Chapter 33
According to the address sent by Lin Xian, Lu Chengtian brought Ma Qiang to the abandoned factory in the north of the city.
The night wind blew through the newly sprouted green grass, and the smell of damp earth filled my face. The streetlights had long been out, and only the car lights illuminated a small area.
"Captain Lu, do we really not need to apply for guns? Why do I feel like this place is weird and spooky..." A gust of cold wind blew, and Ma Qiang wrapped his coat tightly in fear.
This area is quite large. Fortunately, most of the surrounding buildings have been demolished, with only one factory building standing out among the rubble.
Lu Chengtian couldn't tell him yet that he suspected there was a mole in the Municipal Bureau. If he applied for a gun, he would have to alert the leadership. So he pulled two baseball bats from the trunk and tossed one to him: "This is a special situation. Try not to alert the enemy. I'm here, what are you afraid of?"
Ma Qiang looked at Lu Chengtian's tall and imposing figure in the car lights, and was about to rush forward in tears and shout "Boss", but Lu Chengtian blocked him with a stick.
There was a big rusty lock on the iron gate of the factory. Lu Chengtian climbed up the red brick wall with his bare hands, and jumped over with a little effort. Ma Qiang also followed him into the wall.
The flashlight shone into the courtyard, which was covered with weeds, abandoned pipes, and iron cans. "This place must have been an oil refinery," Lu Chengtian quickly concluded.
A stone path traversed the weeds, leading to a factory building with broken windows and leaking air everywhere. Lin Xian must be inside. It was already past ten o'clock in the evening, and there was no light inside.
"If the person is not hiding in a space like a basement, then there should be no one guarding it." Lu Chengtian went in first. The pipes inside were crisscrossed and rusted. It was possible to step on abandoned steel bars and iron pipes at any time. He led the way carefully in front, and Ma Qiang followed closely behind.
The building had three floors. They checked all the rooms on the first floor one by one, but couldn't find a basement, so they climbed up the cement stairs with broken railings to the second floor.
When Ma Qiang was at home, besides playing games and eating instant noodles, he also loved watching horror movies. At this moment, he felt a chill behind him, as if a shadow was about to flash past him, revealing a hideous face to scare him - he clumsily grabbed the corner of Lu Chengtian's clothes.
Lu Chengtian's nerves were on edge, and he dimmed his flashlight, fearing they would be spotted first. Looking at the abandoned rooms and equipment, the floor littered with broken bricks, bottles, and plastic bags, he even doubted whether Lin Xian's information was correct.
Just then, a suppressed cough was heard.
Ma Qiang almost cried out and immediately covered his mouth. Lu Chengtian, however, looked upstairs following the sound and said, "Let's go, there's someone upstairs."
The police flashlight was still too bright. Lu Chengtian signaled Ma Qiang to turn it off, close his eyes in the darkness, and then open them again. In the dim moonlight, they groped their way up the stairs to the third floor, their breathing subdued.
When they reached the last step, the scene before them almost made Ma Qiang scream while hugging Lu Chengtian.
I saw a man tied to a cross-shaped iron frame in a sacrificial posture, his eyes covered with cloth and his mouth sealed with tape. Moonlight shone through the broken window behind him, outlining a bleak shadow.
There was a foul smell in the air—the smell of excrement. Right at the man's feet.
Lu Chengtian quickly scanned the surrounding area; it was empty. He carefully scanned the surroundings again, confirming there were no ambushes, before turning on his flashlight and approaching the figure on the cross.
The man was covered in a tattered blanket, probably to prevent him from freezing to death. Although blindfolded, he could hear footsteps. He tilted his head and made a "whine" sound.
Lu Chengtian walked up slowly and ripped off the tape on his mouth. He asked in a rusty voice, "Who?"
Seeing the man on the cross, Ma Qiang mouthed to Lu Chengtian in surprise: "Editor-in-Chief Lin?!"
Judging from his body shape, hairstyle and jaw features, Lin Xian does look very similar to Lin Xian, which is the result of long-term deliberate imitation.
Lu Chengtian shook his head, then sneered and quickly wrote on the memo of his mobile phone:
He's not your Editor-in-Chief Lin. Tell him, "It's your father. When does the next purification live broadcast begin?"
The reason why he was not comfortable speaking was because his voice was very distinctive, and Lin Xian had met him in Room 302 of Yulong KTV. As long as he opened his mouth, he would be easily exposed.
Although Ma Qiang was confused at this point, he quickly realized that Lu Chengtian didn't want to reveal his identity to the people in front of him yet, so he immediately adopted a "Young and Dangerous" tone. His voice echoed in the deserted old factory, quite intimidating.
Lin Xian was obviously stunned and said, "Changed the person? I don't understand, what are you talking about..."
Lu Chengtian immediately wrote: Don’t play dead, it seems I am still too polite to you.
Ma Qiang gritted his teeth and said this, then stared at the content on Lu Chengtian's phone screen and continued:
"Didn't you say last time that Liu Yaoyao's death was the result of a deliberate plot by the cult sponsored by Zhou Xinzhang? Then when is the next live broadcast? If you don't tell me, I'll break your fingers one by one—"
Lin Xian chuckled softly, accompanied by violent gasps and coughs, the sound like rusted iron scraping against his ears. "You're not Zhou Mubai's man, are you? When did I ever say that? Zhou Xinzhang sponsored the cult, but only to distribute Galan incense. That high school girl's suicide had nothing to do with him. And I've never heard of this livestream you're talking about."
"If you don't tell me, believe it or not, I will kill you right now?" Ma Qiang continued to recite the "lines" designed for him by Lu Chengtian.
Lin Xian panted for a long moment before saying, "Believe it or not, I've told you everything I know. Zhou Yaohui and Zhou Xinzhang control the drug market in Shenzhen and Hong Kong. They invested in the cult so they could covertly distribute the Galan incense with the help of various social forces and conduct some underground activities. I really don't know anything else."
"Why do you want to dress up as Lin Xian?" Following "Director Lu's" idea, Ma Qiang asked suddenly.
At the entrance of Yulong KTV, Ma Qiang clashed with the people from the South City Branch. He didn't even glance at Lin Xian before the explosion. Therefore, although he wanted to know the answer to Lu Chengtian's question, he was really confused.
"Who are you?"
Ma Qiang took the iron rod and knocked it hard on the ground: "Answer the question, why so much nonsense!"
"Okay, I'll tell you. Because Zhou Xinzhang is obsessed with him, that pervert! As long as I can look 70% like him, I can get everything I want." At this point, Lin Xian said, "What do you want in exchange for letting me go?"
Hearing this, the traditional and simple otaku Ma Qiang opened his mouth wide and thought to himself: These rich guys are really extravagant.
Lu Chengtian recorded all of Lin Xian's speeches.
He then asked Ma Qiang, "Did you and Zhou Xinzhang go to the Blue Flame packaging site together? You took my boss's formula and stuffed the product into frozen fish to ship out. You had a pretty good plan."
Lin Xian was silent for a while before asking, "Are you from the Spirit Snake Gang?"
Hearing this, Lu Chengtian essentially confirmed his assumption: Lin Xian had indeed joined the Spirit Snake Gang while undercover in Myanmar. The formulas for Galan Incense and Blue Flame were likely obtained from the Spirit Snake Gang through some means. The question was, why did he do this?
Ma Qiang held a cold baseball bat against his face: "Answer the question."
"Yes... I have been there, but it has nothing to do with me. I am just Zhou Xinzhang's henchman. As for the Spirit Snake Gang's formula, that was brought back from Burma by Lin Xian as a token of his loyalty to the Zhou Group. It has nothing to do with me."
Ma Qiang:!
When Lin Xian participated in their meeting, he mentioned that when he was undercover in Myanmar, a drug maker gave him a recipe, but he quickly destroyed it... If what the man in front of him said was true, then wouldn't Lin Xian be in big trouble?
Then... He couldn't help but look at Lu Chengtian, only to see his boss typing quickly on his mobile phone keyboard with a cold expression: Tell him that if he confesses, transfer him to a safe place, otherwise when Zhou Mubai's people come, he knows what will happen to him.
Ma Qiang suppressed all his doubts and conscientiously played the role of a "bloodthirsty villain".
This condition seemed to make Lin Xian's heart move. He was silent for a while, then said, "Okay. But I can only tell you the core secret after I am safe."
Lu Chengtian quickly had a complex psychological struggle between taking Lin Xian back to the Municipal Bureau and leaving him here.
If they brought him back to the city bureau, they could arrest the Zhou father and son based on his confession, and also expose many of their underlings, but this would also implicate Lin Xian. While he was most likely an undercover agent, he was too deeply involved. What if… Furthermore, if Lin Xian was brought back to the city bureau, Zhou Mubai would soon find out, and Lin Xian, the person who passed the information, would likely be in danger…
Between "protecting Lin Xian" and "enforcing the law impartially", he chose the latter.
Somehow, Lu Chengtian still believed that Lin Xian was innocent, and everything was just for his father, or for some noble motive.
After thinking for a while, he sent a message to Lin Xian: I have brought the person back to the bureau, take care of yourself.
The other party did not respond.
As Ma Qiang disdainfully lowered Lin Xian from the cross, Lu Chengtian sent a message to Zhao Yiqing: "The live broadcast incident has nothing to do with Zhou Xinzhang. The key is to find the whereabouts of 'Z' and Luo Hua. Also, quickly find the location of the live broadcast and do your best to find the person who filmed it."
They have less than 24 hours left.
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