About twenty minutes later, two police cars arrived, and over ten officers in their thirties hurried over to investigate. The onlookers all pointed at me, saying I was the one with the girl who got kidnapped.

The group of officers rushed over to me. The lead officer, who seemed to be in his thirties, saluted me before flashing a surprisingly friendly smile and asking, “Your friend got kidnapped, right? What’s her name? How old is she? Did she have any enemies?”

He rattled off questions like a machine gun. Heck, how was I supposed to know? I shook my head and replied, “Sorry, I just met her not long ago. Her name’s Li Shanshan. She’s a student at the Foreign Languages Academy. You might want to check with her school.”

“Li Shanshan? Foreign Languages Academy?” The officer’s smile instantly froze. He quickly whipped out his phone and called someone, sounding urgent as he said, “Chief Li, get to the zoo immediately. Something’s happened.”

After hanging up, the officer looked at me with a noticeably friendlier expression. He even started chatting with me casually, and that’s when I found out: Li Shanshan’s dad was none other than the chief of the Jiulongpo Police Department! I had known her family was well-off, but this was on another level. No wonder the officer was suddenly treating me like a VIP.

Not even five minutes later, another police car screeched to a halt in front of the zoo. The driver clearly ignored traffic laws, running red lights to get here.

The man who stepped out of the car was the same uncle I’d met at the hospital before. Now dressed in a full police uniform, his face was brimming with anxiety. He stormed up to the officer who had been speaking to me and kicked him in the stomach so hard the poor guy rolled twice on the ground.

“You let my daughter get kidnapped on my turf? What do you think you’re eating, huh? Trash! What are you standing around for? Go pull up the surveillance footage and find that van now!” the man roared, his voice booming. All the officers hung their heads, not daring to say a word.

Then the man turned to me and, without warning, swung his foot at me as well. I quickly stepped back to avoid it. He barked, “Didn’t I tell you to stay away from my daughter?”

I said nothing and shook my head. Right now, this man was fuming. No matter what I said, it would only fuel his anger. So, I figured silence was the better choice.

“Chief Li, finding Shanshan is the priority. Don’t waste time arguing with this kid. Let’s get back and check the footage,” suggested the officer who had been kicked earlier. Chief Li nodded hurriedly, saying, “Right, right. Let’s move!” He left behind two officers to take witness statements, while one of them hauled me into a police car. I guessed they wanted to take my statement at the station too.

During the ride, I chatted casually with the officers. Apparently, the zoo was just a ten-minute walk or a twenty-minute drive from the station. If the initial kidnapping report had been taken seriously, they could have been here in five minutes tops. But instead, the officers argued over who got to come investigate. After a long debate, they settled it with a game of rock-paper-scissors.

It wasn’t that they were super motivated; it’s just that nothing exciting ever happened at the station. A kidnapping was like a golden opportunity to earn some merit. But they hadn’t expected the victim to be Chief Li’s daughter. Now they were panicking. The ten officers who had rock-paper-scissored their way to this case were definitely in for some trouble back at the station.

When we reached the police station and word spread that the victim was Chief Li’s daughter, the entire place sprang into action. Officers were reviewing footage, sealing off routes, and launching an all-out investigation. Meanwhile, I was taken to a small, dark room.

The room was tiny and completely enclosed, with a single table in the middle lit by a lone lamp. It looked exactly like the interrogation rooms you see in movies.

A cop escorted me inside, told me to wait, and left me alone. About ten minutes later, two officers walked in—one in his thirties and the other in his twenties.

They both had shifty eyes. The older one sat down across from me, crossed his legs, and waved at the younger one. “Slap some cuffs on him first.”

“Hold on, man. I’m just a witness, not a suspect. Do you really need to cuff me?” I frowned. The older officer smirked and said, “Rules are rules. What are you waiting for, Xiao Wang?”

The younger cop, Xiao Wang, immediately pulled out a pair of handcuffs and slapped them on me. I didn’t resist. These guys were built like bulls, so there wasn’t much point in struggling.

Once I was cuffed, the older officer smiled, opened a drawer under the table, and pulled out a metal rod and a few thick books.

Come on, I’d been to police school—I knew exactly where this was going. They were about to use enhanced interrogation techniques. Before I could stand, Xiao Wang swung at my right cheek, knocking me to the ground.

I tried to get up, but a hard kick to my back sent me sprawling again.

“What the hell? Police brutality? I’ll report you!” I yelled through gritted teeth.

“Report us? With what? Hmph.” The older officer snorted. “Xiao Wang, use the books as padding before you hit him again. Learn this well—it’s a useful trick.”

The older cop grabbed me by the hair and dragged me to a corner. Xiao Wang held a book to my chest with one hand while the other wielded a small hammer—the kind used for nails. He swung it down hard on my chest.

The pain was indescribable. After catching my breath, I barely had time to recover before he swung again, this time at my right side.

The two of them took turns beating me, and although I considered fighting back, they were much stronger, and I was handcuffed. There was no chance. I bit my tongue and stopped cursing, knowing that the more I resisted, the harder they’d hit. If I stayed quiet, they might eventually get bored.

They kept at it for about twenty minutes. At first, they used the books as padding to minimize visible injuries, but they got lazy toward the end and just hit me directly. My head was spinning, my nose was bleeding non-stop, and my whole body ached.

“Listen up, kid. This is just the beginning. Xiao Wang and I will take good care of you these next few days,” the older cop said with a sinister grin.

“What the hell do you want from me? I don’t even know you guys,” I said, bewildered.

“It’s not about us, kid. You pissed off our boss, so now we’ve got no choice but to mess you up. Sucks to be you, huh?” The older officer patted my face mockingly, then chained me up in the dark room and left with Xiao Wang.