Chapter 286: Dragging Others Into Being Beasts of Burden — That's Called Lacking Virtue

Back in the car, he sorted through the leads Zhou Zizhe had provided.

After Fang Peng entered the detention center, he chatted with the people in his cell about how he had imprisoned a girl for his own amusement.

The time was when he used to drive a taxi.

Later, because he had no money to keep providing for the girl he had imprisoned, he went out to rob.

This shows he had already been without a source of income for some time before the robbery.

Yu Dazhang took out a pen and notebook, muttering to himself as he recorded the key information.

"Taxi, migrant worker girl, imprisoned and kept captive, still alive…"

When he said "still alive," he suddenly paused.

"I get it," he murmured to himself:

"I know why Zhou Zizhe said they should still be alive."

First, assume…

Assume everything Fang Peng said is completely true.

He robbed in order to provide for those girls, so when he was caught, those girls must still have been alive.

Besides, he wouldn't have waited until his supplies were completely gone before going out to rob.

So the place where the girls were imprisoned still had food — it's just unclear how long it could last.

That's why Zhou Zizhe added the word "should."

He thought of it, but couldn't be certain.

They really do need to hurry!

Thinking this, Yu Dazhang immediately started the car and headed for Hongkou Sub-bureau.

A case like this naturally had to be reported immediately.

Only by letting the detachment take over could a more efficient in-depth investigation be carried out.

At the same time, he had also guessed Zhou Zizhe's little scheme pretty accurately.

That bastard hadn't changed at all — still selfish, still putting himself first in everything.

If it really was like Zhou Zizhe said, about repaying a favor, then he should have had the detention center contact Yu Dazhang long ago.

Knowing full well that the longer he delayed, the more danger the imprisoned girls were in, he still never said a word.

This shows that from the very beginning, he looked at this matter with an attitude of "none of my business."

The reason he called Yu Dazhang over before his execution to talk about this was that he wanted to buy some peace of conscience at the very last moment.

He wanted to atone in this way, to earn a little merit for himself.

So what "repaying a favor" — sounds nice, doesn't it.

Put bluntly, it was still for himself.

"Only thinking about earning merit at the very moment of death — what a fucking bastard."

Having worked all this out, Yu Dazhang couldn't help cursing out loud in the car:

"If I'd known, I wouldn't have given him a cigarette. Dying and still playing mind games — don't die completely, I hope he comes back as a corpse in the crematorium, then gets tied up and burned."

Cursing and grumbling the whole way, he arrived at Hongkou Sub-bureau.

After getting out of the car, he headed straight for the detachment commander's office.

The moment he knocked and walked in, Li Jun thought he was seeing things.

"What are you doing here?"

Yu Dazhang was also stunned, and asked in return:

"Didn't my master tell you I went to the detention center?"

"No," Li Jun replied with certainty:

"I didn't even see him."

Master is still the same old iron-straight man… Yu Dazhang grumbled inwardly.

Came to the detachment, saw I wasn't there, turned around and left — didn't even bother to say hello to Li Jun, the detachment commander.

"I went to see a death-row inmate this morning, and got some very important information from him."

Yu Dazhang then gave a detailed account of the leads Zhou Zizhe had provided.

"Can the information be trusted?" Li Jun frowned, expressing doubt.

The main issue was that Zhou Zizhe's identity wasn't credible.

A death-row inmate's words didn't need to be taken seriously — true or false, he was going to die anyway.

Maybe he was using fake information to get back at a fellow inmate before his death.

After all, things like that happened often enough.

"I caught him with my own hands," Yu Dazhang explained:

"So I do know him to a certain extent, and I think the credibility of this information is very high."

He rarely made such a definitive judgment about anything, but this time he couldn't afford to be careful.

If it was true, those girls might be fighting for their lives right now, so time was extremely urgent. "Alright, I'll arrange for an investigation immediately."

Out of trust in Yu Dazhang, Li Jun didn't hesitate much and agreed right away.

After making two phone calls, he saw Yu Dazhang hadn't left yet, and couldn't help asking:

"Something else?"

Yu Dazhang found Captain Li's question strange, but still answered:

"I want to participate in the investigation too."

"Go on, get out of here, go home and rest," Li Jun waved his hand, shooing him away:

"Your job right now is to rest. The police force won't fall apart without you. Go do whatever you need to do and stop being an eyesore here."

Harsh as the words were, Yu Dazhang knew it was meant to put his mind at ease and let him rest.

He'd wanted to push on a bit longer, but then he thought — Ma Jian and Liu Miao were on leave just like him.

If he went back to work early, what would the two of them do?

If they didn't come in, it'd look like they had no enthusiasm for the job.

!

And if they did come in, their hard-won holiday would be ruined after just one day.

Dragging others along to slog like beasts of burden — that'd make him a bit of a holy-mother hypocrite… In the end, Yu Dazhang decided to go home and rest.

Just as Li Jun had said, the police force wouldn't fall apart without him. Why bother?

Besides, he ought to give others a chance to shine.

Back home, Yu Dazhang went back to bed and slept another round.

It was a holiday, after all — naturally he had to do some things he usually wanted to do but couldn't.

For instance, daydreaming in broad daylight.

Of course, there are also people who, once off work, wake up even earlier, go out for a run, then hit the gym to pump iron.

No comment on that — just different strokes for different folks.

The next morning.

Qu Tuotuo dragged Yu Dazhang to the mall to buy clothes.

It wasn't that she looked down on the grade of Yu Dazhang's own clothes — it was that what he was wearing now no longer fit him.

His weight had now reached 255 jin, over 60 jin less than before; such a dramatic difference naturally made all his old clothes look absurdly baggy.

The purpose of today's mall trip was to pick out clothes that were both comfortable and well-fitting.

"That's about enough, right?" Yu Dazhang complained as he walked:

"That's six sets already, more than enough to wear. For someone at my weight, the body changes fast."

The moment he'd stepped into the mall he'd been trailing behind Qu Tuotuo, and he was already worn out in body and mind.

"If your figure changes again later, we'll come back and buy more then." Qu Tuotuo, on the other hand, grew more energetic the more she browsed:

"It's not easy for you to have free time — of course we have to buy a few more pieces."

Compared to shopping, I'd rather go to work… Yu Dazhang felt his legs were no longer his own, his steps weak and unsteady, but he could only grit his teeth and keep following behind her.

By noon, the whole man had gone completely listless.

Finally, it was over.

In one morning, every piece of clothing he'd tried on that fit had been bought by Qu Tuotuo — over a dozen sets in total, plus several pairs of shoes and a few belts.

The price tags — Yu Dazhang didn't dare look.

The bonuses he'd earned risking life and limb wouldn't cover this morning's spending.

The mall even specially sent two people to carry their clothes for them.

Spend enough money, and naturally you get the extra service.

In a restaurant next to the mall.

The two sat facing each other. Qu Tuotuo held her milk tea, took a hard slurp, then let out a long breath:

"Phew, nice."

Yu Dazhang's eyes were glazed, looking utterly listless.

"What's your favorite way for a couple to spend time together?" Qu Tuotuo stared at him, smiling sweetly:

"You've never actually told me before."

Yu Dazhang lifted his eyes slightly and answered weakly:

"One house, two people, from dawn to dusk."

That sounds really nice… Qu Tuotuo was caught off guard and found it quite pleasant, but she caught on quickly.

"You mean, the two of us don't leave the house and just sleep from morning till night?"

Qu Tuotuo's eyes went wide, looking a bit displeased:

"Wouldn't that make us pigs!"

(End of chapter)