Chapter 607 - 503: Who Is He?

Chapter 607: Chapter 503: Who Is He?

The water dragon receded, and the lake’s surface gradually returned to calm, leaving only the speedboat bobbing on the water.

"Huh? Liu Zhi, where’d the guy go?" someone in the cockpit asked.

As far as the eye could see, there was no sign of the suspect.

"Holy shit, don’t tell me the water cannon knocked him out," someone exclaimed.

It was a high-pressure water cannon, even more powerful than a fire department’s high-pressure hose. A direct hit could really knock a person unconscious.

The detachment’s accompanying political commissar glanced at Liu Likui and immediately told the helmsman to move closer and turn on the sonar.

This was a professional waterborne policing platform, integrating patrol, law enforcement, rescue, and command functions.

As such, the boat was equipped with radar and sonar.

Its relatively advanced multi-beam sonar could accurately distinguish between floating objects on the surface and targets underwater.

Just then, Liu Likui spoke, his tone casual. "Don’t worry. If he’s just knocked out, with Li Lake’s depth, he won’t die anytime soon."

Li Lake had an average depth of two meters, with its deepest point being no more than four.

At a depth of two meters, a man of the target’s 1.8-meter height could stick his arm up and have his hand break the surface.

Besides, even if he really is drowning, we can just pull him out.

"But what if he isn’t drowning and is trying to escape underwater?"

Liu Likui snorted. "He’s not a fish. He’ll have to surface."

This guy had attacked the police, taking down four of them at once. They’d had to open fire with the cannon as soon as they arrived. Liu Likui was intent on making him suffer a little.

Despite what was said, the Commissar still waved his hand, ordering the sonar to be turned on.

The boat’s side-scan and multi-beam sonars worked in tandem, quickly locating the target.

The sonar had been installed precisely for search and rescue of drowning victims.

"Holy shit, he’s actually diving," the sonar operator exclaimed.

According to the sonar, the target ahead was moving.

Clearly, he wasn’t knocked out and drowning; he had used the opportunity after falling into the water to try and escape by diving.

"Good."

Liu Likui’s eyes lit up, and he immediately gave an order. "Just follow him. Maintain a distance within the water cannon’s range."

The men exchanged glances, immediately changed course, and gave chase.

At the same time, another law enforcement boat on the perimeter was dispatched to secure the suspect’s speedboat.

The patrol boat turned and slowly followed the target.

"How’s he doing that? I haven’t seen him surface," someone said, curious.

Everyone in the cockpit was curious about that.

One blast from the water cannon had knocked the man off the speedboat, and he had vanished. Who would have thought that not only was he not unconscious, but he’d also used the chance to dive?

"This guy’s no ordinary person."

He hadn’t dived in willingly, he was blasted in. To stay that calm... he must be an incredible swimmer.

"Didn’t the police report say so? The guy took on four of our own by himself. Of course he’s not ordinary."

"That’s right. Look at him, he can fight and he’s a great swimmer. He’s practically a marine."

As the men chattered, the Commissar silently counted the time.

Three minutes underwater.

’His swimming ability really is something else.’

Just as he was thinking this, the sonar showed the target ascending.

But a quick scan of the water revealed no head.

He glanced at the sonar image again.

The multi-beam sonar could construct a three-dimensional underwater image, so it was clear that the target had indeed surfaced.

The Commissar immediately understood. The man was treading water carefully, likely with only his mouth and nose breaking the surface to breathe.

From dozens of meters away, amid the glittering waves, they hadn’t seen a thing.

"Impressive."

This time, even the Commissar couldn’t help but sigh in admiration.

With swimming skills like that, he really was something.

They watched as, after catching his breath, he immediately dove again and swam forward.

Liu Likui snorted, unconcerned. "It’s fine, let him swim. Li Lake is dozens of kilometers across. If he’s got the skill to swim to the other side, I’ll give him credit."

In any case, Liu Likui was determined to teach this guy a lesson.

At that moment, however, an order came from Zhao Hongjie.

The boat had a live video transmission system, allowing the enforcement footage to be sent back to the municipal command center in real-time.

Zhao Hongjie’s message was simple: wrap it up quickly. They were waiting to start the interrogation.

Since the order had come down, Liu Likui didn’t dare disobey. But after a moment’s thought, he gave another command: "Use the water cannon. Flush him out for me."

The men exchanged glances. The Commissar just shook his head.

Soon, the water dragon roared forth once more.

Guided by the sonar, they could pinpoint his underwater position.

And what was even better was that Li Lake was too shallow.

With the pressure of the water dragon blasting down, you could use it to dynamite fish.

The man with the shoehorn face swam stealthily underwater. He didn’t feel particularly lucky or think he had fooled the police.

He just prayed silently that Liu Likui and his men wouldn’t be too smart or too serious, that they’d leave him a sliver of a chance to survive.

Just as he was thinking this, he suddenly felt the surrounding water erupt into chaos.

It was like the river was being overturned. He flailed his arms and legs, but he couldn’t fight the current.

He immediately understood that Liu Likui had caught up.

In the midst of his struggle, he decisively gave up and quickly surfaced.

But as soon as his head broke the surface, a pillar of water slammed right into his face.

The blow nearly knocked the wind out of him. He instantly held his breath and waved his hands frantically.

’I surrender, can’t you see?’

With the water churning and the mist flying, how could Liu Likui possibly see?

He relentlessly blasted the area for nearly another minute before signaling to stop.

According to the sonar, the target seemed to be floating.

He really was floating.

As the water dragon subsided, the man was left drifting on the surface.

"Move in."

Liu Likui didn’t seem to care.

The police bulletin had said the suspect was extremely dangerous and not to be approached rashly upon discovery.

Knocking him out with the water cannon was the safest approach.

Before long, the man was dragged onto the boat.

He was a real cockroach. Before they could even get the handcuffs on him, he erupted in a violent coughing fit and came to.

He didn’t resist.

Even an iron man couldn’t withstand that kind of abuse.

He just weakly gave everyone a thumbs-up. ’You guys win. You’re more ruthless than I am!’

Liu Likui, however, saw the gesture as a provocation. With a cold wave of his hand, two officers immediately moved forward, pinned the man down, and put him in restraints.

「At the patrol dock.」

Zhang Hancheng and the others had already arrived.

Seeing the man with the shoehorn face being hauled off the boat, his eyes were practically shooting fire.

His subordinates had almost been wiped out. He was furious.

"Old Zhang, this is dangerous," Liu Likui said, handing him a bag.

It had been found on the speedboat.

He’d looked inside. There was a pistol and two fully loaded magazines.

At this point, Liu Likui couldn’t help but feel relieved that the man had chosen to escape by water.

If he’d gone by land, with his fighting ability and two full magazines, who knows what kind of serious consequences there might have been.

Zhang Hancheng took the bag and inspected it.

There were no spare clothes, but a small tent was stuffed inside.

Two bottles of water, a few compressed biscuits.

There were also some survival tools: a firestarter, a multi-tool knife, and so on.

Anyone who didn’t know better would think he was heading out for some wilderness survival.

Then there was the pistol.

Zhang Hancheng picked it up. It looked familiar at first glance, but he didn’t recognize it right away, only noting that the gun was quite compact.

Besides a spare magazine, the bag also contained a silencer.

"A Walther PPK."

Kuang Guorong, who was standing beside him, identified the pistol instantly. He turned to look at the shoehorn-faced man next to them and said, "You think you’re 007 or something?"

It was a classic handgun.

A major reason for its fame was that it had been 007’s standard-issue weapon in over twenty Bond films.

A flicker in his eyes, Zhang Hancheng searched every compartment of the bag.

He found no identification.

"Lao Liu, did you search him? Find a phone?" Zhang Hancheng asked.

’Didn’t see a phone.’

Liu Likui shook his head. "I’ve already sent someone to dive and search the area where he fell in, but I’m not sure if they’ll find it."

As soon as they had the man under control, Liu Likui had searched him.

In this day and age, a phone contains too much important information that could help identify him.

But he hadn’t found one.

Liu Likui figured the suspect had used the opportunity after falling in the water to ditch his phone, which was why he had arranged for someone to search for it.

Zhang Hancheng nodded. "Thanks for your hard work, Lao Liu. Do your best to find it."

With that, he waved a hand, signaling for the man to be taken away.

Zhang Hancheng gave a brief report to Zhao Hongjie. He didn’t head back to the precinct with the others, instead making a beeline for Tongquan Garden with Liu Baoqing.

Deputy Detachment Commander Du Yong was already at the scene.

The target lived in Tongquan Garden, Phase 1, Unit 27, Apartment 201.

When they arrived, a fire truck was still parked at the scene, which was cordoned off with police tape.

Zhang Hancheng’s heart sank as he was reminded of Li Siyu’s crime scene.

Before being taken away, Shen Xin had revealed that this man was Li Siyu’s killer.

Zhang Hancheng had been thinking about it. He remembered clearly that among all the targets they had investigated, there was definitely no man with a shoehorn face.

Now, seeing the same method of using arson to destroy evidence, he was starting to believe it.

"Old Du, how bad is the fire damage?"

Du Yong shook his head slightly. "After we learned he came to Tongquan Garden, we notified the nearby patrol cars."

"By the time they arrived, the fire had already started. They tried to put it out with fire extinguishers, but the suspect must have used an accelerant. The fire was too big; the extinguishers were useless."

"By the time the fire department got here, it had burned pretty badly. I took a look. Everything’s charred black. I doubt there’s anything useful left."

Thanks to Er Long, the response time for the entire manhunt was very fast.

They just hadn’t expected the suspect to be so prepared and to retreat so decisively.

The fire at the scene had already been extinguished.

With a heavy heart, Zhang Hancheng went upstairs to inspect the situation.

Just as Du Yong had said, the inside of the apartment was charred black from the thick smoke.

It was a three-bedroom apartment.

A quick glance showed it was sparsely furnished.

Du Yong pointed to a secondary bedroom. "That’s where it burned the worst."

The floor was covered in water, but Zhang Hancheng paid it no mind and walked straight in.

The south-facing master bedroom was also badly burned.

Neither of the secondary bedrooms had a bed, so it seemed no one slept in them.

One of the secondary bedrooms was an absolute mess.

There were two desks, a computer table, and next to it, a printer burned down to its frame.

In the middle of the room was a pile of burned items.

It was electronics. A nearby computer tower had been brutally smashed open, the motherboard inside shattered to pieces.

Hard drives, RAM sticks, and a large number of external hard drives, phones, and tablets were all piled together and had been set on fire.

At the same time, Zhang Hancheng noticed a sledgehammer nearby.

’He must have smashed them first, then burned them, trying to destroy them completely.’

There were also large numbers of folders and papers at the scene, now a soggy mess from the high-pressure fire hoses.

Zhang Hancheng could imagine it: after escaping from the park, the man had already planned his withdrawal.

He had rushed home, smashed all his electronic devices to smithereens, and gathered all his documents.

A whiteboard hanging on the wall still had marks from thumbtacks, but now it was completely bare.

He had piled all the documents together, doused them with an accelerant, and burned them to ashes.

"Old Zhang, what’s the deal with this guy? Who is he?" Du Yong asked in a low voice.

Zhang Hancheng didn’t answer, moving to the last bedroom.

This room seemed to be for storage. There were two floor-standing clothing racks and a desk covered with circuit boards and similar items.

It too had been burned to a blackened mess.

Zhang Hancheng picked up a yellow helmet from a corner. It was mostly melted from the intense heat, but he could tell it was yellow, likely the kind worn by food delivery drivers.

After a quick scan, Zhang Hancheng’s gaze fell on a handheld weed whacker leaning against the wall, and the same question surfaced in his mind.

’Just who is this man?’