Chapter 505: I've Got Someone Backing Me
Fortunately, the traffic accident everyone in the car had been worried about never happened.
Just as Steven had guessed, once they were seated in the police car, there was no need for any registration or inspection at Lungmen's entrance. After confirming before boarding that they weren't carrying any weapons, they were simply escorted straight through the gates and into the city proper along with the rest of the convoy.
For the first time in his life, Steven found himself viewing the outside world from inside a police car.
Peering through a window sealed with iron bars was surprisingly fascinating.
Just like Mostima had said earlier, based purely on what he could see, Lungmen truly looked like a developed metropolis. The bustling traffic, the endless streams of vehicles, and the towering skyscrapers rising like a forest of steel within this mobile city—all of it gave him the distinct feeling of having arrived in a modern city from his old world.
"Never seen a city this magnificent before?" the horned officer teased from the driver's seat when she noticed Steven had gone quiet, his gaze fixed outside the window. "Judging by how you're dressed, I'd guess you're from the countryside? If you hadn't gotten yourself into trouble, you'd be seeing scenery far more beautiful than this."
Unfortunately, as one of the people present at the explosion outside the city, she doubted he'd get much of a chance to keep sightseeing.
"You see? It's not just me," Mostima chimed in with a smirk. "What you consider cool might not be considered cool by others."
At that, both Mostima and Centaurea failed to hold back and burst into laughter.
"Alright, can we move past that?" Steven huffed, abandoning the hopeless battle against his companions' teasing. He swiftly changed the subject and turned back to the officer. "And what do you mean I 'got myself into trouble'? At worst, we're persons of interest. That's hardly proof we did anything. You need evidence before labeling people criminals, you know."
"Then how about you explain why you were there?" Hoshiguma narrowed her eyes slightly and met his gaze through the rearview mirror, an intrigued smile tugging at her lips. "And how the entire car full of criminals—every single one with a record in Lungmen—ended up as burning corpses?"
From the moment she left headquarters, she had memorized every name among the deceased. Not a single one of them could be described as anything less than thoroughly rotten to the core. Their deaths, inconvenient as the situation might be, had arguably saved the Lungmen police a considerable amount of future trouble.
Which was precisely why she felt comfortable letting the three sitting behind her remain uncuffed—and even chatting casually with Steven. Her instincts told her they weren't necessarily bad people.
"Hmm… Let me think of a reason," Steven mused, putting on a show of deep contemplation. "Maybe their car malfunctioned, triggered a chain-reaction crash, and my companions and I just happened to pass by. We witnessed the whole shocking event and decided it was our civic duty to explain what happened to the authorities. And while we were at it, we figured we might as well hitch a convenient express ride into Lungmen?"
Just as he claimed, the excuse was something he made up on the spot. It was so flimsy even he didn't believe it.
Except for that last part.
The "express ride into Lungmen" part? That was one hundred percent the truth.
"…For your own sake, I hope you'll be a little more serious and proper once we get to the station," Hoshiguma sighed. "I don't mind your personality. But I guarantee you, the judge won't be nearly as amused."
"I've been perfectly serious this whole time," Steven replied with a straight face. "Besides, I doubt we'll need to see any judge, right? May I request to contact my lawyer?"
Now that he had successfully ridden the "express police special" into Lungmen, there was absolutely no way he intended to go any further and personally experience what a wholesome, healthy prison life looked like.
Pork cutlet rice? Sure, he'd give it a try.
Doing hard time? Hard pass.
"Oh? So you're saying you've got someone backing you?"
The green-haired officer shot him another intrigued glance through the rearview mirror. Hoshiguma genuinely couldn't figure out what was going on in this guy's head—swaggering around an explosion site outside Lungmen with two beautiful girls in tow, acting like he was on vacation.
No matter how powerful his background was, that didn't justify blowing things up outside Lungmen, right?
"Yep. I've got someone above me."
Steven raised a finger and pointed solemnly at the roof of the car.
To everyone's surprise, the police car—still under escort by several others—suddenly pulled to a stop. The green-haired officer leaned her small head out the window and looked up at the roof as if to confirm something. After a brief inspection, she pulled back in and shook her head.
"Clearly, you don't."
Without another word, Hoshiguma pushed open the passenger-side door. Her face lit up with a warm smile, like she'd just spotted an old friend, and she waved at the girl standing outside.
The girl outside was holding two cups of coffee and had half a pineapple bun clenched between her teeth. Without a shred of hesitation, she climbed into the front seat, juggling everything in her hands as she plopped down beside the green-haired officer.
"Why are you suddenly dragging me in to work?" she complained. "Wasn't today supposed to be my day off? If you're forcing me to clock in, I have the right to file a complaint against that old man."
She shuffled into the seat while grumbling, though her eyes didn't forget to sweep over Steven and the other two in the back.
At the same time, Steven, Mostima, and Centaurea were carefully sizing up the newcomer.
"A bombing just happened outside the city," the green-haired officer explained casually. "At the scene, there were only the three behind me. What do you think, Officer Ch'en?"
After giving a brief summary, the green-haired officer focused back on driving.
The newly arrived "Officer Ch'en" hastily swallowed the remaining half of her pineapple bun and shot an exasperated look at her colleague, who was clearly trying to dump the responsibility on her.
"What do you mean what do I think? I look at it with my eyes," she said flatly. "If it's a bombing case, take them to the station for interrogation first. By the way, did you witness the scene from start to finish?"
"No. By the time we arrived, the three of them were already standing there—calm, cooperative, no resistance at all. Honestly…" The green-haired officer hesitated. "It was almost like they were waiting for me to show up and pick them up."
The more she spoke, the stranger it sounded—even to herself.
Why did this feel like she'd just been played?
"Oh, and he just said he's got someone backing him," she added, accepting one of the coffees from Ch'en and taking a satisfied sip. "He wants us to help him get in touch. Should we indulge him?"
"Oh? A backer?" Ch'en raised a brow. "In Lungmen? Who exactly has that kind of pull? And even if they do—hard power-wise, who's tougher than my cheap uncle?"
She turned around and gave Steven a challenging look.
"Go on, kid. Call whoever you want. If you can get someone impressive to show up in Lungmen, I'll admit that's your skill."
The next second, however, the name that came out of Steven's mouth nearly made her lose her composure entirely.
"So, uh… Wei… Yenwu. I think? You know him?"
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Note: Character Illustration is in this Google Drive:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1iuyfwNVFHzIi9H4rWNT_lAm7jTSiah_M