Chapter 172: First Encounter with a Ghost
Korea is not big, Yun Xinyue took a bus back to Busan after dinner. Duanmu talked with the girl with twin ponytails, and she told him why she wanted to harm Jin Yang, how many people she had as accomplices, etc. Cui Jian only heard one sentence: They will not harm Jin Yang again.

The No. 7 training track used by Jinyang is a structure with a width of 3 meters and a length of 80 meters. There are playback monitors on the left and right walls of the shooting point. The left monitor shows the shooter, allowing the shooter to check his movements. The right monitor shows the target, allowing the shooter to check his results.

The personal trainer looked at Jin Yang intently. Jin Yang kept drawing the bow, and the personal trainer reminded him of his breathing and body coordination.

At the entrance to the training track, Duanmu and Cui Jian were sitting on chairs drinking tea.

Seeing Duanmu say so much, Cui Jian nodded perfunctorily: "So Jin Yang is not a bad person."

Duanmu disagreed: "He saw the coach frame Jin Yin but kept silent, and did not tell the truth during the police investigation, shielding the coach who framed Jin Yin. It is true that without the coach's introduction, he would not have been able to become the student of the Olympic bronze medalist."

Cui Jian said: "I'm driving and you're in the car. Suddenly I stop the car, open the door, and kill a person on the roadside. Excuse me, will you call the police?"

Duanmu thought for a long time: "It depends on how many witnesses there are."

Cui Jian: “So.”

Duanmu asked: "What if I kill someone on the other hand?"

Cui Jian: "Last time in the hospital you shot yourself again, which was a serious crime. Did I report you?"

MD, you have a point again. If we put ourselves in Jin Yang's shoes, a coach who is very good to you and has helped you a lot, but he frames someone who bullied you because of personal grudges, would you report him? Some people would, some wouldn't. Does Jin Yang's failure to report the coach mean that he has a bad character?

Xuesong was on the No. 8 training track next door. Cui Jian watched for a while. Xuesong's level was good, but to be honest, he was not as good as Jinyang. Xuesong's biggest problem was strength. Without strength, he lacked stability.

Coach Xuesong obviously knew this and kept emphasizing breathing, muscle relaxation and aiming at timing.

After the afternoon training, the four of them had dinner together, took a rest and walked, and then started night training. The reason for training at night is that it is uncertain when the Olympic Games will be held, and many people's conditions will be very different during the day and at night. There are quite a few sparring partners for these prospective national team players, but they are all professionals such as nutritionists and masseurs. However, no one asked Duan Cui what kind of teacher he is, and they don't need to bullshit that they are motivators and supervisors.

The training ended at 10pm, and everyone either went back to the hotel to rest or took the bus home. From 10pm to 10:10pm, the hotel was very lively. After :pm, it became unusually quiet.

Cui Jian lost the game of rock-paper-scissors, so he had to sleep on the living room floor tonight. Fortunately, the carpet was very soft and there were plenty of bedding and pillows, so it wasn't much different from sleeping on the sofa.

……

After 11 o'clock, the whole hotel was quiet. There are three reasons. Reason : People who exercise can sleep better. Reason : The contestants in this selection are from universities all over the country, and their quality is beyond doubt. Reason : In order for everyone to have a good rest, the sound insulation effect of the guest rooms is very good. This is of course due to the different time of getting up in the morning.

Cui Jian heard a slight sound of something falling while he was sleeping, so he sat up immediately. The living room was not big, so he slept next to the door, leaned against the door and looked out through the peephole. Everything was normal, except that the door of Cedar 703 was ajar.

With a thought, Cui Jian lifted the anti-theft chain, opened the door and went out to check. The first thing he saw was Xuesong lying on the carpet in the hallway. Xuesong was covered in blood, with a flying knife stuck across his throat. This was a very typical ancient spinning flying knife. The flying knife had no handle, and the blade was thinner than a dagger, with the center of gravity in the front half.

Straight flying knives require a lot of strength, while spinning flying knives require a lot of skill. Nowadays, except for acrobatic troupes, basically no one still plays with flying knives.

In addition to the flying knife on his throat, there was another flying knife stuck in Xuesong's leg and back, and 80% of the blade was embedded in his body.

Cui Jian glanced at Xuesong and immediately saw two masked men about ten meters away from Xuesong. The masked men wore hoods and black forehead guards. The one in front was a woman with a throwing knife in her left hand, and the masked man behind was a man with a pistol with a silencer in his right hand.

Two masked men were walking quickly toward the cedars.

The two men looked at each other and moved at the same time. Cui Jian leaned back and a flying knife flew past his face and hit the wall. Cui Jian shouted, "Duanmu." With a pistol in hand, he squatted and rushed forward, fell on the carpet, and pulled the trigger repeatedly at the masked man.

The male Meng grabbed the female Meng's waist from behind and rushed into the cleaning room which happened to be nearby. Cui Jian took the opportunity to grab Xuesong's clothes and dragged her into the room.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck." Duanmu, who was originally sleepy, saw the bloody person with the help of the corridor light and turned on the light in a hurry, cursing.

It’s the middle of the night. What a crappy project. Can you pick one, Old Li?

After he cursed three times, Cui Jian exchanged fire with Shuang Meng 8 meters away, suppressing the opponent with a wave of rapid shooting, and Cui Jian ran through the corridor and entered the room of 703 Xuesong. The Xuesong room and the cleaning room were not in the same row, so both sides had more shooting range, and the most important thing was to give the position at the door of 702 to Duanmu.

The noise was so loud that it attracted the attention of a resident. He opened the door and leaned over to take a look. He was shot in the shoulder and fell to the ground with a scream. He screamed but still tried to crawl back to the room. Seeing this, the Mongolian woman leaned out to kill him. The Mongolian man cooperated very well and suppressed Cui Jian from behind. Bullets kept hitting the door frame, so Cui Jian dared not show his head.

But Shuang Meng didn't know that there was a bodyguard in Room 702. Room 702 and the cleaning room were in the same row, with almost no shooting range, so Duanmu had been crouching by the door as a surprise attack. Duanmu took his cell phone and placed it by the door, with the camera exposed, and looked at the screen. When he saw Meng Nu leaning out, ready to shoot the wounded, he immediately took a big step with his left foot, held the gun with both hands in a horse stance, and fired continuously.

Cui Jian: "Hitting the feet."

The Mongolian woman blocked the Mongolian man's shooting range at Duanmu, and the Mongolian man could not provide any help. Duanmu immediately lowered the muzzle of his gun and fired bullets one after another after Cui Jian said.

Unlike the previous hits on the body, Duanmu immediately saw the Mongolian girl fall to the ground with blood spurting from her thigh, and the Mongolian man pulled the Mongolian girl into the cleaning room.

Duanmu and Cui Jian leaned against the door, and Duanmu waved his head: Go up?

Cui Jian shook his head: Bullshit! Not fearing death and seeking death are two completely different things.

The hotel corridor is less than two meters wide and there is no cover. If you attack rashly, the enemy doesn't even need to show their head, and if you expose your gun and shoot blindly, you will get into trouble.

As a bodyguard, you just need to wait for the police. If you act rashly, even if you kill the criminals, you may still break the law.

The most important point is that Cui Jian feels that this Mongolian man is quite powerful.

Duanmu looked at the screen of his mobile phone and said, "Smoke bomb." A smoke bomb was thrown between the two sides. The space was narrow and the effect was very good. "Don't move." Cui Jian warned Duanmu. Under normal circumstances, the two of them could shoot in the direction of the smoke every few seconds to make it difficult for the other party to escape. But they are bodyguards. If they kill the gangster like this, they may have to argue, after all, the bullet hit the back. The most important point is that if a fool comes out of the smoke to check the situation, he may be shot directly to death. This is a crime of negligent homicide. Not only must compensation be paid, but also imprisonment and job loss. Cui Jian also has to pay Ye Lan an annual salary of 50 US dollars.

Duanmu leaned against the door, somewhat speechless, and said with a self-deprecating smile: "Is Xuesong stabbed because we are here, or is it because Xuesong was stabbed that we are here."

Cui Jian asked: "How is he?"

Duanmu: "If you don't move, the throat is not a fatal wound. The condition of the knife in the back is unknown. The thigh is the most serious, and the blood can't be stopped from gushing out."

Cui Jian: "It depends on his fate. Call Manager Li."

Duanmu glanced at the time on the phone on the ground and said, "You call."

Cui Jian: "I'll treat you to dinner tomorrow."

Duanmu said: "I will treat you to a week's meal."

"Deal." Cui Jian made a call: "Manager Li... We are fine, we just fired a few shots... Haha, Manager Li, how can you say that?"

Cui Jian said: "However, I think the other gunman is very experienced. He is not the Bai Gang we met before. He is also different from Chunque. He is more like a professional pistol shooter. How should I put it? If he is a killer, then the weapon he chooses when killing people is most likely a pistol."

Li Ran asked: "Are there any obvious features?"

Cui Jian replied: "The mask is not a ski cap or a mask, but a red triangular bandana like the cowboys in the United States in the 20th century. But the mask is black. In addition, there is a cloth band on the forehead, which is a bit like the cloth band of the white man in Street Fighter in the arcade game."

Li Ran: "First blood, a band on Rambo's head?"

Cui Jian: “Yes.”

Li Ran said: "Oh! Maybe it's an old friend."

Cui Jian: “Who is it?”

Li Ran: "I'm not sure. Stay put. Don't move or shoot. Also, be careful. This is a poisonous snake. You think it's busy trying to escape, but it might be thinking about how to bite you to death."

……

The police came, the ambulance came, and there was a lot of trouble. No one died this time, so it wasn't that troublesome. The lawyer didn't come. They took notes, seized the guns, and took away the bloody clothes and shoes as evidence. Li Ran drove to deliver the clothes and shoes, and when they met, he said, "Can you two have a relationship? Can you get married? Don't ask me to deliver clothes to you every time?"

Li Ran was angry because he was looking for clothes. In the middle of the night, he had nowhere to buy clothes, so he could only look through his own stock. As an unmarried man, he didn't have many clothes, so he had to call the logistics director. It took him two hours to get here.

After firing the gun, blood and urine tests were required. It was already seven in the morning when Li Ran sent the two to the hospital. It was still early, so the three of them had a meal at a breakfast shop near the hospital. From this, the two of them knew who the old friend Li Ran was referring to.

Old friends have many names, such as Long Zheng, Tom, Alexander, Ruth, etc. That's right, there are not only male names but also female names. If you search separately, you can find information about these names in databases of various countries. Only people in Li Ran's circle can combine these names together and determine that old friends have more than just these names.

Li Ran asked: "Have you heard of the black team of the US intelligence agency?"

Duanmu replied: "The action team that handles matters that cannot be known to the outside world is mainly responsible for safeguarding national interests."

Li Ran nodded: "You probably haven't heard of CA's invisible man."

Cui Jian and Duanmu looked at each other and shook their heads.

Li Ran said: "The so-called invisible people are equivalent to non-existent people. Some people call them ghosts. They are similar to the black team, specializing in dealing with things that cannot be said. The difference is that the core purpose of the black team is for the country and the nation. The ghost is for the powerful. For example, a wealthy man in Argentina was arrested for a violent crime. He did not want to go to jail, but the evidence was conclusive. The only way was to make the victim change his confession."

Li Ran: "We can call the people who are responsible for making the victims change their confessions ghosts. CA has its own special features. Do you understand what I mean?"

Duanmu said: "Manager Li means that ghosts are people who are attached to intelligence agencies. They have the resources of intelligence agencies, but they do not work for the country or agencies. The people they serve are those with real power."

Li Ran narrowed his eyes: "I didn't say so much."

Duanmu smiled and said, "I am an American after all." Of course Duanmu knew about ghosts, as there was a retired old ghost living in his own manor.

Duanmu stopped smiling and said, "As far as I know, there are not many ghosts. Most of the ghosts made mistakes during their normal work and faced the possibility of being wiped out by the organization. They became ghosts in order to preserve their identities and honors under the operation of those in power in the organization. Ghosts work like ordinary employees in the organization on a daily basis. When they are needed, those in power will assign them real or fake tasks across levels. Fake tasks make it easier for ghosts to use the resources of the organization to obtain supplies, obtain support from the organization, and travel to certain countries and regions. Fake tasks will be recorded in the organization's archives. Real tasks are naturally the tasks they actually perform."

Li Ran: "That's right. There are many conditions to become a ghost. In addition to personal strength, you also need to have an official identity in an intelligence agency. The most important thing is that you must have a family. Only those who have a spouse and children are qualified to become ghosts. Of course, the rewards they receive are also very generous."

Li Ran said: "The main reason why we determined that Long Zheng, Ruth and other aliases are the same person is because of their attire, that is, the mask and forehead band. We analyzed their behavior and confirmed this. We call this person Ghost No. 3, and the last time we heard from him was five years ago."

Li Ran: "Xue Song was not the ghost's target. According to the police's preliminary investigation at the scene, Xue Song was delivering a charger to a classmate on the sixth floor and took the stairs. Xue Song, who was about to go to the sixth floor from the seventh floor, encountered two ghosts going up the stairs. Xue Song was stabbed in the throat before he reacted and ran into the corridor. The ghosts who followed him shot him in the thigh and back with a flying knife. Just as they were about to go up to kill Xue Song, Cui Jian, you happened to push the door open."

Li Ran said: "One of the important reasons why I explained ghosts to you is that Duanmu, you injured or even killed the female ghost, which may lead to revenge from the male ghost. But this is only a possibility. Even if revenge is taken, it is not certain who the male ghost will blame."

Cui Jian was puzzled: "Will a master of this level seek revenge?"

Li Ran replied: "Because he is Ghost No. 3."

(End of this chapter)