"Heh, what do you know? Talk about a rude awakening!"
After the sneer, he waved a dismissive hand. "Let’s go. Why should we care if those troublemakers live or die?"
"Ever since we started being dogs for our Japanese masters, we’ve been living the good life. We’re much better off than those mud-legs outside!"
The other patrol officers immediately bowed and scraped, nodding their heads like chickens pecking at grain. "Yes, yes! The Captain is right!"
"We only get to eat well by following you, Captain, and our Japanese masters! Those mud-legs outside deserve to starve to death!"
And so, the group continued swaggering down the street.
Just then, a sleazy-looking, sharp-eyed man among the officers suddenly pointed at a nearby group of rickshaw pullers and shrieked, "Hey, wait a minute!"
He squinted, his eyes fixed on one man in the group of pullers.
"Damn it, how come I’ve never seen you before? Who gave you permission to pull a rickshaw here?"
Hearing the commotion, Captain Pan and the other patrol officers also stopped in their tracks.
Just like that, the dozen or so patrol officers surrounded the small group of rickshaw pullers.
Seeing that Captain Pan hadn’t said anything, the sleazy man seized the opportunity to show off, striking while the iron was hot.
He took a step forward, pointed at the rickshaw puller in the middle, and said haughtily, "Don’t you know our captain has laid down the rules on this street?"
"Anyone who wants to pull a rickshaw here has to pay the vehicle tax!"
The moment he finished speaking, the other rickshaw pullers, who had been huddled together, saw that these devils weren’t after them and instantly scattered.
Only the man who had been singled out was left standing alone. As it happened, he was none other than Wen San, the same man who had once given Lu Yun a ride.
Upon seeing the vicious patrol officers, Wen San’s face instantly turned pale, and his legs couldn’t help but tremble.
He quickly forced a terrified smile onto his face, then began to speak, bowing and scraping.
"O-Officers... sirs... I just dropped someone off. I’ll be leaving right away! Right away!"
The sleazy man flew into a rage out of humiliation. "Well, well! You dare talk back!" he cursed.
He threw a kick, which landed squarely in Wen San’s stomach!
Wen San was sent flying backward, crashing into the rickshaw behind him. The rickshaw toppled over, taking him down with it!
"OOF!" Wen San curled up on the ground, clutching his stomach, his forehead beaded with sweat from the pain.
Seeing this, the other officers started jeering. "Whoa! Huang Jibiao, you’ve gotten stronger lately, kid!"
"Yeah! That was a beautiful kick!"
"Give him another! Give him another!"
Huang Jibiao tilted his head back smugly. "Of course! I spend all day beating on those troublemakers in the cells. How could I not get stronger?"
Captain Pan walked over and looked down at the curled-up Wen San with a sinister gaze.
"The vehicle tax is ten ocean dollars. If you can’t pay up, you’re coming with us."
’Ten ocean dollars? I couldn’t earn that much in two months!’ Wen San was in too much shock to even feel the pain.
’These bastards are clearly taking advantage of me because I’m from outside the concession. There’s no way the tax is this high.’
Wen San wasn’t wrong. Captain Pan had seen that he was from outside the concession, which was why he was making such an outrageous demand.
Captain Pan had been running rampant in the concession for over a decade. He knew that no one was better at sucking the marrow from the bones of the powerless common folk than collaborators like them.
Suddenly, a roar echoed from the end of the street. A long line of more than a dozen military trucks came speeding from the distance, followed by a thousand soldiers marching with an overwhelming momentum!
The dozen or so patrol officers, who had been laughing wildly, all turned their heads at the sound. Their smiles instantly froze on their faces.
It was the Yun Port City garrison in their light green uniforms. ’How dare they enter the Wa Country Concession?’
This place was nominally Wa Country territory. Any entry by Daxia troops would be seen as a violation of Wa Country’s sovereignty, an act that meant provoking a war.
At that moment, one of the patrol officers, long accustomed to his arrogance, had probably been a dog for so long that he’d forgotten his own name.
Or perhaps he was so used to lording it over others that he failed to grasp the current situation.
With his hands on his hips and his belly puffed out, he was the first to step forward and block the way. He pointed at the lead military truck and bellowed, "Halt! This is the Wa Country Concession! The Daxia army is forbidden to enter!"
"Get the hell out of here right now! Otherwise, on the orders of our Japanese masters, I’ll have you useless trash executed!"
In the eyes of these patrol officers, the foreigners came first, followed by collaborators like them. The people from outside the concession were at the very bottom.
This hierarchy hadn’t changed in thirty years. It was true in the past, and it should be true now.
Unfortunately for him, he didn’t know that today was different. From the passenger seat of the first military truck, Lu Jingjun leaned out, looking at the still-shouting patrol officer. For the first time, he was so angry he laughed.
"Very spirited. As a reward, you can eat some bullets. Remember to say thank you!"
Before the patrol officers could react, he raised his pistol in one clean, unhesitating motion.
A bullet immediately struck the shouting officer between the eyes, and he fell backward, stiff as a board!
Immediately after, the soldiers behind him raised their rifles in unison, a sea of black muzzles aimed at the remaining dozen patrol officers!
The next moment, a dense volley of gunfire erupted like a torrential downpour. After a few short screams, the dozen or so patrol officers were riddled with holes!
Fortunately, Wen San had stayed on the ground. The moment he heard the gunshots, he buried his face in the dirt, wrapped his hands around his head, and curled into a tight ball.
He moved so fast it was as if the ground had been greased, wishing he could cram himself into a crack in the earth.
When the gunfire stopped and Wen San realized he was still alive, he gasped for breath, his heart pounding as if it were about to burst from his chest.

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