Chapter 126
Lin Jin's sarcastic remark about a completely different level of incomprehension [Excellent]
The Criminal Investigation Center building stands majestically in the darkness, like a sharp sword that cuts through crime.
When the night is deep and quiet, there is always an office light that stays on all night, where overtime work has long been a regular occurrence.
As the autumn night grew chilly, Ji Nanxing, wearing a police uniform jacket, was hunched over his desk, organizing information about Lin Sheng's crimes.
A sudden knock on the door shattered the silence of the room.
"Please come in." Ji Nanxing put down his pen, wearily leaned into the chair, and rubbed the bridge of his nose as he looked at the person who pushed open the door and entered.
"Captain Ji, this little thing is quite troublesome to crack. It took me several days. Guess what?" The visitor was a colleague from the Evidence Department. He was playing with a small USB flash drive in one hand and holding a blank notebook in the other.
He walked straight to the desk, opened the notebook to show it, and explained, "This notebook looks normal, but there's something fishy inside. Look, it's developed. This strange string of numbers is the password to crack the USB drive, but there's still one suspicious point you need to look at."
"What's suspicious?" Ji Nanxing immediately got up and walked to the other side of the table. After looking through the report handed to him for a while, his gaze finally settled on a long string of strange numbers.
"Let me tell you about the contents of the USB drive first." The colleague from the forensic department poured himself a cup of hot water, smacked his lips, and began to speak at length: "There are two hidden documents on the USB drive. One is a price list, which records various specifications and models of firearms and their unit prices. The other document is incomprehensible; it only records a string of numbers that don't match the numbers found in the notebook, but I think they are related."
Ji Nanxing turned around, picked up a piece of draft paper, and copied down the two strings of numbers from the document and notebook.
She glanced at the time, thinking she couldn't keep asking others to work overtime with her, so she simply said, "You've worked hard these past few days, go home and rest."
"Thank God, you've finally let me go." The colleague clasped his hands together in gratitude, then yawned and rambled on, "You've handled all sorts of difficult cases, how come you're stumped by a missing person case?"
"Do you think this is still a simple missing persons case?" Ji Nanxing gestured with the report documents, implying that the case involved arms trafficking and that the situation had escalated significantly. "Hurry back. Tomorrow I'll report to Director Zheng, and he'll definitely praise you for your proactive work."
"Alright, I'm so sleepy, I'm off."
Watching his colleague close the office door, Ji Nanxing leaned against the desk, examining the report in his hand.
After some thought, she realized that the development of the case was exactly the same as the inside story that Lin Jin had revealed some time ago. It seemed that Lin Sheng's involvement in this mess was both dark and deep, and she would have to take a long time to find out the truth.
She focused her attention on the two strange strings of numbers, finding it difficult to decipher them in the short term, leaving her at a loss.
With a creak, the office door was pushed open again.
"Did you forget something, you..." Ji Nanxing didn't look up, teasing the colleague who had just left, but paused when he looked at the newcomer.
Gu Shinian's complexion was not good, and her hair was hanging around her lips, making her look particularly disheveled. It seemed that she had left in a hurry, and her breath was still slightly panting from her hurried steps.
"Shi Nian?" Ji Nanxing frowned and hurriedly stepped forward to ask, "Why are you suddenly at the Criminal Investigation Center so late?"
"Lin Jin has been kidnapped." Gu Shinian said succinctly, though his tone was heavy, his eyes held a deep sense of fear and unease.
Ji Nanxing hurriedly put on his coat, pulled her towards the door, and asked, "When did this happen? Let's talk about it as we walk."
Gu Shinian followed behind her in a flustered manner, trying her best to condense the content to the key points: "About an hour ago, Cheng Sangluo and Lin Jin had a fight on the mountain road of the health center. She abandoned Lin Jin and went down the mountain alone. When she was about to turn back after walking a distance, she saw Lin Jin being tied up in a car and taken away."
Ji Nanxing immediately sensed something was wrong and asked urgently, "Where is Cheng Sangluo?"
“She went to chase the criminals, and I don’t know her exact whereabouts. She contacted me by phone.”
"This is utter nonsense!" Ji Nanxing scolded in a low voice, then didn't ask any more questions and led Gu Shinian to the parking lot.
Once she got into the car, she started the engine and dialed Cheng Sangluo's number, but the busy signal was so long it was suffocating.
Ji Nanxing gripped the steering wheel, her expression quite calm. While waiting for the call to connect, she pondered, "They kidnapped them during the argument. There's only one road to the health center, so it seems the kidnappers had been lying in wait for a while, or rather, they'd been following them the whole time."
"Beep—beep—beep—"
The phone, which was on speakerphone, still didn't connect. Just as Ji Nanxing was about to hang up, a short, sharp sound suddenly echoed through the narrow carriage.
"Hello?"
*
Lin Jin's hands were tied behind her back, and her eyes were covered with a thick black cloth, making it impossible for her to tell where she was.
After a long drive, she was roughly dragged off the car. Her injured foot made her walk slowly, and the assailant shoved her forward, causing her to stumble and fall several times.
Perhaps unable to bear the slow pace, the assailant hoisted her onto his shoulder and rushed recklessly into a room.
The burly man knew nothing of tenderness or gentleness. He threw Lin Jin onto the cold ground and growled a warning: "Stay put and don't try anything funny, or you'll be the one who suffers."
Lin Jin's shoulder slammed heavily against the hard tiles, sending a piercing pain through him, causing him to hiss in pain.
As the footsteps faded into the distance and the door closed, the already pitch-black world fell into an endless silence.
Lin Jin lay on her side on the ground, unable to do anything but curl herself up tightly in a ball, seeking a false sense of security.
An intense fear, with nowhere to go, fermented in my heart, frantically absorbing everything around me in its stillness, and I didn't know when it would cause a collapse that would break me.
This wasn't the first time Lin Jin had been kidnapped like this, and his reaction was much calmer than most people's.
She neither cried nor made a fuss, and even shut down her amplified senses, refusing to think about whether the rescuers or death would come first in the next second.
No one can truly be fearless of death, and Lin Jin is no exception.
She struggled to move her body until she bumped her head against the corner of the wall, and only then did she stop. With something to lean on, her heart, which had been pounding with anxiety, calmed down a little.
The pitch-black environment could crush a person's spirit; her breathing was rapid and heavy, and she could even hear her own heart pounding.
Fortunately, Lin Jin had a firm belief in her mind that her Sangluo would come, she would definitely come, like a divine soldier descending from the sky with unstoppable romance, whether in the parking garage, in the container, or in the floods of many years ago.
"It will come...it will come...it will come..." Lin Jin murmured with her eyes closed, as if she had contained all her helplessness and anticipation in the word "it will come".
Perhaps as she continued to think about it, the person who had saved her from danger time and time again suddenly kicked open the door to a dangerous world.
With a creak, the heavy door opened, followed by the sound of leather shoes hitting the floor.
The thug had a strong grip; he grabbed Lin Jin by the back of his collar with one hand, dragged him along the ground for a distance, and then pulled him into a chair.
The man sitting across the table puffed on a cigar, seemingly watching a grand spectacle, his eyes filled with immense mockery as he took in all of Lin Jin's disheveled state.
He waved to the thugs to remove the blindfold from Lin Jin's eyes, waiting for the anger that had been building up inside him for years to finally be released tonight.
Lin Jin squinted for a while to adjust before turning her gaze to the opposite side. The blurry shadows overlapped and slowly focused, eventually forming the face she had expected.
"After all these years, your methods are still so unoriginal." Lin Jin sneered, then turned and looked around at his surroundings, shaking his head with another sarcastic remark, "Stupid, utterly stupid."
Lin Sheng leaned back, raised his hand that had been resting on his knees, and flicked the ash from his cigar.
He stared intently at Lin Jin, whose face bore a subtle resemblance to his own, which was unsettling no matter how he looked at it. He decided to let out a sarcastic laugh, "I was too merciful. Otherwise, you should have died many years ago. Isn't it better to be alive? Why did you have to make things so bad that we both have to die?"
Lin Jin's lips curved into a subtle smile, a smile that was not quite a smile but was full of contempt.
That contempt contained too many profound meanings, as if mocking Lin Sheng's humble background, and also as if mocking his poor abilities, saying that he was on a completely different level from himself.
She slightly raised her chin and narrowed her eyes. Without saying a word, she could easily provoke the other party with her disdainful gaze that seemed to regard everything as a dog.
"Tonight will be long, and the dawn will not come. Laugh as much as you want, so you won't regret it when you cry later." Lin Sheng was not joking. He would definitely use every means to torment Lin Jin tonight to vent his anger over the past few decades. "After all, he is a rare and distinguished guest. I should prepare some generous gifts, otherwise it would seem that I am not generous enough or do not value him enough."
After saying that, he beckoned to his men guarding the door and excitedly ordered, "Go and bring in the big gift I've prepared."
Lin Jin didn't react much. He had seen enough of this kind of situation with fish-men at the mercy of others. Whether they struggled or not, the result was the same, so he seemed indifferent.
Lin Sheng looked at her again and couldn't help but admire her: "Putting aside this adversarial relationship, I do admire you. You are calm and composed, meticulous, and have endless tricks up your sleeve. You are a troublesome opponent."
"What do you want me to say? Praise you back? That would be too low-class for me." Lin Jin raised an eyebrow indifferently, not accepting the other party's praise, and changed the subject to other things. "The topic that the old man talked to me about most before he passed away was how to raise children. He adhered to the method of raising Gu, always hoping that we could fight to the death so that he could pick the child who was most suitable to inherit the Lin family."
"The result is already in front of you, isn't it? You're the one who's been eliminated in this endless battle." Lin Sheng tilted his head and smiled triumphantly, while also boasting about his hard work in building the Lin Group. "I've been working my way up in the Lin Group for so many years. Before, I had to watch the old man's face and he restricted everything I did. Now I've finally taken the group public, and everyone can see how many times my net worth has increased."
Getting carried away, Lin Sheng placed his hands on the table, like a beast lurking in the night, his tense body sizing up the calm Lin Jin. "What do you have to fight me with? A betting agreement? Or do you think you can bring me down just by having Sheng He act as a double agent? You're underestimating me."
"Hahaha..." Lin Jin chuckled uncontrollably, her shoulders twitching. A faint moisture welled in her eyes as she laughed, her expression becoming increasingly distorted. "Lin Sheng, Lin Sheng, it's not that I don't respect you, it's just that you're truly inadequate. You can't even predict what you'll encounter next. You always try to make me miss many opportunities by kidnapping me, but you never considered that those opportunities were deliberately given to you by me. Like... the Lin Group's smooth listing, without even a stumbling block. Guess why?"
Lin Sheng was about to put the cigar in his mouth when he heard these words. His arm froze in mid-air for a long time, and his confident smile vanished.
He gritted his teeth, his jaw cracking, and his expression grew increasingly sinister. "You're about to die, and you're still so stubborn?"
"I'm telling you right now, I'll be fine tonight, and I'll be the one walking out this door before you." Lin Jin leaned forward slightly and continued, "Do you know why I said you're stupid? Do you think that taking Lin's Group public will wash away all the dirty deeds you've done in the past? Running underground casinos and selling arms, you've made a lot of dirty money over the years, haven't you? Are you clean now? If I'm not mistaken, Xu Songheng should have died in this room, right? How many of your connections did you get inside information about Lin's Group's listing? Murder, kidnapping, hiring someone to kill, perjury, bribery, leaking inside information... your crimes are countless. You'd be sentenced to death several times over. It seems the criminal investigation and economic investigation departments in Zhouhai are going to be very busy."
In the empty basement, Lin Jin's tone wasn't exactly forceful; rather, it was like a light, floating feather. Yet, the words that bounced and skipped into Lin Sheng's ears felt like knives stabbing flesh—each cut seemingly harmless but ultimately painful.
"Aren't you stupid enough?" Lin Sheng asked back as he walked behind Lin Jin. At first, he placed his hands on her shoulders, but as he spoke, they slowly moved to her neck, gradually tightening their grip.
This damned man revealed his most perverted and genuine side, leaning down to press his face close to Lin Jin's ear, feigning pity and tenderness while his grip on her hand tightened. "Dare to reveal these things to my face? You're incredibly stupid. This will only hasten your death... Didn't you say you'd walk out this door before me tonight...? Your prediction was wrong... my dear sister..."
"Ugh..." Lin Jin choked, and gradually could not make a sound through her nose. Her originally pale face gradually turned into a liver-red color.
The suffocation caused her lips to open and close repeatedly, but she couldn't get any fresh air. The veins on her forehead were bulging, and even the whites of her eyes were covered with fine red blood vessels.
Lin Sheng was indeed blinded by rage, wishing he could grab Lin Jin's face and forcefully pry it open, and the world would finally quiet down as he desired.
As Lin Jin was about to lose consciousness, he loosened his grip with his last shred of reason. It wasn't out of pity for her, but because the long night needed more stimulation to satisfy his perverted desires, and making Lin Jin's easy death seem more like a blessing.
He rubbed his hands together as he returned to his chair and sat down, watching Lin Jin cough incessantly in a disheveled state as he poured himself a glass of foreign liquor. "The police can't convict me. You've said so much, but where's the evidence? I'm curious, what other abilities do you have to break this deadlock? If Cheng Sangluo can't find you, you'll disappear from this world like Xu Songheng."
"Cough cough cough...cough cough cough...cough cough hahaha..." Lin Jin tried his best to calm his breathing, listening to the other party's harsh words, and then another round of coughing and mocking laughter, "Lin Sheng...if I were you...I would never have done these things today...you were too anxious and too eager to win. Didn't your mother, who plans everything for you, teach you what it means to hold back?"
She hunched her neck and twisted it, trying to relieve the discomfort from the suffocation. After a moment of silence, she continued, "You kidnapping me tonight was indeed unexpected."
However, I understand your actions. After all, you didn't kill Sheng He. As long as he's alive, he's the biggest threat. It's better to skip him and just get rid of me, the boss behind the scenes. At least then there will be no one to testify against me after I'm dead.
But in my opinion, the good thing is that you tied me up, which will only exacerbate the situation.
What you know is just the tip of the iceberg, so let me tell you some of the things that are not known to others, so that you won't have any unforeseen problems when you go to prison.
Your methods always tend towards violence, like a quack remedy that only treats the symptoms and not the root cause, just like you—you look smart but are actually foolish.
The old man's method of raising Gu poison is to see who is more ruthless and resourceful, not to act without thinking. He might say, "You're out of the game?"
Hmph, I haven't even shown my face yet, and I'm already giving you a hard time. It's not about who inherits the Lin family business that's the winner, but about who can hold onto the position of chairman of the Lin Group.
The old man is biased and left the entire family business to you, but he's not at ease with you, so he came up with this betting agreement as a backup plan. If you were capable, I couldn't take what belongs to you, but you're not.
Your men should be in Zehai by now, or at least in Zhongyao Technology's office building. Are you trying to find a good way to destroy all the R&D results to stop Zhongyao's plan to merge with Senyao and raise the stock price?
You're going to be disappointed, because there's nothing there. From the moment Sheng He revealed the information to you, I had already moved the people and R&D results of Zhongyao Technology.
However, I've left your men a secret gift—that building is full of military personnel. If you dare touch their cooperative projects, you're finished.
Let's talk about the case of Cheng Sangluo being framed.
If Xu Songheng's men hadn't lost a bag of guns, this whole thing wouldn't have happened.
You spent a lot of money to get the person who was beaten to change their story and give false testimony, and afterwards you tried to silence them, but they escaped. You've been looking for them for so many years, spending a lot of manpower and money, haven't you?
I hid him, and it was through him that I learned about your arms dealing, which allowed me to investigate you thoroughly step by step.
I have a complete set of evidence against you for selling arms and framing Cheng Sangluo. The reason you've been able to get away with things all these years isn't because I can't beat you, but because I've been waiting for this day.
Now that this evidence is in Cheng Sangluo's hands, whenever she overturns the case, that person who committed perjury will appear. I've arranged everything perfectly, and you're powerless to change anything.
As for Xu Songheng's death...
Guess what Sheng He said to me before he fell unconscious?
Lin Jin revealed everything she knew in one go, leaving a small cliffhanger at the end.
She watched as Lin Sheng's initial confidence and composure gradually transformed into a ferocious rage.
"Lin Jin!!!" Lin Sheng was furious. He swept the things on the table to the ground, and amidst the shattering sounds, he roared hoarsely, "Even if I die, I'll drag you down with me!!!"
Lin Sheng's anger was complex. On the surface, it was because Lin Jin knew too much. Any one of those incriminating pieces could drag him into the abyss. However, Lin Jin could have killed him at any time, yet he had allowed Lin Sheng to live so carefree for so many years. Therefore, the more peacefully he had lived all these years, the more ridiculous he became.
Of course, much of the underlying anger stemmed from his unspeakable jealousy.
Yes, he was jealous of Lin Jin; this feeling had been ingrained in him since childhood.
His mother became his wife through a mistress, and he was an illegitimate child who had been abandoned for many years. Therefore, he was destined to be inferior to Lin Jin's good family background. Even after so many years, even after inheriting the Lin family business, there are still people who criticize him behind his back.
He was exceptionally capable and managed the Lin family business with great success, yet in his father's eyes, he was not as good as his sister.
The sentence he hated most about his father was: "If Lin Jin were a boy, the Lin Group would have been finished long ago."
"Silence them?" Lin Jinming knew that saying another word now was playing with his life, but his words were still venomous. "You silenced the perpetrators, you silenced Xu Songheng, you silenced Sheng He, and now it's my turn. Don't you care about cleaning up your mess? Can't you come up with something new besides silencing them?"
"Fine, you want something new, huh?" Lin Sheng roared angrily, then yelled at his men at the door, "Push the stuff in! And dogs, bring all the dogs in too!!!"
As soon as he finished speaking, his men pushed in a bucket of viscous liquid, followed by several sleek pit bulls.
Lin Sheng didn't want to waste any more words. He pulled out a dagger from his lower back and ripped her shirt open, then slashed downwards.
In an instant, a large tear appeared in Lin Jin's shirt, revealing a patch of snow-white skin.
"Hang her up!" Lin Sheng ordered, and several of his men quickly hoisted Lin Jin into the air.
Lin Jin barely managed to touch the table with her feet, but the weight of the falling weight threatened to dislocate her arms at any moment, so she dared not struggle too much.
Lin Sheng sat at the table, picked up a brush from the bucket and stirred the viscous liquid. He looked up and admired Lin Jin, who was hanging high above him. "Ox blood mixed with honey, my beloved dogs will have a delicious meal tonight."
As he spoke, he deliberately lifted Lin Jin's uninjured foot, forcing her to endure the pain of tiptoeing due to her bone injury.
He smeared the disgusting liquid on the brush little by little, moving it along his calves.
The air was filled with a bloody yet sweet smell. Lin Jin endured the excruciating pain from being suspended in a sling, as well as the sticky sensation on her calves.
Unable to bear it any longer, she took advantage of Lin Sheng's inattention and kicked him hard in the face.
[Author's Note]
1. My pre-order novel, "The Sinful Lover," is available for collection.
2. It is recommended to read this chapter along with the next one, which will be very exciting.
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