Chapter Eighty-Three: Dead Men Walking (1)

Beside her, Zhao Ying was frantic with anxiety. She had never imagined that Lin Fan would break out of prison, and now that Yu Jiang had also stepped in, it was even more beyond her expectations. What had become of her father? The hand Zhao Ying held her breakfast in was already damp with sweat.

Compared with Zhao Ying, Sun Wei was overjoyed. Since even the mayor had gotten involved, how could Lin Fan still resist? At first, Sun Wei had felt some measure of guilt over what had happened to Lin Fan, but under Yan Dong's pressure and the lure of money, he had finally chosen to serve the tiger as a henchman. He had not expected Lin Fan to beat him so viciously, nearly crippling him in the process. By then, even that last trace of guilt was gone. All he wanted now was for Lin Fan to be shot dead during the arrest.

Since the mayor and the municipal Party secretary had both intervened and were even taking opposite sides, what was a mere police bureau chief supposed to do by rushing into the fray? Whatever the superiors said, he would do; as long as they did not pin the blame on him, that was enough. Thinking this, Li Kun answered the phone again and again in agreement.

After hanging up, Li Kun glanced at Sun Wei and said, "Hurry up and call the arrest team. Tell them absolutely not to fire. Not to fire, understand? The other side may well have been framed and imprisoned. I need to look into this carefully."

Though he had never issued any order to shoot Lin Fan dead in the first place, Li Kun was still uneasy, afraid that something might go wrong. If anything happened to Lin Fan now, the responsibility would all fall on him, which was why he emphasized again and again that no one was to use firearms and that Lin Fan had to be taken alive.

Sun Wei stared at Li Kun in stunned disbelief, unable to understand how matters could have taken such a turn. Yan Dong had told him that once he showed an opening and let Lin Fan escape, pressure from above would come down on those below, and the arrest team would be allowed to shoot Lin Fan on the spot during the capture. "C-Chief, are... are you mistaken? Lin Fan is a fugitive who committed murder and broke out of prison. And didn't you just say that Mayor Yu ordered him to be shot?" Sun Wei said.

But before he could finish, Li Kun cut him off. "What do you mean, mistaken or not? From now on, you do exactly as I say. This is an order from above. Hurry up and pass it down. If anything goes wrong, you might as well resign and go home."

He barked these words at Sun Wei in one breath, spittle flying from his mouth.

"Y-yes, yes..." Sun Wei was only a minor policeman after all. At the mention of resigning, the frightened man hurried out at once.

Hearing what Li Kun had said, a trace of a smile finally appeared on Zhao Ying's face. It seemed her father had helped after all.

"Ying'er, don't worry. I will investigate this matter properly and do my best to clear your boyfriend's name," Li Kun said with a faint smile. He had already learned from others in the bureau that Lin Fan was Zhao Ying's boyfriend, and Yu Jiang's meaning on the phone had been perfectly clear: find a chance to let Lin Fan go. Besides, Zhao Fanglin had long since instructed him to do exactly that. In this way, his pressure would be much lighter.

"Then I'll thank Chief Li in advance," Zhao Ying said with a timely smile.

"No need, no need. It's only right, only right," Li Kun said. This bureau chief dared to put on airs only in front of the others at the station; before Zhao Ying, he instantly seemed like a completely different person. He could not help it. Who told Zhao Ying to have such an exceptionally powerful father?

After that, Li Kun went to interrogate those members of the Green Gang whom Yan Dong had brought back to the station the day before. He knew that if he wanted to clear Lin Fan's suspicions properly and with due legitimacy, he would have to start with these people. All of this was his useless brother-in-law's fault, achieving nothing and only causing trouble, always dragging him into a mess.

After setting her breakfast on the table, Zhao Ying took out her phone and called Lin Fan. When Lin Fan was brought into the police bureau yesterday, she had told him to keep his phone switched on at all times. But now that Lin Fan had broken out, she did not know whether she could still reach him. Still, finding something to do was better than sitting here waiting in vain.

What Zhao Ying had not expected was that Lin Fan's phone actually went through.

"Where are you?" Zhao Ying asked hurriedly. Though she knew Lin Fan would not be in any serious danger for the time being, her voice was still full of concern.

"What do you mean, where am I? Wasn't I locked up in the police station yesterday?" Lin Fan's lazy voice came through from the other end.

Hearing him say that, Zhao Ying could not help but freeze. Then she asked again, "The police station? Are you sure?"

"What, you didn't think I was on your bed last night, did you?" Lin Fan said with a shameless grin. The prisoners around him thought to themselves, Could this big shot have broken out last night just to get laid? If Lin Fan knew what they were thinking right now, he would probably spring up from the bed at once. Damn it, is that the kind of man I am?

Zhao Ying knew he was being improper again, but she did not pay it much mind and asked once more, "You really are at the police station right now?"

She especially stressed the words "police station." After all, Sun Wei had said Lin Fan broke out of prison last night, and the arrest team was now searching everywhere for him. Had he escaped, seen the police hunting for him, and then simply come back on his own? Zhao Ying thought about it and still found it unlikely. No matter what, this was a police bureau. How could Lin Fan come and go freely without anyone noticing?

What Zhao Ying did not know was that last night, most of the bureau's people had been sent out to hunt for Lin Fan, leaving only a few junior officers on duty. When Lin Fan returned after taking care of his business, he merely rewarded them with a few blows. Before they could even see who had come, they had fainted to the floor. After waking up, they saw that their money and valuables were still there, so they did not bother investigating who had done it. Besides, they could never have imagined that someone who had broken out of prison would actually come back.

"If you don't believe me, come and take a look," Lin Fan said. From the moment the call connected, he had known that this girl must have found out about his escape last night, or she would not have been so anxious to ask where he was.

Half-believing and half-doubting, Zhao Ying walked toward the detention room where Lin Fan was being held. When she reached the door, she could not help but stare in shock. There was Lin Fan, eyes half-closed, lying comfortably on the bed, while a group of prisoners around him respectfully massaged him.

Originally, Lin Fan felt that whether he returned to the police bureau or not made no difference. But at dawn that morning, Lin Yan had suddenly called to tell him that Lin Hao Tian, Lin Fan's own uncle and the highest-ranking commander of the Falcon Special Forces, had arrived in T City, naturally for the purpose of seeing Lin Fan. Lin Fan only said a few casual words and hung up.

To be honest, Lin Fan still did not really want to meet this uncle of his, and there were people on the streets looking for him as well. After thinking it over, he decided it was better to return to the police bureau: first, he could avoid Lin Hao Tian for a while; second, he did not want Zhao Ying to worry. After all, if Zhao Ying knew he had broken out of prison, she would certainly be even more anxious. Besides, he could enjoy imperial treatment while he was there. So in the early hours of the morning, Lin Fan had swaggered right back into the police bureau.

In any case, he had gone out yesterday only to find out who had set him up from behind. Now that everything was clear, there was even less reason to remain on the run. After leaving Yu Jiang's residence last night, Lin Fan had told Mo Fei to hand over all those materials to Zhao Fanglin as well. Let it count as a meeting gift for his future father-in-law. In any case, the relationship between Zhao Fanglin and Yu Jiang was irreconcilable. Who would ever let go of someone coveting his position?

For Lin Fan, this shabby little police bureau could never hold him. He could come and go as he pleased. Back when he infiltrated the intelligence agency of the United States to steal military intelligence, Lin Fan had also moved with ease through enemy territory. Unfortunately, that mission was Lin Fan's last for the Falcon. After he successfully stole the military intelligence and sent it back to his country, he was abandoned...

Seeing that Lin Fan had not broken out at all, Zhao Ying was so angry that she immediately ran out and brought Li Kun and Sun Wei over. The charge of prison escape was no trivial matter, and Zhao Ying did not want Lin Fan to be caught by a weakness over this.

When he saw Lin Fan outside the room, Sun Wei was even more shocked than Zhao Ying and Li Kun. After all, he had personally created the opening that let Lin Fan escape. Though he had not seen Lin Fan leave with his own eyes, when he woke up, Lin Fan really was no longer in the detention room. Had he seen a ghost yesterday?

Seeing Lin Fan lying so comfortably on the detention room bed, enjoying the massage of the prisoners around him, Zhao Ying did not know whether to laugh or cry. This was not imprisonment at all; it was practically being emperor.

At the thought of an emperor, Zhao Ying could not help but think of how rulers throughout history had their palaces and harems, with countless consorts. She knew that a man as outstanding as Lin Fan would certainly never lack outstanding women around him. Perhaps in the future he would have other women as well. Because of that, she would have to keep a close eye on him now. She absolutely had to keep a close eye on him. Zhao Ying told herself this in her heart.

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