Michael walked into the room with a smirk of triumphant success on his face. He glanced at Lynch, who was sitting by the bed, and let out a couple of chuckles.
He didn't know why he laughed out loud suddenly, maybe as a way to show off?
He wasn't sure. He casually pulled back the lapel of his trench coat, revealing the wallet tucked in his pocket with his credentials, "Federal Tax Bureau. Someone reported an illegal transaction happened here just now. We need to check it out..."
This time, Michael wasn't alone with his partner. There were a few others, who immediately began searching the room at Michael's signal.
Michael sat down next to Lynch, the young man who had once given him a brief scare. He spoke with a half-smile, "Last time I sent a kid your age to prison, he arrogantly said it was just a vacation for him."
"He thought going to jail wasn't scary at all. Do you know what happened to him later?" he said, uttering unsettling words to warn Lynch.
Michael stopped talking because he suddenly realized that this young man in front of him showed no signs of unease or fear after hearing those words.
He was as calm and composed as he was from the start, which made Michael feel humiliated, as if he was a clown saying something ridiculous, and he found himself underestimated.
His face increasingly looked worse, and with a snort, he decided not to speak anymore. Once they found the evidence, they could make this guy cry!
But...why hadn't they found anything yet?
Seeing his subordinates start searching from the door again, Michael suddenly felt his scalp tighten. He realized something, glanced sideways at Lynch, and rushed into the other room.
The house wasn't big, technically consisting of only two spaces: a hallway and bedroom connected to the front door, and a dressing room with a wardrobe.
The dressing room didn't have many complicated things, just a completely open wardrobe, an ironing board that his subordinates had put down, a small storage box containing miscellaneous tools, and a basket for laundered clothes.
Further inside was a small shower space, concluding with the toilet. A cart was casually parked in the middle of the dressing room.
"Where's the money?" he asked sternly. Earlier, the kids each claimed that Lynch put the money in a box and pushed it into the dressing room with the cart, but looking at it now…it didn't seem that way.
Two subordinates awkwardly shook their heads, "Sorry, Boss, we found nothing."
"The wooden box?" he asked with a last effort, "Is the wooden box there?"
One of them pointed to the empty wooden box on the ironing board. It was completely empty.
Michael rubbed his hands together forcefully on his face, tousled his hair, and paced back and forth, then went a bit hysterical, grabbed the wooden box, and smashed it to the ground.
The shattered wooden box reminded him of Lynch's seemingly mocking eyes. He rushed out and grabbed Lynch by the collar, lifting him, "Where's the money, where did you hide the five thousand?"
He roared, his inner anger making his reason start to fade, twice now, he had been fooled by this brat. No one had ever dared to do this to him!
Lynch had a faint smile on his face as he calmly looked at Michael, "I don't know what you're talking about. In total, I don't even have five hundred on me. I don't know where you got this information, but clearly it's wrong."
Bullshit, he had personally watched those newspaper boys deliver the money in, in such a short time, less than two minutes, Lynch didn't even leave the room. Where did he hide the money?
He really wanted to plant a fist in Lynch's face to let this bastard know his terrifying side, but he also knew that doing so would soon lead to an inspection.
People may turn a blind eye to certain minor details for the sake of better law enforcement, but they wouldn't tolerate false accusations or a frame-up by violence. Should such a thing get exposed to the media, the entire judicial field in Sabin City would be humiliated.
By then, it would naturally attract investigators that even Michael's superior could not afford to offend, making him the culprit in Sabin City's judicial system.
He forcefully repressed his anger, shoving Lynch back onto the bed, then personally started searching the room.
Everything was turned upside down, including the water tank on top of the toilet, yet they found nothing. The five thousand dollars seemed to have vanished without a trace.
No, it was as if it never existed at all!
Lynch maintained his calm throughout, showing neither fear nor anxiety, just watching Michael hustle around the fifty-some-square-meter room until he finally stopped.
By now, Michael clearly realized that this operation had failed again.
No, not only this operation but the operation against Fox would be hindered too, his troubles were huge!
He pointed at Lynch, "You're lucky this time, dodged a bullet, but you'd best hope you can always be this sharp."
"Just once, only if I catch you once, I'll make sure you end up in prison, with no chance of getting out for the rest of your life!" He clenched his fist, turned, and walked towards the exit, "What are you all still doing here? Get back and write the report!"
After watching them leave, Lynch shook his head with a smile. They didn't do a body search. Firstly, they didn't have a search warrant to do so, and secondly, their target wasn't the small change possibly on Lynch, but that five thousand which could incriminate directly.
Any large cash transaction needs reporting to the Tax Bureau, which they didn't do, constituting illicit behavior. There's no such thing as post-fact rectification.
Even if they had searched him, it would have made no difference, only breaching regulations. Michael often lost control, but there are things he wouldn't easily breach either.
After waiting for a few minutes, Lynch tidied up the room and locked the door before leaving. There's a saying that goes, 'Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.'
Michael had "offended" him twice, and he couldn't always endure in silence. Now, his money amounted to around seven or eight thousand, not enough to complete the first phase of his plan.
The money-making activities had to continue, while he also began considering how to get revenge.
In the small room in his previous life, he met an interesting friend who told him that a predator hunts not only to fill its belly; if you don't resist, others will continue to take advantage. At certain times, you must declare your stance.
After some time wandering outside, Lynch found a relatively secluded jewelry store and walked in.
The bell tied to the top of the door rang, and a person inside the counter, wearing magnifying glasses, stood up showing a smile, "Welcome..."
Lynch smiled, nodding in greeting, and walked to the counter, "I'd like a simple gold ring. I'm planning to give it to my girlfriend. Can you engrave inside the ring?"
His youthful appearance, handsome face, along with a slightly embarrassed smile easily warmed the heart of the somewhat aged jewelry store owner, "Of course, my boy, I must say you came to the right place, understand?"
Twenty minutes later, Lynch left the jewelry store with a gold ring in his hand engraved with "My Beloved Catherine" on the inside!