Chapter 26
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Chapter 26: Your Public Security Management is a Bit Lax
"You really do know them," the man in the black mask said with a hint of delight.
"Mr. Li entrusted me with the task of ensuring your death before he passed away. But before I could ask for your exact address, he had already taken his last breath.
"Fortunately, Dr. Valk answered that question before his death, which is why I am here today."
At that moment, Bard felt utterly defeated. He began to regret his greed and resent his two prized students. If it hadn’t been for his desire for recent good business, he would have taken his family to a safe house long ago.
If it weren’t for those two "prized students," how could his address have been so easily exposed?
"Swish."
The metal drawer was pushed in, and Bard looked down to see a blood-red heart made of yarn lying quietly inside. At the same time, a strange feeling of weakness and a faint, throbbing pain began to grip his chest.
It’s over; I’m dead, all because of you two.
In his final moments, Bard thought this, and then everything went black as he breathed his last.
—
Unable to openly protect Dr. Bard, Zhuang Mian was clearly engaged in bait-and-switch law enforcement.
So, when Old Liu, who had even pawned his ring to buy some rare goods, stepped out of the residential building, he was immediately pinned to the ground by two peace officers dressed in regular jackets.
They were under Deputy Captain Zhao Qi and were responsible for monitoring the situation around the residential building.
The man was terrified and cried openly, filled with deep reluctance.
The peace officers searched him for a while and finally found a small bag…
of sand.
They exchanged puzzled glances. One peace officer mouthed, "Arrested the wrong person?"
"Let’s take him back and sort it out."
The other officer was quite decisive, and they took the man in their car toward the security bureau.
An hour later, the test results of the bag’s contents were presented to Zhuang Mian—sand.
The Captain’s expression darkened. The issue was not that they had arrested the wrong man, as the middle-aged man had confessed readily. However, it seemed that he had gotten fake goods, which complicated the case. After all, intellectually disabled individuals had some level of sentencing immunity.
"Poor guy, toyed with like a puppet," Zhuang Mian sighed, then suddenly noticed something strange:
The colors of the two items were indeed very different, and according to her two subordinates, the man had seemed momentarily stunned when he saw the sand.
This meant that perhaps a nimble-fingered thief had not only stolen his goods but had also left a small bag of sand to humiliate him.
Moreover, the man was captured right under Bard’s residential building, giving the thief limited time to act, likely right after he had purchased the goods and was heading downstairs…
Zhuang Mian frowned slightly, and suddenly, she came up with a seemingly outrageous but very plausible explanation—
The Heart Snatcher was on the move.
"Not good!"
Zhuang Mian slammed the table and stood up abruptly, startling her colleagues in the office who were already worn out from frequent clean-up duties.
"Quick, contact Zhao Qi! The ‘Heart Snatcher’ has struck again."
At the mention of "Heart Snatcher," everyone rose in alarm, their faces betraying unmistakable fury—
They had been tracking this criminal for so long, and their joint efforts in capturing and cleaning up had almost become a well-oiled routine. Now, this "Heart Snatcher" had decided to act without warning, making it difficult for them, the overworked employees, to face their superiors.
Damn it!
Everyone piled into two Public Security Team vehicles, heading toward the residential building where Dr. Bard was located.
In her two months on the job, Zhuang Mian had gradually come to understand the personalities of her team.
At this moment, she was in the same car with the older, more seasoned members of the team, who wore ingratiating smiles while keeping a close eye on her every move.
The younger, more impulsive members, however, didn’t pay much attention to this and had entered the other vehicle—after all, it was just a mission; what did it matter which car they were in?
Inside the car, Zhuang Mian finally managed to contact the remaining two surveillance officers and quickly inquired about their monitoring situation. The two peace officers had stationed themselves opposite Bard’s room and were using binoculars to record any movements every few minutes.
After some static, the walkie-talkie was handed to another person:
"Don’t worry, Captain. That old man Bard is still dozing on his recliner."
Zhao Qi’s calm and reassuring voice came through, laced with a subtle confidence.
Zhuang Mian felt the world darken around her. It wasn’t just because Bard was likely in a deep sleep, but also because her subordinates were utterly incompetent. Among them were hot-headed young fools or the final form of such fools—partially corrupted slackers.
She suppressed her anger and asked,
"How long has he been like this?"
On the other end of the walkie-talkie, Zhao Qi and his teammates could be heard murmuring indistinctly. A few seconds later, Zhao Qi responded:
"About an hour. But Captain, don’t worry; that’s just how old folks are. Unless something important happens, they always need to take a nap every now and then.
"I think he’s just tired."
Zhuang Mian felt utterly hopeless and coldly instructed,
"I think he’s gone.
"Pack up and let’s investigate the scene."
Zhao Qi’s voice on the other end came through in a panic, and Zhuang Mian felt as if her head would explode. She abruptly ended the communication.
Half an hour later, night had fallen completely. The outer city of Hope City lacked the luxury of streetlights, with only a few reflective signs scattered at intervals to guide the way.
Zhuang Mian had already sealed off the interior of the residential building and found the bodies of Dr. Bard and his two subordinates.
At the Captain’s signal, the now routine cleanup began.
This time, the scene seemed different from before. A heart-shaped plush toy lay quietly in a special iron drawer, but the entire room showed no signs of disturbance.
Compared to the previous scenes where cash had mysteriously vanished, this time it seemed as if the "Heart Snatcher" had simply killed Bard from behind closed doors and left without a trace.
It appeared that the criminal had amassed ample funds during previous crimes and now seemed to be in no financial need.
"Captain, this seems to be a note left by the ‘Heart Snatcher.’"
A peace officer wearing white gloves cautiously presented a letter to Zhuang Mian.
It seemed to have been found beneath the heart-shaped plush toy.
At those words, Zhuang Mian felt her hair stand on end.
She stared at the envelope, common in the outer city, took a deep breath, and accepted it, unfolding the letter:
[Greetings, Captain of the Public Security Team in the eastern district:
Organizing gambling, selling banned drugs, and organ trafficking are strictly forbidden in Hope City. However, from my observations, these laws seem not to apply to the eastern outer city.
I have heard that you are newly appointed as the public security captain, so the aforementioned matters should not fall on your shoulders.
Nonetheless, your weakness still leaves me dissatisfied, which is the root cause of how things have escalated to this point.
Thus, I have taken some actions that I deemed necessary to show that most people in the eastern outer city genuinely desire stability.
From this perspective, we are, in fact, in a cooperative relationship.
Your lax management of public security in your jurisdiction has been perfectly complemented by my presence.
If you were to arrest me rashly, it might make your jurisdiction’s security… look rather poor.
—A concerned eastern district citizen]
