Chapter 106: The Debt of Two Meals

Late at night.

Zheng Wei and his people were taken to the First Riot Squad compound. He walked with a square gait and looked around, seeing many Zha'nan dock gang brothers also being brought in.

Inside and outside the building, there were at least two to three hundred arrested dock gang members. The riot squad didn't have enough space to hold so many people, and they clearly didn't have enough handcuffs, so the officers guarding them ordered everyone to squat in corners or corridors.

"Damn, Brother Wei, you got brought in too?" a young man from the Zha'nan dock gang squatting by the main building's wall called out with a laugh. "What happened? Couldn't get away?"

"No, I saw the officers' convoy patrolling, so I came to cooperate with the investigation," Zheng Wei waved and replied. "People should love learning - brought the brothers in together to receive some legal education!"

"Brother Wei is awesome!"

"We'll follow your example!"

"...!"

Everyone called out teasingly.

"Getting cocky, are you?" Just then, a riot squad captain walked out from the building and called out with a dark face: "If you keep talking nonsense, I'll hang you all up with iron rods!"

Everyone looked at this righteous captain and immediately chose to shut up.

The compound fell quiet as the captain walked up to Zheng Wei: "I know you! Aren't you that little thug from Longkou?"

"Hehe!" Zheng Wei grinned: "Any instructions, Captain Shi?!"

Captain Shi grabbed Zheng Wei's ear and pulled down hard, tilting his neck as he asked in their hometown dialect: "You're getting cocky?! Longkou can't contain you anymore, so you came to show off in Zha'nan!"

"It's fun over there, so I went for a stroll! Captain Shi, I was just taking friends drinking at entertainment centers, that's not illegal, right?!" Zheng Wei gritted his teeth through the pain in his ear. "You can't sentence me to death, can you?"

"Sentencing is the court's business, but I just don't like you and want to teach you a lesson, got a problem?!" Captain Shi held Zheng Wei's ear tightly, dragging him into the building. "Come on, get some cuffs, lock him in the pit latrine, let him get a good whiff with that stinking mouth!!"

"Got any midnight snacks, sir? I can do a mukbang show in the latrine!" Zheng Wei's ear was red and swollen, but his mouth remained defiant.

......

In the Police Bureau.

The deputy director on duty had already smoked seven or eight cigarettes in just over an hour. He cursed with furrowed brows and an iron-blue face: "Those sons of bitches from the dock gang, making trouble during my shift, giving me no face at all!"

"Just the First Squad in Zha'nan has arrested over two hundred people!!" The Zha'nan District Police Director immediately said in a low voice: "How do we handle suppressing so many people? It's not realistic to lock them all up, and it could easily trigger group incidents at the port. Never mind the connections above - just the Dock Workers General Association and Fuzhou Association speaking up would cause how many people to rise up in protest? We can't bear this responsibility!"

Hearing this, the deputy director took a hard drag on his cigarette: "Do you understand the ins and outs of this matter?"

"Isn't it because Xu Er died outside the district?" the director replied.

"Then what do you think is the dock gang's intention in doing this?"

"It must be revenge!" the director replied without hesitation. "Xu Hu lost his brother, couldn't take it, so he's taking it out on the three small companies!"

"If he's taking it out on three small companies, why would Li Hongze help him?" the deputy director asked in return.

The director fell silent.

"You don't understand - revenge is secondary, they're mainly doing this to target Yu Jinrong!" the deputy director said incisively. "The city's dock gang is too large, with too many people, and adding the Fuzhou Association - once two such clearly territorial groups join forces to make trouble, it's unrealistic to try to solve the problem through judicial means!! The bigger the trouble gets, once it alarms Zone One's supervisory departments, everyone up and down the line will suffer. Do you understand my meaning?"

The director suddenly understood: "The chaos must be quelled immediately, so we can only move against those with weaker scale...!"

"Right!" the deputy director replied softly. "Damn it, I don't have the ability to handle this matter. Let's go find the director!"

"Ring ring!"

Just as he spoke, the deputy director's phone rang. He looked down at the number and immediately answered: "Hello?!"

"Director He, this is Old Huang from the Dock Workers Association!"

"Hehe, Deputy Chairman Huang, how are you!"

"What's good? Today the workers in Zha'nan rioted because their team leader Xu Er was beaten to death outside the district. I tried to suppress it several times but couldn't! A thousand people went into Zha'nan, specifically targeting those three small companies!" the other party said politely. "Sorry for the trouble, Director He!"

"...Yes, it's quite big."

"My meaning is, let's coordinate first, see if we can release those workers who weren't specifically involved in the incident. Many just went to Zha'nan to watch. If you arrest them, when trouble starts later, it'll be hard to handle!" the other party said softly. "You know dock workers are all rough folks who stick together! Once they make trouble, even the General Association has trouble managing them."

Director He gritted his teeth: "This matter...!"

"Director He, with so many people, can our Police Bureau immediately determine crimes for all specific personnel? Can we clarify the specific process of the conflict? If not... just holding the dock workers like this will definitely lead to chaos!" the other party said again.

"Alright, I'll discuss with those above, and we'll communicate later!"

"Sorry for the trouble, really very sorry...!" the other party continued with false courtesy.

......

Around 6 AM the next morning.

Zheng Wei was named for release by those above. He led six or seven brothers out of the pit latrine where they had squatted all night, and saluted Captain Shi, calling out: "Officer, if you have no other instructions, I'll be going!"

"You dog, say one more word to me and I'll beat you for two hours before releasing you, believe it or not?!" Captain Shi shouted.

"Haha!" Zheng Wei laughed, stretched his sore body, and walked out of the riot squad compound.

After everyone left, Zheng Wei looked down at his watch: "Alright, everyone disperse, I'm going to find a place to sleep. Call tonight!"

"You're going back to Longkou, Brother Wei?" a young man asked.

"Back to Longkou my ass, I'm going to find my girl!" Zheng Wei grinned and bent down to get into his car.

......

About twenty minutes later.

Next to an ordinary residential building in Zha'nan district, Zheng Wei parked his car in an unobstructed alley, holding his keys in his left hand and whistling as he got out.

"Vroom vroom!"

A very old electric motorcycle charged into the alley from the street.

Zheng Wei instinctively made way and was about to continue walking forward.

"Screech!"

The motorcycle suddenly stopped beside Zheng Wei. A burly young man wrapped his left arm around Zheng Wei's neck and pressed a knife against the back of his neck with his right hand.

"Damn!" Zheng Wei was caught off guard and turned his head to look at the other: "What... what's the meaning of this? Brother! Robbing me?"

"I... I owe someone two meals, don't know how to repay! Killing you will settle the debt!" the burly young man stuttered before raising his knife to stab.

"Squelch!!"

Zheng Wei's neck was pierced with one stab, blood spurting from his mouth and nose, his eyes bulging round: "I... I know you... you're that police-killing fugitive... Wu... Wu Shixiong!"

"Squelch, squelch...!"

Daxiong stabbed Zheng Wei's neck three more times before releasing his body.

"Thud!!"

Zheng Wei fell backward onto the ground, both hands clutching his neck, his face full of disbelief and unwillingness to accept his fate.

"Whoosh!"

Daxiong, wearing a long coat from who knows where, wiped the blade with his sleeve and rode away on the stolen motorcycle.

One warehouse, two bowls of instant noodles - this was warmth Daxiong had never received in many years.

He had no way to repay it, so he killed a sixth person to thank Su Tianyu for saving his life!!

Perhaps he would die tomorrow, perhaps the dawn he had never waited for would ultimately never come...

But today, he would do what he could do.

Daxiong wanted to leave Dragon City, though he didn't know where to go or how to evade the officers hunting him, but before leaving, he wanted to do some things to help that friend who had respected him, that woman he deeply loved.

Would he die?

Who could know!