The Same Fate Awaits All Sins Chapter 14

Malice – 14

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Zhang Bin, who was already cornered like a turtle in a jar, suddenly revealed a vicious gleam in his eyes. In an instant, he pulled a pen from his pocket, flicked his finger, and with a crisp clink, the pen cap fell to the ground. The tip of the pen was revealed to be a gleaming scalpel blade!

In the blink of an eye, Zhang Bin sprang up and grabbed a teenage girl nearby, pressing the scalpel against her neck. He roared, "Don't come any closer! Or I'll kill her right now!"

The girl hadn't even managed to scream before the sharp blade nicked her skin. Warm blood trickled down her neck and soaked into her clothes, leaving her too terrified to utter a sound.

"Ah! Murderer!"

"Run!"

The surrounding crowd erupted in panicked screams, chaos breaking out.

"Everyone, stay calm!" Gu Yanta shouted, his face drenched in sweat. "Ma Qin! Quickly evacuate all unrelated people!"

"Arrange for me to be sent to Xia County immediately!" Zhang Bin hissed, his bloodshot eyes wild with desperation.

"Zhang Bin, don't act rashly, we can take our time to discuss your demands," Gu Yanta noticed that Zhang Bin had tightened his grip as he spoke, and the girl's face was turning red from the pressure. "Relax your hold on the hostage first, if anything happens to her, you'll lose your bargaining chip!"

Hearing this, Zhang Bin slightly loosened his grip. The girl's eyes were filled with panic as tears streamed down her face.

"Zhang Bin, are you still harbouring delusions at this point? Do you think going to Xia County will solve anything? Do you think leaving Yuchuan will free you from your addiction and bring you peace?" Gu Yanta barked.

"I could've had a good life! I had parents who treated me well, a skill that didn't earn much but was enough to make a living, and I was even about to get married, but it was all ruined... just because I trusted a worthless friend who shouldn't have been trusted, everything is ruined!"

A look of despair crossed Zhang Bin's face. "Those drug dealers! They pulled me into this mess. I tried to fight my addiction on my own, but I couldn't. I went to rehab and wanted to turn over a new leaf, but the moment I left, those people were waiting for me at the door! I even faked my death to escape them, but they still found me..."

Zhang Bin's voice trembled a little, but he quickly turned fierce again. "Now I have no way out, if I'm going to die, I'm taking someone down with me!"

The girl was now deathly pale, gasping for breath.

Zhang Bin raised his right hand high, ready to strike with the scalpel.

"Fuck!" Gu Yanta's heart clenched.

"Zhang Bin! Calm down!" Lu Zheng's voice suddenly echoed through the waiting hall. His voice was extremely cold, cutting through the chaos like a bucket of ice water poured over an erupting volcano.

The large screen in the hall lit up, revealing Lu Zheng's face. As expected, his expression remained composed and unflappable.

Zhang Bin froze, lowering the scalpel slightly as he looked around, trying to locate the source of the voice.

Gu Yanta let out a breath of relief. He hadn't expected Chen Chen to act so quickly. Before arriving, Gu Yanta had made contingency plans, instructing Chen Chen to take control of the station's big screen for a video call with Lu Zheng if things went south so he could negotiate with the suspect.

"Zhang Bin, I know you didn't kill anyone, Lu Yu wasn't murdered by you," Lu Zheng said slowly, his measured words striking a chord in Zhang Bin's heart.

Zhang Bin's hand holding the scalpel slackened slightly.

"I know that you are being used by someone with ulterior motives, and this person has seized your weakness and forced you to take the blame for him. Zhang Bin, let the hostage go. If you harm her, you'll truly become a murderer."

Zhang Bin hesitated, but then his expression hardened again. Tightening his grip, he caused the girl's breathing to grow even more laboured.

"I don't believe your police bullshit! Everyone suspects me now, and I can't even prove myself. Get me to Xia County immediately, or this girl dies!"

"Zhang Bin, no matter where you go you can't solve the problem, you can't escape your conscience. Wei Liang is your own younger brother. Just because he isn't mentally sound, does that mean he deserves to be the scapegoat?"

"Chengguang Orphanage, if I'm not mistaken, that's when you first met that person. When you stumbled upon their secret years later, their ruthless methods scared you, and their cunning advice led you to betray your brother, someone who grew up with you for ten years?"

"If one day, you end up as one of those innocent people destroyed by your own greed, would your conscience rest easy?"

"Some people believe in the law, some believe in justice, but I only believe that the heavens are watching!"

Lu Zheng's piercing gaze was like the Sword of Damocles, striking straight into Zhang Bin's chest.

Zhang Bin was stunned, his grip loosening involuntarily. At that moment, Gu Yanta surged forward, seizing Zhang Bin's wrist with a firm grip. Gu Yanta's strength was immense, and the sudden force caused Zhang Bin to cry out in pain. He struggled in vain as the scalpel clattered to the floor. The hostage girl took advantage of the moment, her survival instincts causing a surge of bravery, and she bit down hard on Zhang Bin's arm. Gu Yanta twisted Zhang Bin's wrist sharply to the right. A loud crack echoed through the room as Zhang Bin's wrist bent unnaturally, and the surrounding officers closed in and finally subdued him.

During transport.

"Tell me, how did Zhang Bin pretend to be crazy and fool Dr Lai?" Gu Yanta muttered irritably as he lit a cigarette. "Why does it feel like we keep running into movie stars these days?"

"Huh? Who else is a movie star?" Ma Qin, driving the car, glanced sideways at Gu Yanta. Seeing the uncharacteristically pensive expression on his boss's usually cheerful face, Ma Qin thought to himself, something's off, if Boss is like this, I'd better keep my mouth shut. He promptly clammed up.

Gu Yanta and his team returned to the city bureau in silence.

As they stepped into the criminal investigation team's office, they ran straight into Lu Zheng, who was holding a thermos cup. Calmly, Lu Zheng blew on the steam rising from the cup and took a small sip.

"My god, Consultant Lu, if I didn't look at your figure, I'd think you were that old man Director Wu. The way you hold that thermos cup, it's exactly the same!" Ma Qin exclaimed.

Before Ma Qin could finish, he was smacked on the head, "Aiya, Boss, what was that for?"

"You've been working non-stop for two days, and it's clearly messed with your head. Go take a nap in the duty room, we'll handle Zhang Bin's interrogation."

"Okay! Thanks, Boss! Oh, Consultant Lu," Ma Qin lowered his voice, motioning for Lu Zheng to lean in. "Boss's locked drawer has some good tea. He swiped it from his old man's stash."

Lu Zheng nodded slightly, his thermos cup swaying in his hand as a fleeting look of satisfaction crossed his face.

"Ma Qin, I'm going to count to three, if you're not in bed by then, I'll assign you to clean the toilets!" Gu Yanta raised a finger. "One..."

"Ah! Consultant Lu, see you later!" Ma Qin bolted out of the room.

"What do you think about Zhang Bin's interrogation?" Gu Yanta turned to Lu Zheng.

"There's no need to interrogate. Zhang Bin's mental state has already collapsed, send anyone in, and he'll give a detailed account of his crimes." Lu Zheng's tone was calm.

Sure enough.

As soon as Zhang Bin was escorted back to the city bureau, he was sent to the forensic pathology department to have his wrist realigned. The moment he entered the interrogation room, he broke down in tears.

According to Zhang Bin's confession, after leaving rehab, he relapsed and became addicted again. To feed his habit, he borrowed money from loan sharks and was driven to the brink of suicide. By chance, he ran into Li Feng, a childhood friend from the orphanage. Li Feng had somehow located Zhang Bin's long-lost brother, Wei Liang, and exploited Zhang Bin's desperation to escape the drug dealers by orchestrating a fake death.

When Zhang Bin saw Wei Liang's mental state and compared it to his own predicament, he agreed to the plan. However, Zhang Bin couldn't resist his addiction and fell back into bad company with people like Niu Bo, Old Knife, and the others, relying on stealing to fund his drug use.

One day last month, Li Feng suddenly approached Zhang Bin, asking for his help with something. He revealed his true identity, explaining that his older brother was at the pinnacle of Yuchuan's drug trade, operating his own drug manufacturing facility. However, a friend had discovered this operation and intended to report it. This friend lived in the Haibei Villa area, where Zhang Bin worked. Li Feng asked Zhang Bin to use the pretext of maintenance work to gather information about this person's movements and find an opportunity to destroy any evidence they held. Once the matter was over, he would be responsible for supplying Zhang Bin with drugs in the future. Unable to resist the lure of free drugs, Zhang Bin agreed.

On April fourth, during the day, Zhang Bin went to Lu Yu's home to clear a clogged drain. While working, he overheard Lu Yu mentioning that he would be going to the airport that night to pick someone up and would not be returning home. Zhang Bin immediately relayed this information to Li Feng. At the same time, he had another thought, if the homeowner wouldn't be around, why not take the chance to steal something? That night, he snuck into Lu Yu's home. However, after pocketing some valuables, he heard movement from the bedroom. Zhang Bin peered through a crack in the door and saw Li Feng strangling Lu Yu with something. Terrified, he fled in a panic, making some noise as he left. He should have been noticed and recognised by Li Feng.

"Officer, I swear I didn't kill the owner of the house! I was just stealing a few things, I'd never dare to kill anyone!" Zhang Bin sniffled and cried, "When I got home the next day and found Liang Liang missing, I realised Li Feng must have discovered me. This man is ruthless and capable of anything. To protect myself, I had no choice but to disguise myself as Liang Liang and cause a commotion at the police station. That was the only way to ensure my safety, otherwise, Li Feng would have definitely killed me to silence me!"

"Then how do you explain Wei Liang carrying his ID card when he died?" Gu Yanta's face was stern.

"I really don't know! I only remembered it when the ticket seller asked for my ID to buy a ticket. Maybe Liang Liang felt he was in danger and kept it on him. I'd told him before how valuable it was, that having an ID card would keep him from being a vagrant any more." By this point, Zhang Bin was crying so hard he could barely speak. "I've let my parents down, I've let Liang Liang down, but I really didn't kill anyone!"

"Zhang Bin, your acting skills are impressive, you even managed to fool a professional psychiatrist, how do we know you're not acting right now? Before his death, Wei Liang was forced to take drugs. It's possible the drugs made him delirious, leading him to wander onto the highway and get hit by a car!" Gu Yanta's voice was sharp.

"What kind of car hit Liang Liang?" Zhang Bin suddenly wiped his nose, his eyes lighting up, "Was it a black Chevrolet?"

Gu Yanta was taken aback, he didn't expect the murderer to have used their own car to commit the crime!

"That's Li Feng's car! He doesn't do well under his brother's command, and the family that adopted him wasn't well-off either, he doesn't have extra money. I've seen that black Chevrolet, it's his only car! But he has several licence plates, which he said were for convenience when driving on highways. After committing murder, he probably didn't dare let his older brother know about it, so he wanted to kill me to silence me and let me take the blame!" Zhang Bin's eyes were bloodshot, and he was breathing heavily.

"Take a good look, is this Li Feng?"

Gu Yanta placed a photograph face down on the table in front of Zhang Bin, then flipped it over. The man in the photo wore black-framed glasses, looking honest and harmless.

The interrogation room door opened.

Gu Yanta, putting on his coat, rushed out and shouted, "Zhang Bin has confessed everything and identified Huang Chufeng. Action team one, with me, we're leaving now to arrest Huang Chufeng!"

"Yes, sir!"

Gu Yanta led action team one to a laboratory, where they apprehended Huang Chufeng, who was sorting materials. In the laboratory's basement storage, they found Lu Yu's damaged computer hard drive.

"With both witness and material evidence, Huang Chufeng, there's no escaping this time!" Gu Yanta snapped handcuffs onto Huang Chufeng's wrists.

Huang Chufeng showed no expression as he stepped into the escort vehicle.

As Gu Yanta was barely a kilometre ahead of the police car, a deafening boom echoed from behind.

Gu Yanta's pupils constricted sharply.

The escort vehicle carrying Huang Chufeng erupted in flames, sending a horrifying wave of heat surging through the air. Debris scattered everywhere, and several passers-by, knocked over by the blast, were groaning and struggling to their feet.

The driver, two officers, and Huang Chufeng were reduced to black smoke, slowly dissipating into the sky.

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

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Translator Notes

Please feel free to comment any mistakes I made so I can improve and do better as I go through the book.

Translated: November 25, 2024 by Angel

Edited: December 15, 2024 by Angel