| Translator: | Author: | Original Source: |
| MJCross | Cat’s Glasses | SFACG |
| MJCross is a freelance translator, you can support them on: | ||
 |
 |
 |
“Boss, I really didn’t take any drugs!”
In the end, Long Tao and the two subordinates were written off by Lu Huangze as babbling nonsense and were tossed into a private room to “cool off.”
“Clear your heads while you’re in there,” Lu Huangze said. “And maybe take the opportunity to learn a thing or two about materialist values.”
With that, he shut the door. When he turned around and saw me again, his expression smoothly reverted to that same calm, unhurried demeanor as before.
“Sorry to make you laugh, Miss Lingmeng. Just a farce, really.”
“Not at all,” I replied. “I thought it was pretty entertaining.”
“Entertaining?” Lu Huangze raised an eyebrow in confusion, then added, “If someone really could turn into a woman, that would be interesting—but from a scientific standpoint, it’s simply impossible.”
“Pfft, true enough…”
Science? I nearly laughed out loud.
“As for my earlier suspicions toward you, please allow me to apologize,” he continued. “We should return to the meeting now—keeping our other guests waiting too long would be discourteous.”
I nodded. “Right. We can’t have Big Sis worrying too much either.”
Including Sharo, all the gang leaders were still being left hanging in the bar. No matter what, their moods had to be managed. After all, to Lu Huangze, they still had their uses.
I wasn’t sure whether he still intended to flirt with me, but at the very least, he hadn’t let down his guard.
When I returned, Sharo first let out a long sigh of relief, then snapped irritably, “You sure took your time—and you even got dragged back by that Lu b̲a̲s̲t̲a̲r̲d̲. You didn’t blow it, did you?”
“It’s fine. He was a bit suspicious, but just that much… wait, Rinka has something to say.”
I’d barely sat down, and before I could explain anything to Shan-jie or Sharo, new information came through from Rinka.
“Kai-chan, the arrest team is ready to move. Uncle Lei Luo is gathering the police at the back entrance. Meow Meow and Haitang will come in from the front. I just need to confirm—roughly how many people are inside the bar?”
I gave a quick estimate. “Not many. About fifty, give or take.”
Rinka paused audibly. “Huh? That’s fewer than expected. Uncle Lei Luo has twenty officers, and Meow Meow’s bringing along some former underlings. That’ll probably be enough… I’ll jump in too when the time comes!”
“You’re coming as well? Don’t mess around!”
“Relax. I know what I’m doing.”
I took off the walkie-talkie and discreetly passed it to Sharo and Shan-jie, letting Rinka brief them directly.
Turning back, I saw Lu Huangze still holding forth enthusiastically. At some point, he’d even pulled over a mobile whiteboard and was explaining the operation plan to the assembled gang leaders.
Among all the gangs large and small in the Tianping Commercial District, the mafia had chosen Rashomon for a reason—it was precisely because of Lu Huangze’s abilities.
Personnel deployment, action routes, information control—everything was arranged with meticulous care. None of the other gang leaders could match him when it came to big-picture planning. Not even Sharo.
For this anti-crackdown alliance, Lu Huangze truly was the most suitable leader.
His counter-operation plan was thorough, but his eloquence was even more impressive. He made people genuinely believe the plan would succeed, carrying himself like a master strategist from ancient times.
“Putting our positions aside,” I muttered, “Lu Huangze really is impressive.”
“Huh?” Sharo scoffed. “Impressive? Lingmeng-jie, have you lost it?”
She shot Lu Huangze a look full of disdain.
“Just listen to half of what he says and ignore the rest. None of the other leaders fully trust him anyway. Everyone here is running their own little schemes.”
She suddenly leaned in close and whispered, “If he were really that smart, how could he not have calculated that he’d be getting arrested today?”
Shan-jie quietly finished her drink and glanced at the two of us.
“It’s starting,” she said.
The very next second, a dull bang came from the back entrance. I couldn’t see the corridor from where I was, but Uncle Lei Luo’s shout rang out clearly.
“Police! Everyone squat down where you are! Don’t move!”
“Damn cops! Lu Huangze, I trusted your b̲u̲l̲l̲s̲h̲i̲t̲!”
A bald, burly man reacted fast—slapping his thigh, he jumped up and bolted for the front door. The moment he yanked it open, a fist smashed straight into his nose, sending him flying back onto the sofa with blood spraying.
“This way’s blocked! Nobody’s going anywhere!”
Lei Meow Meow strode in with several subordinates. Leaning against the doorframe, she shook her hand and muttered, “Damn, that guy’s nose was hard.”
Uncle Lei Luo led a squad of officers through the corridor. All of them were plainclothes—some were dressed like office workers in suits and gold-rimmed glasses, another even wearing a fashionable short skirt and double-layered sunglasses… probably a female officer?
The police immediately began arresting the gang leaders. Some stubborn hotheads tried to resist, while some seasoned veterans weighed the odds and surrendered without a fuss.
The suddenness of it all left Lu Huangze momentarily stunned. But he quickly seemed to realize something, and his gaze snapped toward me—burning with rage, utterly stripped of his earlier composure.
“Grab the Rakshaksa people first!” he shouted. “They’re police informants!”
So he figured it out?
Too late. What men did he even have left? The few subordinates stationed at this base had already been flattened by Meow Meow’s iron fists.
Anything he did now would only add to his charges.
Then—
Bang.
My cheek was slammed against something hard and icy.
Before I knew it, the fashionably dressed female officer had pinned me down on a glass table. It wasn’t until my arms were wrenched behind my back and pain shot through my joints that I snapped out of it.
“Hey—ow, ow, ow! Wait!”
“Resistance is futile!”
And then the handcuffs clicked shut.
Sharo and Shan-jie were cuffed as well, both wearing deeply aggrieved expressions. Huh? What kind of operation was this?
We were herded into a corner and made to squat with the other captured gang leaders. At this point, aside from the police and arrest teams, the only person still standing freely was Lu Huangze.
Sharo glared at him furiously and cursed, “Lu Huangze, you 【BEEP】—you’re the police informant!”
Shan-jie looked suddenly enlightened. She snorted coldly. “So that’s how it is. What a perfect setup—this was a real Hongmen Banquet. And he’s still trying to frame it elsewhere. The intelligence Lu Huangze had was fed to him by the police on purpose, just to gather all the major gangs in one place and wipe us out in one sweep!”
The two of them played off each other flawlessly. The surrounding gang leaders all wore expressions of holy s̲h̲i̲t̲, that actually makes sense. From a sympathy standpoint alone, the Rakshaksa members shoved against the wall were far more convincing than Lu Huangze standing alone in the middle of the room.
They hadn’t trusted him to begin with, and Shan-jie’s reasoning was airtight. In an instant, the blame landed squarely on Lu Huangze.
The female officer walked over and patted him on the arm.
“You’re Lu Huangze, right? Good job this time.”
“So that’s how it is?! You—let go of me!”
Realizing the situation, Lu Huangze tried to speak, but two burly male officers stepped up and seized him from either side.
The female officer gave him another thump and laughed. “Wow, you really committed to the role, huh?”
They escorted him out through the back entrance.
Despite his height, his lean build meant he couldn’t struggle much. Combined with the dim bar lighting, it almost looked like they were deliberately escorting an informant away for protection…
At that point, I finally understood what was going on.
But damn—this was dirty.
Not only did he get arrested, he got saddled with the blame, his reputation completely ruined. Let the false narrative ferment for a few days, and Lu Huangze and his Rashomon would be finished in the Tianping Commercial District.
Since it was all an act, Sharo and I both kept our scowls on as we were shoved out of the bar and into the back seat of a police car.
Bang. The door slammed shut.
Uncle Lei Luo was in the driver’s seat.
The same female officer sat in the passenger seat. She flipped up her sunglasses and turned around, flashing a bright, familiar smile.
“Well? How was my plan?”
I stared at her for a few seconds.
“…Rinka?!”
Her makeup skills had reached downright supernatural levels. Even after several close encounters, I hadn’t recognized her. Still, dressed like this, she looked surprisingly beautiful—more mature, too.
I tapped the back of Uncle Lei Luo’s seat. “The show’s over. Shouldn’t you take these cuffs off us now?”
He glanced in the rearview mirror and burst out laughing, pulling a small key from his pocket and tossing it back.
As I unlocked Shan-jie’s cuffs, I complained to Rinka, “You could’ve at least warned me about a last-minute plan like this. If I hadn’t reacted fast enough, I’d have blown it.”
Rinka replied cheerfully, “But I did explain it earlier—through the earpiece, to Sharo-chan and Shan-chan~ I didn’t tell you because I wanted to surprise you!”
No. There was only shock. Being slammed onto a glass table by a cop is not a pleasant surprise.
“…Shan-chan?”
Rinka’s choice of address clearly caught Shan-jie off guard as well.
I asked Uncle Lei Luo, “So the Tianping Commercial District situation is basically resolved now, right?”
Shan-jie shook her head. “Not quite. We’ve only removed the biggest thorn. The remaining cleanup will be easy.”
Uncle Lei Luo nodded. “That’s right. The rest won’t need your help. Just leave the small fry to the police.”
“And the school holiday’s just about over anyway. Even if I wanted to help, I couldn’t.”
Scratching my head, I asked, “So where are we going now? You’re not actually taking us back to the station, are you?”
“No. I’ll drop you off at Biyang Girls’ High.”
With the cuffs off, Sharo rolled her wrists, looking hesitant. Seeing that, Rinka unbuckled her seatbelt, turned around, and leaned over the seat to talk to her.
“Hehe, Sharo-chan—are you worried your gang’s going to be wiped out?”
Sharo’s gaze drifted as she sighed. “Of course. I’ve spent over a year running the group. It’s hard to let it go just like that.”
I blinked. “Who said you had to disband Rakshaksa?”
“But… if the commercial district stabilizes, won’t there be no need for Rakshaksa to maintain order anymore?”
She had mentioned this before…
“You’re really stubborn, you know that?” I said. “What, you and your girls can’t meet up unless you invent some excuse?”
I thought of the carefree Lu Tao.
Uncle Lei Luo nodded as well. “Consider this as making up for past mistakes. We won’t make things hard for you this time—but if you cause trouble again, don’t expect me to go easy on you.”
At the end of the day, Rakshaksa’s crimes barely amounted to selling pirated discs. Even taken seriously, it wasn’t a big deal. Compared to that, Lu Huangze’s illegal trafficking of psychoactive controlled substances was a far more serious offense—he was probably looking at several years inside.
“It’s not that, but… if all the other gangs are gone, what excuse do we use to collect protection fees from home? With this many people, we can’t survive on what the video stores earn alone…”
So that was her real worry—funding. Well, she’d just have to tighten her belt.
My phone buzzed with a message—Meow Meow had posted in the group chat.
“Everyone head back to campus and meet at the cafeteria. Let’s throw a victory party!”
Support Us
Unlock Early Access
∴ Support your favorite series and unlock chapters before the public release. |
