Chapter 154 So, Your Performance Begins

"So, what are you planning to do? You haven't even gotten the equipment yet?"

"The old Taoist hasn't returned."

"Why is that old geezer dawdling so much? You should've told me sooner, I would've gotten a set for you." The little loli said helplessly.

If you can't buy it, can't you just steal it?

It's not like it's high-end equipment anyway. Boss Zhou isn't trying to conduct biochemical research here. Grabbing some stuff from a high school chemistry lab would be enough.

"So, you're planning to make it into something like capsules?" The little loli pointed at the design draft drawn by Zhou Ze, "Can you even do that?"

"It's not too difficult. The important thing is to purify it first, then compress it. It's best if we can get crystals, otherwise it won't be convenient to carry and use. And we have to eliminate the influence on the average person around us."

The little loli nodded. Anyway, she didn't really understand, but since Zhou Ze had confidently guaranteed that it wasn't some high-difficulty technical task and that he could do it himself once the equipment arrived, she was willing to wait a little longer.

"I'm leaving then. So disappointing, I thought I could go out for a late-night snack today."

"I have plum juice there, you can make do with that."

"You just eat to eat, you don't enjoy the deliciousness of food at all. I'm not interested, it's better to just sleep and let Wang Rui go out to eat and sleep herself."

The two, one big and one small, came down from the second floor.

Then,

Zhou Ze froze,

Because a third of the first floor was actually filled with customers.

Zhou Ze swore to the heavens,

Since opening,

His bookstore had never had such a high occupancy rate!

Had the living standards of Tong City suddenly skyrocketed, making the minimum consumption of one hundred yuan outdated?

However, soon, Zhou Ze and the little loli both stopped in their tracks.

Among the customers, there were two or three who gave Zhou Ze and the little loli some pressure, as if those two were carrying some invisible light, a little dazzling to say the least.

Either this group were desperados, or those from the underworld, who had seen fighting and killing and even participated in it themselves, or they should be the police.

The former was unlikely. Boss Zhou didn't think he had done anything that would warrant this group of gangsters specifically coming here to sit. And looking at their expressions, pretending to drink and read, but actually paying attention to their surroundings, their profession was obvious.

"Did you do something?" The little loli asked Zhou Ze in a low voice.

"No," Zhou Ze responded quietly.

Boss Zhou believed that his recent actions shouldn't have attracted the police. Even if he occasionally skirted the line, he would have people burn ghost money at the bookstore entrance, and the trouble would pass.

Could it be that the two girls he scared away that morning had some kind of background?

Thinking about it, it didn't make sense. For one thing, those two girls didn't necessarily have the courage to retaliate against him, and secondly, even if they did, there was no need for this kind of formation, right? Besides, he had the Death Servant burn paper money afterward.

Boss Zhou always disliked trouble the most.

"Go upstairs, and leave with the wine jars first," Zhou Ze said.

The little loli nodded and turned around to go upstairs.

Zhou Ze gave the Death Servant, who was sitting blankly to the side, a look, signaling him to go upstairs and leave with the little loli as well.

Bai Yingying was still there serving everyone tea and drinks. Zhou Ze walked over, still half-lying down in his original position, picking up the newspaper on the table and flipping through it casually.

Bai Yingying walked to Zhou Ze with a coffee.

"Go upstairs, then leave," Zhou Ze said.

"They are…" Bai Yingying had noticed something was wrong a long time ago. She had said before that someone was watching this place, and now people had brazenly entered the store pretending to be customers.

Bai Yingying's identity had been arranged by Xu Qinglang, and that identity couldn't stand scrutiny.

Once Bai Yingying went upstairs as well, Zhou Ze would have nothing to worry about.

In fact, for Zhou Ze, what couldn't be seen in the bookstore were people.

For example, Bai Yingying's identity. You can't explain to the police that she's from the Xianfeng era of the Qing Dynasty, right?

Or the Death Servant, what explanation would there be if they took off his coat?

Zhou Ze was originally worried that having Bai Yingying and the others leave first would alert the officers present, but it was clear that Zhou Ze had overthought it. On the contrary, the officers breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of the little loli and Bai Yingying going upstairs, thinking that Zhou Ze no longer had any hostages to hold.

Xu Qinglang delivered a cocktail to the last table and gave Zhou Ze a curious look as he passed by, meaning what was going on?

Zhou Ze shrugged,

How should I know?

But Boss Zhou immediately thought of something and reminded Xu Qinglang:

"Have them pay the bill first."

Xu Qinglang thought it made sense. It was rare to have so many suckers come in, so he should collect the money first. Most importantly, in case these officers suddenly transformed, like the Kangxi Emperor on a secret tour, it wouldn't be convenient to collect the money later.

Old Xu went to collect the money, table by table.

The police actually gave the money. They probably felt embarrassed to reveal their identities when it was time to collect money.

After Xu Qinglang collected all the money, he put the income into the drawer of the bar.

Zhou Ze breathed a sigh of relief,

It's good to get the money,

Next,

Let the show begin.

But after waiting and waiting, these police officers continued to drink their coffee or beverages, and no one stood up and walked to Zhou Ze to reveal their identity.

This made Boss Zhou a little helpless,

Can't you just give me a straight answer?

Boss Zhou stood up, walked to the bookstore door, and pushed it open.

Even at this time, the police officers in the room still didn't stand up.

What's going on?

Zhou Ze was confused,

He took two steps forward subconsciously.

Then, at that moment, two passersby on either side of the bookstore door suddenly rushed up, one grabbing Zhou Ze's shoulder with each hand, trying to restrain him.

Zhou Ze was so stimulated that he almost couldn't control himself from bringing out his armor or fingernails. He could only keep taking deep breaths to calm his mood, cooperating with the two plainclothes officers, even actively putting his hands behind his back to let them handcuff him.

The two plainclothes officers were stunned for a moment. They had never seen such a cooperative criminal suspect in all their years.

It wasn't that Boss Zhou was being cowardly this time, the key was that he had to figure out what he had done wrong, right?

Such a big commotion, so many police officers visiting his store, Boss Zhou was also at a loss.

"We are the police, and we now suspect you of being involved in drug manufacturing and trafficking. Please cooperate with our work. We will take you back to the police station for investigation."

A middle-aged police officer walked up to Zhou Ze and showed Zhou Ze his credentials.

Drug manufacturing?

Drug trafficking?

Boss Zhou looked dumbfounded.

Boss Zhou was put into a police car, and Xu Qinglang inside was also controlled and sent into the police car. Bai Yingying, the little loli, and the Death Servant were not discovered, perhaps because the police didn't regard them as suspects.

When they arrived at the police station, they went through the interrogation room first, and the questions the police asked made Zhou Ze laugh and cry.

Making drugs in his own workshop?

Not only circulating in Tong City, but also preparing to enter the Shanghai market? And even using Shanghai as a springboard to continue spreading out?

Boss Zhou wanted to ask himself:

Am I that diligent?

The police seemed to be searching his bookstore as well. During the interrogation, someone called the interrogating officer, and the interrogating officer specifically asked Zhou Ze a question, which was why there was a freezer in Zhou Ze's bedroom.

And that kind of freezer, at first glance, was for the dead, the same style as the ones rented out in the morgue.

Zhou Ze said that summer had arrived and the air conditioner wasn't working, so he used this thing for cooling.

The interrogating officer slammed the table hard, reprimanding Zhou Ze for having to correct his attitude, cooperate with the interrogation, be lenient if you confess, and strict if you resist!

Boss Zhou couldn't help but roll his eyes. He estimated that if he said that he could only fall asleep in the freezer if he didn't have that high school girl (Bai Yingying) to sleep with him, this officer would think his attitude was even more problematic or even actively mocking the police, right?

After the interrogation, Zhou Ze was sent to a detention center, which was a temporary holding place prepared by the police station. The police seemed to have a certain number of hours of detention time. If there was no concrete evidence, Boss Zhou could leave after the time was up.

In short,

This day had been quite strange. He had been treated as a drug dealer for no reason. Of course, Zhou Ze was also somewhat grateful in his heart. That day, that takeout guy fell at his door, and he took the money, but he still flushed that bag of blue pills down the toilet and didn't keep it. Otherwise, if it was searched out, it would really be a case of "yellow mud falling into his crotch, not shit but still shit."

Of course, that was because he burned ghost money that time. In theory, it wouldn't cause any trouble because of that incident. So, Zhou Ze was still thinking about what went wrong?

The detention center was small, and Zhou Ze was temporarily held in a room.

"Boss, Boss, you're in too!"

Zhou Ze was just about to sit down when he heard the voice of the old Taoist from the opposite railing.

Zhou Ze looked over and frowned, saying, "Why are you in here too?"

The old Taoist's face was almost wrinkled into a chrysanthemum, and he said:

"Boss, I'm unlucky too. I went to buy equipment for you, but it turned out that the guy was a smuggler. He was just caught by the police. I went to buy that thing, and after describing it, they thought I was preparing to make drugs.

Then they caught me and kept asking me about the specific process. I explained that it was a misunderstanding, but they didn't believe me. They also asked me who I was buying the equipment for, and I could only say it was you. They wouldn't even let me call outside to inform you."

Zhou Ze understood. It turned out that this was all the old Taoist's fault.

"You could have just gone to a school or a laboratory supply store to buy those things, why did you go to a smuggler?"

"Well, I was thinking of buying some good equipment for you to use, Boss. I could tell that the one you brought yesterday was very precious, a good product, and you value it so much, so of course I had to choose better equipment for you."

"Thank you."

"So what exactly is that thing?" The old Taoist's curiosity also rose. He didn't take it seriously anyway. After all, innocence would clear itself, and the misunderstanding would eventually be cleared.

"I had Lin Ke transfer it. That thing can't be allowed to fall into the wrong hands, otherwise there will be big trouble."

In any case, the *bianhua* (referring to the *Manjusaka*, or red spider lily; also known as the flower of the afterlife in some beliefs) could not be obtained by ordinary people, otherwise it would lead to a huge disaster.

"From underground?" The old Taoist pointed his finger down.

Zhou Ze nodded.

"Oh, I understand." The old Taoist suddenly understood. It turned out that it was something from hell.

"Just wait, I estimate we'll be released soon," Zhou Ze said.

"Yeah, after we get out, I'll go to the school and help you buy equipment, Boss, and you can continue making it," the old Taoist said.

…………

In the monitoring room,

The images and sounds were transmitted here synchronously,

Several police officers were standing here watching and listening.

"Director Sun, you really have a way. As expected, putting the two suspects together, they will definitely reveal some clues. I was worried before that they would collude," said one police officer.

One of the older police officers took a deep breath and slapped the table with a hint of anger, reprimanding:

"How did you do your jobs!

You allowed the criminal suspects to transfer the drugs before closing the net. Has the search result of that bookstore come out yet? Isn't it that no evidence has been found?

Also, Tong City actually has underground channels that can provide drug manufacturing materials to criminals, but we haven't discovered it at all. This is a disgrace to the Tong City police!

In addition, did you hear just now that the suspect is certain that we can't catch him and is even thinking of going back to continue making drugs after the detention period is over!

Investigate,

Investigate thoroughly,

Investigate and find out the truth!"