Chapter 361: Caught – The Daily Life of the Sickly Aunt in the Courtyard

Chapter 361: Caught—The Frail Young Woman’s Drama-Filled Day in the Compound

The loud shouts drew quite a few do-gooders. With so many against them, the spies didn’t stand a chance and didn’t even have time to draw their guns before being pinned to the ground.

All four were tied up, no exceptions.

"Goddamn it, nothing pisses me off more than traffickers and spies. Today I ran into both kinds of scum. Running into me was your unlucky day, you lowlifes!" The burly man kept his foot firmly on the person beneath him.

At that moment, the train cops showed up with a large group of people.

"Are they all caught?"

"Yes, yes, it's them!" The person who had screamed first immediately stepped forward and pointed at them.

Though he wasn’t exactly a good person himself, today he was willing to play the hero.

Ahem, actually, the fact that he knew their identities proved he was no saint himself. He had originally planned to sneak into the car for his own reasons.

Of course, his goal was different from these despicable people—he just wanted to swipe some money for himself.

Seeing that Cen Xi, Lin Qing, and the others looked loaded, he thought he might grab some cash.

But as he lurked by the train car, he overheard the two groups talking.

Though he was a thief, he was quick enough to figure out their identities from their conversation. He might not be a good person, but he despised human traffickers and spies the most. So the moment he realized who they were, he didn’t hesitate to yell his head off.

Now, he was quite pleased with himself and said to the officers, "These two are human traffickers, and those two are spies. They just thought the other was competition and started fighting!"

"Good!" The leader nodded, and the other train police cuffed them fast.

"Haul 'em in for questioning."

"Yes!"

"And take the other witnesses with us too."

Then, the whole crowd marched back to the interrogation car with the train police.

Cen Xi and Lin Qing were also woken up by the ruckus outside.

"What’s going on out there?"

Wang and Li weren’t sure if they should feel relieved or not.

"What’s wrong? Why do you two look so… strange?"

"Ahem, let me explain," Comrade Wang jumped in.

Cen Xi and Lin Qing both widened their eyes at him, waiting for an explanation.

"We stayed awake tonight, planning to wait for intruders so we could work with the people outside to catch them all in one go."

"And then? What went wrong?"

"We didn’t even have to lift a finger—the people outside were already arrested and taken away."

"Huh? How?"

At this point, Comrade Wang was at a loss for words. "Two groups showed up—one was human traffickers, the other spies. They were dressed so alike that they mistook each other for rivals trying to muscle in on their operation, so they started fighting as soon as they clashed."

"..." Cen Xi and Lin Qing were equally shocked.

"I literally just heard someone scream!"

Comrade Wang nodded, "Yeah, exactly. There was a third group involved tonight."

"This guy blew their cover. A bunch of people woke up, and with enough folks, the four shady guys outside got taken down."

"Ahem..." Well, this whole thing got pretty wild!

Now, neither Cen Xi nor Lin Qing knew what to say.

"So, is the crisis completely resolved now?"

Comrade Wang shook his head, "Hard to say. They’ve gotta have backup. Not everyone came along. We gotta keep our guard up."

"Roger that."

"Alright, you two go back to sleep. We’ve got it handled—Xiao Li’s on it."

"Okay!"

Lin Qing and Cen Xi flopped back down, still too wired to sleep, left only to lie there quietly.

Meanwhile, the crowd that’d stormed off to the interrogation car started giving statements.

"Why were you there?"

"Ahem..." The thief figured he was in the clear!

But he didn’t tell the truth. "I... I just happened to pass by while getting up at night. I saw them fighting and thought something was off, so I went closer and overheard their conversation." Half of it was made up on the spot, but he found his groove as he went.

By the end, he almost believed it himself!

The train cops weren’t buying it. Ever since they got the tip-off, they knew there was a spy targeting someone in the soft sleeper.

His story didn’t add up. The cops suspected he was a spy playing the long game—cutting loose his own crew to gain trust.

"Uh..." He was quick, but the cops were giving him way too much credit.

Officers, I really just happened to pass by and saw everything. I’m no damn trafficker or spy—I hate those scum!" His voice dripped with disgust.

To prove it, he even admitted to being a thief.

"Officers, I swear I’m not one of them! I’m just a small-time thief—I ain’t no monster like them!"

The cops shared a look: Bonus intel?

Seeing their silence, the thief panicked and repeated his explanation several times.

"I swear I’m not with them—please believe me..."

"Alright, alright, no need to explain further. We believe you!" The cops eyed him as he started sweating bullets—clearly desperate not to be linked to traffickers or spies.

"So, wanna come clean about why you were really there tonight?"

"Ahem... They looked loaded, okay? I was just after some cash..." He mumbled the last part.

After hearing this, the train police stopped suspecting them and found it a bit more reasonable.

...

The next day, Cen Xi and Lin Qing slept pretty well the previous night—aside from waking up once in the middle of it, they managed to sleep soundly afterward since no one else came to bother them.

The train police even came by their compartment specially the next day to explain what had happened.

Lin Qing and Cen Xi thought the whole thing was even more surreal—they never imagined they’d end up caught up in something so wild.

Thieves, human traffickers, spies—all tangled up in this mess!

The traffickers and the spies fought each other, and then the thief ratted them all out.

This whole thing was straight-up unreal!

"People from both groups admitted they have more people working with them. You still have half a day’s journey left, so stay on your guard," the train police warned. They pulled an all-nighter grilling the traffickers and the spies the night before, though not everyone doing the questioning was actually from the train police.

The train police had a hard time just handling the traffickers alone. The spies were often professionally trained, so you needed pros to crack them—that’s why security personnel traveling with Cen Xi and the others took over the interrogations.

"Got it! Thank you for the heads-up."

...