Chapter 211: Criminal: I’m Calling the Police to Arrest Myself. Are You Satisfied, Sister Gu?

"But we’re not connected anymore. I was only married to him to improve his luck while he was ill. Now that he’s alive and well, it’s only reasonable that I get a divorce, right?"

It wasn’t like she was some celebrity, worried about losing followers.

So she said whatever was on her mind.

"I’ll be doing even better in the future. Just keep paying attention to my appraisal work, everyone."

After she said this, the chat was filled with people supporting her.

The streamer clearly had the confidence to live life on her own terms. As her loyal viewers, they had been with her through it all. Although it was a shame to see such a romantic tale end, it was her personal life, and her fans wouldn’t overstep.

Immediately after, a comment popped up in the chat: "Streamer, where are you? Why are you digging?"

"In the woods, not far from the cemetery. My metal detector picked up something weird over here, so I’m going to see what’s underneath."

The viewers in the livestream were instantly intrigued. "Streamer, this doesn’t seem right. That place is already spooky. What if it’s a ghost?"

"Exactly, you can’t just go digging around randomly, streamer. With stuff like this, it’s better to be safe than sorry. What if it brings you bad luck?"

"Holy shit, to the commenter above. It’s nighttime! I’m terrified! Hiding under my covers and I don’t even dare to breathe!"

"..."

Gu Shengsheng laughed. "My flashlight is plenty bright, and there’s a convenience store just up ahead. It’s fine."

With that, she decided to head to the convenience store to buy some water. It would still be a little while before the excavator operator arrived.

Just as Gu Shengsheng walked into the convenience store, she saw someone in a black hoodie and a hat staring at her.

Gu Shengsheng stared right back, then crossed her arms and stood in front of him.

The man turned away, grabbed some instant noodles, and went to pay, acting as if nothing had just happened.

The livestream viewers:

"Holy shit, holy shit, is this guy a creep?"

"Look at him, he keeps checking out the streamer."

"Streamer, be careful!"

Gu Shengsheng wasn’t fazed. She wouldn’t have come out alone if she was afraid of this kind of thing. She’d been the top brawler since she was a kid; if she couldn’t win a fight, she could always run.

Gu Shengsheng went to pay for her things. Just as she was leaving, the man darted out from the bushes, violently snatched her phone, and smashed it on the ground.

He viciously grabbed Gu Shengsheng by the neck. "I’m warning you, stop looking at things you shouldn’t, or you won’t even know what killed you!"

"Get on your knees and beg me to let you go!"

Gu Shengsheng didn’t say a word, putting on a frail and helpless act.

The man let his guard down, thinking she was a total pushover. The moment his grip loosened slightly...

Gu Shengsheng grabbed the man’s hand and twisted his wrist, forcing him halfway to the ground.

Then, she kicked him hard in the back. She was already in a foul mood tonight, and now she was going to have a thoroughly satisfying beatdown.

"You’ll let me go?" she said. "You smashed my phone. Why would I let *you* go?"

A cold glint flashed in the man’s eyes, and he started fighting Gu Shengsheng in earnest. They both fought viciously, neither giving any quarter.

The man soon realized he couldn’t beat this woman, so he turned tail and ran for it!

But Gu Shengsheng had no intention of letting him go. She chased right after him, the distance between them steadily shrinking.

The man, realizing he couldn’t shake her, panicked and started running toward the city. Gu Shengsheng had known something was off about him and had already sent a message to Zhang Lianqing back at the convenience store.

Then she continued the chase.

Finally, three hours later, the man was lying on the ground like a limp rag. "No more running. I’m not running anymore."

They had been running for three hours, and this woman wasn’t even out of breath. He, on the other hand, felt like he was about to die!

"Please, stop chasing me, okay?"

"I’ll talk! I’ll confess everything! I was wrong! I’m a criminal. I was on the run tonight, just buying some instant noodles. I swear I wasn’t going to do anything else! I didn’t want to hurt you, I just acted a little aggressive. For the love of god, lady, please let me go!"

He was at a complete loss for words. ’Who could possibly understand this feeling!’ He had just run his mouth a little, and she’d chased him all this way. All he’d wanted was to buy some instant noodles. He hadn’t even gotten to eat them, and now he was exhausted and starving.

Gu Shengsheng frowned. "Then this is serious. We have to tell the police. I already called them and gave my location as the convenience store, but we’ve come a long way since then. Plus, it’s after midnight now. It’s been too long... Do you have a phone?"

The criminal pointed to himself. "Me?"

"I have a phone..."

He meekly unlocked his phone and dialed 110.

Gu Shengsheng said, "110 is too slow. Let me call Captain Zhang instead."

The call connected. Zhang Lianqing was currently out on a case and hesitated for a moment when he saw the unfamiliar number. Still, he answered. "Who is this?"

"Hello, Captain Zhang, this is Zhang Yao. You can look me up in the wanted database. I’m wanted for theft and have been on the run for three years. Just now, I ran into Ms. Gu..."

"Gu Shengsheng," she supplied.

"I just ran into Ms. Gu Shengsheng. We’re at the southwest gate of the Digital Zinc Factory, about 150 meters ahead of it. We’ll be waiting for you here."

Zhang Lianqing: "..."

His phone was on speaker, and the other officers with him were all stunned.

In all their years on the force, this was the first time any of them had seen a fugitive call the police on himself, let alone give up his own location. And his tone... it was as if he was desperate for them to come and arrest him.

If Zhang Lianqing hadn’t recognized Gu Shengsheng’s voice and known her well, he would have been certain it was a trap.

In the end, they rushed to the location.

When they arrived, they immediately checked on Gu Shengsheng, who was sitting on a patch of grass, to see if she was alright.

Instead, it was the criminal, Zhang Yao, who was lying on the ground, barely conscious. "Officer, please, just take me away... I can’t go on..."

Zhang Lianqing: "...We’ll talk back at the station."

"I don’t need to go," Gu Shengsheng said. "I still have my appraisal to get back to. I was just so angry that I chased him here. It took two or three hours."

"I’m fine. He was foaming at the mouth earlier, looked like he was about to pass out from exhaustion. Plus, he’s terrified of me now. He’ll probably have PTSD the next time he sees me."

Zhang Lianqing looked at her with a complicated expression. "You caught him just like that?"

"Yup. We had a bit of a squabble at the convenience store. I didn’t know he was a criminal at first."

Zhang Lianqing said, "The police have dedicated immense manpower and resources to finding him for three years. And he’s incredibly skilled at running. He’s a former sprinting champion who even made it to the provincial team. We’ve cornered him before, and he always managed to escape. He has no gun and he’s not a mastermind; he’s survived this long purely by running."

"And you just... ran him to exhaustion..." Before, Zhang Lianqing’s impression of Gu Shengsheng had been that she was a young woman who was remarkably skilled at appraising antiques.

This incident completely shattered that perception.

Her talents clearly extended beyond appraising treasures...

Gu Shengsheng was also incredulous. "No wonder! I chased him for hours. On top of being exhausted, he seemed completely broken, spiritually. I thought I was imagining it, but I really got the feeling he didn’t want to live anymore."

"Now I see it. He really has lost the will to live. The one thing he was proud of, he lost at my hands."

Gu Shengsheng’s expression turned sympathetic. "I guess after you take him into custody, you’ll need to arrange for some psychological counseling."