"Are they gang members?"
Luoshu turned his head toward the direction of the gunshot, wanting to see who dared to open fire right under his nose.
"Lu! Lu!"
Just as Luoshu locked onto the position of the shooter around the corner, five police cars screeched to a halt right behind him, disgorging a dozen officers who quickly moved up to his position. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine," Luoshu waved his hand and said.
"Pch... We have a 10-47 at 2073 First District, requesting backup."
Although there were already more than a dozen Long Beach Police Department officers on the scene, Mobley—who had followed Luoshu—was the first to call in a request for backup to the surrounding patrol units.
"Copy that."
"Copy that."
As Mobley broadcasted the request for backup, Luoshu got a clear look at the gunman.
The shooter was a Black man, and his skin was so dark that his exact age was impossible to tell.
At that moment, the man was sitting at the entrance of the 7-Eleven supermarket, surveying his surroundings. When he saw Luoshu and the others with their guns drawn on him, instead of looking frightened, he suddenly sat up from the ground and seemed as if he wanted to walk straight toward them.
"Let me see your hands!"
"Drop the gun and put your hands on your head!"
"Right now!"
Since Luoshu was in the driver's seat of the truck and effectively at the very front of the group, he was the one who gave the verbal warnings.
"Take cover!"
Seeing that the man had no intention of stopping, Luoshu quickly called back to Selena, Mobley, and the others.
Even though the man was only holding a handgun and the distance between them was around forty meters, taking cover was still a necessary precaution for safety.
"Immediately! Drop the gun! Put your hands on your head!"
Once everyone had retreated behind the truck doors and the rear of the vehicle, Luoshu pulled a submachine gun from the backseat and aimed it at the Black man.
Under Luoshu's repeated threats, the man finally stopped in his tracks, but he still refused to let go of the gun in his hand. He simply let his arms hang naturally at his sides, staring fixedly in Luoshu's direction.
"Kill me!"
After a standoff lasting several seconds, the gunman suddenly shouted at the top of his lungs toward Luoshu.
"What's he playing at?"
Next to Luoshu, Selena—who had just pulled a riot shield from the back of the pickup truck—asked as she shielded Luoshu's front.
They had handled plenty of emergency calls, but guys who practically begged the police to execute them right off the bat were still a rare sight.
Right at that moment, because someone had reported the incident and triggered a dispatch, an exclamation point appeared above the Black man's head, just like the one over Besley.
[Forced Gunman;
Aggressiveness: Low;
Weapon: Smith & Wesson M&P9 pistol.]
He had a gun, his aggressiveness was low, and on top of that, he had been forced into firing. Luoshu had reason to believe this shooting wasn't as straightforward as it seemed.
Still, Luoshu didn't quite know what the man's ultimate intention was.
"I have no idea what his game is, but since he doesn't seem to have any intention of shooting again, we shouldn't open fire rashly."
After telling this to Selena, Luoshu picked up a walkie-talkie from the driver's seat of the pickup and spoke to the other officers: "We are currently executing another operation. Exercise caution and hold your fire."
"Understood."
"Understood."
The officers knew they were carrying out a special assignment under Luoshu as ordered by Sergeant Lori, so they replied cleanly over the radio.
While they were talking, nearby patrol units quickly arrived on the scene, sealing off both ends of the street and trapping the Black man dead in the middle of the main thoroughfare.
"Beep... beep..."
Just as two or thirty guns were trained on the man, Luoshu's cell phone suddenly rang.
Normally, Luoshu wouldn't pay attention to his phone at a time like this, but the situation with the Black man in the middle of the road was just too peculiar. It made Luoshu suspect that this phone call might be related to him.
"Keep your eyes on him."
After giving this instruction to Selena, Luoshu held his gun in one hand and pulled out his phone with his left.
Sure enough, the moment Luoshu saw the number displayed on the screen, he knew this shooting incident today had been specifically staged for him.
"Officer Luoshu, I knew you'd pick up."
The moment Luoshu answered, the voice of Arturo Santos—the leader of the Mexican Gang in Long Beach whom Luoshu had just been speaking with—came through the earpiece.
"Your man?" Luoshu looked at the Black man still standing in place and asked Arturo Santos.
"Huh? Officer Luoshu, I don't know what you're talking about."
The leader of the Mexican Gang was hardly an idiot; naturally, he wasn't going to admit over the phone that he had sent a gunman. How was that any different from a direct confession?
Even though Arturo Santos didn't admit to it, this exchange alone was enough for Luoshu to be certain this was the other man's doing.
*Doesn't your Long Beach Police Department want to control gang shootings? Well, I want to see how you plan to control them if you refuse to cooperate with us.*
That was what Arturo Santos was thinking, and this mindset was based on the fact that the Mexican Gang had the largest numbers of any gang in Long Beach.
"So you think you've got us cornered?" Luoshu asked Arturo Santos, his face dark.
"I don't know what the officer is talking about. I'm just calling to say that cooperation is still on the table. What do you think?"
"As long as the officer agrees, not only will our Mexican Gang not fire a single shot for the next month, but I guarantee the Crips and the Bloods won't either."
"It's a business venture with a hundred-fold return. I believe Officer Luoshu is a smart man."
Arturo Santos no longer sounded irritated like he had when he slammed down the phone earlier. He spoke smoothly and methodically, clearly convinced that Luoshu would eventually agree to his proposal.
Yet Arturo Santos had miscalculated. He wasn't dealing with an ordinary police officer.
After listening to the man's long-winded pitch, Luoshu spoke into the phone: "It seems you still didn't understand what I told you just a moment ago."
"I'll only repeat myself once: either you back off, or you collect the corpses. There are no other options."
With that, without waiting for a reply, Luoshu hung up the phone.
After Luoshu hung up, Selena nodded beside him and remarked, "That's the first time I've ever seen anyone talk to gang members like that. Aren't you worried they'll manufacture a few more shootings for you within twenty-four hours?"
Luoshu didn't answer Selena's question directly. He glanced at the Black man who had dropped his gun on the main road and said, "Hand him over to the patrol cops. We're heading back."
"Back where?" Selena asked, puzzled.
"The Mexican Gang's home turf."