My hometown is far away in Moscow.

Chapter 217 Masked Special Police

"Is this the place?" Li Baoqing looked up at the rows of shipping containers in front of him. "This place seems pretty good. There are still quite a few empty boxes, aren't there?"

"That should be the case." Hu Yi nodded and said, "This place is cheap, but the downside is that it's a bit remote. At first, it seemed about the same distance, but after a while, we found that it was a little further than Aste's original warehouse, but it's not a big deal."

"Not bad, not bad." Li Baoqing walked through several rows of boxes, looked around, and said, "This is it. Can you contact the owner of the boxes for me? Let's go talk to him."

"No problem, I'll call him first."

Hu Yi took out his phone as he walked, about to dial a number, when he suddenly hesitated: "Hey? Your stall is in Aste, even if the warehouse rent is a bit expensive, it's still very close. Is it really necessary to move? Your boss wouldn't be that stingy with money, would he?"

Li Baoqing took out a cigarette and offered one to Hu Yi, clicking the lighter on the screen. "My boss? He's not stupid. Why would he move the warehouse to this remote corner?"

"So what are you doing?" Hu Yi lit a cigarette, his lips dangling from his mouth. "Who are you asking around for?"

Li Baoqing exhaled a puff of smoke and gave Hu Yi a meaningful smile: "I'm not helping anyone, I just want to rent it myself."

"You? You...why are you renting a warehouse?"

"Of course it's for loading cargo, what else could it be for?"

"Your goods? Where did they come from?"

"Bought it! Or was it stolen? Robbed?"

"Whose?" Hu Yi asked, confused. "Where do you buy it from?"

"Just buy from our boss. It doesn't matter who the boss sells to, I'll just buy from him, find a way to resell it, and the money I make in the middle is mine, right?" Li Baoqing shook his head and puffed on his cigarette. "You think I've been in the market for nothing these past two years? I've learned a lot, made a bunch of friends, and I've already figured things out."

"You've got a knack for this," Hu Yi said with a smile, then hesitated, "How much stock are you planning to buy? Do you need to rent a warehouse just to store it?"

"I haven't handled many yet. But business has been getting better and better in the market these past two years. I can seize the opportunity to make a few big deals. How can I manage without warehouse space?"

Hu Yi nodded slowly: "You've certainly thought ahead, but buying so much stock...aren't you afraid of the risks?"

"What's the risk? We can sell them slowly; they'll sell eventually." Li Baoqing curled his lip dismissively. "Besides, how can you achieve great things or make big money if you're afraid to take any risks at all?"

"You're really something, kid." Hu Yi laughed, flicking his cigarette butt far away. "Your mind is only on how to make money, you don't have time to think about anything else, do you?"

"Unlike you. All you ever think about is picking up girls, you never put your mind to anything useful." Li Baoqing rolled his eyes at him, then his expression darkened, and he hesitated before saying, "Actually... now I..."

"What's wrong?" Hu Yi was about to ask when he suddenly heard a commotion in the distance. He craned his neck to look: "Hmm? What's going on over there?"

"Yes, what happened?" Li Baoqing was also taken aback. He quickly shaded his eyes with his hand to look carefully and saw a group of people running towards them from the sales area without any apparent reason.

"Holy crap! What's going on?!" The two looked at each other in disbelief. Ahead, a crowd was scrambling to escape something, running and shouting, crying and screaming, as if something more terrifying than a bomb was driving them away.

Hu Yi and Li Baoqing were horrified and involuntarily backed away. The crowd quickly surged forward, and Hu Yi could clearly see their disheveled appearance.

Someone lost their shoe while running, but didn't even bother to pick it up. The person knocked to the ground didn't even pause for a moment, immediately using both hands and feet to scramble and crawl away for their life.

This scene was so terrifying that Hu Yi couldn't help but recall the horrific scenes he had seen on television of tourists fleeing for their lives during a tsunami.

Those who had been surrounding Hu Yi and Li Baoqing at the scene either turned and ran or, like them, stood frozen in place, unsure what to do. Only when the crowd was within ten meters of them did Hu Yi hear them chanting the same word in various languages: "Among! Among!"

"Amon?!" Hu Yi and Li Baoqing felt a chill, but they didn't seem particularly scared.

Although they had both heard legends about Amon from the market vendors, they had never actually seen Amon enter the market, and couldn't immediately imagine how he differed from the patrolling special police officers they had seen outside.

"What should we do? Should we run?" Li Baoqing hesitated, taking steps backward.

"Wait, what are they doing here?" Hu Yi felt a surge of unease. "Are they going to shut down the market? Jia Hui's goods are still sitting here!"

"Of course they'll seal it off! Is there even a question?" Li Baoqing urged repeatedly, "Anyway, we can't stop them here. Let's hurry back and think of another way!"

"But... let me check the situation first." Hu Yi pulled him away from the crowd, stood on tiptoe through a gap in the shipping containers by the roadside, and peered for a moment. Suddenly, his expression changed, and he exclaimed, "Holy crap! Are those people really Amon?!"

The fleeing crowd stretched out in a long line. Behind the line, several rows of fully armed special police officers were jogging slowly toward them. The foreigners who were slower to escape had already been subdued on the spot, lying face down on the ground with their hands on their heads, too afraid to move.

The weather was still quite hot, but the men were all covered up in military boots and camouflage, with various rifles in their hands, some pointed to the sky, some to the ground, and some pointed at people.

In addition, they were strong and burly, their movements were fierce and ruthless, and they shouted continuously. It is no wonder that the market bosses fled at the mere sight of them.

What chilled Hu Yi and the others to the bone was that none of these Amons were wearing helmets, but instead wore black SWAT masks on their heads. Some only had their eyes showing, while others had their mouths exposed, making them look quite terrifying at first glance.

Masks are essential equipment for special police officers in various countries when carrying out special missions such as counter-terrorism. However, ordinary people rarely have the opportunity to witness them carrying out missions, let alone see police officers wearing only masks without helmets.

Also for the purpose of concealing their true appearance, many robbers and terrorists favor similar hooded masks. Moreover, through the long-term and persistent dissemination of various films, television shows, and video games, the image of "bad guys wearing hoods" has become a deeply ingrained stereotype.

Suddenly, a group of masked, armed men appeared before him, a sight that would fill anyone with dread. Even though Hu Yi could identify them as SWAT officers by the insignia on their camouflage uniforms, he couldn't help but feel a little intimidated.

What surprised him even more was that, perhaps because he wasn't in the midst of the running crowd, his shout of a Chinese phrase to Li Baoqing beside him in such a noisy environment had actually caught the attention of Amon in the distance.

The two closest Amon heads twitched slightly, and four cold gazes simultaneously shot towards where Hu Yi and Li Baoqing were standing. Although they were twenty or thirty meters away, the two men could feel an electric shock-like chill the moment their eyes met.

"Run, run!" Li Baoqing whispered.

"Let's go!" Hu Yi lowered his head to avoid Amon's gaze.

Fortunately, the two Amons only glanced at them and ignored them. The two crouched down, turned around, joined the crowd, and ran out of the market in a flash.

(End of this chapter)