Chapter 27 That kid's a repeat offender.

Chu Ci was held tightly by her anxious grandmother, and various fragments of memories were desperately crammed into her mind.

Amidst the excruciating pain that felt like her head was about to explode, everyone's faces were blurry, but miraculously, she was able to make out the main plot of the original novel.

In this crime novel, the male protagonist is a veteran detective burdened with a blood feud, while the female protagonist has some knowledge of animal language and is a special consultant who inherits her mother's will to investigate a serial murder case.

The two initially clashed, but later fell in love, their relationship blossoming amidst a series of bizarre and thrilling cases.

In the end, the male protagonist avenges his parents' tragic deaths, and the female protagonist fulfills her mother's last wish by finding the murderer, resulting in a happy ending.

But all of this has nothing to do with Lin Ming in front of him, because he is just a background character, and a background character who has heroically sacrificed himself.

In the original story, her role, aside from serving as a transition connecting the preceding and following parts, was to use her own death to ignite the male protagonist's waning fighting spirit.

As someone who was in the same profession as him in his previous life, Chu Ci wanted to cry out for his misery even with his eyes closed.

"Aci! Aci, how are you?"

Grandma became even more anxious when she saw that her face was covered in cold sweat, as if she had been splashed with water.

"Come on, help me lift her into the car, I'll take her to the hospital."

"Grandma, I'm fine..."

Chu Ci opened her eyes and stopped her grandmother's actions.

She struggled to sit up from the ground, glancing with pity at Lin Ming who was standing not far away.

Lin Ming noticed her gaze was directed at him and frowned slightly.

Thinking this, he forced a smile.

Chu Ci's lips twitched; he couldn't bear to look.

Grandma helped her up, put her arm around her shoulder, and complained with a worried tone.

"Look at you, so young, how come you faint so easily? Does your head still hurt?"

The landlady wiped the sweat from her face and said nervously:

"Aci, did you see something? Is it related to my Zhenzhen?"

"No, I didn't see anything related to Sister Zhenzhen."

Chu Ci shook his head and found a place to sit down.

"Auntie, let me rest for a couple of minutes before I take another look."

"Okay, okay."

The landlady sat beside her, holding her hand tightly, her palms sweaty.

Knowing that the landlady was anxious, Chu Ci waited until the throbbing pain in her head subsided slightly before looking up into her eyes.

Their eyes met, and she saw a small pickup truck slipping into the woods under the cover of darkness on a dark forest path.

At the other end of the woods lies a sparsely populated, remote village.

The lights were on in one of the village’s houses, and a middle-aged man dressed in old clothes sat in front of the door, craning his neck to look at the deserted path in the distance.

A neighbor greeted him, "The wife you bought hasn't arrived yet? She's way too late! You weren't scammed, were you?"

"Impossible! I bought it through Tiger's connections! Do you know Tiger from the White Tiger Gang? He's a big shot in Kwun Tong District. How could he lie to me!"

The middle-aged man had his doubts, but still trusted Tiger, and impatiently waved to his neighbor.

"I'll wait a bit longer, there definitely won't be any problems!"

The neighbor looked at him like he was an idiot and curled his lip.

Just as I was about to turn back, I caught a glimpse of car headlights on the road not far away.

"Hey, a car's here! Is it bringing your wife?"

The middle-aged man was overjoyed and quickly stood up from the stool, beaming as he went to greet him.

The scene abruptly ends here.

Chu Ci opened her eyes and said urgently, "Do you know Tiger from the White Tiger Gang in Kwun Tong District? He sold Cheng Zhenzhen to a village!"

"The village? That village!" The landlady quickly grabbed her hand. "Aci, did you see which village it is?"

"No, but I'm sure it was that guy called Tiger who sold Cheng Zhenzhen. If we can find him, we'll probably be able to find Cheng Zhenzhen too."

After she finished speaking, she looked at the anxious landlady and Cheng Yingkang, and didn't hide anything from them.

"We need to hurry, Cheng Zhenzhen has already been delivered to the buyer, any further delay will lead to trouble!"

Ji Jingtong and Shen Xiuhe, who were standing nearby, believed Chu Ci's words and immediately decided to take action.

Lin Ming grabbed them both, "Where are you going?"

“Help me investigate that Tiger Brother!” Shen Xiuhe brushed his hand away. “Didn’t you hear Master say we need to hurry? If we don’t hurry, something bad will happen.”

Ji Jingtong remained silent and tried to leave after pushing Lin Ming's hand away, but was pulled back again.

Lin Ming: "You two are in charge of the Five-Faced Female Corpse case, right? I'm in charge of this missing person case, what are you interfering in?"

He glanced at his two colleagues expressionlessly, his eyes dark and unfathomable.

"As police officers, how could you believe in spiritual mediums?"

Ji Jingtong remained expressionless, while Shen Xiuhe, seeing his disapproving look, gave a cold snort.

"What, you don't believe me?"

"I'm a police officer. How can a police officer believe in ghosts? If you believe in ghosts, then you might as well not look for evidence at all. Everyone can just use ghost stories to commit crimes and let the ghosts be the murderers!" Lin Ming shrugged.

Shen Xiu ignored the displeasure in his words and chuckled, "Inspector Lin, we just got paid, right?"

Lin Ming was on guard for a moment. "What do you want?"

“Nothing much.” Shen Xiuhe’s smile deepened. “Since you don’t believe in that medium, why don’t we make a bet?”

"Take your men to find that Tiger. If things are as Miss Chu says, then you lose, and you give me and Inspector Ji half your salary. If not, Inspector Ji and I will each give you half your salary. How about that?"

He winked at Lin Ming, "Lin sir, it's half of my and Ji sir's salary, you're making a killing!"

Ji Jingtong glanced at him. "Boring. I'm going to investigate the case."

Shen Xiuhe didn't stop him from leaving, but instead hooked his arm around Lin Ming's shoulder.

"Don't worry about him. If we lose, I'll definitely make him give you the money. What do you say, Inspector Lin? Think it over?"

Lin Ming frowned, trying to shake him off, but found that he was like a leech, impossible to get rid of.

He glanced at the young woman covering her head out of the corner of his eye, then looked at Shen Xiuhe, who seemed to be waiting to see a good show, and curled his lips into a smirk.

"Great! If we can find Cheng Zhenzhen as soon as possible, that would be a great achievement. Consider half of your salary as a thank you."

Shen Xiuhe extended his hand, "Is it a deal?"

"It's a deal."

The two made a vow by high-fiving.

Shen Xiuhe said goodbye to him, and as he walked, he suddenly turned and walked to Chu Ci's side.

"It's been a long time, Miss Chu!"

"Sir Shen?" Chu Ci still remembered him.

“Miss Chu,” Shen Xiuhe pointed to Lin Ming, who was contacting Brother Hu, “I’m betting with Lin Sir, half a month’s salary, whether we can find Cheng Zhenzhen through Brother Hu.”

He lowered his voice, "The case of the five-faced female corpse has been making headlines recently. Ji Jingtong and I will be investigating this case with all our might. Lin Ming will be in charge of many cases in the Major Crimes Unit afterward. If you need anything, Miss Chu can go to him."

His features are deep and wild, and he usually looks unruly. But when he is quiet and lowers his eyes, he appears exceptionally peaceful.

Chu Ci knew that he was trying to set her up with someone, since in this era, there was no harm in getting along with the police.

She nodded and sincerely thanked him, "Thank you, Officer Shen."

"It's nothing!" Shen Xiuhe waved his hand dismissively, his expression returning to its usual unruly state.

He smirked slightly. "If Miss Chu really wants to help me, why don't you try to persuade the Five-Faced Female Corpse case for me another day? Inspector Ji and I are at our wits' end."

Chu Ci didn't refuse, but was a little curious, "It's possible, but how do you plan to write the case closure report?"

You can't exactly say you were guided by a medium to arrest the criminal, can you?

Shen Xiuhe's face fell for a moment, but he quickly came up with a solution.

"It's alright, we still have Inspector Ji. He's an expert at writing reports; he was the one who submitted Cheng Yana's case last time."

It was precisely because of this that Ji Jingtong gained a lot of face in front of the police chief, but he, who was also involved in the investigation, only had hard work but no credit.

Just as he was about to complain, Ji Jingtong came over, greeted Chu Ci, and urged Shen Xiuhe to investigate the case.

After the two left, Lin Ming looked at Chu Ci with a probing gaze. Chu Ci didn't try to hide it either, staring straight at him.

The moment their eyes met, Lin Ming withdrew the probing look from his eyes and nodded to her with a smile.

"Master, are we really going to find that Tiger Brother?"

His apprentice witnessed the entire bet and couldn't help but glance at Chu Ci, who was sitting to the side, a few more times.

Aside from being a little good-looking, a little thin, and having dark eyes, there's nothing particularly special about the other person.

Seeing his eyes fall on Chu Ci, Lin Ming patted his disciple's shoulder, signaling him to come back to his senses.

"We don't have any other leads right now, so let's follow this lead. Go find our informant in the White Tiger Gang and see if he knows anyone who can see Brother Tiger."

"Yes, Master!"

Chu Ci used the "Common" ability twice in a row, and his head throbbed with pain and his ears kept ringing.

She and her grandmother couldn't help much here, and since her grandmother was worried about her health, they simply took her back by taxi.

Thanks to the ample information provided by Chu Ci, Lin Ming's apprentices quickly identified "Brother Tiger".

Gangs in this era should not be underestimated, and the police are unwilling to confront them directly.

I heard that this Tiger Brother likes to hang out at casinos, and it took them a lot of effort to catch him.

Unexpectedly, Tiger recognized their faces, and his expression changed when he saw the cops arrive.

"Police! Cops! Everyone run!"

"What?! The police?!"

"Run! Run! The police are coming!"

"Didn't they say the police couldn't find this place? What bad luck!"

The gamblers were thrown into chaos, and Tiger took advantage of the confusion to run away.

Seeing him leave through the back door, Lin Ming didn't intend to follow him, and waved to his apprentice.

"Come here, walk this way!"

With his familiarity with the terrain, he led his men through a maze of turns, running all the way until he finally found Tiger, who was panting heavily, in a small alley.

Tiger cursed under his breath when he saw them, "They're like ghosts that won't leave," and turned to run away.

But his body, weakened by alcohol and sex, was no match for the police and he was quickly pinned to the ground.

He cried out that he was innocent, his face contorted with grief.

"Officer, there are so many gamblers in the entire casino, why are you only arresting me? I haven't done anything wrong, why are you targeting me!"

"Behave yourself, or I'll beat you up!" Lin Ming's apprentice forcefully pried his hand off and handcuffed him as he screamed in pain.

Lin Ming showed him those photos of Cheng Zhenzhen and asked, "Wang Hu, do you know this person?"

Upon seeing the young girl in the photo, Wang Hu's expression changed slightly, but he quickly regained his composure and shook his head.

"I don't know them. I sleep with so many women every day, how could I possibly remember every single one of them?"

He smiled ingratiatingly, "Officer, the red-light district is my boss's territory. How dare we underlings run wild on his turf? I really didn't do anything wrong, please let me go."

Lin Ming didn't miss the fleeting look on his face. He sneered and put away Cheng Zhenzhen's photo. "The kid who kidnapped Cheng Zhenzhen has already confessed. I gave you a chance to confess. Since you couldn't catch him, don't blame me."

He waved to his apprentice, "Take him back to the police station and investigate him thoroughly."

"Wait!" Wang Hu's expression changed drastically. "You've arrested this damned woman's lover?"

Lin Ming didn't speak, but looked at him with sharp eyes.

Wang Hu hesitated for a moment, "Officer, I have elderly parents to support and young children to raise. My child is still breastfeeding. If I tell the truth, will I get a few fewer years in prison?"

Lin Ming: "Then let's see if you can honestly confess."

"Confess honestly, I promise I will!"

Wang Hu blamed everything on the young man who had deceived Cheng Zhenzhen.

"That pretty boy is a repeat offender. He specifically targets women who are interested in him, swindling them out of money and sex. He's already sold several women to the red-light district!"