"Li Qian, I'm telling you straight—you're suspended. Come back with me right now." Zhang Yi'ang chased her up the stairs of the residential building.
"Why should I go back if I'm suspended?" Li Qian shook off his grip and continued climbing the steps briskly.
"Do you have any idea how urgent the situation is? You're just making things worse! If others find out how reckless you're being, you won't even be a cop anymore!"
"You'll understand in a minute!" Li Qian stopped in front of a door—the address registered in the police records as Du Cong's residence.
"Can you at least act like a cop?!" Zhang Yi'ang planted his hands on his hips, furious yet helpless with this deadweight. Anyone else would've been kicked aside by now.
Li Qian shot him a glare and knocked directly. After a moment, Du Cong opened the door, eyeing them in confusion. "Who are you looking for? Hey—aren’t you the one who crashed the test drive last time?"
"See? The suitcase is right there!" Li Qian’s gaze swept past Du Cong, locking onto a suitcase leaning against the wall behind him. She pushed past Du Cong and strode toward it.
"Hey, hey! What are you doing?" Du Cong moved to stop her.
Li Qian flipped the suitcase open, unzipped it, and yanked out its contents, tossing them aside. She pressed the buttons on the bottom one by one until she found the right one—the suitcase’s baseplate automatically popped open.
"Look, isn’t this the case?"
Zhang Yi'ang stared dumbfounded at her actions. The suitcase was actually here. The next second, he lunged forward, tackling Du Cong to the ground. He twisted Du Cong’s arm behind his back, using his full weight to pin him down. Du Cong howled in pain, shouting, "I didn’t touch anything in the case! Those two owed me money, so I took the car back!" He assumed they were the owners of the suitcase and the SUV.
Zhang Yi'ang barked at Li Qian, "Check the rooms!"
Li Qian rushed inside to inspect the apartment, then hurried back out. "No one else is here."
Zhang Yi'ang kept Du Cong firmly pinned as he writhed in pain. "Who the hell are you people?" Du Cong yelled.
"Where’s your accomplice?!"
"What accomplice? I’m the only one here!"
"Talk!" Zhang Yi'ang twisted Du Cong’s arm harder, nearly bending it out of shape.
Du Cong gasped in agony, trying to get up, but Zhang Yi'ang’s knee dug into his back, making resistance impossible. The more he struggled, the more his arm hurt. "Who are you?!" he screamed.
"Where’s your accomplice?!"
"What accomplice? I’m the only one here."
"Where’s your accomplice?"
"Just me."
"Where’s your accomplice?"
"Just me."
The two stubbornly repeated the same exchange over and over.
Finally, Li Qian switched to a slightly different question: "Where’s the money and the USB drive from the case?"
"What money? I took this case from the car—there was no money in it when I got it! Don’t frame me! Those two owed me money, so I took the car back."
"What car?"
"What money are you talking about?"
All three froze for a moment. Zhang Yi'ang asked again, "Where’s your accomplice?"
"What accomplice? Just me."
Li Qian pressed, "Where’s the money and the USB drive?"
"What money? Don’t frame me! Those two owed me money, so I took the car back."
"What car?"
"What money are you talking about?"The three of them repeated the conversation once more, yet none found the answers they were seeking.
Zhang Yi'ang changed the question again: "Are the two people you mentioned Fang Chao and Liu Zhi?"
"Weren't those two called Xia Tinggang and someone named Xiao Mao?"
The two of them were stunned once more. He didn’t seem to be lying—the police station’s report from the next day had indeed recorded the names Xia Tinggang and Xiao Mao. Was there some misunderstanding here?
Li Qian asked, "How did you get this suitcase?"
"Speak up!" Zhang Yi'ang tightened his grip.
Du Cong, drenched in cold sweat, quickly recounted the incident of crashing into the car and then forcibly taking their vehicle. The more the two listened, the more confused they became. The suitcase had an automatic hidden compartment at the bottom—such a thing couldn’t possibly be bought off the market. It had to be the one from Zhou Rong’s house. But how had it ended up in the hands of Xia Tinggang and Xiao Mao, and then finally in his?
Suddenly, several figures appeared at the door. Zhang Debing, leading the group, froze for a second upon seeing the scene inside. The next moment, he and his four underlings rushed into the room, brandishing knives and even a handgun. With lightning speed, they subdued all three, then shut the door and tied them up.
"Zhang Debing!" Li Qian recognized him.
"You know me? Oh, I almost forgot—you’ve done your homework to come after my boss this time. And you—" He kicked Du Cong hard. "You thought of crashing the car to lure the security away?" He then delivered several brutal kicks to Zhang Yi'ang. "That’s payback for Rong-ge. Alright, where’s the last one?"
Zhang Yi'ang and Li Qian remained silent, watching him. This sudden turn of events was completely unexpected.
Du Cong, with a broken tooth and blood filling his mouth, wailed, "Who the hell are you?"
Zhang Debing sneered and signaled his four underlings to search the three thoroughly. They found no USB drive, only confiscating their phones. He then turned to the suitcase, rummaging through it but still coming up empty.
Gritting his teeth, he demanded, "Where’s the money?"
"What money? Those two owed me, so I took their car back!" Du Cong looked utterly wronged.
"The USB drive?"
"I don’t know anything about that either."
"Where are your accomplices?"
"What accomplices? It’s just me!"
Zhang Debing took a deep breath. Seeing that Du Cong knew nothing no matter how he was questioned, he kicked him again in frustration, making him howl in pain. One of the underlings quickly covered his mouth to muffle the noise. Zhang Debing stepped aside to consult his boss first.
Only Zhou Rong and Hu Jianren remained in the villa.
Zhang Debing had just informed them that the two men and one woman inside the house had been subdued, the suitcase was there, but neither the money nor the USB drive had been found. The man and woman were tight-lipped, refusing to say anything, while Du Cong claimed the suitcase wasn’t his—he had taken it from two others named Xia Tinggang and Xiao Mao.
The whole sequence of events left Zhou Rong baffled. He turned to Hu Jianren in confusion. "What do you think we should do?"
"The money and USB drive must be with those two—Xia Tinggang and Xiao Mao."
Zhou Rong nodded. "From what Debing said, he thinks Du Cong knows nothing about the robbery."
"Li Qian and the other man must be accomplices. That’s why they won’t talk. We can have Debing use some persuasion—take them as hostages to force their accomplices to return."Zhou Rong shook his head: "What if their accomplices find out their partner was caught and don't dare to return?"
"This..."
"The police are already involved. We can't wait any longer—this must be settled today. Have Du Cong take us to find those two. We'll use these accomplices as leverage to wipe them all out in one go. Once we get the goods back, leave no survivors."
"What about Du Cong?"
A cold glint flashed in Zhou Rong's eyes: "Same fate."
"Understood, I'll handle it immediately."
"No, this is too important. I'm coming too."
"But it's too dangerous."
Zhou Rong smiled faintly: "If De Bing fails in this, sitting at home would just mean waiting for the police to come knocking."
Hu Jianren thought for a moment, then nodded: "Brother Rong, I'm worried the police might be watching if you go out." Zhou Rong gave a cold laugh: "Perfect timing to use Xiao Mi as a decoy."
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