They Pointed Guns at Me—Then Let Me In

After riding his bike for about twenty minutes, Ye Qing arrived at the entrance of the New Moon Phase Two villa district, marked with the characters for “New Moon Phase Two.”
It was currently around 8:10 in the morning.
Following the paths inside the villa district, he occasionally saw a few pedestrians coming and going.
But for some reason, Ye Qing felt that the further he rode, the more people he encountered.
The passing pedestrians were also constantly chattering away to each other about something.

‘Something’s wrong. And this is a villa district! What’s with all these people in the morning!?’

“Hey, young man on the bicycle!”
Suddenly, a middle-aged man walking with a young couple ahead waved at Ye Qing.

With a bad feeling, Ye Qing stopped with a “screech” in front of the man.
Putting on a polite smile, Ye Qing asked in a calm voice, “Excuse me, what is it?”

“The road ahead is closed. This entire area has been cordoned off by the police.
It seems there’s some kind of criminal in there—pretty dangerous.
I advise you not to get too close. Come back when everything is over.”

“Oh, I see! Thank you for the warning!”
Ye Qing thanked him while nodding to show he understood.

Hearing Ye Qing’s reply, the man also smiled and nodded politely, then left with the young couple.

‘What was bound to happen has finally come, hasn’t it?
And this is too fast! It’s practically the morning after the day Chenlian was discharged.
And I haven’t even gotten in yet! What should I do?
Either way, I should go check out the situation first. Maybe there will be someone I know who can let me through.
If not, I’ll have to stop outside and observe.’

Thinking this, Ye Qing continued riding further in.
After turning a corner, he finally reached a straight section only about 900 meters away from Hadi and Sister Fuzi’s villa.
But at this corner, someone came out and blocked Ye Qing’s path.
Ye Qing quickly braked and stopped in front of the person blocking him.

A tall, sturdy police uncle in a dark black police uniform was standing in front of him, holding a yellow-and-white baton horizontally, staring at Ye Qing with a stern gaze as if threatening him.

“No entry here. Please turn back,”
the police uncle said to Ye Qing in a stern, deep voice.

“Ah, why?”
Ye Qing put on a surprised look and asked in amazement.

“That’s confidential. Please turn back,”
the police uncle said, still expressionless, blocking Ye Qing’s way and trying to make him turn back.

Ye Qing put on a very anxious look and asked urgently in a worried voice,

“I know people who live in there! They should still be at home right now! What’s with this cordon?”

“Wait a moment. I’ll contact my superior,”
the police uncle said, somewhat surprised, then turned around and picked up his walkie-talkie.

“This is 002. There’s a young man saying he has acquaintances still inside the cordoned-off area.”

‘Alright! He took the bait!’
Ye Qing parked his bike to the side and stood at the cordon line, waiting for the police uncle’s reply.

After listening to the response from the other end of the walkie-talkie, the police uncle turned back and said to Ye Qing,
“Wait here. Someone will come shortly.”
Then he returned to his designated post and continued standing guard.

‘So who will it be?’
As he thought this, Ye Qing sensed someone approaching from behind.
But he didn’t react and continued standing there as if nothing was happening.

Suddenly, a loud voice sounded from behind him.
“Freeze! Put your hands up!”
Someone behind Ye Qing was aiming a cold, hard gun muzzle at his back at extremely close range.
He could feel the chill emanating from the gun muzzle pressing against his body.
Then, several police officers in the same dark black uniforms pointed their guns at Ye Qing, surrounding him.

Yet Ye Qing didn’t waver in the slightest. He didn’t raise his hands either.
He thought to himself indifferently, ‘It’s about time for you to show up, Chief!’

“Put your hands up now!”
The police officer behind him shouted at Ye Qing even more sternly when he saw that Ye Qing wasn’t moving.

“Tch!”
Ye Qing clicked his tongue. He had no choice but to raise his hands helplessly.
He had to do this to avoid them taking physical action against him.
If they tried to restrain him, even Ye Qing would be troubled!

“Everyone, put your guns down!”
A slightly world-weary middle-aged man’s voice came from outside the encirclement.

‘Oh! Is that Uncle Liu?’
Recognizing the newcomer by his voice, Ye Qing smiled relaxedly.
He lowered his hands and also relaxed the tension in his shoulders.
But then, feeling the weight on his back again, he straightened his shoulders.

The circle of police officers surrounding him all put down their guns in unison, then stood at attention and saluted their superior.

Several officers stepped aside to clear a path, allowing Ye Qing to see who had come.
“Uncle Liu!”
Ye Qing bowed to the veteran police chief, who still had a sturdy build.

“Ye Qing! It’s been a while since I last saw you!”
Uncle Liu smiled amiably as he walked toward Ye Qing, then patted him on the shoulder.
“You’ve grown taller too!”

“Uncle Liu, let’s skip the pleasantries. Can we speak privately?”
Ye Qing suddenly dropped his relaxed demeanor and said to Uncle Liu with a serious expression.

“Mm, alright. You all continue your mission!”
Uncle Liu also became serious and ordered his subordinates standing around.
“Yes, sir!”
With orderly, loud voices, the subordinates immediately formed up and left in an orderly fashion.
Then Uncle Liu led Ye Qing to a relatively hidden spot in a corner of the road.
There was no one else around except for a young adjutant who had come with the chief—someone Ye Qing hadn’t seen before. A new recruit?

“What do you mean by saying you know someone in there?”
Stopping at an appropriate spot, Uncle Liu turned around and asked, somewhat anxiously.

“Mm. There’s a friend of mine there who was just discharged from the hospital,”
Ye Qing deliberately emphasized the phrase “just discharged from the hospital.”
Seeing Uncle Liu raise an eyebrow, Ye Qing continued.
“The people inside also include two medical researchers from the Shengdi Technology Hospital Research Institute—
a Dr. Miya Hadi and his assistant, Yue Fuzi.
They are my friend’s current guardians.
And Lin Yuxuan is also inside resting due to internal bleeding.”

“I see. Wait! You said Lin Yuxuan is inside resting?”
Uncle Liu nodded slowly to show he understood, then suddenly caught the name Lin Yuxuan that Ye Qing had mentioned.

“Yes. But Uncle Liu doesn’t need to worry. The doctor has already given her timely treatment,”
Ye Qing paused here, then said to the two men in a speculative tone,
“By the way, Uncle Liu, are you here assisting the inspectors sent by the government?”
Ye Qing said something that greatly surprised both men.

“How do you know that!”
The adjutant beside him stepped forward excitably and demanded of Ye Qing in a sharp voice.

“There’s no need to be surprised by something like this, right, Uncle Liu?”
Ye Qing spoke calmly to the adjutant, then turned the conversation toward Uncle Liu.
The reason Ye Qing turned the conversation toward Uncle Liu was to deliberately steer clear of the assumption that he had obtained information from Hadi and the others.
Although that was actually the case, he couldn’t let them develop unnecessary suspicions toward Dr. Hadi and Sister Fuzi, lest he alert the enemy.
At the same time, this would allow him to be seen as a well-informed insider who could confidently enter the cordoned-off area.

“Right. It’s not impossible for Ye Qing to know certain things.
Actually, Ye Qing, you only know that there are inspectors and nothing more, right?”
Uncle Liu, having regained his composure, calmly stated his analysis.

“Yeah! As expected of Uncle Liu!”
Ye Qing smiled lightly and answered calmly.
Uncle Liu knew that Ye Qing was a member of the Yin clan, so it wasn’t impossible for him to know some information about Variants.
Combined with the fact that they had worked together on cases in the past, Uncle Liu also knew that Ye Qing had considerable deductive abilities.
Then there was the fact that Ye Qing had deliberately asked in a tone that implied “Uncle Liu should know, right?”
The combination of these three factors led to this conclusion.

‘Alright! Successfully evaded! This way, I might be able to get in!’

Seizing the opportunity, Ye Qing spoke in a somewhat urgent voice.
“So, my friend isn’t actually a Variant. I just want to go inside.
I need to check on Lin Yuxuan’s condition anyway.
You know I wouldn’t do anything reckless with you, right, Uncle Liu?
And—”
Ye Qing paused here deliberately, softened his expression, then let out a soft laugh.
“Even if you added me to the mix, I couldn’t face all of you.”
Having calmly stated this reasonable justification, Ye Qing looked at Uncle Liu, waiting for his answer.
‘Given the current setup, Uncle Liu and his people are clearly prepared.
Head-on confrontation is pretty much impossible.
Better not do anything reckless here. I have to trust the infiltrator among the inspectors that Sister Fuzi mentioned.
I didn’t expect the government to take this so seriously, dispatching so many police officers to assist the inspectors!’

“Hmm~!”
After listening to Ye Qing’s words, Uncle Liu stroked his chin and fell into thought.
As if reaching a decision, he lowered his hand and cast his gaze toward Ye Qing.
“The inspectors haven’t arrived yet. You should be able to go in.
But Ye Qing! You’ll have to leave your weapon here!”
Uncle Liu looked toward the large leather bag behind Ye Qing as he spoke.

Ye Qing knew Uncle Liu would say this. Official business had to be conducted properly.

There was no way he could let someone carrying a weapon into the cordoned-off area.

But Ye Qing also knew how to handle this. The method was actually very simple.
“This is Nozomi, Uncle Liu,”
Ye Qing said with a light smile.

Hearing the name Nozomi, Uncle Liu was clearly surprised.
Lowering his head, he murmured, “Is that so? It’s Nozomi.”
As if having made his decision, Uncle Liu ordered the adjutant,
“Cheng, escort him inside.”

“Yes, sir!”
The adjutant addressed as Cheng saluted his superior, then went ahead to lead the way.
Ye Qing bowed to Uncle Liu to express his gratitude, then followed the adjutant who had gone ahead.
Uncle Liu quietly watched Ye Qing and Cheng leave.