As the roar of the engines died down, the men in black quickly stacked their riot shields together and charged fiercely at Big Lei, hiding behind their defenses.
Having just fired a shot, Big Lei frantically fumbled to reload his gun, cursing loudly, "Damn it, you still dare to come? One more shot and I'll blow your heads off!"
When the riot shields pressed right up to his face, he barely managed to fire another shot, but the bullet was blocked by the surface of the shield. The firepower of his crude, homemade gun was ultimately no match for professional riot shields.
The men in black were secretly glad that the company had custom-ordered a batch of riot shields a long time ago. The original intention was to reduce accidental injuries among members, but they never expected them to be of such great use today.
If it weren't for these shields, more of their brothers would have probably fallen.
Seeing that this shot was also ineffective, Big Lei hastily reached into his pocket for more bullets, wanting to reload again, but this time, he had no chance.
Before he could even shove the bullet into the chamber, he was swallowed by a wave of black silhouettes.
Immediately after, a series of miserable screams rang out from within the encirclement.
"Ah!!!"
Right at this critical moment.
"Woo-wah! Woo-wah! Woo-wah!"
The piercing wail of police sirens suddenly erupted, and a massive fleet of police cars was seen speeding rapidly in their direction.
This time, it wasn't just ordinary police cruisers; even SWAT assault vehicles and riot control trucks had been deployed, quickly surrounding the entire area.
A loud megaphone immediately blasted in everyone's ears.
"Listen up, people inside! You are completely surrounded! Drop your weapons immediately, cease all resistance, put your hands on your heads, and get down! I repeat, drop your weapons immediately and cease all resistance!"
Everyone at the scene froze in shock.
Liu Shui, Xiucai, and the others were initially startled, but soon after, a wave of wild ecstasy surged in Liu Shui's heart.
Now that the cops were here, things would be easy.
The Wanlong Society had deliberately come to Huaicheng to gather a mob, fight, and commit armed assault. With the evidence so concrete, they were completely doomed!
He even noticed that the one leading the squad seemed to be a Deputy Chief he knew. This was in the bag!
It must be Elder Jiang pulling strings behind the scenes!
"Officers! Officers! You're here just in time!"
As if grabbing onto a lifesaver, Liu Shui stumbled and crawled as he rushed toward the police cars.
Once he reached them, he frantically pointed at the dense crowd of Wanlong Society members behind him:
"They're the Wanlong Society, a mafia group from Mingzhu City! They brought thousands of people here to violently attack us! They're completely lawless! Arrest them quickly! We are all victims!"
"Just look at how badly we've been beaten."
At this time, Big Lei also dizzyingly climbed to his feet, his brain still not quite processing the situation.
However, the scene that unfolded next made Liu Shui, Big Lei, and all the Huaicheng thugs who were still standing feel a chill run down their spines.
They saw the stern-faced Deputy Chief take a step back, allowing a young female police officer to step forward.
She was the Deputy Team Leader of the investigation task force specially dispatched by the higher-ups.
"Team Leader Gao, how do you think we should handle this?"
Gao Min first swept her gaze across Liu Shui's face, her eyes filled with undisguised disgust. Then, she looked at the unconscious Cheng Gang, who was currently receiving first aid. When she noticed the gunshot wound on him, she immediately went on high alert.
"A gunshot victim has been found at the scene. Have the ambulance take him away first. SWAT Team One and Team Two, subdue all armed and violently resisting personnel! Make sure to identify them carefully!"
"Yes, ma'am!"
A large squad of SWAT officers charged into the scene like fierce tigers and wolves. Their targets were shockingly Liu Shui, Big Lei, and the Huaicheng thugs who were still holding steel pipes and machetes, or who had just participated in the brawl.
"You've got it all wrong! It's them! The Wanlong Society! The Wanlong Society is the real mafia!"
As Liu Shui had his arms twisted behind his back and was pinned to the ground by two SWAT officers, he continued to scream frantically, "I'm Elder Jiang's man! I demand to make a phone call! You're arresting the wrong people!"
Hearing his words, Gao Min walked up to him and read out his charges.
"Liu Shui, you are suspected of organizing and leading a mafia-style syndicate, illegal possession of firearms, gathering a crowd to engage in a brawl, attempted murder, and various other crimes. You are now under arrest in accordance with the law. As for this Elder Jiang you mentioned, you will be seeing him very soon."
After saying that, she waved her hand at the escorting officers. "Take him away!"
"Attempted murder?"
Liu Shui was dumbfounded. "I didn't! It's the Wanlong Society! They are the real mafia!"
"Your subordinates carried out an armed attack with firearms, causing severe injuries to the other party's personnel. Was that not instructed by you?"
Gao Min pointed at Cheng Gang, who was being carried away on a stretcher by the paramedics. "The evidence is irrefutable. Do you still want to deny it?!"
Liu Shui felt as if he had been struck by lightning and abruptly looked over at Big Lei.
Big Lei was currently being heavily guarded by the SWAT officers. The red laser sights of several assault rifles were firmly locked onto his body, primarily because he was still gripping that crude, homemade gun in his hand.
"Drop the gun! This is your final warning!"
Big Lei looked at the gun barrels pointing at him from all around, then looked at the ashen-faced Liu Shui and the others being taken away. Finally, he looked at the men in black—although they were also being watched by the police on the side, they were merely asked to sit down together and were not being treated roughly.
It was unknown if his brain had been beaten silly just now, but a wave of extreme resentment and unwillingness pounded against his chest.
"It's just a gun, isn't it? I have one too!"
He was actually crazy enough to raise the gun in his hand before he even had time to load it.
This move was extremely dangerous.
Bang!
A sniper rifle spat fire. In the distance, the SWAT sniper had decisively chosen to pull the trigger.
Big Lei's body jerked, his motion of drawing the gun freezing in place. He looked down in disbelief at the spreading red stain on his chest, then fell stiffly backward, the homemade gun in his hand dropping onto the freezing snow.
Dead silence fell over the entire scene.
No one expected Big Lei to have the guts to stand his ground even when he was being targeted.
The Huaicheng thugs squatting in the corner witnessed the whole thing and were scared out of their wits.
They looked at Big Lei, who had been shot dead on the spot, then at Liu Shui and the other bosses being swiftly escorted away, and finally at the men in black who were just sitting there, even receiving special treatment from the police. Another wave of chills ran down their spines.
An absurd and terrifying thought began to grow uncontrollably in each of their minds.
"Were they telling the truth earlier when they said they were acting in self-defense and for a just cause?"
"Why are the cops only arresting us and not them? They're even giving them water to drink!"
"What exactly does the Wanlong Society do? Are their connections really that deep?"
"I told you guys they were different."
"Look at their clothes, look at their demeanor, look at the cops' attitude toward them. How the hell are they gangsters? They're clearly..." A young thug didn't dare to finish his sentence.
"Clearly what?"
"You all know exactly what!"
"This is so fucking corrupt!"
A massive brawl of a thousand people had ended with them being almost entirely and unilaterally crushed.
Losing the fight was one thing, but on what grounds were the cops only arresting them and ignoring the other side?
Of course, they had no idea that Liu Yutong and her group were acting as bait to cooperate with the investigation team sent from above, aiming to uproot the local criminal syndicates entirely.
In short, far from being illegal, all of their actions were actually assisting law enforcement. Why would the police arrest their own people?
However, from the perspective of the thugs, things looked completely different.
The Wanlong Society's background was simply too deep. As an outside faction, they were somehow able to make the lawful authorities of Huaicheng cooperate with them to such an extent.
Just how high up did their connections go?
