Ten hours ago, the murderer tracked Lian Mingdao and followed him into the restroom.
The murderer entered the restroom ahead of time. Soon, he emerged from the restroom.
He walked towards Lian Mingdao head-on.
Lian Mingdao recognized him and nodded in greeting.
At that moment, the murderer drew a knife and swiftly stabbed Lian Mingdao in the chest.
Just then, someone shouted from behind. The murderer didn't strike again; he quickly fled.
He fled to the medical station and encountered Wan Junyang.
Wan Junyang took out a thousand francs and handed them to the murderer: "You must leave Shanghai now. Take this money, go back to your hometown immediately, find a wife, raise children..."
Later, the murderer fled to the town hospital, where he encountered Zhou Lin and died under Zhou Lin's gun.
The retracing process was quick, taking less than a minute to end.
Zhou Lin said to Qiao Shaowen, "Give this money to Lian Mingdao, a thousand. Divide the rest among your team. I don't want it."
Qiao Shaowen acknowledged. He knew the boss wouldn't care about such a small amount of money.
The murderer's body was left in the hospital morgue. It wasn't brought back to the artillery division.
Zhou Lin went to see Lian Mingdao again. He still hadn't woken up.
Zhou Lin left three people to guard Lian Mingdao, while the others followed him back to the artillery division.
Back at the artillery division, Zhou Lin ordered Qiao Shaowen to arrest Wan Junyang.
Wan Junyang resisted, but under the combined attack of three or four people, resistance was futile.
Wan Junyang was taken to the interrogation room of the political department.
He saw Zhou Lin sitting in the first seat and cursed, "You damn Zhou, why are you arresting me?"
Zhou sneered, "Don't you have any sense?"
Wan Junyang raised his head, "I didn't commit murder!"
Zhou Lin slammed the table, "But you hired someone to kill."
Zhou Lin said, "We caught the murderer. You know, under our control, no one can resist. So he confessed about you."
"You're talking nonsense! He's talking nonsense!"
Zhou Lin said, "When you gave him the task, you were in your room, you both ate durian. After that, you gave him five hundred francs, gave him the order, to kill Lian Mingdao."
Wan Junyang exclaimed in surprise, "Zhou Lin, you're despicable! You actually arranged for someone to monitor me."
Zhou Lin continued, "In the hospital, you had him hide under the car and gave him a thousand francs."
Wan Junyang knew Zhou Lin had already grasped his situation and stopped arguing.
Zhou Lin asked, "Why did you want to kill Lian Mingdao?"
Wan Junyang's eyes shifted, "I had a grudge with him! He took Cuihua from me."
Cuihua was the skilled woman from Yihonglou.
Zhou Lin knew their situation.
"You're lying! You and Lian Mingdao had a good relationship! You often drank together. When one was short of money, the other helped. You voluntarily gave Cuihua to Lian Mingdao."
"That's just superficial. In fact, I've wanted to kill him for a long time."
Zhou Lin sarcastically looked at Wan Junyang, "In fact, you followed orders from your superiors to arrange for someone to kill Lian Mingdao. The murderer has confessed to this. You told him exactly that."
Wan Junyang cursed, "Zhu, you won't have a good end!"
Zhu was the surname of the murderer.
After speaking, Wan Junyang's mouth started moving.
Zhou Lin's eyebrows twitched, immediately shouting, "Open his mouth!"
When Qiao Shaowen rushed up with people, Wan Junyang was already spitting blood from his mouth. He had crushed the poison hidden in his gums.
After inspection, Qiao Shaowen reported, "Boss, he's dead!"
This matter wasn't Qiao Shaowen's fault; they had searched Wan Junyang's body. Everything had been found. It was impossible to pull out all his teeth, right?
Zhou Lin sighed, "Just one step away, yet still missed. Send people to search Wan Junyang's room and arrange for an investigation into people related to him."
While Zhou Lin was interrogating Wan Junyang, in the adjacent room sat six or seven people.
These people were the main figures of the artillery division. The division commander, deputy commander, chief of staff, deputy chief of staff, and the commanders of three regiments.
After Zhou Lin arrested Wan Junyang, they protested. Eventually, Zhou Lin agreed to let them listen to the interrogation in the adjacent monitoring room.
Initially, they thought Zhou Lin was arbitrarily arresting people and falsely accusing them.
But as they listened to the interrogation, they became increasingly shocked.
The commander of the third regiment looked at the division commander, "Commander, we can't let Zhou Lin continue to stir things up. If he keeps arresting people, he'll unearth a lot. By then, our artillery division will have no good people left."
The division commander looked at the regiment commander, "How do you lead troops? Soldiers under your command dared to hire killers."
The chief of staff persuaded from the side, "Commander, don't air our dirty laundry. We can handle it internally, but we mustn't escalate it upwards. If they get angry above, we'll all suffer."
The division commander looked at the chief of staff, "So what do you suggest?"
The chief of staff pointed to the adjacent room, "Smooth things over with the person in that room."
The division commander smiled bitterly, "You think I don't want to? But, who is that person? If you dare lay a hand on him, everyone in the artillery division will pay for it."
The chief of staff was immediately frightened, "Commander, you misunderstood. I'm not suggesting laying hands on him. We can use emotions and money to influence him."
The deputy commander beside him immediately agreed, "This method works. I've heard that person doesn't like money, but he likes yellow croakers."
The division commander turned to the deputy commander, "Really?"
The deputy commander nodded, "I heard it from the commander of the second regiment, who learned it from Zheng Dafu. Zheng Dafu heard it from Zheng Sanfu. The Military Intelligence 22nd Squad is close to that person. They all know that whenever he's given... oops, I misspoke. Whenever there's a battlefield gain, he only takes gold. If there's no gold, he goes to the bank to exchange."
Everyone looked at Zhou Weiguo. Zhou Weiguo nodded.
Everyone was pleased; as long as you have hobbies, they wouldn't worry.
The chief of staff said, "Let's pool our resources. Let's give him ten big yellow croakers."
Ten big yellow croakers were equivalent to a hundred taels of gold. The official price was fifteen thousand francs. The black market price was thirty-five thousand francs.
Several regiment commanders were unwilling. "We don't have that much money."
The chief of staff
became unhappy. "How much do you get in salaries every year? Don't think it won't be discovered. If it's found out, you'll have to spit it out, plus double the fine. You'll be punished to death!"
The faces of several regiment commanders changed.
Which commanding officer doesn't take a salary? Some even sell military supplies or engage in smuggling. If these things were found out, they'd be finished.
Several regiment commanders gritted their teeth, "We'll each contribute one big one and five small ones."
The division commander nodded, "That's acceptable. We'll cover the rest. Who do you think should deliver the money to him?"
Everyone looked at Zhou Weituan. It was an open secret among the people on earth. It was difficult to write two "Zhou" characters. Only Zhou Weiguo could establish a relationship with Zhou Lin.
Several people urged Zhou Weiguo.
"The only one who has a relationship with him is you, commander of the second regiment."
"Commander of the second regiment, the honor of the artillery division lies with you."
"Please help!"
The persuasion of several people made Zhou Weiguo unable to refuse.
Finally, the division commander patted Zhou Weiguo's shoulder, "Commander of the second regiment, your regiment will receive a little more at the year-end bonus."
This temptation was too strong. Zhou Weiguo could only agree in the end.
(End of this chapter)