Chapter 54: Interrogation

Facing the leader’s questioning, Zhao Fan replied calmly, “I don’t know.”

“Don’t know, huh? You sure have some nerve to say that. Since you don’t know, let us tell you who we are.”

Another man chimed in, “We’re from the Azure Dragon gang, two streets over. This is our boss, Da Long. We run this area, you get what that means?”

“Azure Dragon? Hah, I get it. Just a bunch of petty thugs. You’re bold enough to come here outright—aren’t you afraid I’ll call the police and have you arrested?”

Da Long sneered, “You think calling the police will help? If I remember right, I’ve smashed up your supermarket for several days now. Don’t tell me you haven’t called the police. Did the patrol officers show up? No, they didn’t.”

Their brazen attitude made Zhao Fan frown, but it only confirmed his suspicion: these men had been sent by someone.

“Bai Yongyuan sent you, didn’t he?”

Caught off guard, Da Long’s expression slipped. “What? Who? Bai Yongyuan? Never heard of him.”

“The fact that you say you don’t know proves that you do. May I ask what Bai Yongyuan offered you?”

“Stop talking nonsense! I don’t know any Bai Yongyuan. We’re here today to collect protection money. Fifty thousand a month. Pay up and we’ll get along. Refuse, and I’ll keep coming back to smash up your supermarket. Fifty thousand or the losses from the damage—I think you know which to choose.”

Zhao Fan lowered his gaze. “I do know. Unfortunately, I don’t intend to hand over the fifty thousand.”

“So you’re willing to take a bigger loss?”

Zhao Fan shook his head. “I don’t intend to suffer bigger losses, either.”

As he spoke, Zhao Fan kept flexing his wrists, locking eyes with Da Long. Suddenly, he lunged forward.

Da Long was still talking, completely unprepared for Zhao Fan’s sudden attack. He took a punch straight to the nose.

“Aah!”

Da Long howled, crouching and clutching his nose as blood seeped through his fingers, his eyes blazing with hatred.

“What are you doing?”

“Stop him! Quick, hold him down!”

The gang members who had come with Da Long snapped out of their daze and rushed at Zhao Fan, shouting.

But Zhao Fan didn’t spare them a glance. He focused all his blows on Da Long, utterly unfazed even as punches and kicks rained down on him from all sides.

“Aaah! I’m dying, I’m dying! Pull him off—ugh…”

With a muffled groan, Da Long was pinned to the ground, held fast by Zhao Fan.

At the same time, Zhao Fan was being restrained by Da Long’s henchmen.

The supermarket employees, standing to one side, looked on in growing panic. What should they do?

Chen Da was the first to react. “What are you all standing around for? Get in there and help!”

Without another word, Chen Da charged into the fray.

Seeing this, the others followed suit.

In the chaos, no one could tell friend from foe, and by the time they were separated, everyone was battered and bruised.

Zhao Fan wiped his nose. He had no idea whose foot had landed on his face amid the turmoil, but now he was bleeding profusely.

Chen Da asked with concern, “Boss, are you all right?”

Zhao Fan waved it off dismissively. “I’m fine.”

Chen Da looked at his boss’s face, streaked with blood. For a moment, he didn’t know what to say. The man had the presence and strength, but with that bloody nose, it was almost comical.

The supermarket staff looked disheveled, but Da Long’s gang was no better, each one sporting injuries and looking equally miserable.

As the two sides faced off, a patrol car’s siren wailed.

“What’s going on here? Brawling in public—you’ve got some nerve!”

The officers leapt from their car and quickly separated the two groups.

Zhao Fan wiped his face. “This isn’t a brawl. We acted in self-defense.”

“Self-defense? You call this self-defense—beating people up like that?”

Zhao Fan narrowed his eyes. “Excuse me, officer, but before you accuse us of beating people up, perhaps you should look at what they did to us?”

A fight takes two sides. If one side didn’t lay a hand on anyone, it wouldn’t be called a fight. The officer’s bias was obvious from the start, which Zhao Fan found amusing.

The officer frowned. “So you think I haven’t got the facts straight?”

Zhao Fan smiled. “Not at all. It’s just that when someone shows up unexpectedly, it’s easy to miss some details. It’s normal to overlook a thing or two.”

“To the station.”

“No problem,” Zhao Fan replied, then turned to Chen Da. “Lock up the supermarket.”

“Got it.”

Chen Da quickly shut the door, and the staff gathered by the entrance, ready to leave at any moment.

This only made Da Long’s group look less cooperative and even a bit unreasonable by comparison.

Zhao Fan, dabbing his face with a tissue, asked unhurriedly, “Officer, when are we leaving?”

The officer’s face darkened. “Right now.”

No one was left behind—both groups were hauled off to the station, packing it to capacity.

“Why so many people?”

“A brawl.”

Zhao Fan led his staff to a corner and immediately spoke up at the officer’s words. “We acted in self-defense. Officer, mind your language—let’s stick to the facts.”

“Shut up!”

“All right.”

Zhao Fan shrugged and obediently fell silent.

But with so many people crammed into the station, how could it possibly go quiet just because one person stopped talking?

The cacophony lasted half an hour before Zhao Fan and Da Long were finally led away, bringing a brief lull.

“Name.”

“Zhao Fan.”

“Age.”

“Twenty…”

After the basic questions, the officer in charge asked, “Why did you take part in the brawl?”

Zhao Fan corrected him, “It wasn’t a brawl. It was self-defense. They hit me in the face—what was I supposed to do, just take it in silence?”

“That’s not a reason to fight.”

“It’s exactly the reason.”

“Zhao Fan, please cooperate.”

Zhao Fan snorted. “I think I’ve been very cooperative.”

He’d noticed that the officers who brought them in were clearly biased, all siding with Da Long’s group.

“Zhao Fan, cool off for a bit.”

With that, the officers left.

Zhao Fan raised an eyebrow. Just like that, they left?

Interesting. He was curious to see how things would play out. In any case, he couldn’t be held for more than twelve hours.

He leaned back, closed his eyes, and rested.

Outside the interrogation room, several officers exchanged glances. One of them said, “This guy’s not easy to handle.”

A woman beside him nodded. “Definitely not.”

“To be honest, I suspect he might really be involved in that other case.”

“Whether he is or not, we have to investigate.”

“We’ve already brought him in. Instead of dragging this out, we might as well ask him directly.”

A lazy-sounding voice came from the side. Those gathered in front of the surveillance monitor exchanged another look, all choosing silence.

Should they question him directly or wait for the results?

Half an hour later, the door to the interrogation room opened again. Zhao Fan heard the movement and opened his eyes.

“Switching interrogators just for a fight?”