radicalducati Chapter 88 The Prince Replaced by a Civet Cat: Making a Fool of Handong
Chapter 88 The Prince Replaced by a Civet Cat: Making a Fool of Handong
Chapter 88 The Prince Replaced by a Civet Cat: Making a Fool of Handong (Part 1)
Heavy rain.
The black SUV sped toward the Jingzhou No. 2 Detention Center at 120 mph.
Inside the carriage, the air pressure was so low it was suffocating.
Qi Tongwei sat in the back seat, clutching the shattered phone tightly in his hand. His knuckles were white from the force, and the veins on the back of his hand resembled winding earthworms, rising and falling violently with his breathing.
I've been tricked.
I was completely fooled.
He thought he had everything under control, that Zhao Ruilong was already trapped, and that those dozens of tons of gold were the Zhao family's last trump card. But reality slapped him hard in the face.
The Zhao Ruilong in that video was arrogant and conceited, his eyes filled with contempt for the rules and mockery of him. That wasn't the look of a prisoner at his wit's end; it was the look of a chess player standing outside the board, watching the pieces struggle in the mire.
"How much longer?" Qi Tongwei's voice was hoarse, as if he had a mouthful of sand in his mouth.
"Three minutes!" The SWAT team leader's voice trembled as he pressed the accelerator into the gas tank.
Ye Cunxin sat down next to Qi Tongwei. She didn't speak, but silently reached out and placed her hand on Qi Tongwei's cold hand. Her hand was warm, her palm delicate, and it carried a calming power.
Qi Tongwei turned and glanced at her.
The dappled sunlight from the streetlights outside the car window fell on Ye Cunxin. She was still wearing that black, tight-fitting bodycon dress, but her posture wasn't upright; instead, it carried a languid casualness. Her long legs were crossed, and the black stockings gleamed alluringly under the high light, like the finest obsidian, mysterious and dangerous. The tips of her red-soled high heels lightly touched the back of the seat in front of her, and the lines of her ankles were so exquisite that it was impossible to look away.
One button on her collar popped open, revealing a dazzling expanse of white skin and a deep cleavage, which trembled slightly with the bumps of the vehicle. Her red lips looked particularly alluring in the dim light, like a poppy blooming in the night.
Normally, this beautiful scene would be enough to make any man's blood boil. But at this moment, Qi Tongwei's eyes were filled with murderous intent.
"arrive!"
With a screeching sound of brakes, the SUV drifted sideways into the detention center gate, its tires leaving two charred tracks on the wet ground.
Before the car had even come to a complete stop, Qi Tongwei had already kicked open the car door and jumped into the rain.
"Open the door! Cell number two! Everyone assemble!"
His roar pierced through the rain, startling the armed police and prison guards on duty.
The detention center director, wearing a raincoat, stumbled over, his face filled with terror: "Director Qi... Director Qi, what happened so late?"
"Get out of here!"
Qi Tongwei had no time to listen to his nonsense. He shoved the warden aside and strode towards the prison area. Zhao Donglai followed closely behind with more than a dozen heavily armed special police officers, exuding a murderous aura.
Cell No. 2
This is the highest-security cell in the detention center, specifically for serious offenders. A small window opens in the heavy iron door, and the light inside is dim.
"Open it!" Qi Tongwei pointed at the iron gate, his tone menacing.
The prison guard shakily pulled out the key, his hands shaking so badly they looked like they were trembling. It took him three tries to insert it into the lock.
"Click."
The iron gate slid open heavily.
Qi Tongwei stepped inside.
The cramped cell was filled with a faint musty smell. On the single bed against the wall, a figure was curled up in the blankets, his back to the door, seemingly fast asleep.
His build, his hairstyle, even the hand sticking out from under the blanket, were exactly the same as Zhao Ruilong's.
"Zhao Ruilong," Qi Tongwei called out coldly.
The person on the bed stirred and let out a muffled groan, but did not turn over.
Qi Tongwei's pupils suddenly contracted.
Not right.
If it were the real Zhao Ruilong, that arrogant and domineering young master Zhao, he would have jumped up and cursed the moment he was woken up like this. Even in his post-interrogation breakdown state, he would never react like this, like a dead pig.
Qi Tongwei walked to the bedside in a few steps and pulled back the covers.
"Splash!"
The person on the bed was roughly turned over.
A familiar face appeared before everyone. The features, eyebrows, eyes, and even the inconspicuous black mole on the chin were exactly the same as Zhao Ruilong's.
But Qi Tongwei's heart sank to the bottom after just one glance.
Eyes.
This man's eyes were empty and dull, like a stagnant pool of water, unfocused. Seeing the room full of police officers, he felt no fear, no anger, only a bewilderment akin to an animalistic instinct.
"Lift him up!" Qi Tongwei shouted sternly.
Two special police officers rushed forward and grabbed the man's arms from both sides.
Qi Tongwei reached out and pinched the man's chin, forcing him to open his mouth.
Inside the mouth, the teeth are straight, but the tongue...
Qi Tongwei's eyes instantly turned icy cold.
The tongue is only half-full.
This person is mute.
"Check his face!" Qi Tongwei's voice sounded like it was being squeezed out from between his teeth.
Zhao Donglai rushed up, put on gloves, and vigorously rubbed the back of the man's ear.
A thin, almost seamless, transparent gel-like substance was rubbed together. This was a top-of-the-line biomimetic mask, something only seen in Hollywood blockbusters or national secret service operations.
"It's fake..." Zhao Donglai slumped to the ground, his face ashen. "It really is fake..."
"The Prince Replaced by a Civet Cat".
Qi Tongwei released his grip, and the man collapsed to the ground like a lump of mud.
"A fine tactic. A truly fine tactic." Qi Tongwei laughed in anger, his laughter echoing in the narrow cell, sending chills down one's spine. "Find a scapegoat with a similar build, cut out their tongue, put on a mask, and send them in through some channel to swap out the real Zhao Ruilong."
"How much power does this require? How many connections do you need to navigate? Detention centers, hospitals, even the armed police escorting the prisoners..."
Qi Tongwei turned around, his gaze sharp as a knife, sweeping over every prison guard and armed police officer present.
No one dared to meet his gaze, and they all lowered their heads.
"Investigate!" Qi Tongwei drew his service pistol from his waist and slammed it heavily on the table. "Detain everyone who has entered or left cell number two in the past few days, everyone who has had contact with Zhao Ruilong, even those who delivered food or emptied the chamber pots! Interrogate them one by one! Even if I have to turn this detention center upside down, I will find that mole!"
"Yes!" Zhao Donglai roared, his eyes red.
Qi Tongwei took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down.
Anger solves nothing.
Zhao Ruilong has already fled, and he's gone overseas. The most urgent thing now isn't to vent our anger on these small fry, but to pinpoint his location.
"Back to the station." Qi Tongwei grabbed his coat and strode out. "Notify the Technical Investigation Department that all personnel on leave return to their posts immediately. Tonight, nobody's getting any sleep!"
……
Jingzhou Public Security Bureau, Command Center.
On the huge electronic screen, the provocative video, which was only five seconds long, was playing on a loop.
The technicians' fingers flew across the keyboards, creating a continuous clattering sound.
"Director Qi, the video source file has no GPS location information. It was sent through multiple jump servers, so we can't trace the source," the head of the technical investigation department reported, sweating profusely.
"I don't want to look at the source." Qi Tongwei stood in front of the screen, arms crossed, his eyes fixed on the last frame of the image. "I want to look at the background. I want to look at the details."
"Zoom in on the image. In the top left corner, there's the croupier in the red vest."
The screen image zoomed in instantly.
Although somewhat blurry, the gold badge worn by the dealer was still clearly visible. The badge was shaped like a peacock with its tail feathers spread, but a ferocious skull was engraved on the peacock's tail feathers.
"Golden Peacock Skull Badge." Qi Tongwei narrowed his eyes, and the massive database in his mind called "Sheng Tian Half-Sub System" instantly activated.
Countless streams of information flashed before his eyes.
The information was locked after three seconds.
"This is the sign for the 'Royal No. 1' casino in Mukang County, in the Golden Triangle region." Qi Tongwei's voice was frighteningly calm. "That place is the territory of 'Scorpion,' a newly emerging drug lord after the Nuoka Group was destroyed."
"Scorpion?" Zhao Donglai was taken aback. "Is that the madman who attacked our border post two years ago?"
"That's right." Qi Tongwei lit a cigarette, and through the swirling smoke, his eyes became deep and distant. "I'm not surprised that the Zhao family is colluding with overseas drug trafficking groups. But I didn't expect that they would actually be family."
"Turn up the volume. I want to hear background noise."
The technician immediately separated the audio track and filtered out the noise.
Amidst the noisy background music, besides the slot machine music, a few indistinct conversations could be faintly heard.
It was some kind of dialect, spoken extremely fast, with a strange tone.
"This is a local dialect of northern Shan State," Qi Tongwei said coldly. "The person speaking was shouting: 'Send this batch of goods to Guichoujian. Young Master Zhao wants to inspect the goods tonight.'"
"Ghost Sorrow Valley..."