Chapter 89: A Discordant Game

The detective’s guess was correct. Mo Fei had indeed recognized the man’s location at a glance. He had been there several times himself, always for filming.

It was the rooftop of Twin Towers.

Buildings like that had security, and Mo Fei had no idea how the man had slipped up there. But that did not stop him from wanting to run over and slap him in the face.

Just as Mo Fei rushed out of the station and tried to hail a cab, a police car stopped in front of him.

Detective Tang was behind the wheel. “Destination. Get in.”

“Twin Towers. That bastard’s on the roof.” Mo Fei wasted no time and climbed straight into the back seat.

The officer in the passenger seat was still holding a phone, with the livestream playing on speaker.

Another officer in the back was on the phone, shouting at the top of his lungs, “Is everyone all right?!”

“Has the fire department been called?!”

“What about the ambulance!”

“It’s good that no one was hurt! Safety first!”

Only after he hung up did his voice return to normal. “The people at the fat factory were all injured in the blast. Fortunately, they were only minor injuries, but they’ll all need some time to recover.”

“As for the one selling explosives illegally, he’s fine too—just his house got blown apart...”

“He’d only just taken over the fat factory after going back to acting, and he had no clue how dangerous potassium nitrate could be, so he sold it blindly.” He shook his head as he spoke. “He’s been done in. With this kind of impact, he’s looking at at least ten years.”

“He’s looking at ten years. If Zhao Liye is caught, he’s looking at life at the very least,” Detective Tang said with a cold laugh, then switched on the siren and slammed the accelerator.

The police cars behind them all sped up as well.

Each floor of Twin Towers served a different purpose, with both offices and server rooms, all managed by the building’s property administration.

Only employees with work badges could pass through the ground-floor turnstiles. Visitors had to verify their identity and scan their ID cards before receiving temporary access.

People working there usually kept office hours, nine to six, while the property staff arrived earlier, opening the building by half past eight.

The officers went upstairs using their police IDs and instructed the property staff not to let anyone into the building to work today if possible. It was too dangerous.

After hearing this, the property manager gave an understanding smile. “Understood. Once you go up, the elevators will be under maintenance. All of them.”

“But there are a lot of companies here. It may not be possible to keep them under maintenance for very long.”

“Then keep them under maintenance for as long as you can,” Detective Tang said, glancing at the female officer beside him.

The female officer stepped forward with a notebook. “Now let’s talk about how that man got up there.”

On the roof, Zhao Chengye was performing a few old-fashioned magic tricks for his phone.

Card guessing, card switching, the three immortals returning to the cave, a coin passing through a cup...

If Detective Tang had not already informed the carrier to move his livestream into a different traffic pool, and if that pool had not been filled entirely with accounts being operated by officers, the viewers—who loved nothing more than a spectacle—would already have been mocking him by now.

The police did not want to see a suspect driven to something irrational because of ridicule.

By the time Mo Fei, Detective Tang, and the others reached the rooftop and found Zhao Chengye, he was performing a hoop trick in a near-mindless, mechanical way.

When he saw Mo Fei arrive, Zhao Chengye’s eyes lit up. “Ladies and gentlemen, we have finally welcomed the best supporting actor for today’s performance!”

He turned the phone in front of him so the camera pointed at Mo Fei.

The officers behind Mo Fei all looked grim.

They had found the man, yes, but the hostage was not here. They still had to find the hostage and the remaining explosives.

And even if they found both, Twin Towers was the tallest building in the vicinity. There was no sniper position.

Not to mention whatever might be strapped to Zhao Chengye’s body that could be explosives.

This time, it was truly a headache.

Zhao Chengye’s mind was already badly clouded. When he saw Mo Fei’s frosty expression, he actually laughed. “Ah, I know that look of yours. The internet is full of that look!”

“It’s really great to be handsome. A random photo is enough to make someone famous.”

“I’ve worked hard for so many years and still haven’t made a splash, and even that woman is helping you!”

At that, Mo Fei could not help stepping forward. “Where is she?”

“Guess.”

Zhao Chengye pulled open his jacket to fully display the explosives on his body. “I’m going to play a game with you.”

“How about Russian roulette? As long as you fire a shot at your own head, I’ll tell you where some of the explosives are.”

“If you still aren’t dead in the end, then I’ll tell you where she is.”

Mo Fei drew a smile on his face and moved forward. “Fine.”

“Mo Fei!” Detective Tang grabbed at him, but did not manage to stop him.

Mo Fei kept walking until he reached the ten-meter mark. Only when he saw clear wariness surface on Zhao Chengye’s face did he stop.

“This game, I can play with you. But how are you going to prove you’ll keep your word?”

Zhao Chengye took a small notebook from his pocket and showed Mo Fei the writing inside. “The locations are all in here. You fire one shot, I give you one page.”

As he spoke, he tore out a page, crumpled it into a ball, and tossed it to Mo Fei. “Go check it.”

The paper ball hit the ground and rolled to a stop between them.

Mo Fei glanced down, then walked to it and, under Zhao Chengye’s wary gaze, kicked it back.

The moment he approached Zhao Chengye, the other man’s hand went into his pocket.

The detonator might be in there. If Mo Fei made the slightest move, Zhao Chengye would set it off, leaving no chance to subdue him directly.

Detective Tang picked up the paper ball and looked at it. Four or five addresses were scrawled there in messy handwriting.

He passed the note to the officer behind him and looked at Mo Fei with concern. “You really want to gamble with him?”

“It’s not me gambling with him. He’s gambling with Sister Lu’s life, and with the lives of many innocent people,” Mo Fei said, giving him a reassuring look. “Give me a revolver and one bullet. Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing.”

Detective Tang could not possibly be reassured.

If this lunatic had not insisted that only Mo Fei go over, he would not have minded playing this damned game with him.

The addresses on the note were quickly verified. They were all accurate. Aside from one place that had already been bomb-disposed of the night before, the other locations all turned up homemade bombs.

And the revolver needed for Russian roulette was delivered to Detective Tang’s hands a quarter of an hour later.

“A police 9mm revolver. This is a rubber bullet, and this is a live round.” Detective Tang placed the empty gun in Mo Fei’s hand while holding the two rounds himself. “If it’s pressed to the head, even a rubber bullet can be fatal.”

“He won’t let me use a rubber bullet. Give me the live round,” Mo Fei said, feeling the heavy weight of the revolver in his hand, a faint, elusive smile never leaving his face.

Detective Tang took a deep breath and let it out hard. “Mo Fei, be careful.”

There were no tall buildings nearby, the rooftop was open with no sniper cover, and their distance from Zhao Chengye was beyond the effective range of a police pistol. At this point, everything truly rested on Mo Fei.