UE CH101: Transaction

The visitor’s arrival did not surprise Ning Zhuo.

Lin Qin stood up to greet him, a slightly shy smile on his face: “I’m here again.”

Ning Zhuo cast a glance at the person beside him.

It wasn’t a “White Shield” police officer from the Chang’an District precinct, but rather Lin Qin’s subordinate from the 930 Special Task Force.

With just one look, Ning Zhuo knew why Lin Qin was here: “Sit.”

Lin Qin sat down, and Ning Zhuo followed suit.
He bent his legs slightly first, gently supporting his waist before settling down steadily.
The process of raising his hand to support his waist took less than a second.

Lin Qin asked softly, “Feeling unwell?”

Ning Zhuo: “…” What sharp eyes.
He answered, “With this broken body of mine, living to any age is just a stroke of luck.”

Lin Qin smiled: “Nonsense.”
He took a sticky note from the table and swiftly wrote down a line: “Let me introduce you to an old traditional Chinese medicine doctor.”

Ning Zhuo took the note: “Have you been to him?”

“A colleague went. His massages are quite effective.” Lin Qin capped his pen, “…Ah, right, we found Motobu Takeshi.”

Xiao Xu, who had accompanied Lin Qin, had just been struck by Ning Zhuo’s striking appearance and was puzzled by the familiar relationship between the two. Now, with just one sentence, Lin Qin pulled things straight back to the main topic.
He simply couldn’t process it in time.

Ning Zhuo, however, remained calm. He slightly raised an eyebrow and looked up at Kuang Hexuan, who had come with him.

This was Kuang Hexuan’s first time coordinating with Ning Zhuo. He was feeling nervous and hesitated for a moment before catching up to the rhythm: “Oh, yeah… there is such a thing.”

Ning Zhuo turned back: “Oh, now I know. Dead or alive?”

Kuang Hexuan quietly chimed in: “Alive.”

Lin Qin looked at Kuang Hexuan with interest: “You look unfamiliar. Are you from ‘Panqiao’?”

Kuang Hexuan: “Yeah.”

Lin Qin: “How did you know Motobu Takeshi was still alive?”

Hearing Lin Qin’s question, Kuang Hexuan straightforwardly turned to ask Ning Zhuo: “Can I say?”

Ning Zhuo silently waved a hand, his wrist bone turning in a small arc, signaling him to speak.

Kuang Hexuan answered truthfully: “I’m in charge of online intelligence. This morning someone posted that the ‘White Shield’ salvage team pulled up a large block of concrete. After opening it, the person inside was actually still alive, and ‘White Shield’ immediately put him under protection. Onlookers at the scene heard a ‘White Shield’ officer contacting someone, personally saying the guy dug out was Motobu Takeshi. Later, you guys locked down the news and deleted the online posts.”

Lin Qin listened intently to Kuang Hexuan’s statement, gently rubbing his chin with his fingertips.
He’s a straightforward guy who speaks his mind.
Can’t lie.
A good thing.

Lin Qin clasped his hands together, his tone gentle: “Then do you know why I came to find Ning Zhuo?”

“I know,” Kuang Hexuan nodded. “Before that old bastard Motobu Takeshi disappeared, Ning-ge and our boss happened to be out dealing with trouble for someone, and they ended up staying in the same prison sector as him.”

Kuang Hexuan wanted to add a complaint—“That old pervert even hired Ning-ge and our boss to protect him, as if he deserved it”—but after thinking about it, he felt it would make him seem immature, so he obediently shut his mouth.
He really wanted to make a good impression in front of Ning Zhuo.

Lin Qin nodded internally.
This part matched what Ning Zhuo had told him.

He smiled and turned to Ning Zhuo: “He’s already calling you Ning-ge? You’ve trained him well. The other day when I saw you and Shan Feibai… attending the ‘Columbus’ commemorative banquet looking like that, I was still worried about the relationship between your two factions.”

Ning Zhuo: “No need to worry.”
He effortlessly deflected Lin Qin’s probing question, waiting quietly for what came next.

Lin Qin no longer hid his intent. He lowered his clasped hands and rested them flat on the table: “He confessed some things. They concern you.”

Ning Zhuo: “Let’s hear it.”

Lin Qin spoke slowly and gently, in his usual manner: “He said that the frequent accidents he encountered in prison were artificially orchestrated.”
“The first few assassination attempts—falling objects from above, electrical leaks in switches, mixing glass shards into his food—were all methods to make him nervous, but they weren’t actually meant to take his life.”
“What truly terrified him was that one near-successful assassination attempt. Worried that he would die in prison, he used back channels to try and leave the prison for a safer place. He had done this before.”
“But this time, right after getting out, he was abducted.”
“Who could orchestrate accidents inside a prison? Why hadn’t he encountered such danger before?”
“So, wouldn’t the newly incarcerated inmates be highly suspicious?”

The atmosphere froze.
The accompanying Xiao Xu and Kuang Hexuan were simultaneously stunned.

Xiao Xu was stunned because he had never heard this speculation before. Before this, he genuinely believed Motobu Takeshi was the real culprit of the 930 Case. He thought Motobu Takeshi tried to escape prison because he assumed the police had tracked him down, and later offended someone in the underworld, which led to him being captured and brutally tortured.
However, Lin Qin’s deduction was actually much more logical.

Kuang Hexuan, on the other hand, realized that what Lin Qin said might be true.
He understood Shan Feibai. The “serial assassinations” Lin Qin described sounded exactly like something Shan Feibai would do—it carried a sort of mischievous, prank-like vibe.

After a brief silence, Ning Zhuo spoke.
“That wasn’t what he said. That’s what you’re thinking,” Ning Zhuo stated with certainty. “What Motobu Takeshi probably said was, ‘Please, just let me die.'”

Xiao Xu abruptly stood up: “You!…”

Ning Zhuo’s attitude remained quite indifferent: “To be sealed in concrete and not die… he must have been modified. Mr. Little Police Officer, if you haven’t seen modified humans, you can go look at the girls in Motobu Takeshi’s case files; just being able to breathe is something to thank the heavens for. If Motobu Takeshi had been modified to the point of surviving being cast in concrete, and could still make this kind of analysis, he’d be considered a medical miracle and should be sent to a research institute.”
“Lin Qin.” He stared steadily at the man across from him. “Bring evidence, don’t just guess blindly. Be a good cop.”

Lin Qin was about to reply when someone knocked on the reception room door.
It was Yu Shujian.
He poked his head in: “Boss, come out for a sec, there’s a call for you.”

Ning Zhuo stood up: “Sorry, I’ll be back in a bit.”

Unless it was an emergency, Yu Shujian wouldn’t interrupt his meeting so carelessly. And Ning Zhuo already had a guess as to the identity of the person so eager to contact him.

He walked out of the reception room and, separated by just a wall from Lin Qin, picked up the urgent comms.
After standing still, Ning Zhuo subconsciously cupped a hand gently over his lower abdomen.
Right now, he didn’t really like standing, because there was always a faint, aching throb welling up from inside his body, as if Shan Feibai had stamped a seal inside him—just like the countless wounds he had left on him in the past.
However, this time the wound was extraordinarily hidden, carrying a hint of blood and a possessive romance.

Ning Zhuo: “Hello.”

Charlemagne’s cold questioning came from the other side: “Why isn’t Motobu Takeshi dead?”

Ning Zhuo lowered his head slightly: “I’m sorry, I thought your esteemed wife would do a good job completing the mission for you.”

Charlemagne clearly didn’t expect Ning Zhuo to admit what he had done so righteously.
Ning Zhuo had dragged both husband and wife into the mud, playing both sides and collecting two sets of fees!
He was completely playing them!

He roared in a lowered voice, “Ning, you’ve got some nerve!”

Ning Zhuo listened earnestly to his breakdown: “Thanks for the compliment.”

But Charlemagne only lost his composure for a brief moment. He tugged at his bow tie with trembling fingers: “You haven’t completed my mission yet. I told you to ‘kill Motobu Takeshi’.”

Ning Zhuo retorted: “So do you want a refund? That’s fine, but only half. The deposit is non-refundable.”

After saying this, Ning Zhuo himself raised an eyebrow first.
How did my tone become so much like Shan Feibai’s?
Like a scoundrel.

Charlemagne suspected Ning Zhuo was intentionally provoking him.
He lowered his voice: “I’m telling you to kill Motobu Takeshi for me!”
“Right now he’s under police protection. It’s going to be very dangerous.”
The tone on the other end turned sinister: “What do you mean? You’re backing out?”

Ning Zhuo said: “I mean, it’ll cost extra.”
“How much?”

Ning Zhuo waved his hand at Yu Shujian.
Yu Shujian understood and quickly handed over a device.
Ning Zhuo quoted the price: “Five million.”

Charlemagne thought he had misheard: “…How much?”
“Five million. Take down the account number.”

Ning Zhuo operated the device a few times, relaying the randomly generated real-time account numbers.
Charlemagne was so angry his chest heaved: “That’s a worthless life, he might even die tomorrow anyway!”

Ning Zhuo: “I know. This account will only exist for about ten minutes, so please hurry up and make the transfer. From what I understand, you have this much liquid capital on your books. At most, it’ll cost you half your fortune to buy family peace. This is a seller’s market, so please be understanding. No cash accepted. A pleasure doing business with you, thanks.”

He hung up immediately, only to find Yu Shujian staring at him blankly.
Ning Zhuo: “What are you looking at?”

Yu Shujian swallowed hard, carefully weighing his words before asking cautiously: “Have you… been corrupted by Shan Feibai…?”

The back of his head took a smack from Ning Zhuo, and he immediately became as obedient as a giant quail.

Returning to the reception room, Lin Qin asked with a smile: “Talking business? Sounds like a big amount.”

Ning Zhuo shrugged: “Trade secrets.”

Seeing his old friend acting much livelier than before, Lin Qin spoke half-jokingly, half-seriously: “Don’t break the law.”

Ning Zhuo looked at Lin Qin, thinking that the identity of the person on that phone call just now was a high-ranking official of “White Shield”, the former spokesperson of the “sacred law” in Silver Hammer City.
Even someone like that held a rank higher than Lin Qin’s today.

Ning Zhuo remained noncommittal, lightly tapping the table with his fingertip: “Besides coming here to bluff me, do you have any other business?”

“I’ll be taking my leave then.” Lin Qin stood up. “Take good care of your health.”
Ning Zhuo waved the slip of paper with the old Chinese doctor’s address: “I will.”

Driving out of “Haina”, Xiao Xu in the driver’s seat frequently checked Lin Qin’s expression. But Lin Qin just looked down at the electronic case files, saying nothing about everything that had just happened.

Xiao Xu asked tentatively, “What do you think… about Ning Zhuo?”

“I’m worried about him.” Lin Qin didn’t raise his head. “He’s limping a little. He really should go see a doctor.”

Xiao Xu licked his lips: “What is your relationship with him…? You guys seem really close.”

Lin Qin: “He’s someone who saved my life; we have some history. If I had to put a label on it…”
He smiled slightly: “A younger brother by bond, not blood.”

Xiao Xu respected Lin Qin immensely, but at this moment, he really couldn’t grasp his thoughts. He could only gently remind him, “Ning Zhuo… seems to have vague connections to several major cases recently. Shouldn’t you… put aside your personal feelings a bit?”

Looking at his worried subordinate, Lin Qin patted his head: “Xiao Xu, it’s really good that you think this way. Thank you for the reminder.”

Having received Lin Qin’s affirmation, Xiao Xu gained more courage: “If he really did it, what will you do?”

“If there’s evidence, I’ll arrest him and bring him to justice, and I’ll deliver his meals to him every day. His stomach needs to be taken care of; he can’t eat prison food. In short, the only thing that can kill him is the law, not anyone else.”

“And if the law can’t punish him?”

Lin Qin finally looked at him with a smile, seeming to find Xiao Xu’s question endearing.
“If the law can’t punish someone, then the law isn’t perfect enough.” Lin Qin said seriously, “It has to be reformed. Slowly reformed.”

Xiao Xu: “…”
Now he was once again unable to figure out their relationship.

Lin Qin closed his eyes, recalling the conversation they just had.
He couldn’t shake the feeling that something was odd about Ning Zhuo.
Now, in a flash of insight, he suddenly remembered.

Ning Zhuo had been wearing white clothes.
… The two points on his chest seemed slightly swollen, the deep red color pressing visibly through the snow-white shirt, distinct and striking.

Lin Qin covered his face with the electronic files to hide those blush-inducing speculations.
… What on earth had he been up to lately?

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