Zhu Da wiped the sweat from his face with his free hand and said to me, "Commander Zhao, what exactly are you planning here? You better not die before achieving your ambition. Your brother here is still a virgin, you know."

Cai Bao'er’s body hadn't been modified, and he was in a worse state than Zhu Da. His clothes were soaked through with sweat. He’d spent time earlier at the Hualong Fast Food place just arguing with Zhu Da, so he hadn't eaten much. Now, after all this exertion, his stomach was rumbling loudly.

“I say, the two of you, with your skills, you can’t even break these cuffs in one go? It’s quite embarrassing for the boss of the Brotherhood Alliance and the boss of his boss to be shackled here.”

Zhu Da retorted, “Didn’t you say your father was coming to bail us out? Where is he? Where is he? If we wait for him, we’ll be dried jerky.”

Cai Bao'er was struck speechless by Zhu Da’s question. Knowing his father’s usual temperament, he should have been worried sick by now.

I murmured to myself, “We need to figure out a way to record this whole scene. That way, we’ll have evidence to deal with them later.”

Zhu Da sighed, “They searched us and took our phones. How do you expect us to film it?”

I thought to myself that if anyone was skilled at covert filming, it was Xiao Chuchu. No, I needed to find her. Without proof, there was no way to bring these people to justice.

I told Zhu Da, “You two stall them for me; I’m stepping out to make a call.”

With that, I yanked the handcuffs, slipped free, and darted out into the back courtyard of the Public Security Bureau. It was high noon; everyone was taking their midday rest. Who would be watching this area? Besides, with two large, bulky figures blocking the view, no one would notice for a while.

I found a public phone. Thankfully, I still had some change on me; otherwise, it would have been dire.

“Chuchu, hurry and bring your complete set of covert surveillance equipment to the East District Public Security Bureau to secretly gather evidence. I, Zhu Da, and the others are shackled to the parallel bars in the back courtyard. Find a way to sneak in, and absolutely do not alert them.”

Xiao Chuchu, who was taking an afternoon nap, grew anxious when she heard I was handcuffed in the bureau’s backyard. “Will you be okay? It’s so hot. Come back. Stop messing around with them. Mengmeng and I are both at home.”

Alas, I wanted to go home and relax, but official business was more important. “Good wife, be quick and obedient. Take this opportunity to clean up this mess here, or Director Gao will come looking for me later.”

“Alright, I’m leaving right now. Wait for me.”

Twenty minutes later, an elderly cleaning lady walked into the back courtyard. She swept the floor slowly, approaching the parallel bars. Suddenly, she tossed something down and then continued collecting trash as she walked away.

Zhu Da kicked the bundle of items over to me. I reached out and caught it. Opening it, I saw three miniature cameras with wireless signal transmission. We each took one and found suitable places on our bodies to attach them. There was also a miniature wireless earpiece for communication with Xiao Chuchu.

Once the three of us were ready, we waited and waited. We waited until our sweat had almost run dry, yet no one came to interrogate us. Zhu Da was the first to lose patience, cursing loudly. Cai Bao'er was not far behind, and the entire courtyard was soon filled with shouts and curses.

As expected, a police officer who couldn’t stand the noise opened a window and yelled, “What are you shouting about? Keep it up and we’ll hold you overnight!”

Zhu Da shouted back at the officer in the window, “We are going to file a complaint against you! There’s nothing in the laws of our Great Dragon Country about being forced to stand under the sun!”

The officer retracted his head. A short while later, two officers came into the backyard and escorted the three of us to an interrogation room.

They must have just woken up from their naps; everyone looked groggy. “Name, gender, ethnicity... What crime did you commit?”

Cai Bao'er stated, “We committed no crime; we were just arrested for watching other people fight.” The officer taking notes replied, “It seems you haven’t had enough sun yet. Xiao Wang, shackle them to the heating pipe.”

Another officer stepped forward and pulled us toward the radiator in the corner. He shackled the other end of the cuffs to the pipe. This position was even worse: the pipe was level with our groins, making it impossible to stand straight or squat down. We could only stand half-bent over—it was agony.

“Is this considered torture?” I asked the two officers interrogating us.

The two officers clearly weren’t used to dealing with people like us. They exchanged a look. One of them took an electric baton from the wall. “Shackling you counts? Using an electric baton doesn't.”

I tried to step in front of the two bulky men to shield them, but the officer deliberately went around me and aimed the baton at Cai Bao'er. Cai Bao’er let out an ‘oh’ and began to tremble violently, as if having convulsions.

Seeing that things were going badly, I kicked the officer holding the baton into the corner. The baton, still live, fell squarely into the other officer's embrace. The officer managed only a few choked sounds before going silent; by the time the note-taking officer ran up and used a rubber stick to pry the baton away, he had already passed out.

This had stirred up a hornet’s nest. The note-taking officer rushed to the interrogation room door and yelled, “Xiao Wang got electrocuted by the criminal! Everyone hurry over here!”

The once silent Public Security Bureau building immediately erupted into noise. Office doors flew open, and disheveled police officers rushed out. The first ones there loaded the unconscious officer onto a police car, which sped off toward the hospital. The rest approached the three of us with hostile expressions.

I called out to the crowd advancing toward us, “My friend was also electrocuted. You should send him to the hospital as well!”

“It’s best if he dies!” a chorus of angry shouts rose from the officers.

I tried to reason with them, “Your interrogation methods are wrong. Even if you are going to use torture, shouldn’t you at least ask the reason? Is the police station the Underworld?”

The officers didn’t bother arguing with me. Each one was filled with righteous indignation. The rubber sticks hanging on the wall soon found their way into their hands. The scene resembled a gang brawl; everyone looked like they wanted to end us.

We certainly weren’t going to suffer a loss. Cai Bao’er hadn’t actually fainted; I had told him to pretend. Now that these people wanted to fight us to the death, we couldn’t just let them attack.

Zhu Da and I both struck out. Despite being half-bent over, we used our hands and feet, and in a short time, we had beaten them nearly half to death. Those we kicked were huddled in the corner, crying out in pain, while those hit by fists were bleeding from the nose.

This resulted in even more injured personnel, and the entire police station descended into chaos again. For the moment, no one paid any attention to the three of us. We half-crouched on the floor and started chatting. Since no high-ranking official had shown up yet, we couldn’t give up halfway. Dealing only with these shrimp soldiers and crab generals was useless.

At some unknown point, an old police officer walked in. He whispered to the three of us, “You three have stirred up huge trouble. If you have any connections, hurry and notify them to come down to the bureau and smooth things over, or you’ll be spending the rest of your lives in prison.”

I asked the old officer, “No way, Uncle. We were just watching a fight on the street. We didn’t even throw a punch ourselves. The people fighting ran away long ago. They arrested us and are not only torturing us like class enemies but are trying to kill us. I think it should be them spending the rest of their lives in jail.”

The old officer cursed me, “You little brats, you don’t know the immensity of heaven and earth! Who dares to lay a hand on the police in this East District? I’m telling you because you three are too young and ignorant. Our substation has big shots backing us up. Just last year, two inmates died during interrogation here, but what happened? Everything was swept under the rug.”

I was astonished. “Old man, are you joking? Such a major incident involving human lives, right under the Emperor’s nose, ends with nothing happening?”

The old officer said, “A major incident involving human lives? If they say you committed suicide out of fear of your crimes, who dares to question it? I’m offering you a clear path out of goodwill. Originally, if you hadn't caused trouble, a fine of five thousand yuan each would have sufficed. Now, it’s probably not going to be less than fifty thousand. Hurry up and figure something out.”

“Old comrade, are you saying we can use money to commute the punishment?” I asked.

The old officer told me, “Are you stupid? The state has provisions for bail and parole. What’s wrong with substituting punishment with a fine? If you can’t manage to contact your connections, I can handle it. The Director was my colleague back in the day. But you’ll need to prepare an extra two thousand yuan each. I can’t exactly go to the Director’s house empty-handed. That fifty thousand only counts as the fine.”

Zhu Da nudged me, shaking the handcuffs on his arm, “Is this enough? I’ve had enough.” He meant to ask if this evidence was sufficient, as he had suffered enough already.

The old officer misunderstood. He started smiling broadly. “Enough, enough! Prepare two thousand yuan each, and I guarantee you’ll be released without issue. Hurry up and call your families! I’ll lend you a phone.”

I waved my hand at the old officer. “Thanks, Old Comrade. If we can’t manage it ourselves, we’ll come find you to pay the fine.”

Urgent footsteps were heard from outside. The old officer hurried, “I’m in the Anti-Drug Section on the third floor. When the time comes, have your family come up and find me. Someone’s coming; I have to go.”

As soon as the old officer left, a voice carried from near and far from outside: “Section Chief, you need to be careful. If anything goes wrong, I won’t be able to explain it to Director Kong. We should probably just let the riot police handle those three; they are too strong.”

“No need. I’ll go in first to assess the situation.”

Following the voices, a young police officer walked in. I looked up—what a coincidence! It was Kong Sheng, my old classmate. I recalled him mentioning at the alumni gathering that the director of the East District Bureau was his father.

“You’re Zhao Qian!” Kong Sheng couldn’t fail to recognize the bald head who had spirited the Princess away that night. Though the bald spot was now covered in hair, he looked even handsomer than before.

“Heh heh, I didn’t expect to run into an old classmate here. What a coincidence. Even though I can’t stand up, I still managed to shake his hand while half-bent over.”

“Yes, it is quite unexpected. What happened here? It looks like you injured quite a few officers just now.” Kong Sheng inquired.

Zhu Da interjected, “They were the ones who attacked us. Please make sure to clarify that point first, or we’ll be in serious trouble.”

A mysterious smile flickered across Kong Sheng’s face. He didn't order the surrounding officers to remove our handcuffs just because we were old classmates. Instead, he pulled up a chair and sat beside us, as squatting to talk would be too tiring for him.

“Zhao Qian, I heard you’ve been getting close to Zhang Xiaoya recently. Don’t you have a girlfriend? Why are you still pestering Zhang Xiaoya?”

Kong Sheng was one of the participants in the Prince selection game at the alumni gathering that night. Judging by his tone, he must have harbored a secret crush on Zhang Xiaoya for a long time.

I replied to Kong Sheng, “Old Kong, I believe the number of girlfriends a man has is directly proportional to his capabilities. For a handsome and dashing fellow like myself, having several girlfriends is entirely normal.”

Zhu Da deliberately made gagging sounds from the side, while Kong Sheng managed only a strained smile. He said, “Zhao Qian, do you think your abilities are enough to make Zhang Xiaoya happy? I have thoroughly investigated your financial situation. Although your sister is very rich (Xiao Yu Di once went on stage at the alumni gathering to present a large diamond to Zhang Xiaoya), she doesn’t even have local residency registration. Our police bureau can arrest her anytime they want. Stop using your geographical advantage of being upstairs and downstairs to harass Xiaoya. If you agree to my condition, I guarantee your safe release.”

I looked at Kong Sheng and said, “Old Kong, you’re not working in the traffic police team anymore. I cannot agree to the condition you mentioned. A great beauty like Zhang Xiaoya—even if it means spending the rest of my life behind bars—I will marry her as my wife. Since we are old classmates, I won’t hide anything from you; we sleep together every night now. No one can separate us now.”

Kong Sheng’s face turned the color of pig liver. “Zhao Qian, I’ve done everything I could for you out of respect for our past friendship. Since you are so ungrateful, I’ll have to proceed according to procedure with the rest of this matter.”

Kong Sheng was genuinely furious. Who was Zhang Xiaoya? She was a top-tier, elegant Eastern beauty known for her qipao style, possessing temperament, culture, and refinement. Most importantly, she was a flight attendant—a profession that sparked countless fantasies in men, judging by how many adult films used flight attendants as their theme.

But such a great beauty had been snatched away by another man. Kong Sheng had talent, authority, and power, so why couldn’t he win her over? Despite exerting twelve-tenths effort, every time he asked Zhang Xiaoya out, she always cited being busy as an excuse. He never expected these two were now sleeping together!

It was pathetic that he and Chen Yibei were still dreaming about who would sleep with Zhang Xiaoya first. Now, even if someone else got into bed with her first, it would still be second-hand goods. But as long as he could take down this damned monk, second-hand was better than nothing. Although his sister had been involved in the snake and rat riot incident that the state had placed a strict gag order on, that didn't mean he possessed similar capabilities. Moreover, right now, he was just a criminal; what happened to him was up to the police bureau to decide!

I said to Kong Sheng, “Old Kong, even if we participated in a gang fight, it’s not such a big deal, right? At most, a few days of detention, or a small fine. Your comrades here just gave us a talk; they said regaining freedom by paying a fine is quite simple.”

Kong Sheng chuckled sinisterly. “That’s for ordinary people. Now that you’ve injured more than ten officers, the nature of the crime has escalated to assaulting law enforcement personnel. Because we were classmates, I won’t handle the next steps to avoid embarrassing you. However, I can’t guarantee those colleagues will be as friendly as we were. As long as you agree to give up Zhang Xiaoya, I’ll risk this police uniform to protect you. You have no choice. I hope you make the right decision before I leave this interrogation room.”

By the time Kong Sheng walked out of the interrogation room in disappointment, Zhu Da and I remained silent. Cai Bao’er, who had been feigning unconsciousness, couldn't hold it in any longer. He opened his eyes and asked me, “Commander Zhao (he had started using Zhu Da’s term for me), what are you planning? We’ve probably gathered enough evidence. I’m not afraid of anything or anyone, except being in a police station. Let’s get out of here quickly.”

Zhu Da shook the handcuffs on his arm. “Run? Where can you run?”

Cai Bao’er retorted, “Can this little thing really lock you up? Commander Zhao even snuck out just now.”

I said firmly, “We can’t leave now. The big fish hasn’t surfaced yet. Everyone keep causing trouble, or the sunbathing we endured earlier will have been for nothing.”

Cai Bao’er worried, “They haven’t discovered our true identities yet. If our underworld status is exposed, it might cause even more trouble. Let’s quit while we’re ahead.”

Zhu Da scoffed, “What are you afraid of, Cabbage Bun? I won’t hide it from you—Commander Zhao is actually a police chief. He’s here on an undercover visit to clean up the bureaucracy. What are you, his follower, complaining about?”

“Really! In that case, I won’t complain anymore.”