Special District 9 Chapter 129: Under-the-table Dealings

Fengbei City.

On a nameless road around 5 kilometers away from the military training field, several vehicles were stopped by the roadside. There were eight men gathering around a small tree, digging the ground.

Shovels of dirt and snow were tossed by the side of the pit. After a moment later, a stiffly frozen green military coat finally appeared.

The crowd was stunned. One of the men leaped into the pit and pried the military coat open. A tight furrow immediately appeared on his forehead. He quickly suppressed the revulsion churning in his stomach as he turned around and said, “Carry him out. Tell Mr Xing… we have found him.”

Two minutes later, the crowd placed the corpse wrapped amidst the military coat out and placed it by the side of the pit.

By the roadside, the door of a car shot open as Fatty Xing and his second son walked over. With a pale face, Fatty Xing pointed to the corpse on the ground and said, “L-let me… look at his face.”

A man bent down and pried open the military coat.

A purple face that had shrunk inward due to the frozen surroundings appeared before their sights. Its blood had frozen, and its innards had spilled out from within. The corpse hadn’t decomposed due to the cold weather, but the innards that had spilled out were all hanging on the clothes, making it a very gruesome sight.

Fatty Xing was someone who had been through storms, but at this moment, his legs couldn’t help but wobble upon seeing such a sight.

His second son quickly rushed forward to help his father up. Many emotions flickered across his face before he broke down and cried, “Zihao! Why didn’t you listen to our father’s words…”

On the other hand, Fatty Xing found himself unable to cry, and he couldn’t speak a word at all. He could only stare blankly at his dead son as the cold wind messed up his hair.

It took three minutes before Fatty Xing finally pushed aside his second son, and with trembling arms, he wrapped the corpse up with the military coat once more. He closed his eyes and spoke solemnly, “Don’t… Don’t tell Zihao’s mother about this yet…”

“I’ll go and gun down that fucker right now!” The second son widened his eyes in fury as he rushed back to the car with tears still streaming down his cheeks.

The men who had dug up the corpses quickly stepped forward to stop him, advising, “Young Master Xing, you have to listen to Mr Xing’s arrangements!”

“Don’t get reckless! He’s already with the Garrison Troops right now. Going by the law, he’ll have to pay for his life for what he has done!”

“Listen to me and don’t make a move!”

“…!”

The second son ended up brawling with the bunch of people trying to stop him, but in the end, he simply plopped to the ground and broke down crying.

Fatty Xing stood blankly by the side of the corpse, and a long while later, he clutched his chest and said, “My son has died wrongfully. I won’t kill him… I’ll have him sentenced to death!”

Right after saying those words, a car stopped by the roadside, and a young man dressed in a tuxedo stepped out and walked up to Fatty Xing as he said, “Mr Xing, we have found the people who were together with Zihao that day. They have been locked in an underground chamber in a military training field

“Have they spoken?”

“They did. It was indeed Old Ma who fired at Zihao that day.”

The young man seemed to be repulsed by the corpse on the ground, so he intentionally avoided looking there.

Fatty Xing clenched his fists tightly as he asked, “The military training field? Did someone in the military help them? Do those people who were with Zihao that day know something about this?”

“They aren’t sure what’s going on,” the young man shook his head as he replied. “It’ll be hard to find the culprit in the military. Old Ma could simply insist that he was the one who barged into the compounds to hide there, and there would be nothing we can do about it. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have locked our men there either before he left.”

“Just an Old Ma isn’t enough,” Fatty Xing uttered coldly. “Old Ma has a nephew, right? Push the case onto him!”

“Understood. I’ll give a heads up to the Garrison Troops,” the young man replied.

He walked to the side, took out his phone, and dialed a number. However, barely after talking for a while, he returned with a livid face and said, “Mr Xing, the Police Headquarters sent their men down to the base of the Garrison Troops, and they are requesting to take away Old Ma and a fellow named Guan Qi with them.”

Fatty Xing turned to look at the young man with a vicious look in his eyes, but he didn’t say a word at all.

The young man felt goosebumps rising on his skin, but he still bucked up his courage to say, “The men from the Police Headquarters said that the skirmish at the Special District 9 Commemoration Square is within their jurisdiction, so going by the rules, the two men have to be passed over to them.”

Fatty Xing closed his eyes. He clenched his fists tightly as veins popped up on his temples. “It’s the doing of that little superintendent in Songjiang. He has managed to build up some ties within Fengbei, hasn’t he? He wants to trip me over even when it comes to my son’s affair. Very well! Let’s play this game together then…”

…

Inside a hospital in the Development District.

A Tier-2 Police Officer, together with eight other men, spoke politely, “We have been tracking these two men for a very long time now. My apologies, but we have to take them away with us today.”

“They have committed crimes in the Development District, and the Inspection Squad is still in the midst of investigating the case. We need to find out whether they are involved in the smuggling of essential military goods, so I’m afraid that we can’t hand them over to you just yet,” a soldier replied nonchalantly.

“That really puts us in a spot.”

“Yeah, it won’t be easy to resolve this.”

“I see. Let me give a call to the Police Headquarters and have our higher-ups call the person-in-charge of your Inspection Squad so as to find out what’s going on with the smuggling case,” the Tier-2 Police Officer replied calmly. With a wave of his hand, he said, “I’ll excuse myself for a moment.”

The soldier’s face turned livid as he glared at the police officer for several seconds before replying deeply, “Why don’t you wait here for a moment instead? I’ll ask my higher-ups about this matter.”

“Haha, that works too. I’ll be troubling you then!” the Tier-2 Police Officer replied with a smile.

…

Half an hour later.

Old Ma was lying on a bed. With his chest, hips and legs bound in shackles, he was pushed out of the hospital by the men of the Police Headquarters before being stuffed into a police car.

A moment later, Guan Qi was also brought out by four police officers, and he was brought onboard the second car.

“Sorry for the trouble.” The Tier-2 Police Officer saluted to the soldiers before he closed the car door and said, “Get to Fengbei with the fastest speed possible!”

Along the way, Guan Qi glanced at the police officer beside him and asked hoarsely, “Can… Can you give me some water to drink?”

The police officer grabbed a bottle of water, pried it open, and fed it to Guan Qi. At the same time, he began speaking, “The reason why you came to Fengbei is to investigate the fake medicine case a while back. Your original intention was to capture Little Qu, but you encountered Xing Zihao, who tried to silence you. However, his death has nothing to do with you. The culprit is Old Ma. Nearing the end of the case, while you, Old Cat, and Qin Yu were escorting the witness, Yong Dong, out of Fengbei, you were assaulted by a few unknown assailants… Right after that, you were brought to the base of the Garrison Troops. As for where Old Cat and Qin Yu are, you have no idea at all.”

Guan Qi was stunned for a moment before he nodded his head, “I understand.”

“Other than what I told you, no matter what kind of question other people asked you, you should just say that you don’t know a thing at all.” The police officer glanced at those around him before leaning closer to Guan Qi’s ear and whispered, “Try to push the case to Old Ma wherever possible. I’ll slip a note with the details of the incident to you later on. Take a good look at it.”

Guan Qi was taken aback. He asked anxiously, “Then Uncle Ma…”

“At this point, it doesn’t make a difference at all for him to take on more stuff anymore,” the police officer replied nonchalantly.

…

Inside the Superintendent Office of Songjiang’s Police Bureau.

Superintendent Li was seated on a chair, tapping lightly on a table with his right forefinger. After a moment of silence, he suddenly grabbed his phone and dialed a number.

“Hello, Superintendent Li?”

“I want you to create a dispatch order, a document on the details regarding the fake medicine incident, and two minor incident review reports,” Superintendent Li ordered calmly. “The time should be a week ago, and the policemen dispatched for the investigation of the case are Old Cat, Guan Qi, and Qin Yu. After you are done with it, make sure to review it at least thrice. The details must be as authentic as possible.”

“I understand,” the other party replied.

…

Inside a hostel in the Development District.

Qin Yu was still in the midst of being saved, but he was showing no signs of waking up at all.