I achieved mastery of martial arts during the Republic of China era.

Chapter 53 Murder to silence witnesses, no one to testify

Zhou Tong felt a chill run down his spine, and his gaze shifted slightly, landing on the people standing behind and to the side of Qin and He.

There stood Chu Yunhe, the deputy captain of the second squadron, whom they hadn't seen for a long time, and Ning Yan, the deputy captain of the third squadron.

Both of them were pale and had injuries.

Chu Yunhe's left arm was wrapped in a strip of cloth, with specks of blood seeping through it.

Ning Yan had a plaster on her forehead, and her right calf was ripped open and tied with a blood-stained strip of cloth. She leaned slightly when standing, clearly indicating that she was seriously injured.

Zhou Tong watched this scene, his eyes narrowing slightly, instantly recalling Qin Lieyue's words from a while ago—"Old Chu has been keeping a close eye on this matter lately."

It seems that Captain Qin's "unspeakable" secret operation has gone wrong, and a big one at that!

Just as he was about to step forward to ask, a slightly grating laugh came from not far away.

"Wow! The station's bustling with activity today?"

As the voices were spoken, Liu Zhenshan, the captain of the first squadron, and Ma Biao, the captain of the fourth squadron, walked in one after the other, swinging their arms.

Liu Zhenshan wore a disgusting, insincere smile. His gaze first slowly swept over the corpses on the ground, then lingered for a moment on the wounded Chu Yunhe and Ning Yan, before finally settling on the gloomy faces of Qin Lie and He Kun, his smile deepening.

Ma Biao chuckled, making no attempt to hide his schadenfreude, and clicked his tongue twice: "I knew I heard crows cawing when I went out this morning, turns out there really was a funeral."

He walked to the body, gently nudged the straw mat with his toe, revealing the deceased's pale, swollen face covered in blood.

He glanced at it only once before turning away in disgust, turning to Qin Lie, and drawing out his words:

"Captain Qin, Captain He, what are you two doing? It's one thing if the case goes wrong, but to put a dead body in the lobby of the station in the middle of the day, aren't you afraid of bad luck?"

Are you planning to let everyone in the bureau benefit from your work and experience the hardships and dangers you two face while handling cases?

Qin Lie slowly raised his head, his gaze like two cold scraping knives, scraping across Liu Zhenshan and Ma Biao's faces.

He didn't respond much, only squeezing out a few words through gritted teeth: "Take him away to the morgue."

Two patrol officers nearby quickly stepped forward, lifted the body, and hurriedly left.

Seeing Qin Lie and He Kun's gloomy expressions and silence, Liu Zhenshan smiled slightly, then turned his gaze to Chu Yunhe and Ning Yan, glancing at their injuries, and said with concern:

"Deputy Captain Chu, Deputy Captain Ning, what are you two looking like? What kind of vicious bandits have you encountered?"

Now I have to say something about you two. I just heard from someone in the bureau that you two were handling a case privately and got into trouble.

"Look at us, our police station is all in cahoots, sharing both good and bad times. If there's a case, and they don't let us know beforehand, we can all work together, have more manpower, and this wouldn't have happened."

Ma Biao immediately chimed in, saying in a sarcastic tone:

"Captain Liu, that's a rather tactless question. These two are conducting a secret investigation; do you think they'd tell you?"

If I tell you, wouldn't that mean I'd have to share the credit with you? Would you be willing to do that?

But speaking of which... who is this person?

Even if he was a thief, he's been brought to justice. Why can't he rest in peace even after he's dead?

Chu Yunhe and Ning Yan's chests heaved as they stared intently at Liu Zhenshan and Ma Biao with almost murderous eyes, but they kept their mouths tightly shut and didn't utter a word.

Qin Lie suddenly turned his head and stared intently at Ma Biao, his eyes surging with terrifying anger and coldness.

He spoke slowly and deliberately, his voice not loud, yet it was like ice beads hitting the ground:

"This person deserves to die."

Qin Lie stopped looking at Liu and Ma's disgusting faces, turned around, and strode heavily up to the second floor, his back view revealing an extreme suppressed rage.

He Kun stared at Liu Zhenshan and Ma Biao, and coldly uttered a sentence:

"Liu Zhenshan, Ma Biao, some things are known only to Heaven, Earth, you, and me. It's not that retribution won't come, it's just that the time hasn't arrived yet."

I'm telling you this: if you do something heinous, you might get away with it for a while, but you won't. Just wait and see!

"Oh, Captain He, I don't understand what you're saying."

Liu Zhenshan shrugged, looking completely innocent: "We were just concerned about our colleague, how did it turn into something wrong?"

"Well, we've been meddling. Captain Ma, let's go. Don't get in the way and delay Captain He from handling this important case."

As they spoke, the two shook their heads and sighed, looking as if their good intentions had been taken for granted, and swaggered away.

They walked and talked and laughed in hushed tones, their laughter sounding particularly jarring in the hallway, which was filled with a faint smell of blood.

He Kun snorted coldly and also went upstairs to the second floor.

Ning Yan and Chu Yunhe followed.

Zhou Tong stood at the edge of the crowd, taking in everything.

"Brother Zhou." Zhao Han and Chang Xuan approached from somewhere.

Both of them looked suspicious, clearly not understanding what was going on.

Zhou Tong nodded slightly to them and said in a low voice, "Go upstairs and talk."

The three of them didn't linger and quickly went up to the second floor.

……

Second Squadron Captain's Office.

The atmosphere was so heavy it was almost palpable.

Qin Lie sat behind his desk, his anger still simmering.

He Kun sat in the chair opposite him, his brows furrowed, his fingers unconsciously tapping the armrest of the chair.

Chu Yunhe and Ning Yan sat on a bench against the wall, their faces ashen.

After Zhou Tong, Zhao Han, Chang Xuan, and the three squad leaders of the third squadron who followed closely behind entered, Qin Lie merely raised his eyelids and gestured for them to find a place to sit.

The office, though small, was quickly crammed full, and the only sound was heavy breathing.

"Everyone is here."

Qin Lie took a deep breath, lit a cigarette, took a deep drag, and then slowly spoke, his voice hoarse and weary:

"At this point, there's no need to keep it a secret anymore."

A while ago, I received a tip that the pro-foreign faction was secretly selling opium. Not on a small scale, but by the caseful.

Qin Lie's voice suddenly turned cold: "This stuff is a scourge to the country and its people, yet the profits are higher than gold. Those foreign devils, and their cronies, rely on this to drain the bodies of our people while making huge profits, winning over hearts and minds, and expanding their power!"

We followed the clues and investigated for a long time before finally identifying a man from out of town who came from the south, named Diao Laoqi.

This person has been active in the southern part of the city, and it's said he's had contact with several businesses that have close ties with foreigners, which is highly suspicious.

He exhaled a puff of smoke, his eyes sharp:

"But we only have suspicions, we don't have any concrete evidence. If we rashly arrest him, and he turns out to be a big fish, the pro-foreign faction will definitely use their connections to put pressure on him at every level to get him released."

If we arrest someone but don't have solid evidence, they'll have to be released obediently, and our intentions will be exposed for nothing, alerting the enemy.

So, I discussed it with Lao He, and we thought we'd play the long game, using his lead to trace their hideout. Then we'd catch them red-handed, and no one could overturn the case!

The opium case… Upon hearing this, Zhou Tong remained expressionless, but his heart suddenly turned cold.

The word "opium" has no special meaning for him in this life, but it was a taboo in his past life.

No one can forget the beginning of that century of humiliation.

At that moment, Zhou Tong unconsciously perked up.

Under the silent gaze of everyone, Qin Lie's voice deepened:

"So, we had Lao Chu and Lao Ning take turns watching him for more than a month."

But this Diao Laoqi seemed quite normal. He spent his days drinking and gambling, and he was so discreet that we never noticed anything wrong with him.

Just when we were all wondering if the information was wrong and we were targeting the wrong person, yesterday morning...

Qin Lie shook his head and looked at Chu Yunhe: "Old Chu, you're in charge of that side, so you take charge."

Chu Yunhe nodded slightly and said, "Yesterday morning, Diao Laoqi finally slipped up. At the entrance of 'Fushui Street' in the south of the city, he almost shook off the brothers who were watching him, taking advantage of the crowd."

This guy seemed to have suddenly become a different person, no longer exhibiting the debauched behavior of his previous drinking, gambling, and womanizing ways, and displaying extremely strong anti-tracking skills.

We took a roundabout route to check if anyone was following us. Luckily, the brother following us was quick-witted, otherwise we would have been exposed.

At the time, I didn't have enough manpower, and I was worried that if I forced him to follow, he would find out and alert him, so I let him go first.

Now that he's already given himself away, as long as he doesn't arouse suspicion, we can wait until he reappears. With enough manpower deployed, we'll definitely be able to follow the trail and achieve something next time.

Hearing this, Zhou Tong nodded slightly. Playing the long game was a sound decision.

Chu Yunhe continued, "He disappeared without a trace after that. Then, in the afternoon, he reappeared at a gambling den in the south of the city. We immediately set up even tighter surveillance, intending to catch him red-handed and find out who and what kind of hideout he was behind."

Immediately afterwards, Chu Yunhe changed the subject, his expression turning extremely ugly:

"But we soon realized something was wrong. He was fine at the casino, and when he returned to the inn, he acted exactly the same as before."

Just as dawn was breaking and the people keeping watch were at their most tired, he packed a small bundle and secretly climbed over the wall and left.

This clearly means they've gotten wind of something and are preparing to run away!

Chu Yunhe continued, "Old Ning and I know we can't wait any longer! Once this kid slips away, finding him in this vast sea of ​​people will be like looking for a needle in a haystack."

So, Lao Ning and I acted decisively and secretly arrested him in an alley near his inn.

This guy was quite straightforward; he didn't resist and surrendered without resistance, but he stubbornly refused to admit that he had anything to do with opium trafficking.

We tried to use some methods on him, but this guy was really stubborn and refused to say a word. He even boasted that the police were oppressing good citizens and that someone would definitely stand up for him.

Seeing that we couldn't get any information out of him, we planned to secretly take him back to the station and find a professional to pry him open... but on the way back...

Chu Yunhe's voice suddenly became hoarse, filled with sorrow and anger:

"When we were passing through an alley, suddenly a number of masked men came out from the walls on both sides and from the side passages. The three leaders were all experts in bone forging!"

We fought back desperately... two brothers died on the spot, and even Diao Laoqi couldn't be kept in check; they silenced him."

After hearing the whole story, the office was initially deathly silent, but then immediately erupted into a frenzy.

"damn it."

Zhao Han was the first to lose her temper, straightening up and glaring at him:

"There must be a mole! Otherwise, how could they have timed it so perfectly? To ambush and kill them right on the way?"

Chang Xuan pressed Zhao Han's shoulder to make him sit down, his eyes narrowing as he said in a deep voice:

"Old Zhao is impatient, but he's right. Diao Laoqi was just arrested, and only we inside know the escort route and time. The fact that the other side could set up such a precise ambush means they must have an inside accomplice."

He looked at Chu Yunhe and Ning Yan and asked, "Were the brothers who participated in the operation all reliable? Did anyone on the way act suspiciously?"

After thinking it over carefully, both of them slowly shook their heads.

At this moment, Qin Lie spoke up: "The brothers who participated in the operation were all handpicked by Lao He and me. Although you can't see into someone's heart, there's no need to suspect our own people just because we find something suspicious."

He said in a deep voice, "Someone had given Diao Laoqi a message beforehand, telling him to escape. This proves that we have been exposed. It is very likely that someone has been secretly watching Diao Laoqi all along. As soon as we arrested him, they spread the message, which led to the ambush."

That made sense, and everyone nodded in agreement.

Qin Lie wearily closed his eyes, then suddenly opened them again, his eyes bloodshot, his face filled with resentment as he said:

"More than a month of planning, the lives of two brothers, the injuries of Lao Chu and the others... all we got in return was this corpse that can no longer speak. Everything died with him."

Zhou Tong had been listening silently, but now his gaze sharpened slightly, and he spoke:

"Captain Chu, there's another crucial point. Since this Diao Laoqi only fled in panic after secretly receiving information after reappearing and realizing he had been exposed."

He asked, "After he reappeared, did he come into contact with anyone?"

Chu Yunhe looked at Zhou Tong, shook his head slightly, and said, "We can think of this problem too, but we have no way of investigating it."

That guy reappeared at the casino that day, and then went to a restaurant for a meal. The places he was in were crowded and noisy, and all it took to pass a message was a note, or even a hidden mark on the wall...

He didn't say anything more, but his meaning was clear.

Zhou Tong frowned slightly, thought for a moment, and then said:

"Before disappearing yesterday morning, this person carefully circled around to avoid being followed, clearly indicating that he was going to do something shady."

Therefore, it is highly likely that he dealt with matters related to opium or met with key people during this period.

Have you searched him? Were there any clues?

Ning Yan shook his head again: "When we caught that guy, we searched him thoroughly. There was nothing special, just some clothes and banknotes."

He sighed: "Once a person dies, where they go and who they meet all become mysteries."

Everyone else shook their heads and sighed, and the atmosphere on the field was heavy.

After discussing it for a while, they still couldn't figure it out, so the group dispersed.

Zhou Tong, however, stayed.

"Team Leader Qin."

He took two steps closer and whispered, "I want to go to the morgue and see that old scoundrel's body."

Qin Lie looked up at him, his eyes filled with doubt: "The person is dead, how can you possibly see anything?"

Zhou Tong didn't hide anything, saying, "I want to see if he left any clues on his body, which might be helpful."

Qin Lie stared at him for a few seconds, his voice tinged with exhaustion:

"You're proactive, that's a good thing. Go ahead and do it, I'll sign a warrant for you."

However, don't get your hopes up too high. Old Chu and Old Ning are both veterans. They thoroughly examined the guy after they caught him; if they were going to find anything, they would have done so already.

Zhou Tong didn't explain further, took the warrant, and left the office.

Instead of going directly to the morgue in the backyard, he found a secluded spot, woke up the shadow worm, and had it hang inside his open clothes.

"Now it's up to you."

Zhou Tong glanced at the eyeshadow insect, his eyes flashing slightly.