Chapter 193: Chapter 193 All are actors acting_1
"Oh, there’s no need to be so polite! I’ve been retired for many years now!" the old lady said, pinching a cigarette in one hand and taking a sizzling drag.
So, who exactly was this old lady? And why did both Su Xuan and Cen Haonan treat her with such respect, even calling her Chief Zhong?
The story goes back to the moment Cen Haonan arrived. Su Xuan had pulled him inside, and the first person Cen Haonan saw was the old lady. He recognized her instantly! It was Zhong Huilan, the former head of the City Police Department! She had been retired for five or six years, but back in her prime, Cen Haonan had his fair share of dealings with her.
Zhong Huilan had also recognized Cen Haonan at a glance but motioned for him to keep quiet. She was on a mission. The department had long been aware of the pyramid scheme and had been monitoring them for quite some time. To thoroughly uncover their secrets and capture them all in one fell swoop, she had been tasked by the department to go undercover, disguised as a simple-minded old woman. She had become an infiltrator.
Su Xuan, of course, had learned all this from Cen Haonan, and most of his subsequent actions were secretly planned with the old lady. She had also told him something critical: to catch Zhai Dean, the founder of the pyramid scheme, they had to get control of his two lovers. One was his old flame, Secretary Song. The other was his new mistress, Chang Sasha. If they could get to one of them, they’d have a chance to capture Zhai Dean, because he wouldn’t necessarily show up for an inspection in person. He was very likely to send a puppet in his place.
Yes, even if Chang Sasha hadn’t recognized Su Xuan and his act had continued, the person they were waiting for might not have been the real Zhai Dean, but merely a body double.
It was also thanks to the old lady that Su Xuan knew Chang Sasha was part of the organization. Just now on the rooftop, he had confirmed that the Chang Sasha she mentioned was the same one he knew. Lin Tiancheng must have been tricked into joining by her. Everything he had just done was indeed part of an act. He had deliberately let Chang Sasha escape so that she would lead them to the real Zhai Dean.
"Young Cen," the retired Chief Zhong began, taking a couple of sharp drags from her cigarette before dropping the butt and stamping it out on the ground. "You’ve really made something of yourself. Back in the day, I was always worried about you, afraid you wouldn’t stay on the right path. Now it seems my concerns were unfounded. You’ve even started getting rid of pests for the good of the people."
"Times have changed, what can I say?" Cen Haonan scratched his head and chuckled. He then pointed at Su Xuan and said, "It’s also because I made a good brother who cleared the path for me, helping me stay on the straight and narrow."
He was, of course, thanking Su Xuan for helping him win the race, which allowed him to successfully open his supercar modification shop.
"You’re too kind, Brother Cen," Su Xuan smiled, not thinking it was a big deal. "You’ve helped me plenty of times. I was just returning the favor where I could."
Zhong Huilan looked at Su Xuan with appreciation. "Su Xuan, I actually recognized you a while ago. I saw your interview on TV and knew about your deeds. You were just a courier back then. How come you’re driving a Didi now?"
Su Xuan laughed heartily. "Just trying to make a living!"
"You not only have a kind heart, but you also have a sharp mind," Zhong Huilan said. "Letting Chang Sasha go was a masterstroke. If we had just sat here and waited, we probably would have never seen the real Zhai Dean."
Su Xuan rubbed his nose. "You give me too much credit, Chief Zhong. We still don’t even know if we’ll be able to catch Zhai Dean in the end."
Hearing this, Zhong Huilan waved a hand at the people still crouched on the floor. "Alright, stop the acting! Hurry up, gather your teams, and go find Zhai Dean! Don’t let Su Xuan and Haonan do all our work for us!"
"Yes, ma’am!"
"Understood!"
Before her voice faded, three or four men and women stood up, pushed the door open, and left. Indeed, the old lady had brought in a few people herself, all of them active-duty police officers. Her performance record was looking quite impressive.
Seeing this, Su Xuan and Cen Haonan exchanged a knowing smile. In truth, they were well aware that officers had infiltrated the group. This den was filled with far too many actors.
「...」
"Mister, may I please borrow your phone to make a call?"
After fleeing the neighborhood for her life, Chang Sasha found a shirtless old man exercising on the side of the road and tried to borrow his phone.
The old man glanced at her bruised and swollen face, noticing her missing front tooth as she spoke, and said with disgust, "Get lost, you freak!"
Chang Sasha knew she looked a mess. She quickly pulled out a banknote and stuffed it into the old man’s hand. Then, she clasped her hands together and pleaded, "Please, mister, help me out. It’s a real emergency!"
The old man took the money and handed his phone to Chang Sasha.
She quickly dialed a number she knew by heart. "Boss Zhai, something’s happened!"
"What is it?" Zhai Dean’s voice came from the other end.
"All our people were captured by that guy, Su Xuan! Wait, no, that’s not his name... it’s also Su Xuan, but I had it wrong before! It’s complicated! He said I captured his girlfriend, so he rounded up all our people to save her! Then he caught me but let me go so that I would release his girlfriend..."
Zhai Dean was clearly confused. "What the hell are you babbling about? All this nonsense about who Su Xuan is, on top of all this catching and releasing!"
"Please, just come get me! I’ll explain in person! I’m so scared right now!"
"Where are you?"
Chang Sasha looked around and gave Zhai Dean her location.
A few minutes later, an old Jetta sedan pulled up in front of her. When she saw the driver, she was astonished. "Boss Zhai, you came to pick me up yourself?"
"You must be truly terrified if you’re even getting faces wrong," the driver said. "Hurry up and get in!"
This driver wasn’t Zhai Dean. He just bore a striking resemblance to him, with the same wide face and thick eyebrows. He was clearly Zhai Dean’s body double.
VROOM!
As soon as Chang Sasha was in the car, the driver slammed on the accelerator, and the Jetta sped away, billowing Dark Smoke.
High above, several drones were tracking the car from different directions, keeping it locked in a comprehensive, multi-angle surveillance net.
「...」
"What? That Su Xuan—no, wait, *that* Su Xuan—is a billionaire? You locked up his girlfriend, and to save her, he took down my entire crew? Damn, that’s brutal!"
In an unremarkable budget hotel room, the real Zhai Dean couldn’t help but stare in disbelief after hearing Chang Sasha’s story. At the same time, he felt a pang of pity for her. He cupped her face and said, "Oh, my dear, look at you! He beat you until you’re hardly recognizable!"
Chang Sasha shook her head. "He didn’t hit me. He was very much a gentleman. I fell by accident."
Zhai Dean was speechless.
At that moment, Secretary Song, Zhai Dean’s other lover, was fiddling with a gift in front of a mirror. She pursed her lips and commented, "With all the trouble he’s caused, I suppose we’ll have to lie low again, won’t we?"
Zhai Dean turned back to Chang Sasha. "Did he call the police?"
She shook her head. "I don’t think so. He probably just wanted to catch our people to get even for his girlfriend. I didn’t see him call the police."
Zhai Dean’s eyes narrowed into slits. "In that case," he said coldly, "I’m going to have to have a little chat with him..."