My hometown is far away in Moscow.

Chapter 267 Hands Up

The people in the police car behind were shouting loudly through a megaphone, but the wind noise from the high speed made it impossible for Hu Yi to hear what was being said from the crackling loudspeaker.

"Wait...what do we do?" Li Baoqing lightly touched the accelerator with his right foot. "Should we stop? Or keep running and shake them off?"

"With your mediocre skills, all you can do is step on the gas and drive in a straight line? You think you can shake them off?" Hu Yi pointed impatiently ahead: "Just pull over and be nicer later, or if all else fails, slip them some money."

The turn signal came on, and Li Baoqing gently turned the steering wheel, slowly bringing the car to a stop on the side of the road. The police car slowed down and drove past them, then swerved about ten meters ahead of them, its lights flashing continuously, but no one got out.

"What's going on? What do you mean?" Hu Yi and Li Baoqing exchanged a puzzled look. "Are they chasing us or not? Why isn't anyone coming over?"

"Go down and admit your mistakes?" Li Baoqing reached out to open the door. "Confess and you'll be treated leniently, resist and you'll be punished severely. I wonder if the Russians will buy into that."

"Don't rush," Hu Yi pulled him back. "The atmosphere seems a bit off. Listen, what are they saying—hands up, don't move?"

"Making a mountain out of a molehill, that's enough." Li Baoqing put his hands on the steering wheel sullenly. "It's all your fault for making me stop. Maybe if I had just shifted into fifth gear, I would have shaken them off."

"Shut up! You can't even tell the difference between the accelerator and the brake. You might end up killing us both in a crash." Hu Yi spat out, pondering how to argue with the police later, when another police car caught up and stopped at their side and rear, forming a triangular position with the first police car.

"More reinforcements?" Hu Yi muttered blankly. He saw the doors of two police cars open, and four policemen hiding behind the doors cautiously observed the situation. They then exchanged a few words and quickly surrounded the car, two in front and two behind, guns at the front.

"No, no, no...no way?" Li Baoqing shuddered. "What...what is this...?"

Before the words were even finished, the two policemen in front bent over, raised their guns, and stood at attention, gesturing to their partner. Then, both car doors were simultaneously flung open, and the other two policemen shouted in unison, "Don't move! Hands up! Lower yourself! Get out! Slowly!"

"Okay! We won't move!" Hu Yi and Li Baoqing gently turned their bodies, one foot sticking out of the car and landing on the ground. As soon as they got up and poked their heads out, they were immediately grabbed by the back of their necks and pulled out.

"Get down! Get down!" Hu Yi felt a cold gun barrel pressed against his cheek. The faint, pungent smell of gun oil and gunpowder mixed together was quite invigorating. The policeman holding the gun seemed a little nervous, the muzzle of the gun trembling slightly against his face.

"I'm lying down! You...you relax, don't get excited!" Hu Yi slowly squatted down, then lay on the ground with his hands covering his head.

A quick glance revealed a young policeman with freckles standing beside him, holding an AK-74 assault rifle. He had probably rushed over from the car, as his peaked cap was slightly tilted upwards, revealing a patchwork of light yellow bangs on his forehead. His alert eyes betrayed a hint of barely concealed panic, suggesting he was inexperienced in handling such situations.

On the other side, Li Baoqing and Hu Yi were in similar positions. A slightly older policeman knelt on one knee, pressing a gun against the back of Li Baoqing's head, and demanded sharply, "Who are you people?!"

"Student! I'm a student!" Li Baoqing lay prone on the ground, not daring to move an inch. "I have my ID! It's in my pocket!"

"I'm a student too!" Hu Yi forced a smile at the young policeman beside him. "I'm a recent graduate, I have identification too!"

The older policeman nodded to his two colleagues at the front of the car. The two men came over and thoroughly searched Hu Yi and Li Baoqing, took out their identification documents, flipped through them, and chuckled in a low voice, "They're Chinese."

"Chinese?" The older policeman's tone softened slightly. He reached out and turned Li Baoqing's face to examine him for a moment before pressing, "Where did this car come from?!"

"The car is mine," Hu Yi hurriedly replied, "I bought it!"

"Bought it? Where did you buy it from?!"

My friend sold it to me!

"A friend? Who is he? What does he do?!"

"They are merchants from Azerbaijan!"

"An Azerbaijani businessman?" The older policeman hesitated for a moment, then gave his colleague a look: "Go check it out."

The two policemen who had just searched the car climbed inside and turned it upside down. They then opened the hood and trunk for a thorough inspection. After taking off their peaked caps and wiping their sweat, they said, "Everything is normal. We didn't find anything suspicious."

The older policeman finally breathed a sigh of relief, then pressed his gun forward again: "Why did you see the police running away? Tell me!"

"Run away? No, no!" Li Baoqing explained with a forced smile, "I just learned to drive, and I mistook the accelerator for the brake. I accidentally ran a red light, and I was scared... um... I was scared... Anyway, it was all a misunderstanding, a misunderstanding!"

"You idiot driver! What's the big deal about running a red light! We're not traffic cops! Why are you running?" The older policeman slung his gun over his shoulder, stood up, and laughed heartily with his two colleagues. Then he lightly kicked Li Baoqing in the backside: "Get up! You moron! You gave us a scare!"

Li Baoqing was startled by this little farce and broke out in a cold sweat. Still shaken, he got up and smiled at the police. The young officer guarding Hu Yi, however, refused to lower his gun, asking warily and suspiciously, "Warrant Officer! They really aren't...aren't they terrorists?"

"My dear police officer, have you ever seen a Chinese person involved in terrorist activities?" The warrant officer chuckled and walked around to Hu Yi's side. "I've never seen one in all my years of work. Alright, let him go now."

"Yes." The young policeman hesitated for a moment, slung his rifle over his shoulder, took a step back, and straightened his peaked cap. "Please rise."

"You think we're terrorists? That's ridiculous." Hu Yi felt utterly astonished, and a slight unease crept over him. He stood up, brushed the dust off his clothes, frowned, and chuckled, "Officers, isn't this misunderstanding a bit too much? You don't always mistake idiot drivers who run red lights for terrorists, do you?"

"Normally, of course not. It depends on the specific circumstances." The warrant officer calmly lit a cigarette. "First of all, you shouldn't have an idiot as your driver. Hmm, by the way, does he even have a driver's license?"

"I...no." Li Baoqing nervously rubbed his hands on his clothes.

"Well then, go take the test as soon as possible, and improve your driving skills while you're at it, okay?" The warrant officer glanced at him sideways, then looked meaningfully at Hu Yi: "Secondly, since you're driving a car like this, you should behave yourself on the road and not cause trouble for yourself, okay?"

"Okay, I will." Seeing that he didn't intend to dwell on Li Baoqing's driver's license issue, Hu Yi quickly nodded with a smile, then paused for a moment: "You mean... is there something wrong with my car?"

"It's not the car's fault, it's the license plate." The warrant officer bent down and pointed to the license plate. "Your car has Chechen plates. You ran a red light and tried to escape when you saw the police. How could the police not be alert? How could they not give chase?"

In Russia, cars are identified by numerical codes, something Hu Yi had never paid much attention to before and therefore had never seriously looked into.

Azerbaijan, along with Chechnya, located at the southernmost tip of Russia, belongs to the Caucasus region. Like many Azerbaijani businessmen who came to Russia in the early days, Mr. Abbasav of Lyublino initially traveled to Chechnya and several surrounding Russian federal republics to do business, and it was there that he bought this Opel car.

Later, due to frequent wars in southern Russia, he drove to Moscow to seek new opportunities, but the license plate still bore the number of the Chechen Republic.

Since the two Chechen wars of the 1990s, Chechen militants have become increasingly active in Russia, carrying out countless terrorist attacks. From numerous small-scale bombings in public places such as subways, bus stations, and restaurants, to the world-shaking Moscow Bolshoi Theatre hostage crisis, the devastating Beslan school hostage crisis, and even the later suicide bombing at Moscow airport, almost all of these were planned and carried out by Chechen terrorists.

Therefore, today, the name Chechnya has gradually become a symbol of terrorism. In the eyes of many Russians, Chechnya is most known for its bandits, thieves, and terrorists. Even Chechens with legitimate livelihoods are inevitably involved with these fellow countrymen, whether openly or covertly, and are thus avoided by ordinary people.

In this social environment, the police naturally have to be extra careful with them. However, many Chechens have poured into Moscow in recent years, and there are quite a few vehicles with Chechen license plates on the streets. Most of them appear to be law-abiding, so the police usually don't pay special attention to them.

Today was purely a coincidence. The two policemen in the first police car were on a routine night patrol, chatting idly while looking around, when they inadvertently saw an Opel sedan slowly approaching in their rearview mirror.

The two policemen didn't think much of it at first, but when the car got close, it suddenly accelerated and sped away through a red light. This unusual behavior caught the attention of the two policemen, who immediately noticed that the Opel had Chechen license plates and became extremely alert.

The two men informed another patrol car nearby via walkie-talkie, then drove closely behind until they forced the suspicious vehicle to stop on the side of the road. The police, fully expecting dangerous terrorists inside, possibly carrying weapons and explosives, rushed to the car only to find two ordinary Chinese men.

The misunderstanding was thus resolved, and the two police cars left one after the other. Hu Yi ridiculed Li Baoqing a few times and then sent him home.

In the days that followed, Hu Yi drove this Chechen-plated vintage car in Moscow, swaggering in and out of various places. Although he occasionally encountered some suspicion and cold looks, it also saved him from a lot of unnecessary trouble.

(End of this chapter)