124: Crossing the line, disaster!

It was all his fault for feeling itchy today when he saw such a good item.

"Speak quickly!" He Xinmin, seeing a glimmer of hope, immediately barked out a stern reprimand.

Usually, at such times, a criminal's resolve has already begun to waver; adding a little more pressure can easily make him drop his psychological defenses.

Sure enough, when the guy heard this, a pained expression appeared on his face, wanting to confess but fearing too heavy a sentence.

"This is a limited edition watch. You can say it's worth 2 million or 500,000, it all depends on your attitude," Ye Lin said calmly from the side.

The guy suddenly looked up, his eyes filled with anticipation. Although the sentencing for 2 million and 500,000 might be legally the same, if the element of surrendering was added, it was very possible to reduce the penalty by one grade. Perhaps he could be out in 3-5 years.

If it were calculated at 2 million, he wouldn't die, but he'd be skinned alive.

"I confess, Police Officer, I confess." The guy plopped down on his knees and detailed the process of his theft.

He Xinmin quickly contacted the organizing committee and found the owner, a foreign investor. He hadn't even realized it himself, and when he saw his watch returned by the police, the foreigner kept praising the police's efficiency.

The City leaders also immediately beamed with pride; what was originally a bad incident had turned into a good one.

After sending the thief away, since there was still some time before the competition ended, Ye Lin and the other four still had to stay put and guard for a while longer.

Li Yushan offered Ye Lin a cigarette. Ye Lin smiled, "Captain Li, aren't you afraid of being photographed?"

"What? Police can't smoke now? Let's go over there, Xiao Ye, you stand guard for a bit."

Li Yushan pulled Ye Lin and He Xinmin to a more secluded spot to smoke. Ye Lin guessed that Li Yushan had something to say.

"Captain Li, Blue Lotus! It's better than what Chief Xie smokes," He Xinmin joked.

Li Yushan sneered, "Your Chief Xie is just a henpecked man; he's handed over all his money, so he can only smoke White Lotus."

Ye Lin lit his cigarette, took a deep drag, and said calmly, "Captain Li, do you have something to say?"

Li Yushan smiled slightly and said, "Xiao Ye, it's actually not a big deal. I just feel that what you did today was a bit risky. Your master might be too embarrassed to tell you, but I still need to remind you."

"Captain Li means the matter of me underestimating the price of the watch?" Ye Lin understood immediately.

Li Yushan looked deeply at Ye Lin, "It seems you understand."

He Xinmin lowered his head and remained silent.

Ye Lin smiled slightly, "Captain Li, do you think I crossed the line?"

"What do you think?" Captain Li looked at Ye Lin with profound meaning.

"Heh heh." Ye Lin smiled slightly, took a hard drag from his cigarette, "Captain Li, I did cross the line, but I had no choice. If I didn't say that, this kid wouldn't admit it."

"Moreover, I couldn't guarantee that I would definitely find evidence of his crime."

Li Yushan asked doubtfully, "Didn't you say he was near the podium, and there would be surveillance or something?"

"That was also a guess combined with scaring him. I couldn't guarantee I'd find anything, which is why I resorted to that trick, to give him a little incentive and make him confess."

Li Yushan suddenly understood, pointed at Ye Lin, and laughed, "You sly fox, you really are cunning."

"But you should do such things less often," Li Yushan said, still reminding him.

"Understood."

After that, the three began to talk about other things.

Actually, Ye Lin was also helpless in this matter. As soon as the little thief said he had picked it up, Ye Lin knew there was trouble.

Either he would retrieve the stolen goods and let him go, or he would find another way to make him confess.

And the 500,000 value he proposed was not a lie; the regular version of this watch was 500,000, and only the limited edition was 2 million.

Since the watch had already been returned to the foreign businessman, no one would pursue whether it was the regular or limited edition.

The four of them guarded for a while longer. Around 1 PM, the event began to wrap up, and the Third Bridge was reopened. Li Yushan and Yin Chaohua also finished their tasks and went back, leaving only Ye Lin and He Xinmin sitting on the bridge, waiting for their car to pick them up.

"Traffic police have it so good. They have their own cars, just twist the throttle on their little motorcycles and go," He Xinmin said sourly.

"Well, they have to eat dust on the road. Why don't you envy them then?" Ye Lin teased.

"Tsk, we risk our lives! They're much more comfortable than us, alright?" Old He retorted, unconvinced.

"Master, when did an old man like you ever risk his life, haha?"

"Get lost, you're disrespecting your master and ancestors."

As the two were joking, suddenly, an unexpected change occurred!

Thump!

A dull thud came from behind them. Ye Lin felt as if the ground had been hit by something, and his whole body swayed.

He barely managed to steady himself.

Thump!

Another dull thud!

Ye Lin looked back; the sound was coming from beneath the bridge deck.

As he leaned out, he heard the crowd on the roadside begin to scream.

"It broke!"

"The bridge broke!"

"Run!"

"Oh my god, the Third Bridge broke, and there are still so many cars on it."

"It's over, people are going to die now."

Ye Lin's face changed drastically. He strained to look down and saw a large cargo ship, full of goods, had crashed into a bridge pier.

He didn't know how it hit, but one of the bridge piers was directly knocked down.

With one pier gone, the concrete above couldn't bear the weight and directly broke into two halves from the middle. A nearly ten-meter gap appeared in the middle of the bridge deck, revealing the surging river below.

Concrete blocks constantly fell from the bridge deck; some smashed onto the cargo ship, while others plunged directly into the river with a dull splash.

Just moments ago it was a grand bridge; now it had become a giant, man-eating maw.

Urgent braking sounds came from the bridge deck, but the bridge broke too suddenly; no one would have expected it.

The cars on both ends of the bridge were fine, at most a rear-end collision.

But the cars in the middle of the bridge weren't so lucky. A small car fell directly from the break, landing on the cargo ship with a thud.

The entire cargo ship was violently rocked from side to side by the impact.

And it wasn't the last; several more cars subsequently fell from the crack beneath the bridge. Some were lucky enough to land on the cargo ship, but several, due to their direction, plunged headfirst into the river.

Ye Lin could even see the drivers' desperate eyes as the river water poured into the driver's cabs.

"Help!"

"Help!"

"My leg, my leg is broken!"

"My arm is broken too, oh my god, help!"

Beneath the bridge deck, it had become a scene straight out of hell. The cargo ship was covered in car wreckage, and injured people lay groaning. Blood spilled down from above, dots of dazzling red covering the entire cargo ship. Even heaven seemed unable to bear it, and the sky turned gloomy.