WWY Chapter 60

Chapter 60: The Criminal Group Just Happened to Grow into His Favorite Form…

Lan He and Tuxi Ling walked to an empty pavilion. Lan He immediately sat down to claim it, patting the spot next to him on the bench, inviting him to sit as well. After he sat down, he even scooted closer to him.

With his arm pressed tightly against his, Tuxi Ling felt uncomfortable all over but couldn’t avoid it, so he endured.

He turned his head to look at him, and he returned the look, then gave a harmless smile: “Officer Ling, you can say what you want.”

Tuxi Ling asked, “Are you alright?”

Lan He countered, “What should be wrong with me?”

Tuxi Ling hesitated for a moment, “He just left you by the roadside like that the other day. I can’t quite figure it out. Was there some kind of exchange or something?”

Anyone could see that the suspect was in a do-or-die state of mind. Shengbo Xia spat blood at the time and was carried into the ambulance unconscious. Jiu Ya was even worse, with a severe concussion and still unable to open his eyes, remaining in the ICU for observation to see if he needed a craniotomy. It was hard for Tuxi Ling to imagine that such a fierce guy would leave Lan He unharmed on the side of the highway, waiting for them to find him.

Lan He stared at him intently for a moment, then suddenly smiled: “He couldn’t bear to kill me.”

Tuxi Ling’s head buzzed. Lan He’s sincere gaze told him he wasn’t joking. The faint line that had been hovering in his mind for a long time finally became clear, and he instantly understood.

“You and him…”

“He pursued me, but I never agreed. He’s too persistent.”

“Pursued you?” Tuxi Ling repeated blankly, avoiding eye contact when he looked over, “Then did he kill Man Qin?”

“I don’t know what happened. I haven’t been in contact since returning to China. He suddenly came looking for me.”

Tuxi Ling was a little angry, but more nervous: “This is withholding information!”

Lan He pursed his lips: “But I really don’t know. Your police keep everything secret. How would I have known at first that Qi A killed Man Qin? I thought he was just following me and creating so much trouble to threaten me, to make me go back abroad with him. I kept dragging it out, thinking he would back down when he realized it was impossible. Anyway, he could never really kill me, and I really don’t know where he is!”

“Couldn’t kill you? What about that explosion? Can you be sure you wouldn’t have been blown up? And what about the other suspect? The one at the private restaurant last time, didn’t he plan to kill you either? Several of his crimes endanger public safety, and innocent people were injured. You know they came for you, shouldn’t you provide clues to the police? This is sheltering!”

“I’ve had the Aerospace Charity provide compensation to all the injured people. It was an amount the injured were satisfied with. Besides, merely withholding information isn’t illegal, right?”

“…” Officer Ling’s righteous indignation was defeated by money, and he asked, “Who is the other one?”

“He’s my adoptive father. He probably didn’t want Qi A to come looking for me.”

Tuxi Ling closed his mouth.

Lan He lowered his eyes, staring at his slender fingers, which had a scar from a box cutter that was still red.

“I… Qi A probably found out that Man Qin changed my medicine that day and thought he wanted to harm me, so he…”

“How did he know?”

“I don’t know. I thought I could break ties with them after returning to China, but it seems…”

“Were you like them before?”

“I’ve never been involved in bloodshed.”

“What about other things?”

Lan He looked at him quietly, saying nothing.

Understood.

His frozen expression made Tuxi Ling’s heart slowly sink. After a long while, he finally exhaled forcefully.

He suddenly felt a little ridiculous. Yaojin Ke was right, none of them were good people.

No wonder Lan He always carried an air of calmness and composure. It turned out he had really experienced a lot.

Lan He’s statement also confirmed Qing Gu’s explanation that Man Qin’s death had nothing to do with the gambling platform. These were completely separate cases.

Gradually, self-deprecation turned into frustration, partly because the case had been investigated in the wrong direction, and partly because of Lan He.

His heart felt heavy.

Lan He’s first twenty-two years of life could be described as full of ups and downs, more exciting than most people’s lives. He had experienced too many people and things, but uniquely, Tuxi Ling was not one of them.

“Don’t worry.” Tuxi Ling stood up, looking into his eyes, and said slowly and firmly, “We’ll send them where they belong!”

–

The task force put a lot of effort into surveillance and finally had a breakthrough.

Yesterday afternoon, the stolen electric SUV driven by the suspect Qi A appeared at the Yuancun Farmers’ Market in the northern part of the city. Yuancun is mainly a rice-growing area, with a sparse population. That was the only public surveillance camera in the area. There were a few private ones. Judging from the time, the Farmers’ Market was the last place he was captured on camera. Then he continued north, not appearing on any roads.

After a thorough search, the car was finally found in an abandoned reservoir four kilometers from Yuancun, but the person had long gone.

After that, the quitting Team Leader Ling came back, along with Lan He, the victim in the case.

The victim had become a witness, leaving Yaojin Ke dumbfounded.

He shamelessly followed behind Tuxi Ling, just about to enter the interrogation room when the task force leader, Kun Tian, arrived and stopped the two people who were about to enter: “Team Leader Ling, shouldn’t you recuse yourself?”

Tuxi Ling’s brows furrowed: “Why?”

Kun Tian looked at Lan He, sitting quietly inside the room, through the glass on the door: “I heard you two are friends?”

Tuxi Ling raised his chin, his face full of anger.

“Team Leader Ling, you already voluntarily withdrew from the task force. This case has nothing to do with you. Stay aside!” Yaojin Ke smoothed things over, deliberately emphasizing the word “voluntarily.”

His quarrel with Tuxi Ling was an internal conflict, and it was fine no matter how they fought or argued. But if this guy stirred up trouble with the provincial leaders, his career would be bleak in the future.

Tuxi Ling was about to say something, but Yaojin Ke pushed him into the next room: “Go, go, you go to the next room to listen! I’ve got this!”

Yaojin Ke’s attitude was particularly good today. He took the initiative to shake hands with Lan He and introduced him to Kun Tian. On the contrary, Lan He, who was usually arrogant and sarcastic, was very quiet, sitting in the chair like a wooden puppet.

Yaojin Ke noticed that Kun Tian seemed to be in a bad mood and cleared his throat: “Mr. He, thank you for taking the initiative to provide us with information!”

Lan He said indifferently: “I probably can’t provide too much. I haven’t been in contact with them for three years. I don’t know what they did this time or where they’re staying.”

He raised his eyes slightly, meeting Kun Tian’s sharp gaze like an eagle, without any emotional fluctuations.

Kun Tian changed his posture: “Don’t think that just because you’ve returned to the country and tried to whitewash yourself, the things you did before don’t exist.”

Lan He smiled: “What am I whitewashing? Officer, I’m actively cooperating. Can you please have a better attitude?”

Kun Tian stared at him coldly: “You colluded with a foreign criminal group, and you think you’re in the right?”

Lan He bit his lip and suddenly laughed a few times: “With your professional qualities, how did you even get into the provincial department?”

Yaojin Ke had a headache, and Tuxi Ling on the other side of the window also had a headache. Lan He was being very cooperative today. He felt that the conversation in the hospital had prepared his emotions, which was why he agreed to provide information. But Kun Tian’s provocation ruined everything, and he had reverted to his old self.

It was unlikely he’d say anything now.

Sure enough, Lan He coldly turned his head to look out the window, folded his arms, and looked like he didn’t want to be bothered.

Kun Tian, angered by his retort, slammed the table: “Do you know there’s a term called accomplice? You participated in a criminal group, and you think you’re not breaking the law just because you didn’t commit a crime yourself?”

Lan He wasn’t intimidated by him and said unhurriedly: “I’ve lived in the Middle East since I was old enough to understand. I was picking food from the collapsed ruins every day. I could only drink a few sips of water without a strange taste when it rained. When I was ten years old, I and my friends were taken away by your so-called criminal group. Because my health wasn’t good, they didn’t ask me to do anything. They just provided food and drink every day. All I had to do was call the head of the group ‘Dad.’ Tell me, if you were a ten-year-old child, what would you do? Run away? Or call the police yourself? Oh, right, the local police were in cahoots with them. So tell me, are they breaking the law? Or not breaking the law? I’d also like to ask, when I was kidnapped from Weiyu He, where were our police?”

Kun Tian was stunned, and his angry expression softened slightly. He re-examined the calm young man in front of him.

“The person who hijacked me a few days ago, who is also your suspect number one, is called Qi A. He’s been my friend since I was little. His home was turned into a big pit in a bombing, and his family of five became a rotten mess. It was impossible to tell who was who. That day, we went out to find food, haha, he was lucky. Your so-called suspect number two, that person with the East Asian appearance, is called Da Sang. He made us call him Dad. He trained Qi A into a killing machine. He has many other killing machines, but none as good as Qi A. Qi A was born to do this and enjoyed it. I also said that he would die because of this sooner or later, but he ignored me.”

The interrogation room was silent. His words seemed to echo in the room for a long time. Tuxi Ling stood woodenly in the next room, staring fixedly at Lan He.

Lan He was amused by the reactions of the two people in front of him: “Anything else you want to ask?”

Yaojin Ke came back to his senses and quickly opened his notebook: “Where is their lair?”

“Da Sang has an island in the Pacific, but he doesn’t go there often. He spends most of his time in several small towns on the US-Mexico border.” Lan He listed several unknown city names for them, “I’m not sure now. My information is likely to be outdated.”

“What illegal things have they done?”

Lan He lowered his head and thought: “I don’t know. He doesn’t let me participate, but I can be sure that he doesn’t touch drugs. The subordinates who touch drugs will be dealt with by him.”

“Don’t know?” Yaojin Ke found it incredible: “How could you not know?”

“He never tells me about his business, and Qi A doesn’t mention it either. He knows I’m not interested. I spend most of my time on the island. Sometimes he takes me to meet some people.”

“Meet who?”

“There are gangsters and politicians.”

“Politicians?”

Lan He looked at him strangely: “Is that strange? Don’t Western politicians all keep gangsters?”

Yaojin Ke and Kun Tian exchanged glances and were silent.

Kun Tian spoke again, his tone much better than before: “How many people are in their group?”

Lan He recalled: “Actually, it’s not a big scale. There are about thirty or so mercenaries. These people are unstable. Not many familiar faces come and go, but there are twenty or so ‘insiders’ like Qi A. They are all very loyal.”

Yaojin Ke raised his hand: “Then I have a question. What is your identity in the group? Why is he willing to keep you?”

“Are you thinking crooked?” Lan He smiled meaningfully, glancing at the mirror on the entire wall. He knew that Tuxi Ling was behind it, “Da Sang is a loving person. He adopted many children. I just happened to grow into the form he liked the most. He once said that the son in his mind should have my face.”

“He adopted many children? Was it a formal adoption? Did he not hurt them?”

Lan He chuckled: “What are you thinking? Of course, it was an illegal adoption. Unlike other adopters, Da Sang likes to adopt older children. It’s not easy to control children that big unless they are sincerely convinced. Therefore, he never hurts them. They are only punished when they make mistakes.”

Yaojin Ke found it very incredible: “How can anyone like to adopt older children? They are starting to understand things. Will they have feelings for him?”

“He doesn’t have any family, and he doesn’t care about the close relationship between family members. I think he enjoys the feeling of being worshipped. He always thinks he is a strong person.” Lan He paused, “He likes to make those children submit by showing his force, wealth, and love, and they are willing to become strong people for their adoptive father.”

“Love?” Yaojin Ke seemed to have heard a joke.

“He is very loving, can you imagine?” Lan He nodded firmly, “He built more than a dozen clinics in the poorest parts of Africa, providing them with free medicines. If he encounters suitable people, he also hires them at high salaries to teach local children to learn.”

Kun Tian knocked on the table: “It’s useless for you to say good things for him. Illegal activities and charity are two different things.”

Lan He nodded: “I don’t mean to say good things for him. I just want to answer your questions and tell you that I’m nothing special among his many children.”

More importantly, is to prove “innocence”!

If he had known it would turn out like this, he would have acted like a normal person three years ago!

If he didn’t have money to spend, couldn’t he just steal or rob? Why did he have to play abstract! Now he has made himself into a promiscuous image, and he has to explain indirectly that he is not that kind of person!

He couldn’t wait to rush to the next room, grab Tuxi Ling’s shoulders, and tell him: Believe me!

Just as he was feeling uneasy about Tuxi Ling’s view, he heard Kun Tian ask: “What about the girl from Renchao Village named Yingying Zou? Is she also?”

If Kun Tian hadn’t mentioned it, Lan He would have forgotten that there was such a person as Yingying Zou.

“Yes, Qi A mentioned it.” He nodded, “I heard she suffered from school bullying. Da Sang probably had another fit of kindness.”

Kun Tian was still skeptical: “According to your statement, Da Sang wouldn’t hurt her either?”

“Definitely not.”

“Where is she now? Is it possible to know?”

Lan He shook his head: “Is she with Da Sang? Or has she been sent abroad? I don’t know as much about their activities in China as you do.”

“Last question.” Kun Tian stared into his eyes and asked, “It seems like you had a good relationship, so why did you leave them?”