Hearing this, Chen Ling finally put the wine glass back on the ground and wrote a line in a column of the form:
"No witness."
Then he ordered another glass of new whiskey and walked to the next resident of Bingquan Street.
"Name."
"..."
"Name!"
"Sun Laoliu."
"Did you see the disaster?"
"I... I..." Seeing what happened to the big man earlier, Sun Laoliu swallowed, "No."
Chen Ling nodded and continued to walk to the next person.
Watching Chen Ling knock down everyone alone and then ask questions calmly, a thought simultaneously emerged in the minds of Sun Laoliu and others...
Is Manager Ma setting me up?!
Didn't he say that those sent here were all fledglings from the reserve team?
Looking at his ghostly dodging ability just now, isn't he almost on par with a law enforcement officer? Or... is he already a law enforcement officer?
Could it be that the matter of Bingquan Street has been exposed, and Manager Ma intends to take this opportunity to eliminate them all and whitewash himself?
The more everyone thought about it, the uglier their faces became. They all stared at Chen Ling, fearing that after he finished questioning, he would pull out a gun and shoot them all.
Chen Ling unhurriedly recorded everyone's testimonies, took their fingerprints and signatures. For those who had been knocked unconscious, he directly wrote "no witness" and forcibly pressed a fingerprint.
Then he went to the boss to get a thick rope, tied everyone's hands tightly together, and pushed open the tavern door.
"Thanks for your cooperation... See you tomorrow."
The teenager wearing a holey cotton coat stood at the door, smiled faintly at everyone in the tavern, and turned to leave.
The messy tavern fell into silence.
They didn't die?
After an unknown amount of time, Sun Laoliu woke up from the stare, his back already soaked in cold sweat.
He turned to look at the boss,
"...What are you staring at? Come and untie us now!!"
...
"Did you hear gunshots just now?"
In the teahouse, a law enforcement officer hesitated to speak.
"No... Did you mishear?" Qian Fan casually replied while playing mahjong, "Don't worry, those people on Bingquan Street know their limits. At most, they'll use knives when they cause trouble. If they pull out guns and make a big scene, no one will benefit."
"That's true."
"Can that kid named Chen Ling get out today?"
"Hard to say... He looks better than Wu Youdong. If those people get tough... Tsk."
"What if someone dies? Will it be hard to explain to District Three?"
"What's hard to explain? He's just a poor kid from Hanshuang Street. I heard his parents were scared silly by the disaster. Even if he dies here, just bury him somewhere. Who will know? Who will make a fuss?"
"Don't worry, District Three is Manager Ma's territory. He can handle it... Three Bamboos."
"Pong!"
Bang bang bang——
The knock on the door sounded again.
"Tsk, who is it now?" Qian Fan stood up unhappily, "So many things happening every day."
"Maybe that kid realized something's wrong and ran out to tattle on us haha."
"He hasn't been gone long. Could he have just looked around the door and come back?"
Amidst the murmurs, Qian Fan opened the door and frowned deeply when he saw Chen Ling standing there.
"Why are you again? Haven't I made it clear to you?"
"This is my work report."
"…?"
Chen Ling took out the form from his chest and was about to hand it to Qian Fan. Suddenly, he noticed a spot of blood and skin fragments on the corner of the form, casually flicked them off with his finger, wiped it clean, and then smiled as he handed it over.
Qian Fan froze.
The other law enforcement officers playing mahjong inside also froze.
"…" Qian Fan took the form, studied it suspiciously for a moment, then laughed, "Xiao Chen… I know this job is a bit challenging for you, but you can't just press a fingerprint yourself to fool people…"
"I'm not fooling anyone."
Chen Ling said seriously, "They're all in the tavern. If you don't believe me, go ask them."
Qian Fan frowned even deeper. He looked at Chen Ling, unsure for a moment if he was joking or serious… No, how could those people have cooperated so obediently with his investigation?
Could this kid have traded his beauty for their…
But that was too quick, wasn't it?
"I'll go take a look." Qian Fan immediately stood up and was about to go out, then suddenly turned back and said, "You should know that falsifying mission results will get you disqualified from the exam, right?"
"I know."
Qian Fan stuck a cigarette in his mouth, walked toward the tavern defiantly. The other law enforcement officers exchanged glances and followed out of curiosity.
As the officers left, Chen Ling looked down at the mahjong table, and a few lines of text flashed by:
[Audience anticipation +1… +1… +1…]
…
Black Axe Tavern.
"Can you hurry up?"
In the messy tavern, moans sounded one after another. Sun Laoliu, who was relatively less injured, couldn't help but curse as he watched the boss slowly cutting the ropes.
The boss gave him a cold look, "Talk more, and I'll kill you."
"…Why weren't you this tough earlier?"
"That kid is a law enforcement officer. Would being tough have helped?"
"He's really a law enforcement officer?!" Sun Laoliu's eyes widened, "Are you sure?"
"Years ago, when I was dealing drugs in District Three, I was tracked by a law enforcement officer… His movement skills were identical to that young man's. If I hadn't been lucky, I never would have escaped to District Two." The boss paused, "Know who that law enforcement officer was?"
"Who?"
"Han Meng, Chief Law Enforcement Officer of District Three."
Sun Laoliu stood frozen in place.
Creak——
The tavern door opened.
Qian Fan stood at the door, staring at the messy tavern and the bloodied, dying residents of Bingquan Street, his eyes filled with disbelief!
"This..." Qian Fan stood at the door like a statue, "Did that kid do this?"
The other law enforcement officers who rushed over afterward were also greatly alarmed.
Qian Fan walked into the tavern, carefully stepping over the corpse-like Bone Knife and the wailing big man. All who were still conscious stared fixedly at the law enforcement officers with blazing anger in their eyes.
"Qian Fan!!" Sun Laoliu gritted his teeth and sat up, "You son of a bitch! I'll kill you!!"
Qian Fan frowned, "What are you cursing for?"
Click——
The sound of a bullet being chambered rang out. The tavern owner had approached at some point, pressing the muzzle of the gun to Qian Fan's forehead.
The other law enforcement officers tensed, drawing their guns simultaneously to aim at the owner and the struggling crowd in the tavern.
In the blood-filled tavern, the atmosphere abruptly froze.
"What do you want?" Cold sweat broke out on Qian Fan's forehead as he spoke in a low voice, "Don't forget, we have a cooperative relationship."
"Cooperation? You sent that guy to wreck our place, and you still talk about cooperation?!" Sun Laoliu snapped through clenched teeth.
"...I don't know how this happened. Chen Ling is just a reserve team member..."
"Bullshit reserve team!!" Sun Laoliu pointed at the wailing crowd on the floor, "Say that again—does THIS look like a reserve team member?!"
"I..."
Qian Fan was speechless.
"...Where is Chen Ling?!" He turned to ask another law enforcement officer.
"He seems to have left."
"Left?"
"Yes... He said he's off work."