CHAPTER 32: CHAPTER 32: GOOD LAD, YOU’VE BEEN SUPPRESSING YOUR GROWTH HERE, HAVEN’T YOU!

"Name."

"Zhang Beixing."

"Age."

"Male."

"Huh? I was asking about your age."

The police officer interrogating Zhang Beixing paused in his writing and reminded him.

"Oh, age, right, twenty-one. Sorry, it’s my first time here, not quite familiar with how things work around here," Zhang Beixing said, his face flushed with embarrassment as he held the glass of water provided by the police station, visibly tense.

He had anticipated that the situation would escalate when he had fought. However, he hadn’t expected it to land him in the police station. This was, in all his lives, his first and only time being taken into custody. To say he wasn’t nervous would be impossible. Forget about the adage ’a clear conscience fears no accusation.’ Unless you’re a police officer or a regular at the police station, any ordinary person would feel nervous upon entering the precinct. It’s like knowing you’re in for a harsh punishment when you see your dad pulling out his ’Seven Wolves’ cigarettes. Or knowing that certain company’s employees would definitely fawn over foreigners. These things are subtly ingrained, etched into the brain through the combined force of information and cognition.

The profession of policing is, of course, quite solemn and authoritative. And the police station? That goes without saying. Even if you’ve done nothing wrong, being summoned to the station can make your heart pound as you subconsciously wonder if you’ve done something wrong or if any of your shady past deeds have been discovered.Especially since Zhang Beixing *had* actually committed an offense and had been brought to the station in a police car.

"Don’t be nervous. We’ve already retrieved the surveillance footage from Shi University’s Security Department and know the sequence of events leading up to the incident. We won’t make it hard for you," the interrogating officer said, noticing Zhang Beixing’s anxiety and speaking to reassure him. "All we’re doing now is following procedure, just confirming some details, so relax."

Hearing this, Zhang Beixing relaxed considerably. He managed a smile, albeit a stiff one, which was nonetheless much improved from before.

"Really? That’s good to hear," Zhang Beixing said. "But—what exactly do you want to know?"

"Nothing much. Just why those individuals from off-campus came to Shi University and why you got into a conflict, that’s all."

"Oh, you’re talking about that. Well, actually..." Zhang Beixing began to recount what had happened.

「Meanwhile.」

In the observation room, several police officers were gathered, watching the screen in front of them. The screen was split into six parts. One showed the interrogation room with Zhang Beixing; the remaining five showed Dong Shengjie and his group.

However, the interrogation of Dong Shengjie and the others differed significantly from that of Zhang Beixing, who had water to drink and was spoken to politely by his interrogating officer.

Dong Shengjie and his crew, being regulars at the precinct and the main culprits in the public brawl, were not only deprived of water but also handcuffed. The interrogating officer spoke to them with a much harsher tone, as if he would have dished out a beating had there not been others watching closely.

And there was good reason for that. The chaos they had caused this time was no small matter.

"Dong Shengjie, you and your buddies sure are something, aren’t you?" the officer in Dong Shengjie’s interrogation room said, his forehead veins bulging and pulsing fiercely as he read through the compiled report. "We just released you a while ago, and after some quiet time, we thought you’d reformed. Turns out, you were just biding your time to make a bigger scene? A mass brawl, and right in a university’s public classroom at that! Why didn’t you just march straight into the principal’s office and give the principal of that school a good thrashing?"

What’s a university for? That’s a place for cultivating talent! Yet you bunch of ignorant, idling loafers not only barged into the university but also stirred up trouble there and beat people up. Thankfully, someone acted promptly and minimized the impact of the incident. Otherwise, if word had gotten out, the consequences would have been unimaginable. By then, not just these cops, but even Shishi’s top official would have ended up in trouble! After all, matters involving schools are highly influential in public opinion. The state attaches great importance to them; there’s absolutely no such thing as a minor issue, and it’s an official taboo that cannot be provoked.

"Why didn’t you just try to ascend to heaven then?" the officer interrogating Dong Shengjie became angrier the more he thought about it, unable to hold back another rebuke.

Upon hearing this, Dong Shengjie felt incredibly wronged. What was this all about? He had finally landed a big job: to get someone out of Shi University. Not only had he failed to get the guy out, but he’d also gotten beaten up. And after getting beaten up, being dragged to the police station for questioning and then scolded? That was just adding insult to injury.

"Officer, I admit we were in the wrong with this matter," Dong Shengjie complained bitterly, pointing to the injuries on his face. "But setting that aside, isn’t that kid at all to blame? We just went in to find someone, and we would have left right after—no bad intentions at all, and we weren’t planning on doing anything else! But look at what happened. Look at the state he left me in! If I go back looking like this, even the dogs in my neighborhood wouldn’t recognize me!"

He felt aggrieved. He hadn’t intended to cause any trouble. It wasn’t like the university didn’t allow visitors. What was wrong with going to find someone? So what if his tone was a bit off? Did he deserve to be beaten up for that? He wasn’t an idiot; how could he dare to cause trouble in a school? He really was just there to find someone!

To that, the interrogating officer was completely unmoved, merely looking coldly at Dong Shengjie. "So, according to you, the university’s security personnel should just let you and your shady friends take one of their students away and deserve to get beaten without fighting back?"

Hearing this, Dong Shengjie hurriedly shook his head, saying, "No, no, no, that’s not what I mean. I just mean he hit too hard. He should bear some responsibility for this incident, right?"

The officer scoffed. "Responsibility? What responsibility does he have? Do you think we don’t know that you got beaten because you started the fight, and he was forced to retaliate? And even if he did have some responsibility, do you really have the gall to say so? Five of you against one, and you still couldn’t overpower him. Do you have any shame?"

With these words, the conversation was effectively killed.

Dong Shengjie hung his head low, overwhelmed with shame. Clearly, the fact that five of them had attacked Zhang Beixing, only to be pinned down and severely beaten by him—to the point where they had to feign unconsciousness through self-harm to escape the beating—was a tremendous blow to him.

Seeing him like this, the interrogating officer couldn’t be bothered to continue the conversation on this topic. He simply picked up a pen and paper and started the official interrogation process according to protocol.

Dong Shengjie’s other four underlings were also experiencing the same fate at that moment.

Of course, among them were some shameless, petty-minded individuals who stubbornly insisted that Zhang Beixing was at fault and that he should compensate them for their losses, and so on. In short, they wanted to drag Zhang Beixing down with them.

To this, the police responded with a light statement of "self-defense," which immediately left them speechless.

Because the criteria for determining self-defense are incredibly peculiar. It’s not based on whether you’ve been hit. Instead, it’s judged by whether you are still in immediate danger at that precise moment. If you’re facing an old man who hits you, and you retaliate, even with minimal force, but he insists you nearly killed him, that’s considered excessive self-defense. But in a case like Zhang Beixing’s, where one person is being beaten by five, it wouldn’t matter if he just bruised them. Even if Zhang Beixing had beaten them half to death, leaving them barely breathing, it would still be considered self-defense! It’s really quite interesting.