Chapter 853: Facing The Nightmare
When he heard the last sentence that Zhang Heng uttered out, Fabino wondered if he had gone to the wrong neighborhood. Was this still the southeast city that he had been to six years ago? Was it still the chaotic land that was filled with criminals and villains without law and order?
According to Fabino’s impression of this place, criminal activities were supposed to be rife on the streets of the southeast city all the time, and the patrol team only managed to crack a few of the cases. Even for homicides… they were usually left unsettled. As for the robbery that happened six years ago, Fabino was the only person that provided useful information to the patrol team. At that time, Fabino was furious. He could still remember that he was swearing most of the time rather than describing what happened. In other words, catching the robbers was close to impossible.
If it weren’t for the wooden box in his hand, Fabino would’ve probably patted Zhang Heng’s shoulder, laughed, and told him that he told a good joke. It would not help with the assessment, but Fabino was now looking at the box. He was pretty sure that the thing inside was the ring that he lost six years ago. And for this reason, he almost messed his marriage.
Afterward, he spent a lot of effort attempting to retrieve it. Of course, he did not rely on the useless patrol team. Instead, he mobilized the family guards, and he sought help from the Vigiles. In total, he dispatched almost two hundred people to search for his ring, enough to be considered a small army. Unfortunately, the search yielded no result.
This was proof that neither the Vigiles nor his family guards could carry out any investigation at this place. They did not get any help during their investigation. This place had its own set of operating rules, and the people here were obviously very xenophobic. Otherwise, the patrol team would not have lived in such a state for so many years.
No matter how upset Fabino was, he could only admit that he had bad luck. Considering the woman he married came from a rather prominent background, he had to spend a lot of time appeasing his future wife. And at one point, he became the laughing stock of the upper society.
Fabino did not expect that one day he would be able to retrieve the lost engagement ring. He closed the wooden box in his hand and took a deep breath, “Of course, I have been looking forward to this reunion for a long time.”
Fabino followed Zhang Heng and others to the patrol station.
At this time, the assessor found out that the patrol had actually moved from the previous dangerous building without an owner to a new house that had just been built. Not only was the building larger, but it also appeared studier too. But considering the special circumstance of the southeast city, the patrol team’s family members still lived with them. It could ensure that they were always safe.
Aris’ daughter Viya was patrolling outside her new home, but she was not carrying a slingshot this time. It had been replaced by bow and arrow. The short bow on her back was given to her by Zhang Heng. Zhang Heng had also taught her archery. After his meeting with Lockheed, the tense situation had now eased. Strictly speaking, Viya was not patrolling; she was just practicing archery at the front entrance of the new building.
“Master Fabino,” Viya remarked politely when she saw the assessor from a distance. And she quickly put away her bow and arrows.
“Huh? Are you Viya? Is there something wrong with my memory? You seem to have something extra compared to two months ago.” Fabino knew about Aris’s daughter. She had always been rude whenever they met. She would dress like a boy, hiding at the patrol station’s corner, ambushing strangers that walked in. After that, she would yell and threaten to blind their eyes with her slingshot.
This was, of course, not a good thing for people who came to the patrol station to report crimes. Fortunately, Fabino realized that no sane person in this place would come to the patrol station to report crimes. Hence, Fabino did not have a bad impression towards Viya, who was always readied to ambush someone.
He noticed that Viya was still alive and well, but whenever she looked at Zhang Heng, her eyes would always show a touch of admiration. Fabino finally knew what the extra thing that he found on Viya’s body was. It seemed like someone finally managed to tame the wild monkey.
Fabino certainly knew who brought the changes to the patrol team. Aris had been the captain of the southeast city patrol team for a long time. He knew exactly what he was capable of. The possibility of catching the person who robbed him six years ago and retrieving the engagement ring was not something he could pull off.
So there was no doubt that the current changes in the patrol team were brought by the oriental man next to him. Fabino found that he became more and more interested in the gladiatorial champion of the Flavian Amphitheatre. Still, Fabino had to meet an old friend before getting to know Zhang Heng more.
“Is he being locked here?” Fabino followed Zhang Heng into the backyard of the patrol station. There was a row of bamboo poles for drying clothes. The house behind the bamboo poles was originally Copper Arm’s and his men’s torture room. After the patrol team took over the place, they modified it into a simple prison.
“Yes.” Zhang Heng pushed open the door of one of the cells.
The room was a little dim, and six years had passed since the incident, but Fabino still recognized the man in the room at a glance, the man who had brutally robbed and beat him on the street six years ago.
It was this bastard who forced him to open up his hand and snatched his ring. He was undergoing a lot of pain at that time. Before the man left, he landed two punches on his stomach. The physical pain was nothing, but the feeling of humiliation and helplessness had scarred Fabino’s life.
And now, he was finally standing in front of his nightmare again, like Batman walking into the bat cave for the first time, facing his fear, and crushing it fiercely.
“Your name is Sotheby, right? Do you still remember me, bastard?” Fabino stepped forward two steps and sneered.
The man named Sotheby curled up in the corner like a frightened old dog. He then raised his head when he heard someone calling out his name. However, he put on a blank look when he saw Fabino.
Fabino frowned and asked Zhang Heng behind him, “Did you torture him?”
“No, he was already in this state when we found him. In a gang fight about two years ago, someone hurt both his legs. He was not allowed to stay in the gang anymore, and he couldn’t find a job. His wife and children left him after that, so he had to live on the streets, making a living by picking up leftovers. But you know, there are not many leftovers in this kind of place,” Zhang Heng said lightly.
“How could this be?” Fabino was a little lost for a while. He had imagined how to deal with him countless times when he found him in the future and washed away the humiliation he suffered in the past. However, when he saw him in this state, he felt that he hit a cotton ball after he clenched his fist.