Five days after the General Ridge Incident. In Rongyang detention centre, interrogation room.
Yuan Shucai, who wore handcuffs and shackles, was brought to the interrogation room by the prison warden. He had been shot in his shoulder and his thigh, which were both bandaged. His face was full of bruises and cuts, long gone was his immortal-like aura. Plus, he was in a listless spirit, and his body drooped, so that he looked even more like an old man in the twilight of his life.
“Taoist priest, hello again. Hehehe…” Zhao Yu took a seat and smiled maliciously, while he greeted him with his hands clasped together before his chest.
Yuan Shucai looked at Zhao Yu in disdain, but kept quiet.
“Hehe,” Zhao Yu put the material in his hands on the table, and smiled as he spoke, “I didn’t expect that you were really a Taoist priest in a temple! I thought it was only your nickname! Excuse me for my lack of manners! Amitabha…. Oh wait, it should be Wu Liang Tian Zun (greeting in Taoism, meaning countless power which can channel in higher powers from above).
“Humph!” Taoist priest snorted, “Son, these five days, I am sick of dealing with all of you policemen! Don’t waste time, what else do you want to know, go ahead and ask!”
“Is it? I’ll ask then, but you can say as much as you want! But… Don’t misunderstand. I came here solely for my personal reasons. Hehe… Personal reasons…” Then, Zhao Yu passed him a printer page full of words and asked, “Taoist priest, as you are experienced and knowledgeable, can you please help me to see what these mean?”
Turns out that, what was written on the paper was the hexagram poem that Zhao Yu had recorded from the miracle system in the past.
“These characters could only be confirmed regarding pronunciation, but not meaning,” Zhao Yu introduced, “Four words in a phrase, and taking out the first part, there are four phrases in total!”
“What?” The Taoist priest thought Zhao Yu was there for a case investigation. He couldn’t help but crease his eyebrows and ask, “Police officer, why do you show me this?”
“These are related to Ghost Ba Gua!” Zhao Yu explained seriously, “Ghost Ba Gua is also known as Ji Le Ba Gua. I’m not sure if you’ve heard about this before?”
Hearing “Ghost Ba Gua”, Yuan Shucai was startled and responded, “What…. You policemen like Xuen Xue (Dark Learning in Taoism)?”
“Hehe,” Zhao Yu smiled and said, “Keeping pace with the times! Otherwise, why would a master figure like you not be able to find the Golden Buddha statues, when I could?”
“You…” Bringing up again the Golden Buddha statues,” the Taoist priest was suddenly dispirited and kept quiet.
“Hehe,” Zhao Yu laughed again and redirected the topic, “Taoist priest, I have something that I don’t understand. You said that Hua Jing, who you killed, had such great power back then! Why didn’t you have any trouble after you killed him?”
“The police didn’t come after you, the underlings of Huang Jing didn’t chase after you either. This… Isn’t this a little illogical?”
“Humph!” Before that, the Taoist priest had already confessed about the crime of killing Huang Jing and Gege. Hence, he had no need to hide anything about the incident anymore. He immediately replied to Zhao Yu, “This… Isn’t that difficult to understand, is it? The bastard with the surname Li, was not the only disciple of Huang Jing. Huang Jing had no children, and such a big business, that all his disciples would naturally be fighting for his position! Plus, they didn’t even know whether Huang Jing and Gege died, so how could they be thinking about me?”
“Oh…” Zhao Yu suddenly understood, “Later on, when Gege’s dead body was found, you knew that your game was up. So, you fled beforehand, thus avoiding the hunt by Li Xiusheng and the rest!”
“As for the police, it was even more impossible!” The Taoist priest did not deny what Zhao Yu said, but cut in and continued, “If they lodged a police report, the police would have investigated on Huang Jing’s background. They were all in illegal businesses, so why would they be that stupid to involve the police force?”
“So, that’s why no one came to claim Gege’s body!” Zhao Yu shook his head and sighed, “This Gege is quite pitiful, I wonder… Who was she?”
“She’s called Cui something Zhu, it sounded like a Korean name,” The Taoist priest recalled, “Cui Lizhu, I think. During a deal, I saw her signing this name! As for where she was from, I have no idea! Back then, there were rumours saying that Gege was bought over from overseas when she was young. She could be an orphan, or that sort.”
Oh… Zhao Yu nodded quietly, No wonder there wasn’t any result from the DNA comparison!
“But,” the Taoist priest added, “she wasn’t worth any pity. She was like Huang Jing, domineering and overbearing. Although she was beautiful, she was as vicious as a viper!”
“Even though she was vicious, she didn’t deserve to die, though, right?” Zhao Yu stared at the Taoist priest. As the Taoist priest was in the wrong, he avoided Zhao Yu’s stare.
“Alright,” Zhao Yu extended his hand to retrieve the printed paper with the hexagram poems and said expressionlessly, “As you didn’t know anything about Ghost Ba Gua, I shall make a move!”
“Oh?” The Taoist priest looked at Zhao Yu in surprise and said, “That… That’s it?”
“Of course,” Zhao Yu couldn’t be bothered, “What else? Forget about everything related to Gege and Huang Jing, leave the murder of Dong Peizhuo aside, and just you using dynamite to kill so many police detectives alone is enough to give you a hundred death sentences! As you are a person that is going to die, why would I argue with you?”
“Mm…” The Taoist priest lowered his head and spoke sadly, “Eighteen years ago, I already died once! I lived for another eighteen years, so I am already content!”
“The heck?!” Zhao Yu pouted, “You really think you are a Taoist priest? Do you need a moustache to play with? You’d better wake up!”
Then, Zhao Yu passed him another stack of information and said, “You couldn’t be thinking that we policemen were eating for free? You take a good look. We used your contacting method to lure your cousin to come to Qinshan to look for you. He has already been arrested at Qinshan Airport!”
“Your biological brother was arrested in his chalet in Hawaii, in the morning on the day before! They found a large number of Chinese historical relics in his chalet. Now, he is signing extradition documents for crime and relics!”
“Furthermore, your six overseas accounts were found! Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Taoist priest, you are all really well connected. You even ran to an unknown country to run a temple. Are you trying to develop and expand the spreading of Chinese traditional culture?”
“Huh?!” Listening to this news, the Taoist priest held his fist tight, unconsciously, as his head was covered with a cold sweat, and his face had grown extremely awkward.
“You are already a master figure, so you wouldn’t think that, after you die, everything else would end, right?” Zhao Yu spread his hands and said, “I knew, with such circumstances, the only thing that you cared the most would be your brothers and relatives, but I can tell you that, none of them would be able to escape! Taoist priest, wake up! The empire that you have spent unknown years to build is finished! You, as a Taoist priest, didn’t Tai Shang Lao Jun tell you that justice has a long arm, and the wicked will be brought down by their own wickedness?”
“…” The Taoist priest was left speechless, and limped onto the detention chair.
Then, Zhao Yu took out his handphone to show Yuan Shucai a video that was recorded earlier. In the video were the families of the deceased police detectives that had died in the explosion. The families were wailing in distress, as they found out they lost their loved ones….
“Behind every case, there would be a litre of tears. But this time… was extra!” Zhao Yu put the handphone before Yuan Shucai and said, “Take a good look! Taoist priest! These people’s pain was inflicted upon them by you. Compared to them, your pain was nothing!”
The Taoist priest took a few glances and couldn’t bear looking straight into the video. He lowered his head and quivered…
Zhao Yu waited till the video ended, then he turned around and got ready to leave.
Just when Zhao Yu turned around, Yuan Shucai suddenly spoke, “Police officer, the Golden Buddha statues… The Golden Buddha statues… They should be hollow, right?”
“Mm?” Zhao Yu turned around, as he was confused.”
“If it was solid, it is impossible that you could bring it out from the water,” the Taoist priest spoke with his head hung low, “And, according to the colour and its handicraft, it should be pure gold!”
“Sigh…” Zhao Yu sighed and said, “Taoist priest, how are you are still thinking about the Golden Buddha statues? Even if they were bronze, how does it matter to you now?”
“Police officer,” Yuan Shucai opened his mouth and finally said, “Can we make a last deal? I can help you solve this case of Ghost Ba Gua. But… I would like to see the photos and information on the Golden Buddha statues… Deal?”