Chapter 150: Fighting for the Boss (1/2)

Xiaotao questioned Baldy about the death of his boss, but he kept insisting, “Leave this alone, Officer Huang! We’ll handle it ourselves!”

“Handle it yourself?” Xiaotao frowned. “Attacking the Blood Wolf gang with knives—is that how you’ll handle it yourselves? You’ll hack a dozen people and our job is to clean up after you—is that what you’re telling me? Tell me the truth now!”

But no matter how Xiaotao asked and threatened him, Baldy just wouldn’t reveal anything.

“I can’t tell you, Officer Huang,” he cried. “You know that I’d be chopped into pieces if I do!”

“You’re not from the Black Panthers gang, so why don’t you tell me?” Xiaotao asked Trenchy.

“I would’ve told you a long time ago if I knew,” replied Trenchy with an oleaginous smile. “They’re covering it up with an impermeable fog of secrets, so there was no way that we could figure anything out at all. The only thing I heard is that their boss died really horribly.”

“What are you talking about, motherfucker? I’ll punch you till all your teeth come out!” Baldy glared at Trenchy and tried to go over and punch him, but he was stopped by the officers.

I gave Xiaotao a signal and she came over to me, taking Baldy with her.

“Is your boss’s death related to a woman?” I asked Baldy.

He was staggered. Judging from this expression, I knew my guess was right. “Who are you?” he asked me.

“This is the special consultant who’s been working with the police,” Xiaotao told him. “There has been no case that he couldn’t solve. If you tell him how your boss died, he’ll definitely be able to find the culprit!”

Once Baldy heard of my position within the police organization, his tone became much more polite. He even pulled out a cigarette and offered to light it for me.

I told him I didn’t smoke, and asked him a few questions. Where did his boss die? When did he die? Where was the dead body kept now?

Baldy kept shaking his head and would only say, “I don’t know.”

“Us in the underworld, we have a code that we live by,” he added. “We never reveal a single word of the gang’s secrets, otherwise we’d die an ugly death. I’ve been with the boss since I was sixteen years old, and I want his death avenged more than anyone else! You can go and ask around. If you can really solve his death, then I’ll follow you for the rest of my life!”

“How am I going to ask around if you don’t tell me anything?”

“Stop asking me,” Baldy replied. “I really don’t know!”

“Okay, take these bastards back to the station and throw them in the cells,” Xiaotao ordered the officers. Then she asked me, “How did you know that the death of their boss was related to a woman?”

“It’s just a guess,” I replied. “It’s usually like that for people in the underworld anyway.”

“You’re becoming more and more like Detective Conan now, aren’t you?” she joked. “You bump into murder cases anywhere you go!”

“I’m not as lucky as he is!” I laughed. “Would you still invite someone like that to your place?”

Xiaotao slapped her forehead and exclaimed, “Ah, I completely forgot about our candlelight dinner! Come on, forget about the case for now, let’s go back and finish our dinner!”

“Yes, ma’am!”

We went back to her house for dinner, then watched another horror movie together. The movie was called Ju-On: The Grudge, and it scared Xiaotao very much. I was so tired and because I never usually drink alcohol, the two glasses of red wine that I had earlier made me very dizzy. I fell asleep before the ghost even appeared.

I woke up early the next morning. While I was still groggy from sleep, I realized that I was lying on the sofa with a blanket covering my body.