An Ying was startled for a moment.The atmosphere inside the interrogation suddenly seemed to become cold.
He just suddenly stopped answering.
He didn"t talk, nor did he look at Bai Muchuan. His pale face under the light seemed dejected and his eyes were blank…
Xiang Wan"s eyes were glued to An Ying - she did not want to miss any of his expressions.
When a man falls into a panicked silence in the face of a sudden, unexpected question, it was proof that the question had struck him.
Was it a soft spot? Or something he didn"t want anyone to know? Or were there other reasons?
Living things might look alike, but minds were not.
The mind was a complicated thing for one might not even understand themselves well.
That moment, what he portrayed to them, was his true self.
For a long time, Bai Muchuan didn"t speak.
It was like the two of them were competing with each other in terms of patience. Between them was an invisible aura and pressure.
"Why do you ask that?" An Ying finally gave a response.
That response was also a defeat, psychologically.
Whoever opened their mouth first loses.
Xiang Wan saw powerlessness in An Ying"s eyes while Bai Muchuan saw his defeated emotion.
"You"re not someone who has the ability to come in contact with the foreign forces."
Bai Muchuan"s words were, in fact, cutting.
An Ying, however, laughed at the hurting remark.
"You seem to understand me very well."
Bai Muchuan smiled. "Maybe."
An Ying was startled for a moment before narrowing his eyes and sharpening his gaze.
He seemed to be recalling something as he examined Bai Muchuan"s face.
However, he couldn"t find anything about this cold and dignified detective in his memory. So, he gave up, smiling faintly at him and regaining his composure.
"You"re right. Indeed, I don"t have the ability to contact them. However, I do have enough power to make them come looking for me instead. If it"s not specifically me, it could be because of the Dark Clan."
That was some information he provided.
Bai Muchuan nodded his head.
"Who"s the one who contacted you?"
That was what they wanted to know.
An Ying had answered his question unknowingly.
Every question he answered was tedious for him.
And after his every reply, there would be another more important question awaiting him.
Bai Muchuan was an interrogation expert. An Ying was soon feeling a little overwhelmed.
"It"s a stranger. He looked me up and told me about Operation Heaven"s Wrath. He also said that I would receive a huge sum of money as funding as well as supply us the drugs… I had no reason to refuse a deal like this…
"A stranger? What is he like? When and where did you meet him? Who else was there when you met him? How did he locate your whereabouts?"
"Umm…"
An Ying deliberated for a moment. "I met him in a hotel. He knocked on my door without anyone acting as an in-between. He also seemed to understand me very well. There weren"t many formalities between us. Mm, he"s a straightforward person… Hmm, he should be around 30 years old and looked kinda refined, as well as scholarly. Just one look and you"ll think that he is a good person."
"…"
Just one look was enough to know that he was a good person.
A good person…
A good person…
A corner of Xiang Wan"s lips twitched.
Bai Muchuan showed a contemptuous smile. "It"s such a waste that you are not a screenwriter for the broadcasting station."
An Ying"s body twitched a little and he looked at him. "I don"t understand what you"re trying to say."
Bai Muchuan enunciated every syllable. "You"re lying!"
An Ying replied immediately. "I didn"t."
Bai Muchuan looked at him coldly. "You"re an extremely cautious person. After Cui Ming"s death, how would you simply receive a stranger at the hotel? How in the world would you agree with a stranger who told you such things, and you could actually reach an agreement with him immediately? Are you not in the least worried that it might be the police setting you up? What"s more, by not giving a clear account of what I"ve asked—who was with you, a more specific time range and location, it simply means that you"re trying to avoid answering them… Wei Gang, it"s not so easy to deceive the police."
After saying this, Bai Muchuan opened the dossier before him and showed a cold smile.
"Do you know how many discrepancies there are in your statements?"
An Ying remained quiet for a while.
He was unable to guess what Bai Muchuan would say.
However, Bai Muchuan had an unhurried and composed look as he smiled. "In four interrogations, there are 13 discrepancies found in your answers!"
Besides lying, they couldn"t think of other reasons for the discrepancies.
For events that he had not experienced himself, it was tough to maintain a consistent statement as he made up the facts.
Unless he was well-versed in criminal activities where covering up tracks and lying were his expertise.
Obviously, An Ying did not fall under this category.
"Even if you have to make up stories, you should cook up a more convincing one."
Bai Muchuan tossed the dossier on the table heavily.
"Just spill. We are especially patient tonight."
An Ying seemed a little disheartened. "I didn"t…"
He gulped and wanted to argue. Yet when he faced Bai Muchuan"s gaze and opened his mouth to talk, he actually asked a question out of the blue.
"Detective Bai, have we ever met before?"
Bai Muchuan raised an eyebrow. "You"ve met me several times. Whether before you got caught or after you got caught, you"ve been scheming against me, isn"t it?"
"No! I don"t mean that." An Ying narrowed his eyes and seemed to be trying to recall his memory. "It should be many years ago," he seemed a little distracted. "Yeah, very long ago… I"m sure that we must have met somewhere before…"
Bai Muchuan did not say another word.
The next moment, An Ying seemed appalled, as though he thought of something.
"… You"re from there?!"
Bai Muchuan"s face gradually turned cold.
After remaining silent for about 10 seconds, he responded coolly, "Yes."
That question was out of nowhere, and Bai Muchuan actually answered it. That made the rest of them baffled.
He"s from there? What did he mean by "there"? they thought.
How did these two people meet many years ago?
Ding Yifan and Tang Yuanchu looked at each other in bewilderment.
Xiang Wan, however, felt a tug in her heart.
The Special Training School!
An Ying used to be an instructor there.
An Ying must have met the younger Bai Muchuan then.
It seemed evident that Bai Muchuan knew about Wei Gang"s past.
It was simply because Bai Muchuan had grown up that An Ying didn"t recognize him until now.
"No wonder…" An Ying gave a bitter laugh.
It was no wonder that Bai Muchuan was so certain that he didn"t have the ability to make contact with the foreign forces.
Back then when he was teaching at the special school, he was weak and cowardly.
The princ.i.p.al, the instructors or teachers alike, all of them would bully him… The most notorious one was Feng Min, who was killed in one of the "zombie" cases—it was actually planned by An Ying himself. This was because Feng Min and some other instructors used to bully An Ying as entertainment.
During that time, whenever An Ying suffered such treatment, he would vent his frustrations on the students.
"Since you"re from there, you should know that I was being accused." Hatred flashed across An Ying"s eyes. "I wasn"t involved in those evil deeds that Feng Min and the others did. They didn"t want me involved as well… I"m innocent. I even went to jail because of this. I lost everything but n.o.body came forward to do me justice."
"I don"t know about that," said Bai Muchuan in a tepid tone.
After a momentary pause, the corners of his lips quirked upwards into a cold sneer.
"Back then, all the instructors in that school, none of them were innocent."
"…"
An Ying fell back to his chair, his face was ashen and he looked distraught.
"I"m not involved, not involved at all…"
"Even though you"re not directly involved in those sins, you"re also considered an accomplice by choosing to keep quiet!" Bai Muchuan glared at him mercilessly. "You think that you"re innocent but in actual fact, the court back then has already given you the best sentence!"
"No!" An Ying"s pitch became higher as he looked at Bai Muchuan with a stern countenance. "You don"t know anything at all! All of you knew nothing about me back then. I"ve never hit you before, right? I"ve never humiliated you before, right?"
The moment he blurted all these, Tang Yuanchu and Ding Yifan looked over at Bai Muchuan.
Shock was on their faces.