100 Arrests

Changjiang Avenue.

Inside a white Land Rover, Luo Xinghua sat in the driver’s seat, smoking. There was a trace of restlessness on his face. His left arm rested outside the window, and from time to time he tapped ash from his cigarette while scanning his surroundings.

Tonight, he had agreed to meet Shrimp here to make the deal.

Just thinking of that worthless punk made Luo Xinghua burn with anger. He had only gone looking for the little bastard to steal his phone back after Tang Yu and Xiang Hongbo had shaken him down.

Who would have thought that useless wretch would fail at everything and then try to extort him as well, just like those two bastards?

Luo Xinghua felt stifled, furious, and deeply vexed. He could not help wondering what kind of sins he had committed in a former life to end up meeting these three pieces of trash: disloyal, untrustworthy, and rotten to the core.

He made up his mind. Once this was over, he would certainly teach the three of them a lesson and let them know he was not to be trifled with.

This was not over.

Bang!

The car lurched. Luo Xinghua jumped in fright and hurriedly checked around the vehicle.

Through the rearview mirror, he saw an electric scooter rammed into the back of his Land Rover. The man riding it looked panicked.

“Damn it. When it rains, it pours,” Luo Xinghua cursed as he climbed out of the car.

There were two people on the scooter: a man in front who had been driving, and a woman seated behind him.

“How do you park like that? Since when is this a place to park?” the scooter rider shouted.

Hearing that, Luo Xinghua almost laughed from rage. “Are you out of your mind? You hit my car.”

“This road isn’t your private property. You can’t just stop wherever you want. If you hadn’t parked like that, would I have run into you?”

“You know this is a road, and you still ride a flimsy scooter onto it. You’re the one courting death.”

“How dare you talk like that? So what if we ride a scooter? What’s it got to do with you? Big deal, you drive a Land Rover,” the woman on the scooter snapped, striding forward in anger.

Luo Xinghua glanced at the car. The damage was not serious. “I’ve got something to do today. No time to waste words with you. Get lost.”

The rider pointed at Luo Xinghua’s nose with his right hand and shouted, “Who are you calling pointless? Say that again if you’ve got the guts.”

“You think I’m afraid of you? Just wait,” Luo Xinghua snapped coldly, then turned and started back toward the driver’s seat.

But before he had taken more than a few steps, the woman from the scooter rushed up behind him and kicked the bend of his left knee.

With a dull thud, Luo Xinghua’s leg buckled and he collapsed to the ground.

In the next instant, someone seized his left arm, twisted and lifted it, and pinned it behind his back. His entire body was forced face-down into the ground, unable to move.

“Damn it, you dare ambush me? I’ll @#%￥&…” Luo Xinghua roared in fury.

“Police. Don’t move.” A stern command rang out.

Luo Xinghua shuddered and instantly fell silent, like a rooster with its throat clutched. Then his hands were locked in cold handcuffs.

“Why are you arresting me?” he asked, clinging to a sliver of hope.

“Do you know Shrimp?” Tian Li asked.

“No,” Luo Xinghua lied.

“And what about He Shirui?” Li Hui snorted.

“He Shirui drowned herself. It has nothing to do with me!” Luo Xinghua shouted.

Li Hui hauled him upright and said coldly, “So you won’t shed a tear until you see the coffin. You won’t give up until you see the Yellow River, is that it?”

“I really am innocent.”

“Fine. We’ll take you back to the bureau and talk slowly. We’ve got all the time in the world.”

...

Golden Beach, Qianhao Hotel.

Xiang Hongbo sat on the bed, smoking in sullen silence while Tang Yu, dressed in a strappy nightdress, packed her things.

“Cough, cough...” Tang Yu was choked by the smoke and waved it away with her hand. “Could you smoke a little less? You’re almost suffocating me.”

“I’m already irritated enough. Don’t meddle,” Xiang Hongbo grunted.

“You’re the one who’s upset, not me,” Tang Yu said as she came over, snatched the cigarette from his hand, and stamped it out on the floor. “Help me pack. We’re leaving tomorrow.”

“So that brat Luo Xinghua playing us like fools is just going to be let go?”

“And what do you want to do? Beat him up?”

“I @#￥%&...” Xiang Hongbo exploded in curses.

Luo Xinghua had already stopped answering his calls. In Qindao, Xiang Hongbo was a stranger with no footing at all. He did not even know where the man lived.

“Cursing won’t help. Luo Xinghua’s counting on us not daring to call the police,” Tang Yu sighed. In truth, she was even more disappointed than Xiang Hongbo.

“We never should have helped him give false testimony,” Xiang Hongbo said angrily.

Tang Yu lowered her voice to remind him, “Don’t forget, we still took five hundred thousand from him. Even without false testimony, a charge of extortion would still be waiting for us.”

“We should have called the police from the start and sent that son of a bitch to prison.”

“Back then, it was you who said Luo Xinghua was your good brother, loyal and righteous, and that as long as we helped him this time, he would never treat us badly in the future,” Tang Yu said with a cold snort.

“What’s the point of bringing that up now? Didn’t you also want him to pay to prop you up? If you hadn’t been so reckless, he might not have dared to take such a risk.”

Click.

Just as the two of them were arguing, a card swipe sounded at the door, and then the room door was pushed open.

Several people rushed in from outside.

“Police. Don’t move!”

“Don’t move. Stay put.”

Before Tang Yu and Xiang Hongbo could even react, they were already subdued by the men who rushed in.

“What are you doing? Why are you arresting me?” Tang Yu demanded.

“We suspect you were involved in an intentional homicide case. Please come with us to the police bureau to assist with the investigation,” Han Bin said.

Tang Yu and Xiang Hongbo exchanged a glance, their faces darkening.

“Hongbo, I love you.”

“I love you too.”

“Tsk, even now, those two are still clinging to each other,” Zhao Ming muttered, curling his lip.

“They’re coordinating their stories so one doesn’t crack first,” Han Bin said.

...

Yuhua Branch Bureau.

Luo Xinghua, Xiang Hongbo, and Tang Yu were all brought in and held separately.

Zheng Kaixuan strode into the Second Group office and said to Han Bin and the others, “This arrest was clean and decisive. Well done.”

“Captain Zheng, we’ve gathered almost all the evidence. I think we can start the interrogation now,” Zeng Ping said.

“How do you want to conduct it?”

“Although these three have already turned on each other, I believe they’ll still cover for one another at the critical moment. The best method is to get one of them to confess first and then have him implicate the other two,” Zeng Ping said.

Zheng Kaixuan unscrewed his thermos and took a sip of water. “Who do you want to use as the breakthrough point?”

“Luo Xinghua is facing a murder charge. He certainly won’t confess easily. Xiang Hongbo has less evidence against him, so getting him to crack first won’t be easy either. I think Tang Yu should be our breakthrough,” Zeng Ping suggested.

“What do you all think?” Zheng Kaixuan swept his gaze over everyone present.

“I agree with Captain Zeng’s suggestion,” Li Hui said.

“Women are prone to panic at critical moments. I also think it’s best to start with a sudden interrogation of Tang Yu,” Zhao Ming said.

“Don’t underestimate women. When I took Tang Yu’s statement, I didn’t see the slightest sign of nervousness,” Tian Li said.

Han Bin, meanwhile, frowned in silence.

Zheng Kaixuan lifted his chin. “Han Bin, what’s your view?”

Han Bin shook his head. “That woman Tang Yu is good at putting on an act. It may not be easy to pry her mouth open. During the arrest, she and Xiang Hongbo showed signs of coordinating their stories.”

“Brother Bin’s right. They were still all over each other during the arrest, so they probably won’t easily testify against one another,” Zhao Ming said.

After hearing everyone’s opinions, Zheng Kaixuan thought for a moment and said,

“Then let’s take the softer path first. When interrogating Tang Yu, avoid bringing up Xiang Hongbo as much as possible. When interrogating Xiang Hongbo, keep Tang Yu out of it as much as possible. Let those two go after Luo Xinghua. Once Luo Xinghua is dealt with, we’ll have Luo Xinghua go after them.”