The Man Who Never Backs Down

The jail.

"Unjust! I've been wronged!"

Weak cries of protest echoed through the jail.

Seasoned constables had long since learned to turn a deaf ear, but to Lin Fan, who had just taken the job, crying injustice meant they were unhappy with their sentences. And if they were unhappy, there had to be something wrong.

"Quiet! All of you, quiet! Save your strength. I'm Lin Fan, the newly appointed constable. If any of you have been wronged, I'll reopen your cases. Whoever refuses to reopen them can go to hell."

He made a flurry of moves as fierce as a tiger.

And, to be fair, the results were impressive.

The jail fell silent in an instant.

Standing at the entrance to the interrogation room, Lin Fan nodded with satisfaction. He didn't have much faith in the Security Bureau. There might well be plenty of wrongful and mistaken convictions.

He had a clear goal in joining the Security Bureau.

Advancement, advancement, and more goddamn advancement.

To advance, he had to solve cases.

These cries of injustice were all stepping-stones on his path to advancement.

Back in the interrogation room, Jin Biao and the others were tied to chairs and lined up in neat rows. The interrogators were using torture, but it had little effect.

Jin Biao and the others only knew how to beg for mercy. They refused to admit to anything else.

Lin Fan looked at Yang Ming. "Are these all the punishments we have?"

"Yes, Brother Lin. These are all the punishments used by our Security Bureau. Most ordinary people wouldn't be able to endure the whole lot, but these guys are old hands. They're used to it, so it's hard to pry open their mouths," Yang Ming said gravely.

"What good is it if ordinary people can't take it? We need the vicious criminals to break," Lin Fan said helplessly.

"That's true."

Yang Ming thought it over. Brother Lin had a point.

Tied to a chair and having the soles of his feet beaten with a wooden rod, Jin Biao looked to be in great pain. But by now, his heart had gradually settled, and he wasn't panicking at all.

At first, he really had panicked.

Mainly because he knew which constable had caught him. It wasn't some ordinary person, but Master Lin, who was a formidable fighter.

But things were different now. So what if you could fight? You were a constable now. You couldn't beat me to death in the jail, could you? As long as I kept my mouth shut and denied my past crimes, the worst I'd get was a few strokes of the cane.

He believed Master Qin Four would come to save him.

Master Qin Four cared about face more than anything.

There was no way he'd allow one of his men to be locked up in the Security Bureau.

Lin Fan fetched paper and a brush, then sat at a rickety table and bent over, sketching. Yang Ming stood behind him, watching curiously. When he'd come to assist Lin Fan with the interrogation, the squad leader had given him a special warning.

Keep an eye on things. If anyone pulls strings to get a prisoner released or tries to use their power to pressure Lin Fan, come tell me right away. We absolutely cannot let him face this on his first case and have his convictions crumble.

Yang Ming understood all too well.

Too many constables had joined with thoughts of justice, believing they could do some good, only to be defeated by reality in the end.

Swish!

Lin Fan handed the drawing to Yang Ming. "Get someone to make a few of these."

Yang Ming looked at the sketch and frowned. He didn't understand it, but that didn't stop him from getting someone to make what was on it.

Lin Fan stood and walked over to Jin Biao. "You really do have a hard mouth."

Jin Biao put on a pitiful look. "Master Lin, Officer Lin, I did something wrong, but it doesn't deserve death, does it? I only extorted people. At most, you could beat me up. But now you're forcing me to confess to things I did in the past. What am I supposed to confess to? I've always been a model law-abiding citizen."

A law-abiding citizen?

Fine, fine, fine.

Soon, someone delivered the torture device he'd asked for.

Evidently, the Security Bureau had plenty of skilled craftsmen.

He'd made a Tiger Bench.

It was a bench with a wooden board set upright at one end. The board had a semicircular notch to hold the prisoner's knees in place. Then bricks were gradually stacked under the prisoner's feet.

As the bricks piled up, the prisoner's legs were gradually lifted, stretching the ligaments around the knees to their limit. The pain...

He didn't know. He'd never tried it.

He'd learned it from a TV drama. But when he'd seen prisoners howling like ghosts and wolves as they were tortured, confessing to everything their ancestors had done for eighteen generations, he'd figured it must work pretty well.

"What are you doing? What are you going to do?"

Jin Biao was panicking. He'd never seen this torture device before, but his instinct for self-preservation was frantically warning him: Be careful! Be careful! You've encountered a dangerous torture device. Confess honestly as soon as possible, or you'll regret it!

"Jin Biao, I advise you to confess honestly. Otherwise, you'll regret it," Lin Fan said.

"Officer Lin, I really have nothing to confess."

Jin Biao still refused to back down. He had nothing to confess, no matter what. Go ahead and try me.

I, Jin Biao, was born with a hard mouth.

Lin Fan picked up a brick and put it under Jin Biao's foot. Nothing much happened. What was the point? But as he added brick after brick, Jin Biao realized something was wrong when he reached the third.

It hurt. It hurt so much.

Lin Fan picked up another brick and looked at Jin Biao. "You'd better confess now. Once I add this brick, your knees will be seriously damaged. You might even end up crippled."

Jin Biao was in terrible pain. His face was pale, and cold sweat poured down him as his body and will took a brutal beating.

"I'm one of Master Qin Four's men."

Jin Biao howled in pain, looking at Lin Fan with terror. He hadn't expected the man to be serious. He'd wondered if Lin Fan was doing this to make Master Qin Four send him silver.

After all, he'd been through this sort of thing before. A new official would make a show of force, not because he really wanted to go after you, but because he wanted the person behind you to get the message and send over what was owed.

That was what he'd thought was happening.

But looking at things now, that clearly wasn't the case.

The other street toughs, also tied to chairs, watched in trembling fear. The torture wasn't being inflicted on them, but seeing Jin Biao in such agony had already scared them out of their wits.

Just as Lin Fan was about to add a fourth brick,

a voice came from the entrance to the jail.

"Master Lin, I'm Peng Chang. Master Qin Four sent me to deliver an invitation to you." Peng Chang, dressed in a long robe, approached with a broad smile.

Lin Fan turned and looked at him with displeasure.

This was an important part of the jail. Outsiders could just come and go as they pleased? Just how much silver had you bastards taken to let people treat this place like their own backyard?

"An invitation?" Lin Fan asked with a smile, feigning confusion.

Peng Chang replied respectfully, "Our Master has long admired you, Master Lin. When he heard you'd joined the Security Bureau, he sent me to invite you to dinner at Xianwei Tower tonight."

As he said this, he ignored Yang Ming completely.

His meaning was crystal clear.

That's right. He was corrupting the newly appointed Master Lin right in front of you.

"Oh, a dinner invitation. Sure, no problem. I'll be there on time." Lin Fan wanted to meet this Master Qin Four anyway. The people in front of him were no more than little fry; Master Qin Four was the real big fish.

Peng Chang's smile widened. He hadn't expected things to go so smoothly.

But seeing Jin Biao's pained expression, he asked curiously, "Master Lin, what's this?"

Lin Fan smiled. "This fellow's name is Jin Biao. He was extorting people at the market, so I brought him in. I'm interrogating him now, trying to get him to confess to his past crimes."

"Tsk..." Peng Chang looked him over. "Master Lin, this man doesn't look like the sort to commit crimes. Maybe he was forced into extortion by circumstances. I think he's an honest citizen."

"Honest, my ass. One more brick and we'll know."

With that, he put the fourth brick in place.

Seeing Master Qin Four's man arrive, Jin Biao's hopes soared. He didn't take the matter seriously at all. But before he had time to feel happy, he was struck as if by lightning and let out a heart-rending scream.

"Are you going to confess? I'm asking you, are you going to confess?" Lin Fan shouted.

Jin Biao felt as if his legs were about to burst and his will was on the verge of collapse. With a sob, he cried out in pain, "I'll confess! I'll confess..."

Lin Fan pulled out the fourth brick, then looked at Peng Chang, who was still stunned. With a smile, he said, "Sorry you had to see that. Interrogations are like this. You have to be tough, or it won't work. Go back and tell Master Qin Four I'll be there on time tonight."

"Oh. Oh."

Peng Chang nodded, dazed.

No, Jin Biao, what the hell was wrong with you?

Master Qin Four had already started pulling strings for you.

Damn it, why'd you confess?

It was only a few bricks. Was there any need to scream so miserably?

Outside the jail,

Peng Chang stood rooted to the spot, his mind churning.

"No, something's wrong. Very wrong. He knew perfectly well Jin Biao was one of Master Qin Four's men. He even saw me arrive, and Master Qin Four had invited him to dinner, yet he still interrogated Jin Biao. The message behind this is...

A warning. That's it, a warning.

This fellow's appetite is huge. Ordinary bribes won't do."

With that in mind,

he hurried away. He had to tell Master Qin Four about this right away.