The crackdown on organized crime began with the arrest of the mother-in-law.

Chapter 1403 Interrogation of Luo Baojun

"Name." Xiao Zhou's deep, forceful voice broke the silence of the interrogation room. Without any pleasantries, he cut straight to the point. Luo Baojun raised his eyelids slightly, glanced at Xiao Zhou, then lowered his head again, staring at his shoes, remaining silent. His hands clenched tightly under the table, his knuckles turning white from the force. "I'm asking for your name!" Xiao Zhou suddenly raised his voice, his tone carrying an undeniable authority. Luo Baojun's body trembled slightly, his Adam's apple bobbed, but he remained silent, though his shoulders involuntarily tensed, and his breathing became somewhat rapid.

Xiao Zhou had anticipated Luo Baojun's reaction. He didn't press further, but instead picked up a photograph from the table and gently pushed it in front of Luo Baojun: "Do you recognize this person?" The photograph showed the body of the deceased, Chen Ershan. The moment Luo Baojun's gaze fell upon the photograph, his pupils contracted sharply, and his body instinctively recoiled. A flicker of panic crossed his eyes, but he quickly suppressed it, abruptly turning his head away and saying in a hoarse voice, "No."

"Don't you recognize it?" Xiao Zhou sneered, then took out another photo. The photo showed the rickshaw abandoned in the landfill. "What about this rickshaw? More than half a month ago, you and Chen Ershan got into a fight at Xingwang Scrap Metal Recycling Station over territory. You threatened to make him pay the price. Have you forgotten all of that?" Upon hearing the words "Xingwang Scrap Metal Recycling Station" and "fight," Luo Baojun's body visibly trembled. Fine beads of sweat began to appear on his forehead. His clenched hands trembled slightly, and his eyes became somewhat unfocused. He no longer deliberately avoided eye contact as before, but stared intently at the interrogation table, as if trying to see a hole through it.

"I...I did fight with him, but those were minor things, and had nothing to do with his death!" Luo Baojun finally spoke up to defend himself, but his voice was filled with barely concealed tension. He spoke rapidly, even somewhat incoherently. "I was just saying it in anger, how could I really kill him? Don't wrong an innocent person!" As he spoke, he kept twisting his body, trying to break free of the handcuffs, and his legs were also shaking nervously under the table. Clearly, he was starting to panic.

Unmoved by his explanation, Xiao Zhou calmly continued, "Three days ago, around 8 PM, you pushed a dilapidated pedicab to Old Yang's auto repair shop to get a tire fixed. The cart was bulging with a tarpaulin covering it. What was inside?" Hearing details like "Old Yang's auto repair shop" and "tire repair," Luo Baojun's face instantly turned deathly pale. His lips trembled, and he couldn't utter a word for a long time. Beads of sweat rolled down his forehead and dripped onto the table. His breathing became increasingly rapid, his chest heaving violently, and his eyes were filled with fear and unease; his previous arrogance had vanished without a trace.

"I...I didn't get a tire fixed, you've got the wrong person!" Luo Baojun's voice grew softer and softer, his confidence waning. He dared not look Xiao Zhou in the eye, burying his head even lower, his hands tightly clasped together under the table, his nails almost digging into his flesh. Seeing this, Xiao Zhou knew that Luo Baojun's psychological defenses were beginning to crumble. He pulled out a surveillance screenshot, which clearly showed Luo Baojun wearing a baseball cap and a mask, pushing a tricycle into Lao Yang's auto repair shop. "This is the surveillance footage from Lao Yang's auto repair shop. Although you covered your face, your height, build, and the characteristics of the tricycle you were pushing all match the evidence left at the scene perfectly. You still want to deny it?"

Luo Baojun looked up, and the moment he saw the surveillance screenshot, all the strength seemed to drain from his body. He slumped into his chair, his eyes filled with despair. He opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but no sound came out; he just kept breathing heavily, sweat pouring down his forehead. Xiao Zhou pressed his advantage, producing a forensic report: "We found a single-edged folding knife in the bedside drawer of your rented room. The fingerprints on the blade closely match those extracted from the scene. The trace amounts of blood remaining on the blade have been confirmed as Chen Ershan's blood. In the abandoned old house where you were hiding, we found a black jacket with suspected bloodstains. The white synthetic fibers extracted from it perfectly match those extracted from the scene. And those mesh sneakers also perfectly match the footprints found at the scene. How do you explain this evidence?"

"I...I..." Luo Baojun stammered, his eyes unfocused, his hands trembling uncontrollably. He knew he could no longer deny it. After a full ten minutes of silence, Luo Baojun suddenly clutched his head, letting out a painful whimper, his shoulders shaking violently. A moment later, he slowly raised his head, his face streaked with tears, his eyes filled with regret and despair. His voice was hoarse as he said, "I'll talk...I'll talk...I killed him."

Luo Baojun took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down, and slowly recounted what had happened: "Chen Ershan and I both make a living by stealing. Our territories are both in the northern suburbs, and we've accumulated a lot of resentment from competing for business. About half a month ago, he actually came to my territory to steal things and even sold the stolen scrap metal to Xingwang Scrap Metal Collection Station, which I frequent. When I confronted him, he not only refused to admit his mistake but also cursed at me, so we started fighting. He scratched my arm, and I beat his arm until it was swollen. I threatened him then and there that I would make him pay the price. Actually, I already hated him then and had the thought of killing him."

“Three mornings before the incident, I ran into Chen Ershan at a card room in the northern suburbs. He was very upset because he had lost money. I immediately thought this was a good opportunity to get rid of him. I pretended to comfort him and told him that I knew a place with a lot of valuable things, and I wanted to go steal them with him and split the loot. Chen Ershan immediately agreed when he heard there was something to gain, completely unaware that I was lying to him. I made an appointment with him to meet at the entrance of the card room at 3 p.m. that day and go to that ‘place’ together.” Luo Baojun paused, took a sip of water from the table, and continued, “Actually, I didn’t know anything about any place with valuable things. I just wanted to lure him to a secluded place and then kill him.”

“At 3 p.m. that day, Chen Ershan arrived at the entrance of the chess and card room on time, still riding the pedicab he had stolen. I told him that the place was relatively remote and that we would have to take a country road. He didn’t think much of it and set off with me. We walked along the country road until we reached a fork in the road about 2 kilometers away from Lao Yang’s auto repair shop. I stopped when I saw that no one was around.”