CHAPTER 105: CHAPTER 105 SOMEONE LITTERS

Ma Chao saw that she didn’t move and immediately shouted, "We’ve already rescued Uncle! There’s no need to give them any money. Let’s get out of here fast!"

The man pinned down below immediately started fighting with Ma Chao.

While trading blows, Ma Chao kept his eyes on An Yan. I’ve seen An Yan fight Su Siming in class, he thought. She’ll come to my rescue soon!

Upstairs, An Shimeng was also staring intently at An Yan! An Yan loves to show off. She surely wouldn’t want to see Ma Chao get beaten up, right? As long as she dares to help Ma Chao, I can push down the block of cement!

An Yan was also thinking. I’m confident I can emerge unscathed if An Shimeng drops that thing. But with our current positions, if I lure An Shimeng into dropping it, Ma Chao will be done for!

Thinking this, An Yan didn’t hesitate for a second; she turned around and ran.

Ma Chao: "..."

An Shimeng: "..."

As An Yan ran off, the man with the flowery tattoos immediately became anxious. "What are you all standing there for? Get them!"

For a moment, the alley was filled with flying fists and kicks. It was unclear who was hitting whom; all that was certain was a cacophony of screams and curses.

Meanwhile, An Yan had already run to the base of the building on the left.

Looking up, she saw An Zhongbo fall from a third-floor window, holding an umbrella.

Luckily, the umbrella was good quality, and the height from the third floor was somewhat manageable. After a brief moment of cushioning his fall, An Zhongbo landed on the inflatable pad below.

Officer Xiaohe directed everyone to block all exits.

An Yan, holding two black bags, was momentarily unsure what to do.

Just then, another person suddenly jumped down from above!

It was Chen Xiangyu.

As soon as he landed on the inflatable pad, he quickly rolled off and charged towards An Yan.

An Yan was already finding the two bags heavy, so seeing him approach, she smartly handed them over.

Chen Xiangyu snatched the bags and ran like the wind!

As he ran, he shook one hand, scattering money from a bag as he went! This is a trick I learned from movies and TV shows! he thought. Scattering money will surely cause a scramble and slow down the police! That’s why I specifically chose this place: further in is a construction site, and out here is a busy street.

It was around 9 p.m., and the streets were bustling with pedestrians and a steady stream of traffic.

Chen Xiangyu ran, scattering money, feeling like the protagonist of a movie! After all, it’s five million yuan! An Yan divided it into two bags. If I scatter one, there’s still another. I only need to hold onto my two hundred fifty thousand!

However, it seemed movies and TV shows were all lies; the people chasing him didn’t stop for the money at all.

They were still chasing him!

Even the sanitation workers joined the pursuit. "Stop him! Stop that lunatic! He’s littering everywhere!" one shouted.

There happened to be a sanitation workers’ rest station nearby. Hearing that someone was littering, all the workers rushed out.

Over twenty of them immediately blocked Chen Xiangyu’s path.

One of them, an old lady wearing a red armband, charged at him with a large broom. "You little rascal! Go back and pick up the trash you threw!"

"Pick it up, quickly! Are you out of your mind? If you want to scatter joss paper, go do it at your mother’s grave! Why are you scattering it on the main road?"

"Doesn’t our work as sanitation workers deserve respect?"

Chen Xiangyu was furious. What joss paper? That was real cash... Wait, it *is* joss paper? No, no, this can’t be true!

He slammed the bag he was holding onto the ground and yanked it open.

A strip from a funeral couplet, caught by an obliging gust of northwest wind, fluttered out and stuck to his body:

*Heaven has a path, yet I choose not to take it;*

*Hell has no gate, yet I insist on entering!*

"See? See? I told you he was a lunatic!" one of the crowd exclaimed.

"..."

The elderly men and women backed away a few steps, keeping their brooms pointed at him, worried they might get "infected" if they got too close.

When Officer Xiaohe arrived with two other officers, Chen Xiangyu was on the ground, his face bruised and swollen. He was being threatened by the seniors with their brooms as he reluctantly picked up scraps of joss paper.

He certainly didn’t want to pick them up, but if he didn’t, the seniors would hit him with their brooms.

So, when he saw the officers approaching, Chen Xiangyu felt a wave of relief and willingly extended his hands to Officer Xiaohe. "I was wrong! I confess! Please arrest me quickly!"

Just as Officer Xiaohe was about to handcuff him, an elderly woman stopped her. "Officer, this man littered everywhere! He must pick up all the trash first!"

Officer Xiaohe explained, looking troubled, "It’s not that I don’t want him to pick it up, but this man is very cunning. I’m worried he’ll try to run if he gets a chance!"

"Then let him pick it up with handcuffs on!" the elderly woman suggested decisively.

"Exactly, exactly! Let him pick it up in handcuffs," another chimed in. "Don’t worry, Officer; there are so many of us watching. We definitely won’t let him run away."

"Yeah, yeah! If you don’t make him pick up the trash, who knows how many others will copy his wretched behavior and litter everywhere!"

"We sanitation workers are people too, and our labor deserves respect!"

"..."

The seniors, each chiming in, made perfect sense with every statement.

After consulting with her superiors, Officer Xiaohe decided to adopt the seniors’ suggestion and had Chen Xiangyu pick up the litter while handcuffed.

As Chen Xiangyu was picking up trash, Ma Chao raised his hand to report to Officer Xiaohe, "There’s also An Shimeng! She’s the mastermind behind all this!"

As he spoke, he showed Officer Xiaohe the message An Shimeng had sent him.

[Please ensure An Yan stays in school at all times! Thank you.]

With this testimony, Officer Xiaohe was immediately ready to lead a team to make an arrest.

An Yan pointed. "She’s over there."

Officer Xiaohe asked, "How do you know?"

"I saw her!"

Officer Xiaohe’s expression immediately grew several shades more serious. "Move out immediately!"

What was once a slight suspicion has now escalated to complete certainty!

An Shimeng hurried down the stairs, running while trying to avoid surveillance cameras.

When she encountered people, she had to pretend like nothing was wrong.

She had just managed to run outside the construction site’s perimeter fence when she was intercepted by Officer Xiaohe and others, who had arrived on bikes.

"An Shimeng, you are accused of kidnapping and extortion..."

"No, that’s not true! I didn’t do it! How can you suspect a good person based on a single text message?"

"If you claim you’ve been wrongly accused, then come with us. Once the investigation is clear, your innocence will naturally be restored."

"..."

「In the police station.」

Ma Chao, Lin Jiahang, Song Yushu, and Sun Wenbin—the four of them—sat on seats separate from An Yan.

Four pairs of eyes kept stealing glances at An Yan.

An Yan turned to look at them. "Stop looking. I’m not actually grateful for what you did today."

The expressions of the four men soured instantly.

An Yan continued, "First of all, when you realized something was about to happen, you neither communicated with me nor called the police!

"What, did you think you were superheroes? Did it never occur to you that you might not be able to beat them?"

All four lowered their heads, but a faint warmth spread through their hearts. An Yan was worried about us getting hurt!