Chapter 123: The Frenzied Feng Sanpao

What kind of person was Katerina? She was someone with an impeccable moral compass, law-abiding, and utterly devoted to protecting the safety of the general public.

To casually talk about beating the crap out of Zhao Dasheng right in front of her—wasn't he just asking for trouble?

Just when Chang Yu expected Katerina to sternly reprimand him, or even lose her temper, he was surprised to find that she had no significant reaction to his thoughts.

This left Chang Yu, who prided himself on understanding Katerina, completely baffled. What on earth did she mean? Was she simply protective of her own? Was her first instinct to shield her subordinate whenever they got into a conflict with others? Or could it be... that he held a special place in her heart? A place so unique that she would abandon her long-held principles and ironclad rules just for him?

While Chang Yu was still racking his brains, Katerina's phone suddenly rang. He glanced silently at his own phone. It had been days, and not a single soul had called him. Look at how busy Katerina was, while he was left completely idle. Was this the difference between a boss and a nobody?

"Hello, Qian. Is something wrong?" Katerina answered.

"Sister Katya, this is bad, really bad!" a panicked female voice cried from the other end. "Something has happened with Director Sanpao. You need to come over and see!"

As if to confirm her words, the faint sounds of shattering glass, crashing furniture, and... Feng Sanpao's idiotic shouting drifted through the receiver. Amid the chaotic clatter, Feng Sanpao's booming voice drowned out everything else. Even Chang Yu, eavesdropping from the side, could hear every word clearly.

"Orochimaru, your doom has come!"

"Orochimaru, where do you think you're running? Face me in a duel!"

"Orochimaru, you coward! You have the guts to do it, but not the guts to face me?"

Speechless, Chang Yu exchanged a look with Yangyang. The man and the child stared at each other, both reading the sheer helplessness in the other's eyes. Was Feng Sanpao... having another mental episode? The same conclusion struck them both simultaneously.

"Did he skip his medication this morning?" Katerina asked, sounding far calmer than Chang Yu had expected, as if this were a regular occurrence.

"Y-yes," the woman on the line stammered. "By the time the caregivers realized he hadn't taken it, it... was already too late."

"Do your best to contain the situation. Don't let it escalate," Katerina instructed composedly. "We'll be there shortly. Just hang in there a little longer."

"Understood, Sister Katya," the woman said before hurriedly hanging up.

"You heard what my logistics officer said?" Katerina turned her clear, limpid eyes toward Chang Yu.

"Loud and clear," Chang Yu sighed, standing up and stretching his limbs. He patted Yangyang's head and said, "Come on, kiddo. Duty calls!"

***

Inside the sprawling lobby of Yongan Security Company, a bizarre spectacle was underway. A young man dressed in a striped hospital gown was cursing at the top of his lungs, brandishing a kitchen cleaver as he chased dozens of people in frantic circles.

These people were all office staff of Yongan Security—men, women, young, old, managers, and assistants alike. Under normal circumstances, they were polite, mild-mannered employees and executives who treated clients with the utmost respect. Now, however, they were reduced to a desperate pack of refugees running for their lives. They cried out in distress, screamed in terror, and begged for mercy, hoping their high-pitched shrieks would summon a savior.

They had no idea what sins they had committed to incur the wrath of heaven, which had unleashed this lunatic to plague them. All they knew was that if the madman hot on their heels caught up to them, their fate would be utterly catastrophic.

"Orochimaru, don't run! Fight me like a man!"

"Orochimaru, hiding behind your minions to escape is pathetic!"

"Orochimaru, take my Rasenshuriken!"

The young man looked utterly possessed, screaming with disheveled hair flying wild. His narrow, squinted eyes were bloodshot, making him look like a demon freshly emerged from the underworld. Barefoot, he skidded across the polished floor, violently kicking aside any desk or chair that stood in his way.

One young woman at the front of the pack finally broke down after running over a dozen laps. She burst into loud, aggrieved tears; she had never faced such misery in her entire life.

"You're Orochimaru! Your whole family is Orochimaru!" she shrieked at the top of her lungs, staging the loudest rebellion of her life. "Will someone please save me? Where are the police? Why aren't they here yet? If I keep running like this, the skin on my soles is going to peel right off!"

The young woman's raw display of emotion proved contagious.

A middle-aged man began to bellow hysterically, "I resign! I quit! I've worked here all this time, and nobody ever warned me I'd have to deal with a raving lunatic!"

"Mom! Mommy! Where are you? Save me!" came the desperate, regression-fueled wails of a mama's boy.

By the time Chang Yu and Katerina finally arrived, they were greeted by this bizarre, absurd, and highly comical sight. A massive crowd was being chased in endless circles around the Yongan Security lobby by a single, frail-looking teenager, like a pack of rabbits being hounded by a dog.

"Don't they know how to fight back? Why are they just running?" For some reason, Chang Yu felt a wave of secondhand embarrassment. "And even if they are fleeing, why not run out the door? Aren't they tired of running in circles?"

"There are so many of them. If they just swarmed him, they could easily beat him to the ground with one punch each." The scene was so pathetic that even Yangyang couldn't bear to watch.

"This is how normal people react," Katerina said, unfazed by the chaos. "When faced with danger, the natural instinct of an ordinary person isn't to fight back, but to run. Besides, Feng Sanpao is wielding a meat cleaver. It would be a tragedy if someone actually got slashed."

"Tsk, how pitiful," Chang Yu muttered, watching the scattering crowd with a touch of sympathy. In everyday life, these people were probably the elite of the elite, shining brightly in their respective fields and making countless contributions to society. Yet here they were, chased in circles by a single psychiatric patient. Just thinking about it was deeply embarrassing.

"Sister Katya, you're finally here!"

Just as Chang Yu and the others focused on Feng Sanpao, a dark figure suddenly crawled out from beneath a nearby desk. It was a young woman dressed in a black pinstriped suit and trousers. She looked ordinary, save for the dark freckles covering every square inch of her face.

She quickly stood beside Katerina, gazing up at her with eyes full of adoration and worship. Good grief, putting aside her facial features, she was practically a mini-Katerina. If one ignored their faces and only looked at their suits, it would be impossible to tell them apart. Of course, what caught Chang Yu's attention wasn't just the way this woman deliberately mimicked Katerina's every gesture, but the fact that—if he wasn't mistaken—she had just been cowering under a desk.

"Ah, Qian!" Katerina greeted her. "Has anyone called the police?"

"Someone did," Comrade Qian replied rapidly. "But don't worry, I gave the police department a heads-up beforehand. Not a single cop will show up. I issued a strict order commanding them to stand down."

Chang Yu: ...

Yangyang: !!!

*Sister, you're undermining them so blatantly. Aren't you afraid they'll find out?* No wonder not a single cop had arrived despite all the time that had passed. It turned out to be this lady's doing.

To Chang Yu's utter astonishment, Katerina did not get angry upon hearing this. Instead, she nodded in approval. "You handled this well. The affairs of the Disaster Investigation Bureau are none of the police's business. Besides, what if the local police showed up unaware of the situation, drew their guns, and accidentally shot Feng Sanpao?"

"Exactly," Comrade Qian said, proudly patting the mini pistol tucked into her waistband—the exact same model Katerina carried. "If I weren't worried about hurting the kid, I would've drawn my gun and taken him down myself!" She spoke with absolute bravado, completely ignoring the fact that she had just been hiding under a desk.

"Sister Katya, what should we do now?" Comrade Qian asked.

"The situation is a bit out of hand. As two delicate women, we should stay out of it if we can," Katerina analyzed with a straight face.

"Mmhmm, that makes perfect sense!" Comrade Qian nodded like a bobblehead, treating Katerina's words as absolute gospel.

"In times like this, we need a selfless, noble, and self-sacrificing... male comrade to step up." As she spoke, Comrade Qian shot Chang Yu a highly suggestive look, instantly triggering a bad premonition in his gut.

"Chang Yu, you're up," Katerina said, catching Comrade Qian's drift. She gave him a hard shove, hoping to launch him toward the crowd, but... he didn't budge an inch.

"Huh?" Chang Yu's eyes widened in confusion. *So bringing me along was just for this? Throwing me to the wolves when it matters?*

"What are you waiting for? Get over there!" Yangyang giggled gleefully, eager to watch him make a fool of himself.

Caught between Katerina's encouraging gaze and Comrade Qian's expectant look, Chang Yu let out a helpless sigh. He knew this battle was unavoidable. *Sanpao, oh Sanpao! Don't blame me for being heartless. Compared to Katerina's wishes, you're just a disposable pawn.*

"Feng Sanpao, watch out!" Chang Yu roared. Without hesitation, he tensed his core and leg muscles, lunging toward the raving lunatic in a few massive strides.

Then, under the bewildered, shocked, and admiring gazes of the crowd, Chang Yu launched himself into the air, executing a spectacular flying kick.

He sailed clean over the desks and chairs in the center of the lobby. After gliding a few meters through the air, his foot connected squarely with Feng Sanpao's face. From Chang Yu's point of view, he watched in slow motion as Feng Sanpao's face warped from normal to utterly distorted. His lips stretched open like a braying donkey's, bright red gums contrasting sharply with white teeth, as a string of clear drool flew from the corner of his mouth.

*Ugh, disgusting.*