Chapter 1 The Interrogation

Wang Bing’s words stunned everyone in the room.

After a full five seconds, Chief Chen stared, grabbed Wang Bing's collar, and said angrily, "What did you say?"

"I said, I don't know this person at all. I don't know who he is." Wang Bing pointed at Li Tianran, a mocking smile on his lips, and said each word clearly.

"You dare to commit perjury?" Chief Chen was amused by his audacity. He remembered clearly that just two hours ago, Wang Bing had confidently told them everything about Li Tianran organizing the self-defense force. And now, Wang Bing was saying he didn't know Li Tianran?

Was he kidding?

"I don't know what you're talking about." Wang Bing shook his head, staring into Chief Chen's eyes. "You inexplicably bring a stranger and ask me to identify him?"

Li Tianran frowned as well.

He licked his lips, unsure what Wang Bing was playing at.

He was the one who exposed Li Tianran earlier, and now he was saying he didn't know Li Tianran!

"He is Li Tianran. You confessed before that he was the leader who organized you to fight back against the Wells gang. You don't know him?" Chief Chen asked patiently, suppressing his anger.

"Li Tianran? What's that?" A touch of appropriate confusion appeared in Wang Bing's eyes. "What counterattack?"

"You're pretending to have amnesia?" Chief Chen was furious at Wang Bing's attitude.

"I'll say it again, I don't know who this person is at all, and I don't know what counterattack you're talking about…" Wang Bing said, word by word, "He has nothing to do with me."

"I'll be damned!" Chief Chen could no longer contain his anger and kicked Wang Bing in the stomach. The force sent Wang Bing staggering back three steps, his body bent like a shrimp, before he collapsed to his knees with a thud!

"Slap!"

Chief Chen walked up and grabbed Wang Bing's hair, yanking his face up.

He had always been short-tempered, and with the recent world changes, he hadn't had a good rest in a long time. On top of that, he had received some intangible criticism from above because of Wells, which had already put his emotions on edge.

Now, Wang Bing's about-face and retraction of his confession caused Chief Chen to explode.

"I'm telling you, don't try any tricks!" Chief Chen lowered his voice, his brow twitching as he said coldly, "We've recorded your confession. Even if you don't say anything now, we can still convict you, understand?"

Wang Bing took a difficult deep breath and then said, "I remember… the dark-faced military policeman didn't turn on the law enforcement recorder when he was questioning me. What can you do with just a confession that anyone can fake?"

Chief Chen was stunned.

"What the hell are you trying to do? You want to protect Li Tianran now?" Chief Chen's tone finally softened a bit. He frowned, lowered his voice, and spoke to Wang Bing, then suddenly seemed to remember something and sneered, "If you say you don't know him, and you don't admit to the previous confession, then how do you explain the stolen goods in your warehouse?"

"If you can't explain it, you can't clear your suspicion! You are a member of the grain-robbing gang!"

"Murder, grain robbery, multiple crimes combined, you'll definitely be shot!"

Chief Chen seemed to have grasped Wang Bing's weakness and said with a sneer.

The room fell silent.

Everyone's eyes were on Wang Bing.

Li Tianran sighed.

It seemed Wang Bing's defense was about to be broken.

He regretted his somewhat reckless actions of forming a self-defense force. In the current situation, any behavior that could potentially cause chaos might be considered a threat by the military police, regardless of identity or motive!

He could now see that the police's sudden change in attitude indicated that he might be treated as a "criminal."

After all, possessing firearms and organizing violent gangs were major crimes when wartime regulations were in effect.

The muscles in his arms slowly trembled, and his right hand reached for something in his pocket.

It was "Albino Corn."

Before coming to the police station, he had been carrying it with him, ready to deal with any emergency.

He had decided that if the military police really tried to do anything to him, he would use Albino Corn to strengthen himself and break through the encirclement with Han Han.

But… just then, Wang Bing suddenly looked at Li Tianran.

That look was extremely complex.

There was guilt, sadness, and anger after being deceived.

Then, Wang Bing laughed miserably twice and slowly said, "That's right… I am a member of the Wells gang. Those things in my warehouse are the stolen goods they gave me!"

Li Tianran was stunned, his hand reaching for Albino Corn suddenly stopped.

Chief Chen was also dumbfounded.

The other two military policemen looked at each other, not knowing what to say.

"My dad and I joined the Wells gang because we were short of food at home. During a grain robbery, my dad was injured and died. In order to prevent the police from suspecting us, I preemptively reported the crime, making the police mistakenly believe that we were the victims." Wang Bing's expression was miserable as he said, word by word, "Later, our team had internal strife because of the unequal distribution of stolen goods, and many people died in the internal war."

"I was lucky enough to survive, but I was afraid that the military police would find me after seeing the corpses, so I disposed of the bodies and returned home with the stolen goods."

"But I was unlucky and was targeted by Zhang Jun and his family. In order to prevent them from discovering my secret, I killed Zhang Jun. I originally wanted to kill his wife as well, but I wasn't lucky enough and ran into patrolling military police and was arrested."

Wang Bing's voice trembled slightly as he said, "That's how it happened. There is no self-defense force at all, and no leader!"

Silence.

Deathly silence.

Li Tianran slowly exhaled.

Chief Chen's breathing was heavy, like an old bellows, panting violently!

Wang Bing had actually taken all the blame on himself!

He had completely cleared Li Tianran!

"You… that's not what you said in your previous confession!" Chief Chen grabbed Wang Bing's collar with both hands and said through gritted teeth, "Why are you lying?"

"The previous confession? Heh… the dark-faced military policeman taught me to say that! He probably has a grudge against this young man named Li Tianran, so he wanted to use my confession to drag him down, but I had a pang of conscience and didn't want to do the evil deed of framing someone before I died." Wang Bing looked at Chief Chen with a mocking expression and said with a sneer.

"That's not what you said just now. Why are you lying?" Chief Chen grabbed Wang Bing's collar, repeating this sentence.

"That dark-faced military policeman didn't say that to me before either." Wang Bing lowered his voice, leaned close to Chief Chen's ear, and whispered, "You said you would reward the brave warriors! But… you broke your promise. You want to send the warriors who protect themselves and protect the people to prison."

"Little Li is my benefactor. He let me avenge my father with my own hands. How could I betray him?" Wang Bing's eyes were bloodshot, and he laughed maniacally, "You are all a bunch of faithless bastards. You deceived me, but at least…"

"At least I can use my life to repay his kindness!"