Law America, the Devil's Agent

Link reached his right hand under his armpit, his fingers touching the grip of the Glock 17.

He didn't draw his gun, but continued to walk quietly, slowly approaching the door along the corridor wall.

Then he heard a familiar voice!

"Hurry up and look for it, it should be around here."

A woman was urging him on in a low voice in English.

His tone was urgent and cold, but Link felt a strange sense of familiarity in it.

He lowered his hand from the gun handle and walked into his apartment.

A man and a woman were standing in the living room.

The woman wore a beige trench coat, had long black hair, delicate features, and a slender figure.

She was squatting in front of the TV cabinet, rummaging through drawers, throwing the original owner's documents, bills, and old receipts all over the floor.

The man was white, a head taller than her, wearing a loose-fitting printed shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, revealing two muscular forearms covered in tattoos.

He was kicking aside a pile of clutter by the bedroom door, a half-smoked cigarette dangling from his mouth.

Behind them, the entire room had been ransacked.

The sofa cushions were overturned, the wardrobe doors were wide open, and even the old photo of Qian Sheng and Li Qiu taken in Chinatown on the wall was torn off crookedly.

Yes, it's Li Qiu.

Strictly speaking, she was the original owner's girlfriend.

Link finally unearthed those fragments of memories belonging to his ex, which he had tossed aside in a corner of his mind:

Their awkwardness when they first met in the university library...

The satisfaction she felt when she first took him to Chinatown for beef noodles...

Two people huddled together for warmth in this run-down apartment during winter...

The original owner of this body gave her almost everything, spending every penny he saved from his meager salary at the law firm on her.

Then she started complaining, complaining that he didn't earn enough, that he wasn't ambitious enough, and that he was stuck in a dead-end mid-sized law firm, working like a slave to a useless team leader.

The last time she called the original owner, she said, "Let's all think it over," and then hung up and never contacted her again.

That was the day before the original owner of this body suffered a cardiac arrest from exhaustion in that cramped cubicle.

  

The suicide of this young Chinese-American who had studied diligently in law school for many years.

Ultimately, they may be crushed by student loans, workplace bullying, or a hopeless future.

But Link sensed that besides these, there might be another reason:

That is, he was abandoned by the person he thought he could spend his whole life with, facing this difficult and arduous journey of life together.

When I needed her most, I received indifference; when I missed her most, I received betrayal.

And now she's back.

They brought another man, broke into his house, and ransacked it.

But when Link saw this, he didn't yell and shout to stop them, nor did he resentfully accuse them. He just calmly watched from the sidelines.

He even leaned against the door frame, took out a lighter and cigarette case from his pocket, and lit one.

The crisp sound of the lighter finally made the two people stop what they were doing.

Li Qiu turned around and saw Link standing at the door. For a moment, she was somewhat lost in thought.

But then, her facial expression shifted rapidly through several different undertones within seconds—

First, she suppressed her surprise, then she forcibly concealed her embarrassment, and finally, she managed to freeze into a composed smile that she thought she had the situation under control.

"Link, you're back. I..."

"Who are you, sir?"

The burly white man spoke first, tossing the junk he was carrying on the ground. He sized Link up and down, his gaze sweeping over his simple jacket and not-so-tall frame, a slight smirk playing on his lips.

"Oh! I understand."

You're that bookworm, aren't you?

"Qiu, you've lived in this wretched place with him for so many years?"

Li Qiu didn't answer Charlie's question, but just looked at Link, her lips moving as if she wanted to explain something, or as if she felt that no explanation was needed.

"Link, this is Charlie."

I met this friend during my research trip...

We've come here to...

"Oh? Are you friends?"

Link exhaled a puff of smoke, a cold, almost unfamiliar smile playing on his lips.

Li Qiu was taken aback.

She sensed something was wrong!

The Link before her was no longer the cautious and ingratiating person he had been when he was with her.

He used to smile because he was afraid of upsetting her, but now...

She looked up and looked away once more.

She felt a chill and aloofness in those eyes, so unfamiliar that it almost terrified her.

Then those eyes shifted from Charlie to himself, interrupting him abruptly:

"You're here to find that thing, aren't you?"

The box of gold coins we saved together.

Li Qiu's eyes lit up instantly, and she quickly put aside the puzzling changes in Link.

She nodded vigorously.

"Yes, that's right, it's the box full of gold coins that we saved together."

Upon hearing Li Qiu's confirmation and Link's admission, Charlie stopped what he was doing, slowly straightened up, and took a step closer to Link.

The man was almost a head taller than Link, his burly frame blocking Li Qiu's path. He spoke in an extremely contemptuous and imperious tone:

"Hey bro, some of the money from those gold coins was Qiu's."

You'd better cooperate; I really don't want to stay here any longer.

The smell in this place is absolutely nauseating.

Link didn't look at him, but took another drag of his cigarette and pointed to the old solid wood wardrobe in the corner of the bedroom.

"It's behind that wardrobe. There's a hidden compartment."

Li Qiu rushed over almost immediately.

Charlie followed, and the two of them hurriedly moved the wardrobe aside, revealing the small groove that the original owner had carved out by hand on the wall behind it.

There was a tin box there, its edges were already rusty, and it had two keyholes.

"Where's the key?"

She asked Link impatiently.

"We each have one, right? Mine's still here, what about yours...?"

Li Qiu was taken aback.

When she started her study tour, she had already decided to seek better opportunities elsewhere.

They had long ago disposed of all traces of Link's presence in a roadside garbage dump.

She even forgot about the key they shared; perhaps from the moment she decided to betray him, she no longer cared about Link at all.

Charlie shouted, "I have an angle grinder!"

Li Qiu then realized what was happening and quickly began using an angle grinder to open the box.

After a long while, the box was cut open.

Li Qiu eagerly opened the box, and the gold coins inside gleamed with a warm luster under the dim light.

Then she heard the clicking sound of a phone button behind her.

Link held a cigarette in his mouth, raised his phone in his left hand, and pressed the last digit on the screen with his thumb. The clear voice of the 911 dispatcher came through the speaker:

"911, what kind of emergency do you have?"

"Hello. This is Kensington Street, my apartment."

Link gave his detailed house number, his tone as calm as if he were giving a statement in court:

"There are two people burglarizing this house."

They broke into my house, ransacked my room, and are still in my house with my belongings.

Please dispatch officers immediately.

"Roger that, the officer is on his way. Are you safe? Is the suspect armed?"

"I am safe. The suspect has not left."

A white male, about six feet three inches tall, wearing a printed shirt and with tattoos on his arms.

A Chinese woman, with long black hair, wearing a beige trench coat. Please inform the officer that the suspect may be aggressive.

Li Qiu's face turned deathly pale in an instant.

She stood there, clutching the tin box, her lips moving as if she wanted to say something but couldn't.

And Charlie—

The burly man, who had just been smoking and calling him a "bookworm" in an arrogant tone, shattered his contempt upon hearing the serious charge of "burglary."

Instead, we see the instinctive fear that these seemingly tough but actually cowardly street thugs exhibit when facing the police.

Then this fear quickly turned into anger.

He swung his right fist and slammed it down toward Link's face.

"Fuck! You damn yellow-skinned bastard, you motherfucker—"

Link reacted faster than him.

He nimbly dodged the incoming fist.

It was as if a trained fighter had anticipated the opponent's movements before they even threw a punch.

[Martial Arts - Mastery Level] Activated!

He sidestepped the punch, simultaneously grabbing Charlie's outstretched right arm and shoulder with both hands, and using Charlie's forward momentum to pull him down.

Charlie, weighing nearly two hundred pounds, crashed heavily onto the floor after losing his balance, causing the debris on the floor to bounce.

Li Qiu's screams rang out in the room.

Charlie lay on the ground, panting heavily, his shoulder blades aching from the fall. But he heard Li Qiu's scream. Feeling humiliated in front of his new girlfriend, he tried to get up again by bracing himself on the floor with his hands.

Then he looked up again and saw the empty muzzle of a gun in front of him.

The muzzle of the gun was less than a foot from his forehead.

Link held the Glock pistol in his left hand, the muzzle pointed steadily at Charlie, who was lying on the ground.

Li Qiu's screams and Charlie's rage stopped abruptly, as if someone had grabbed her by the neck.

Link crouched down, a cigarette between his right fingers, and weighed the gun in his left, saying mockingly:

"Trespassing. Robbery. Assault."

That's three serious crimes piled up, you two.

This is Pennsylvania, and under the Castle Law, I can use deadly force to defend myself.

"Even if I shoot you both dead right here, not a single prosecutor will prosecute me."

He tilted his head, flicked the ashtray at Charlie's face, and then tapped his forehead again with the butt of his gun.

"Do you understand, kid!"