Chapter 104: Case Reporting

Brother Hu had originally started out in Sava doing kidnappings, so this kind of work came to him as naturally as breathing.

Unlike Sang Biao, who would pounce and pin someone down, he slipped a single hand under the blanket, planning to twist the person's arm behind their back in one smooth move.

Under normal circumstances, once you got someone's arm twisted behind them like that, even a grown man lying in bed couldn't struggle free.

He felt around cautiously under the blanket, then felt again... Wait. Where's the arm?

He didn't believe it, so he shoved his hand in deeper. Damn! Rope!

A trap!

He went to pull out his gun, only to hand his wrist straight to Qi Jin.

"Ow ow ow... that hurts, that hurts..."

Brother Hu's case proved it: a grown man's arm, once twisted behind his back, really can't break free.

Qi Jin kicked him in the face and pinned him hard to the floor. Then, with one hand, he threw back the blanket and asked Sang Biao, who was lying there obediently: "Who is he?"

Sang Biao's gaze met Brother Hu's instantly. "He's Brother Hu."

"Sang Biao, you're betraying me?"

Brother Hu demanded loudly, but Sang Biao didn't even flinch. "Bro, I only charged you five hundred. You can't expect me to play loyalty for that price, right? That's way too cheap!"

Brother Hu fumed: "Five hundred is still money! I'm never hiring you again!"

"Ha!"

Qi Jin let out a cold laugh. "You think you're gonna have another job after this? Get ready to spend your days at a sewing machine, pal!"

He pulled a rope from the bed and tied Brother Hu up tight in no time, then, along with Xiao Zuo and Xiao You, tossed him against the wall to lie in a row.

In the corner of the room, on the sofa, Qi Yuan sat in front of them, a scalpel in his hand. He looked down at Brother Hu. "Why did Brother Bao have those two girls taken?"

Brother Hu shot him a glare. "You ask me, who do I ask? I take money; I do the job. Chit-chat costs extra!"

"Is that so?"

Qi Yuan smiled slightly. A glint of cold steel flashed in his hand, and the scalpel plunged straight into Brother Hu's thumb web.

The web of the thumb is dense with nerves and lacks thick fat for protection. Brother Hu jolted in agony. "You son of a bitch! I told you! I don't—"

Before he could finish cursing, the scalpel was yanked out and redirected toward his face!

"Ahhh...!"

When the blade came at his face, he'd actually breathed a sigh of relief.

Anyone in the underworld had been stabbed a time or two, right?

But the blade grazed his cheek and buried itself in the soft flesh behind his ear.

Damn! That hurt like hell!

The knife tip twisted around in the tender flesh, and he broke out in a cold sweat from the pain. "Damn it! Fine, I'll talk—"

But before he could finish, his fingertip suddenly erupted in agony.

He looked down. Damn it! He'd become Xia Ziwei [a reference to a character from the classic Chinese melodrama "My Fair Princess" who gets her fingers tortured with needles]!

"Damn it! I said I was going to talk!"

Why stab his fingers too? It hurts so much!

Qi Yuan looked at the blade tip lodged into the cuticle and laughed softly. "I've always wondered what 'ten fingers connected to the heart' actually feels like. Thanks for the demonstration."

Thanks my ass! He was worse than Nurse Rong [the notorious torturer from the same drama]!

Afraid Qi Yuan might go further, he rushed to confess: "All I know is that girl was in his way. What exactly she was in the way of, I really don't know."

In the way?

Qi Yuan's eyes flickered. "Give me more details."

The "in the way" part was actually Brother Hu's own guess. Brother Bao never gave him reasons when he gave orders, and Brother Hu never asked.

One ran telecom fraud, the other ran kidnappings — a perfect crime chain. Why bother asking?

Especially since Brother Bao had splashed out big this time, handing over 200,000 upfront.

To be clear, in the past, when Brother Hu kidnapped someone for Brother Bao, it was 50,000 per person, not a cent more.

200,000 for two girls — such a good gig, he wasn't about to ask questions.

But that time, after Brother Bao finished giving orders, he didn't hang up the phone in time, and Brother Hu overheard him murmuring two sentences to a woman.

Qi Yuan's gaze sharpened. "What did they say?"

Brother Hu tried to recall: "Brother Bao said, 'It's all arranged. From now on, she'll never get in your way again.' Then a woman's voice answered, 'Got it,' and the call ended."

He thought for a moment, then added: "That woman's voice was real pretty. Must have been a looker."

Sang Biao couldn't help but jump in: "You've never tried online dating. Some people have the sweetest voice but look like a flounder! Ahh, don't get me started..."

Brother Hu shot him a dirty look. "Would Brother Bao be with her if she were ugly? You idiot!"

Sang Biao snapped back: "Can't Brother Bao pursue love? You're so shallow!"

...

Whether it was because they were thick-skinned or just dim-witted, the two actually started bickering.

They argued so loudly that Qi Yuan's head ached. He waved a hand and had Qi Jin stuff dirty socks into both their mouths.

So this "Brother Bao" was right there beside He Huanhuan.

He glanced at Qi Jin. "Call your superior. Report the details clearly."

"On it!"

Qi Jin had been dying to report to his boss anyway. Just thinking about that fraud kingpin living it up in Jiangcheng was driving him crazy.

The call went through. Before the superior could even start scolding him, what Qi Jin said snapped the man fully awake.

The superior sat bolt upright and asked Qi Jin: "Really?"

Qi Jin nodded. "Really. They're all in my hands. Not one missing — every last one tied up."

"Good, good, good..."

The superior scrambled to get dressed. "Hold them there for now. I'm heading to the bureau to file a request. We need to investigate this thoroughly!"

"Got it!"

After hanging up, Qi Jin slept like a baby. He didn't get a call back until the afternoon.

On the other end, the superior's voice was dead serious: "The Sava police will come by to pick them up soon. Cooperate with them properly. Don't go cracking jokes — don't embarrass the image of Chinese police. Understand?"

Qi Jin grinned. "Don't worry, boss! I'm the picture of seriousness!"

...

The Sava police arrived fast — less than half an hour after the call ended, there was a knock at the door.

Qi Jin opened it to find a team of Sava officers standing there, all stern-faced.

Their leader, a middle-aged man, spoke in halting Chinese to Qi Jin: "Officer Qi, hello. We're here under orders to arrest the suspects."

As a Chinese police officer, Qi Jin wasn't authorized to make arrests in Sava.

However, since Brother Hu and his crew had come to provoke him first, Qi Jin's act of capturing and interrogating them could barely pass as self-defense.

But the extradition and handover afterwards would have to follow the extradition treaty between the two countries and go through proper legal procedures.

Qi Jin had been working on anti-fraud operations since graduation, so he knew all these regulations inside and out.

He cooperated fully, handing Brother Hu and the others over to the Sava police.

Watching the officers leave with the captives, he clutched his chest in pain. "My premium travel package! I spent seventy thousand on that!"

His boss had called him back to China to assist the investigation, and just like that, his vacation was gone.

Seventy thousand — it would take him nearly a year to save that up again.

Back in the room, Qi Yuan had already packed all his luggage. He picked up his suitcase and said flatly: "When my bonus from last year comes in next year, I'll cover thirty-five thousand of it."

Such a convoluted sentence. Such a heartbreaking one.