My hometown is far away in Moscow.

Chapter 290 A Tombstone

Someone behind them fired a shot while cursing. Several bandits seemed to linger at the edge of the woods for a moment before roaring and charging into the woods in hot pursuit.

Outside, it was dark, and inside the woods, it was completely pitch black. Hu Yi ran blindly in the dark, stumbling every few steps, while the bandits, trying to locate him by sound, also fell quite often.

After stumbling and running for several dozen meters, Hu Yi was already out of breath when he realized that the backpack on his shoulder was extremely cumbersome.

Huh? He was suddenly startled. The night had been a mess, and his mind was a jumbled mess. Didn't he give the bag to Yabalov before he left? Where did this bag come from?

No time to think about that, it's not mine anyway. Hu Yi casually took off his bag and threw it aside, then took off running again.

He ran for an unknown amount of time until the footsteps behind him gradually faded away, and sparse light appeared in front of him, indicating that he had reached the edge of the woods. He dared not linger and rushed to the edge of the forest, leaning against a tree and panting heavily.

Below me was a sloping earthen slope, with a few houses not far away. Before I could take a good look, bandits suddenly fired several shots from the woods, I wondered if they had spotted me.

Hu Yi hurriedly bent down to run down the slope, but he didn't expect that it had rained for most of the night and the soil was soft and slippery. He lost his footing and slid down the slope, rolling a long way.

No, it's not working. Hu Yi felt like he had fainted for a moment, but he didn't know exactly how long. An hour? A minute? Or just a second?

No matter how long it had been, he was now completely exhausted. He could only lie sprawled on the ground, letting the rain wash the mud off his body.

The last time he felt this exhausted was probably on that snowy night when Building 6 of Youda University caught fire! He didn't sleep a wink all night searching for Xiang Nan's whereabouts.

However, that time he was only tormented mentally, but now he was physically exhausted. Hu Yi blew the raindrops from his lips, turned his head weakly to one side, and closed his eyes with a bitter smile.

How unlucky! Beside me stood a tombstone, with several bouquets of flowers in front of it—utterly jinxed. Was this a sign of my doom? Were these bandits here to take my life?

But why? They're the bad guys. And all I want is to take back what's rightfully mine! To take back what's mine from a bunch of bastards!

Hu Yi shouted in his heart, opened his eyes, panted a few times, and suddenly sat up. He turned his head and saw three disheveled bandits who had just emerged from the woods and were standing on the earthen slope, pointing at him and shouting. One of them was Yuri.

Hu Yi sprinted towards the nearest house with legs as heavy as lead, when someone fired a shot from behind, the bullet seemingly hitting a tombstone.

"Don't shoot!" someone shouted. Hu Yi took the opportunity to hide behind the house, and the three bandits slid down the embankment and then disappeared into the rain.

Hu Yi held his breath and cautiously peeked out to observe. He could only see Yuri peeking out and ducking behind a tree; the other two were nowhere to be seen. Looking back into the distance, the houses were gradually getting denser. If he could successfully reach that area, his chances of escape would be much greater.

"Let's take a gamble!" He took a deep breath, then dashed out of his hiding corner and ran desperately towards another house.

"There!" someone shouted from behind.

Hu Yi ran to the side of the house without paying attention, intending to turn around and hide at the back, when suddenly half a head peeked out from the corner of the wall.

It has black hair.

Hu Yi felt a sudden chill in his heart.

"Don't move!" The black-haired man suddenly stepped out from the corner and raised his gun, aiming it at Hu Yi, who was a meter away.

"Go to hell!" Hu Yi's eyes were bloodshot. He used his last bit of strength to leap forward, knocking Hei Mao to the ground and throwing his pistol far away.

Ignoring the pain, he scrambled to his feet and continued running. After only a few steps, he saw someone lurking suspiciously behind another house, peering in his direction. He turned to flee towards the main road, but then saw shadowy figures approaching from the distance.

Hu Yi felt dizzy and unsteady. He staggered off in a deserted direction and had only run a dozen steps when he heard several gunshots. One of the bullets hit his feet, just inches away.

Hu Yi's legs went weak, and he stumbled two steps before falling to the ground. Footsteps were rapidly approaching from all around, and it seemed that he really couldn't escape this time.

"Here he is! It's the kid!" Someone on the left quickly approached.

"You lot, don't move!" Someone else arrived from the right. The two groups faced off in the rain, guns drawn, and a stalemate ensued.

So they weren't working together after all? Confused, Hu Yi took the opportunity to lie down and catch his breath, gathering his strength. Glancing to his left, he saw Yuri less than ten meters away, with two other bandits close behind.

"Police!" the man on the right spoke first. "Who are you?"

Hu Yi was overjoyed, but quickly turned his head to look to the right, only to be greatly disappointed.

A dozen meters away, there were six or seven men, women, and children, some tall and some short, some fat and some thin, standing scattered about. The one speaking in front was a slightly chubby middle-aged man with dark hair, who seemed to be the very person he had just tackled.

Looking up again, Hu Yi couldn't help but chuckle. He was now directly above the tombstone he had just seen, the flowers on the ground only five or six meters away. After going around in circles, he had somehow ended up back here again—it was truly fate!

"Ah, misunderstanding, we're law enforcement officers too." A voice came from the left; it was Yuri. He pulled a small wallet from his pocket, flashed it across the way, and then pointed at Hu Yi, who was lying on the ground: "Security Bureau special agents, apprehending a criminal, having chased him here from Moscow overnight."

Hu Yi was furious and about to speak up when the slightly chubby, dark-haired man asked, "What criminal?"

"He's a bandit," Yuri shrugged. "Suspected of smuggling and selling illegal goods, participating in organizing terrorist attacks, and just now he stole a vehicle and robbed people. Thank you all for your help."

"Haha! I'm not! They're the bandits!" Hu Yi laughed angrily, propping himself up on the ground and turning to look at the slightly chubby, dark-haired man: "I'm Chinese! Have you ever seen any Chinese bandits?"

"Comrades, don't be fooled by this cunning fellow. He's not only a full-fledged bandit, but also a henchman of a notorious mafia boss." Yuri stared coldly at Hu Yi, taking a step forward with righteous indignation: "Just an hour ago, he resisted arrest in a Chechen-plated car and even attempted to murder our colleague."

"You're talking nonsense! You're the bandit! You stole our goods!" Hu Yi, having regained some strength, slowly stood up and wiped the rain from his face. "Officers! I'm just a Chinese merchant selling pants; they robbed me of my goods!"

The slightly chubby, dark-haired man, unable to determine who was lying, hesitated for a moment. Yuri casually holstered his gun, spread his arms, and walked towards Hu Yi, smiling as he called out to the group opposite him, "Comrades, can I take him now? I'm sorry for disturbing your sweet dreams with the gunshot earlier, please go back and rest."

No one spoke; the group on the right seemed to tacitly approve of his suggestion.

"Don't come any closer!" Hu Yi instinctively took a few steps back, then turned around and shouted, "Officer! I'm telling the truth! They're bandits! I'm just an ordinary person—"

Before he could finish his sentence, his gaze suddenly fell on the tombstone next to him again.

The rain was still heavy, but the sky had brightened considerably. Now Hu Yi could see clearly that it was a very large tombstone.

Strictly speaking, it's more like a monument, as there's a bust statue on top of the stone.

The statue depicts a soldier, full of vigor, gazing into the distance, wearing a hat that covers his ears.

That was a tank crewman's hat.

A flash of lightning seemed to strike Hu Yi's eyes. He hesitated for a moment, then shouted, "Andrei!"

No one spoke up.

"Andrei Mikhailov!" he called out again.

"He's not here." The slightly chubby, dark-haired man looked at him suspiciously. "Who are you?"

"Don't fall for it!" Yuri shouted sharply. "He's cunning!"

"I am... my name is Anton! I've been to this town before!" Exhaustion and sudden excitement made Hu Yi tremble uncontrollably. "This is... Abalensk! I... am your friend... they... are bandits..."

"Our friend? When did you come to Abarensk?" The slightly chubby, dark-haired man's face was gloomy. He gestured to both sides, and immediately several people dispersed and surrounded Yuri and the two bandits from a distance.

"A few years ago... 2005... four years ago! Fatty Andrei... competition day... challenge... drinking..." Hu Yi pressed his hands against his head, rambling incoherently, "Officer Andrei drank too much that night... he must have drunk too much again last night..."

"That's right, he's drunk again." A burly woman leaned over, frowned, and looked at him. She whispered to the slightly overweight, dark-haired man, "Jima, it's true. One year on the night of a competition, a Chinese man came to town looking for another Chinese man. But... I remember he was a young lad, who looked at least ten years younger than him."

"I'm just getting old! I saw you at the police station! I can't remember your name! But I remember there are many Andres here, so many! And I also remember him—" Hu Yi pointed to the monument in the distance, two streams of tears sliding down his cheeks with the rain. At this moment, his mind was blank, yet he recited almost word for word the words he had only heard once:

"Andrei Andreyevich Ivanov, a lieutenant tank driver in the Soviet Red Army! The only combat hero from Abalensk in the Great Patriotic War! He heroically sacrificed his life in the Battle of Moscow in October 1941! He rests in peace in a small...small...place only fifty kilometers from his hometown..."

"Little Yaroslavets," the black-haired man named Dima and the woman said in unison.

"Yes! Little... Yaroslavets!" Hu Yi continued reciting shakily, "Only... twenty-six years old! He is... the eternal pride of the entire town!"

"Director Dima, I think he did come here a few years ago." A young man pointing a gun at Yuri turned and carefully examined Hu Yi. "That night, Deputy Director Andrei had us drive him back to Moscow overnight. I shouldn't be mistaken."

(End of this chapter)