Chapter 285 Merry Christmas
There were about five or six people sitting in the carriage, both men and women, with different skin colors, but all of them had the calm temperament honed on the edge of a knife.
Xia Lili recognized at a glance that at least three of them were plainclothes detectives from the Los Angeles Police Department.
"Wow!" A female detective with dreadlocks whistled. "Mr. Li, is this your secret weapon?"
She looked Xia Lili up and down, her eyes full of amazement.
Others also cast kind glances at him.
A bearded Latino agent gave a thumbs-up. "Miss, the clues you provided helped us locate the Black Gold Labyrinth's lair. Well done!"
"Bravo!" the blond man in the back row exclaimed in French-accented English. "Brave and smart!"
Xia Lili's ears flushed with praise, and she smiled at them friendly. Then Li Qihan pushed her shoulders and sat her down in the soft seat by the window.
The small table in front of me was filled with Christmas candy.
Candy canes, chocolate coins, gingerbread men, and even a steaming cup of cocoa.
"Drink something hot." Li Qihan stuffed the cup of hot cocoa into her hands. "The mission was completed beautifully."
The sweet aroma of hot cocoa in the cup mixed with the warmth in the car finally relaxed Xia Lili's tense nerves a little.
Xia Lili held the hot cocoa in both hands, and the warm touch came through the wall of the cup.
She looked up at Li Qihan and asked, "Are these the action team for tonight?"
Li Qihan nodded slightly, his fingers tapping the armrest of his chair. "This is Special Operations Group A. I'm accompanying you as an observer, working with my old partner, Detective Evans, to carry out the operation."
He paused, lowering his voice a bit. "According to Interpol regulations, foreign observers can only provide intelligence support and cannot directly participate in arrests."
The light inside the car cast shadows of varying depths on Li Qihan's angular profile. "We've lured Detective Marty away from home,"
The corners of his mouth curled up in a cold arc, "The other case prepared for him tonight is a trap to reveal his flaws."
"When does the action start?" Xia Lili unconsciously clenched the cup.
"Now." Li Qihan checked his equipment quickly, the metal parts making a crisp clanging sound. "Uncle Lin has already reported on how you subdued Karl."
"We must control that little boss before they notice anything unusual."
As soon as he finished speaking, the atmosphere in the car suddenly became tense.
The agents behind him began the final check in tacit understanding.
The sound of the buckles of bulletproof vests, the sliding of magazines, and the electrical noise of communication equipment intertwined into a tense prelude to war in the confined space.
Xia Lili's eyes slowly swept over every member of the action team. The moment her eyes met with a middle-aged police officer with a thick beard, her pupils suddenly constricted.
Premonitions flooded back: in the dim bar lounge, the officer was chasing the fugitive.
Just when he was about to catch the other person, a dark shadow flashed out from the side, swung a baseball bat and hit him hard on the back of the head.
The police officer fell to the ground with a thud, and the retro clock on the wall showed 2:49.
The last scene was frozen on the hospital bed, his entire head was wrapped in bloody bandages, and the monitor was emitting a shrill alarm.
"Captain Li." Xia Lili grabbed Li Qihan's sleeve and spoke quickly, lowering her voice. "That bearded officer... I saw him in the bar lounge at 2:49 AM. He was attacked in the back of the head with a baseball bat by one of the fugitive's accomplices. He was seriously injured."
Li Qihan's eyes instantly became as sharp as a knife.
He calmly glanced at the officer who was checking his equipment and nodded slightly. "The time, place, and method of attack are very specific... I will make sure he avoids this deadly ambush."
But soon, when Xia Lili looked into the eyes of a young Asian boy, she began to hallucinate again.
Xia Lili was secretly shocked. This arrest operation was extremely thrilling and the casualties were far beyond expectations.
In her foreseen scene, a young police officer was fighting in close combat with a thin gangster, but unexpectedly the gangster suddenly pulled out a slender conical weapon from his boot.
A flash of cold light pierced directly into the gap between the police officer's ribs.
The young police officer fell to the ground on the spot, his uniform quickly soaked with blood, and he was never able to stand up again.
She hurriedly told Li Qihan about this new foresight, her tone filled with anxiety: "There are two dangerous points now. How can you take care of them all by yourself?"
Li Qihan frowned, tapping his slender fingers lightly on the armrest of the chair. "It's too risky to issue a direct warning... After all, they are not our people."
A sly glint flashed in Xia Lili's eyes: "How about...trying Eastern metaphysics?"
Li Qihan raised his eyebrows: "...would you like to try?"
"The one with the beard is Detective Evans, and the Asian guy is Officer Modi, right?"
After Xia Lili confirmed the identities of the two, she straightened her clothes and suddenly walked towards Evans with an unfathomable expression.
She straightened her clothes, suddenly putting on a mysterious expression, and said to Detective Evans, "Officer, I'm proficient in Eastern divination. Before you leave, could you let me tell your fortune?"
Detective Evans raised his bushy eyebrows, a look of interest on his face. "Eastern divination? Interesting. Go ahead."
After getting permission, Xia Lili quickly formed seals with her hands in front of her chest, her ten fingers fluttering like butterflies, making a complicated hand gesture. This was something she had learned casually to scare people in the previous illegal racing case, and she didn't expect that she could still make use of it now.
She seemed particularly mysterious as she chanted the incantations.
The surrounding police officers gathered around involuntarily, watching the display of this oriental secret technique with curiosity.
"Officer Evans." Xia Lili suddenly opened her eyes and spoke in a deep, powerful voice, "The hexagram indicates that evil energy is gathering between your brows. There may be a bloody disaster at midnight tonight."
Evans was shocked by this sudden display of oriental secret arts and unconsciously took a step back.
"Pay special attention between 2:48 and 2:49 in the morning." Xia Lili tapped his brow with her finger. "When you're chasing a fugitive in a narrow passage, remember the saying 'the mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind.' Eastern physiognomy indicates that danger will arise from a blind spot in your field of vision."
Detective Evans seemed to understand, his gray-blue eyes flickering with hesitation and curiosity. "Interesting... I'll keep this warning in mind."
Li Qihan stepped forward at the right moment, a faint smile on his lips. "This Miss Xia is well-known among us as a 'lucky koi'. Nine out of ten times, her predictions will come true."
"Oh?" Evans raised an eyebrow and looked at Li Qihan. "I didn't expect that the decisive Captain Li also believed this?"
Li Qihan shook his head. "I never believed in divination." He paused, his eyes fixed on Xia Lili. "It's what Miss Xia said."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com