Chapter 517: That’s Robbery
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Just then, someone ran out from behind a pickup and roared, "D*mn *ssholes! What are you doing?!"
The man shouted as he threw himself at one of the big men. The big man pushed him away in a frantic effort and gave him a kick, cursing, "F*ck!"
Another man appeared before the big men; he moved at lightning speed and the men could only see blurred images of his movement; he moved in the dark as if he were a spirit.
The moment he appeared, he took down one big guy. He immediately he caught another man, grabbed him by the shoulders and judo flipped him.
A huge cat hopped on top of a pickup and clawed a big guy in the face. The big guy gave a miserable scream and hurriedly hopped into the truck to start the engine.
A very energetic puppy ran out from below the other truck, actively jumping about. From time to time, it would raise its head and howl, "Owwwuuu! Owwwuu!"
The situation in the parking lot was chaotic. The big men had to deal with the pain and were desperately scrambling to get inside their trucks. They started their pickups as fast as they could and sped away in a huff.
But just as the two pickups went onto the road, a loud, shrill police siren was heard!
Two Toyota police cars came into view from the intersection and quickly started chasing the unlicensed pickup. Each police car blocked one end of the read.
The two unlicensed trucks were unable to get away; they could only accept their fate and come to a stop.
A white policeman held a loudspeaker with his left hand while his right hand was on his holster; he shouted, "Everyone inside the vehicles listen up! Everyone inside the vehicles listen up! Please get out of the vehicles now! Please get out of the vehicle now!
"You have five seconds! Five seconds! Get out of the vehicle now, hands up and squat in front of your vehicle. I repeat..."
Big Beard Carl, Olly, and the others came running into the parking lot. Several trucks, including The Iron Knight, had their winds.h.i.+elds smashed to smithereens!
Not only that, there was a terrible stench coming from The Iron Knight. d.i.c.kens used his flashlight and saw a half-turned bucket of human feces stuck on the broken winds.h.i.+eld.
"F*ck!" The treasure hunters cursed in anger.
The men in the unlicensed trucks came out lifting up their hands and squatted in front of the vehicles. The police went up to handcuff them and dragged them into the police cars, ready to take them away.
Li Du and the Flagstaff treasure hunters ran over to the police. Compared to the enraged treasure hunters, Li was as cool as a cuc.u.mber, calm as always.
A police officer walked up to them and said, "All of you are the victims? Please come with us to the station to make a statement."
"Yes, officer—these people ransacked my truck. I want to sue them!"
Hearing Li"s words, one of the men being shoved into the police car became even more exasperated and angry. He stretched his neck and roared, "We didn"t do that! We only smashed your winds.h.i.+eld!"
There was no point in denying about breaking the winds.h.i.+elds. The police were there, apparently waiting for them, and had seen everything they had done.
However, smas.h.i.+ng winds.h.i.+elds was not a serious offense. At most they would be charged with vandalism. According to Arizona"s legislation, offenders only needed to pay a fine and perform community service.
Robbery was not as simple. It was considered a serious crime in any country. The greater the value of the things stolen, the more serious the crime.
The actions of the man irritated the police officers. They had been called to be on duty in the middle of the night, so they were already disgruntled. The actions of the big man made the police even more annoyed.
A police officer delivered a punch to the man"s belly and warned, "Watch yourself and go back into the car!"
The man yelped in agony; he dared not struggle but he still insisted, "We aren"t robbers! We only smashed the winds.h.i.+elds! We"re just venting our anger!"
"Officers, I didn"t make a false report," said Li Du. "Me and my buddy"s wallets were taken by them. You can conduct a search. If it"s not on them it must be inside their vehicles."
Hans appeared, limping. "Sue them!" he roared. "Sue these b*stards! They took my wallet and hit me!"
"That"s robbery," added Li Du. "These people robbed us!"
The police officers started to conduct a body search on the men. They found a wallet on one of them as well as a pouch in one of the pickups.
When the police opened the items, they found thick stacks of cash that totaled to 20,000 dollars!
The big men were dumbfounded and shocked.
The other man struggled and cried, "No, no, this is not the case! It"s not a robbery—"
The policemen took out their tasers and yelled, "Shut up! Stay quiet!"
The officers" att.i.tude changed when they realized they were dealing with a bunch of thieves.
The second man shouted miserably, "Officer, they planted the money themselves! They wanted to frame us!"
"And how did they frame you?" a police officer sneered. "They forced you to smash their truck? They forced you to hit them? Or they forced you to s.n.a.t.c.h their wallets?"
Hans rubbed his leg; he curled his lip in disgust and gritted his teeth. "Isn"t the Tucson Brotherhood powerful and fierce? Go on then: continue to bully us!"
The police brought Li Du and his friends back to the police station as well. They finished their statements around dawn. When they were about to leave, they saw Princeps and some of his men hurriedly make their way to the police station.
Both parties saw each other, and all of them had a similar expression: they glared darkly at each other.
Princeps started at Li Du and said, "I underestimated you, Miracle Boy. This trick of yours is so malicious that I should take my hat off to you!"
"Oh, really?" Li Du replied indifferently. "What did I do? Why don"t I know about it?"
A black man behind Princeps couldn"t contain his anger. "Don"t go too far, brother. Our men wanted to teach you a lesson—that we admit! But you actually framed them for robbery? That"s too much!"
Li Du scoffed. "Too much? Are you talking about me? I should be the one saying, "don"t go overboard!""
"Okay! Okay! Calm down! Let"s all calm down, okay?" Princeps said. "Li, come with me. We need to talk."
"Talk about what?" Li Du asked. "Just say it. There"s no need to avoid my friends."
Princeps frowned. He relaxed once again in no time and smiled. "Fine, there"s no need to avoid them. My men created trouble and I didn"t know that this would happen. I apologize to you here."
Li Du smiled as well but he cursed in his mind. To h.e.l.l with your apology. There"s no way that you didn"t know about this. You"re the one who gave the orders!
"We apologize," Princeps continued, "so would you retract the charges? We"re all from the same industry, pal. Why do you want make things so complicated?"
Hans cackled after listening to Princeps. "Why do I feel like these words sound familiar? I think I said that when your truck was blocking the exit? How did you and your men respond then?"
Princeps appeared dumbstruck. When he recalled what had happened in the evening, he was embarra.s.sed.
"I"m not as unreasonable as you, pal," said Li Du. "I don"t want to go that far either. If you want me to retract the charges, you"ll have to think of a good reason to convince me to do so."