Chapter 54: Two-Time Champion, Rookie Fish in a Small Pond

When a professional hitman’s cover is blown, the best option is to flee overseas, wait for the police to drop the investigation, and then return to Hong Kong under a new identity.

As long as he remained on Hong Kong Island, his trail would be tracked down sooner or later.

This time, the Intelligence Unit acted swiftly. Within just two days, the paparazzi traced the address and sent the information back.

At noon, Cheung Kam-wing put down the clue file, popped open a bottle cap, took a sip of liquor, and said with a wary expression, "Boss, the target is hiding on a fish raft at the Sai Kung seafood breeding farm."

"Fresh photos taken by the paparazzi."

Lam Tin-shang picked up the photos, glanced at them, and sneered, "He still has the mood to go fishing? Waiting for me to take the bait?"

"Are we going in or not?" Cheung Kam-wing asked.

Lam Tin-shang wore a solemn expression. "This case is dumped right on our heads. If we don't take it down, it'll hold us back for over a decade, and getting promoted will be out of the question."

"File the report, draw the gear, and go meet this 'King of Killers'."

"Yes, sir!" Ma Tak-lung sprang to his feet, snapped a crisp salute, and bolted toward the armory.

You can be on guard against thieves for a thousand days, but you can't be on guard against them for a thousand days.

Assuming the Tang family was cooperating with East Kowloon to set a trap, he had to attend this "Hongmen Banquet" if he wanted to climb the ranks. Unfortunately, his rank was too low to mobilize the Tactical Unit for a full encirclement.

The case was still under investigation, and given his status as a probationary inspector, the most he could do was lead a single team out. Any larger headcount would not only alert the enemy but also require official paperwork.

However, he had already submitted an advance request to second Oieu Sergeant Chan On-kwok. With a single phone call, five minutes later, Chan On-kwok walked into the Major Crimes Unit wearing a white shirt, a service pistol holstered at his waist, and a cigarette dangling from his lips. He nodded and said, "Boss."

Lam Tin-shang handed the photos over and said, "Ah-kwok, take a look at the face. It's the King of Killers."

"Puff."

Chan On-kwok exhaled a cloud of smoke, picked up the photos, held them up against the sunlight, and squinted. "Yiu Fei-yu, former Mong Kok district detective, champion of the police force's eighth annual shooting competition."

"An old acquaintance?"

Lam Tin-shang raised an eyebrow, surprised. Ma Tak-lung stood nearby holding the report, eavesdropping. Chan On-kwok replied, "My senior at the police academy. We used to shoot together back in the day."

Ko Tsz-chung asked in amazement, "Chan Sir, he's wearing a hat and his face isn't even fully visible, yet you can still recognize him?"

There was no facial recognition technology in this era. Chan On-kwok glanced at him and warned, "Every photo shows him wearing a hat with his face obscured—he's intentionally exposing just enough for the paparazzi to snap."

"The location is a fish raft? The terrain is bouncy, complex, and easy to escape from. An exchange of gunfire there will seriously test shooting skills. Plus, there are local fishermen and boat dwellers around, so heavy firepower is out of the question. I suggest you wear an extra layer of body armor."

Lam Tin-shang patted his shoulder, smiled, and said, "Go to the armory to draw your gear, and head over to Sai Kung to have a chat with Yiu Sir. The King of Killers, huh? I've got Oieu's King of Killers right here with me. Let's see if the champion of the eighth competition is sharper, or if the ninth champion packs more punch."

When two champions meet, whether one becomes a rookie eating lead or the other claims the championship trophy comes down to a single bullet.

Chan On-kwok shrugged his shoulders indifferently. "Looks like Yiu Sir has been rather tight on cash since leaving the force."

As Hong Kong was a strict gun-control jurisdiction, famous professional assassins were almost invariably former police officers or ex-military.

The sharp-shooter and the King of Killers turning out to be martial brothers—truth be told, it was the tragedy of an era.

Still, for a man who only knew how to handle guns his entire life, playing with guns forever was only natural.

In front of the armory, Lam Tin-shang's entire team geared up, each strapping on a vest of body armor. Though their sidearms were merely .38 specials, they also checked out two ballistic shields, two M16 rifles, one submachine gun, and one Remington shotgun, along with a supply of smoke grenades and flashbangs.

The heavily armed team strode down the corridor, running right into D Team's Inspector Kong Chi-kai. Kong Chi-kai was holding a brick-sized mobile phone, standing by the window. He turned back and smiled, "Lam Sir, handling another big case?"

"Yeah."

Lam Tin-shang gave a perfunctory reply. He was in a rush and had no time for idle chatter.

Kong Chi-kai watched them recede into the distance, turned back to his phone, and lowered his voice, "They're on their way."

...

Sai Kung, Seafood Breeding Zone.

Three unmarked police vehicles pulled up alongside a narrow road. Eight heavily armed major crimes detectives stepped out, their badges displayed prominently, exuding an imposing aura. Tam Ka-ming, the paparazzi contact, was there to meet them. Eyeing the body armor on the eight officers, he pulled out a layout map of the breeding farm and drew a circle around a section: "Lam Sir, the target is right here. He's been fishing the whole day."

Seeing that the circle was drawn at the very end of the fish raft, Chan On-kwok couldn't help but frown. "Is this blueprint accurate?"

Tam Ka-ming shook his head. "It's a five-year-old layout. People build illegal structures everywhere every year. The actual fish raft zone is much larger than what's on paper."

Ma Tak-lung indignantly protested, "Are you kidding me? We're risking our lives here!"

Lam Tin-shang raised a hand to signal calm. "Tam Sir has done his best. Two men per team, approach from four directions and search along the way. Call the marine police speedboats to stand by, and wait for my command before moving in."

"Understood," Tam Ka-ming nodded.

"Ah-tau, with me." With a wave of Lam Tin-shang's hand, his subordinates split into four groups and charged into the breeding zone.

The walkways of the fish raft were made of wooden planks laid over foam blocks for buoyancy. Walking on them caused them to rock and sway, splashing water and making a lot of noise.

Moreover, the pathways were narrow, allowing only a single person to pass at a time. Moving too fast risked capsizing or falling into the water. Within the densely packed breeding zone, there were fishermen's living quarters, warehouses, and even trading markets, with numerous boats moored around the perimeter. The visibility in the core area was extremely poor; aside from water and wooden shacks, it was essentially a floating squatter settlement.

Once the four groups dispersed, they slowed their pace, searching wooden shack by wooden shack. With no way of knowing whether the criminal had accomplices, they had to be extremely careful not to get surrounded.

On the shore, Tam Ka-ming used a pair of binoculars to observe the target. He watched as the King of Killers, "Yiu Fei-yu," picked up his walkie-talkie, glanced at it, cast his fishing hook far away, and reached for the belt around his waist.

"Lam Sir, the target is making a move, heading toward the three o'clock direction."

Lam Tin-shang had not yet fully reached the edge of the breeding zone. Though the radio signal was unstable, he could hear the warning clearly enough. He immediately heightened his vigilance and muttered, "Ah-wing, watch out."

Cheung Kam-wing had just pushed open the door of a wooden shack and abruptly turned back. High Tsz-chung, guarding outside the door, had already opened fire at an emerging target: "Bang, bang, bang!"

The sea breeze howled, and the bullets drifted off into the unknown. Ko Tsz-chung watched in horror as the floating walkway beneath his feet snapped its mooring ropes and drifted further and further away from the main raft.

"Wing—Wing gor!" Ko Tsz-chung's limbs went weak, and he didn't know what to do. Cheung Kam-wing leapt fiercely onto a boat, yanked the manual motor cord to life, and shouted, "Get on the boat!"

At the same time, Yiu Fei-yu wielded a combat knife, severed the floating walkways from three directions, yanked off his fisherman's hat, and tossed it into the sea. His tanned torso was bare, wearing only a pair of blue shorts. He drew a Black Star pistol, ejected an empty casing, and charged directly toward Lam Tin-shang's position, raising his gun without a moment's hesitation: "Bang, bang, bang."

Across the desolate sea, even the gunfire sounded thin and muffled.

The assassin came for one purpose only: to kill.

Ignoring his boss entirely, Chan On-kwok executed an agile dodge, ducked behind a wooden shack, and raised his weapon to return fire.

Lam Tin-shang was walking in the front without a shred of cover. Instinctively, he hit the dirt, rolled, and plunged straight into the sea with a splash. His fingers clamped tightly onto a rope, and in the next moment, he hoisted himself up with explosive force, flying back onto the dock amidst a shower of water droplets—a display of physical conditioning that caused even Yiu Fei-yu's pupils to constrict slightly in surprise.

Out of the corner of his eye, Chan On-kwok saw that his boss was safe. Emboldened, he rushed out from cover, emptied a full magazine, and laid down suppressing fire.

Yiu Fei-yu rolled into a fishing boat for cover, then hurriedly bolted into a wooden shack. Every single footprint he left behind was punctuated by a fresh bullet hole as Lam Tin-shang's team pressed the attack relentlessly.