Genius Detective

Lin Dongxue hugged Chen Shi and her voice trembled. "We’ve all been super worried the past few days!"

"I’ve been good. I’ve been very good." Chen Shi patted her but wasn’t willing to let go either. The warm embrace helped soothe the loneliness in his heart.

"Okay, okay. Stop being so clingy and get to business first!" Xu Xiaodong grumbled.

Lin Dongxue and Chen Shi separated before smiling in embarrassment. She pointed to the uncle next to them who wore a nervous expression. "This is Mr. Li, the person insured in this policy. This is our undercover, who was sent to kill you."

"Hello, hello!" Mr. Li reached out and shook hands with Chen Shi. "Work is hard."

"Not at all. Not at all. Everything will be over once I kill you."

"Police officer Lin has told me everything. Haii, the wife that I’ve been married to for seven years actually wants to kill me. We were truly dreaming two dreams in the same bed[1]. Fortunately, you found this out in time and saved my life!"

"The arrangement of the gang is to get me to change the brake pads and cause you to die in an accident. If we follow along the intended path, it’s too dangerous and poses too much of a risk. Not only would we not be able to control it completely, but it would cause harm to others as well.”

"Then how do you guys plan to... ‘kill’ me?”

Lin Dongxue responded, "We’ve planned for Xu Xiaodong to put on Mr. Li's clothes, a wig, and glasses. There will be a 'car accident' on Jiefang North Road where the car will crash into concrete road-partitions... As for Xu Xiaodong, he will jump out of the car before the impact. There will be a dummy placed in the car.”

"That kind of impact won’t cause death and it won’t escape the gang’s keen eyes," Chen Shi said.

"But if we make it harder..."

From practical considerations, if they made the staged performance more difficult, Xu Xiaodong would be in danger. Chen Shi said, "Just do the way you’ve planned then since the people tailing me are focused on me. I’ll rush over afterwards to stab the dummy with a shard of broken glass from the crash. The traffic police must be dispatched to prevent them from getting close enough to see through the flawed act."

"We have liaised with the traffic police department already."

"Also, no matter how fake it is, you have to make the insurance company give the pay-out. They’ll trust me once they get the money.”

"We will go to negotiate with them."

Mr. Li exclaimed, "Also, you need to catch my wife!"

Lin Dongxue responded, "Rest assured, she will be sanctioned by the law and will be tried together with the other people who are committing insurance fraud."

Chen Shi said, "I don't get signal when I’m back at the den. I will find a way to send you guys information when I see the mastermind from behind the scenes. If I mention ‘let’s eat tomorrow’, it means the net needs to be pulled in and we can arrest them. However, if I say ‘when should we eat?’ it means that you guys need to cease action.”

Lin Dongxue nodded. "I hope this case will end soon."

“I’m of the same feeling!” Chen Shi smiled. “When this is finished, let’s go to the movies.”

"I promise you."

"You guys are doing it again!" Xu Xiaodong spat. "Brother Chen, time is almost up. You need to go."

"Wait." Chen Shi took off his coat and threw it on the floor. He dabbed some oil on his shirt before putting his coat back on. Then, he took his tools and left. 

A face was exposed behind some shrubs that weren’t too far away. Chen Shi smiled and gave him a thumbs up. The other party looked indifferent. 

Chen Shi disposed of the tools in the sewers and went back to the bookstore to wait. At around eight o’clock, Xu Xiaodong drove out disguised as the target. Since it was pretty dark, people outside weren’t able to tell that he was a fake. 

The people who tailed Chen Shi quickly rushed out of the community, got in a car and went to tail the target’s car.

Chen Shi figured that the situation wasn’t good. He quickly caught up to them and tried the door handle. “Take me! Bring me along!”

"Fuck off! Get lost!" The fierce man in the car screamed.

"Fuck man, I didn't drive. Where do I go from here?”

"There’s nothing of your concern here. Just head straight back.”

"Shit, who do you think you are? How dare you talk to me like this?!" Chen Shi reached out and pulled the side-mirror off. 

The car stopped. The fierce man jumped down and snarled, "Are you mental?" as he pushed Chen Shi.

A fierce expression formed on Chen Shi’s face. "Try that again!"

The person in the front passenger seat jumped down and played mediator. "Uncle, the task that Brother Yang sent you to do doesn’t include this. You should just head back.”

"This is something I personally did. I have to see it to the end to be assured. Is it necessary to be like this if we’re all on the same side?"

The two discussed and finally said, "Get in the car!"

By the time he got in, Xu Xiaodong was miles away. The fierce man banged the steering wheel. "Fuck, we lost him."

"Go to Jiefang North Road. I just called him and said that his wife was committing adultery on Fuquan Road. He must be going towards that direction now.” Chen Shi said. 

The mediator said, "That’s pretty smart!"

When they arrived at Jiefang North Road, they heard harsh braking and crashing sounds. When the mediator saw the car hitting the concrete road-partitions, he clapped his hands and smiled. "It’s done!"

"No, he shouldn’t have died with just that." The fierce man challenged. 

The smoke around the car was lingering and nothing could be seen from their position.

Chen Shi exclaimed, "Let me go down!"

"You will be seen!" spat the fierce man.

"Am I doing it or are you? Even if someone sees something, they’re only going to see me, so what are you so afraid of?!” Chen Shi yelled back. 

The fierce man opened the door. Chen Shi ran over and slid into the deformed car. The dummy’s head was buried in the airbag. According to the plan, he only had to do a stabbing action. However, he suddenly thought that if he didn’t have any blood on him, it wouldn’t make any sense. 

He grabbed a piece of broken glass and sliced his left hand before distributing the blood evenly on both hands before getting out of the car. 

When he left the car, the citizens around the area were gathering. Chen Shi acted nonchalantly and shouted, “The driver passed out, hurry and call 120! Hurry!” 

The citizens picked up their phones to dial for emergency help and he quickly took the opportunity to return to the car.

"Is he dead?" asked the fierce man.

Chen Shi showed him the blood on his hands. "He was still breathing. I took some glass and stabbed him. He shouldn’t make it to the hospital.”

“Ruthless. I admire that!” The fierce man gave a thumbs up.

Two days later, Yang called Chen Shi to the office. He held a document in his hand with a smile on his face. It seemed that the matter was taken care of. Yang said, "You’ve got skills. The customer successfully got the claim pay-out.”

"It was easier than I thought." Chen Shi said.

 “Easy? It’s that our prep was done very well. It’s hard to earn money off of the insurance companies.”

"Do I get a salary?"

"Don’t be so impatient. Salary and bonuses will be sent together at the end of the month... I want you to meet a customer now."

"Meet a customer?"

"In this field, communication skills are also very important. Let’s just say it’s a small favor for you.”

"I don't know much about insurance."

"Who said we’ll let you talk? I’m the one talking. I’m just bringing you along so that you can watch and learn on the side.”

Chen Shi grabbed his neck and showed an impatient look. Yang asked, "You don't want to go?"

"I really don't like this kind of admin work."

"Business is like this. It doesn’t matter if you like it or not. As long as you like money, it’s fine. Go and prepare for it.”

This time, the thin man and King Kong tagged along. Chen Shi had a feeling that the person they were seeing might not be a customer, but the mastermind. 

A few hours later, the car drove to a high-end residential area where birds and flowers were fragrant. Chen Shi laughed. "What customer? If they live here, they must be rich!”

The thin man laughed as well. "Customer? We’re seeing our boss!"

Chen Shi put on a surprised expression and sent the pre-written text message out from his pocket.

1. They are thinking two different things/heading two different directions.