Hong Kong variety show: The mastermind behind the scenes is emerging.

Early June 1983, Sunday, late at night.

More than 30 hours have passed since Senior Superintendent Szeto Kit issued the "48-hour deadline to solve the case" order.

During this extremely difficult weekend, Zhang Chongbang and Qiu Gangao went completely mad, turning the entire Hong Kong underworld upside down, even questioning the leaders of the four major triads. However, Da Dong, as the former number one notorious gangster, possessed remarkable counter-surveillance skills, and in the end, they found nothing.

The distillery, however, took a different approach. They mobilized their entire network of informants and, under Lu Chen's guidance, proactively expanded their search—including all of Da Dong's core henchmen. Through pressure from both the legitimate and criminal underworld, they finally managed to unravel the massive and complex fragments of information, pinpointing the key member of Da Dong's gang responsible for scouting and disposing of stolen goods—Shengji. Then, as agreed, they delivered this intelligence to the police.

……

Kowloon, an open-air food stall.

On a late summer evening, the food stalls were bustling with noise and billowing smoke. Shirtless diners were loudly playing drinking games and drinking, and the air was filled with the aroma of typhoon shelter-style fried crab and ice-cold beer.

Sitting at a greasy round table in the corner was a muscular man with long hair, wearing a floral shirt, and with extremely wary eyes.

Da Dong was extremely cautious. After kidnapping Huo Zhaotang, he did not have everyone hide in the abandoned factory in silence. Instead, he sent Sheng Ji, who was relatively familiar with the terrain of Hong Kong, to infiltrate the black market in Mong Kok. He planned to contact a large speedboat in advance so that after receiving the ransom of 300 million Hong Kong dollars the next night, they could smuggle themselves out of Hong Kong from the high seas as soon as possible.

The chicken had just finalized the price with the snakehead and was sitting in the food stall, ordering a plate of stir-fried beef noodles, shoveling it into his mouth with gusto.

He had no idea that he had been targeted by the police who were lurking in the black market.

Just as we finished eating the raw chicken and were about to pay the bill, an inconspicuous, dilapidated Toyota Crown sedan abruptly stopped on the side of the street where the food stall was located.

As a veteran, Shengji had extremely sharp intuition. Upon seeing the car, his right hand reached for the cold Black Star pistol at his waist with lightning speed.

However, the police acted faster and more ruthlessly than he did!

"Don't move! Police!!"

"Bang!"

Before Shengji could even draw his gun, a figure as agile as a cheetah pounced through the air and kicked him hard in the chest!

The live chicken, along with the person and chair, was kicked more than two meters away, crashing heavily onto the swill bucket next to it, getting covered in foul-smelling swill.

"What are you doing?! The cops are killing someone!" Raw Chicken roared, trying to struggle to get up.

"Snap!"

Two dark Remington shotguns and three .38 revolvers were instantly and precisely pressed against his head and chest.

Qiu Gang'ao, along with Ah Hua, Bao Zhu, and several of his sworn brothers from the Major Crimes Unit, descended like divine soldiers and pinned Sheng Ji to the ground. Zhang Chongbang then swiftly pulled out handcuffs and twisted Sheng Ji's hands behind his back, locking them securely with a "click."

"Your name is Shengji, right? From Da Dong?"

Qiu Gang'ao squatted down, grabbed the raw chicken by the hair, and pulled his face out of the swill. His sharp eyes revealed a chilling light. "Come back to the police station with me, and we'll talk slowly."

At 1 a.m., in the basement interrogation room of the Wan Chai Police Headquarters building.

The glaring incandescent light shone cruelly on the raw chicken's face. The air in the interrogation room was extremely heavy and oppressive. The digital clock on the wall ticked relentlessly in red.

It's 11:30 p.m. on Sunday, and there are less than nine hours left until the banks open and the stock market opens at 9 a.m. on Monday!

If they can't pry out Da Dong's hiding place and Huo Zhaotang's whereabouts from the "raw chicken" within these nine hours, then if news of Huo Zhaotang's disappearance gets out the next morning, it will immediately set off an explosion throughout Hong Kong! A run on Huo's bank would then wipe out the hundreds of millions of dollars in reserves held by the police force!

Therefore, this is a game of racing against time.

However, faced with repeated interrogations by the police, Shengji displayed the extremely strong psychological resilience of a seasoned criminal.

"Sir, I'm just someone who just illegally crossed the border from the north to work. I've never even heard of any of these 'Big East' or 'Small East' stuff."

With his hands outstretched, Shengji leaned back in his chair with extreme arrogance, even whistling provocatively at Qiu Gang'ao and Zhang Chongbang sitting opposite him.

"You're accusing me of kidnapping? Where's the evidence? Where's the murder weapon? Where's the video footage? If you have no evidence and have detained me for more than 48 hours, I'll charge you with unlawful detention! Also, I demand that the police provide me with legal aid! I won't say another word until a lawyer arrives!"

When you encounter this kind of seasoned, law-abiding "old hand," they are the most troublesome kind of tough nuts to crack in the police's routine interrogation process, which emphasizes procedural justice and prohibits the abuse of vigilante justice.

"Bang!"

Qiu Gang'ao slammed his hand on the table in a fit of rage, making the water glass on the table jump. His eyes were bloodshot from working over thirty consecutive hours of intense sleep, and his gaze was filled with a murderous intent.

"You fucking pretend to be innocent! The shotgun powder traces left at the scene are exactly the same as the formula Da Dong used three years ago! And you smuggled yourself to Hong Kong Island with Da Dong five years ago. We have all of this on record. Do you really think the police are pushovers?!" The two worked in perfect harmony, with Qiu Gang'ao playing the good cop to intimidate the other party.

Zhang Chongbang, playing the good cop, said in a gentle tone, "Shengji, the police have already gathered a lot of evidence against you. If we submit it to the court, you will be sentenced to at least twenty years in prison. But I know you were just deceived by Da Dong. It's not too late to turn back from your misguided ways. As long as you actively cooperate with the police and provide clues about Da Dong and Mr. Huo, I will petition the court for leniency, and it's even possible that you will be acquitted... You don't need to take all the blame yourself."

"Heh, anyway, arrest me if you have evidence, otherwise we'll just wait and see. I won't say another word." The raw chicken curled its lips in an extremely shameless manner, looking like it was saying, "What can you do to me?"

The interrogation had reached a hopeless stalemate.

Zhang Chongbang frowned. He knew that continuing like this was just wasting precious time. He patted Qiu Gang'ao on the shoulder, signaling him to go outside and discuss a solution.

The two walked out of the interrogation room and into the corridor.

As soon as he stepped outside, he saw Senior Superintendent Situ Jie standing in the shadows at the end of the corridor, a half-burnt cigarette between his fingers, his face so gloomy it looked like it could drip water.

"Sir." The two men stepped forward.

"How is it? Did you confess?" Situ Jie's voice was extremely hoarse, revealing a deep sense of anxiety.

"This bastard is a seasoned veteran, he's refusing to admit anything and is even demanding to see a lawyer. We don't have direct evidence from the scene, so it's very difficult to break through his psychological defenses right now," Zhang Chongbang reported objectively.

Upon hearing this answer, Situ Jie's eyes twitched violently a few times.

He raised his wrist and glanced at the extremely expensive Rolex gold watch.

12:30.

"It's too late..." Situ Jie muttered to himself, a ruthless, snake-like determination flashing in his eyes.

He turned his head, his gaze sweeping over Zhang Chongbang before finally settling on Qiu Gang'ao.

"Ah Ao, come to my office with me for a moment. I have a few words to tell you."

Qiu Gang'ao paused for a moment, glanced at Zhang Chongbang, and then followed Situ Jie into a temporary command room not far away.

As soon as the door closed, Situ Jie turned around and grabbed Qiu Gang'ao's shoulder with tremendous force, his fingers gripping Qiu's bones almost tightly. "A'ao, the chief just called me again. He's on the verge of exploding. If Huo Zhaotang doesn't show up unharmed by nine o'clock tomorrow morning, not only will the welfare benefits of tens of thousands of brothers be lost, but all the top officers in our entire Major Crimes Unit will be stripped of their uniforms! They might even face an internal investigation! You're a smart man; you're getting promoted to inspector next month. Are you willing to let this scum ruin your future at this time?"

"Sir, I'm not reconciled! But I can't get him to talk!" Qiu Gang'ao gritted his teeth in extreme pain.

"No, you can," Situ Jie's voice suddenly became extremely low and seductive, as if the devil were whispering in his ear, "A'ao, this is a top-secret command center. There are no recordings, no surveillance. The following interrogations will also not have any written records."

Situ Jie stared intently into Qiu Gang'ao's eyes, his implication blatantly and frantically suggestive: "To deal with extraordinary people, you need extraordinary methods. We're police officers, but sometimes, to protect more good people, we must be more ruthless than the bad guys! Next time in the interrogation room, the methods... can be a bit more 'intense.' Just leave him alive and get him to reveal Da Dong's address!"

"I don't care about the process, I only care about the result!"

Upon hearing this extremely obvious instruction to "permit torture and forced confessions," Qiu Gang'ao's heart clenched.

Although he sometimes goes to extremes in the pursuit of solving cases, he remains a police officer who upholds justice at heart, and doing so would truly go against his conscience. Moreover, using vigilante justice against suspects is an extremely serious violation of discipline; if exposed, his life would be over!

"Sir...this violates police regulations...it's illegal and non-compliant..." Qiu Gang'ao swallowed hard, instinctively hesitating.

"If anything goes wrong, I'll take the blame!!" Situ Jie patted his chest confidently and resolutely, assuring everyone, "I'm your direct superior! I gave this order! I'm a senior superintendent; even if the sky falls, I'll back you up! The commissioner will protect you!"

"But if this doesn't work out..." Situ Jie's tone suddenly turned extremely cold and threatening, "Not only will you not get promoted, you'll all be fired! And you, the ones responsible for the frontline arrests, will have to take the blame!"

On one hand, there's promotion and salary increase, a boss's "get-out-of-jail-free card," and "outcome justice"; on the other hand, there's the desperate situation of being stripped of one's police uniform and made a scapegoat after a mission fails.

Under this extremely high dual pressure, Qiu Gang'ao's previously wavering heart finally sided completely with Situ Jie.

"I understand, sir," Qiu Gang'ao straightened his back abruptly, the last trace of hesitation in his eyes vanishing completely, replaced by a ruthless glint. "I know what to do!"