Chapter 2: The Harmless Little White Rabbit
1696 Words
“Quit grinning! Hands on your head, stay down!” a SWAT officer barked, aiming his gun at Ning Xi.
“Officer, sir, I’m just a concerned citizen who stepped in to help…” Ning Xi explained in a small, quiet voice.
Huh? The armed SWAT officer froze. In all his years on the force, he’d never seen a woman act as a good samaritan, least of all in an active firearms case.
A SWAT officer bearing the insignia of a squad leader glanced over the items on the bus, then held up the seized pistol and snapped at the brawny man: “Where’s the ammunition?”
“…No idea.” the man mumbled, his face streaked with dirt and blood.
“No idea?!” The squad leader slammed the butt of the gun hard into the man’s jaw.
“I didn’t take it apart!” the man roared.
“I took it apart…” Ning Xi piped up quietly, still squatting with one hand on her head, pointing toward the driver’s seat up front. “I tossed it over there.”
The squad leader froze, spun around, pushed up his tactical sunglasses, and asked in clear disbelief: “You took it apart?”
Ning Xi nodded, explaining quickly: “I’m not with them. I saw these two men drag the middle-aged guy onto the bus acting weird, trapping him between them in the back seat without moving an inch. I suspected it was a k********g, so I pretended to get off the bus, pulled him out, and that’s when the big guy pulled a gun on me…”
The squad leader nodded, taking the magazine and shell casings a nearby officer had retrieved. “Alright, take everyone in!” he ordered, with a deliberate nod toward the still-squatting Ning Xi.
“Huh?!” Ning Xi’s eyes went wide, her face the very picture of a harmless little white rabbit. “I have to go too? I’m the concerned citizen who stopped the k********g!”
“…Which is why I’m not putting you in cuffs. We’ll talk at the station. Move out! Collect all evidence from the scene!” The squad leader herded the group off the bus, leaving no room for argument.
The middle-aged man was also taken to the station, sitting in the same police car as Ning Xi. Ning Xi wore a thunderous scowl, seething with annoyance—she’d barely left her university campus before being hauled to a police station in a squad car! If Political Commissar Qi got wind of this, he’d tear her to shreds.
The middle-aged man across from her, by contrast, was perfectly calm. Sensing her irritation, he smiled apologetically. “Young lady, thank you so much for stepping in. You were incredibly quick-witted and brave.”
Ning Xi shot him a withering look. “You rich people love flaunting your wealth, you’re just asking for trouble. You got lucky this time, running into two i***t kidnappers. If you’d crossed ruthless thugs who kill first and negotiate later? Well, you’d be on your own praying for a miracle.”
The man blinked, taken aback by being lectured by a girl half his age, but smiled good-naturedly. “Yes, yes, you’re absolutely right… May I ask your name, young lady?”
“What’s it to you? Want to send me a silk commendation banner? I don’t need it.” Ning Xi huffed, turning her head away to ignore him.
Riding in a police car was the worst feeling ever. Ning Xi kept her scowl the entire ride to the station. After giving her formal statement, she was led to an office, where the squad leader from earlier carried in her tattered backpack.
Ning Xi snatched the backpack, her temper flaring. “What gives you the right to rummage through my bag?”
“My apologies. Every item from the scene must be inspected. Please check if anything is missing.” the squad leader replied calmly, neither overbearing nor deferential.
“My privacy is missing!”
“Ahem…” The squad leader looked a little awkward. If Ning Xi had been an ordinary civilian, he might have stood his ground and spouted some formal line about “asking for your cooperation with our investigation”.
But this girl was no ordinary civilian. Those two i***t kidnappers didn’t stand a chance against her, and they’d gotten exactly what they deserved.
“Our officers recovered these. They belong to you, correct? Here you go.” The squad leader held out a sealed evidence bag containing a small gift box and several official documents.
Ning Xi snatched the bag back, her eyes flashing with annoyance, jaw clenched as she glared at him, looking for all the world like a wary young deer.
The squad leader couldn’t help but smile at her reaction. “Stepping in to help is a noble act, and assisting in the arrest of armed kidnappers is something to be proud of. Why are you so resistant? We might even be able to issue you an official commendation… Captain.”
Ning Xi opened the bag to check her documents, then curled her lip. “I only received my captain’s commission today. Don’t call me that, I’m not used to it yet.”
“Understood.” The squad leader held out his hand. “Hello, Student Ning Xi. I’m Yu Jiashu, squad leader of the SWAT team. On behalf of the police department, I want to extend my deepest gratitude for your bravery today, for stepping in to help resolve this armed k********g case.”
Ning Xi curled her lip, shaking his hand reluctantly. “I graduated today, so don’t call me student either. Just Ning Xi is fine… And you don’t need to thank me. I just have one favor to ask.”
“Go on.”
“Please don’t give me any commendation, and don’t let my name get out. Our commissar is already on the fence about my transfer application. If he finds out I walked straight from graduation into a police station, my application will be dead in the water.” Ning Xi looked at Captain Yu with a helpless, earnest expression.
She had a sweet, delicate face, dressed in plain, simple clothes, with soft brows and bright, clear eyes that made people naturally warm to her. What’s more, when she pressed her lips together, faint dimples appeared in her cheeks. With this pure, harmless little white rabbit look, no one could ever imagine she’d single-handedly taken down two armed kidnappers.
Or rather, no one could imagine that this innocent-looking girl was secretly a powerhouse of brute strength.
Captain Yu couldn’t help but nod at her earnest, guileless expression. “Very well. Protecting citizens’ personal information is our duty. I’ll instruct all relevant personnel to keep this matter strictly confidential.”
“Thank you.” Ning Xi breathed a sigh of relief at his promise, then hugged her tattered backpack to her chest, ready to leave.
“Where are you headed? I can give you a ride.” Captain Yu noticed how awkwardly she was holding the torn, gaping backpack.
Ning Xi’s nose wrinkled in distaste at the suggestion. “I don’t want the special treatment of a police car ride!”
“Heh, police car ride? Don’t flatter yourself—official vehicles can’t be used for personal business. But I can drive you in my own car. That backpack of yours… it’s going to be humiliating to carry on a crowded bus, isn’t it?”
Ning Xi glanced down at her bullet-riddled backpack. A huge section was torn open, exposing the clothes inside, even some of her undergarments. It was undeniably awkward.
“Then… I’d really appreciate it.”
“It’s no trouble. Also, you might want to change your clothes—look, it’s ripped.” Yu Jiashu pointed out kindly.
Huh? Ning Xi looked down at her shirt. The left side of her T-shirt had ripped open during the scuffle, exposing a sliver of her waist.
Her face burned with embarrassment. She fished a plain T-shirt and a pair of pants she usually wore at school out of her tattered backpack, then asked: “Where’s your restroom, please?”
Yu Jiashu pointed toward the end of the hallway, and Ning Xi grabbed her clothes and hurried out.
…
“You graduated today—didn’t your family come to pick you up?” Captain Yu asked as they drove through the city.
At the words “family”, Ning Xi’s eyelashes fluttered slightly. She replied in a flat, distant tone: “My elderly relatives don’t have a car, it’s too inconvenient for them. My boyfriend had a last-minute work emergency, so he couldn’t make it. I don’t have much luggage, I can get back on my own just fine.”
Family was a luxury word for Ning Xi. Her parents, the only people who had ever truly loved her, had passed away long ago. Until she came of age, her aunt and uncle had been her legal guardians. They were never particularly close, but they at least exchanged greetings during holidays and festivals.
As for her boyfriend, Qi Yiyang, they had been high school classmates, and had started dating two years prior. But because Ning Xi had attended a military academy, they’d rarely gotten to see each other. They’d kept in touch steadily, but their relationship hadn’t progressed to the point of talking about marriage. Ning Xi had thought that once she graduated and settled on a work location, they could sit down and talk properly about their future together.
Captain Yu dropped Ning Xi off at an old, weathered staff residential compound in the city. Ning Xi navigated the paths with ease, heading straight for the building where her aunt and uncle lived.
No sooner had she reached the base of the building than she spotted a luxury SUV parked by the entrance. It looked painfully familiar—it was the exact same car Qi Yiyang had driven to visit her at school two months prior.
Hadn’t he said he had a last-minute work emergency today, that he couldn’t come pick her up?
- Writer
