Chapter 133: Will You Only Be Satisfied Once the Family Is Ruined?

Unlike Wang Guotao, Deputy Chief Ma rose to his position step by step, relying on genuine capability and hard-earned merit. This was precisely why he held such disdain for sycophants like Wang, and the two had clashed more than once. In private, Deputy Chief Ma often complained that the world was unfair.

Was it not? He had worked himself to the bone, solving countless cases and enduring endless injuries to reach his current rank. Yet, those who knew only how to flatter and butter up their superiors could effortlessly talk their way into promotions. Anyone in his position would find such a reality hard to stomach. But never in his wildest dreams did Deputy Chief Ma imagine that a total stranger, upon their first meeting, would pierce right through his innermost thoughts.

"How could he know what I was thinking? Can he read minds?" Deputy Chief Ma stood frozen, his mouth agape. By the time he regained his composure, Li Sichen had already been led into the interrogation room by Officer Liu.

"What did he mean by that last remark? Could Wang Guotao be in for some bad luck? But how could he possibly know?" Deputy Chief Ma instinctively wanted to chase after Li Sichen to demand an explanation, but at that moment, a thunderous explosion echoed from not far away.

"What happened?" Startled, Deputy Chief Ma abandoned his intent to follow Li and turned to dash toward the source of the blast. An explosion at a police station? What kind of joke was this! This wasn't a movie; how could any criminal be so brazen?

The explosion had occurred in the cafeteria. When he arrived, several officers were already on the scene. Seeing him, they rushed to report: "It was an explosion in the cafeteria, likely caused by a gas leak..."

A gas leak? Thank goodness, he thought. I knew it—how could anyone be bold enough to set off a bomb inside a police station? Deputy Chief Ma breathed a long sigh of relief and then asked, "Were there any injuries?"

"No one was hurt. The kitchen staff happened to be outside taking a smoke break when it went off," an officer replied.

"As long as no one was hurt, that’s all that matters." With the last of his worries put to rest, Deputy Chief Ma turned to the head of the cafeteria with a dark expression, lecturing him: "You must tighten up safety protocols in the cafeteria! We were lucky this time that no one was injured. If this had happened while we were eating, wouldn't the whole station be wiped out?"

The cafeteria manager nodded subserviently, agreeing to everything. Under normal circumstances, he wouldn't have given Deputy Chief Ma the time of day, as he was a relative of Wang Guotao. But he, too, had been rattled by the explosion and couldn't bring himself to talk back.

After a few more sharp words, Ma arranged for the fire to be extinguished. Fortunately, the blast wasn't severe, and the flames were quickly put out. However, before he could catch his breath, another incident struck.

*Pop, pop, pop, pop...*

A series of cracking sounds erupted. For some unknown reason, every water pipe in the station began to burst simultaneously! A torrent of water sprayed out, instantly flooding the floors as if the station had been struck by a flood.

"Are you kidding me..." Seeing the water everywhere, Deputy Chief Ma felt like he was losing his mind. What was going on today? First, a police car was stolen from the station, then the cafeteria exploded, and now the plumbing was acting up? Could he be any unluckier? Was this place cursed?

"A jinx... that kid really is a jinx. Whoever crosses him meets with misfortune! We’ve brought a disaster into our station..." Officer Liu, standing in the hallway, stared at the flooded floor with his mouth wide open. His legs felt weak beneath him.

Ten minutes later, Wang Guotao returned to the station after having his head re-bandaged at the hospital. He was greeted by a scene of utter chaos. With the main valve shut, the pipes had stopped spraying, but the office building was completely waterlogged, and staff were busy frantically sweeping and mopping.

The cafeteria nearby presented a different sight. Though the fire was out, blue smoke still curled into the air, and the acrid smell of gas lingered.

"What on earth happened here?" Wang Guotao stared in disbelief. He could not fathom what could have transpired in the station during his brief absence.

Officer Liu spotted him from a distance and rushed over, his voice trembling: "Chief, you're finally back! Please, I beg you, get that jinx out of here! If he doesn't leave, we’ll all go crazy, if not worse!"

Wang Guotao blinked. "A jinx? What jinx? And what exactly is going on here?"

"Who else could it be? That student you told me to bring in for questioning!" Officer Liu, looking utterly miserable, gave a concise summary of the accidents that had just occurred.

"You aren't trying to tell me that all these accidents were caused by that student surnamed Li, are you?" Wang Guotao’s jaw dropped, his face reflecting pure skepticism.

Liu replied, "While there’s no proof linking him to these events, one thing is certain: they only started happening after he arrived. Chief, it’s better to be safe than sorry. That kid is just too eerie. We should let him go..."

Wang Guotao scoffed. "Nonsense! There’s no such thing as a jinx in this world. And even if there were, I could handle him! Look at you—you’re a police officer, act like one! Stop the chatter and lead the way. I’m going to interrogate that brat myself!"

On the way back from the hospital, Wang Guotao had received more calls from Young Master Lei, Young Master Liang, and the others. They had promised him that if he could make the charges against Li Sichen stick, they would pull strings to ensure his promotion. Faced with such an incentive, how could Wang not be tempted?

In his eyes, Li Sichen wasn't a jinx at all; he was the stepping stone to his own advancement. As he headed toward the interrogation room, Wang couldn't help but fantasize about his bright future.

Beside him, Officer Liu could only offer a silent prayer: "Chief, oh Chief, why on earth do you have to provoke a jinx? You’ve already been bloodied and bruised—haven't you learned your lesson? Do you really have to see your own life ruined before you're satisfied?"