Chapter 54: It Really Is Him!

Pan Dalong looked up in shock at the outrageously handsome young man standing before him.

“I am,” he admitted, bold enough to acknowledge his identity.

Though his heart was trembling, unsure of what awaited him.

“My younger brother’s name is Yang Nan,” Yang Dong said with a cold snort, addressing him directly.

Pan Dalong’s pupils contracted instantly. Not only him, but the other three thugs also looked up, eyes wide with astonishment.

What they’d done in the morning had caught up with them by the afternoon? Was their luck truly so rotten?

“Tell me: why did you beat him?” Yang Dong asked.

Yu Baijiang and Song Yue stood on either side of Yang Dong, hands clasped behind their backs, radiating a quiet, intimidating aura that kept the thugs from meeting their eyes.

The most senior police officer they’d ever seen was Director Tian Zhongmin. When had they ever laid eyes on someone with the rank of First-Class Superintendent?

Though they were petty criminals, they were shrewd enough to know police ranks. A First-Class Superintendent—surely a leader at the county bureau level.

“We just didn’t like the look of him, so we beat him up…” Pan Dalong confessed honestly, though his voice grew weaker with every word.

Anyone could see through such a lie. Didn’t like the look of him, so you broke his leg?

“Organizing a fight, causing trouble at a school, intentionally inflicting harm so severe it led to a broken leg—this is a grievous criminal offense,” Yang Dong declared. “If it’s considered minor injury, you face up to three years in prison. If it’s a serious injury, the sentence is three to ten years.”

“If you organize a fight resulting in serious injury or death, you’ll be prosecuted under Articles 234 and 232 of the Criminal Code.”

“Given your actions, this already constitutes a gang-related case. The sentence will be even heavier—minimum seven years.”

“Are you sure you want to lie? Take the fall for someone else?”

Yang Dong’s cold voice recited the relevant sentencing guidelines.

The four thugs quivered in fear, their faces finally changing color. They’d known the charge of intentional injury meant prison time, but not that it could be this severe—or that it might be considered a gang crime.

Yu Baijiang and Song Yue were even more astonished, exchanging incredulous glances.

“Yang Dong, how do you know the criminal code so well?” Yu Baijiang couldn’t help but ask, surprised by Yang Dong’s grasp of the law.

Yang Dong wasn’t a police officer, nor did he work in the legal system, yet he understood the penal code with such clarity?

He was truly shocked.

“I know a little,” Yang Dong replied with a faint smile, then turned his cold gaze back to Pan Dalong and barked, “Have you thought it through? Do you want to take the fall and eat prison rations?”

Pan Dalong’s face went pale, his whole body trembling as he quickly blurted out, “No, I don’t want to go to prison! I’ll talk!”

Though they were street thugs, they knew the stakes. Most of the time, they just blocked students in alleys or street corners to demand protection money.

A little extortion could fund several days of indulgence.

If not for the lure of money this time, they wouldn’t have taken such a risky job.

They were worried about things going wrong, but with gifts and dinners for the local police during holidays, their courage had grown.

So they’d gone ahead and broken Yang Nan’s leg.

But now, seeing the cold faces of the officers, their threatening stares—they realized things were different.

Only now did Pan Dalong understand that he and his brothers had provoked someone they shouldn’t have…

These officers couldn’t protect them.

This Yang Dong was no ordinary man.

With a First-Class and a Second-Class Superintendent at his sides, his status was clearly exceptional.

Even Director Tian Zhongmin, who always had to curry favor and fawn over others, was looking at Yang Dong with obsequious deference.

It was clear: they were in real trouble.

“Speak. Who put you up to this?” Yu Baijiang pressed, taking over the questioning, his tone thunderous.

As a veteran deputy captain of the criminal investigation team, his presence was formidable.

Some suspects with weak nerves would confess everything under such intimidation—down to the color of their underwear.

“Ma the Fourth from Kaiyang County—Fourth Brother,” Pan Dalong stammered. “He found us last night, took us out for food and drinks, then to a dance hall with women. Afterward, he told us to beat up a student named Yang Nan from Xiaoshui Town High School, best if we broke his leg, and he’d pay us five thousand yuan.”

“He gave us a photo, so we waited at the school gate for Yang Nan.”

Pan Dalong was shaking all over as he poured out the entire story.

Yu Baijiang frowned. “Ma the Fourth from Kaiyang County? He still hasn’t cleaned up his act?”

Song Yue’s expression grew colder. Ma the Fourth had just been released from their precinct, and it hadn’t even been half a month before he was back to his old ways?

But the two officers were puzzled. Did Ma the Fourth have a grudge against Yang Dong? Why hire thugs to attack his younger brother?

“But he hasn’t paid us yet. Said he’d pay tonight and arranged to meet at the dance hall in Xiaoshui Town,” Pan Dalong added, feeling deeply wronged. They’d done the job, but the money hadn’t come, and now they’d been caught.

Song Yue sneered, looking at them as if they were utter fools.

“If I’m not mistaken, you’ll never get that money. You probably won’t even be able to reach him.”

It was obvious: Ma the Fourth had used Pan Dalong and his crew as disposable pawns.

After the job, he’d ensure they couldn’t contact him.

Money? Dream on.

“Impossible! Fourth Brother is a man of honor!” Pan Dalong retorted, glaring at Song Yue. “Five thousand yuan is like a single hair to him!”

“Then call your Fourth Brother. Surely you have his number?” Song Yue pressed, smiling coldly.

He knew perfectly well what kind of man Ma the Fourth was—indulgent in every vice, but notoriously stingy.

Pan Dalong and the others would never see a cent.

“I’ll call! Fourth Brother is true to his word!” Pan Dalong protested, pulling out a battered phone and dialing.

But—

“The number you have dialed is switched off.”

Pan Dalong’s face turned ghostly pale. He tried twice more. Switched off, switched off.

“Boss, you try!” Pan Dalong looked desperately at the oldest of the group, a man in his early twenties.

The leader took out his own phone and dialed, but the result was the same: switched off.

“Maybe his phone battery’s dead. That doesn’t mean anything,” Pan Dalong tried to comfort himself, turning to Song Yue.

Song Yue snorted in contempt. “Stubborn fool. It seems you need a dose of reality.”

He pulled out his own phone and dialed Ma the Fourth directly.

The call rang three times before it was answered.

“Officer Song, I haven’t broken any laws lately,” Ma the Fourth’s voice came through the phone.

Pan Dalong’s face, along with those of the other three, instantly turned ashen.

Only now did they fully realize they’d been set up, played, and betrayed.

“Ma the Fourth, you ordered these clueless punks to beat someone up, and you say you haven’t broken the law?” Song Yue asked, voice icy.

“Who’s spreading such rumors? I’ve turned over a new leaf! I’d never do something like that,” Ma the Fourth replied, laughter in his voice.

“You’re lying! You told us to do it! Are you denying it? I even have a recording as proof!” Pan Dalong shot to his feet, gripping his phone and shouting into the receiver.

“You even said you were following orders from Third Brother in the city, isn’t that right?”

Yang Dong’s eyes blazed with fury, and Yu Baijiang was also taken aback. These punks weren’t totally stupid after all—they’d thought to record the conversation as evidence.

Ma the Fourth, lounging on his sofa at home, nearly fell off when he heard Pan Dalong’s outburst.

“You bastard! You dared to record me!”

But Song Yue ignored Ma the Fourth’s shouting and hung up. “Where’s the recording?” he demanded.

Pan Dalong immediately handed over his phone and opened the audio file.

Song Yue pressed play, and a slightly noisy but complete conversation played out.

“As long as you do this for me, I’ll make sure you’re well rewarded.”

“To tell you the truth, this is an order from Third Brother in the city. You guys know who Third Brother is, don’t you?”

“Five thousand yuan once the job’s done. How about it?”

Ma the Fourth’s voice was full of persuasion.

Then came the hot-blooded shouts of the four young thugs.

“Damn right, let’s do it! Beat him to death!”

“To have Fourth Brother and Third Brother value us—what an honor! We’ll do it!”

“I’ll break the kid’s leg myself!” Pan Dalong’s voice stood out, high-pitched and unmistakably youthful.

Yang Dong’s gaze turned icy as he fixed his eyes on Pan Dalong.

So it was he who broke his little brother’s leg—with his own hands.

He smiled, a cold curve forming on his lips. Excellent.

Ma the Fourth, Tian the Third (Tian Yuan).

It really did involve Tian Guanghan, the deputy secretary-general of the municipal government.

Because this Tian the Third, Tian Yuan—known as Third Brother on the streets—was none other than Tian Guanghan’s son.