Chapter 459: Arson

Tian Dan immediately stopped He Yuzhu: "Zhuzi, since you told me about this matter, you must leave it to me to handle; you cannot intervene."

"Yes! Comrade Deputy Bureau Chief Tian!" Although He Yuzhu was unwilling, he could only back down.

"Rest assured, if the enemy is truly deranged and wants to burn your entire family, we will absolutely not be soft-handed."

He Yuzhu shook his head helplessly: "Dan, this is all the aftereffect of letting Zhou Hao go like releasing a tiger back to the mountains!"

Tian Dan gave a bitter smile: "Lao Liu took the fall for all the charges, what can we do! I heard his uncle got him into a shipyard over in Shanghai. It's very far from here; I always felt that this matter didn't look much like something he did."

He Yuzhu nodded: "I've thought about it carefully; I do have a few sworn enemies in the Courtyard, but they shouldn't have such guts."

Tian Dan smiled slightly: "I recently received news that people from Taiwan have been sent over again, wanting to sabotage the projects aided by the Soviet Union. Perhaps they have set their sights on you!"

He Yuzhu thought for a moment and said: "If that's really the case, the number of people they sent certainly won't be small, so I'll be responsible for the outer perimeter patrol, and I'll leave the safety inside the courtyard to you all."

Tian Dan replied: "No problem."

Time passed quickly, and in the blink of an eye, it was midnight.

He Yuzhu lay on a rooftop four hundred meters away, staring intently at the various alleys leading to the 95 Courtyard, his eyelids beginning to fight each other.

At the same time, two snipers were lying in ambush on the roof of the East Cross Courtyard, one watching He Daqing's residence in the Zhongyuan, and the other keeping a firm watch on the wall of the East Cross Courtyard.

Another three-plus hours passed, and there was still no sign of the enemy.

By four in the morning, the two people lying in ambush on the roof could barely hold on, frequently adjusting their positions, and their eyelids were closed more often than not.

Just at this moment, a door in the Houyuan was quietly opened.

Li Yong snuck to the corner of the wall, poured all the gasoline into a bucket, and then carried the bucket, walking quickly toward the Zhongyuan.

When he reached the front of the He Family home, he violently splashed the gasoline from the bucket onto the doors and windows, then retreated a few steps, took out the matches in his pocket, and was about to light it. Unfortunately, he was too nervous and actually dropped the matches on the ground. He quickly picked them up, took out a match, and was about to light it.

The sniper on the roof of the East Cross Courtyard heard footsteps and immediately opened his eyes, only then seeing someone carrying a bucket and splashing something onto the He Family's doors and windows. At first, he didn't realize the danger, but upon smelling the gasoline, he realized it was actually gasoline. There was no time to warn them; he immediately took aim and pulled the trigger.

"Bang!"

A gunshot pierced the night sky.

Li Yong was shot in the head and fell to the ground in response, the match in his hand also falling to the ground.

After the gunshot, the entire courtyard was suddenly in an uproar.

He Daqing inside the house had already smelled the gasoline and shouted: "Guizhi, Yushui, don't turn on the lights! Hurry and hide in the basement, someone is splashing gasoline on our house!"

"Dad, got it!" He Yushui ran toward the basement in the dark, opened the door, and dove in. He Daqing followed closely behind, holding the baby and pulling Shen Guizhi in with him.

That the He Family could have such a reaction was the result of He Yuzhu constantly having his family practice over these years.

The basement under the room was no longer just a storage room, but a secret passage that could connect to the East Cross Courtyard.

A few hours ago, He Yuzhu had wanted his family to move to the East Cross Courtyard.

He Daqing did not agree; he felt that with the underground passage and a gun in his hand, he was not afraid of a sneak attack by secret agents at all.

Every household in the courtyard turned on their lights.

The sniper on the roof of the East Cross Courtyard and the two police officers on the ground quickly ran to the Zhongyuan to secure the scene.

Mainly, they were afraid that someone might use an open flame to ignite that gasoline.

Seeing the people in the courtyard walking toward the Zhongyuan one after another, they stopped everyone: "Everyone in the courtyard listen up, enemy agents are causing sabotage; no one is allowed to approach the scene, and all open flames are strictly prohibited!"

As soon as He Yuzhu heard the gunshot, he immediately realized something had happened.

He rushed back to the Courtyard and found that quite a few people had already gathered.

Four plainclothes officers were desperately trying to maintain order.

He Yuzhu stepped forward quickly and asked: "Where did the secret agents come in from?"

A plainclothes officer lowered his voice and replied: "The person was hiding right in your courtyard. You hurry and find a way to deal with the gasoline on your doors and windows, remember... you absolutely cannot use an open flame."

He Yuzhu nodded, turned around, dragged a few bags of sand from the East Cross Courtyard, quickly covered the area where the gasoline was splashed with the sand, and found some cotton cloth to forcefully absorb the remaining oil stains.

At this time, Yi Zhonghai, Liu Haizhong, and Yan Bugui also heard the noise and rushed out.

Hearing that secret agents wanted to burn the He Family's house, the expressions of the few became grave.

Liu Haizhong was tall; through the crowd, he recognized at a glance that the person lying on the ground was actually Li Yong from the Houyuan, and he couldn't help but cry out: "The one who died is Li Yong!"

The courtyard was suddenly in an uproar.

He Yuzhu also leaned over to take a look; it really was that kid. He was secretly shocked in his heart; to tell the truth, he never expected that the one who wanted to burn his family to death this time was actually Li Yong from the same courtyard.

Yi Zhonghai also walked over to help He Yuzhu wipe the gasoline off the doors and windows. Yan Bugui watched from afar. Liu Haizhong ran to the Houyuan to notify the Li Family.

Yi Zhonghai suddenly asked: "Zhuzi, what exactly is going on in the courtyard tonight! It has me all confused!"

He Yuzhu sighed and said: "In the evening, wasn't my car burned? I reported it to the police, and after an investigation, it was discovered that a bucket of gasoline in the car was missing... They analyzed that someone might want to harm my family, so the police laid an ambush in the East Cross Courtyard..."

Yi Zhonghai whispered: "The Li Family is a scourge in this courtyard; there isn't a single reasonable person in that family..."

"First Elder, this time, regardless of whether Li Yong is a secret agent or not, just based on the fact that he committed arson, being shot to death is a deserved punishment. He was trying to kill everyone in our courtyard. His father was a traitor, and the son is actually even worse than his father; they really are a family of bad seeds. I think everyone should discuss it and drive the Li Family out."

Yi Zhonghai nodded: "After the police leave, we'll hold a full courtyard meeting to discuss it."

At this time, He Daqing also brought his family out from the East Cross Courtyard.

Hearing that the person who committed arson was Li Yong, He Daqing cursed loudly: "Good riddance! At such a young age, he doesn't learn anything good; sooner or later he'd be a scourge!"

"Dad, I told you to go to the East Cross Courtyard, but you wouldn't listen; if he had ignited those twenty-plus liters of gasoline, you wouldn't have been able to run out..." He Yuzhu was also providing cover for He Daqing, not wanting more people to know that he had a secret passage.

"It was indeed dangerous!" He Daqing pretended to be lingering in fear.

Just at this moment, Li Yong's mother, Zhang Xueqin, came rushing over from the Houyuan, wailing.

As soon as she saw her son lying in a pool of blood, she acted as if she had gone mad, cursing loudly: "Which god-damned person killed my son! You won't have a good death... This is not letting me live... My family only had this one seedling, and you didn't even spare a child..."

A plainclothes officer stepped forward and stopped her coldly: "This female comrade, please do not approach the crime scene!"

Zhang Xueqin acted as if she hadn't heard, and suddenly raised her hand and slapped the plainclothes officer.

With a "Slap!" sound.

The plainclothes officer was knocked staggering.

Zhang Xueqin still wouldn't stop, and clawed at his face with her hands.

Her actions thoroughly enraged this plainclothes officer; he raised his foot and kicked Zhang Xueqin hard in the stomach, knocking her to the ground.

Seeing this, Li Yong's grandparents also ran over and began to throw a tantrum.

Li Laohan raised his cane and struck at the other plainclothes officer.