Chapter Eighty-Five: Caught in One Sweep

Gao Jun felt a dark satisfaction at the sight of Chu Dong, who looked rather beaten down, with blood still at the corner of his mouth. If there had not been so many people around, he would have dragged Chu Dong away for a private lesson on the spot.

“Everyone has their day. Aren’t you still breathing just fine?” Chu Dong’s mouth had never learned surrender; if anyone could defeat him with words alone, he would not be Chu Dong.

“A dead duck with a stiff beak. He looks like the ringleader to me. Take him away and lock him up,” Gao Jun said. The anger in his chest had nowhere to go, but now that Chu Dong had fallen into his hands, there would be plenty of time to settle accounts.

“Wait.”

Chu Dong heard a familiar voice and looked up. Another police officer, also in uniform, came around from the side. Yet this one was slender, and when she removed her cap, a head of glossy hair fell loose as she swept it lightly to one side. It was none other than Luo Feiyu, whom Chu Dong had met several times before.

“Xiao Luo, you came too?” Chu Dong felt as though he had seen a savior.

“Who is she?” Tan Xue pinched him from behind and asked in a low, displeased voice.

“A friend. We met before.” This was hardly the time to explain, and Chu Dong endured it, barely holding himself back from turning around in place.

“Why is it you again?” Luo Feiyu was just as surprised to see Chu Dong. “I didn’t expect you to have such a hobby.”

She had truly thought Chu Dong was a gambler who had come here to gamble. “The law allows no mercy, and I can’t do anything about it. But if you have any last words for your family, I can help pass them along, since we know each other.”

“No, I’ve been wronged. I was tricked into coming here by friends. I really was! It’s so unjust,” Chu Dong hurriedly argued when he saw that Luo Feiyu was about to leave it be.

“Tricked? You can only fool children with that kind of talk. Take him away!” Gao Jun was afraid Luo Feiyu might be swayed again, so he quickly ordered the armed police to take Chu Dong and the others away.

Three armed police officers escorted Chu Dong and the others into a police car. Once they were locked inside, the vehicle was sealed tight. One man remained behind, holding a submachine gun of uncertain ammunition, while the others went back to reinforce the operation.

“I’m sorry. It’s all my fault.” Li Youlan’s lips trembled, tears welling at the corners of her eyes as if they might fall at any moment.

“It’s fine. Once everything is explained, it’ll be fine,” Tan Xue said, holding Li Youlan and gently rubbing her hair as she comforted her friend in a whisper.

“Just take this as a lesson. The only reason I’m such a brilliant and mighty hero is that I’m still alive to walk out of there. If this ever happens again, I’ll strip you naked and throw you out on the street,” Chu Dong said. He knew that comforting her would not help; a few scoldings would work better, for the more he tried to console her, the worse it would get.

“You dare!” As expected, Li Youlan wiped away her tears, lifted her chin, and said, “If you dare do that to me, I’ll take naked photos of your wife and post them online.”

“What are you saying to her? You two argue all you want, but don’t drag me into it.” Tan Xue had just been comforting her a moment ago, but upon hearing that, she pushed Li Youlan away and turned her face aside, refusing to look at either of them.

Chu Dong chuckled and said no more. Li Youlan had wanted to kick him, but after glancing down at the short skirt she was wearing and deeming the angle unsafe, she gave up with an irritated huff.

More and more people were being brought out. No one knew how many had come, nor how many vehicles there were, only that well over a thousand people were being watched over by designated guards and stuffed into cars one by one. Whether Luo Feiyu had said something in advance, or Gao Jun had simply decided to treat Chu Dong like a high-level criminal, their car remained occupied only by the three of them, and no one else was added before the end.

“First squad, first squad, is there anyone left inside? Is there anyone left inside?” Gao Jun repeated into the walkie-talkie. After a burst of static, a reply came through.

“Report to Eagle, report to Eagle. There’s no one else inside now, no one else. But we found a passage. Someone may have escaped. Someone may have escaped. Over.”

Gao Jun cursed under his breath after putting down the radio, then waved a hand and led two men inside.

The room was empty. The intense white lights still blazed overhead, and the round timbers around the walls were as they had always been. Only countless banknotes were scattered everywhere, and the armed police officers were busy sorting them.

Standing in the center of the room, Gao Jun crouched and wiped at the fresh bloodstain on the floor with his white gloves, then lifted his hand to examine and sniff it.

He stood and waved at the two armed police behind him. “Call the forensic department. Take samples of the blood and hair and file them.”

“I don’t know. I really don’t know anything. I was tricked into coming here with two friends. Really.” Chu Dong wore a bitter expression as he spoke to Luo Feiyu.

“You’d better tell the truth honestly. If you keep refusing to cooperate like this, I can’t help you,” Luo Feiyu said. Ever since she saw Chu Dong, her brow had hardly once relaxed.

“How am I supposed to tell it? Would you only be satisfied if I said I was the organizer of this underground fight? That would be a gross injustice.” Chu Dong could not say that it had been Li Youlan’s idea to come here. Even if he took it upon himself, it would not work, because all he knew about the person who came to pick them up halfway was the nickname Skinny Monkey; he knew nothing else. If he could not explain it clearly, that would only make things worse.

So he could only act shamelessly and deny everything to the bitter end.

“This isn’t about what we say. Even if you refuse to admit it, we’ll still find the evidence,” Gao Jun said as he stormed in from outside. He was holding a small plastic bag, which he gestured with toward Chu Dong before tossing it onto the table.

A recorder immediately stood up and gave Gao Jun his seat, shifting aside on his own.

“Using the law to settle a personal grudge?” Chu Dong smiled, his bright teeth especially white.

Gao Jun gave a cold snort. “Don’t be stubborn to the end. This is the blood sample we found at the scene. Dare to say it has nothing to do with you?”

“So what if it’s mine? What does that prove?” Chu Dong curled his lip. “I did enter the fight, yes, but I did it to save someone. I wasn’t part of any premeditated plot.”

“How do we know you people weren’t all in on it already? Stop avoiding the main point and confess honestly.” Gao Jun slapped the table, very dissatisfied with Chu Dong’s attitude.

“Confess what? I’ve said everything I should have said, and you don’t believe me. What else do you want me to say? Ask the others first. Come back to me after you’ve finished. Send me back.” Chu Dong was helpless. This fellow was plainly settling an old score with him, and no matter what he said, it would be useless. Better to say nothing; after all, the other side had the louder voice.

“Chu Dong, this is not your home. You don’t get to say when you go back. Don’t put on the airs of some young master,” Gao Jun barked loudly. Glancing at Luo Feiyu, who said nothing, he felt a little uneasy. “Your case is serious. If you don’t speak now and wait until the investigation is over, it’ll be too late.”

Chu Dong’s interrogation ended there. Tan Xue and Li Youlan were not made to suffer too much. They each gave a full account of what had happened from beginning to end. Li Youlan explained clearly how she had met a young girl named Yueyue at a bar, how through Yueyue she had learned of this underground arena, and how she had gotten in touch with Skinny Monkey. She also described how she told Tan Xue, why she had brought Chu Dong along, how she had let Tan Xue act as the red marker to test Chu Dong, and everything that had happened before and after, even including the gambling.

Tan Xue did not think it was anything serious; she simply told the truth and that was that. She was as pure as water, and she also described in great detail how Chu Dong had saved someone, though the authorities paid little attention to it.

When Luo Feiyu looked over the interrogation records of Li Youlan and Tan Xue, she knew Chu Dong was in no real danger. On the contrary, he could even be said to have acted bravely for a righteous cause. Yet when she learned that the girl as holy and immaculate as a lotus was Chu Dong’s fiancee, she felt an indescribable awkwardness in her heart.

“Let them go. The facts are right here. Just fine him, give him a little education, and that’s enough. What, you want to keep him locked up like this?” Luo Feiyu threw Tan Xue and Li Youlan’s statements down in front of Gao Jun.

“I just don’t believe he’s innocent,” Gao Jun said as he stubbed out the cigarette in his hand. “The way he is, he doesn’t look like a decent person. Besides, there are still others involved, aren’t there? And that foreigner he attacked is still in emergency treatment. Even if everything he said were true, with such obvious grievous injury, you can’t possibly let him go.”

Gao Jun rarely spoke to Luo Feiyu in such a loud voice. At first the girl was stunned, then she snatched up Tan Xue and Li Youlan’s statements and waved them in her hand. “Then what about those two? Keep them locked up too?”

“Release them. Release them. But Chu Dong cannot be released. That’s the principle.” Gao Jun muttered this through clenched teeth, then lowered his head to look at the materials on the table, too afraid to meet Luo Feiyu’s eyes again.

“Chu Dong, you’re implicated in a serious injury case, so you can’t leave yet. Your two—your two friends have already been released. Don’t worry about them. Think about what you’re going to do.” Luo Feiyu came to see Chu Dong once and explained the situation to him.

“I was saving someone. That damned place was a fight to the death. I was lucky just to keep my life. Grievous injury? You saw how that old monster beat others. If I hadn’t been quick-witted, you wouldn’t be seeing me now.” Chu Dong understood in his heart that if the police had not suddenly appeared, even if he had killed Viyata, no one would have spoken of it. But now it was different. Since everything had come to light, he really could not disentangle himself from it.

“Right now, you’d better pray that man is all right. Otherwise…” Luo Feiyu did not go on.

Neither did Chu Dong.

The two sat in silence for a long while. Chu Dong remained quietly seated, and several times Luo Feiyu seemed about to say something, but in the end nothing came out.

“I’m leaving. You’d better write down the details. I’ll think of a way to help you. But you need to be prepared. Everyone at the scene saw you beating that injured man…”

“It was self-defense.”

“Even if it was self-defense, is that the sort of self-defense where you pick up a wooden stick and strike a man whose eyes were already injured? It wasn’t just one pair of eyes that saw your great feat!” Luo Feiyu was very dissatisfied with Chu Dong’s attempt to argue. “I’m telling you this because I consider you a friend. Otherwise, who would want to get involved in this?”

Chu Dong still wore his handcuffs. He clasped his fists in the air and lifted them slightly. “I admit I was very angry, and I did use a little trick. As for how badly I beat him, I really don’t know. My emotions were running high at the time. But you know, then it really was a matter of life and death. I couldn’t hold back, could I? You want me to just sit there and wait to die?”

“This is really not going to be easy. Wait for my news at any time. Oh, and those two ladies seemed to say they were going to hire some lawyer for you when they left. You should be able to see him tomorrow. I’m leaving now. I still have a lot to do. Let’s leave it at that.” Luo Feiyu sighed and waved goodbye to Chu Dong.

“Fine, I understand. Take care. I’ll buy you a drink another day.” Chu Dong nodded, rose to his feet, and was escorted out of the interrogation room.

Just as Chu Dong was about to reach the door, Luo Feiyu suddenly looked up and said, “Your girlfriend is very beautiful.”