Chapter 270: A Bit of Guilt, But Not Much
Chapter 270: A Bit of Guilt, But Not Much
Scattered streetlights illuminated the empty road.
Occasionally, a car would pass by, breaking the surrounding silence.
Two men, who had just left a noodle shop, carried takeout beef in one hand and chatted merrily.
"That guy really has some nerve."
"Isn't that the truth? If he had been a bit more reasonable and given us a couple of pounds each, I wouldn't have said much. But he insisted on haggling, and that's his own fault."
"Exactly, he refused the good wine and had to drink the penalty. How about we go back in a few days?"
"Let's wait a couple of days."
The man beside him grinned, showing his yellow teeth.
"We can't push him too hard, or he might close down. We need sustainable development."
"Right, right, sustainable development!"
The two men exchanged glances and burst into laughter.
They didn't notice that a figure had already approached them from behind, stretching out his hands and placing them on the sides of their heads, then applying a sudden, strong force.
At that moment, the two men seemed to see a ring of little birds flying around their heads.
After an unknown amount of time, one of them felt a burning sensation on his face and slowly opened his eyes.
He saw a somewhat familiar person looking at him.
"You!"
The man was startled and opened his mouth to shout.
Then, a cold gun barrel was pushed into his mouth, making him immediately quiet. His eyes widened as he looked at Jiang Cheng's face, almost popping out of their sockets.
He had seen this person! In that noodle shop!
At the time, he hadn't given it a second thought, thinking the other was just an ordinary customer.
But this person had knocked him and Old Wang out and brought them to this desolate alley.
What did he want?
To rob them?
Didn't he see the uniforms they were wearing? Was he crazy to target them?
"Don't make a sound."
Jiang Cheng's expression was stern. "I'll ask the questions, and you answer. If you try anything funny, I'll blow your dog's head off."
"Uh-uh!"
The man nodded frantically in fear.
Only then did Jiang Cheng remove the gun barrel from his mouth, wiping off the saliva on his clothes.
"Brother,"
The man forced a grim smile,
"If I'm not mistaken, this is our first meeting. I haven't offended you in any way, right? If it's Old Wang who upset you, that's not my problem. You should settle it with him."
"Hmm?"
Jiang Cheng's eyes narrowed.
The man immediately shut his mouth in fear.
"Tell me, do you know Song Gang? The Deputy Captain of the Southern City Enforcement Bureau."
"Song Gang?"
The man's eyes widened again.
His mind raced.
Could it be that this person was after Song Gang?
He felt a sense of relief.
As long as it wasn't him.
He had long despised that guy!
"Know him, know him."
The man nodded rapidly, like a chicken pecking at grain. "Brother, you might not believe this, but he's my superior. If you want to know anything about him, you've come to the right person."
"Is that so?"
Jiang Cheng thought it was quite a coincidence.
"Then tell me, what kind of person is he?"
"Sure! Sure!"
The man's eyes darted around before he said, "That guy is rotten to the core, full of evil intentions. He deceives superiors, accepts bribes, and forces good people into prostitution. He's done every despicable thing you can think of. I've been wanting to get rid of him for a long time!"
"But when I was sitting next to you earlier, it didn't sound like you were saying that."
Jiang Cheng spoke coldly.
"Ah? Is that so?" The man's forehead broke out in cold sweat.
Damn.
He had been thinking about throwing dirty water on Song Gang, but he had forgotten about this.
"I'll give you one last chance. If you don't tell the truth, I'll shoot and break one of your legs. If you still don't speak, I'll break the other one, until you tell the truth."
"I'll talk, I'll talk." The man immediately gave in.
After a long silence, he reluctantly said, "That guy has a terrible temper and is stubborn. Before, he was just a regular officer like us. At that time, hardly anyone in the team liked him."
"Why?" Jiang Cheng asked.
The man hesitated, wanting to speak but stopping himself.
Seeing that Jiang Cheng had aimed the gun at his thigh, he hurriedly said, "No, don't shoot. I'll talk, I'll talk."
His face turned red in an instant.
"Because sometimes we would receive bribes from gangsters, or we'd go to nearby shops, eat a little, and take a little. They were willing, and we thought it was normal. It was a mutual agreement, but when Song Gang saw it, he would scold us and tell us to return the things. It made us lose face, and that wasn't even the worst part."
The man spoke with a hint of anger.
"What was the worst part?"
"He would report us!" The man clenched his teeth. "After making us return the things, he wouldn't stop there. He would also report us to the higher-ups."
Hearing this, Jiang Cheng smiled.
"So, just now in the noodle shop, when you asked the owner for beef and even took some to go, that was also a mutual agreement?"
"That... that..." The man didn't dare to look into Jiang Cheng's eyes.
"It seems you know you're in the wrong."
As if struck by these words, the man's face turned red, and he said, "Everyone does it. Why can't we? It's not just our squad; even other squads in the bureau and other enforcement bureaus do the same."
"So, that's your excuse to convince yourself?"
Hearing this, the man remained silent, his eyes filled with guilt.
Jiang Cheng wasn't surprised by this.
There are no inherently bad people.
Moreover, even if someone is bad, they initially have a conscience.
When they do something wrong for the first time, they feel guilty and are plagued by self-reproach. They can't eat or sleep well.
Some choose to admit their mistakes, as they aren't cut out to be bad people.
Some bad people, however, learn to brainwash themselves.
Take fraudsters, for example. After cheating someone, they too are plagued by guilt and can't eat or sleep well.
To avoid this, they repeatedly tell themselves that the victims are stupid and deserve to be cheated. They convince themselves that even if they don't cheat them, someone else will. This way, they free themselves from the pain, and after cheating one person, they move on to the next. The more they cheat, the more they deceive themselves, eventually believing that cheating isn't shameful but something to boast about.
The man before him knew that threatening others and demanding favors was wrong, but there were too many people doing the same around him, and it had become a habit. This was how he convinced himself.
In his heart, Jiang Cheng had silently sentenced this man to death.
But before that, there were still some questions to ask.
For instance, how did someone who didn't understand human relations and refused to conform become a deputy captain from a regular officer?
(End of Chapter)
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