down and then slowly pulled over to the side of the road. I glanced at the mixed-race beauty: "You and I get out of the car. Don't be nervous, I'm here!"
The mixed-race beauty was a little pale, but she still nodded.
The policeman on the motorcycle at the back gate also got off. I saw that he was wearing a very nice uniform, which was very new, and the motorcycle was also very new.
Later I learned that there are very few mounted police in Hanoi. However, due to Vietnam's economic constraints, the development of tourism, and the fact that most streets in Vietnam are very narrow, it is impossible to deploy a large number of police officers on foot for patrols. Furthermore, because Vietnam does not have its own automobile industry and all cars are imported, the police cannot be equipped with too many cars for patrols. Therefore, they have focused on developing mounted police, and in the narrow streets of Vietnamese cities, patrolling with motorcycles is more effective than with cars.
This mounted police officer had clearly only recently changed uniforms. These new mounted police officers were specially selected and were of higher quality than regular patrol officers; some even spoke foreign languages (given the booming tourism industry in Vietnam).
My getting out of the car with the mixed-race beauty did not attract the attention of the police. On the contrary, I saw that he couldn't help but glance at the mixed-race beauty a few more times.
After all, a beauty like that would attract men's attention anywhere.
The policeman had a walkie-talkie on his chest. As he walked over, he spoke a few words into the communicator. I knew he was reporting his location.
Mounted police around the world operate this way because they patrol alone. To ensure that a lone officer is not isolated and helpless in special circumstances, they maintain constant communication via radio when something happens.
I noticed that the policeman's eyes couldn't help but drift over the mixed-race beauty's high breasts and the high slit of her skirt, a forced smile appearing on his lips... but he didn't notice the mixed-race beauty's somewhat nervous expression.
Most men are like this; when they see a beautiful woman, nine and a half out of ten will first focus their attention on her breasts or figure.
“※％★※…” the policeman said, walked to the car window, and knocked on it. Aze obediently rolled down the window, but he couldn’t understand what the policeman was saying, so he said something in English.
The police officer paused for a moment, then said in somewhat broken but fairly fluent English, "Sir, your car was speeding just now, and you didn't turn on your lights when you turned ahead."
Seeing that Aze spoke English, he roughly understood that the person in front of him was a foreign tourist, and his behavior became slightly more polite: "Please show me your ID and driver's license."
Aze hesitated. He didn't have his driver's license with him!
Seeing that Aze didn't move, the police officer became impatient and repeated himself.
At this moment, I slowly moved closer, and the policeman immediately turned to the side. He was quite alert, immediately pressing one hand on the intercom in front of his chest and the other on his waist.
At that moment, a strange light flashed in the eyes of the mixed-race beauty, and the tension on her face disappeared instantly.
Suddenly, she looked radiant, swaying gracefully as she walked up to the policeman, and softly uttered a sentence...
Although I don't understand Vietnamese, I know for sure that the mixed-race beauty wasn't speaking Vietnamese... nor English.
There's only one explanation: she's of French descent and speaks French!
The policeman was probably taken aback for a moment. After all, he was just a policeman, not a foreign language expert. Confused for a second, and seeing such a charming and beautiful woman approaching him, his vigilance relaxed a bit. The hand that was pressing on the walkie-talkie on his chest slowly loosened.
This mixed-race beauty was definitely a nightclub girl; women like her really know how to act! She mumbled in French, pretending not to understand the policeman, while deliberately striking alluring poses and subtly revealing glimpses of skin with every gesture. I noticed the policeman was starting to lose focus, so I quietly took two steps closer…
"Huh?!" The policeman grunted. I quickly moved closer, one hand on his sidearm at his waist, while the other hand swiftly drew my gun and pressed it firmly against his back. At the same time, I shouted in English, "Don't move! Don't speak! I don't want to hurt you!"
At that moment, the guys in the car jumped out. They quickly surrounded me and the policeman. I swiftly disarmed him and tossed the gun to one of the guys. The policeman seemed flustered, instinctively wanting to say something, but hesitated.
Just as he hesitated, a hissing sound came from the walkie-talkie on his chest. Then came a few voices, in Vietnamese, with a slightly lazy tone, asking questions.
Just as the policeman was about to speak, the gun I was pressing against his waist tightened even more.
The Vietnamese policeman hesitated for a moment, a hint of helplessness in his eyes, then glanced at me, lowered his eyelids, and quickly spoke a sentence in Vietnamese into the walkie-talkie.
I saw the mixed-race beauty breathe a sigh of relief. She whispered to me, "It's alright now, he just said 'everything is normal'."
I felt relieved and whispered to the policeman, "Don't resist, and I won't hurt you."
Then I quickly pulled the walkie-talkie off his chest, unplugged it, and threw it into the roadside bushes. I glanced at the policeman; he was clearly flustered, but he still maintained a facade of composure.
"Take him to the car and cover his eyes with something... never mind, just knock him out."
I glanced at the mixed-race beauty and then said, "You guys get in the car first, wait for me for two minutes."
I ran quickly toward the police motorcycle parked on the side of the road behind me. The motorcycle was unlocked, of course. I climbed on and sped off in the opposite direction.
I was very close to the riverbank. I carefully observed my surroundings and saw no pedestrians or vehicles. I quickly drove to the river, stopped, and forcefully overturned the brand-new motorcycle into the water. The heavy motorcycle sank rapidly. I looked around again; only two trucks sped past on the distant bridge. No one noticed my actions on the riverbank.
I'm relieved.
The Vietnamese police are very outdated in their equipment; I doubt their police cars have GPS tracking systems. I overturned the police car into the river; it might not be found until tomorrow at the earliest.
By the time I ran back, everyone was already in the car. I climbed into the passenger compartment and closed the door. Aze started the car quickly. The guy was a bit agitated; he couldn't help but chuckle bitterly, "Damn it! Xiao Wu, what kind of mess have we made of this... I'm a law-abiding citizen in China. But after coming to Vietnam, I've been doing all sorts of illegal and criminal things with you... Now you even dare to kidnap the police..."
I knew he was joking with me, so I patted him on the back and laughed, "If you don't hurry up and drive us to Haiphong, we'll all end up in prison... You can imagine what prisons in Vietnam are like."
Inside the car, the policeman had been tied up and stuffed horizontally under the last row of seats, his mouth and eyes gagged.
As soon as I sat down, Ciro calmly said to me, "I questioned this policeman, and he usually contacts headquarters via intercom once an hour. In other words, we should be fine within an hour."
"Well done!" I patted him on the shoulder to encourage him. This kid has finally made some progress and is starting to use his brain. But then I had a question: "Is he willing to tell the truth?"
Xiluo couldn't help but glance at the wooden figure: "Yes, it's him... he's holding a needle..."
Wood sighed, looked at me, and surprisingly smiled: "I took a needle and held it to his eye, then asked him questions. I told him that if he lied, his pupils would change, and I would prick him."
Xiluo couldn't help but give Mutou a strange look, then looked at me and asked in confusion, "Xiao Wu, why are we arresting this policeman? We can just knock him out and dump him on the side of the road."
I sighed. "He saw us running out of the city. And the road is heading northeast. If we knock him out, he'll wake up in half an hour at most. Then he'll report to the police—our car model, color, appearance, etc.—and we'll be surrounded by a huge police force!" I paused, then continued, "So, there are only two options. First, kill him. The police have to investigate his death first, and it will take a long time before they can trace us back. Second, make him disappear. Now that we've kidnapped him, the police consider him 'missing,' and they'll have to investigate his disappearance first, starting their search from where he disappeared… It'll be a long time before they find us."
I kidnapped this policeman to save his life. If I hadn't kidnapped him, I would have had to kill him.
At that moment, I glanced at the mixed-race beauty huddled in her seat, then smiled at her and said gently, "You did a very good job just now. Thank you."
The mixed-race beauty had a complicated look in her eyes. She gently bit her lip and said nothing.
Suddenly, Aze, who was in front, deliberately whistled, then chuckled and said, "Women! They'll do anything for the man they love... No wonder, no wonder..."
I felt a little embarrassed and couldn't help but laugh and scold:
"What nonsense are you spouting!"
"What nonsense are you spouting?!"
It turned out that Qiaoqiao and I spoke at the same time!! I awkwardly stopped Aze from saying such things, after all, I didn't have any ulterior motives towards mixed-race beauties, to avoid trouble.
But Qiao Qiao's eyes held a hint of... dissatisfaction?!
In the evening, we parked our car near a small fishing village northeast of Haiphong. There were many shacks made of asbestos tiles; some were fishermen's homes, while others were workshops for producing seafood products, such as shrimp paste…
Under cover of darkness, we parked the car in a grove of trees and used a bunch of large palm leaves to cover it. As for that unfortunate policeman, we abandoned him on a very remote stretch of highway...
I even stripped him naked...
This poor policeman, if he's lucky, will have to walk for two or three hours on that road before he even reaches the town... and I doubt how many people would believe that a naked man like that is a policeman.
This is a very simple principle.
If you were driving and saw someone naked on the side of the road waving at you asking you to stop, would you stop?
Don't blame me for being too ruthless; I've already spared his life. Who told him to be so unlucky—he didn't stop other cars, but he stopped ours?
We walked into the fishing village in the dark and came to a cluster of asbestos-roofed houses near the dock. There was a long wooden pole with an electric lamp hanging from it. When I saw the lamp in the distance, I saw Xiluo breathe a sigh of relief.
“This was arranged by Master Ba. He gave me this address before I came. This lamp is a code, indicating that it’s safe,” Xiluo explained.
I nodded silently.
As we walked over, a man emerged from the shack. He glanced at us from a distance and shouted, "Who's there?"
"Grab your rifles and let's go!" Ciro shouted.
The other person was silent for a few seconds, then seemed to breathe a sigh of relief: "Pack your bags and let's go."
I understood that this was a code. After walking over, I found that the man standing in front of me was barefoot, with his trousers rolled up high. He was wearing a tattered vest, and I couldn't see his skin color under the light, but he looked very old with a face full of wrinkles. However, there was a hint of spirit in his eyes.
"You're here too early." He frowned, seemingly somewhat displeased.
Before Xiluo could speak, I smiled slowly and said, "It's better than being late."
Part 1: In the Jianghu, Not in Control of One's Own Fate, Chapter 190: Friends
The waves crashed, and under the moonlight at night, the sea surface shimmered with endless light.
I sat at the stern, listening to the roar of the engine, gazing into the distance, somewhat lost in thought.
There was a bottle of wine next to me, with a label in a foreign language, not English, so I couldn't figure out what it said. This bottle of wine was found in a box in the ship's hold.
It's already past midnight. Because we arrived a day early for safety reasons, we also left the port a day early. Our destination is Hainan Island in China.
To cover their tracks, no lights were on on the boat. Old Jiang was steering the boat—Old Jiang was the one who was supposed to be our contact. He only introduced himself as Jiang, but we didn't know his full name. He had a cold demeanor and seemed indifferent to everyone he spoke to, but he was very efficient. Within an hour, he had everything ready: water, food, and the boat.
The ship has a positioning system, and he is at the helm, steering this motorboat away from Vietnam.
He said that this was a route he frequently used and that it should be very safe.
After a long day of travel, everyone was a bit tired. That evening, the group of men found a case of liquor in the cabin and had a good drink. Old Jiang frowned slightly, but he himself didn't touch a drop of alcohol.
I've finally left Vietnam. Looking back on everything that happened there, I can't help but feel a mix of emotions. There's a complex feeling I can't quite put my finger on. I sat alone at the stern of the boat, a bottle of wine in my hand, enjoying the sea breeze, slowly sipping my drink.
The strong liquor hit me hard on the palate. The pungent flavor quickly set my blood pumping, but a strange sense of unease lingered within me…
The boat wasn't large, and it rocked slightly on the sea. It seemed that as long as we didn't encounter any major storms, we would reach Hainan Island early tomorrow morning. Then we would go through some special document processing there before returning to Canada.
The two mixed-race sisters seemed rather listless, YOYO clearly quite shaken. Upon waking, she clung tightly to her sister, refusing to leave her side. There was an instinctive wariness in the little girl's eyes towards the burly men around me, but she remained very affectionate towards me. Both sisters were exhausted and had already rested in the cabin that night.
As for Qiaoqiao, she single-handedly drank herself into submission and took down three men, including Xiluo. She's probably sleeping now.
I sighed... I felt really heavy-hearted.
Go back to...Canada?
I smiled, picked up the bottle, poured the last bit of liquor into my mouth, shook the empty bottle, and then threw it forcefully into the sea.
After downing a whole bottle of strong liquor, I felt slightly dizzy and was about to stand up when I heard a very calm voice behind me: "Sitting on the edge of the boat drinking, aren't you afraid of falling overboard?"
I turned around and saw Wood standing behind me. I had no idea when he arrived.
I realized I might actually be a little drunk. At least if I were sober, it would be impossible for someone to come up behind me without me noticing.
Wood slowly sat down next to me. He was also carrying a bottle of wine, took a sip himself, and then handed it to me.
"Talk?" He glanced at me, his eyes seeming to hold something I couldn't quite decipher.
"Oh?" I smiled and looked at my friend. "You want to talk to me? Good heavens, aren't you the one who hates talking the most? You blockhead?"
Wood smiled. Actually, he was a very charming man, especially when he smiled. It was like ice and snow melting in the spring breeze. It was just a pity that he rarely smiled; his cold and aloof demeanor masked most of his charm.
"Xiao Wu," Mu Tou said, "we're friends, right?"
“Of course.” I nodded immediately: “You and Aze… well, and Qiaoqiao, you are my best friends.”
After a moment of silence, Wood suddenly spoke up: "So, what about now?"