Chapter 43: Sorry, I Am the Villain

For Lin Yang, a young man who greatly respected the elderly and cherished the young, this was the kind of talk he despised most. In his view, “If you mess with me, that’s one thing. But if you drag my old mother into it, then you’re the one in the wrong. There are limits to what I can endure.”

And so, once more, a storm of injustice was destined to unfold with grandeur.

Before Captain Yang could react in the slightest, Lin Yang struck out directly with his fist, aiming at a cunning angle straight for the two front teeth of his opponent, yellowed from years of heavy smoking.

With force, lightning speed, and a brutal accuracy, a muffled thud resounded.

With a spray of dazzling blood and the flight of those two yellowed teeth tracing an elegant arc through the air, Captain Yang’s shrill scream followed. Clutching his aching mouth with both hands, he pointed furiously at Lin Yang with his right, his voice muffled and seething with rage: “Kid, you’re finished, you’re done for! Assaulting an officer, you just assaulted an officer!”

Before Captain Yang could issue any further orders, the young officer Xiao Wang, ever perceptive, landed a vengeful blow on Lin Yang’s back to teach him a lesson and, with the swiftness of thunder, snapped handcuffs onto his wrists. With a cold, hateful glare, he barked, “Kid, you’ve brought this on yourself. You’ve offended Captain Yang. Even if all your other crimes are dismissed, assaulting an officer alone will be enough to ruin you.” He muttered under his breath, “Idiot.”

“He had a filthy mouth, so I just helped him clean it up,” Lin Yang said with a cheeky grin and a shrug, showing no sign of fear, as if he were heading not to a detention cell but to a grand hotel as a guest.

“Clean it up, you bastard!” Captain Yang, finally recovering from the pain, pulled out his police baton and aimed it at Lin Yang’s forehead. After taking a punch to the mouth and losing two front teeth, to say he wasn’t furious would be a lie. Used to throwing his weight around, he was ready for a little private justice, determined to teach this arrogant, oblivious brat a harsh lesson. Damn it, to strike a police officer—what utter lawlessness.

But several quick-witted subordinates quickly intervened. Though this wasn’t exactly the city center, there were still many residents nearby. With all the commotion, most were already awake, and lights began to flicker on in the darkness. Heads poked out of windows to see what was happening. If private punishment were inflicted under such scrutiny, with the evidence plain for all to see, there was a real risk of media exposure come morning. Some fearless onlookers had already recorded everything with high-resolution cameras.

“Damn it, why are you stopping me?” Losing face in front of everyone, being assaulted by a suspect, and then stopped by his own men—it was hard not to explode with anger.

Seeing their leader enraged, his murderous glare obvious, a young officer closest to Captain Yang leaned in and whispered something in his ear.

Glancing up at the lit windows all around, Captain Yang’s expression finally softened, though the malice in his eyes could not be concealed. He shot Lin Yang a glare and shouted, “Let’s go, take them all in.”

As the group quickly withdrew, the noisy street soon fell silent once more. The number of lit windows gradually dwindled until the entire area was swallowed by darkness. All that remained were shards of broken glass, and even Lin Yang’s overturned, battered, and nearly scrapped Audi had been towed away.

At the Tianchen District Branch of the Jin Hai City Police Bureau, after the low wail of police sirens, four patrol cars rolled in. Lin Yang was roughly dragged out of the car by Officer Xiao Wang, who didn’t miss any chance to show off in front of Captain Yang, giving Lin Yang a kick whenever he could.

Yet Lin Yang deflected each blow with ease; every kick meant for him ended up hurting Xiao Wang instead. Realizing he was getting the worst of it, Xiao Wang wisely restrained himself—there was no point showing off for the boss if it meant ending up covered in bruises.

With Xiao Wang leading the way, Lin Yang was dragged into an interrogation room.

Bang! Lin Yang was unceremoniously thrown onto the standard criminal’s chair, restrained from head to toe. Once certain that this boy couldn’t escape even with all the cunning in the world, Xiao Wang waved his hand.

“Captain Yang, all set. You go ahead, we’ll wait outside,” he said, motioning for the other officers to leave. Soon, Captain Yang and Lin Yang were alone, the door closed behind them.

Even a fool could tell what this bristling, glaring man intended—private punishment, right here on his own turf.

But Lin Yang remained calm and collected. So what if he wanted to use violence? If pressed, Lin Yang didn’t mind creating a scene at the police station. Did they really think a few leather straps and a pair of handcuffs could restrain him? What a joke. His flying knives were not just for show.

“Kid, you think you’re tough? Let me show you what tough really means,” Captain Yang’s face was twisted with malice, his voice cold as death.

Rolling up his sleeves and unbuttoning his collar, he prepared himself. Then, reaching into the desk drawer, he drew out a leather whip. With a few sharp cracks in the air, he grinned viciously, as if tormenting suspects was his greatest pleasure.

“Private punishment? You call yourself worthy of that hat?” Lin Yang’s mockery was naked, fearless. Even now, he seemed intent on pushing Captain Yang to his limits, each word a needle to the captain’s pride.

“I’ll use private punishment, so what?” Captain Yang sneered, raising the whip high, already savoring the thought of leaving a bloody mark on this arrogant punk.

Bang! At that critical moment, the interrogation room door was kicked open with a crash. A burly man strode in, marched up to Captain Yang, and clamped a hand onto his arm, his face thunderous as he roared, “Private punishment? Give it a try if you dare!”

With that, he raised his foot and delivered a fierce kick to Captain Yang’s abdomen—fast, accurate, merciless. The blow sent Captain Yang flying across the room, slamming into the wall before sliding to a halt.

Seeing who had entered, Lin Yang’s face eased into a smirk. Glancing at the insignia on the wall, he teased, “Tiger, if you’d been a second later, my back would have been done for.”

“Damn, who’s got the nerve to cross Tiger?” The voice preceded the man as a portly, middle-aged officer with a prominent belly and a bushy mustache burst in, sweating and out of breath, urgency written all over his face.

Turning to see Captain Liu Yang lying in the corner, grimacing in pain and bleeding from the mouth, the fat man’s face instantly darkened.

But before he could speak, Liu Yang, seeing the newcomer, puffed up with indignation, having missed what was just said. Pointing at the Tiger, who was freeing Lin Yang, he shouted, “Brother-in-law, it was him! He kicked your little brother just now!”

Smack! The reply was a resounding slap from the fat man—hard enough to echo in the room.

Liu Yang was stunned—why would his brother-in-law slap him? But before he could react, another slap landed, even harder than the first.

Tiger’s blows were not ordinary either; every strike was twice as powerful as those of normal men. Liu Yang’s cheeks, already red and swollen, bore the brunt—his left side far worse than the right.

“Brother-in-law, I—” Liu Yang tried to ask for an explanation, but the fat man cut him off with a growl.

“What do you mean, ‘I’? You dared to mess with Tiger’s people? Are you mad, or just looking for trouble?” The fat man berated him, punctuating his words by kicking Liu Yang several times. Each kick drove Liu Yang back, nearly sending him headlong into the wall.

“Tiger, is this… fine?” The fat man, clearly not wanting things to escalate, turned to seek Tiger’s opinion, dismissing Lin Yang as if he were just one of Tiger’s relatives.

Tiger, however, said nothing, instead looking to Lin Yang for guidance. Only then did the fat man sense something amiss. Before he could say anything, Tiger spoke first.

“Brother Yang, what do you think…?” Even his posture was deferential, bowing to ninety degrees in a show of utmost respect. Even a fool could see that this young man was neither Tiger’s subordinate nor his relative, but someone of considerable standing. But the fat man had never heard of any scion of a great family inspecting Jin Hai in secret.

A cold sweat broke out on the fat police chief’s brow as he realized the trouble he was in, silently cursing Liu Yang again and again.

Forcing a smile, he stepped forward, bowed to Lin Yang, and pointed at the bloodied, crestfallen Liu Yang. With obsequious humility, he apologized, “This fool overstepped himself just now. Please forgive him this once—just treat him like a bad smell and let it go.”

“You…” Lin Yang had just opened his mouth when the fat man, misunderstanding, thought Lin Yang was about to ask his identity. With a fawning smile, he introduced himself, “Brother, I’m Wang Ergou, Director of the Tianchen Branch. Everyone calls me Fatty Wang. You can call me that too.”

Wang Ergou was deliberately belittling himself, eager to curry favor with this young man whose background was clearly formidable.

Fatty Wang? Why did that sound so familiar? Lin Yang frowned, racking his brain.

But to Wang Ergou, this expression looked ominous; surely the young man was about to take offense.

“Fatty Wang? Oh, I remember now.” Lin Yang suddenly exclaimed—he recalled that the supervisor in charge of new drug development at Baifu Pharmaceuticals was also called Fatty Wang. No wonder the name sounded so familiar.

But Wang Ergou, thinking Lin Yang meant him, grinned even wider, ready to affirm, “Yes, brother, that’s me,” when Lin Yang’s face turned cold and he sneered, “Sorry, but I’m a petty man—and I hold grudges.”