Chapter 274

"Tell the boss I want to see him. As long as I see him, I will hand the item over to him in person!" Wu Haibo said in a tone that brooked no questioning.

The man's eyeballs rolled around for a while; clearly, he could not make up his mind, or perhaps he did not dare to make such a decision lightly.

Sure enough, after thinking for a while, he said, "I can't decide this. The boss's task for me is to get the item back. You'd better cooperate!"

Wu Haibo said stubbornly, "I must see the boss! Otherwise, just kill me! The item is not with me at all. If I die, that item will immediately be handed over to the media and the police!"

The man hesitated for a moment, glared at him resentfully, and said, "Hmph! You wait here!"

After finishing, he took out his phone. Before long, the call connected, and the man looked up at him and said, "Boss, the target says he won't spill until he sees the boss."

The person on the other end was likely very unhappy, and the man added, "The item isn't on him, I suspect..."

The person on the other end was silent for a while, then the call was hung up.

Ten minutes later, the man's phone rang. The man glanced at the number and immediately answered, "Boss!"

After only a few seconds, the call ended. The man put away his phone, grabbed Wu Haibo's right arm, suddenly pulled it outward, and then pushed it back. With a "crack!" sound, Wu Haibo let out an "Aiya!" of pain—the dislocated arm had actually been set back in place by the man!

"Let's go! Come with me to see the boss!" the man ordered.

In a Chinese-style courtyard, an old man with a full head of white hair and a ruddy complexion sat with his eyes closed on a rosewood armchair. In front of him was an exquisite small rosewood table, and on it, a golden incense burner was emitting gray smoke...

Three meters away from the old man, three people stood in a row. Two of them were Wu Haibo and the man who brought him, while the third person was tall and sturdy, but his eyes were extremely sinister!

The three stood quietly, their eyelids lowered, like old monks in meditation.

Twenty minutes passed this way. The old man's eyebrows moved slightly. Although the tall man appeared to be staring at his own toes, he had already noticed this subtle movement from the old man.

"Sir," the tall man bowed and said in a low voice, "Wu Haibo has been brought here."

The old man slowly opened his eyes, and a hint of a smile appeared at the same time: "Wu Haibo? That former traffic police captain, right? I remember you." The old man's voice was thick and calm, yet it made one feel a hidden sense of dread upon hearing it.

Wu Haibo kept his head lowered. Before he could speak, his heart was filled with agitation. He swallowed nervously and whispered, "Yes, yes, Boss!"

He only knew that outsiders called this old man "Boss," but he had never heard anyone mention his actual name, as if he had never appeared in the secular world. Yet, many important figures in the political and business circles of Zizhen were in close contact with him, and there were even rumors in those circles that this man was the true "underground king" of Zizhen!

When the Fang Jie case was being handled back then, given Wu Haibo's status, it would have been impossible for him to come into contact with the old man. However, he had racked his brains to use that opportunity, finally managing to send his son abroad to study at a prestigious university, while he himself remained stuck in that captain position for his entire life until retirement.

It was also because of this that he came to know the king of Zizhen's underground world—the mysterious old man.

"I heard you've been getting quite close to a junior at the Qinghe District Public Security Bureau. What? Do you feel your retirement life is too dull? Want to find some excitement?"

The old man's voice was still calm, but to Wu Haibo, it sounded like a heavy bomb!

He shuddered all over, and a layer of dense, fine sweat had already broken out on his forehead! But the sense of guilt that had formed over a long time occupied his brain for a moment. He gritted his teeth, raised his head, and looked directly at the old man: "I did wrong back then, but I don't want to be wrong for a lifetime, and I don't want to leave feeling guilty, so I chose to tell the truth!"

The old man threw his head back and laughed loudly. While laughing, he pointed at him and said, "Do you know why no one has investigated this matter after so many years? Do you think that with the abilities of Lu Haoxuan and Gu Changzheng, they never suspected anything?"

Wu Haibo opened his mouth wide in astonishment, looking at the old man.

"Because they are all smart people! Perhaps they could have found the truth about the car accident back then, but what then? They might not even be able to remain police officers! If that were the case, how could they go on to solve major cases one after another? How could they realize their own ambitions?"

"I didn't expect that as you grew older, you would become even more foolish! Is Wu Yifeng living too well in Canada? So well that you've forgotten how he got out there?"

The old man suddenly mentioned his son. This hit like a heavy blow, catching Wu Haibo off guard!

"Yifeng? Yifeng is a Canadian citizen, you, you..."

"Hmph! Don't forget, I am also a Chinese-Canadian, and I am the president of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce over there. Do you think that just because your son obtained foreign citizenship, I would have no way to deal with him? You must remember! No matter where you are, you are all ants!"

Wu Haibo's body tilted, and he collapsed to the ground!

His only son, Wu Yifeng, was his Achilles' heel. A large part of the reason he chose to go against his conscience back then was that the conditions offered by the other party were too tempting! So, under the guise of his son's future, and with a mentality that "those who do not look out for themselves will be destroyed by heaven and earth," he accepted the gift with a clear conscience, selling out his own principles and conscience.

And today, he wanted to atone for his sins before the end of his life. Was there really such a good thing in this world?

The old man looked at Wu Haibo before him, his eyes revealing disdain, contempt, and indifference!

"If you wanted to protect your son, you shouldn't have done this! Perhaps I am unscrupulous, but I gave you everything I promised. What you are doing now is called unrighteousness!" The old man wore an expression of disgust, as if looking at a pile of trash: "Before, for your own selfish desires, you betrayed your faith and your duty—that is disloyalty! You knew the victim was murdered, yet you had no compassion—that is inhumanity! What is the point of living for someone like you who is inhuman, unrighteous, and disloyal?"

The old man's words were like pearls of wisdom, piercing Wu Haibo's heart like sharp swords. Wu Haibo suddenly raised his head and roared: "What are you, to talk to me about loyalty, righteousness, benevolence, and filial piety! I was just a small person forced by you! Did I have a choice back then? Did I?"

Facing the collapsing Wu Haibo, the old man said indifferently: "Why didn't you have a choice? What 'forced by us'? These are just excuses you found for your own greed and desires! You could have refused us back then; you could have reported it; you could have enforced the law impartially! But you didn't! Want to know why? Because deep down, you were never a good person! You had long wanted to get on my big boat, but you just never had the chance! These years, with your salary, could you have afforded your son's living expenses in Canada? Under our protection, how many benefits have you reaped over these years? Don't you know that in your heart?"

Following the old man's rhetorical questions, cold sweat poured down Wu Haibo, and he felt weak all over, his limbs limp!