The weapon by the pillow

Chapter 69 I really don't want to eat... a boxed lunch.

"A guinea pig! Haha! To become your guinea pig... isn't so easy!"

Beside a grand armchair, a woman laughed.

"White mouse! I like that name... at least it's not as difficult to deal with as those man-eating beasts!" The white-haired old man squinted, staring thoughtfully at the conversation between the policewoman and a man in pajamas on the screen.

"Too clever...that's a problem!" the old man said again. "He knew we were monitoring her, yet he revealed such an important clue about Liu Li. What does that mean?"

"Perhaps... he only realized we were watching him after he said it!" The woman was unconvinced. She couldn't accept the old man's constant praise of others' intelligence. "After all, someone who has just woken up from an absurd drama will still reveal many flaws..."

"If it weren't for Liu Li, we wouldn't have left this loophole..." the old man sighed. "Speaking of which, their goal is now the same as ours... The most urgent thing is to find this woman whom everyone thought was hanged! To find out the secrets hidden behind her... secrets that even I don't know!"

"Yes, yes... but look, these two lab rats have run into trouble again..." the man next to him said nervously, while reporting on another matter, "The fire on the internet was extinguished very quickly... it barely alarmed the higher-ups. The joint investigation team for online public opinion that was urgently established this morning... was also canceled because it didn't have much negative impact... but... it's possible that a few people will still be found responsible and punished for dereliction of duty..."

However, the white-haired old man no longer cared much about this topic.

His eyes were glued to the tablet. On the tablet, a policewoman and a man in pajamas appeared to be arguing…

"Men..." the woman beside her murmured.

Yes, right there in Cheng Tan's room, the man's hormones suddenly surged...

Cheng Tan simply winked at Cheng Jing, a mischievous glint in his eyes.

Unintentionally, a flush appeared on his face.

With a nonchalant air, he chuckled and asked, "You beautiful lady, you've been asking me all morning, shouldn't you be done already? Now, are you going to ask about my personal life? My work history, dating history, marital status, or even my sex life... Let me tell you, I'm not telling you any of that! If I'm going to tell you, it'll be in your police station, while we're eating our boxed lunches, all alone!"

He deliberately dragged out the sound of the word "sex," paired with a nonchalant expression, perfectly embodying a glib and slick young man from the streets.

"You...you're a scoundrel!" Cheng Jing's face darkened, but a knowing glint flashed in her eyes.

She feigned annoyance, stepped forward, and grabbed Cheng Tan's arm with great force, but Cheng Tan could feel that her fingers were controlling the strength perfectly.

"Ouch! The police are hitting people!" Cheng Tan shouted, but his body nimbly dodged and broke free from Cheng Jing's grasp. At the same time, he turned and darted towards the door.

"Stop!" Cheng Jing shouted sharply and chased after him.

Cheng Tan flung open the door—

With a "whoosh," two young policemen in plainclothes, who were listening intently through the crack in the door, were caught off guard and almost stumbled inside, their faces still showing the gossip they hadn't had time to hide.

"Hey! Good morning, officers! Have you heard enough? The pretty policewoman was taking advantage of you..." Cheng Tan grinned, but his steps faltered at the unexpected scene.

"Go ahead and run! Why aren't you running anymore?!" Taking advantage of the opportunity, Cheng Jing darted forward, her movements clean and swift. She grabbed Cheng Tan's arm and twisted it at the joint. With her other hand, she pulled out handcuffs from her lower back. With a crisp "click," the cold stainless steel rings firmly handcuffed Cheng Tan's right wrist. Immediately afterward, Cheng Jing deftly looped the other end of the handcuffs around the radiator pipe by the door, and with another "click," she handcuffed Cheng Tan's left hand as well.

Now, Cheng Tan was pinned to the radiator pipe by the door, unable to move.

"Come on! You want a boxed lunch? Easy peasy!" Cheng Jing clapped her hands, looking down at him with a cold smile. "Come back to the station with me, and there'll be plenty of boxed lunches! Plain and watery, I guarantee you'll question your existence!"

"No, no, no! Sisters, I was wrong! I was really wrong!" Cheng Tan suddenly seemed to wake up from a dream, her face showing fear and regret. She struggled to get up, her wrists rattling against the handcuffs and the radiator pipe. "You...you really came to arrest me? I was just joking! I...I was just taking advantage of you, okay?! I'll cooperate with the investigation...I'm not going to the station! I'm scared!"

This tactic was very effective; the two policemen eavesdropping outside the door both wore expressions of "serves them right" and "if only we had known."

Ignoring his wails, Cheng Jing turned to the two plainclothes officers and said, "Xiao Wang and Xiao Li, keep a close eye on him. I'll go tell Chen Ming to get a car over here to take him back for a detailed statement. This guy is very cunning; he just tried to assault a police officer and escape. The case might be more complicated than we thought, so we need to keep a close eye on him."

"Yes, Captain Cheng!" The two young policemen immediately straightened their backs, became serious, and stood on either side of Cheng Tan, who was handcuffed, with wary eyes.

Cheng Jing glanced at Cheng Tan again, her gaze cold and stern, leaving no room for compromise.

She turned and walked quickly towards the stairwell, seemingly to contact the vehicle.

Cheng Tan leaned against the cold wall and heating pipes, head down, muttering under his breath things like "injustice" and "just a joke," but out of the corner of his eye, he keenly scanned the corridor outside the door and the faint sounds coming from downstairs.

There are too many cameras here.

He didn't know if this impromptu "performance" could fool any potential surveillance, but in their brief eye contact and physical contact, he and Cheng Jing had reached a tacit understanding—he needed to be "officially" taken away from this potentially unsafe home, and Cheng Jing needed a "reasonable" reason to place him in a relatively controllable environment.

Assaulting a police officer, attempted escape, increased suspicion—these are all excellent excuses.

His rascal-like tone about "boxed lunches" and "speaking alone" was part of the performance, meant to confuse potential eavesdroppers and also to convey a vague message to Cheng Jing: he had some more private, perhaps more unspeakable, clues or speculations that needed to be discussed in a safer and more private environment.

The hallway was quiet, save for the faint sounds of distant city noise and the clatter of doors opening and closing next door. Two young policemen were dutifully guarding him, but their eyes betrayed a hint of boredom and laxity.

After all, a skinny programmer handcuffed to a radiator pipe doesn't really look like much of a threat.

About ten minutes later, footsteps were heard at the bottom of the stairs.

Cheng Jing returned, followed by Chen Ming.

Chen Ming's expression was not good, as if he had just been scolded by Cheng Jing, and his gaze towards Cheng Tan was also somewhat complicated.

"The car's been contacted; it's downstairs," Cheng Jing said to the two plainclothes officers. "You two go down first and tell the driver what's going on. Chen Ming, you come with me and take him down. Be careful; this guy's got a lot of tricks up his sleeve."

"Yes." The two plainclothes officers responded and went downstairs.

Cheng Jing walked up to Cheng Tan, took out a key, and unlocked the handcuffs on the end connected to the heating pipe, but Cheng Tan's hands were still cuffed together. She forcefully pulled Cheng Tan up from the wall.

"Let's go, Mr. Cheng. The bureau's boxed lunch is waiting for you," Cheng Jing said coldly.