Villain? No, I'll catch up with the protagonist after passing the civil service exam.

The grand ballroom on the top floor of the Grand Hyatt Hotel was deathly silent.

The cold light of the crystal chandelier shone on the center of the stage. Ye Chen, the once high and mighty Lord of the Asura Palace, now had his hands tied behind his back, a pair of gleaming silver bracelets tightly fastened to his wrists, which he was so proud of.

"Mom! Help me!"

Ye Chen's eyes were bloodshot, and the veins on his neck were bulging as he struggled desperately to shout at his mother-in-law, Liu Cuihua, who was trembling in the audience.

"Explain to the police! This is an internal fundraising scheme within the Su family, not a Ponzi scheme at all! Tell them!"

In Ye Chen's original wish-fulfillment novel script, today should have been his moment of glory, revealing his true identity as the "Lord of the Asura Palace," showering billions in dividends, making the entire Su family kneel and sing "Conquer," and his mother-in-law weep and beg for forgiveness. Even now, with his accounts suddenly frozen by Interpol, as long as the Su family maintains a unified story that it's "internal family financial management," the police can't do anything to him!

Lu Jingyan casually brushed the scraps of paper off his fingertips, his deep black eyes filled with amusement as he slowly swept his gaze across the audience.

"Ms. Liu, is that right?" Lu Jingyan smiled slightly, a smile that, in Liu Cuihua's eyes, was more terrifying than a living Yama.

"Just a friendly reminder about the law: Article 192 of the Criminal Law stipulates that the crime of illegal fundraising involving an exceptionally large amount of money carries a minimum sentence of ten years and a maximum of life imprisonment. I just checked the back-end ledgers, and you're the Su family's general agent for this 'Shura Investment Plan.' Not only did you invest yourself, but you also dragged more than twenty relatives into it. You must have made a lot of commissions, right?"

Liu Cuihua shuddered violently, and the panic in her eyes instantly transformed into an extreme will to survive.

"Who's your mother! You heartless fraudster, stop making baseless accusations when you're about to die!"

Liu Cuihua jumped up like a wildcat whose tail had been stepped on, kicked off her high heels, and scrambled to Lu Jingyan's side, pointing at Ye Chen's nose and cursing loudly.

"Officer Lu, Your Honor! Please don't listen to this good-for-nothing's nonsense! I have absolutely nothing to do with him!"

Ye Chen was stunned, his eyes widening in disbelief.

"Mom, what did you say? I'm your son-in-law, and I even gave you a two million yuan upfront fee..."

"Bullshit! That's my daughter's hard-earned money, and you bastard tricked her into some pyramid scheme!"

Liu Cuihua spat and cried as she made her accusations, gesticulating wildly to distance herself from the situation.

"Team Leader Lu, you have no idea! This kid has been married into our family for three years, and he's been lazy and good-for-nothing. He can't even sweep the floor properly! I knew he stayed up all night glued to his phone, definitely up to some petty theft! Good job catching him! Excellent job, it's like ridding the people of a scourge!"

When the Su family relatives saw Liu Cuihua's display of power, their minds went blank. This was a crime punishable by at least ten years in prison; anyone involved would be executed!

"Yes, yes, yes! Officer, this kid's got a rebellious streak!" Brother-in-law Su Qiang quickly raised his hand high. "The day before yesterday, he stole two rolls of toilet paper from the hotel. This kind of morally bankrupt scum is definitely the mastermind behind a fraud ring. He should be shot immediately!"

"I'm reporting him! Yesterday, he was chopping vegetables in the kitchen and he chopped up our marble cutting board. That's called intentional damage to property!" Auntie Ye shouted, wishing she could stomp Ye Chen into a crack in the ground.

Hearing the Su family relatives vying to "sacrifice their own family for the greater good," Ye Chen's mind went blank and completely exploded.

"You...you bunch of sycophantic scoundrels!"

Ye Chen trembled with rage. The pride of being the Lord of the Asura Palace made him unable to tolerate this worldly humiliation any longer. He suddenly turned his head, staring intently at Lu Jingyan, unleashing his last bit of strength.

"I am the dignified Lord of the Asura Palace, commanding 100,000 mercenaries overseas! If my accounts hadn't been frozen, I could have easily bought your entire Su family! Lu Jingyan, you dare to arrest me? Believe me, my 100,000 Asura Palace soldiers will ensure you never leave this house!"

"One hundred thousand mercenaries?" Lu Jingyan chuckled, looking at him as if he were an idiot.

"Palace Master Ye, you may have some misunderstanding about the communication technology of modern public security systems. Your so-called Shura Palace's overseas intranet was compromised by Su Xiaoxiao using a Trojan program ten minutes ago. Your four protectors were just apprehended at a coastal dock by the coast guard and armed police for allegedly organizing illegal border crossings. As for your 100,000-strong army..."

Lu Jingyan stepped forward, patted Ye Chen's cheek from above, and directly activated the derivative mental pressure of [True Word Great Pressure].

"Tell me honestly, how did you come up with this boast?"

Under the oppressive aura of absolute rationality and the rule of law, Ye Chen's mouth was completely out of his control, and he stammered out the truth in front of everyone.

"Actually... it's just eight hundred unemployed people working illegally overseas. We give them fifty yuan a day so they can post 'Lord is mighty' emojis in the group chat..."

These words caused the entire room to burst into laughter. The Su family relatives breathed a sigh of relief, and their pointing fingers and mocking laughter pierced Ye Chen's heart like knives.

"Take him away." Lu Jingyan was too lazy to say anything more and waved his hand coldly.

"Let's go and behave ourselves, stop embarrassing ourselves here!"

Zhao Tiezhu's thick arms gripped Ye Chen like iron clamps, dragging him out like a chick.

"Your muscles aren't even as muscular as the pig butcher in my village, yet you're always acting like a demon. Go back to being 90 meters underground and stick to your sewing machine. CEO Gu Yanchen needs someone to help him bite off the loose threads when he's sewing!"

As the sirens wailed outside the Grand Hyatt Hotel, Ye Chen's last shred of fantasy of showing off vanished in the blinding red and blue flashing lights, and he was shoved into the police car like a dead dog.

Lu Jingyan turned to look at Liu Cuihua, who was still kneeling on the ground trembling and letting out a long sigh of relief. He took out the summons notice from his police uniform pocket, his smile as gentle as a spring breeze.

"Ms. Liu, your courage to turn your family away is commendable. But that's a completely different matter from your alleged involvement in organizing illegal fundraising. I've already had Zhao Tiezhu collect the account books from you. As the general agent, you have over 20 million yuan flowing through your name."

Liu Cuihua's smile froze instantly, and she stammered, begging for mercy.

"Officer Lu, I'm an innocent victim..."

"Whether you're innocent or not, the law will decide. Let's go, get in the armored vehicle in the back. Forensic Doctor Qin just made some tea at the station; please come back and have a cup of coffee so we can talk at your leisure."

"Hiccup—" Liu Cuihua's eyes rolled back, and she convulsed and fainted.

"Call 120 and take them back to the station in the ambulance." Lu Jingyan turned and went downstairs without looking back.

Half an hour later, in the special investigation team's case-handling area of ​​the Provincial Public Security Department.

Ye Chen was escorted by Zhao Tiezhu into the interrogation corridor on the first floor. The clinking of the cold handcuffs was particularly jarring in the empty corridor. Halfway there, Ye Chen heard a strange argument coming from the first interrogation room at the end.

"Don't push me! You were the one who went to the internet cafe all night last night!"

"Bullshit! I clearly sent a good morning greeting to girl number three yesterday!"

"It's all Number One's fault! If Number One hadn't insisted on cheating, would we have been arrested?"

Ye Chen was stunned, looking at the tightly closed iron door with a puzzled expression. There were clearly seven or eight people arguing inside, so why did their voices all sound like one person's?

When Zhao Tiezhu saw him stop, he gave him a push without any politeness.

"What are you looking at! Get out of here! The one inside is even more outrageous than you."

"Officer, what kind of gang is being held inside?" Ye Chen swallowed and asked in a low voice.

"That's 'Time Management Master' Li Hai!" Zhao Tiezhu sneered. "His eight physical clones have all been classified as independent individuals by the boss. Now, all eight clones are locked in the same cage, fighting amongst themselves over who should clean the toilet!"

Ye Chen gasped, his worldview utterly shattered. A physical clone? Fighting himself? Just how many outrageous monsters is this police station holding?!

The door to the second interrogation room suddenly opened, and Lu Jingyan walked out with a newly printed interrogation outline, while Su Xiaoxiao behind him was rapidly typing on her laptop.

"Boss, we've cracked the underlying data of the Shura Palace's overseas server!" Su Xiaoxiao excitedly reported to her boss. "That guy actually used company funds to send rockets to female streamers!"

Lu Jingyan raised an eyebrow, his gaze falling on Ye Chen who was walking towards him, a playful smile curving his lips.

"Using money obtained through fraud to tip livestreamers? Lord Ye, your charges are getting more and more numerous."

"I didn't... that's my private vault..." Ye Chen weakly defended himself.

"Take him to interrogation room number three." Lu Jingyan opened the document in his hand and ordered Zhao Tiezhu without looking up, "First, make him recite the 'Prevention of Telecommunications and Internet Fraud Law' three times from memory. He is not allowed to sleep until he finishes it."

"Bang!" The iron gate slammed shut behind Ye Chen.

Looking at the despairing Ye Chen through the one-way glass, Lu Jingyan turned to look at Su Xiaoxiao, a glint of shrewdness flashing in his eyes.

"Go and inform Forensic Doctor Qin to prepare. Among the four bodyguards we just arrested for smuggling, there's one with a very strange skeletal structure. I heard he knows some kind of 'bone-shrinking technique'?"

"Boss, Forensic Doctor Qin can't wait to use the bone saw to do live physics tests." Su Xiaoxiao pushed up her black-rimmed glasses and smiled like a little fox.

"Tell her to go easy on him. We're handling this case in a civilized manner." Lu Jingyan closed the case file, reached out and pushed open the interrogation room door. "Let's go in and meet this Lord of the Asura Palace. I want to see just how tough he can be."