Chapter 174

"I suspect your real purpose was to leave a knife scar on your belly."

"That's a must, I'm a fresh-faced kid, having a few scars on me means I can mix into the scene later on, I'll be totally badass, alright?"

But, but.

The audience didn't laugh.

Xiang Qinqin said, "But, the things you did are good deeds, why do you always say it was your purpose?"

"Why are you crying, what a hassle, you girls really are something, no crying allowed."

Xiang Qinqin lowered her head, tears pattering down onto her chest.

Uh, this is a bit of a blow. Qu Yiling beside him watched, feeling a mix of envy, jealousy, and hatred.

"Whether it was a purpose or not, none of that matters. The deed is done, so that's enough. Why care about what outsiders think?"

Xiang Qinqin nodded.

Chen Fan rubbed Xiang Qinqin's hair vigorously, lifted up his shirt, and said, "Cool or not, one more scar from now on. I'm telling you all, this is absolutely killer cool."

"That's a must, you're the coolest."

At this moment, Li Tian, who was in the interrogation room, looked at the results, his face full of joy. The people caught this round were a major haul; every leader who could come from the provincial side had shown up.

Old Song, holding documents, found Li Tian. Without a word, the two of them went straight to the leaders.

"This First-Class Merit, are you giving it or not?"

The leader looked at the two of them, pointing at the livestream, and said, "You tell me yourselves. If Chen Fan hadn't said anything, we could still give it. But now he says his purpose in getting hurt was for a First-Class Merit. What if others learn from this? What if something happens later?"

Li Tian said, "Let them learn. Whoever has the guts, let them learn."

"Hu Nao, young people's blood runs hot. What if they go in alone, huh? Can you two bear the consequences?"

The two of them shut up immediately; this matter was indeed very serious.

But this was a dead end. To crack the case quickly, it had to be this way.

During the livestream, when Chen Fan spoke with a flaw—whether intentional or not—Li Tian knew what was going on and immediately led people to start closing the net.

Wang Laoshi had long been suspicious, because every arrest felt off. He then began investigating and discovered the person Wang Laoshi.

Coincidentally, he also studied painting.

Moreover, Wang Laoshi had always wanted to get a permanent position, and had been rejected countless times.

Fortunately, he was rejected. If he hadn't been, the consequences would be unthinkable.

The impact would be enormous.

The leader looked at the documents and said, "The First-Class Merit will be given, but Chen Fan needs to write a self-criticism."

"Uh, this, is it appropriate?"

"It's appropriate. The self-criticism must be written. Also, we will give the First-Class Merit. This point—this way is the most appropriate, understand? We can't let others learn from this. You've both led rookies before. Li Tian, you don't even take apprentices now yourself, don't you know why?"

Li Tian fell silent, then said, "Fine, but what about the funds lost this time? We did get hurt after all. Chen Fan here got over thirty stitches."

"What? What kind of garbage report is this? It says over three hundred stitches."

?????

Old Song and Li Tian looked at the leader at the same time, gave a thumbs-up, and said, "You're ruthless."

Over at the Fayibu Sect, Chen Fan sat at the dining table. The cafeteria auntie had specially slaughtered an old hen and made him a chicken soup. Drinking it, Chen Fan felt his whole body starting to steam with heat.

Sister Jing Tian asked, "What exactly happened?"

Chen Fan said, "When I saw that thing, I got curious. This printing plate—it's clearly not easy to make. Printing plates are particular about materials. Domestic materials are strictly controlled. Don't think that just because you're making counterfeit money, others won't notice. If you buy too much material, they'll immediately start investigating you. And this plate's material—I smelled something off about it."

"And then Wang Laoshi happened to show up at that moment. I looked at his reaction and it felt wrong. You all remember—what's the reaction of the crowd when they see a dead person?"

Everyone followed Chen Fan's lead and began recalling.

At this moment, the audience suddenly thought of something.

Chen Fan said, "Right? We've seen so many people, but most people's first reaction to seeing a dead body is vomiting, then fear. But he went straight to fear, sitting on the ground. That's not right."

Old Liu said, "Later, when he held the plate and looked at it, his hands weren't trembling at all. That shows this person has a very strong inner resolve. People like that are very problematic."

"Also, someone said to go find this teacher. Look at the time—it's a school day. This teacher is a university painting professor, so naturally he's a teacher. What do you think he'd be doing at that time? Definitely teaching class, right? But he arrived a bit too fast."

Old Liu said, "So, the first thing I did was take Chen Fan to the provincial Fayibu Sect. Those people were very anxious. This printing plate has probably already printed a lot of US dollars. If they found out how to tell real from fake, these bills would be worthless. So they had to find someone to replace the artist, and Chen Fan was that artist."

"Doesn't that mean Chen Fan will be in danger from now on?"

Old Liu said, "It's not that easy. Printing counterfeit money is very hard, not that simple. These people aren't that stupid. What are you thinking? After this incident, everyone will only be stricter."

Chen Fan said, "The simplest theory—if the cost goes up, is the counterfeit money still counterfeit money?"

The netizens immediately started laughing.

"Right, I just thought of a Duan Zi from before. There was a group of people printing counterfeit money."

"But after spending all the costs, they found that the printing fees were more expensive than the actual money produced."

"Hahaha, I know about this too. That incident was absurd to the max back then."

"Exactly, I've also heard of someone minting a one-yuan coin, and I think they got caught too. What a genius."

Taking a big gulp of chicken soup, Chen Fan happily started eating the dishes.

Hu Ge said, "Then you're really something, going alone to face so many criminals."

"Anyway, I won't die, I'm sure of that."

That was true—Chen Fanbu Society would happen, that was ironclad guaranteed.

Li Tian came back with documents tucked under his arm and said, "Here, your First-Class Merit. You kid are really brave, to think of this just to earn merit."

"You think there's another way?"

Li Tian was speechless, and said, "Indeed, your method is the optimal solution. The more people follow, the more the other side will upgrade their weapons. As long as you go alone, they won't bring as many people, and the danger will be reduced."

............. 0

"And if you hadn't done this, the other side would have burned all the counterfeit money, and we'd be on the back foot, never catching this group."

Chen Fan said, "So you're saying there's still punishment?"

"Yes, don't even think about it. First-Class Merit for you, but in return, you need to write a self-criticism report on the spot, and read it out loud, in front of the audience. Do you know how big the impact of this incident is?"

Sister Jing Tian was angry, slapping the table as she said, "What is this? People got hurt, people got caught, and this is how you treat Chen Fan?"

Zhang Xinyu said, "Sister's right. Isn't this a bit much? Our family's Chen Fan doesn't seem to have done anything wrong."

Heh.

Li Tian said, "Let me tell you a touching story. You know firefighters, right? A young man died in the line of duty a few days ago. How did he die?"

Everyone was stunned.

"He gave his own oxygen mask to the injured person, then died of smoke inhalation himself, right? We posthumously honored him as a martyr, right?"

Everyone at the dinner table recalled this incident.

Everyone remembered it.

"But after that incident, the fire department added a new rule: every squad leader must personally put the mask on their personnel, and enforce it strictly, very strictly. Understand?"

No one spoke.

"Chen Fan has now become a benchmark. Many people will imitate him, will learn from him. So what if in the future someone rushes in alone again? What if something happens? What if they die? They are police officers, but they are also husbands, sons, the breadwinners of their families."

Everyone shut up immediately.

Old Liu said, "Old Li, I know you're uncomfortable about this."

"What's there to it? My apprentice died just like that. The first apprentice I took, and the only apprentice I ever took. He rushed in alone, and the person was gone. Yes, we caught the criminal, but my apprentice also sacrificed his life."

Chen Fan said, "So, is that why you shaved your head?"

"Damn, are you allergic to romance and sentiment? I'm trying to be emotional here!"

"Pfft, Old Li, you're not cut out for sentiment. You're the type to repay every grudge."

Li Tian chuckled, saying nothing. That statement wasn't wrong. In the past, Li Tian's actions might have been, at times, inappropriate.

But now? You can't find a single flaw in Li Tian.

And at this moment, the audience was the most shocked.

What they saw was the most real, the most real case.

Film and television works will glamorize it, and people won't reject that.

But reality is always cruel.

Coldly cruel.

When people get hurt, they bleed. When something happens to them, their families grieve.

Saving one new family means an old family will collapse.

Protecting yourself is the first lesson for every police officer and firefighter.