Chapter 035: Persuasion

The detention room was extremely quiet at night. A man was shouting, "Let me out! I need to call Mr. Bai!" But no one paid him any attention.

Di Zhen was sitting on the iron bed with his eyes closed, resting. The man in the next cell reached out and threw something into his cell, saying, "Hey, here's a Snickers bar for you!"

Di Zhen looked up and saw a hard lump of feces wrapped in toilet paper. He sneered and said, "Do you want to die?"

"Enjoy it, bro. It'll give you energy so you can serve me well in prison!" The man was obviously taking revenge.

Di Zhen just sneered and ignored him.

Finally, morning came. A policeman came to take a detainee away. The man thanked the policeman a thousand times and left. Di Zhen lifted his eyelids and said, "Hey, Comrade Policeman, someone threw feces into my cell."

A policeman walked over, took a look, and said, "Don't play any tricks on me!"

"The guy in the next cell did it. If you don't believe me, just ask." 

The policeman didn't want to deal with such a boring case. He went to fetch some cleaning tools and came back, opened the cell door, and swept up the filth on the floor.

Di Zhen observed the policeman from head to toe. He looked haggard, with a poor complexion. There was a smell of alcohol lingering in his hair, and there was a ring mark on his middle finger. Di Zhen said, "That kind of girl isn't worth your heartache!"

"What did you say!?" The policeman turned his head and looked at him suspiciously.

"You just broke up," Di Zhen grinned. "You went out to get drunk last night. I really sympathize with you."

"Keep your mouth shut! No one will think you're mute!" The policeman left after saying this. Di Zhen said to his back, "I know why she left you!"

"Bro..." The guy next door started speaking in a sarcastic and snide tone again. "Weren't you so tough yesterday? What's up, wanna be the policeman's relationship counselor?"

"If you say one more word of nonsense, I'll come over and teach you a lesson later."

"Oh~ Son of a bitch! Who the hell is scared of you? Come on and take me on! I can't wait!" There came the sound of someone slapping their ass from next door.

Di Zhen sneered and added this matter to his action plan.

Five minutes later, the policeman came back. For a guy who just got dumped, Di Zhen's words really hit a sore spot.

He said to Di Zhen through the bars, "Tell me, how do you know?"

Di Zhen walked up to the bars and said, "I know something about her."

"Tell me everything!"

"Don't be in a hurry! Don't be in a hurry!" Di Zhen slowly wagged his finger. When he made sure the policeman was watching his finger intently, he suddenly reached out and tapped him on the forehead. "Go to sleep!"

He supported the falling policeman with both hands and whispered a few words to him. Then the policeman took out the keys and opened the cell door.

Di Zhen walked out. The big guy next door, who was picking his feet, was stunned. "You... How did you..."

Di Zhen took the keys and opened that cell door.

"Hey, don't come over. I'll yell..."

After venting his anger, Di Zhen quietly left. He climbed out of a window in an office and went straight to the underground parking lot.

He successfully found the police car from last night. Di Zhen paused for a moment. If he smashed the glass, the alarm would definitely go off, so he had to be quick.

He pulled his sleeve over his fist, took a deep breath, gathered his energy in his dantian, and punched the rear window with all his might. The alarm went off with the first punch.

Thankfully, there was no one around.

With the strength to punch through walls with his bare hands, it wasn't difficult for him to break the car glass. Then he opened the door, found the sealed jar, poured all the stuff inside into the sewer, and quickly fled with the empty bottle in his pocket.

"What's going on?" "Someone's trying to steal the car!"

When he reached the street, the policemen in the nearby police station were alerted and rushed out. Di Zhen casually threw the empty bottle into a trash can and wondered if he should go back and turn himself in right now.

No, he still had to find Uncle Xu and stop him from killing someone!

He had no phone and no cash on him, so Di Zhen could only run at a brisk pace all the way to Finley Aquarium.

When he saw Uncle Xu at work, he was stunned for a moment. "It's you!?"

Di Zhen picked up the water cup on the table and gulped it down in one go. He put down the cup, wiped his mouth, and said, "Let me introduce myself. I'm Di Zhen, a private detective. Your wife hired me."

"My wife hired you... to investigate me!?" Uncle Xu said in surprise.

"She doesn't suspect you. She's just worried about you because you've been acting so strangely lately! But don't worry, I haven't told anyone about your plan to kill someone."

"I... How could I plan to kill someone?" Uncle Xu nervously broke out in a cold sweat.

"You poisoned the ingredients of that milk tea. The needle used to prick people is actually the antidote. The two drugs cancel each other out. In medicine, it's called an antagonistic effect. Even if the person pricked by the needle goes for a check-up, nothing will be detected.

"Actually, you're trying to kill a specific target. That person likes to drink this kind of milk tea. Yesterday, I accidentally bumped into a few people in white coats on my way to prick the needle. They smelled of chemicals. They're probably not doctors. I checked the map and found that there's a biological research institute nearby. If I'm not wrong, the person you want to kill is your former boss who stole your research results!"

Uncle Xu was extremely shocked. "How do you know everything?"

"Because I'm a private detective!" Di Zhen smiled. "I've also put in a lot of effort to find out the truth. But don't worry, I decided to help you keep this a secret when I went to prick the needle for you yesterday! The precondition is that you stop!"

"No, I can't stop!" Uncle Xu stood up excitedly. "I don't need your kindness. That person stole my life, but now he's living a glorious and decent life. Look at me now. What else do I have to lose? A barefoot man fears no one in shoes (a person with nothing to lose has no fears). I want to make him get what he deserves!"

"You don't know the consequences at all!" Di Zhen raised his voice. "Do you know what kind of humiliation and slander the family members of a murderer have to bear? Everyone treats you like a rat crossing the street. No matter what they do in their lives, they'll always carry the stigma of 'family member of a murderer'! You may have a moment of pleasure, but how is your wife going to live? She'll have to spend the rest of her life in pain and resentment!"

Uncle Xu bit his lip. "I've bought insurance, and the beneficiary is her. If the policeman finds out, I'll commit suicide immediately so that she can get a large sum of money."

"Sigh!" Di Zhen knew that this man's hatred was too deep, so he changed his strategy. "Let's make a deal. You give up your original plan and use this method to kill someone for me. I'll give you money!"

Uncle Xu frowned and said, "So this is the reason why you didn't expose me? Don't even think about it. I'll never help you!"

"Why? In the end, you can get a large sum of money and live the decent life you want. Why not?"

"You don't understand anything!" Uncle Xu angrily slapped the table. "What I want isn't money. It's the dignity I've lost! Mao Renjie has to die!"

Di Zhen sneered. "What dignity can a murderer have? Being escorted into a prison van by the policeman, having your head shaved, wearing a prison uniform and walking into prison, being spurned by thousands of people, and being bullied like a dog by the bullies in prison. What dignity can you have? And what dignity will your wife have?"

Uncle Xu sat down. His mind was wavering. Just then, Di Zhen slowly reached out his hand and said, "Uncle Xu... go to sleep... go to sleep!"