It's a hell game, who can still be a human being?

Chapter 657 Liu Zheng: I'll catch the people the Public Security Department can't catch.
"Fisherman, I'm going to arrange for some men to hide in the sewers later. Could you please keep an eye on them?"

Liu Zheng called the fisherman.

"What happened?"

Seeing that the boy was behaving himself and not shouting, the fisherman's tone became serious.

“Killing a former member of a special operations team wouldn’t normally be a big deal, but last time we killed those Yuan Shen cult followers, the Criminal Investigation Department didn’t get any credit, so now they’re looking for trouble.”

"What about yourself?"

The fisherman asked.

"It's alright, I'm already at the restaurant."

he replied.

"From which entrance did they come down?"

"The entrance near the clinic."

Liu Zheng said.

"Got it. You're really good at causing trouble."

The fisherman glared at him over the phone.

He had been hoping this kid could help protect the female diver, but now it seems he's lucky the female diver won't get implicated.

However, if Liu Zheng hadn't been so troublesome, he wouldn't have believed that this kid had the ability to protect the female divers.

If fishermen are agents of the sewer system, then Liu Zheng is the fishermen's agent.

I chose this agent myself, so I'll have to step up even if it hurts.

There's no way he'd admit that this kid was the son-in-law he chose!
"The Sphinx was taken away by the Criminal Investigation Bureau, and my car was also towed away by them."

After hanging up, Liu Zheng called Wangpai again.

"Tsk, they're really fast. They're always the most eager to collect things. No wonder they're the fastest department in the entire Public Security Bureau."

Ace complained.

"They are deliberately retaliating against me for not sharing the credit for eradicating the Yuanshen Cult with them."

“I know. You don’t need to tell me. If I wasn’t planning to help you, I wouldn’t have called you in the first place.”

The ace exposed his true intentions.

"You should not only help me, but also my friends."

Liu Zheng emphasized.

"Don't worry, the methods of the Criminal Investigation Bureau are much more civilized than before. As long as the Sphinx has nothing to do with this matter, there should be no problem."

Ace comforted her.

"If you want to find fault, you can always find a pretext. Besides, it can't be said that it's unrelated. At the very least, it can't escape the suspicion of helping me escape."

"Shouldn't the Public Security Department have the means to perform soul searches?"

he asked.

"Yes, there are, but those who are slightly stronger also have anti-soul-searching methods, so they are not very useful."

Ace said.

"And after a violent soul search, the person is basically ruined, right?"

"Yes, that's usually how it is."

Ace hesitated for a moment before speaking.

"Brother Pai, can you help me get the Sphinx out of here?"

"It's unlikely I can get involved in this. The Criminal Investigation Bureau already resented me, a logistics staff member, for stealing their credit. If I were to step in to bail him out, it would only backfire."

"Of course, I don't mean to blame you. Who doesn't like a promotion and a raise? I'm just too lazy to work hard. Of course, the more credit that falls from the sky, the better."

Ace said.

"It's okay, I don't blame you. But since you put it that way, I'll just go for it."

Liu Zheng said.

He wasn't really expecting an ace; he was just asking politely.

"Don't be stubborn. Even if you're a deliveryman at Bloody Restaurant, you can't openly go against the city hall. Don't rush, let me think of another way."

Ace Expressway.

"it is good."

Liu Zheng nodded, waiting for him to continue.

"Hey, I have it!"

After waiting for more than ten minutes, the ace finally spoke.

"You said."

"Didn't they capture that sphinx to threaten you? Why don't you capture some people to threaten them back?"

Ace said.

"Catch who?"

Liu Zheng asked.

"I'll send you a few wanted posters, you can choose one."

"it is good."

He nodded.

Soon, Ace sent a photo.

It's a black and white photo, but the clarity is acceptable; you can basically see it clearly.

The criminals on the wanted posters looked almost identical to humans, except that their faces were covered in wrinkles and their facial features were unusually shaped, like a horse's face with human features.

The prisoner's crimes included assaulting and murdering a first-class citizen couple and their two children, as well as killing other second- and third-class citizens, among others.

"This guy's name is Naho, and he's from Kunyang. Of course, he's had many names; this is just one of them. The couple he murdered was the grandson and granddaughter-in-law of a member of parliament."

"Because the Criminal Investigation Bureau has been slow to catch the suspect, that congressman often criticizes them in public. Sometimes he even has articles published in newspapers to expose their shortcomings. He even said he would question them at next year's congressional meeting, which puts the Criminal Investigation Bureau in a very passive position."

“If you can catch Naho, you can either trade him for the criminal investigation team or have that senator bail him out.”

Ace explained.

"How can I catch someone that even the Criminal Investigation Department can't?"

Dogs have their holes, and rats have their paths. Places they can't go, you might be able to go too. Things they can't ask, you might overhear on the street.

Ace said.

"Yeah, that makes sense."

Liu Zheng nodded.

Just like Sha Jiang, who hid in the sewers and the Public Security Bureau couldn't find him no matter what, but Liu Zheng could.

"What are the Kunyang people?"

he asked again.

"They are a race that prefers to live underground. They are an independent clan, but they seem to have unclear relationships with many gods. They are highly skilled in psychic energy and can switch between spirit and body at will. They can even use psychic energy to modify their bodies to achieve immortality. Moreover, this ability can not only be applied to themselves, but also to others and even the dead."

Ace explained.

"That sounds really impressive."

"He is very powerful, otherwise the Criminal Investigation Department would have been able to catch him. However, his strength is limited. According to the police officers who participated in the arrest operation, Naho's psionic abilities are crippled. He only knows a few fixed uses, and they are mostly used for escape or defense."

"Those victims weren't killed by his psychic powers, but rather they were led into a dream world by him and tortured to death by him using various tools from the house." "Some scholars have studied the Kunyang people and believe that their psychic powers do not come from their own talents or learning, but from gods or other races. Therefore, they can only use what they have received, and no matter how hard they try, they cannot learn other ways of using psychic powers unless they can break the shackles of the source."

"Of course, because there are too few Kunyang people in the metropolis, that scholar only put forward this hypothesis without sufficient evidence."

Ace said.

"You know so much? Wow, that's impressive, Brother Pai."

Liu Zheng looked at him with new respect.

"Hehe, actually I've always wanted to make my own board game, one with a huge world, lots of races, a full range of professions, and a super open storyline. So when I have free time, I study wanted posters. Anyone who gets on a wanted poster must be really capable, so they're perfect for being sewn into a board game."

Ace said, both proud and embarrassed.

"Your description sounds like D&D."

Liu Zheng said thoughtfully.

What is DND?

Ace asked curiously.

"Dungeons & Dragons is a large-scale tabletop role-playing game with a lot of content. I'll tell you more about it when I have time."

He said.

Actually, he didn't know much about D&D, but he did know the general framework, which gave Ace the freedom to create a Metropolitan edition.

"Yeah."

Ace said happily.

Do you have any leads regarding this Naho?

Liu Zheng asked.

“I carefully selected him, so of course there are clues. Someone saw him appear in the black market, and he hasn’t been seen since. So the Criminal Investigation Bureau strongly suspects that he is in the black market. They have sent several groups of people in to investigate, but all of them have returned empty-handed.”

"However, they can only conduct undercover investigations when they go in, and they don't even dare to attract the attention of the black market people, so they are very constrained."

"But you're different. You can act with complete fanfare, which is much more convenient than for the people in the Criminal Investigation Bureau."

Ace said.

"Um"

He wasn't as optimistic as the ace.

Putting aside whether finding someone on the black market is that easy, he doesn't even know if the black market is open today.

If the black market doesn't open for a few more days, what Liu Zheng will exchange with the Criminal Investigation Department after capturing Naho won't be the Sphinx, but its corpse.

Let's ask when the black market for cattle and horses will reopen.

"What about the remaining arrest warrants?"

Liu Zheng asked.

"Wait a minute, I'll send it to you right away."

Soon, the ace sent out a second arrest warrant.

The criminal on this wanted poster is a strange-looking creature with a fleshy, inverted triangular face, a pair of large, round, yellowish-green eyes, a wide, long nose like a finger, and a pair of ears like a pig.

It has a few dozen short, thin, and sparse hairs on its head, but no other hair.

It was small and thin, with a timid expression, looking pitiful, but its sharp teeth made it look somewhat fierce.

Its crime was betraying and killing its master's entire family, and setting fire to their villa.

"This guy's name is Wangcai, and he's a house-elf. Do you know what a house-elf is?"

The ace asked.

"I think I've heard of them. They're a race that serves wizards, right? The kind that looks just like goblins."

Liu Zheng thought for a moment and then said.

"The difference is quite significant. Firstly, in terms of appearance, goblins have ears that point upwards and have larger auricles, while house-elves have ears that droop downwards and have much smaller auricles. Secondly, in terms of personality, goblins are grumpy and arrogant, while house-elves are gentle and humble."

"Of course, I'm referring to the Mishima goblins, which come from the same place as house-elves. Other branches of goblins are different. For example..."

“Listen, Card Bro, let’s get back to Wangcai. We can talk about these race-related things when we’re discussing board games.”

He quickly interrupted the ace.

"Okay. Then I'll continue talking about Wangcai."

"House-elves originally only served wizarding families, but after selection and breeding, any spellcaster family can now sign a contract with a house-elf."

"This kind of contract is invisible and vague, unlike the rigid rules of ordinary slave contracts, but it is more powerful."

“Some slaves, once they gain great power, will try to break free of the contract, but house-elves, even if they are many times stronger than their masters, will willingly accept their masters’ commands and even abuse.”

"Almost all house-elves, regardless of the social class of the family they work in, will not have a complete set of clothes. They are often draped in tattered pillowcases, large rags, or even underwear that their owners don't want anymore."

"And once they are given a complete garment, it signifies the end of the contract, and they gain their freedom."

"But house-elves don't like freedom. If their owners grant them freedom, they will feel humiliated and may even threaten suicide to force their owners to retract their orders."

Ace continued his introduction.

"Those are pretty despicable."

Liu Zheng commented.

"Different races have very different values, so I won't comment on that. In short, house-elves are extremely loyal to their owners. It's extremely rare for them to even disobey their owners' orders, let alone kill them. Therefore, Wangcai's case has a very bad impact. Many spellcasters who keep house-elves have jointly requested the Ministry of Public Security to solve the case as soon as possible and find out the real reason why Wangcai committed such a heinous crime."

"I see that Wangcai is wearing normal clothes in the photo."

He questioned.

On the wanted poster, Wangcai was wearing a black single-breasted wool coat, with a brown vest underneath, and a crisp shirt underneath, with a gold collar pinned to the shirt. He was dressed even better than Liu Zheng.

"This is the front; the back is a moldy doormat."

Ace explained.

"Okay then. It seems that Wangcai's owner treats it quite well."

Liu Zheng thought for a moment and then said.

"Why do you say that?"

"That moldy foot pad couldn't have been on the coat from the beginning; it must have been sewn on specifically to avoid triggering the ritual of setting it free."

“You just said that house-elves are almost always dressed in rags, so there’s no possibility that their owners would force them to wear such clothes for the sake of appearances. Besides, there’s nothing respectable about wearing such clothes.”

"So, in conclusion, it seems that Wangcai's owner wanted it to dress better, but also considered that it didn't want to be free, so they specially made this set of clothes that exploited bugs."

He gave his concluding remarks.

"Impressive, impressive! It's a real shame you don't join our Public Security Department."

Ace praised.

"With your reasoning skills, the position of head of the Major Crimes Unit of the Criminal Investigation Bureau will be yours sooner or later."

"It's all been blown out of proportion. So what's the truth?"

Liu Zheng asked.

"According to inquiries with the family's relatives and friends, the family did treat Wangcai very well; it even had its own room. Therefore, they were very shocked by Wangcai's betrayal and suspected that someone might have manipulated Wangcai using mind control or similar abilities. Or perhaps the murderer was someone else, and they simply created the illusion that Wangcai committed the crime."

Ace said.

"It's so complicated."

He said it sincerely.

The case was already complicated enough, but when it involved supernatural abilities, the complexity increased exponentially.

(End of this chapter)