"Good!"
Hong Fei's eyes lit up. He glanced around, cleared his throat, and announced with exaggerated formality, "Cora, I've been meaning to say—patrolling is just too damn boring—"
Bang! Bang! Bang!!
Gunfire erupted from the street nearby, cutting him off mid-sentence. Both Hong Fei and Cora jolted—Cora nearly jumped out of her skin. But the gunfire only grew louder, more frantic. The sound snapped her back into focus. Her eyes sharpened, locking onto Hong Fei for a split second before she clenched her fist, swung her arm in a fierce arc, and barked, "Yes!"
In one fluid motion, she spun and sprinted toward the chaos, her right hand already drawing her sidearm. Ten meters in, she skidded to a halt and whipped her head around.
"Hong, follow in the car! Keep your distance and wait for my signal!"
Then she was gone, vanishing around a corner.
Hong Fei stared after her, bewildered. Was this curse actually real? Terrifying. He scrambled into the patrol car and edged toward the gunfire. As he rounded the street's bend, the scene exploded into view.
A police cruiser and a black SUV had collided head-on, crumpled metal framing a battlefield. Motorcycles lay overturned; bodies littered the pavement. The surviving officers crouched behind their cruiser, trading fire with assailants hidden behind the SUV.
The problem? The attackers had assault rifles. The cops had pistols.
They were pinned down, barely able to lift their heads.
Cora was already moving, darting through the shadows of nearby buildings. Hong Fei obeyed her orders, hanging back. He was still a rookie, after all.
Sure, he harbored ambitions to change Gotham—a task akin to reshaping the world—but ambition didn't stop bullets. Martial arts didn't either. Until he leveled up, survival meant playing by the rules. Keep the higher-ups happy, and promotions came easier. The smartest cops rose fast. The reckless ones? They stayed stuck in patrol cars.
The besieged cruiser belonged to Sergeant Neil. Five officers had been inside—no telling how many were still breathing. Cora must've been thinking the same thing. Her sprint was frantic, her pulse pounding in her ears.
Hong Fei coasted closer, following her instructions, when her voice crackled over the radio—breathless, urgent.
"Hong, punch the gas and ram those bastards!"
He blinked. Which bastards? Given the murderous look on Cora's face earlier, either group seemed possible.
"Watch it—don't hit our guys!"
Good. She hadn't totally lost it.
"Understood!"
He straightened the wheel, eyeing the wreckage ahead. Disabling the ESP, he planted his left foot on the brake and slammed the gas. The engine roared like a beast unleashed. Three seconds—RPMs peaked. He lifted his left foot.
The cruiser rocketed forward.
Hearing the unnatural engine scream, Cora whipped around just as the patrol car blasted past her, a blur of black and white. She froze, then screamed after it, "What the hell are you doing?! Slow down—you want to die?!"
Hong Fei ignored her. A cop car was fast—but not that fast. The distance was barely over a hundred meters. Even with higher acceleration, it wouldn't have made much difference. Hong Fei wasn't about to kill himself crashing into those idiots. A twenty-four-year-old graduate, less than a week into his internship as a police officer, dying in a police car collision? That'd be the stupidest way to go.
It wasn't just Cora who heard the engine roar. The officers with their backs to Hong Fei turned, their initial relief at seeing the police car quickly turning to panic as it barreled straight toward them. Cora's ruthless! The sergeant had only made an offhand comment, and now she wanted to silence them for good?
By the time Hong Fei was halfway there, they scrambled into the bushes on the side. Luckily, the criminals across the way spotted the incoming car too. Unlike the cops, they didn't overthink it—they assumed it was enemy reinforcements and bolted into the distance.
Just as Hong Fei neared the black SUV, the police car fishtailed violently. Tires screeched against the pavement, the sound echoing under the quiet night sky. With a loud crash, the passenger side slammed into the SUV. The slower criminals were pinned beneath the overturned vehicle.
Hong Fei glanced in the rearview mirror. Two more men were fleeing into the darkness, guns in hand. He shifted gears, the tires spinning briefly before he reversed rapidly. The car's rear knocked one man down, then the vehicle swung sharply, sending the second man flying into the windshield.
He stopped the car, unbuckled his seatbelt, and drew his pistol, chambering a round. With his left hand, he flipped on the high-intensity flashlight. Hands crossed, he pushed the door open and stepped out.
The man on the windshield groaned, unarmed, blood foaming at his mouth. Hong Fei glanced at him and moved to the other side. The man knocked down by the rear lay unconscious, a pool of blood spreading from his forehead. Hong Fei stepped forward and kicked away the gun beside him.
A gunshot cracked through the air. Hong Fei looked up to see Cora shoot the man pinned under the SUV in the head. The rifle in his hand clattered to the ground. Hong Fei raised an eyebrow. Stealing my thunder? Cora met his gaze. His face twitched, and he deliberately frowned, looking away from the corpse.
Cora chuckled.
"Don't be scared, kid. You'll see plenty more dead people in the future."
Hong Fei nodded silently, thinking, I've killed more people than you can name. Cora approached, gun in both hands, and checked the two criminals. The man on the windshield had passed out by now. She signaled Hong Fei to help handcuff them both.
After searching them again to confirm they had no offensive weapons, she finally stood up and smiled.
"Very good. You did a great job. I didn't expect you to have such impressive driving skills. From now on, the driving duty is yours!"
Hong Fei nodded, then glanced to the side.
"They…" Cora's expression darkened.
"What 'they'? Where are they? I don't see anyone else."
"Cora! Over here!"
Sergeant Neil burst from the bushes first, grinning as he waved at her. The other four officers emerged behind him—limping, pale, but without serious bleeding. Cora gave them a sidelong glance.
"Not a single one of you managed to die, huh?"
The four patrolmen winced at her remark, all except Neil. The sergeant ignored Cora completely, his ample belly leading the way as he brushed past her murderous glare to examine the two surviving criminals.
"Good, they're both breathing. Get them to the hospital, then call for guards."
"Hold it!" Cora snapped.
"Sergeant, we caught these men."
Neil chuckled, slapping his meaty thigh.
"Damn right you did—fine work! Cora took down one, and Hong here bagged two live ones. Don't sweat it, rookies—this goes in your file. My word on it!"
He thumped his chest for emphasis, blissfully unaware he'd stepped in it again. Predictably, Cora exploded.
"Neil Wellington! Are you implying I'd steal credit from a rookie?!"
Neil blinked.
"Didn't say that."
"The hell you didn't!"
"If it came out wrong, my bad. But the kid earned this fair and square. Might even shorten his probation—you should be happy for him."
"I damn well know that!"
Cora's nostrils flared.
"But they're our arrests. We'll process them."
"No need to trouble yourself. This connects to our active—"
"Save it!"
She turned away sharply.
Neil sighed like a deflating balloon. "Cora... I am your superior."
"Really? You're Criminal Investigations. I'm Patrol. Since when do you outrank me?"
Hong Fei watched the spat with growing amusement until bony fingers tapped his shoulder. Officer Charles stood there leering, jerking his head toward a nearby bench in silent invitation. Hong followed the group's retreat.
Charles slung an arm around Hong's shoulders the moment they sat.
"Hey hotshot, you gotta teach me those moves sometime."
What, driving lessons? Hong nodded politely. A cigarette appeared in his peripheral vision. He took it between his lips, and Charles leaned in with a lighter.
"Meet Grey," Charles said through a cloud of smoke. "Our current wheelman. Been here six months longer than you."
That explained why Grey looked youngest—and why he hung back quietly. After lighting Hong's cigarette, Grey gave a shy smile and retreated.
Hong glimpsed Neil making up with Cora in the distance—full bear hug, dramatic kiss.
Hong Fei puffed on his cigarette, his eyes filled with confusion: Did I time-travel again just now?