He's slandering me!

Zhou Yi!

Zeng Xuedong narrowed his eyes.

This was their first meeting, but Zeng Xuedong believed that even without that declaration, "I hit him," he would still have identified the man without fail.

His brows were sharp as swords, his eyes bright, his posture straight as a sturdy pine, and his bearing steady as a rock. Someone so outstanding would stand out from the crowd wherever he went.

Perhaps he wasn't one in a thousand, but among all the young people in the County Public Security Bureau, there certainly wasn't another like him.

"Little brother, you're finally here! They're trying to kill me!"

The sight of his younger brother thrilled Zeng Yuqiang more than the sight of his own father would have. He immediately began wailing and shedding tears as he made his malicious accusations.

"Give me an explanation!" Deputy County Magistrate Zeng pointed at his older brother and spoke coldly.

"Zeng Yuqiang tried to kill me," Zhou Yi replied icily.

"I didn't! I never did! You're lying!" Zeng Yuqiang jumped as though someone had stepped on his tail.

"There was a camera at the intersection. It clearly recorded Zeng Yuqiang and his gang driving a white van at me in an attempt to run me down. Fortunately, I reacted quickly enough to escape, but they still wouldn't give up. They each took up a weapon and prepared to attack me again. Later, they even called in more thugs to kill me. My personal safety was under serious threat, so I had no choice but to act in self-defense." In just a few simple sentences, Zhou Yi pinned a charge of attempted murder squarely on Zeng Yuqiang.

"That's slander!"

Zeng Yuqiang trembled with rage. Pointing a shaking finger at Zhou Yi, he turned to Zhang Liping, Luo Daxiang, Li Wenli, and the others, then looked at his brother and shouted furiously, "He's slandering me! He's slandering me!"

Zhang Liping gave Zhou Yi a peculiar look. Even if what the young man had just said wasn't an outright reversal of right and wrong, he had certainly twisted the truth beyond recognition.

Luo Daxiang and Li Wenli sighed silently, thinking that only this man would dare sling such accusations at Deputy County Magistrate Zeng's older brother. Yet the other side seemed capable of nothing but impotent rage.

"That's only your side of the story," Zeng Xuedong said with a sneer, patting his older brother's shoulder to tell him to calm down.

"We'd certainly like to hear Zeng Yuqiang's defense, but he's been refusing to cooperate with the interrogation. He won't say a single word."

Zhou Yi turned to Zeng Yuqiang and asked with a smile, "Isn't that right?"

Zeng Yuqiang took a deep breath, barely managing to suppress his frustration and fury. "I didn't even know you before this. Why would I want to kill you? What actually happened this afternoon was-"

Zhou Yi raised a hand, cutting him off. "Our colleagues from the Criminal Investigation Brigade are questioning you now. Whatever you have to say, tell them."

Then he politely gestured for Zeng Xuedong to leave. "County Magistrate Zeng, this is an interrogation room. Please step outside with me."

Zeng Xuedong gave his older brother a meaningful look. Zeng Yuqiang immediately caught on and nodded slightly to show he understood.

"Zhou, let's talk in private."

Deputy County Magistrate Zeng spoke to Zhou Yi after they left the interrogation room.

Three deputy bureau chiefs, the director of the Political Work Office, and the director of the General Office were present, but in Zeng Xuedong's eyes, all of them together carried less weight than Zhou Yi alone.

Zhou Yi didn't refuse. He followed him down the stairs, out of the building, and into the courtyard.

"Let's be frank. What exactly are you trying to do?" Zeng Xuedong asked bluntly.

"Suspected attempted murder or suspected attempted rape. Zeng Yuqiang has to take one of those, doesn't he?" Zhou Yi asked impassively.

Zeng Xuedong's lips curled slightly.

He seemed to be smiling, but there wasn't a trace of amusement in his eyes, only a chilling viciousness.

"Do you have a grudge against him, or against me?"

At Zeng Xuedong's question, Zhou Yi offered only one sentence in reply. "The girl in that van is my good friend's younger sister."

"So there's no possibility of settling this?" Zeng Xuedong asked in an icy voice.

Zhou Yi shook his head, his expression resolute. "Zeng Yuqiang must receive the punishment he deserves."

"Hahaha!"

This time, Zeng Xuedong really did laugh. He reached out and gently patted the young officer's shoulder, his eyes filled with admiration.

"You know, Zhou, you're exactly like I was back then. Full of passion and righteousness, stubbornly convinced that you can change everything and put everything right. And what happens? After you batter yourself bloody time and time again, you gradually realize that you can't change anything at all. You can only change yourself, learn to conform to society and pander to it."

"I don't care what your relationship with Xie Zhaolong is. I don't care why you're opposing me, and I certainly don't care what Yan Xiangyu talked to you about. I only want to make one thing perfectly clear: someday, you will regret the choice you made today."

With that, Deputy County Magistrate Zeng patted Zhou Yi's shoulder once more, then turned and strode away.

Watching Zeng Xuedong's retreating figure, Zhou Yi gave a cold, contemptuous smile.

You picked the wrong person to feed that toxic motivational crap to.

"You're exactly like I was back then"? Give me a break. You're the son of a village bully. How do you have the nerve to compare yourself to a true-blue heir to the communist cause like me?

As for "regret," when Old Black Qiao invites you to the discipline inspection commission for a little chat, you'll find out who should really be regretting things!

In the interrogation room, two detectives were diligently recording the crimes Zeng Yuqiang had volunteered to confess to... What the hell was this nonsense?

Wang Tao had driven the van, Jin Liu and Big Lin had grabbed the girl, and he had merely hitched a ride to go shopping.

The van had swerved into oncoming traffic toward Zhou Yi because Hou Xiaoxin had bitten Wang Tao's ear. Unable to bear the pain, Wang Tao had accidentally jerked the steering wheel.

As for the three vanloads of thugs who had arrived at the end, Big Lin had called them in.

In short, Zeng Yuqiang had washed his hands of everything, and they lacked sufficient evidence to expose his lies.

What made matters even more frustrating was that the statements given by Wang Tao, Jin Liu, and Big Lin matched Zeng Yuqiang's account perfectly.

Wang Tao even claimed that he and Hou Xiaoxin were dating and had slept together many times. The supposed binding of her hands and feet was merely to spice things up, while the bite to his ear was a routine part of their SM games.

What did it mean to turn the truth on its head and spout utter nonsense?

This was it!

After receiving the news, Captain Zhou beckoned, and the ever "understanding" Comrade Cai Xiaobo came eagerly trotting over.

Zhou Yi whispered a few words to him. Without the slightest hesitation, Cai Xiaobo nodded repeatedly, then trotted back out.