Standing on the First Step, Gazing at the Eleventh

Standing on the First Step, Gazing at the Eleventh

Michael walked into the room with a faint, triumphant smile on his face. He glanced at Lin Qi sitting by the bed, curled his lips, and chuckled twice.

He did not know why he had suddenly laughed aloud. Maybe it was a kind of showing off?

He did not know. Casually pulling open his trench coat, he revealed the wallet tucked into an inner pocket, along with his identification. "Federal Revenue Service. Someone reported that an illegal transaction just took place here. We need to inspect the premises..."

This time, Michael had not come with only his partner. There were several others, and at Michael's signal, they immediately began searching the room.

Michael walked over and sat beside Lin Qi. Looking at the young man who had briefly frightened him before, he said with a half-smile, "The last time I sent a kid about your age to prison, he arrogantly claimed it would be nothing more than a vacation for him."

"He thought prison was not scary at all. Do you know what happened to him afterward?" He spoke in a deliberately unsettling tone, trying to warn Lin Qi.

But as Michael spoke, he suddenly fell silent. He had realized that the young man before him showed no unease or fear after hearing those words.

Lin Qi was as calm and composed as he had been from the beginning. It made Michael feel as though he had been humiliated instead, like a clown saying things that only made people laugh. He had been looked down on again.

His expression darkened. He gave a cold snort and decided to stop talking. Once they found the evidence, this bastard would cry! But... why had they still found nothing? Watching his men start searching again from the doorway, Michael's scalp suddenly tightened. He realized something, shot Lin Qi a sidelong glance, and rushed into the inner room.

The apartment was not large. Strictly speaking, it had only two areas: the hallway and bedroom connected to the front door, and a washroom with a wardrobe.

There was not much in the washroom, nor anything complicated: a completely open wardrobe, an ironing board that his men had already lowered, a small storage box filled with miscellaneous tools, and a basket for clean laundry.

Farther in was a small shower area, then the toilet. A cart lay casually across the middle of the washroom.

"Where's the money?" he demanded sharply. Those kids had all claimed that Lin Qi had put the money into a box and wheeled it into the washroom on a cart, but now it seemed... that was not the case.

Two subordinates shook their heads awkwardly. "Sorry, Boss. We found nothing."

"What about the wooden box?" Still clinging to his last shred of hope, he asked, "Is the wooden box there?"

One of them pointed at the wooden box on the ironing board. It was completely empty.

Michael pressed his hands together and rubbed his face hard, then tugged at his hair. With his hands on his hips, he paced back and forth a few times before striding over in near hysteria, grabbing the wooden box, and smashing it violently onto the floor.

The shattered box reminded him of the mockery he seemed to see in Lin Qi's eyes. He rushed out, grabbed Lin Qi by the collar, and hauled him up. "Where is the money? Where did you hide those five thousand dollars?"

He roared, his fury eroding his reason. Twice. This brat had made a fool of him twice. No one had ever dared treat him like this! Lin Qi wore a faint smile as he calmly met Michael's gaze. "I have no idea what you're talking about. Everything I own does not even add up to five hundred dollars. I do not know where you got that information, but clearly, it was wrong."

Wrong my fucking ass. He had personally watched those Newspaper Boys deliver the money inside. In such a short time, less than two minutes, Lin Qi had not even left the room. Where could he have hidden it? Michael desperately wanted to punch Lin Qi in the face and let this bastard know how frightening he could be, but he also knew that if he did, he would soon be investigated.

People might turn a blind eye to certain minor details in order to better bring criminals to justice, but they would never tolerate using violence to frame someone. Once something like that reached the media, the entire Sabine City legal system would become a disgrace.

Then people even Michael's superiors could not afford to offend would come investigate the official crimes here, and he would become the sinner of Sabine City's legal system.

He forcibly suppressed his anger, shoved Lin Qi onto the bed, and began searching the room himself.

Everything was turned into a mess. They even removed the toilet tank, but in the end, they found nothing. Those five thousand dollars had vanished as if they had grown wings.

No, it was as though they had never existed at all! Lin Qi remained calm throughout, without fear or unease. He merely watched Michael bustle around the roughly fifty-square-meter room until he finally stopped completely.

By then, Michael knew full well that this operation had failed again.

No, it was not just this operation. Their operation against Fox would also be hindered. He was in serious trouble! He pointed at Lin Qi. "You got lucky this time and escaped disaster, but you'd better pray you can be this clever every time."

"Just once. All I need is to catch you once, and I guarantee I'll send you to prison. You'll never get another chance to come out for the rest of your life!" He clenched his fist, turned toward the door, and said, "What are you still standing around for? Get back and write your reports!"

After watching them leave, Lin Qi smiled and shook his head. They had not searched him. On one hand, they had no warrant to conduct a body search. On the other, their target was not whatever small amount of money Lin Qi might have had on him, but the five thousand dollars that would have been enough to convict him directly.

Large cash transactions had to be reported to the Revenue Service. They had not done so, which was illegal. Do not talk about making up for it afterward; there was no such thing as afterward.

But even if they had searched him, it would have meant nothing. Instead, they would have violated the rules. Michael often lost control, but there were some lines he would not cross lightly.

After waiting a few minutes, Lin Qi tidied up the room, locked the door, and left. There was a saying: "Once is acceptable, twice is forgivable, but never a third time."

Michael had "offended" him twice already. He could not keep swallowing his anger forever. The money in his hands now totaled around seven or eight thousand dollars, and even more than eight thousand was not enough for him to complete the first stage of his plan.

He still needed to keep making money, while also beginning to consider how to get his revenge.

In a small room in his previous life, he had met an interesting friend. That friend told him that beasts did not hunt solely to fill their stomachs. If you did not fight back, others would only push their luck further. When necessary, you still had to make your position clear.

Before long, after wandering around outside for a while, he found a relatively secluded Jewelry Store and walked in.

The bell hanging above the door rang. Behind the counter, a person wearing magnifying glasses straightened up and smiled. "Welcome..."

Lin Qi smiled and nodded in greeting, then walked over to the counter. "I'd like a simple Gold Ring. I plan to give it to my girlfriend. Can you engrave words inside the ring?"

His youthful appearance, handsome face, and slightly bashful smile easily won the favor of the older Jewelry Store owner. "Of course, kid. I have to say, you came to the right place, understand?"

Twenty minutes later, Lin Qi left the Jewelry Store with a Gold Ring engraved on the inside with "My Beloved Catherine."