As for the drug dealer in front of her.
After the fake pregnant woman finished speaking to the police, Su Cui, based on the information she had revealed, grabbed her chin and leaned in, asking, "Are you sure those kids used for messaging are scattered in the upper floors?"
"Yes." The fake pregnant woman nodded frantically. Su Cui's face, covered in green clay mask, was terrifying up close.
"There were a few more, but they were sold off today..."
Human trafficking.
Su Cui fell silent. She hoped the police in this book world were competent enough.
"Cooperate with the police, or as a useless person, an informant, and the one who called the cops, you'll die quickly." Su Cui said.
The fake pregnant woman: ?
Su Cui turned off the green voice recorder and packed it away. She swiftly disabled the fake pregnant woman's limbs. The woman bit down hard on the gag in her mouth, sweating profusely, then passed out.
Throughout the entire process, Su Cui wore gloves, and even her shoes were a size too large. After leaving Building No. 1, she hid in the shadows nearby, keeping watch to ensure no one from the den escaped, while waiting for the police.
Su Cui had expected some of the drug dealers on the upper floors to notice something amiss and come down to investigate, but perhaps because Su Cui's strength was immense, the force she used to pull open the door was no louder than a heavy door slam, so it didn't alert the remaining dealers on the upper floors.
The waiting was a bit long.
It completely dampened Su Cui's initial excitement of ambushing the dealers one by one.
The only thing that comforted Su Cui was that the police arrived quickly.
The blaring sirens and several speeding police cars woke up the residents of this remote residential complex. Many people stuck their heads out of windows to see what was happening. Su Cui had already run far from the shadows as the sirens approached, climbed a tree, and pulled out binoculars to watch.
A considerable number of police officers were dispatched. Because the fake pregnant woman had called the police and, under Su Cui's threat, had not dared to conceal the number of people, the police took the case seriously and deployed enough personnel.
Soon, seven or eight burly men were escorted down from the building, along with several children. The men looked either fierce or sullen, while some of the children were crying, others seemed just woken up, sleepy and dazed.
Su Cui pressed the shutter repeatedly, taking photos of all this.
After confirming that everyone was taken away in police cars, Su Cui felt a bit relieved.
She turned off her little red voice recorder.
Drug cases require thorough evidence. Even with both human and material evidence, if the forces behind the gang were powerful enough, they could still suppress the case, and these dealers might not be sentenced to death. The fake pregnant woman could also retract her confession.
Su Cui couldn't afford to wait for that to happen. According to Xiao He's investigation, this fake pregnant woman had frequently transported different children, including what she had just told the police, proving they were involved in human trafficking. So Su Cui had disabled the limbs of the two she encountered today. As for the others, Su Cui had wanted to go upstairs and do the same, but she couldn't guarantee that she could take them out one by one in the six-story building without making noise and alerting the rest.
If they used the trafficked children as hostages, Su Cui would have no way to handle it.
In the end, Su Cui chose to leave it to the professionals—the police.
With the police's overwhelming numerical advantage, most of the dealers gave up without a fight, though their expressions didn't seem particularly scared.
Once everything was settled, Su Cui went home.
She hid in a dark corner, took off her wig, used wet wipes from her bag to wipe off her red lipstick, turned her padded-shoulder coat inside out, and carried it. She then scrubbed the green clay mask off her face. She took off her smelly combat boots, threw them into a trash can, and changed into the dark brown cotton shoes for the elderly that she had in her bag.
Finally, she barely caught the last bus back to the area near her home square.
On the way home, swaying on the bus, Su Cui stared at the neon lights outside the window, thinking about what the fake pregnant woman had said tonight.
The fake pregnant woman had mainly told the police the address and general personnel of this drug den.
From what Su Cui had learned tonight, this group was just a branch under a gang boss surnamed Yu, mainly responsible for drug trafficking and human trafficking transit.
For Su Cui, the information she could extract was limited.
The most valuable piece of information was that the gang boss was surnamed Yu and was abroad. It seemed that for now, Su Baixue's encounter with the gang boss wouldn't happen as early as those with Wei Yun and the others.
When she reached home, Su Cui unlocked the door.
"I'm back."
"Grandma, you're back!" Su Baixue poked her head out of her room in surprise. "Have you eaten? There's still food in the kitchen, kept warm on the stove!"
Ever since Su Baixue asked Su Cui her real name, she stopped questioning Su Cui's outings too much.
Su Baixue knew Su Cui meant well. Even though she sensed something and asked, she still tried her best to maintain a peaceful family atmosphere, treating Su Cui like her own grandmother.
Acceptance, inquiry... perhaps soon Su Baixue would stop running away and finally start facing things bravely.
Su Cui smiled. "It's okay, Grandma isn't hungry. Keep studying. Don't stay up too late. Sleep early. Grandma is going to take a shower."
"Mm." Su Baixue nodded obediently.
The shower was turned on.
After the steam filled the bathroom for a while, Su Cui opened the door and walked out, drying her hair.
She turned on the TV to watch the late-night news.
She pressed the remote and set it on the sofa, then went to her cabinet to find a hairdryer.
On TV, the evening news was broadcasting:
"Today is... Good evening, viewers. Welcome to Evening News 40 Minutes..."
"Buzzzz!" Su Cui turned on the hairdryer, sat on the sofa, and dried her hair while watching TV.
The male anchor seemed to be a new face. Su Cui squinted, sure she hadn't seen him before.
"Today's main story: A man surnamed Xu, to repay a debt of a million, sold his daughter for gambling money. He is charged with child trafficking and was tried today at Que Li Court."