Minamoto Tamako made up her mind and began to implement the plan.
She sneaked into Fushimi Roku’s apartment while he was at work. Recently, she had been frequenting Fushimi’s home so often that she was getting familiar with it, feeling as relaxed as if she were returning to her own home... given that she didn’t run into Fushimi coming back.
Minamoto rummaged through the study for a while, finding only case dossiers, and noted down each contact person.
To facilitate memory and ensure confidentiality, most were coded with surnames, such as Sister Yu who failed hymen repair and sought compensation, Uncle Wang who raped a policewoman, Mr. Ding distributing porn in an owner group, Brother Zhang who was chopped for having an affair with his mother-in-law, Mr. Cao who organized prostitution raking in 300 a year, Sister Ma who hooked up with ten men in three days to take revenge on her husband’s infidelity... It was truly a gathering of diverse eccentricities, a full anthology of dim-witted human behavior.
After finishing, even Minamoto was at a loss for words. She had been a patrol police and a criminal police officer, yet had never seen such bizarre cases concentrated in one place.
On one hand, it’s that family scandals should not be aired; the Japanese are too concerned about face. On the other hand, there is a lack of grassroots police force in Japan, leaving no time to handle such trivial cases—if it’s a criminal case, use the Great Memory Recovery Technique; if it’s civil, leave it to the town district leader to mediate.
After seeing everything, she somewhat understood why Fushimi Roku would want to hack someone.
Especially the voice mailbox; Minamoto inadvertently opened it and heard Mr. Cao, who was organizing prostitution, trying to offer chicken meat as a legal fee, as well as Sister Yu nearing a breakdown, using a Buddhist Lion’s Roar style voice to leave a message in the microphone: "What do you mean it can’t be prosecuted?! Then what is the point of hiring you? Do you believe I’ll report you? How can you behave !"
On the landline, there was a sticky note with a small line: "Sister Yu hasn’t paid the 50 consultation fee, remember to urge payment."
Minamoto’s scalp tingled; if she were a lawyer, she probably couldn’t last three days. It was truly exhausting, caught in the middle, hard to please anyone, and without a shred of achievement.
She carefully selected and settled on Mr. Cao, the prostitution ring leader. He was obviously a gang leader with a few minions, responsible for recruiting girls, taking care of their daily lives, posting guard in front of hotels... It was practically a small-scale criminal organization.
Moreover, making three hundred a year, he surely had enough money to buy a gun.
Minamoto jotted down Mr. Cao’s phone number and, just to be safe, noted several serious offenders; if Mr. Cao didn’t cooperate, she would find someone else.
Minamoto climbed out of the apartment, wanting to find a public phone booth, but after wandering the streets for a long time, she still couldn’t find one. Finally, having no other options, she returned to a convenience store to borrow a landline from the shopkeeper’s wife to call Mr. Cao.
"Moshi moshi..." Her habit of greeting was hard to change: "Is this Mr. Cao?"
"Lei Bing’er?" The accent of the other party was thick.
Minamoto was puzzled and said, "Sorry, I don’t understand..." Follow current novels on NoveI★Fire.net
Mr. Cao cursed, probably spitting out some betel nut, cleared his throat, and said, "I said, who are you?"
Minamoto feigned mystery, lowering her voice, trying to sound older: "Who I am is not important, what’s important is..."
She hadn’t finished speaking when Mr. Cao called her a ’lunatic’ and hung up.
Unwilling to give up, Minamoto dialed again, and when Mr. Cao picked up, she got straight to the point and said, "Lawyer Zhou wants to kill you!"
There was a few seconds of silence on the other end, followed by Mr. Cao’s questioning: "What are you talking about? Make it clear!"
Minamoto covered the receiver with her small hand to prevent the shopkeeper’s wife from hearing what she said: "Lawyer Zhou is actually a serial killer, specifically targeting clients. Four or five people have already met miserable ends! If you don’t believe me, you can check the whereabouts of his previous clients!"
"Ah, who are you? And how do you know this?" Mr. Cao pressed further.
"That’s not important, check it out, and you’ll know if it’s true," Minamoto softly incited, "Just in case, checking won’t do you any harm. If someone really intends to harm you, isn’t it better to be prepared?"
"What if you’re playing tricks on me?" Mr. Cao wasn’t easily convinced.
"Why would I trick you?" Minamoto thought how this guy seemed to always assume the worst of people.
"No proof— you must give me something to convince me!" Mr. Cao was slippery like an eel.
"I know you make three million a year, currently out on bail, and you owe Mr. Zhou eight thousand in legal fees, planning to have girls pay him in kind."
Minamoto paused, feigning depth: "Trust me, I know far more than you imagine."
Hmph, this is how the masterminds in dramas act, she finally savored a good dose of excitement.
Mr. Cao finally entered a state of partial belief; after all, the matter had been laid out to this extent, it didn’t sound like a prank or joke. Having waded through the underworld for so many years, he reacted quickly, first asking: "Then why are you telling me this?"
"Because I want Zhou Hao dead!"
Minamoto got into the mood, playing the mysterious villain was quite fun. She only regretted the shopkeeper’s wife sitting beside munching melon seeds, somewhat limiting her play, otherwise she could have emitted a wicked laugh to pressure the other party.
"Do you have a grudge against him?" Mr. Cao couldn’t help but begin to imagine, picturing a serial killer creating a family tragedy, with a little girl surviving unexpectedly, then years later, the girl takes revenge by any means... Damn, it’s just like a TV drama!