A quack doctor goes to the battlefield; the first sharpshooter doctor in the Republic of China

Chapter 22 Interception at Xiaguan

Three days later, at 10:30 p.m., at Xiaguan Wharf.

The river breeze carried a fishy smell, causing the broken kerosene lamp at the entrance of the C-section warehouse to flicker. The warehouse's outer walls were dark, and several men in short jackets squatted in the shadows smoking, their cigarette butts glowing intermittently.

Suddenly, a commotion broke out at Pier 3 in the distance. Someone shouted, "Fire!" followed by more shouts, curses, and running sounds. The men at the entrance of Warehouse C exchanged glances, and the leader stood up and looked in that direction.

"What happened?"

"I don't know, shall we go and take a look?"

"No, Sister Yun said we have to stay here and not go anywhere."

"But over there..."

As they were talking, two black sedans silently slid into the shadows beside the warehouse. The doors opened, and Li Ranmo and Shen Qiushui jumped out. Li Ranmo was wearing the gray uniform of the inspection team, his hat pulled low. Shen Qiushui was also dressed in men's clothing, with some smeared ash on her face.

Han Xiuyun leaned out from the driver's seat of the first car and whispered, "Ah Bing and his men set fire to Pier No. 3. Most of the inspection team has gone there. There are less than ten left here, and I don't know about the warehouse. You guys hurry."

Li Ran nodded, took out the pass that Shen Qiushui had forged from his pocket, and walked towards the main entrance of the warehouse. Shen Qiushui followed half a step behind him.

The man leading the group at the entrance stopped them: "What are you doing here?"

Li Ranmo handed over the pass, his voice low and deep: "The Inspection Section of the Department of Health, Section Chief Wang, has sent me to inspect the goods."

The man took the pass, glanced at it in the light of the kerosene lamp, and then looked up at Li Ranmo. The pass was stamped with a red seal, so it seemed to be in order.

"Section Chief Wang didn't say anything about inspecting the goods," the man said.

"It was added at the last minute." Li Ranmo's tone was firm. "If it causes delays, will you take responsibility?"

The man hesitated. Just then, the warehouse iron door opened a crack from the inside, and a head popped out. It was a thin man wearing glasses, speaking with a slight Jiangzhe accent: "What's all the noise about? The goods are arriving soon, don't cause any trouble."

Li Ranmo's heart skipped a beat. This accent wasn't Chinese.

He stepped forward and shoved the pass into the skinny man's hand: "Inspect the goods, open the door."

The skinny man took the pass, adjusted his glasses, and examined it closely. After a few seconds, he looked up, his eyes turning cold: "This pass..."

Before he could finish speaking, a short whistle sounded from the distant river.

The skinny man's expression changed: "The goods have arrived. You wait here, I'll have someone bring them in to inspect them."

"No need," Li Ranmo said. "We'll go inside and watch them move it."

He reached out to push the door open.

The skinny man suddenly stepped back and shouted sharply, "Stop them!"

The men at the door were stunned for a moment, but they immediately reacted and pounced on Li Ranmo.

Li Ranmo moved even faster. He dodged the first man's punch by turning to the side, and with his right hand, he pulled out the Colt from his lower back and raised the muzzle.

boom!

The gunshots were especially deafening on the dock at night. A burst of blood erupted from the man's chest, and he fell straight backward.

The other men were terrified.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Shen Qiushui pulled out a small tin can from her bosom, unzipped it, and threw it on the ground.

laugh--!

Thick white smoke billowed out instantly, completely obscuring the warehouse entrance.

"Ahem!"

"My eyes! I can't see!"

In the chaos, Li Ranmo kicked open the warehouse's iron door and rushed inside. Shen Qiushui followed closely behind him.

The warehouse was piled with wooden crates, and a few kerosene lamps were lit against the wall. Three men in black suits were gathered around a newly moved-in metal crate. Hearing the gunshot and the commotion, they all turned around and reached into their pockets.

Li Ranmo recognized him at a glance; the thin man with glasses was standing next to the cargo box, and he now had a Type 14 Nambu pistol in his hand.

Japanese.

There was no time to hesitate. Li Ranmo raised his hand and fired two shots.

boom!boom!

The two men in black suits had just pulled out their guns when they were shot in the forehead and fell backward.

Just as the third man in the black suit was about to fire, Shen Qiushui suddenly appeared from behind Li Ranmo, holding a small Browning pistol that appeared out of nowhere. She shot him in the wrist.

The man screamed and dropped his gun.

The skinny man's face turned ashen. He raised his gun, aimed it at Li Ranmo, and his finger was on the trigger. He mumbled a string of Japanese.

Li Ranmo couldn't understand what he was saying, but he could see the ruthlessness in the man's eyes. He lowered the muzzle of his gun slightly and pulled the trigger before the skinny man could fire.

The bullet hit the skinny man in the knee.

The skinny man screamed and fell to his knees, dropping the gun from his hand.

Li Ranmo rushed over, kicked the gun away, then crouched down and pressed the gun against the skinny man's temple: "The key."

The skinny man was sweating profusely from the pain, gritting his teeth and remaining silent.

Without saying a word, Li Ran lowered the gun and aimed it at his other intact knee.

"key."

The skinny man shuddered and pulled a small set of keys from his pocket with trembling hands.

Li Ranmo took the keys and tossed them to Shen Qiushui: "Open the box!"

Shen Qiushui took the key and ran to the metal cargo box. A brass lock hung on the box. She tried two keys, then inserted the third and turned it.

Click.

The lock is open.

She lifted the lid of the box. Inside was a thick layer of hay, and beneath the hay, ten glass ampoules were neatly stacked, each containing a murky liquid. Next to the ampoules was an oil paper package.

Shen Qiushui picked up the oil paper package and quickly opened it. Inside were several documents written in Japanese, but with many annotations in Chinese characters. She glanced at them, and her expression changed.

"Li Ranmo!" she shouted, "It's the list! And the experimental data! Wang Qingnian's signature!"

Li Ranmo's heart sank. He turned to the skinny man and asked, "What are you planning to do with this?"

The skinny man gasped in pain, but grinned and said in broken Chinese, "You...you're finished. Wang Sang's men will be here soon."

No sooner had he finished speaking than a series of chaotic footsteps and shouts came from outside the warehouse.

"Surround the warehouse!"

"Not a single one may escape!"

Wang Qingnian's voice roared from outside: "Li Ranmo! I know you're in there! Hand over the stuff, and I'll leave you with a whole corpse!"

Li Ranmo stood up and said to Shen Qiushui, "Close the lid on the box, pick it up, and let's rush out."

Shen Qiushui nodded, quickly stuffed the documents back into her arms, closed the lid, and grabbed the handles on both sides of the box. The box was heavy, but she gritted her teeth and lifted it up.

Li Ranmo walked to the warehouse door and looked out through the crack in the door.

At least twenty inspectors surrounded the warehouse in a semi-circle, all carrying guns. Wang Qingnian stood at the back of the crowd, his face ashen.

"Li Ranmo!" Wang Qingnian shouted again, "You think you can run? The docks are full of my men! Those arsonists like Han Xiuyun have already been pinned down!"

Li Ranmo ignored him. He glanced back at the side of the warehouse, where there was a small window, the glass of which was long since shattered.

He winked at Shen Qiushui and pointed to the air vent.

Shen Qiushui understood and moved the suitcase over there.

Li Ranmo took a deep breath, then suddenly kicked open the warehouse iron door. Instead of going out, he hid behind the door and fired three shots outwards.

boom! boom! boom!

The three inspectors fell to the ground immediately.

Chaos erupted outside.

"Fire! Fire!"

Bullets rained down on the iron gate and frame, sparks flying everywhere.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Li Ranmo slipped out from behind the door, rolled behind a pile of wooden crates, and fired two more shots. Another inspector screamed and fell to the ground.

His marksmanship was impeccable; he almost never missed a shot. The inspection team was kept in check and dared not show their faces.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Shen Qiushui rushed to the air vent, pushed the cargo box out first, and then used her hands to push herself up and flipped over.

Li Ranmo breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Shen Qiushui leave. He changed his magazine, leaned out from behind the wooden crate, and was about to fire a few more shots to cover his retreat when his left arm suddenly went numb.

He looked down and saw that blood was seeping from his sleeve.

I've been shot.

He gritted his teeth, held the gun in his right hand, fired two more shots outwards, and then turned and rushed toward the air vent.

Bullets were chasing him from behind, hitting the concrete ground with a series of thuds.

He rushed to the air vent, braced his right hand on the windowsill, and jumped with all his might.

The moment she climbed over the wall, before her feet even touched the ground, she saw Shen Qiushui being cornered against a wall by three inspection team members in the alley outside. A cargo box lay at her feet.

An inspector pointed his gun at her.

Without a second thought, Li Ran raised his right hand and pulled the trigger while still in mid-air.

boom!

The inspector was shot in the back of the head and fell to the ground.

The other two were startled and turned around to look.

Li Ran landed silently, rolled over, and knelt on one knee, his right hand steadily holding the gun.

boom!boom!

Two shots fired, leaving both inspectors with bruises on their foreheads.

Shen Qiushui rushed over and supported him: "You've been shot!"

"It's alright." Li Ranmo gritted his teeth and stood up, his left arm hanging limply, blood dripping down. "Take the suitcase, let's go!"

Shen Qiushui picked up the crate, took Li Ranmo's hand with her other hand, and ran into the depths of the alley.

From behind came Wang Qingnian's furious roar: "Chase them! Chase them! Kill them!"

More footsteps followed.

Just as they were about to be caught, seven or eight men suddenly rushed out from the front of the alley, all carrying axes and machetes. The leader was Ah Bing.

"Dr. Li! Over here!" Ah Bing shouted.

They made way for Li Ranmo and Shen Qiushui, then immediately blocked the alley entrance and clashed with the pursuing inspection team.

Shouts of battle and screams of agony mingled together.

Ah Bing led his men to cover their retreat, and Li Ranmo and Shen Qiushui finally reached an abandoned barge on the riverbank. Han Xiuyun was already waiting there, with two other people standing beside her.

"Get in!" Han Xiuyun opened the passenger door of an old truck.

Li Ranmo and Shen Qiushui climbed onto the back of the truck. The truck bed was piled with sacks, just enough to hide people in.

Han Xiuyun jumped into the driver's seat and started the truck. The truck chugged and sputtered as it drove into the dark streets outside the dock.

In the back compartment, Li Ranmo sat down against the sack, his face a little pale. Shen Qiushui tore off a piece of her sleeve and forcefully tied it above the wound on his left arm to stop the bleeding.

"The box..." Li Ranmo said.

Shen Qiushui dragged the cargo box over, opened it, took out the oil paper package, and then looked at the glass bottles.

"The document has Wang Qingnian's signature, agreeing to receive and store this batch of 'special reagents.' The label on the bottle..." She leaned closer to look, her voice tightening, "It says 'Typhoid Bacterium, modified strain, type B-7.'"

Li Ranmo closed his eyes and took a breath.

really.

"And also," Shen Qiushui flipped through the documents, "the last few pages are the transportation route, coming from the Northeast, passing through Tianjin, Jinan... the Department of Health approved it all the way, all with approval slips from Wang Qingnian."

"The evidence is complete." Li Ranmo opened his eyes, his gaze cold. "Wang Qingnian is dead."

The truck lurched and then stopped.

Han Xiuyun jumped out of the car and pulled open the back panel: "We can't go any further, there's a checkpoint ahead. You'll have to walk to the next point."

She glanced at Li Ranmo's arm: "How badly is it injured?"

"I won't die," Li Ranmo said.

Han Xiuyun pulled a small cloth bag from her bosom and handed it to Shen Qiushui: "Inside are sulfanilamide powder and clean gauze. Treat him quickly. Ah Bing and the others won't last long; Wang Qingnian will launch a city-wide manhunt soon. You two need to hide well."

She paused, looking at the cargo box: "This thing..."

"We're taking this away," Li Ranmo said. "This is irrefutable evidence to bring down Wang Qingnian."

Han Xiuyun nodded: "Okay. Be careful."

After she finished speaking, she turned around, jumped onto the truck, and drove away.

Shen Qiushui helped Li Ranmo, carrying the heavy cargo box, and they went into a narrower, darker alley next to them.

In the distance, from the direction of the dock, one could still faintly hear sporadic gunshots and shouts.

The night breeze carried the scent of the river and a hint of blood.

Li Ranmo's left arm was in great pain, but he didn't stop walking.

The contents of the cargo box felt like a red-hot iron, burning into his heart.

Wang Qingnian must be furious right now.

Starting tonight, this covert battle has officially come to an open.