Accidental Hero: The Rookie Who Outshines the Force - Chapter 81

It was just past two in the morning.

Thirty miles outside Xinguang Village, in the wilderness.

Five or six off-road police vehicles flashed red and blue lights, parked in a muddy field.

Lu Cheng had stripped off his filthy, mud-caked clothes and changed into a clean set.

Fan Wanqing held a bottle of water and personally helped him wash his face.

The mud and the disguise that had made him resemble Zhu Yaojie’s cousin were rinsed away, revealing his fair, handsome features.

Not a single officer in the Economic Investigation Unit spoke; all eyes kept flicking toward Lu Cheng.

Lu Cheng and the Fujian criminal, Ma Kuixiang, were both coated in mud as if they’d been through a fierce, life-or-death brawl.

Thrown punches and kicks in muddy water, both exhausted—but ultimately, justice had won.

If it had been that cinematic, the scene could have been included in any police-action film textbook.

But observing the two now, reality told a different story.

Lu Cheng bore no injuries at all—just a trace of fatigue.

Ma Kuixiang, on the other hand, was a mess. When lifted, his face was a patchwork of red and black.

Red was blood; black was mud.

His right ribs were fractured, and bruises covered his body.

This wasn’t a fair fight—it was pure punishment.

Wait—Ma Kuixiang had a gun! How could he end up like this?

This “thief-catching talent” was unreal.

Even the SWAT officers occasionally glanced at Lu Cheng, their eyes blazing with admiration. His determination, skill, and intelligence made him a natural for SWAT.

And yet, he was just a trainee at the local police station? What a waste!

The trunk of an SUV opened, and Lu Cheng climbed in, munching on a meat floss bun in one hand and holding a bottle of water in the other, enjoying it like a casual snack.

He’d been chasing Ma Kuixiang for nearly two hours—first the car, then on foot, battling wits and endurance in the pouring rain.

The criminal had a gun, or Lu Cheng would have taken him down with a few precise moves long ago.

Throwing stones, hurling clumps of mud—it was more exhausting than moving bricks at a construction site.

Now, as he replenished his energy, no one dared disturb him.

Fan Wanqing looked at him, torn between worry and amazement.

She had never seen such fearless young officers. If all officers in Jianghai were like him, the city’s crime rate might drop by thirty percent.

An officer grabbed a bottle of water and splashed it onto Ma Kuixiang’s face.

The icy shock revived a bit of energy, though the pain from his beaten body was overwhelming.

Vision clearing, he finally saw Lu Cheng, sitting on the vehicle, munching on a bun.

It was him.

Damn it!

He was even eating a bun, wearing clean clothes—while he was soaked, freezing, exhausted, and wracked with pain.

If Lu Cheng hadn’t risked everything chasing him, he’d have escaped long ago.

Thinking of the stones hurled at him, his anger surged; his face contorted into a snarl, and a torrent of curses flew at Lu Cheng.

It was as if Lu Cheng had desecrated his family grave.

The surrounding officers’ attempts to calm him were futile; Ma Kuixiang kept swearing—for five straight minutes without repeating himself—until finally, he grew tired.

Lu Cheng calmly finished his bun, his expression serene and composed.

Understandably, anyone would be enraged: armed with a gun, yet flattened by stones hurled by a “madman.”

The desperation and terror of that stormy night could only be truly understood by Ma Kuixiang. His darkest hour, by far.

Had he known it would end like this, he might have surrendered to the other officers willingly.

His throat hoarse from swearing, his mouth full of mud and rot, he finally broke down and cried.

Heart-wrenching sobs echoed across the field, leaving the officers and SWAT stunned. From venomous curses to complete collapse in minutes—what was going on?

An officer finally handed him water, letting him rinse the mud from his mouth before drinking deeply.

Not long after, the ambulance arrived.

Fan Wanqing had feared the worst: that Lu Cheng might have been shot. The ambulance had been called for him.

Lu Cheng was fine—but Ma Kuixiang needed treatment.

The ambulance, led by SWAT in an off-road vehicle, navigated the treacherous terrain.

Doctors and nurses, prioritizing life-saving, stepped directly into the mud without care for their shoes.

Seeing Ma Kuixiang’s bloodied forehead, they braced themselves—had a gunfight really occurred here?

Upon examining him, they found no gunshot wounds—only external injuries and a fractured right rib.

“Your injuries… from falling?” the doctor asked, puzzled. It didn’t look like punch marks, more like repeated impacts against rocks.

“Fall my ass! That cop pelted me with stones! And wood! And mud!” Ma Kuixiang shouted, enraged. “He wanted to kill me!!”

Suddenly, everyone understood—Lu Cheng had used whatever he could find on hand to take down a gun-wielding criminal.

A rock here, a mud clump there, even a piece of wood—improvised weapons against a firearm.

Fan Wanqing knew Lu Cheng had a knack for resourceful tactics: fake guns, cable ties instead of handcuffs… now rocks.

Ma Kuixiang demanded charges of intentional harm against Lu Cheng.

The surrounding officers snorted. With a gun in hand, if Lu Cheng had one too, Ma Kuixiang wouldn’t just be flattened by stones—he’d be shot.

Intentional harm? The real offenses: emptied magazine, assaulting an officer, illegal possession of firearms, obstruction of duty… he owed Lu Cheng a lot more than that.

Fan Wanqing insisted Lu Cheng also ride in the ambulance for a full checkup.

“Captain Fan, I’m fine,” Lu Cheng shrugged. All he wanted was a shower and a good night’s sleep.

“Checkups first, then we’ll talk about injuries,” she replied, pushing him in.

Inside, Ma Kuixiang lay handcuffed on the stretcher. Emergency staff bandaged his forehead; other vitals were stable—no further treatment needed.

When Lu Cheng got on, Officer Xiao Wu asked Ma Kuixiang to give up the stretcher, letting Lu Cheng lie down instead.

Ma Kuixiang glared. “The injuries are mine, okay?”

“Officer Lu’s issue is emotional instability, caused by your swearing earlier.”

“If you keep complaining, no ambulance for you—you’ll ride in the police car.”

Ma Kuixiang nearly spat blood from anger. Not treated like a human!

Lu Cheng, meanwhile, merely sat, pulling out his phone—dead battery, unsurprisingly.

Ma Kuixiang fumed silently: You’re sitting comfortably while I’m dying of pain, and you have no sympathy…

The emergency doctor said nothing. Despite Ma Kuixiang’s severe injuries, he was a criminal—no need for pity.