At the checkpoint leading into the city, a group of Peacekeepers was on high alert.
Just then, a police car sped in from the Outskirts and screeched to a halt.
"Officer Zhu Yuan, Officer Qingyi?! Are you coming from the Outskirts too?" a Peacekeeper asked, his eyes darting to the back seat.
Zhu Yuan glanced at his name tag. She vaguely remembered him, a quiet, unassuming officer from another unit. "Yes," she replied curtly, a seed of suspicion, planted by Mo Wang, already taking root.
"And what were you doing in the Outskirts? Who's that in the back?" he pressed.
"Emergency mission from Chief Bringer," Qingyi said, leaning out of the passenger window and waving a document. "Caught a little con artist."
The officer took the document, his eyes still fixed on the back seat. "What kind of case required two elite officers to handle personally?"
"Swindling money and hearts, the usual," Qingyi said with a shrug, tapping the document. "He preys on single women. Chief Bringer is taking this very seriously."
One of his colleagues nudged him. "Hey, what are you doing? Are you questioning Officer Zhu Yuan and Officer Qingyi? Besides, Chief Bringer signed off on it. Let them go, there are other people waiting."
"Sorry about him, he's a little slow on the uptake," the other officer said to Zhu Yuan and Qingyi.
"It's fine. It's good to be thorough," she said with a smile, and then drove into the city.
...
"Well, well, I'm impressed. You can get into the city just by flashing your pretty faces," Mo Wang teased. "If it weren't for you, I don't know how I would have gotten in."
"Hmph, you had all this planned out, and you didn't even think about how you were going to get into the city?" Zhu Yuan grumbled, though she couldn't help but feel a little pleased.
"Of course I had a plan. But since you were here, I just threw it out," he said. His original plan had been much simpler: just floor it and crash through the checkpoint.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" she asked, still worried.
"Relax, it'll be fine," he said, his mind already on the Peacekeeper station.
When they arrived, Bringer was waiting for them on the steps, flanked by a group of his trusted men.
"Why is he..." Zhu Yuan's fingers drummed on the steering wheel.
Qingyi was the first to get out. "Chief! The suspect has been apprehended!" she said with a crisp salute.
"Good work," Bringer said, his eyes scanning Mo Wang in the back seat. "So this is the infamous Phantom? I didn't expect him to be such a young brat." He gestured to his men. "Take him. Straight to the special interrogation room."
"Chief," Zhu Yuan interjected, "according to procedure, we should book him first..."
"No need. New Eridu is in a state of unrest. We'll simplify things."
"Then let Qingyi and I conduct the interrogation," she insisted.
"That won't be necessary. This criminal has committed more than just one crime. He needs to be thoroughly interrogated. You two have worked hard. Go home and rest." And with that, he led Mo Wang into the station.
"B—"
"Forget it," Qingyi said, stopping her. "This place is crawling with his men. It's pointless to argue. Let's just go with Mo Wang's plan."
...
"Sigh, this isn't my first time in a police station, but it is my first time in one of these interrogation rooms. Have you ever considered redecorating?" Mo Wang said, looking around as if he were on vacation.
"Cut the crap! Do you have any idea what you've done?!" one of the officers roared, slamming his fist on the table.
"Don't be so angry," Mo Wang said with a calm smile. "Shouldn't you know better than I what crimes I've committed? I'm just an ordinary shop owner. The law is whatever you say it is, isn't it?"
"By the way, how long have you two been working for Bringer? What's the pay like? Can you afford a house in New Eridu? I hear the property values in Sixth Street have gone up thirty percent..."
His words were like daggers, piercing the two officers' hearts. The truth was, they were dirt poor. Bringer's squeaky-clean image meant that his underlings barely made a living, even while working two jobs for the station and the organization.
"Shut up!" one of them roared, his face red with a mixture of anger and shame.
"Hit a nerve?" Mo Wang said with a shit-eating grin. "Want me to teach you how to budget your salary? I know a few good financial advisors in Sixth Street..."
"Enough of this bullshit!" the other officer yelled, and brought his baton down on Mo Wang's shoulder.
CLANG!
The baton bounced off as if it had hit solid metal, and the officer's hand went numb. Mo Wang didn't even flinch. "Didn't you two have breakfast? You couldn't even swat a fly with that."
The other officer pulled out a taser and jammed it into Mo Wang's neck. He just closed his eyes and sighed contentedly. "Is this the latest model? I suggest you turn it up to the third setting. It's much better for massages."
The door burst open, and Bringer stormed in with a squad of heavily armed tactical officers.
"Well, well, the busy man finally arrives. I was just about to fall asleep," Mo Wang said, and gestured to the chair in front of him as if he were the host.
"What... is going on here?" Bringer was at a loss. In the short time he had been gone, his two subordinates looked like they were on the verge of suicide.
"Who... are you?" he asked, his eyes narrowing.
"Who I am is not important," Mo Wang said. "What's important is that I want to have a little chat with you. What do you say, Chief Bringer? Will you grant me this honor?"
With a wave of his hand, the battered table and chairs in the room returned to their pristine condition, as if time had been reversed.
The smile on his face was that of a final boss.
These Peacekeepers had no idea that the man they had just arrested was not a criminal, but a super-dangerous, walking nuclear bomb.