You're done for, punk

The moment Chief Zhang recognized him, smug triumph spread across Liang Hong's face.

"Yes, Uncle Zhang, it's me."

"I haven't gotten together with your dad in ages. How has he been lately?" Chief Zhang asked.

"My dad's in great health," Liang Hong said. "He practices tai chi every day. He just keeps nagging me to give him a grandson. Any longer and he'll make himself sick over it."

Chief Zhang burst out laughing.

After exchanging a few pleasantries, Chief Zhang suddenly asked, "By the way, what brings you here today?"

Now that they had gotten to the point, Liang Hong's expression turned cold. Looking toward Chen Hao, he stood beside Chief Zhang and explained everything.

After hearing the whole story, Chief Zhang patted Liang Hong on the shoulder. "Don't worry, Hong. Leave this to your Uncle Zhang."

"All right. Thank you, Uncle Zhang."

Seeing Chief Zhang head toward Chen Hao with his men, Sun Jiaqi hurried over and asked with a smile, "So that's Chief Zhang?"

Liang Hong nodded smugly. "His name is Zhang Guojun. He and my dad were college classmates. Don't worry. I'll make sure Chen Hao pays dearly this time."

Zhang Guojun walked straight into the mediation room with his men. Seeing his superior arrive, the young officer taking the statement immediately stood up. "Chief."

Zhang Guojun gave a slight nod, glanced at Chen Hao beside him, and snorted before addressing the young officer. "Xiao Qin, hand this case over to Captain Zhao."

The young officer, Xiao Qin, froze. "But Chief, Captain Zhao handles criminal cases. This is a civil dispute..."

Before the officer could finish, a middle-aged man who had been following Zhang Guojun snatched the statement sheet away, his face stern. "Xiao Qin, the chief told you to hand it over to me, so just do it. Don't ask so many questions."

Without waiting for any response, Captain Zhao put his hand on Chen Hao's shoulder. "Come on. Let's have a chat inside."

With this rare chance to show off in front of Zhang Guojun, Captain Zhao was determined to put on a good performance.

From the pressure of Captain Zhao's hand, Chen Hao could tell he intended to use force.

Chen Hao swept the hand aside. "If you've got something to say, say it. Keep your hands off me."

Seeing Chen Hao dare to knock his hand away, Captain Zhao immediately glared. "You dare assault a police officer, punk? Cuff him!"

The moment he spoke, two officers stepped forward and restrained Chen Hao.

Chen Hao's face filled with anger. "Is this how you police officers do things? Cuffing people without even finding out who's right or wrong?"

Captain Zhao stared at him, his eyes wide, and gave a cold laugh. "I don't know what happened between you before, but you've just assaulted an officer. That gives me the right to cuff you."

"Go ahead and cuff me. But taking them off later won't be so easy," Chen Hao snapped defiantly.

"You're still running your mouth when you're already done for. Listen, punk. You're not getting out of here without spending ten days or a couple of weeks behind bars. Take him to the interrogation room."

To be honest, with Chen Hao's current strength, ordinary police officers were no threat to him. Even a few armed police officers would have been no trouble.

But resisting further would only make things worse for him. Rather than act rashly, he decided to calm down, think of a way out, and then make his next move.

As Chen Hao passed Zhang Guojun, the chief offered a hypocritical word of advice. "Young man, you can't act so impulsively. You'll regret it."

Chen Hao gave a cold chuckle. "Chief Zhang, I'll remember you."

Seeing that Chen Hao was still talking tough, Zhang Guojun scoffed and waved a hand. "Take him away. Give him a thorough interrogation."

Watching the police cuff Chen Hao, Liang Hong and Sun Jiaqi, who stood at the doorway, could hardly have been happier.

"Hong, you two can head home. You can take the car too. Have the insurance company assess the damage, then message me with the amount. I'll make sure that punk pays you," Zhang Guojun said with a smile as he walked up to Liang Hong.

With Zhang Guojun's assurance, Liang Hong had nothing left to worry about. "Thank you, Uncle Zhang."

Zhang Guojun had only just returned to his office and had not even finished a cigarette when an officer rushed in.

Zhang Guojun clicked his tongue. "Have you forgotten your manners? Don't you even know to knock?"

Ignoring Zhang Guojun's displeasure, the officer handed him a sheet of paper. "Chief Zhang, take a look at this right away. It's a notice that just came down from the municipal bureau."

Although the national public security system had long been networked, under normal procedures, a small local police station like Zhang Guojun's would only receive occasional assignments from its supervising district bureau. Unless something was extremely urgent, it would never receive documents directly from the municipal bureau.

Hearing this, Zhang Guojun immediately stubbed out his cigarette and snatched up the document. One look left him stunned.

"How could it be him?" Zhang Guojun asked in astonishment.

The officer looked equally surprised, but could not hide his delight. "Exactly, Chief Zhang. The municipal bureau just issued the notice, and that punk walked right into our station today. Shouldn't we call them back right away? I also heard Director Sun of Zhonghai City issued this notice personally."

"What? Director Sun issued it personally!" Zhang Guojun drew a sharp breath. His eyes shifted as he considered this, then he rushed out of the office without another word.

Not long after several officers escorted Chen Hao into an interrogation room, Captain Zhao entered. He slammed the statement book onto the table and sat down. "Punk, you look like you've had at least some schooling. Do you know how many years you could get for deliberately damaging someone else's property, intentional assault, and assaulting a police officer?"

Chen Hao laughed. "So you're going to frame me right to my face?"

Captain Zhao smiled. "I don't know about anything else, but it's an undeniable fact that you refused to cooperate with the police in the interrogation room and openly assaulted an officer."

"Tch!"

Chen Hao sneered, no longer interested in wasting words on him. Now he finally understood that anyone determined to condemn someone could always find an excuse.

Captain Zhao wrote in the statement book as he spoke. "I'll write up what happened for you. All you have to do is sign it, and you can spare yourself some suffering."

"Write it up, my ass." Chen Hao could have guessed with his eyes closed that everything Captain Zhao was writing was bullshit meant to make him confess. Only an idiot would sign it.

"Say that fucking again," Captain Zhao said through gritted teeth, his expression turning cold.

As the officer responsible for the station's criminal cases, he had seen plenty of people as stubborn as Chen Hao. He immediately reached for the baton clipped to his belt.

Seeing that Captain Zhao actually intended to hit him, Chen Hao thrust his head forward. "Come on, then. Hit me right here. You're a coward if you don't."

"You really fucking think I won't hit you?" Driven into a rage by Chen Hao, Captain Zhao drew his baton and raised it to strike.

Just then, the interrogation room door suddenly opened, forcing Captain Zhao to lower the baton for the moment.

Zhang Guojun walked in. Paying little attention to Captain Zhao's half-raised baton, he went straight to Chen Hao and slapped the document from earlier onto the table. "You're done for, punk."

Captain Zhao glanced at Chen Hao in confusion, then turned his eyes to the document on the table. After reading just a little, his eyes lit up. He pointed at Chen Hao and laughed. "Well, well. I thought you were a law-abiding citizen. Turns out you're a wanted criminal."

Chen Hao stared at the document, utterly bewildered. What the hell was going on?

The document on the table was an urgent notice seeking a person, issued by the Zhonghai Municipal Public Security Bureau. The photograph right in the center was none other than Chen Hao himself.

That left Chen Hao feeling a little less certain of himself.

If this had merely been a missing-person notice by the roadside, Chen Hao might not have been so nervous.

But this notice had appeared inside a police station. What did that mean? Was he wanted?

Apart from shooting the breeze with those immortals lately, he hadn't done anything wrong, had he?

Could Long Guangsheng have reported what happened?

But on second thought, even if he had been reported, it would count as a brawl at most. Why would it attract the attention of Zhonghai City's municipal public security bureau?

Seeing Chen Hao's baffled expression, Zhang Guojun smiled coldly. "What a coincidence. You'd barely set foot in my station when orders came down from above. Man proposes, but heaven disposes."

With that, Zhang Guojun waved a hand. "Everyone out. Forget the statement. I need to call Director Sun at the municipal bureau immediately and let him know we've found the person."

Captain Zhao was startled too. Leaving Chen Hao completely alone, he followed Zhang Guojun out.

"Chief Zhang, are you saying Director Sun issued that notice?" Captain Zhao asked in surprise as soon as he closed the interrogation room door.

Zhang Guojun looked smug. Normally, station chiefs like him rarely saw even a district bureau official more than a few times a year, let alone anyone from the municipal bureau. Now that he finally had a chance to do something for the municipal bureau's director, he naturally intended to seize it.

If he handled this well and pleased Director Sun, a transfer to some official post at the district bureau was not out of the question.

The more he thought about it, the happier he became, and his smile grew brighter. Flipping through his directory, he told Captain Zhao, "Of course he did. Keep quiet. I'm calling the municipal bureau right now."

"Right, right." Captain Zhao hurriedly shut his mouth, took out a cigarette, and smoked in silence.

The call soon connected.

"Hello. I'm Zhang Guojun, chief of Erdaokou Police Station in Songjiang District. Could you please put me through to Director Sun? I have something very important to report to him."

"Oh, certainly. Please hold."

The person on the other end quickly transferred Zhang Guojun's call. His face lit up with delight, and he deliberately cleared his throat. Even Captain Zhao leaned closer to listen quietly.

"Hello? Who is this?"

A deep, resonant voice soon came over the line.

Zhang Guojun hurriedly bowed his head slightly and spoke with the utmost respect. "Hello, Director Sun. I'm Zhang Guojun, chief of Erdaokou Police Station in Songjiang District. I heard you just issued a notice looking for someone. Is that correct?"

Director Sun gave a quiet acknowledgment. "Yes, that's right."

"Well, we've already found that person. He's here at our station right now," Zhang Guojun said.

Director Sun's voice immediately grew louder. "What? You've found him? Are you sure you haven't made a mistake?"

Zhang Guojun hurriedly adopted a serious tone. "I wouldn't dare joke with you about something like this. What would you like us to do with him now?"

"Don't do anything. I'll be right over. Make sure you keep an eye on him, and treat him well." With that, Director Sun hung up.

Hearing that the head of Zhonghai City's public security bureau, the esteemed Director Sun himself, would be coming in person, Zhang Guojun was overjoyed. He hung up and told Captain Zhao with a beaming smile, "Hurry and get everything ready. Director Sun is coming personally."

Captain Zhao was delighted as well and smiled as he turned to pass on the orders.

"Wait." As if something had suddenly occurred to him, Zhang Guojun caught Captain Zhao and asked, "Something doesn't seem right. Director Sun just told us to make sure we treat him well. What do you think he meant by that?"

Captain Zhao was clearly a simple-minded fellow too. Without even thinking, he answered, "What else could he mean? If he told us to treat him well, he must want us to give him a thorough interrogation and make him confess to everything. That'll save Director Sun a lot of trouble when he gets here, won't it? I wonder what this punk did to get Director Sun's attention."

Though Zhang Guojun had initially suspected there was more to this, he immediately nodded in agreement upon hearing Captain Zhao's explanation. "Then hurry back and give that little punk another thorough interrogation. Try to get everything settled for Director Sun before he arrives. We don't often get a chance to show the municipal bureau what we can do. Make sure you do a flawless job."

Captain Zhao was ecstatic. "Don't worry, Chief. Leave it all to me."