Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
“Spill it, who sent you?” the pale-faced man asked.
“I… I really came to steal. No one’s ordering me,” the thief said in agony.
He hadn’t expected to be so unlucky when he decided to come in and steal something. Now, he had been caught by someone, and the person seemed to be bad.
The pale-faced man did not speak. He took out a folding knife and waved it in front of the thief’s eyes. It shone brightly under the light.
With a sploosh, it went straight into thief’s thigh. “Ah!”
“That’s just the beginning,” the pale-faced man said. “Scream softer, or I’ll cut your tongue off.”
“Mmph.” The thief was gritting his teeth and twitching with pain.
“Tell me, who sent you,” the pale-faced man said.
“No one, really,” the thief said. “I just heard that there was a lot of cash in the manager’s office, so I came here.”
“Who said that?” the pale-faced man asked.
“Someone I don’t know,” the thief replied.
“Did he tell you that himself?” the pale-faced man asked.
“No, I heard them talk about it when I was eating in a restaurant,” the thief replied. “I’m really just a thief. You can go to the police station to check it. I have a record.”
He felt dizzy when he saw the blood flowing from his thigh. When he had been caught in the past, at most he would be beaten and sent to the police station. The current situation had never happened. He had been imprisoned and stabbed
The pale man didn’t speak. His eyes were fixed on the thief, which made the thief’s heart bristle.
Sploosh! The knife was buried into another thigh. Another scream rang out.
“Tell the truth,” the pale-faced man said.
“I’m telling the truth! I swear!” the thief yelled in agony.
“A thief like you swearing?” the pale-faced man asked. “Only ghosts would believe it!”
“I didn’t lie to you,” the thief said. “I really didn’t lie to you.”
“Well, originally, I want to let you leave alive but forget it,” the pale-faced man said.
The thief was stunned. The smell of urine wafted out. He couldn’t help but pee himself out of fear.
The lights in the basement suddenly went out. There was a thud and not another single sound.
When the lights came on again, there were several police officers and the original two men in the enclosed space. The bound thief still had a knife in his thigh. The pale-faced man was lying on the ground unconscious.
“What’s this situation?” an officer asked.
“Ask the doctor to come and see what’s going on with them first,” another officer said.
The forensics team soon arrived. The two men were alive, but they were both in a coma. The bound one had lost a lot of blood, but it was not fatal.
“What caused the comas?” a police officer asked.
“I’m guessing something like ether,” a forensic team member said.
“So, there must have been a third person here,” the police officer said.
“Yes,” the forensic officer replied.
“Maintain the scene and look for evidence,” the lead police officer said. “The injured one will be sent to the hospital, and this one will be handcuffed.”
“Hey, isn’t this the serial thief?” A police officer pointed to the man tied to the chair.
“Do you know him?” the lead police officer asked.
“Yes, he’s a serial thief,” the other police officer said. “He’s been caught several times. I think his name his Lu Xiucheng.”
Out of the two men originally in the room, one was taken to the hospital, and one was sent to the police station.
Somewhere in Dao, Jia Zizai puffed out a cigarette smoke ring and said, “I didn’t expect this. Is it him?”
“No one saw you when you attacked, right?” Hu Mei asked.
“No. I was wearing a mask,” Jia Zizai said. “They wouldn’t know who I was even if they had seen me.”
“That’s good,” Hu Mei said.
In the police station, the man who was handcuffed woke up without any panic. After looking around and making sure that he was in the police station, he began to think about how to deal with the possible interrogation.
“An old hand,” a police officer said after seeing his actions from the monitoring equipment.
“Yes, I just checked his ID card. It’s forged,” another police officer said.
“Fake?” the first police officer asked.
“Yes, I have reported it to the leader and applied for help from the superior department to further expand the scope of the investigation,” the other police officer said. “Could this person be a wanted major criminal?”
“Let’s question him first,” the first police officer said.
“Sure,” the other police officer said.
“Name,” the first police officer said.
The handcuffed man looked up at the two police officers and remained silent.
“What’s your name?” the police officer asked again.
There was still no answer.
“Do you think we can’t find out who you are if you don’t reply?” the police officer asked. “You are suspected of kidnapping and intentionally hurting people. If you want to get out, it’s impossible. Just come clean!”
The man remained silent. He was very calm. He was thinking about who could’ve attacked him so quietly. He had set up an alarm device outside the basement. The other party was an expert.
The first interrogation by the two police officers had failed.
“Look after him,” the lead police officer said. “Don’t let him shut his eyes tonight.”
“Got it,” another police officer said.
A lamp was shining in the man’s eyes. He quietly sat as if he were a sculpture. A few hours later, he was in the same position.
“Well, he’s pretty good at enduring,” the lead police officer said.
“An old hand indeed,” a police officer said.
“By the way, has his blood sample been taken?” the lead police officer asked.
“Not yet,” the other police officer replied.
“Arrange for people to take it,” the lead police officer said. “Analyze his DNA and go to the database for comparison.”
“OK, I’ll arrange it right away,” the other police officer said.
When someone came to take blood samples for him, the pale-faced man’s expression quickly changed.
“Look, his face has changed,” the lead police officer said. “He must have done something else. We better hurry up!”
In the hospital, the stabbed man had been sent to a separate ward for isolation by the police.
“Tell me what happened?” a police officer asked.
“Well, I just went to get something from that trading company,” the man replied.
“Is that your company?” the police officer asked.
“No, I…” The injured man hesitated.
“Going in to take something that is not yours, perhaps?” the police officer asked.
“Well yes, I was going in to steal,” the man said.
“What did you steal?” the police officer asked.
“A bag of diamonds and $100,000,” the man said. “I think that was it.”
“How did you get kidnapped?” the police officer asked.
“I don’t know,” the man said. “I was stealing, but the light in the office suddenly turned on and I saw the man. He knocked me out. When I woke up, I found myself tied to a chair in a dark place. He stabbed me and asked who sent me to steal.”
“Who sent you there?” the police officer asked.
“I… No one sent me there,” the man said. “I had gone there to simply get some money to spend.”
“How did you know there was money there?” the police officer asked.
“It is a trading company,” the man said. “Besides, it was the general manager’s office. I’ve been keeping an eye on it for several days. There’s no one there at night. There’s just an old man watching the door, not even a security guard.”
“Go on,” the police officer said.
“He stabbed me in the thigh with a knife, and then the light suddenly went out,” the man said. “I fainted. When I woke up again, I saw the police. You came at the right time!”
For the first time, he realized that the police weren’t so bad.
“So, are you saying that a third person knocked you out?” the police officer asked.
“Well, I guess,” the man hesitantly replied.
“Think again, is there anything else?” the police officer asked.
“There’s no more,” the man said.
“Alright, take care of your injuries and let me know if you think of anything useful,” the police officer said.
“Alright, got it,” the man said.
The thief had no intention of saying anything more. It would be disadvantageous for him if he spoke more. Especially in the face of these veteran investigators and interrogators, one sentence might have fatal loopholes.
The night passed. The next morning, a police officer got some interesting news that he shared with the lead police officer on the case.
“Boss, there is a major discovery,” he said. “Through a DNA comparison, this man is likely to be the killer in the massacre in Lan last year.”
“What?” The lead police officer froze. “Last year’s Lan City massacre?”
“Yes,” the other police officer said.
Last August, a family in Lan was massacred. Five members of the family had been killed. One of the two bodyguards died, and the other one had been seriously injured. There was no useful evidence left at the scene. There was only the blood of an eighth person. It had been a major case.
For that reason, the city of Lan had asked the Ministry of Public Security for help. They had cooperated with experts for more than three months. However, no trace of the criminal had been found, and no suspect was identified. It became an unsolved case.
The lead police officer hadn’t expected that in Dao, thousands of miles away, they would’ve caught the suspect who was most likely the criminal suspect of that massacre.
“Get in touch with Lan immediately,” he said.
“OK, I’ll do it right away,” the other police officer said.
The people in Lan were also shocked when they heard the news. They immediately arranged personnel to confirm it.
