The hidden police officers suddenly sprang into action, charging directly at the man holding a fruit knife.
In an instant, the man was pinned to the ground.
The knife in his hand was also knocked away immediately.
"Don't move!"
The man's eyes widened in disbelief.
Weren't these cops gone? How the hell did they come rushing back out!
Damn it… I’ve been tricked!
He never expected that these seemingly upright, thick-browed officers could be so deceitful, their minds so cunning! They were hiding inside the house the whole time, pretending to have already left.
The officers took out their handcuffs and cuffed the man's hands behind his back.
After finishing this, the officers turned to Xu Mo with puzzled expressions.
"Captain Xu, how did you know there was someone else in the house?"
Although the officers hadn't gleaned much information from the hand signals Xu Mo had given earlier, by now, they understood.
Xu Mo had knocked out the man who opened the door, hid him behind the entrance, and ordered the officers to conceal themselves because he had sensed something was off. He realized the situation wasn’t as simple as it seemed.
This wasn’t just some journalist testing the police; it was actually a kidnapping!
The man who opened the door wasn’t a journalist at all—he was one of the kidnappers, and there was another accomplice in the room.
"The person who called the police was a woman, but the one who opened the door was a man. Plus, I didn’t see anyone else in the living room, and the woman who reported the case wasn’t there. That was suspicious… Also, I heard movement in the bedroom," Xu Mo explained briefly.
After a pause, he added, "You didn’t notice anything wrong because you didn’t know the caller was a woman. I happened to be passing by when the report came in and overheard that detail… The camera on the coffee table also misled you, making you believe his claim of being a journalist."
Some journalists are indeed capable of doing anything.
Testing the limits of the law is their specialty.
Not only do they fake police reports to test response times, but many also go undercover with hidden cameras into red-light districts, and more often than not, they end up getting involved themselves…
So, it’s not uncommon for journalists to be caught in the act at such places.
The officers were used to such situations, which is why they were misled.
Once the officers had the man fully under control, Xu Mo opened the bedroom door. In the corner of the room, a woman was crouched down.
Trembling and curled up, she seemed to have been overwhelmed by fear.
"Don’t be afraid. We’re police officers here to rescue you. Did you make that call to the police earlier?" Xu Mo reassured her.
Although Xu Mo had identified himself as a police officer, the woman was still skeptical. She glanced outside and saw that her kidnapper had been handcuffed and pinned to the ground. Only then did she believe Xu Mo.
Stammering, she nodded, "Yes, it was me…"
She hadn’t dared to make a sound earlier because the kidnapper had held a knife to her neck, threatening her to stay silent.
Thankfully, Xu Mo had sensed something was wrong.
If he hadn’t, once the officers had taken the man who opened the door away, the kidnapped woman would have been in grave danger.
"Did they kidnap you?" Xu Mo continued.
"Yes…"
"It’s alright now. The bad guys have been caught. You’re safe. Come with us to the station; we’ll need you to give a statement."
With the two kidnappers in custody and the rescued woman, the group returned to the police station.
…
In the office.
Xu Mo conducted a brief interview with the woman and learned the full story.
It wasn’t complicated.
The two kidnappers had broken into her home, kidnapped her, and intended to commit a crime. Fortunately, the police arrived in time, and the woman wasn’t harmed.
As for the camera, it was something they had found in the woman’s home. They planned to use it to record some footage as a "souvenir."
The woman had managed to call the police because the kidnappers were hungry and forced her to order takeout. When the food didn’t arrive, they made her call to hurry the delivery.
The kidnapped woman, quick-witted, didn’t call the delivery person but instead dialed the police directly.
The rest of the story didn’t need explaining; Xu Mo already knew it.
After the officers, disguised as delivery men, knocked on the door, one of the kidnappers, thinking on his feet, pointed to the unused camera on the table and claimed to be a journalist…
After taking a brief statement, Xu Mo headed to the interrogation room to check on the progress.
The two kidnappers were being interrogated separately in two rooms, with Chen Ke and Li Chen each leading an officer in questioning them.
Caught red-handed, they had little room for excuses and could only confess.
Xu Mo skimmed through their statements and found that their accounts matched the woman’s almost entirely, with only minor discrepancies.
The two kidnappers were actually thieves who had initially broken in to steal.
Midway through, they realized someone was home. They had planned to flee but discovered the homeowner was a woman living alone—and quite attractive at that.
Instantly, their baser instincts took over, and they decided to act on their impulses.
Coincidentally, the two idiots got hungry after seeing half a pizza the woman had left uneaten and forced her to order another one for them…
When the delivery took too long, they made her call to hurry it up, which gave her the chance to call the police.
When the police arrived at the address provided in the report to apprehend the kidnappers, one of them, thinking quickly, pointed to the camera and claimed to be a journalist.
While making a false police report is also illegal, its severity pales in comparison to charges like breaking and entering or coercing a woman.
With a good attitude and no serious consequences, one might even avoid detention, settling for a fine and a verbal warning.
Knowing that the worst outcome for a false report would be detention and a fine, he cooperated fully, hoping the police would take him away quickly.
This wasn’t just to protect his accomplice but also himself.
Only by being taken away could his partner clean up the scene and escape, covering their tracks.
Claiming to be a journalist after being caught—what a move… As Xu Mo flipped through the statement, he happened to see the name of one of the kidnappers: Zhang San!
No wonder he came up with such a clever trick to evade punishment—this kidnapper shared a name with the infamous "Outlaw Zhang San," no wonder his mind worked so fast!