Hong Tao wanted to vent his anger, so why didn’t he just beat up this thief right there in the subway, then run out as soon as he was done? Wouldn’t that be much simpler? Why bother dragging him all the way outside the station? It’s not that Brian Carter was confused by his rage, nor that he wanted more people to witness his bravery outside the station. This was actually a well-thought-out, or rather, an experienced move.

There are cameras in the subway—even the most primitive videotape cameras can capture you clearly. Plus, the subway police and the local police are not part of the same system. Although they’re both under the city bureau’s unified leadership, the subway police are called the Subway Branch, a separate division. Brian Carter has family working in the police system, so he can pull some strings with the local police station or branch, but he’s not very familiar with the subway branch. Even if he could ask for help, it would take several connections, and his influence wouldn’t be of much use.

Since Brian Carter wanted to let off steam, he was definitely going to use his fists. He knew he wasn’t a professional, able to precisely control the degree of injury he inflicted. Once he started, there was a chance he’d cause minor injuries. The problem was, this thief hadn’t been caught red-handed, and at the time, Brian Carter hadn’t planned to catch him—just scare him off with a few words. He hadn’t expected the thief to make things difficult for himself, which led to everything that happened next.

Now that he was going to beat him up, he had to leave himself a way out. First, there couldn’t be any video evidence—otherwise, there’d be no way to deny it. Second, he had to avoid the jurisdiction of the subway branch. As long as he was outside the station, any further issues would fall under the local police station or branch’s responsibility. Even if he injured the thief, it wouldn’t be the subway police’s problem, and he wouldn’t even have to pay compensation—at most, he’d owe someone a favor. Brian Carter didn’t like owing favors, but at this point, he couldn’t care less. He’d been feeling stifled these past few days, and the thief had brought this on himself. Besides, he really was a thief, and not even a very competent one. No matter how you looked at it, he deserved a lesson—it could only benefit society.

This scrawny thief, less than 1.7 meters tall and weighing under 130 pounds, was truly unlucky to fall into Brian Carter’s hands. From the elevator to the station exit—a distance of over a hundred meters—he never got a chance to lift his head; Brian Carter nearly tore his scalp off. The thief wasn’t very bright, either. He kept trying to keep up with Brian Carter’s pace, never thinking to flop down and play dead. So Brian Carter just dragged him by the hair all the way to the exit before the thief finally realized he’d have been better off lying down.

Unfortunately, he realized it too late. The exit had a smooth terrazzo floor and two steps going down. With his weight and the friction, there was no way he could counteract Brian Carter’s pulling force. As a result, lying down only made things worse—Brian Carter dragged him out of the station like a dead dog, bumping him twice on the steps, so he was already pretty banged up before Brian Carter even started hitting him.

“I’ll teach you, you sneaky bastard! I’ll teach you for being so damn sticky-fingered and foul-mouthed! I’ll teach you—” Before the thief could recover from the pain in his lower back and hips, Brian Carter’s assault came down like a violent storm. Big feet and knees landed left and right in turn. With blows of this force, just one hit to the face was enough to take away any resistance, and then the thief became nothing more than Brian Carter’s punching bag.

Brian Carter didn’t intend to beat the thief to death—he was holding back, avoiding vital areas. It looked fierce, but it wouldn’t cause any serious injuries—just a bloody nose, loose teeth, and black eyes. Besides, Brian Carter was already planning to stop. Beating up a defenseless man in public for too long wasn’t appropriate; he just wanted to get it out of his system. Otherwise, sooner or later, someone would come over to intervene. Even if they didn’t try to stop him, someone would at least call the police.

Chapter 0010: Even Drinking Cold Water Chips Your Teeth

“Hey, what are you doing! Stop, stop, do you hear me!” Unfortunately, when you’re down on your luck, nothing goes smoothly. If Brian Carter had stopped just half a minute earlier, nothing would have happened. Just a few steps south from here was an alley—duck in, take a few turns, and who could find him? But those last few flying kicks drew a sharp shout from behind. It was a woman’s voice, and not only did she shout, she also reached out and grabbed Brian Carter’s arm.

“Crap, I’m screwed!” That was the first thought in Brian Carter’s mind when he heard the woman’s voice.

The voice sounded familiar—firm and powerful, full of confidence. For a woman to confront an unknown violent man like him on the street, to shout so boldly and rudely, and even dare to grab him—she definitely wasn’t just a concerned bystander. She was either a government official passing by with an entourage, or a cop!

That’s right, a cop. Only police officers would use that tone to shout at someone. They have more confidence than ordinary people—after all, very few people dare to attack a cop in public, especially in Beijing in the 1990s. Anyone who did was just asking for trouble.