Chapter Thirty-Six: Cooperating with the Investigation

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“Thirty thousand!”

“Five of circles!”

“Self-draw! I win, haha...”

Hua Twelve pushed the mahjong tiles forward, then beckoned to the other three players to pay up.

Life in Anqiao City moved at a leisurely pace. People loved to eat and have fun. The cuisine was dominated by spicy, numbing flavors, but as for entertainment, the most popular pastime was playing mahjong.

There used to be a joke that when a plane flew over Anqiao City, all you could hear were the sounds of mahjong tiles clicking — no other noises.

Though exaggerated, this saying reflected the reality: from the elderly of ninety-nine to toddlers just learning to walk, as long as their hands worked, they could sit at the mahjong table for a few rounds.

Liu Beishan was a native of Anqiao, naturally fond of mahjong. Usually, besides surfing the internet, his only hobby with Da Kang and Laizi was to play a few hands at the local game room. Before, they had little money, and a bad streak meant losing all their cash quickly.

Recently, Da Kang and Laizi had made quite a profit on the stock market with Hua Twelve, and with some money from Boss Wang, their lives had become more comfortable. Today, those two dragged Liu Beishan over for a few rounds.

Hua Twelve himself wasn’t originally fond of mahjong, but after inheriting Liu Beishan’s memories, he had developed the habit.

Of course, these influences from Liu’s memories would be automatically erased by the system once he left this world, unless he won the lottery that granted Liu Beishan’s mahjong skills after completing missions. Otherwise, none of his experiences here would affect his real-world self.

Now, he was happily playing at the mahjong table in the game room, while Da Kang and Laizi occupied two other tables, doing the same.

This round, Hua Twelve had a very basic win—a so-called “flat win,” which was considered the most ordinary and lowest scoring type. Though the winnings were small, he didn’t care about the money; winning made him happy.

The other three players muttered as they took out money: “What’s the point of winning with such small hands every time? Waste of time!”

“I’m not as stingy as you guys—I call this a thin, sharp cut... Pay up, pay up, hahaha!”

Just as Hua Twelve laughed merrily, a squad of uniformed police officers entered, shouting into the room: “Quiet down!”

“Don’t move!”

“You there, stop right now!”

Seeing the police, several players immediately stood, intending to leave, but were quickly restrained and handcuffed.

The lead officer scanned the room, then pointed to several young men: “You, you, you, and you—stand up and come with us!”

Those singled out were all young people, including Hua Twelve and his two friends.

Before Hua Twelve could speak, Da Kang, who had a fiery temper, shouted, “Officer, playing a few bucks of mahjong isn’t gambling, is it?”

Laizi sneered from the side, “Exactly! Who in Anqiao doesn’t play mahjong? Never heard that mahjong is illegal!”

He even egged on others, “Isn’t that right?”

“Shut up!”

The lead officer swept the crowd with a stern look. Those about to join the commotion immediately dropped the idea and became obedient.

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The game room owner hurried forward and asked, “Officer, I’m the owner here—what’s going on?”

The officer explained, “We received a tip-off about a suspected sexual assault case involving a suspect here. These people must come with us for questioning.”

Hearing this wasn’t about gambling, the owner breathed a sigh of relief.

The young men the police singled out were handcuffed one by one.

Hua Twelve spoke up, “Officer, I’m fine to go with you, but is the handcuffing really necessary?”

He was willing to cooperate, but being handcuffed on arrival felt unbearable, and walking out like that carried a bad implication.

“Enough nonsense! Everyone else is cuffed—why should you get special treatment?”

A female officer moved to cuff him. Hua Twelve dodged and said, “Unless you have evidence that I’m a criminal, I’m just assisting the investigation—I don’t need handcuffs!”

Upon hearing this, all the handcuffed young men protested, demanding their cuffs be removed.

“Everyone calm down!”

A deep voice came from outside, and a familiar figure appeared in Hua Twelve’s sight.

It was Old Yang from the Criminal Investigation Unit.

Old Yang entered and told the other officers: “No need to handcuff those assisting investigations. Take off their cuffs. If anyone tries to run, it just shows they have something to hide—we’ll arrest them then!”

He then approached Hua Twelve, handed him a cigarette, and smiled, “You’re always so difficult!”

Hua Twelve took the cigarette and laughed, “In a society ruled by law, you have to be reasonable. I was just playing a couple of rounds, and suddenly they’re putting silver bracelets on me. That’s just unfair!”

“Cut the chatter. Listen, there’s been a serial sexual assault case in our district. The higher-ups are taking it very seriously and want it solved quickly. All unemployed youths in the area are being brought in for questioning. You’re going back with us to give a statement, identify yourselves, and say whatever you know. Don’t cause trouble.”

Old Yang had a good impression of Liu Beishan from previous encounters and wanted to prevent him from stirring up trouble without understanding the case’s gravity, so he gave a brief warning.

Hua Twelve took a drag, “Alright, cooperating with the police is every citizen’s duty. If you’d said that earlier, none of this would have happened!”

“You...”

The female officer was about to retort, but Old Yang waved her off, “You go handle other things. I’ll take care of this one.”

The female officer reluctantly nodded, shot Hua Twelve a glare, and turned away, loudly ordering, “Everyone, show your ID and prepare for inspection.”

As Hua Twelve was about to follow Old Yang for questioning, Laizi sidled up with a grin.

“Officer Yang, since we all know each other, maybe you could cut us some slack? You know what kind of people we are—we wouldn’t dare do anything like that. I actually have an emergency at home and was just about to leave when you showed up. Could you help us out, maybe not take us in?”

Hua Twelve and Da Kang exchanged surprised glances. They had just been talking about going for hot pot after mahjong—when did Laizi suddenly have an emergency?

But they understood he probably just wanted to avoid the hassle since none of this was their business, and the whole ordeal was already stressful enough.

Old Yang frowned, “That won’t do. We have to handle this officially.”

“Officer Yang...”

Laizi looked reluctant and was about to protest, but Hua Twelve cut him off.

“Enough. I said cooperating with the police is everyone’s duty. We’re going with you.”

“Beige!”

Laizi tried to say more, but Hua Twelve pulled him along.

“Come on, it’s just a delay. Do you really have anything better to do?”

Da Kang laughed loudly and pushed Laizi toward the exit.

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At the police station, since they were familiar faces, the three received some leniency—such as being prioritized for statements and for the victim identification process.

The crime had occurred two nights ago. At the time, Hua Twelve was at a hotel, Da Kang and his father were eating at a street food stall—both had alibis. Only Laizi claimed to have been home sleeping, with no one to verify.

But that was common; when multiple victims came in, many had unverified alibis.

During the identification process, an officer asked each of the three to repeat the phrase, “If you want to live, shut up,” which Hua Twelve knew was something the suspect had said during the assaults.

In the original timeline, Liu Beishan and his friends had also gone through this identification, but their delinquent attitudes made them uncooperative and they acted foolishly when repeating the phrase, scaring the victims waiting outside.

This time, Hua Twelve told Da Kang and Laizi, “Cooperate properly. Say it clearly. Once it’s done, it’s done.”

Da Kang nodded in agreement.

The first witness spoke, then the officer over the loudspeaker called number two, Hua Twelve.

Hua Twelve loudly repeated, “If you want to live, shut up!”

Then number three, Da Kang, also recited it properly after Hua Twelve’s reminder.

But when it came to Laizi, he first gave a strange salute, then repeated the phrase in a mocking, exaggerated tone.

Hua Twelve and Da Kang looked at him in disbelief. Laizi seemed to have pulled off some prank and burst out laughing.

After the identification, Old Yang released the three men, saying the victims had not identified the suspect.

Outside the police station, Hua Twelve invited them for hot pot. Sitting down, he suddenly asked Laizi, “I told you to say it properly—why did you pull that stunt?”

Laizi paused, then pushed Hua Twelve playfully and said, “Beige, you don’t really think I’m guilty, do you? I just thought it was funny and couldn’t resist!”

Da Kang laughed as well, “He wouldn’t dare do that kind of thing!”

Hua Twelve chuckled, “I was just asking. Anyone who commits a sexual assault isn’t human. I think even without knowing Old Yang, just for this case, we should cooperate fully.”

Da Kang nodded emphatically in agreement. Laizi awkwardly scratched his head and said, “Yeah, yeah, I didn’t think it through. Next time, I’ll definitely cooperate!”

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