225: Chapter 225 I Plead Guilty

The interrogation center was located in an inconspicuous industrial zone; from the outside, it looked like an abandoned office building, without even a sign hanging on it.

When Zheng Ze was brought in, half the lights in the corridor were broken, flickering on and off like a scene from a horror movie.

He was pushed into an interrogation room with white walls, a white table, and a white chair; the light on the ceiling was blindingly bright, making his eyes ache.

The handcuffs were secured to the armrests of the chair, and he flexed his wrists.

The metal rubbed against his skin, freezing cold, with an uncomfortable texture.

The person who entered next was Xiao Anping, Deputy Director of the Municipal Public Security Bureau, in his early fifties, with graying hair, a thin face, and sharp eyes.

Zheng Ze knew him; to be precise, everyone in the Zheng family knew him.

He was an official supported by the Zheng family; back when he was the deputy director of the district branch in Lüjiang City, it was a single word from Zheng Dongguo that had promoted him.

Over the years, he had risen all the way to Deputy Director of the City Public Security Bureau, and every holiday he would visit the old man at the Zheng residence, always bringing a pile of gifts, his attitude as respectful as a junior meeting an elder.

Zheng Ze looked at him and suddenly smiled, a faint smile that carried an indescribable sense of relief.

"Uncle Xiao, you came yourself?"

Xiao Anping sat down opposite him, spread the folder out on the table, and without any small talk or pleasantries, didn't even glance at him.

He opened the folder, his voice as calm as if he were reading a menu.

"Zheng Ze, I brought you here today to verify some matters; I hope you can cooperate."

Zheng Ze leaned back into the chair, looking at Xiao Anping's expressionless face, and the last shred of hope in his heart vanished.

The old man had made his move; he wasn't here to save him, but to make him plead guilty.

He suddenly found it hilarious, laughing until he was doubling over, laughing until tears were about to fall.

Xiao Anping watched him without speaking, waiting until he had laughed enough before saying, "Finished laughing?"

Zheng Ze wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes, leaned back into the chair, and let out a long sigh.

"Uncle Xiao, go ahead. What crime does the old man want me to plead guilty to? I'll just plead guilty."

Xiao Anping turned the pages of the folder and read them out one by one.

His voice was not loud, his pace not fast, and every charge was read out clearly, as if he were pronouncing a death sentence.

"Zheng Ze, you are suspected of organizing, leading, and participating in an underworld-style organization."

"Investigation shows that you have long gathered social idlers to organize and carry out illegal and criminal activities in Lüjiang City and surrounding areas, acting as a local tyrant, bullying the people, and seriously disrupting economic and social order."

"You are suspected of drug trafficking. Investigation shows that you directed subordinates to sell methamphetamine, ecstasy, and other drugs in multiple entertainment venues; the quantity is huge, and the social harm is extreme."

"You are suspected of human trafficking. Investigation shows that you, in collusion with others, have repeatedly trafficked women and children for huge profits."

"You are suspected of tax evasion. Investigation shows that multiple companies under your name used fake accounts, inflated costs, concealed income, and other methods to evade a particularly large amount of taxes."

"You are suspected of money laundering. Investigation shows that you transferred a large amount of illegal gains overseas through underground banks, with a particularly huge amount of money laundered."

"In addition, you are also suspected of picking quarrels and provoking trouble, gathering crowds for fights, operating casinos, bribery, rape, molestation, illegal detention, and intentional injury."

"Do you plead guilty to these charges or not?"

Listening to that long list of charges, the expression on Zheng Ze's face changed from mockery to numbness.

He looked at Xiao Anping and suddenly asked an irrelevant question.

"Uncle Xiao, is the old man trying to make me die?"

Xiao Anping didn't answer; he closed the folder, leaned back into the chair, and looked at Zheng Ze.

"Do you plead guilty or not?"

Zheng Ze smiled, a smile that carried a sense of resignation.

He lowered his head to look at the metallic luster of the handcuffs reflecting in the light, recalling his childhood, when his father took him fishing in the suburbs.

Back then, he had caught a big fish and was jumping for joy, and his father had patted his head and said, "Little Ze is really amazing."

Ever since then, his father had never patted his head again, nor had he ever praised him again.

His father was never satisfied with anything he did.

When he got into college, his father said it was bought with money.

When he went into business, his father said it was swindling and cheating.

When he made friends, his father said they were a bad crowd.

When he found a woman, his father said it was scandalous.

Everything he did was wrong; in his father's eyes, he was always a useless piece of trash.

Now he wasn't even trash; he was a pawn, a pawn abandoned by the Zheng family.

"I plead guilty."

The staff member next to Xiao Anping was a young man, about twenty-seven or twenty-eight, wearing glasses and looking scholarly.

Seeing Zheng Ze plead guilty, he quickly followed up with a question.

"Zheng Ze, did you have accomplices in these crimes? Who else was involved? If you confess their names, it can be counted as a meritorious service."

Zheng Ze raised his head to look at the young man, his mouth curling into a strange smile.

That smile contained mockery, sorrow, and a trace of chill that made the young man's back go cold.

"If I say some names, do you dare to record them? Do you dare to investigate?"

"Are you sure you want to hear the people I'm talking about?"

The young man froze for a moment, subconsciously glancing at Xiao Anping.

Xiao Anping's expression darkened, like a sky overcast with storm clouds before a tempest, the air pressure so low it made it hard to breathe.

He glared at the young man without speaking, but that look had already made everything perfectly clear.

"Don't ask what you shouldn't!"

He turned his head to glance at the working law enforcement body camera mounted in the corner, his voice returning to its usual calm.

"Our Public Security Bureau's equipment is a bit old; this part might not have been recorded clearly."

"Xiao Wang, you go to logistics and get a new device; we will re-record this part."

The young man froze, opening his mouth, wanting to say that his tone when asking that question just now might not have been appropriate.

But looking at Xiao Anping's unquestionable eyes, he swallowed the words back, stood up, took down the body camera, and walked out quickly.

Only Xiao Anping and Zheng Ze were left in the interrogation room, and Zheng Ze suddenly burst into laughter.

"You people are truly absurd. You don't even follow the rules you set yourselves."

"You don't dare to enforce the laws you wrote yourselves. You don't dare to dig deep into the criminals you caught yourselves."

"This world really is absurd."

Xiao Anping didn't speak; he sat there, motionless, like a heartless robot.

Zheng Ze finished laughing, leaned back into the chair, and looked at the blinding incandescent light on the ceiling, his eyes aching from the glare.

The door was pushed open, and the young man walked in with a new body camera.

Xiao Anping signaled him to set it up and turn it on again.

"Zheng Ze, we are starting the recording again now."

"Repeat the crimes you confessed to just now."

Zheng Ze looked at Xiao Anping, the arc of his mouth slowly fading away, returning to that numb expression.

He lowered his head toward the new body camera and said word by word, "I plead guilty."