Reborn Cat Sheriff

Chapter 502 It’s hard to persuade the damn ghost with good words
Ringo's sense of smell has never been limited to just smelling the scents of living things.

Or rather, most creatures with a high sense of smell can easily distinguish the subtle differences between various vehicle exhaust fumes.

Of course, since that stuff doesn't smell good, very few animals would do that. Occasionally, however, there are a few oddball cats and dogs with peculiar tastes who have an inexplicable fondness for car exhaust.

In short, Lin Ge didn't spend much effort to accurately locate the car that had taken Tong Yang away. The car remained stationary for several minutes before leaving, which is unusual for a taxi or ride-hailing vehicle. Therefore, it's highly likely that Tong Yang and the driver knew each other and had even spoken for a while before the car drove off. This also explains why so many people searched everywhere without finding Tong Yang; the real reason is that someone in Changshi was covering for him!

Gee!

"I knew it! So that's why that kid was so determined to escape the quarantine hotel. He had something to hide! He probably had some ulterior motive in Changshi, and time was of the essence, which is why he was forced to take the drastic measure of escape."

Lin Ge squinted and squatted on Zhao Zhigang's lap. The slightest movement made Zhao Zhigang's mouth twitch uncontrollably.

He's already traumatized by the cat; that kick he received earlier really hurt.

But seeing Mimi motionless, sniffing the scents outside the window, Zhao Zhigang didn't dare disturb her. He could only support Lin Ge to prevent her from falling while turning back to discuss Tong Yang's specific situation with Li Mengfei.

With Tong Yang's return from Myanmar now revealed, everyone has new speculations about his identity and motives for coming to Changshi. This period coincides with a crucial time of economic 'transformation' in Myanmar, gradually shifting from a drug-based economy to a telecom fraud economy. The Burmese are constantly eyeing China. Telecom fraud requires the participation of many people and collusion between insiders and outsiders; no one can guarantee whether Tong Yang is one of them.

Last year, over a hundred cases of smuggling, trafficking, or being tricked into going to Myanmar were reported in the southern province. Many people see Myanmar as a place to make big money, unaware that they will become someone else's "money" to be earned. This chaotic country has a long tradition of turning people into "pigs." In the past, people were tricked into cultivating drug plants or having their organs harvested, and despite repeated warnings and public education campaigns from the government, many still blindly fell for it. In the past two years, while such cases have decreased as Myanmar has sought to transform its economy, cases of people being tricked into going there for kidnapping and extortion or being recruited into fraud rings have increased.

For decades, to the police, Myanmar has always been a filthy, chaotic place, and there's absolutely no point in ordinary people going there. Both Myanmar and Vietnam have always been notorious havens for scammers.

"Scam groups in Myanmar and marriage scams involving Vietnamese brides have become pillar industries in their countries. It's a pity some people are just plain stupid; the more we try to warn them, the more they oppose us! We tell them not to go, but they still try to smuggle themselves across! And then they get extorted and kidnapped, their families desperately pleading with us for help! We're not border guards, what can a lowly policeman do? At this point, besides paying ransoms, appeasing them, and trying to contact the embassy to put pressure on them, do you think we can just fly over and conquer their country in the blink of an eye? That's giving us too much credit!"

When the topic of his anger came up, Li Mengfei slammed his fist into the car door.

"And then there are those stupid old bachelors who go abroad specifically to buy brides! We can't really control the freedom of marriage, and we can't stop those damn devils no matter how much we try to persuade them! In the end, their foreign wives run off with all the money in the house, and then they think of calling the police? But what the hell is the use of calling the police now? If they were still in the country, it would be fine, but who the hell can do anything about it if they're abroad? Now they know how to force us to cause trouble for the matchmaking agency, but didn't I warn you before you signed the marriage certificate?"

The more Li Mengfei thought about it, the angrier she became. She punched the car door again, causing Jin Haisheng, who was driving, to twitch at the corner of his mouth. "Damn it, this is a company car! Don't you care about the damage from venting your anger like this?"

"Don't you work at the airport police station? How come this kind of thing is under your jurisdiction?"

Zhao Zhigang was stunned for a moment.

"I used to work at the municipal bureau, where I was in charge of economic cases. But the pressure was just too much, and too many people wouldn't listen to advice! I couldn't take it anymore, so I applied for a transfer to the airport, hoping to avoid the hassle. Sigh..."

Li Mengfei sighed.

"..."

Zhao Zhigang was speechless, only relieved that such incidents were relatively rare in Zhangzhou. Hmm, it seems there are advantages to living in a small place; there aren't as many unpleasant things to deal with when trying to integrate with international standards.

The discussion of Myanmar weighed heavily on everyone's minds. No matter how chaotic the place was, it was still a country! How could the problems between nations be changed by the grievances of a few ordinary citizens? Even if a country wanted to try to change things, it could only do so slowly, addressing issues step by step. Expecting a war to be waged against a country because an ordinary citizen was deceived is something that only exists in wish-fulfillment novels.

Moreover, some people have brought this upon themselves, so where do they get the audacity to ask the police to uphold justice for them?

We're just lowly police officers, not superheroes who wear their underwear on the outside!

"Ouch!"

While they were chatting, Lin Ge suddenly roared, causing Jin Haisheng to slam on the brakes, almost causing a car following too closely to crash into them.

The driver, who was driving with one hand, smoking with the other, and chatting with the woman in the passenger seat, was suddenly terrified.

He was about to unleash a torrent of curses when he suddenly noticed the distinctive markings on the license plate of the car in front of him. Seeing several police officers and armed police hurriedly emerging from the vehicle, he dared not utter another sound, quickly turned the steering wheel, and stealthily drove away.

Zhao Zhigang and his group ignored the guy and instead followed Lin Ge's directions to a hot pot restaurant on the side of the road.

The sidewalk in front of the store was completely blocked by various cars. As Lin Ge moved a little closer, he smelled Tong Yang's scent on one of the black Nissans, as well as the scent of another person near the driver's seat.

What puzzled Lin Ge was that there seemed to have been more than two or three people in the car before; the mixed smells suggested there were as many as four or five people. After parking the car, these people went straight into the hot pot restaurant and didn't move around again.

Lin Ge squinted and stopped squatting down next to the Nissan.

"Is this the car? Is the person inside the store?"

Zhao Zhigang had partnered with Lin Ge many times and understood the meaning behind some of Lin Ge's actions.

He followed Lin Ge's gaze and saw that although it wasn't lunchtime yet, there were already two or three tables of customers dining in the hot pot restaurant. Looking through the window, he could see a group of people enjoying their meal at a table near the kitchen door at the far end of the restaurant.

There were five people at the table, four of whom were young, and the other looked to be in his forties or fifties. They were talking animatedly, passing around a cell phone. From this angle, you could see the table was covered with beer bottles, and there were many empty bottles on the floor. These people were having a great time, and the atmosphere seemed very lively. Something they were talking about seemed to be making them eager to try it themselves.

"is it him?"

Zhao Zhigang looked back at Li Mengfei; Tong Yang's photo was in his phone's contact group.

"It's this little rascal!"

Li Mengfei nodded through gritted teeth, indicating that he would recognize that kid named Tong Yang even if he were reduced to ashes. Furthermore, memorizing facial features is a police specialty; they rely on this to catch fugitives.

"Should we just go in and arrest them?"

Jin Haisheng rarely took the initiative to speak, and even seemed somewhat eager to try. To be honest, even as an armed police officer, he didn't have many opportunities for real combat. After all, the domestic situation is different from that abroad; not many people dare to be arrogant in front of the armed police.

"Gehua, you watch their car and guard the gate! The three of us will go in and arrest them, Mimi, you..."

Before Li Mengfei could even finish making arrangements, Lin Ge voluntarily walked towards the hot pot restaurant's entrance. Li Mengfei still looked down on him, which annoyed Lin Ge. A few ordinary people? He could handle three of them with just his cat!

"Let's go!"

Zhao Zhigang adjusted the baton tucked into his waistband, patted Li Mengfei on the shoulder, and pushed open the glass door of the hot pot restaurant first.

"Welcome the light..."

The waiter greeted them reflexively, but before he could finish speaking, he was startled by the professional attire of the three people in front of him. His stunned expression even attracted the attention of other people in the restaurant, while only Tong Yang's table continued their lively discussion.

"Let me tell you, this deal is absolutely lucrative! One round trip, at least one slap in the face!"

With a cigarette between his fingers, Tong Yang enthusiastically held out his other hand to the three young men, then said nonchalantly, "Most importantly, this job is simple! Go across the border, pick up the goods, and get half right away! Then smuggle yourself back into the country, settle the deal in a border village, and get the other half on the spot! It takes no more than two hours in total, and you get 50,000 yuan each! And most importantly, there's a lot of goods over there! Understand? It's not like you only get one chance after a hard trip; you can do it three to five times a week, it's that easy! The only thing to be careful about is that after we deliver the goods, we have to smuggle ourselves out again, and then come back in openly through the checkpoint, without leaving any loopholes." "One or two hundred thousand a week, honestly, that's a lot! You can work hard over there for a month and earn four or five hundred thousand, over a million in two months, and then you can live a life of ease! If I didn't have a criminal record, I would want to do this myself, why would it be your turn?"

The middle-aged man next to them chimed in with an envious look, as if to say, "You've hit the jackpot!"

The phrase "four or five hundred thousand, or even a million" caused the other three seemingly naive young men to breathe rapidly. Combined with the influence of alcohol, their eyes reddened with excitement.

The young man sitting at the very back seemed a bit timid, lowering his voice and timidly saying, "Won't we get caught? To be honest, smuggling is something..."

"You're so scared!"

Tong Yang interrupted the man, saying nonchalantly, "So what if you get arrested? At most you'll be locked up for a few days and have a criminal record. What's the big deal? Even if you get arrested, you can still get half of the 25,000 yuan. Compared to that, spending a few days in jail is nothing!"

"That's right! That's right!"

The young man nodded repeatedly in sudden realization, while the other two began to breathe heavily.

Tong Yang and the middle-aged man, who were facing away from the outside, exchanged a glance and smiled knowingly, then began to urge the three young men to drink again.

Lin Ge quietly squatted behind Tong Yang. The camera in the collar was already turned on and recorded their entire conversation.

At that moment, without even needing to think, Lin Ge immediately understood what these people were up to. Or rather, what Tong Yang, this guy who came back from Myanmar, was really planning.

smuggling?

No! No! No!
He simply wanted to lure these three young men to Myanmar, nothing more! The tens of thousands of dollars he mentioned were definitely not for transporting goods! What kind of goods could be so valuable if carried by people? The profits all went to the mules, right?
As a police officer who had spent more than half a year working at the police station, Lin Ge immediately realized that these three young men were the valuable "things" that Tong Yang was talking about.

Looking back at Zhao Zhigang, who was hiding around the corner, Lin Ge nodded to indicate that there was no need to be nervous; these guys were completely unprepared.

"Tong Yang?"

Zhao Zhigang strode over and placed a hand on Tong Yang's shoulder.

Tong Yang, who was about to continue bragging, suddenly froze.

The other four, startled awake, looked up and saw two policemen and an armed policeman standing expressionlessly behind them. Their faces turned deathly pale. They quickly sobered up; the middle-aged man even reflexively stood up, wanting to run. But Jin Haisheng pointed at him, and he quickly sat back down sheepishly. He could already see the police blocking the entrance, and knew that even if they ran, they had no chance of escaping now.

"Um... Officer, what can I do for you?"

Tong Yang slowly turned his head, revealing an awkward smile.

The lively atmosphere from just moments ago has now turned icy cold. The three young men, who were eager to try their luck and make money just moments before, now hang their heads like quails, as if that would make the police unable to see them.

"What have you done that you don't know?"

Li Mengfei sneered.

Tong Yang's eyes darted around, and he quickly explained, "Um... I just couldn't stay still and came out to grab a bite to relax. There's no need to make such a fuss, is there? I just came out to see a few friends, why make such a big deal out of it? Okay, okay! It was my fault. I'll just go back to my room now, alright? Um... just arrest me, don't make things difficult for them, okay? Hehe... Officer, there's really no need to be so serious, it's not a big deal, right?"

"Hehe... What's the big deal? What are you guys talking about? Where are you going to make your fortune? Tell me about it."

Zhao Zhigang smiled along with Tong Yang, knowing that the issue was no longer about isolating the Tiger virus. The fact that Mimi was so close without warning meant there was no virus present. So, the focus now was on other problems.

To be honest, Zhao Zhigang was a bit far away and didn't quite catch what those guys were talking about. He only heard exclamations of hundreds of thousands or even millions, but that was enough to tell him that something was up with them.

and……

Zhao Zhigang looked down at Lin Ge again; the way the guy was fiddling with the collar looked very familiar. Zhao Zhigang knew that Mimi's collar had a monitoring device, meaning that he had probably already obtained enough evidence.

"No...nothing at all. I just haven't seen you in a long time, so I came to Changshi to have a meal with a good friend."

Tong Yang continued to argue his way out.

The other four didn't dare to utter a word at this moment, especially the middle-aged man who was trembling all over as if he was about to have a heart attack, which was quite different from the image of the mastermind in Zhao Zhigang's mind.

"So... this Tong Yang is actually the sole mastermind?"

Lin Ge was somewhat surprised that someone as young as Tong Yang could commit such a heinous crime as tricking people into going abroad to be "slaves" (or "cow slaves"). This guy was truly audacious and unbelievable; so cruel at such a young age?

"If you have something to say, go to the Municipal Public Security Bureau! Now stand up properly and don't make me touch the handcuffs! Or rather, you certainly don't want to experience the taste of a gun. This man next to me is an armed police officer!"

Li Mengfei made a threatening remark, but he was a little nervous. There were four policemen in total, but the other side unexpectedly had five. Although he had already notified his superiors, he couldn't afford to cause any trouble before backup arrived.

Fortunately, the word "gun" combined with their status as armed police was enough to deter Tong Yang and his group of five from their provocative actions.

Two police officers, one armed police officer, and a police cat were guarding the five suspects, yet they remained completely calm. Moreover, the five didn't seem to be of one mind; at least the three young men were terrified, their faces contorted with fear, trembling and completely devoid of their earlier exuberant and optimistic demeanor.

Just moments ago they were fantasizing about making big money and easy money, but now, faced with the pressure from the police, their fragile hearts have returned to reality, and their faces show nothing but fear and despair.

Tong Yang and the middle-aged man named Tong Baisui were exchanging glances, but it was all meaningless. Once they were at the police station, everything they had hidden would be exposed; they would even be interrogated about what kind of underwear they were wearing.

"That damn Tong Yang, you've screwed me over! I should have just stayed out of this mess and made some money playing games..."

Tong Baisui complained in a low voice, feeling like he wanted to kill Tong Yang right now.

He just couldn't understand how he could have been tempted by his nephew. Thirty thousand for a piglet—it was indeed very tempting! But when he faced the police, he realized that even before he had the money, just thinking about it felt like a burning hot potato!

"Woo woo woo~"

The backup police cars arrived quickly, because in addition to the newly discovered crime, Tong Yang was also threatened by the Tiger virus. Therefore, it only took four minutes for five police cars to surround the hot pot restaurant.

Ignoring the surprise and murmurs of those around them, a group of police officers quickly stormed into the hot pot restaurant.

But to Lin Ge's surprise, he didn't see Nie Guoqiang anywhere! These people all smelled of Nie Guoqiang, so why didn't he get out of the car?

(End of this chapter)