Chapter 98: The situation I'm about to show is beyond absurd, but please believe me

The reporters around went into an uproar.

First came a case in which a young, beautiful female boss murdered her factory's security guard; then someone impersonated a military junior general tried to stop the police from taking the suspect away.

Moreover, all of this unfolded right before their eyes—a rare, first-hand news scoop.

Their brains, eyes, and cameras were all about to smoke from overwork.

"Huh? How did I end up impersonating?" Shangguan Ying raised an eyebrow.

Ning Hai spoke righteously: "I've never heard that our military now has a junior general as young as you, let alone a female one! Leader Zhang, have you heard of this?"

Leader Zhang froze for two seconds, slapped his thigh, and said, "Exactly! I almost got fooled by her!"

Shangguan Ying showed a helpless smile: "Just because you haven't heard of it doesn't mean it doesn't exist."

Ning Hai sneered, "You're in cahoots with Ning Jinli after all this. I'll tell you, next time you want to pretend, do your homework first; even if you impersonated a lower rank, you might actually work for a while—oh wait, you won't have a next time."

"Come! Arrest this woman impersonating a military junior general!" Leader Zhang waved his hand and gave the order.

The military personnel hadn't arrived yet, so Shangguan Ying could only stall for time.

She glanced at the officers walking toward her and calmly said, "You never considered the possibility that I might actually be military personnel?"

Unintentionally exuding a military aura, she caused several officers to slow their steps.

Leader Zhang angrily scolded, "Stop trying to intimidate people! This is police business; even if you really were military personnel, you have no authority to interfere!"

Then he loudly ordered the hesitating officers: "Hurry up and cuff her! What's with all the hemming and hawing?"

Shangguan Ying didn't want to fight the officers; she just kept evading.

Although the officers were quite agile, they couldn't even touch the hem of her clothes.

Leader Zhang was so angry he wanted to curse; in front of reporters and cameras, a few regular officers couldn't even catch a middle-aged woman—he was losing face.

Seeing several officers panting and questioning their lives, that middle-aged woman remained unfazed; Leader Zhang had no choice but to leave only a few officers to watch Ning Jinli while the rest—several dozen—went after her.

Shangguan Ying didn't run far either, just dodging around the factory where the incident occurred; after about ten minutes, she faintly heard the engine of military vehicles coming from the factory gate.

Our people have finally arrived.

So she stopped evading and walked back to Leader Zhang with easy steps.

Meanwhile, the officers who had been surrounding her were exhausted, swaying, their legs felt like they were filled with lead, and their speed was slower than a turtle's.

The reporters watching this scene covered their mouths and snickered.

"What an embarrassment! A bunch of people can't even catch one person without so much effort!" Leader Zhang muttered under his breath.

The few officers beside him saw Shangguan Ying running back again and immediately prepared to act.

Leader Zhang, furious, snatched a sidearm from an officer's waist, pointed the barrel at Shangguan Ying about three meters away, and shouted, "Are you deliberately messing with me? Hands on head! Get down!"

Ordinary people, seeing this situation, would have already complied honestly.

Shangguan Ying, however, crossed her arms, curled the corner of her mouth in a half-smile, and said, "Do we really need to draw a sidearm? I don't think I've posed any threat to anyone's personal safety."

Leader Zhang's temples bulged with veins; he strode forward in two steps, pressing the dark muzzle against Shangguan Ying's forehead, and shouted, "Get down! Hands on head! Otherwise don't blame me for being impolite!"

As soon as he finished speaking, he only felt a flash before his eyes, and the gun he was gripping was somehow snatched away by her.

The surrounding officers, seeing this, felt their hearts almost jump out of their throats.

The police's gun was actually snatched away—this is a major incident!

Leader Zhang trembled as he slowly backed away, mustering his courage and shouted, "You… you quickly put the gun down!"

Shangguan Ying calmly said, "Sorry, you're too agitated; I'm afraid your gun might go off and hurt innocents."

"What are you all standing there for? Draw your weapons!" Leader Zhang shouted at the officers.

All the officers quickly drew their sidearms from their waists and aimed them at Shangguan Ying in unison.

The scene instantly became extremely tense.

Nearby factory workers watching the scene were frightened and retreated quickly; only a few reporters, out of professional duty, didn't dodge.

Even Ning Hai was frightened, his heart pounding; he hurriedly found a nearby spot for cover and cautiously poked half his head out to look.

All that could be seen was Shangguan Ying calmly playing with the gun in her hand; Leader Zhang directly ordered, "Shoot her!"

The officers were about to pull the trigger when they suddenly discovered there was no magazine in the guns!

At the same time, Shangguan Ying skillfully removed the magazine from the gun in her hand and casually tossed it to the ground.

Then she pulled out magazines for other handguns from her clothing pocket, scattering them with a clatter, and said with a smile, "To avoid accidents, while you were surrounding and chasing me just now, I also took the magazines from your sidearms."

The officers' scalps went numb instantly.

How did she do that?!

What a terrifying woman!

Everyone was dumbstruck.

Suddenly, a sudden braking sound rang out.

Several military trucks arrived at the factory while everyone was still dazed.

Dozens of people in camouflage, armed with live ammunition, jumped out of the truck beds.

Leader Zhang's mind raced; he immediately guessed that the military personnel had rushed over because they learned someone was impersonating a junior general here.

Otherwise, what other reason could there be?

It seems that middle-aged woman has been doing this sort of thing often; the military already had her on their radar, and this time, as soon as she appeared, they dispatched forces to capture her!

Thinking of this, Leader Zhang felt a great weight lift off his shoulders.

Fortunately the military arrived; otherwise, our side truly wouldn't be a match for that woman.

He wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, reached out from afar, and hurriedly ran to the officer leading the unit.

The leading officer, out of courtesy, shook his hand.

"Ah! You are…" Leader Zhang's eyes widened in surprise, "You're the overall commander of the last joint military-police special exercise!"

The officer nodded and asked, "And who are you?"

Leader Zhang tightly gripped his hand, excitedly saying, "I'm a small leader of this police precinct; back then our chief took part in the drill, and when he returned he kept showing off the photo he took with you!"

That officer's rank was very high, not something Leader Zhang could come into contact with.

But no matter what, at this moment Leader Zhang's heart was completely at ease, and he hurriedly said, "You're here to arrest that woman, right?"

"Huh? Arrest whom?" the officer said, somewhat surprised.

Leader Zhang turned, pointing to Shangguan Ying standing over ten meters behind him, "It's her! She came running to my place pretending to be your major general!"

The officer lifted his head, saw the woman standing in the police encirclement, a flash of respect crossed his eyes, and without a word he strode quickly over.

Leader Zhang waddled along behind him.

As the two approached, before the officer could even salute and greet, Leader Zhang pointed at Shangguan Ying's nose and shouted, "Impersonating a major general, huh? Treating me like a monkey, huh? You even dared to grab my gun! You're dead meat! See? This is really military personnel!"

"Impersonating a major general? Grabbing a gun?" the officer blinked.

"Exactly! Weren't you guys coming for her?" Leader Zhang said, face full of resentment, "Hurry up and arrest her, execute her by firing squad eight hundred times!"

Shangguan Ying burst out laughing.

"You're about to die and you can still laugh?!" Leader Zhang glared, now that military personnel had arrived, he felt his spine stiffen.

In the midst of speaking, he raised his arm, wanting to give Shangguan Ying a slap, to crush her arrogance and vent his own spite.

Smack!

A muffled thud.

Leader Zhang's descending slap was firmly seized by the officer.

"What do you want to do?" the officer said with a cold face.

Leader Zhang gave an embarrassed smile, "Let me teach her a lesson for you first."

The officer released his hand, then stood at attention and gave Shangguan Ying a standard salute, loudly shouting, "General Shangguan!"

"Shang, Shangguan... gen, gen, general?!" Leader Zhang gaped, his words stammering.

Shangguan Ying returned the salute, "Thank you for coming out so late at night."

"Not at all!" the officer boomed, "General Shangguan, please give your orders!"

Shangguan Ying said, "Originally I wasn't sure what would happen here, so I asked you to help mobilize a team in advance; looking at it now, you haven't made the trip for nothing."

She pointed at Leader Zhang beside her, his face ashen and sweating profusely, "I just witnessed the whole process of him leading people to investigate the case; it's highly problematic. Please help me by first taking him and the officers on scene away; I'll contact the relevant departments and investigate thoroughly later."

"Yes, General!"

The officer turned and gave a hand signal.

A group of soldiers in camouflage uniforms immediately ran over.

Seeing this scene, Leader Zhang felt the sky collapse, his whole body as if drained of soul, and he plopped down on the ground.

As events had come to this point, Ning Hai, hiding in the distance watching, felt a chill from head to toe.

Originally everything had been proceeding according to his plan.

No, it was even more perfect than his plan.

As the case was about to be confirmed, Ning Jinli was about to be taken away by the police.

The result……

"That woman..." Ning Hai gazed at Shangguan Ying's back from afar, his pupils trembling, "She actually really is a general? When did Ning Jinli acquire such powerful connections?"

The more Ning Hai thought, the more cold sweat broke out all over his body.

When he saw Leader Zhang and those police officers being taken onto trucks by the military, he quickly realized this was no time to be thinking about those things.

He needed to make a quick getaway!

He also needed to quickly find a way to distance himself from today's incident and Leader Zhang!

Otherwise, if it were investigated later, he wouldn't be able to get away with it!

Ning Hai took several deep breaths, forced his trembling legs to support him, crouched low and moved away from the workshop vicinity, then scrambled all the way out of the factory, fleeing as if for his life, until he slipped into the car parked outside the factory gate, only then did he slightly recover his composure.

"President Ning, what's wrong with you?" the secretary exclaimed, full of surprise.

Ning Hai wiped his sweat and shouted at the driver, "Quick... quick, drive! Go! Hurry up and go!"

The driver asked, "Where do you want to go? Back home or..."

Ning Hai swallowed, "Can't go back, first leave this place and then talk!"

"Yes, President Ning."

……

Inside the factory, this side of the workshop where the incident occurred.

Shangguan Ying took the key and unlocked Ning Jinli's handcuffs, rubbed the red mark on her wrist, and softly asked, "Are you all right?"

In her calm tone lay a different kind of concern.

Her attitude toward Ning Jinli seemed not like that of someone she had only met twice.

At this moment Ning Jinli finally felt the stone in her heart drop, and she said gratefully, "I'm fine, Elder Sister Ying, thank you..."

"Rest a while," Shangguan Ying said with a smile, "I'll tidy up this mess."

Next, Shangguan Ying gathered all the reporters on site together.

"Everyone," she said with a smile and a friendly tone, "tonight's events are a bit chaotic, but I can guarantee there is no murder case, just an accidental incident; after a thorough investigation, the relevant departments will hold a press conference."

"Considering that the personnel who just came to investigate the case were too hasty, causing many misunderstandings, I hope you won't leak any details."

Hearing this, the reporters looked at each other.

They were both reluctant to give up such rich, twist-filled news material from tonight, and unwilling to offend the military personnel.

Shangguan Ying added, "I hope you all cooperate; if you publish today's events as news and mislead the public, it will cause negative effects—you surely don't want to take responsibility for that, do you?"

Now the reporters hesitated no longer; in front of Shangguan Ying they promptly deleted all records of the material.

To be safe, Shangguan Ying also had the officer lead people to check each one individually.

On the other side, Zheng Houcheng came to Ning Jinli.

He almost burst into tears, "Ning Jinli… my dear Ning Jinli, where… where have you been all this time?"

Ning Jinli's eyes filled with guilt, she tightly gripped Zheng Houcheng's hand.

It had only been a little over ten days since they last met, yet Zheng Houcheng looked as if he had aged several years compared to just half a month ago.

His cheeks were sunken, his complexion sallow, he had many more white hairs than before, and there was a wound on his forehead.

"Zheng Houcheng…" Ning Jinli's nose tingled, "You're hurt—go to the hospital to get it treated?"

Zheng Houcheng shook his head repeatedly, "I'm fine, Ning Jinli, tell me quickly—why did you disappear for so long? And why did you come out of the factory, and… and almost become a murder suspect?"

Ning Jinli's expression was complex, "It's a long story, but I can assure you I didn't kill anyone; everything will be investigated clearly."

Zheng Houcheng nodded, "I believe you wouldn't do something like that."

"Ning Jinli, during this time I was worried Su Yi would worry, so I didn't tell her about your disappearance… glad you're back… oh right, there's also a problem at the factory."

He then gave Ning Jinli a full rundown of the situation.

After hearing it, Ning Jinli thought of the immense pressure Zheng Houcheng had endured over the past ten days, and her heart felt even heavier.

Her eyes reddened, she apologized again, "Zheng Houcheng, I'm truly sorry. You've worked so hard! But don't worry—I have plenty of money; I'll transfer several hundred million into the company account, so our finances are fine."

As for the goods produced, you don't need to worry—I'll handle them. Just keep doing what I previously instructed.

With Ning Jinli's assurance, the huge weight pressing on Zheng Houcheng's heart was finally lifted.

After Shangguan Ying had dealt with the reporters on her side, Zheng Houcheng and the factory management also led a group of workers away, and the matter was finally temporarily resolved.

"Shangguan Ying," Ning Jinli walked up to Shangguan Ying, "Why did you come here today?"

Shangguan Ying blinked, "You called me to come."

Ning Jinli looked bewildered, "Huh? I don't remember anything like that… Shangguan Ying, don't joke."

Shangguan Ying just smiled.

Ning Jinli thought seriously, then said solemnly, "Shangguan Ying, I've decided to tell you something."

"What is it?"

"This… you'd better come with me first."

Ning Jinli took Shangguan Ying's hand and walked to the small warehouse near the entrance of the Spacetime Portal.

She glanced at the slowly rotating Fluorescent Vortex inside the warehouse's back door, "Shangguan Ying, what I'm about to show will seem utterly absurd, but please believe me."

"I've seen plenty of absurd things," Shangguan Ying said, eyes holding a mysterious smile, "Come, show me."

"Then watch closely!"

Ning Jinli walked into the Fluorescent Vortex in front of Shangguan Ying, passed through quickly, then returned and asked, "Shangguan Ying, in your eyes just now, did I suddenly vanish from that back door?"

Shangguan Ying curled the corner of her mouth, "Yes, because you passed through the Spacetime Portal to another world."

"Yes," Ning Jinli said while nodding, "This is what I wanted to tell you——"

Mid-sentence, Ning Jinli suddenly froze, her eyes widening, "Wait… Shangguan Ying… what did you just say?!"