Starting with Naruto, I'll become stronger through my own efforts.

Chapter 161 Officer Xia Zuo Loses Face (Updated 2/3)

Xia Zuo reflected on his mistakes.

He shouldn't have retreated and gone on the defensive because of red tape; he should have stepped in and eliminated these unexpected factors.

Even without police guns, one can rely on their own abilities.

Xia Zuo let out a long breath and muttered to himself, "Sure enough, as soon as one's thinking falters, mistakes will follow."

""

"Xia Zuo, remember this lesson. From now on, you must always take the initiative and never be passive and wait for the enemy to change their strategy."

Xia Zuo fully activated [Electromagnetic Control], expanding the range of the electromagnetic field to cover the entire parking lot, and then remotely manipulated the bullets fired into the air, making them "precise".

Suddenly, the accuracy of both sides in the firefight skyrocketed, and the battle ended in just 3 seconds.

The local New York gangs, relying on their superior numbers and sudden bursts of accuracy, finally defeated the outside gang members, and the remaining members were no longer able to resist.

These highly skilled outsiders left their money boxes and goods by the roadside, attracting the attention of the local gang, and then took the opportunity to break through the encirclement and escape.

The local gangs have suffered even more deaths; they've only managed to survive this long thanks to their greed for money and goods. Now that they've gotten what they wanted, they have no intention of hunting down anyone.

The gangsters quickly picked up the goods and money boxes and fled this place of trouble as if they were running away.

The parking lot finally returned to quiet.

Just as Skye breathed a sigh of relief and was about to take a nap, there was a knock on her car door.

The knocking was very soft, but it sounded very loud inside the carriage, scaring the girl out of her wits.

But before she could do anything, Xia Zuo opened her car door.

He illuminated the interior of the vehicle with his tactical flashlight, smiled, and greeted her: "Skye, do you remember me?"

Skye swallowed hard, concealing her fear, and replied in a straight voice, "I remember you, officer."

"What's wrong?"

Xia Zuo was very satisfied with Skye's reaction and nodded, saying, "This broken car is ruined. One of the stray bullets hit the engine, and there's no way to repair it."

"I'll take you away from here, come with me now."

Skye quickly realized that her bread truck was indeed completely destroyed.

Despite her trembling body, she had no choice but to pack her two backpacks and follow Xia Zuo.

This is Pier 6, a suburb within the suburbs of New York City, with a very bad security situation and too far from downtown New York.

Without a vehicle, a girl like Skye would have no chance of making it to downtown New York City alive, not even during the day.

Skye followed Shazo with heavy steps, but when she saw his car, the girl couldn't help but exclaim, "A Chevrolet Corvette!"

Xia Zuo nodded slightly, looking pleased. "It's beautiful, isn't it?"

Skye's eyes widened: "You're a rich man! Aren't you a cop?"

Xia Zuo shrugged: "I am indeed a rich man, and I am also a policeman, but these two things are not contradictory."

Skye looked at Xia Zuo in disbelief, thinking: How can it not be contradictory? It's true that a senior police superintendent sitting in an office and a rich person are not contradictory, but you are a police superintendent who personally drives patrols, which has nothing to do with being rich.

The girl increasingly felt that Xia Zuo might be a pervert, and her fear and worry grew stronger.

Skye couldn't help but ask, "Where are we going?"

Xia Zuo smiled slightly: "Let's go eat first. I can already hear your stomach rumbling."

Skye's face flushed red.

Before the girl could even open her mouth to argue, the rumbling of her intestines stopped her completely.

Taking advantage of the darkness, she glared fiercely at Xia Zuo.

Skye didn't eat dinner tonight.

The reason she didn't eat was because Xia Zuo had driven her away during the day, causing her to lose the deal she had worked so hard to get.

Since she hadn't earned any money, Skye had to skip dinner, otherwise she wouldn't be able to make a living the next day.

Xia Zuo opened the passenger door and invited Skye to get in, then started the car.

Just as the car was leaving the parking lot, Skye noticed a patrol car with flashing red and blue lights parked on the side of the road, with an officer standing next to it.

Skye suddenly tensed up; she noticed the officer was holding a Remington M870, the "Equalizer of All Beings."

The shotgun muzzle was pointed at her.

The patrol officer stopped Chazo's Chevrolet Corvette and nervously asked him to roll down the window. He only relaxed a little after seeing Chazo's white face.

This is an extremely young police officer, perhaps only 19 years old, or even someone who has just officially joined the force.

The empty armband and the silver police badge indicated that he was indeed an inexperienced, ordinary police officer.

After a series of mechanical checks, the patrol officer's tension eased, and Skye, in the passenger seat, breathed a sigh of relief as he put away his Remington M870.

The girl's actions attracted the attention of the police officers.

When he saw Skye's youthful appearance due to her Asian heritage, he felt a surge of contempt and resentment towards Xia Zuo.

This seemingly mature guy is actually a pedophile bastard!

We can't let him leave so easily!

This was the first time this young man had been on a call independently, but he ran into a large-scale gunfight. Following the advice of his senior officers, he parked the car, turned off the lights, and waited for backup or for the fighting to subside.

He didn't receive any reinforcements before the firefight ended, and only after the gangsters dispersed did he turn the police lights back on.

The young police officer still possessed a pure sense of justice, but reality forced him to back down when facing criminals, leaving him filled with resentment.

Only officers who feel humiliated will get out of the car, take out a Remington M870 from the trunk, and intend to do something.

Now, he has found an outlet for his resentment: he wants to arrest the "pedophile" Xia Zuo and protect the young Asian-mixed-race girl!

He then interrogated Xia Zuo more rigorously and quickly found an even stronger reason for arrest: Xia Zuo had weapons in his car.

The police in Mili-tsai have that much power; they can make unreasonable and illegal demands, but if the person being questioned dares to express dissatisfaction, that is "obstructing the execution of police duties."

However, the young police officer ran into a brick wall.

Xia Zuo did not disobey the young police officer's orders and obediently got out of the car, allowing the officer to search him.

But he kept muttering, "Officer, it's against police regulations that you didn't check if I had a gun license."

"Hey, my gun is in the car safe, there was no way I showed it, you have no reason to arrest me."

"My God, Skye is not a child prostitute. What you're doing is not only an unfounded misjudgment, but also defamation and a violation of police regulations."

Unfortunately, with the implementation of "happy education," the proportion of newly recruited police officers who are incompetent and lack skills is rapidly increasing, and the officer in front of us happens to be one of them.

He knew almost nothing about the various police regulations and law enforcement norms proposed by Xia Zuo, and was determined to arrest Xia Zuo based solely on his own sense of justice.

When the officer took out the handcuffs, Xia Zuo said helplessly, "Take a look at the compartment on my right-hand door. My ID and badge are there—"

"What?! You dare to forge a police badge?" The officer exclaimed with delight, "This isn't a minor offense! You're going to jail!"

The young officer's obsessive judgment left Xia Zuo powerless and shocked Skye, who was still sitting in the car.

But seeing Xia Zuo's helpless expression, the girl felt a surge of vengeful joy, and she even had to cover her mouth to avoid laughing out loud.

Hehe, serves you right for chasing me away! Now you've left me without dinner!

When the young officer was about to arrest Xia Zuo, Xia Zuo suppressed his helpless expression and suddenly reached out and grabbed the officer's wrists.

Under the shocked and terrified gaze of the officers, Shazzo read out names one by one: "Federic Jensen, Mila Coleman, Walter Katz, Felice Bowie, Benedetta Russo, Germain Katona, and Ari Isla—"

The more the officer listened, the more familiar the story seemed. His fear quickly subsided, and he couldn't help but ask curiously, "What are you doing?"

Xia Zuo replied, "I'm asking who your probationary lieutenant is, and who your current direct subordinate lieutenant is?"

The officer was taken aback, and he instinctively replied, "It's Inspector Benedetta Russo (Lieutenant)."

Xia Zuo was also taken aback: "Benidetta?"

"It's over. We've embarrassed ourselves in Benedetta's hands. The whole police station will know about it tomorrow."

Xia Zuo took a deep breath and commanded solemnly, "Call her!"

The bewildered police officer asked, "Huh?"

Shazo withdrew his hands, rubbed his temples, and repeated, "I mean, call Inspector Benedetta Russo; she can verify my identity."

"You stupid brat, if you arrest me, you'll be out of a job in the police force!"

A few minutes later, Inspector Benedetta Russo arrived as backup.

This Italian policewoman was bright and outgoing. After listening to her rookie subordinate's report, she laughed so hard she almost fell over, her body shaking with mirth.

"Hahaha, Xia Zuo, even you get bullied by newbies sometimes. Why don't you fight back?"

Xia Zuo helplessly clasped his hands together: "Benedicta, please, don't spread what happened tonight."

Benedetta said seductively, "It's not impossible, but you'll have to pay a price."

Xia Zuo chuckled, "No problem, you can come find me anytime after today. Of course, it's the same if I come find you."

Benedetta nodded in satisfaction and waved her hand, saying, "Let's go, I'll handle things here."

"Don't worry, I won't really embarrass you. They even want your 'reward,' hahaha!"

Instead of staying to watch Benedetta discipline her men, Shazzo started his car and sped off into New York City.

We sped along and soon arrived in Chinatown.

Xia Zuo parked his car in front of a restaurant that was already closed, and then unceremoniously called the owner.

The sleepy-eyed Chinese owner opened the restaurant door, grumbling and cursing.

"Xia Zuo, you bastard, do you even know what time it is? 1 a.m., 1 a.m.!!"

Xia Zuo, all smiles, led Skye into the restaurant: "Old Du, don't be angry, I'll pay double."

The boss yelled without any politeness, "What do you mean, double? Ten times! You have to compensate me ten times the amount for emotional distress!"

Xia Zuo still smiled: "No problem, Lao Du."

Upon hearing the price, the boss's voice immediately dropped: "That's more like it. You wait here, I'll go start a fire."

When the boss returned to the kitchen, Xia Zuo turned and asked, "Can you understand Chinese?"

He had just spoken Mandarin with Boss Du, and it was Mandarin with a Northeastern accent, but he noticed that Skye's eyes were not blank, so he asked her a question out of curiosity.

Skye hesitated for a moment, but then nodded honestly: "Yes, I understand."

Xia Zuo asked in surprise, "You can really understand it? It's rare enough to be able to speak Chinese these days, let alone Mandarin."

"I remember St. John's Church School didn't teach Chinese. Where did you learn it?"

Although Skye has Chinese ancestry, she did not live with her mother and should not have had the opportunity to receive Chinese language education.

Skye replied, "At the orphanage, the Chinese Consulate ran free classes where I learned a lot of other things besides Chinese characters and Mandarin."

Xia Zuo suddenly realized that it was the predecessor of the Confucius Institute.

Lacking experience, this training course almost entirely copied the domestic exam-oriented teaching system.

The classroom not only teaches Chinese language and Chinese culture, but also subjects such as mathematics, physics, and chemistry, which are taught in junior and senior high school.

China's didactic education system is diametrically opposed to the joyful education promoted by MiLiJian, and is therefore unpopular.

For the children at MiLiJian who are used to happy education, HuaXia's classes are too numerous and too difficult, and are not only unpopular, but also met with resistance and disgust.

Moreover, the true elites understand very well that this kind of indoctrination is elite education, a monopolized resource that should be enjoyed only by their children, so how could they allow the Chinese embassy to promote it?

They then went to great lengths to incite the students' disgust, vilifying it as an evil and misguided form of education that stifles human spirituality.

A few years later, the Chinese Embassy was transformed into a Confucius Institute with simpler courses, focusing on play and supplementing learning.

But for children who are willing to learn and eager for knowledge, this seemingly simple but actually elite class is a rare learning opportunity that truly helps them lay a solid foundation.

This is also the foundation upon which Skye was able to continue her self-study after escaping the orphanage and become a top hacker.

Without a solid foundation in mathematics, it is impossible to become an excellent hacker through self-study.

Boss Du was very quick; Xia Zuo and Skye had barely exchanged a few words when he brought out all the food.

There's no time to cook fresh rice, but fried rice made with cold rice is even more fragrant.

The dishes were made with leftover ingredients from the refrigerator. There were no expensive green vegetables, only squirrel-shaped mandarin fish, shredded pork with scrambled eggs, and stir-fried mixed fish.

The dishes were simple, but they smelled wonderful.

After Skye took a bite, she buried her head in her rice bowl and ate with great relish.

Boss Du lit a cigarette and started chatting with Xia Zuo: "Old Xia, why did you bring a young girl with you?"

Xia Zuo shrugged and replied, "I met her during my daytime patrol. I felt she seemed to have a talent for hacking, so I went to find her."

L

Boss Du exhaled a puff of smoke: "That's good. I thought you'd finally fallen and started targeting young girls."