Two accomplices 1

The next day, Lin Yuan was woken up by the sound of metal bars being struck repeatedly.

"Wake up," the guard called out, telling him to get up.

He pulled off his steam eye mask, and the bright light made him unable to open his eyes.

He couldn't fall asleep when he first lay down last night, but now his head felt heavy and he hadn't had enough sleep.

Zhang Yan was no longer there; the person watching him had long since changed.

Before long, a breakfast of white porridge and two steamed buns was handed through the bars.

"If it's not enough, you can ask for more."

After the ordeal of last night, Lin Yuan was extremely hungry at this moment.

"Are these vegetable buns?" Lin Yuan asked.

"One meat, one vegetable," the guard replied.

"Could you please change both to vegetable buns for me? I don't like to eat anything too greasy in the morning."

"Oh, you're quite picky. We'll satisfy you today. Once you're inside, let's see if you can still be so picky."

As breakfast filled his stomach, Lin Yuan felt much more relaxed, and his mind, as if powered up, began to function.

He ate while analyzing the current situation...

But after a satisfied burp, he decided not to analyze anymore.

Because he realized that no matter how anxious he was, it wouldn't help; he might as well just wait here for his mentor to rescue him.

When Lin Yuan gave his statement yesterday, he implicated both his mentor and Dean Li; he didn't believe the police wouldn't go find them.

So, he stood up and paced inside, stretching his limbs, while eating breakfast, waiting for his two "accomplices" to arrive.

Before long, Zhang Yan arrived.

She had heavy bags under her eyes, looking like she hadn't slept enough.

When the guard handed over to her, he also complained, "I've never seen someone so young come in here and still be so calm."

Zhang Yan approached the bars. "You're in a good mood, aren't you?"

Lin Yuan turned at her words. "Are you talking about me?"

"Who else is here besides you and me?"

"Well, the most important thing in life is to be happy."

"Heh, you still have the heart to joke with me."

"Thank you for the eye mask." Lin Yuan held up the jasmine-scented steam eye mask, and the next second, he used it as a napkin to wipe his mouth after eating the bun.

"Are you provoking me?" Seeing the eye mask she had kindly given him last night now being used as a napkin to wipe his mouth, Zhang Yan felt an inexplicable surge of anger.

"No, not at all," Lin Yuan said with an innocent expression. "Officer Zhang, you need to eat breakfast now, then go get some good sleep. Relax a bit. Don't always be in a state of high tension."

Zhang Yan chuckled. "You're even caring about me now?"

Lin Yuan pointed to the bright overhead light. "If you hadn't given me that eye mask last night, I definitely wouldn't have slept."

Zhang Yan rubbed her temples a few times. She had only slept three hours last night, and her head felt as heavy as a stone. "I don't want to be tense either. How about you do me a favor and confess?"

"I already said everything I needed to say yesterday."

"Confess sooner rather than later. Otherwise, if your accomplices confess first, you'll lose your chance to earn a reduced sentence."

Lin Yuan responded in a relaxed tone, "Are you planning to play 'Prisoner's Dilemma' with me?"

"You know about the Prisoner's Dilemma?"

"I've only had a slight understanding of it."

"You are a rare type of high-IQ criminal."

"Thank you for the compliment, but please don't be too hasty; for now, please use 'suspect' to describe me."

Zhang Yan scrutinized Lin Yuan. "You have excellent psychological resilience, and relying on your intelligence, you enjoy playing games with us, don't you?" In fact, the atmosphere of her conversation with Lin Yuan was indeed like two friends chatting, completely out of place with the decor of the place and the slogans on the wall (Leniency for confession, severity for resistance).

Lin Yuan sighed. "How do I have excellent psychological resilience? I was suddenly taken in by you all yesterday, and I was scared to death. You were yelling at me, and that old guy next to you kept looking at me sinisterly..."

Zhang Yan shouted, "When did I yell at you?"

"See!" Lin Yuan gestured that she was yelling at him right now.

"Alright." Zhang Yan calmed herself down. "You continue."

Lin Yuan continued, "There was a moment last night when I really thought you all treated me as one of your own. But as we talked, I realized your old colleague was deliberately agreeing with me to trick me into talking, so I just went along with him and kept talking.

It turned into a crosstalk, and then you felt your intelligence was insulted.

But crosstalk can't be played alone. You yourselves were willing to cooperate, too."

Hearing this, Zhang Yan suddenly gripped the bars with both hands. "So, those two people you mentioned last night, you made them up?"

"My mentor Zhang Deshun and Vice Dean Li Youcai?"

"Yes."

"Not entirely."

"What do you mean 'not entirely'? Either it is, or it isn't."

"I don't know their true backgrounds either. I mean, besides what's on the surface. You might as well go ask them yourselves." Lin Yuan, of course, didn't know the true backgrounds of his mentor and Dean Li.

"Of course, we'll investigate."

"Then go quickly, hurry and catch them. Be careful they don't get on a plane and run away."

Zhang Yan seemed to have been reminded of something by Lin Yuan. "I remember what you said. I'll testify for you in court." Then she left in a hurry.

Lin Yuan looked somewhat stunned, 'She wouldn't really go arrest them, would she?' 'Did she really take me as a tainted witness?'

—

After Zhang Yan came out, she instinctively wanted to brief Old Mo first.

Although her master wasn't Old Mo, Old Mo was her "executive master," the one who had actually taught her hands-on.

But she remembered that Old Mo had been rushing materials last night, and he probably hadn't slept much yet. Thinking that he was already over fifty, Zhang Yan didn't want to disturb him, so she dismissed the idea of discussing it with him.

Then she prepared the materials herself and headed straight for the largest office.

Tap, tap, tap~~~, Zhang Yan knocked on the door.

"Come in."

After pushing the door open, Zhang Yan walked into the director's office. "Sir... Director, I have something to discuss with you." She noticed the director was chatting with two people. Both men wore hats and masks, and the three seemed quite familiar with each other. Seeing outsiders present, Zhang Yan immediately changed her address.

"I'm busy right now; we'll talk later."

"This is urgent," Zhang Yan said directly. Because in her opinion, chatting couldn't be considered important, certainly not compared to the matter she had at hand. However, she didn't dare to be disrespectful, so she could only insist politely.

"The person arrested last night provided very important clues."

"What clues?" It wasn't the Director, her master, who asked Zhang Yan, but one of the two men.

Zhang Yan didn't respond, because details of the content were clearly not convenient to discuss in front of people whose backgrounds she didn't know.

Unexpectedly, the questioner turned to the director and said, "Although we have retired, listening to these things shouldn't violate discipline, should it?"

The director looked reluctant. "Xiao Zhang, these two are old comrades; you can speak freely."