Chapter 14: Intense Interrogation

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Zhang Xiao could not have made that call, because the other members of the second squad arrived quickly, cameras in hand. If it had been another kind of scene, they might have been a bit slower, but hearing it was a prostitution crackdown—an active arrest—there was no time to waste! Twisting the throttle to the max, the motorcycle seemed to flash forward, arriving at the scene in an instant.

Zhou Liang, in his early thirties and still unmarried, his eyes shining with interest, said, “The world is really going downhill; people’s hearts have changed. Even foreign women have started working the streets now?”

“Honestly, I must say, the figure is quite... ample... and fair...” Chen Sheng tugged at Zhou Liang’s arm. “Don’t say nonsense, watch your words!” After speaking, Chen Sheng’s face flushed with embarrassment as he lowered his head.

The young man fresh out of the police academy not only lacked work experience but also had a very thin skin. He had never encountered such a scene before and would have preferred not to come here if not pulled along by Zhou Liang.

“What impact? We are the police; they are suspects. If you don’t keep an eye on them and they pull out a weapon, won’t we be in danger?” Zhou Liang looked seriously at Chen Sheng. “Little Chen, you’re new; there’s a lot you still need to learn.”

Xiao Ziguang set up the camera, then signaled Zhou Liang to help convert the hotel room into an interrogation room temporarily. Xiao Ziguang would conduct the questioning, Zhou Liang would take notes, and Chen Sheng watched the camera.

Luan Jin’an smoked outside, waiting for the TV station’s interview crew. Through coordination with the Public Security Bureau’s publicity department, this prostitution crackdown would be made into a model case and broadcast in the evening news.

“Name, gender, age, workplace...” Xiao Ziguang asked in a formal tone.

Zhang Xiao refused to answer. “Officer, you just hit me with a rubber baton; my whole body aches, and I feel dizzy. I need to go to the hospital, I need to see a doctor...”

Bang! Zhou Liang slammed his palm on the table and pointed at Zhang Xiao, shouting angrily, “I advise you to cooperate and stop playing tricks.”

“You’re torturing me! I’m already injured! This isn’t playing games; I really hurt. Do you want to enforce the law violently, beat me into confessing, or even cause a fatal tragedy you can’t undo later?”

Zhang Xiao was very articulate and knew the legal codes well. If he held firm, claiming Xiao Ziguang used violence, it could complicate matters. What should have been a big problem might be minimized or dismissed, then later they could find ways to deal with Xiao Ziguang.

A sly old fox indeed.

But Xiao Ziguang was well prepared. Seeing Zhang Xiao refusing to cooperate, he said, “Zhang Xiao, since you’re a judge, you should understand the principle that confessing leads to leniency, and resisting leads to severity. I hope from now on you cooperate with our work.”

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“Who’s Zhang Xiao? Who works in the courts? I don’t understand what you’re saying,” Zhang Xiao played dumb. “My whole body hurts, my head is spinning. I want to go to the hospital, I want to see a doctor...”

“According to the law, we can detain you for seventy-two hours...”

“Did you learn your law from your mistress? According to the law, public security cases are twenty-four hours, criminal cases forty-eight hours! Soliciting prostitution is at most a public security case. How can you detain me for seventy-two hours?”

Zhang Xiao finished his speech with a smug look, but the smile lasted less than three seconds before he sensed something was wrong. His words seemed like an indirect admission of soliciting prostitution.

Xiao Ziguang smiled gently. “You really are a judge, more familiar with the law than we are. Since detention is twenty-four hours, then we can talk it out slowly.”

“If you want to stall us, then stall! But I must warn you: if certain organs don’t get blood circulation for too long, they’ll become necrotic. Even if you’re punished for solicitation, your ‘tool’ will have to be removed due to necrosis. From then on, no matter how much you want to learn a foreign language, you won’t have the ‘tool’ to commit the crime.”

Zhou Liang, who was diligently taking notes, couldn’t help but laugh, and even Chen Sheng had to suppress a grin.

Everyone here was a police officer, trained to stay professional, and usually wouldn’t laugh unless the situation was extraordinary.

Faced with Xiao Ziguang’s threat, Zhang Xiao’s expression changed repeatedly. He knew his own condition well. If he delayed much longer, necrosis was inevitable.

Just as Zhang Xiao hesitated, a foreign woman spoke up, “I’m in the flesh trade; this old man is an old client...”

Xiao Ziguang quickly asked, “Do you have evidence?”

“There’s two hundred yuan in my clothes—that’s his payment, the ‘meat money’!” The foreigner was not a local and struggled to express herself clearly in limited Chinese vocabulary.

“That’s not called ‘meat money,’ it’s ‘prostitution fee’!” Xiao Ziguang put on gloves, took out an evidence bag, and found two hundred yuan in the foreign woman’s clothes.

“The money will have your fingerprints. Now we have witness testimony and physical evidence. Zhang Xiao, Judge Zhang, do you have anything to say?”

Xiao Ziguang saw Zhang Xiao waver and knew one final push was needed. “Your body is yours, and your job is just a job. If you refuse to cooperate with us, we’ll have to handle this strictly by the book!”

Zhang Xiao looked into Xiao Ziguang’s unusually determined eyes and knew he wasn’t joking. Life was a constant weighing of gains and losses, making choices.

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What could be gained by stubbornly resisting? The chance of acquittal was almost zero! What could be lost was too much—happiness in life and happiness below the waist would both vanish.

Zhang Xiao gritted his teeth and made the choice most beneficial to himself: “I am Judge Zhang Xiao. Today, because I learned the word ‘money,’ I gave a two hundred yuan tip, and to reinforce the lesson, I rewarded myself again...”

Damn those knowledge points, suddenly and inexplicably invading Xiao Fei’s mind. From now on, whenever he heard the word ‘money,’ the image of the embarrassed Zhang Xiao would immediately come to mind.

During interrogation, once a suspect starts speaking, their confession tends to flow like beans pouring from a bamboo tube.

Xiao Ziguang wouldn’t miss this chance to strike while the iron was hot: “Since you mentioned rewarding yourself, I hope you can honestly answer—how many times did you reward yourself?”

One offense of soliciting prostitution differs from multiple offenses. Zhang Xiao wanted to lie, but recalling the foreign woman accusing him of being a regular, he found it hard to answer. He shook his head weakly: “I can’t remember. My head hurts. I have high blood pressure...”

“You don’t have to volunteer information. We’ll investigate your case thoroughly. As long as you booked rooms at the hotel, there should be registration records. If we put in some effort, we’ll find clues.”

“Now I’m giving you one last chance: will you confess voluntarily, or shall we investigate?”

Feeling the pressure, the man who had been faking illness now realized how terribly wrong he had been. He had been too flamboyant and careless with details. Now, trying to clean up the mess was difficult.

“Three times. More than three times...” After saying this, Zhang Xiao lowered his head like a defeated fighter.

A smile appeared at the corner of Xiao Ziguang’s mouth. Half the battle was won; now it was time for a complete victory!

The humiliation Xiao Ziguang suffered in his past life was deeply etched into his bones. This life, he vowed to send Zhang Xiao to the eighteenth level of hell, never to rise again.