Seven days later, Lin Dongxue was anxiously cutting vegetables on the chopping board. When she accidentally cut her finger, she frowned and put her finger in her mouth to suck on it.

There was no news of Chen Shi for seven days. She couldn’t help but think of the worst-case scenario even though the people around her said that Chen Shi was smart and rational, so he should be fine. However, these imaginations still appeared in her nightly nightmares.

The task force was now in a state of complete stagnation. Of course, everyone wasn’t idle. Everyone had other cases to follow.

But everyone was worried about Chen Shi. Only Peng Sijue seemed to be calmer than anyone else. When someone couldn’t help but want to find Chen Shi, Peng Sijue would sensibly discourage them. He said that if they were to search for him now, not only would his efforts be wasted, it would put Chen Shi in a dangerous situation.

"Bastard, can't you give us a call?" Lin Dongxue muttered to herself while her eyes stung.

The dinner that couldn’t be considered a luxurious one was finished. She took it out to the living room where Tao Yueyue was reading. Lin Dongxue didn’t really control or constrain what she could or couldn’t do. She was allowed to read while eating. Tao Yueyue raised her head and asked, "Where’s Uncle Chen?"

"He hasn't come back yet," Lin Dongxue said with a small smile.

"Today, someone in the school was asking about him."

"They asked you about him?"

"No, they asked my classmates about what he does for a living. My classmates told me about it later."

"What did your classmate say?"

"He is a driver. Everyone knows this... I never talked about how he helps the police. He doesn’t allow me to talk about that.”

"Did your classmates say who inquired about Uncle Chen?"

“She said that it didn’t look like a good person.” Tao Yueyue stared at Lin Dongxue. “Sister, is Uncle Chen in some sort of trouble?”

"He's fine, you can rest assured! We are here!" Lin Dongxue touched her head. "Sister has something to do and has to go out. Can you stay at home like a good girl?”

"I will go take a bath later."

"Be careful, don't get burned."

Lin Dongxue quickly put on her clothes and went out. She called while walking. There were still a few people in the bureau who hadn’t gotten off work yet. She said, "Don't leave, I will come over immediately. It’s about the insurance fraud case!”

Everyone was anxiously waiting for her. When Lin Dongxue arrived, they couldn’t help but ask, "Is there news from Brother Chen?"

"No, Tao Yueyue said that there was a suspicious person that went to school to inquire about Chen Shi's background."

"The other party is investigating Chen Shi. It seems that Brother Chen might still be alive..."

"Don't talk nonsense! He must be alive!"

"Is there a loophole in Chen Shi’s identity?"

"There shouldn’t be any. When we first checked his background, we didn’t think he was a good person either.”

Peng Sijue, who was late, said, "The other party probably doesn’t trust him at the moment. I’m guessing that he is most likely under house arrest at the moment."

Old Zhang said, "In terms of the positive side, at least it seems they have plans to absorb Chen Shi into their group."

Lin Dongxue was concerned about another thing. "But what is his current situation? Being imprisoned? Was he kidnapped? Did they beat him? Or force him to do things?"

"Everything is unknown..." Peng Sijue furrowed his brows. "If we can do something to make the gang trust Chen Shi faster, that would be nice.”

Having said that, almost everyone thought about the same thing at the same time - Ah Meng!

If they could use him... But how should they do it?

Xu Xiaodong suddenly ran in, followed by Xiao Li. The two had gotten off work long ago. Xu Xiaodong apologized. "Sorry, I came over as soon as I received the call. What’s the progress?”

Lin Dongxue asked, "Can you talk to your informant?"

Twenty minutes later, Xu Xiaodong and Ah Meng sat opposite each other at the detention center separated by metal bars. Xu Xiaodong was sitting up straight and his face looked sad. Ah Meng crossed his leg over and held a cigarette in his hand. He sneered, “You’ve come to beg me, so you have to give off a face of someone pleading!”

Xu Xiaodong said, "As long as you promise, I’ll let everything that happened in the past go. I can do anything for you!”

"Will you kneel down for me?"

"I can!"

"Call me dad?”

"I can!"

“Lick my asshole?”

Xu Xiaodong’s cheek twitched, but he still said slowly, “I can even die!”

"Then go die right now. Pull the gun on yourself and die for me!"

"Don’t go too far!" Lin Dongxue said. "After this gang is destroyed, you will have no good fruit to eat[1]. We are now giving you the opportunity to correct your sins!"

"I will agree if you sleep with me."

Lin Dongxue was so angry that she grit her teeth. Peng Sijue said, "It’s a waste of time. Such a person, even if you were to convince him, he’d just betray us with the flick of his head. If we try to get him to deceive the mastermind, it’s the equivalent to helping with bringing Chen Shi’s life to ruin.”

There was a moment of silence. Everyone was thinking hard on whether there was another way around this.

Peng Sijue said, "I have a way."

Everyone looked at him at the same time, and Peng Sijue said, "But there is also a condition. Everyone, do not stop what I’m about to do!”

"As long as you don't cross the police’s bottom line..." Lin Dongxue warned.

Peng Sijue raised his voice. "I will cross the bottom line. I hope you won't stop it. I’ll bear all the responsibility!"

Lin Dongxue frowned. She measured in her heart. Nothing was more important than Chen Shi’s safety. She said, “I’ll approve it. So I’ll bear all the responsibility!”

Peng Sijue slowly nodded. "Please take him to the interrogation room and cuff him."

After a while, Peng Sijue walked into the interrogation room holding an opaque metal syringe in his hand. Ah Meng raised his chin in defiance. "Oh, cut the act already. What? You’ll inject the poison in me and if I don’t obey, you won’t give me the antidote? It’s just saline, right?! Haha, police won’t dare to kill people. You guys are weak!”

Peng Sijue tapped the syringe. "There’s an unknown virus in here. It can be detected seven days after the infection, but it will spread throughout the entire body within forty-eight hours, showing initial symptoms. If you don’t inject the antidote within forty-eight hours, you’d only have a good month ahead of you… The premise is whether you can stand the pain within the month or not, or if you’ll just commit suicide!”

"Tch, I am sooooo scared! Come, give the shot uncle... Oh, it felt so great when you stabbed me!" During the conversation, Peng Sijue had already given him the injection.

In the hearts of the people around, they thought that it was just normal saline. After all, if Peng Sijue really did this, it would not be as simple as losing his job. He’d go to jail.

Peng Sijue said with a blank expression, "Bring it in!"

His subordinates brought in a cage with a white mouse. Peng Sijue took out the mouse and injected the remaining bit of the syringe’s contents into the mouse. Then, he placed the mouse in front of Ah Meng. Under his gaze, the mouse suddenly twitched and then its whole body seized incessantly before dying.

Ah Meng’s face went white like a piece of paper, "You... You were serious?!"

Colleagues also began to shout in a panic. "Captain Peng, this is breaking the law!", "Quickly inject the detox serum! We can pretend this didn’t happen!", "Do not be confused, Captain Peng! It’s not worth it!"

Peng Sijue turned around and looked very serious. "I said from the beginning that this time I will cross the police’s bottom line. I never make jokes!"

1. You won’t have the hand that feeds you anymore.