Chapter 683 — Turning Himself In

"So the laxatives he bought for you were the poison you put into the cafeteria food?" Liu Wangli nodded and pressed on with his questions.

"Yes, but he never said it was poison, only that it was a kind of laxative..." Zhong Yongliang said. "He told me it was made from seven kinds of herbs with very mild side effects, but if the whole school came down with diarrhea, the fallout would be far too great. He said a person would only get diarrhea if they took certain combinations of those seven herbs, and that different combinations produced different effects, so no one would grow suspicious..."

Liu Wangli nodded. If what Zhong Yongliang said was true, then he had very likely been used by his own relative. After all, the idea and the laxatives used to carry it out had both come from that relative; Zhong Yongliang was nothing more than a deceived man who had executed someone else's plan.

The very fact that the relative had supplied Zhong Yongliang with seven different herbs showed that he could not possibly have mistaken some other medicine for a laxative. A formulation like that could only have been put together deliberately, with painstaking scheming. And Zhong Yongliang, foolish as he was, had done exactly as he was told, taking it all at face value.

"What is your relative's name?" Liu Wangli asked.

"Jin Maoxing. He is a distant relative of my uncle Jin Gubang," Zhong Yongliang said.

Liu Wangli nodded and was about to say something when his phone rang. He took it out and saw it was a call from the squad, so he answered at once. "Liu Wangli here. Go ahead!"

"Captain Liu, a man named Jin Maoxing has come to the station to turn himself in. He says he is the mastermind behind the poisoning at First High School..." The call was from one of Liu Wangli's subordinates.

"Oh? All right, I will head back right away!" Liu Wangli thought what a coincidence this was: no sooner had he learned the suspect's name here than the man turned himself in over there. But this also put an end to Liu Wangli's doubts about Zhong Yongliang's story.

After hanging up, Liu Wangli said to Zhong Yongliang, "Zhong Yongliang, you may count yourself a victim in this matter, but you still bear responsibility. For the time being, please do not leave Songshan City until the case is closed."

"All right..." Zhong Yongliang nodded. "I will be in the hospital for a while yet. I won't go wandering off..."

"You need not be afraid anymore. Our police have already wiped out the kidney-harvesting ring, so you can put aside any worries," Liu Wangli said. "We hope you will serve as a police witness and later testify against that criminal gang."

"What? The kidney-harvesting ring has been wiped out?" Zhong Yongliang was taken aback. He had had his kidney replaced there at noon, and it had been destroyed in the space of a few hours? That was far too fast!

"Yes, the ring's headquarters have been torn out root and branch. Of course, if you are worried they might seek revenge on you, we can assign officers to protect you around the clock while you are in the hospital," Liu Wangli said.

Zhong Yongliang's earlier talk about not wanting to testify for fear of humiliation and retaliation had been pure nonsense, a smokescreen to mislead Liu Wangli. But now that he heard the kidney-harvesting ring had been smashed, his mind began to work. He wondered whether An Liwen had been caught.

Zhong Yongliang still harbored a deep grudge against An Liwen; after all, he was the fiend who had cut out his kidney. As for Wei Zhao, Zhong Yongliang had long since stopped hating him. He had Wei Zhao's kidney inside his own body now, so what was there left to hate? Pity was more like it.

A fine expert of the Lin family losing a kidney, now that was laughable if word got out! Brother Black Panther had said Wei Zhao was a Yellow Rank expert, so now that he had swapped in a Yellow Rank expert's kidney, might he not also possess a Yellow Rank expert's strength? Not all of it, half would do! Zhong Yongliang daydreamed of a glorious life commanding the winds and clouds, and resolved to test his strength once he recovered...

So when he heard the kidney-harvesting ring had been smashed, Zhong Yongliang was surprised and, truth be told, pleased. He could not do anything to An Liwen himself, but the police could. He had a kidney now and had no more use for An Liwen, so let the ring be smashed.

"Is that so? If I testify, could my earlier poisoning be counted as atonement for my crimes?" Zhong Yongliang asked with feigned hesitation.

"Naturally. After all, we have to take everything into account when determining your final punishment," Liu Wangli said.

"Then all right, I will testify!" Zhong Yongliang nodded. "But you have to protect me. I don't want to be avenged by the remnants of the kidney-harvesting ring..."

"You can rest easy on that score. We will certainly take the safety of our witnesses into account!" Liu Wangli nodded.

Zhong Yongliang was thrilled. He had done the poisoning and not only escaped trouble but won police protection besides. He was simply too brilliant. If Wei Zhao could see this, he would probably die of rage! Wahaha!

After Liu Wangli left, Zhong Fabai hurried into Zhong Yongliang's ward. "Pinliang, how did it go? Any problems?"

"No problem at all. Our acting was absolutely superb!" Zhong Yongliang said smugly. "That Liu Wangli seems to sympathize with me a great deal, and he told me I count as having been kept in the dark, and that I am now making amends by meritorious service, so it should all blow over!"

"That is good to hear!" Zhong Fabai nodded. "Everything has been arranged for that relative of your uncle Jin Gubang's family. Young Master Bing gave the family three million as compensation. His wife died young, and he has two sons; he was worrying himself sick over how to afford their marriages, and now all at once he has everything. He is overjoyed, and says his death was worth it!"

"By the way, Father, I heard from that Liu Wangli that the police have wiped out the kidney-harvesting ring?" Zhong Yongliang lowered his voice. "I had my kidney replaced at noon—how did the police wipe them out so soon after? Was it An Liwen's headquarters they destroyed?"

"Surely not? That fast? Then An Liwen has had a stroke of bad luck!" As Zhong Fabai said this, an indescribable satisfaction rose in his heart. To cut out his son's kidney and then simply put one back—was it really that simple? Now that the man's headquarters had been destroyed, that could count as his punishment. "Still, Heaven is watching over the Zhong family. They were wiped out right after your transplant—you really are fortunate!"

"Exactly! I have noticed that our family's fortunes have turned. Not only did I succeed in humiliating Wei Zhao once, but you have also won Young Master Bing's favor! From now on, it will be hard for the Zhong family not to prosper!" Zhong Yongliang said happily. RO