Chapter 116: Are You Crazy?
A deep voice finally broke the long silence on the other end of the line: "Are you nuts?"
"You’re the one who’s nuts!"
Wang Quan shouted into the phone, "I’m not joking around. I really got beaten up by Zhu Bajie and Bald Qiang!"
"You’re joking and making a false police report! Be careful, or I’ll arrest you!"
Wang Quan wanted to cry but had no tears: "Officer, I’m telling the truth!"
"Both of them were wearing masks, one as Zhu Bajie and the other as Bald Qiang!" Wang Quan knew that not many people might believe what he said, but that’s exactly what happened.
"Are you sure?"
"I’m sure. I’m now at Nanshan Villa, Block 3, Unit 4. Name: Wang Quan, ID number XXXX...XXX." Wang Quan rattled off his address, name, and ID to convince the police.
"Please wait, we’ll send someone over immediately!"
As the call ended, Wang Quan slowly stood up from the ground, glanced at the woman, and said, "What are you standing there for? When the police arrive, are you going to still be wearing that outfit?"
The woman stuck out her tongue and hurriedly started to undress. Right now, Wang Quan was in no mood for fun and got up to go to the living room.
Lin Tian and Wu Yong sprinted all the way down the mountain.
Wu Yong plopped down on the ground, "I can’t go on, let’s take a break. I’m exhausted!"
Lin Tian also sat down, "Let’s rest. I can’t run anymore!"
"What about these things?" Wu Yong asked while taking a break.
"We’ll find a trash bin and throw them away, but we need to scatter them to prevent Wang Quan from reporting to the police and getting discovered!" Lin Tian still played it safe.
No sooner said than done; as the two sat in a small grove, a flashing police car sped past on the street in the direction of the mountain road.
"It must be the owner of that house who called the police!"
"Let’s get out of here!" Wu Yong suddenly felt a bit panicked.
"Hurry up, let’s go!" Lin Tian was getting worried about getting caught by the police, not to mention Wu Yong, whose first reaction was to run away quickly.
As they walked back, they disposed of the contents of the bag into trash bins, one item per bin, taking a long time to finally deal with everything before reaching the city.
At Wang Quan’s house in Nanshan Villa, Captain Ning entered with two colleagues.
"Are you Wang Quan?" Captain Ning asked.
Wang Quan nodded: "Yes, Officer!"
"You reported being beaten up by Zhu Bajie and Bald Qiang?" Ning asked with a frown.
When he first received the call, he suspected someone was joking around after drinking, but seeing Wang Quan’s face covered in bruises, he knew it wasn’t a joke.
"That’s right. Tonight, two people sneaked into my house, one wearing a Zhu Bajie mask and the other a Bald Qiang mask, and they beat me up!" Wang Quan recounted simply, omitting some embarrassing details.
"Have you offended anyone recently?" Ning asked.
Getting beaten up usually means you’ve pissed someone off; otherwise, why would they retaliate?
"Offended someone?"
Wang Quan shook his head, "No, how could a model citizen like me offend anyone?"
Although he said this, in his heart, Wang Quan thought of everyone he might have offended. Who would have had the guts to mess with him like this?
Thinking it over, the only person he could think of was Bai Shishi.
Maybe she bore a grudge over the Wang Ba incident.
But after all, she’s a woman. Would she even come up with such a plan?
What’s more, Wang Quan was ninety percent sure those two masked people were men.
So, he ultimately ruled Bai Shishi out.
"Are you sure?"
Ning didn’t quite believe him. From the many cases he’d handled, Wang Quan definitely offended someone to have been beaten up.
Otherwise, why would two people wear masks?
"I don’t think I’ve offended anyone recently!"
"And even if I did offend someone, do you think they’d sneak into my home just to beat me up? Isn’t that too lenient for me?" Wang Quan said, gauging the opponent’s thoughts.
"So, in your view, they should’ve kidnapped you for ransom?" Ning found Wang Quan’s words funny.
"But they neither kidnapped you nor asked for money, so it wasn’t about robbery or murder; it’s just a beating to vent some anger!" Ning gave his analysis.
"But I really haven’t offended anyone!" Wang Quan racked his brains and finally suspected Bai Shishi again.
"I do have a suspect though!"
"What’s their name?" Ning took out a pen and started to jot down notes.
"Bai Shishi!" Wang Quan said.
"Bai Shishi?" Ning found the name familiar, then remembered that woman he saw wearing a funeral garment late one night.
"What? You know Bai Shishi?" Wang Quan noticed Ning acting a bit strange.
"No, I don’t!" Ning shook his head!
He then instructed the two colleagues behind him: "Search the house to see if there’s anything suspicious!"
"Huh?" Wang Quan was taken aback, "Can’t you not search?"
"No, since you reported it, I have to follow procedure!"
What Ning said was very official: "Since the suspects broke into the house to beat you, they’d definitely leave some suspicious clues behind!"
"Alright then!" Wang Quan initially wanted to refuse Ning the search.
After all, there were some shady things in that bedroom.
Ning watched as the two colleagues began searching the house and suddenly remembered to ask Wang Quan: "Where was the primary crime scene?"
"Huh?" Wang Quan was stunned, "What do you mean by primary crime scene?"
"I mean the place where you were attacked," Ning explained simply.
"Well... well..." Wang Quan hesitated, unable to verbalize it.
"What’s there to hold back on saying?"
Seeing Wang Quan’s troubled expression, Ning frowned. Could there be other hidden truths in this case?
"Sigh... come with me!" Wang Quan made a decision in his heart and led Ning upstairs.
When the bedroom door was opened, Ning went in, and his jaw dropped in shock.
"This is... too..." Ning didn’t even know how to describe the bedroom.
It was filled with a myriad of odd outfits from games, anime, movies—everything was there.
Anyone who didn’t know better would think they’d walked into a movie set’s prop room.
"Sorry for the sight!"
Wang Quan scratched his head awkwardly on the side.
"This is where you got attacked?" Ning confirmed once more.
After seeing the room full of outfits, the phone report about being beaten by Zhu Bajie and Bald Qiang made sense.
Even if it were the Great Sage Equal to Heaven Sun Wukong that beat him, it would be understandable; this Wang Quan who called in must be a lunatic.
"That’s right!" Wang Quan nodded, not daring to meet Ning’s eyes.
Ning crouched down to closely examine the wooden floor of the bedroom: "These two have a pretty strong counter-surveillance sense. The floor has clearly been tidied up!"
"So, what now?" Wang Quan asked, sounding as if he’d been told they wouldn’t catch the culprits.
"Hopefully we’ll find something in other areas!" Ning said, standing up, and after a glance at Wang Quan, he turned to leave.