“What exactly do you want to know?”
“Everything. The clearer and more detailed, the better.”
“This organization has only been around for a short time, and we don’t have much intel on them, so we need you to fill in the details.”
Bai Yongxu said.
Although he’d already gotten the general picture from Police Supervisor Ni, he still wanted to hear Jiang Nian’s side of the story directly from the source.
This wasn’t just some pointless redundancy.
It was because what Police Supervisor Ni had told him was far too superficial—it was hard to extract any truly useful information from it.
Hearing that, Jiang Nian thought for a moment, then held his cigarette between his fingers and said, “You probably already know this, but I’m a celebrity—though a pretty low-tier one. I came here for some promotional work.”
“Yeah, we’re aware of that. Since you’re a public figure, we’ll also make sure this incident doesn’t blow up in the media.”
Bai Yongxu nodded. He’d naturally already reviewed Jiang Nian’s background information, and at the time, he’d been pretty shocked too. Running into a terrorist attack was already rare enough, but to have it happen to a celebrity? That was something else.
And what really threw him off was that this particular celebrity had actually turned the tide single-handedly. It just felt so… out of place. The image of a celebrity in his mind didn’t fit that mold at all.
“So, I was out wandering by myself today and happened to run into a fan. We decided to hang out together. At some point, I went to the restroom, and this group of people were acting all sneaky…”
Jiang Nian began recounting the sequence of events, though he did leave out a few details.
Some things weren’t worth digging into too deeply—otherwise, it’d just raise more questions.
The overall narrative was more or less the same as what Police Supervisor Ni had described. The reason Bai Yongxu had come to ask Jiang Nian directly wasn’t because he had nothing better to do—it was to fill in any gaps and see if any critical pieces of information had been overlooked.
After all, Police Supervisor Ni wasn’t the one who’d been there.
Jiang Nian was.
So naturally, he’d have a much better understanding of the situation.
Throughout the conversation, Bai Yongxu didn’t just sit there passively listening like a bystander. He occasionally threw in questions of his own.
For example, did Jiang Nian know who these people were?
Or had they said anything unusual?
Jiang Nian answered each question honestly, holding nothing back.
After all, none of Bai Yongxu’s questions touched on Jiang Nian’s personal secrets.
So he told it like it was.
Once Bai Yongxu had finished questioning him, he had a pretty solid grasp of the situation.
He stood up and gave Jiang Nian a slight bow. “Thank you for your cooperation, Mr. Jiang. We appreciate your assistance. We now have a general direction for our investigation, and I believe it won’t be long before we root out the mastermind behind all this.”
“Mm.”
Jiang Nian nodded, not saying much more.
After all, at this point, there wasn’t really anything left to say.
It wasn’t like he could demand they sign a military pledge, swearing to close the case within a certain timeframe, right?
That just wasn’t realistic.
But speaking of the mastermind—that did remind Jiang Nian of something.
“Oh, by the way, have you guys ever come across a group of guys with scarred faces?”
Jiang Nian suddenly asked.
Hearing that, Bai Yongxu paused for a moment. “Scarred faces?”
“Yeah!” Jiang Nian nodded, putting on a serious expression.
“Before I ran into those terrorists, I noticed this group of people watching me. They didn’t seem like the good kind.”
“And right after they finished tailing me, I got hit by the terrorists. I strongly suspect they might be connected.”
At that, Bai Yongxu let out a soft grunt of surprise.
There was more to this?
His focus had been entirely on the terrorist cell, so he hadn’t looked into any other groups.
“Hold on, let me check on that.”
Bai Yongxu said, then pulled out his phone and called his team member in the adjacent monitoring room. He asked them to pass the phone to Ni Jingliang and find out what was going on.
Soon enough, word came back.
Bai Yongxu looked at Jiang Nian. “Mr. Jiang, you’ve got it wrong. That group wasn’t in cahoots with the terrorists. They were sent by Liu Kai.”
He didn’t try to hide anything. He told Jiang Nian the truth outright.
Over in the monitoring room, Ni Jingliang was completely dumbfounded. Wait, is he really allowed to just say that out loud?
Meanwhile, Jiang Nian’s face darkened the moment he heard those words.
Son of a bitch. Liu Kai again!
This bastard—not only did he have me blacklisted, but he also tried to have someone take me out?
“I see. Thanks. But I’d still suggest you look into him. The fact that this old bastard would hire people to come after me probably means he’s got other dirty laundry too.”
“Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if he turned out to be a walking fifty-thousand.”
Jiang Nian said in a low, grim voice.
Bai Yongxu could tell right away that Jiang Nian was basically using him as a weapon to go after Liu Kai.
But he didn’t refuse.
Because the moment he took over this case, both the terrorist cell and the scar-faced thugs sent by Liu Kai were already on his radar. The only difference was which one he’d investigate first.
Besides, what Liu Kai had done was already illegal. In the past, he might have been able to use his connections to sweep it under the rug. But this time—with ties to such a major terrorist case—no amount of connections would help.
Who would dare stick their neck out for him?
And since Jiang Nian had brought it up, Bai Yongxu was more than happy to do him this favor. He nodded and said, “Alright, don’t worry. I’ll look into it.”
But just as he was about to step out the door, he turned back and added, “Mr. Jiang, this case is quite serious. There may be more questions later on, so we might need to reach out to you again over the next few days. Please keep your phone on.”
Jiang Nian nodded and agreed without hesitation. “No problem.”
Meanwhile, in the capital city, Beijing.
“Liu Kai, is this all you have to confess? Any additions?”
The interrogator looked up at Liu Kai, holding the written confession in his hand, and made one final confirmation.
Hearing that, despite every fiber of his being screaming in resistance, Liu Kai could only nod—because they’d already caught him red-handed. “Yes.”
Liu Kai knew he was done for.
He didn’t know exactly how they’d gotten the evidence, but he fully understood how serious this was.
Fortunately, it was only attempted assault—not murder. Maybe through his connections, there was still some room for negotiation.
“Alright.”
The interrogator acknowledged, then signaled to the recorder to file the transcript. He grabbed Liu Kai and prepared to leave.
But before they could even push the door open—
Someone else had already arrived at the doorway and opened it from the outside.
Seeing Liu Kai being held by the interrogator and recorder, and the confused looks on their faces, the newcomer didn’t waste a second. He reached into his coat, pulled out his credentials, and shoved them right in Liu Kai’s face.
“Hello. National Defense Security Bureau.”
“Mr. Liu Kai, we have strong reason to suspect your involvement in a case related to an overseas terrorist organization. Please cooperate with our investigation.”
The moment those words landed—
Thud.
With a dull thud, Liu Kai collapsed onto the floor, his legs giving out beneath him.
Wait… what?
Him? An overseas terrorist case?
“Hold on, Officer—there must be some kind of mistake!”
Liu Kai asked in utter disbelief.
But the other man, as if expecting exactly that reaction, stared straight at Liu Kai. “There’s no mistake, Mr. Liu Kai. Did you or did you not send people to Spring City today to assassinate Jiang Nian?”
Hearing that, Liu Kai’s pupils contracted sharply. “Yes, yes—no, no, I didn’t! I didn’t try to kill him! I just wanted someone to rough him up a bit! But that’s not overseas terrorism, is it?”
Liu Kai was starting to panic.
Hiring someone to commit assault and being tied to an overseas terrorist organization were two completely different things!
One meant you might still get out alive. The other meant you were as good as dead.
Ignoring Liu Kai’s attempts to squirm his way out, the officer replied coldly, “Those are two separate cases. But right now, you’re suspected of being involved in both.”
“And based on Mr. Jiang Nian’s testimony, there’s a strong possibility that you’re the mastermind behind this whole affair. So, please come with us for questioning.”
The words barely finished echoing in the room—
Thump!
With a muffled crash, Liu Kai plopped straight onto the ground, his backside hitting the floor.
Right now, there was only one thought running through his mind.
It’s over. I’m done for. For real this time.
