Chapter 6: He is not a special agent
Bao Longtao had not seen what happened under the big green tree earlier, but that didn’t stop him from raising plenty of caution about the youngster whose face was still hiding behind the hood. He took two steps forward and then lowered his head so he could speak softly right next to Xu Le’s ear, which was of course still separated by the hood.
“Perhaps I shouldn’t ask you. I should go ask Li Wei.”
Like how animal handlers at the zoo always have their ways to handle the disobedient animals, whether with a whip or fresh meat, if an officer of the federation wants to handle the underground forces, he always has endless means. When Bao Longtao mentioned Li Wei’s name at this moment, he obviously meant to threaten Xu Le – even without checking ID himself, he could still easily find out about Xu Le’s identity.
But Xu Le had no worries. He was sure that Li Wei and those other orphans had plenty of means to survive. He carefully avoided Deputy Chief Bao’s intimate gesture without showing any offending signs, still with is head lowered, he walked into the dark shadow humbly.
“I am sure we’ll meet again!” Bao Longtao shouted toward the youngster’s back, loosening his grip of the police baton.
……
……
It didn’t take long for the two to meet again. As a matter of fact, it was too short, so short that it was shocking and absurd.
In the dark shadow by the side gate of the Green Garden Apartments, Xu Le raised his head in shock, his bright eyes now squinting into two crescents. He gazed in utter disbelief at Bao Longtao, who leaned against the wall in a very comfortable posture with the confidence that the entire situation was still under his control. Xu Le appeared quite startled at the fact that the man had followed him to this remote corner without ever catching his attention.
“Didn’t I say we’ll meet again…. And I am very glad that no security monitors or nosy passersby would be able to interrupt our communication this time.”
Deputy Chief Bao stepped out of the dark shadow in his dark police uniform, the big grin on his face filled with insidious satisfaction. The police baton hanging by his waist was now in his hand. The diamond-shaped metal tip sparkled with terrifying blue electric arcs. Although they looked small, no one would have any doubt about their power.
He didn’t want to give Xu Le any chance to escape and didn’t expect Xu Le to spill his guts right away. Out of habit Bao Longtao was ready to disable the young lad with a good shock before anything else and use the unbearable pain to soften the boy’s heart, so he would reveal the one behind him, the one who was capable of hacking into the Police Station network and taking advantage of the conflicts among the upper management of the Riverwest State government.
The tip of the baton almost reached Xu Le’s waist when Deputy Chief Bao suddenly felt a sharp pain.
A strong electric current instantly shot through his entire body, making all parts of his body twitching without control. In the unbearable pain, he collapsed to the ground, trembling like someone with an epileptic seizure. White foam spilled from his half-open mouth.
The faint burning smell quickly dispersed into the night wind. The wall, however, was left with traces of permanent burning marks from the electric current.
After making sure Bao Longtao had no resistance left in him, Xu Le returned the electric prod in his hand to his pocket.
The prod only had the length of a finger, but the electric current it sent out far exceeded the prod he gave to Li Wei earlier, not mentioning the police baton held by Bao Longtao.
Bao Longtao had pretended to let Xu Le leave and secretly intended to torture him in the dark corner. But it was simply beyond his imagination that the feeble young lab could so easily take him down.
Xu Le walked by Bao Longtao. He hunkered down and examined the man. Then he placed some small metal piece into his ear and spoke with an intentionally lowered voice.
“Federation communication special agent number 78 reporting. Operation interrupted. Requesting to erase eyewitness.”
Xu Le crouched over Bao Longtao’s unconscious body as though he was waiting for instructions from the other end of the communication. A moment later, he received his instructions. Not paying any more attention to the Deputy Chief Bao lying next to his feet, he quickly adjusted his jacket, so the hood covered his face even tighter, and soon disappeared into the darkness next to the Green Garden Apartments.
Obviously he did not live in the Green Garden Apartments.
……
……
After a long while, Deputy Chief Bao at the foot of the wall slowly opened his eyes. He made sure the mysterious young lad was really gone before he struggled to sit up. Wiping the white foam from his lips, he glanced gloomily at the direction of the youngster’s disappearance, his face twitched in grimace.
The pain and sore in his muscle nerves were not gone yet, but Deputy Chief Bao’s attention was fully consumed by the shocking finding. When he had been struck down by the electric shock, he hadn’t really lost his consciousness, and heard every word of the youngster’s request clearly. The words “erase eyewitness” and “special agent” frightened him, and he had dared not to open his eyes.
Federation communication special agent, operating directly under both the Federation Communication Committee and the Federation President? You’ve gotta be kidding. The feeling of dread quickly shot up Bao Longtao’s heart. The man who secretly provoked the orphans to cause trouble on the streets was a special agent sent from the Capital Star? The tiny yet powerful electric prod Xu Le had pulled out of nowhere only strengthened Bao Longtao’s conclusion.
As short as a finger, yet powerful enough to shoot an electric arc as far as fifty centimeters. Such delicate yet powerful weaponry cannot have been copied by underground gangs. Only the military had the luxury to be equipped with such devices and they were for Special Forces only.
Did that young lad work for the Federation Communication Committee or the President? Either would be a class far beyond his status. Bao Longtao slowly got back onto his feet with the help of the wall, still awed in terror. He knew he had made a terrible mistake today. This matter was not something he’d ever touch again.
……
……
Hot water streamed from the faucet. The welfare of the Federation had always been good with details like these. The thick fog from the steam filled the entire bathroom with a dreamlike setting. Xu Le stood in front of the bathroom mirror and looked at the face inside the mirror. The face soon became indistinct from the steams, but he remained still. Only after a long while, he finally breathed out heavily.
The hands that grasped the edges of the white ceramic sink seemed to have been squeezing quite hard. The fingers looked paler than usual and also trembled slightly. He found himself terrified.
Xu Le pulled the small metal piece from his year, then also took out another metal thing from underneath his tongue that was used to change the sound of his voice. He threw them into the sink, which made two crisp clanking sounds – they were really only two metal buttons from his leisure jacket.
Bending his head low, Xu Le breathed hard, as though doing so would allow him to exhale all the terror inside out of the system. With only two metal buttons, he had just fooled the infamous Bao Longtao, who was truly dreaded by many of the orphans, but he felt no accomplishment, not a single bit of it. If it weren’t for Li Wei’s sake, he would never have done something like this.
He was no special agent, nor did he have the slightest ties with the big shots in the Capital Star Circle. He was merely a common person, gifted at mechanics maybe, but just a young lad.
Bao Longtao had always thought there were some powerful political forces standing behind him, but Xu Le knew that there was only one damn fellow behind all these. If that fellow didn’t beg him in tear, how could he ever let the orphans and himself fall into such an absurd situation?
Would Bao Longtao continue with his investigation? Xu Le couldn’t tell.
He could only splash hot water over his face again and again until the naïve-looking face turned almost red, and that was when he could finally breathe normal again. He stared at himself in the mirror with irritation and then cussed in a lowered voice.
“Feng Yu, you a-hole, who on earth are you?”
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