Chapter 147 — The Long-Awaited...
Years of Heartflutter · Page 418 of 501
"You're saying the boss paid Hiraya Masao to die?" Yang Puqi was stunned. He had never imagined it would turn out like this—that Hiraya Masao and Liu Minggui were in it together, both taking orders from some 'boss.' Still, there was something wrong with this Hiraya fellow, going to his death for fifty million. Puzzled, he asked, "What good is fifty million to a dead man?"
"He had a terminal illness. Even if he didn't die today, he wouldn't have lasted more than a few months. Fifty million left to his family would be a windfall, wouldn't it?" Liu Minggui explained. "Some kind of cancer, I think."
Yang Yu nodded. So that was it—no wonder the man would die for fifty million. He simply didn't have long to live. "Go on."
"Yes." Liu Minggui nodded hastily and continued. "Originally, the boss's target was you. He had Hiraya Masao step on your foot to start a quarrel with you, and then I was to shove you from behind, sending you sprawling onto Hiraya Masao. That way the blame would fall on you."
"How did Hiraya Masao die?" Yang Ce cut in.
"Hiraya Masao died on his own. He killed himself." Liu Minggui's words shocked everyone.
"What?" Yang Ce exclaimed. So that was how it was. Yang Puqi had never been able to figure out where that knife had come from—now he understood. The knife had been Hiraya Masao's own, and the man had used it on himself. With that, all the earlier questions dissolved.
"But for some reason, Hiraya Masao mistook someone for you and got into a fight with that Zhang Bin. I couldn't see clearly from behind. The boss had only told me to shove whoever got into a conflict with Hiraya Masao, so I shoved Zhang Bin, and the result was—" Liu Minggui said, looking rather glum.
"But even if you'd managed to frame me successfully, you should know a case like that would be full of loose ends. I might be held for a while, but sooner or later the police would sort it out," Yang Ce said, somewhat baffled.
"That I don't know. But from what the boss let slip, it sounded like he wanted to set up a serial murder case. After you were taken to the station, I was to play a similar role again, and then get you to kill a police officer. The specifics I don't know—the boss didn't say. Since the first link in the chain failed, the rest was pointless anyway," Liu Minggui explained.
Yang Ce nodded with a dawning understanding. True enough—one case might have its loose ends, but if two, three, murder cases kept piling up around him one after another, no loose ends could explain that away. When the time came, he might well find himself truly dragged under.
"Who is your boss?" This was the crucial question, the one Yang Ce cared about most.
"I don't know. I only met him yesterday," Liu Minggui said with a pained expression.
"Really?" Yang Puqi glared and seized Liu Minggui by the collar.
"It's the truth! Would I dare lie to you? I've already told you one thing, so telling you two costs me nothing—why would I hold anything back?" Liu Minggui said, trembling.
To be continued.
858. Surrender
858 Surrender. Yang Ce stared into Liu Minggui's eyes. Frightened as he was, Liu Minggui could still meet his gaze, and there was no falseness or deceit in his look. Yang Ce nodded slowly. It seemed Liu Minggui had not lied to him—the fellow truly did not know the boss's identity. Then again, that was only natural. If Yang Ce had been the one running this scheme, he might well have been even more careful than the boss. But in that instant, Yang Shuo realized that all his earlier assumptions had been wrong. It had never been about targeting Zhang Bin. At bottom, this whole business had been aimed at him; it was only that the man carrying it out had mistaken his target, and everything had gone awry.
"Did you get a look at what your boss looks like?" Yang Ce asked with a sigh. Pointless as the question likely was, he asked it anyway.