Chapter 16: Spare Them!

After the call, Captain Sun slammed his radio onto the desk. Jiangzhou was normally so peaceful! Forget terrorist attacks; even street brawls were rare. His SWAT squad spent the year training and drilling, and their actual deployments could be counted on one hand. There was hardly any need for heavily armed officers like them.

But since that wretched reality show had started and a menace named Jiang Chen had appeared, everything had changed. In just two days, he’d produced a high explosive and then gone to dig up a great general’s ancestral grave! Captain Sun felt he’d run farther in those two days than in the whole previous year. He was exhausted.

“All units! Vehicles now! Our destination is the barren hills in the western suburbs! Bring full riot gear!”

Soon the officers were armed and climbing into the black armored vehicles again. In the back, their faces showed nothing but resignation.

“Captain, what’s happened this time?”

“Heard that kid’s digging up someone’s ancestral grave.”

“What? A bomb yesterday and a major tomb today? Is Jiang Chen trying to get Jiangzhou demoted from a city to a county?”

“How did this show get approved? I feel like we’ve become Jiang Chen’s personal security detail.”

Captain Sun sat grim-faced in the front passenger seat, silent, his temples throbbing.

At the mountain, Jiang Chen, Liu San, and Chen Ming were fully absorbed. The robber’s hole grew deeper. Besides the bronze bottle, they’d dug several muddy pottery jars and broken bowls from the earth. The footage sent the stream’s popularity to another peak.

Together, the three carried everything to the surface. Liu San crouched with a chipped pottery jar in his hands, his eyes gleaming. “Brother Chen, Mr. Chen, look at this jar! The glaze, the patina! On the black market it’d fetch at least this much!”

He held up five fingers, trembling with excitement.

Chen Ming adjusted his glasses and corrected him precisely. “Master Liu, these are state cultural relics. Selling them on the black market is illegal.”

Jiang Chen nodded, dusting off his hands. “Right. This is a protective excavation. We’ll contact the relevant authorities shortly.”

Cameraman Wang Qiang stared, numb. A protective excavation? They’d practically been swinging the Luoyang shovel fast enough to make it smoke!

Then piercing sirens sounded at the foot of the mountain. They grew closer, tearing through the quiet. Police cars and armored vehicles with red-and-blue lights flashing roared into view again, raising clouds of yellow dust.

The sirens sent the viewer count surging once more.

【Popularity】+1 +1 +1 +1 +1

【Here it comes! That familiar personal soundtrack!】

【Jiang Chen: Thanks to the Jiangzhou police for the rockets and carnival gifts!】

【Other people go on shows to gain followers. Jiang Chen goes on to build a criminal record.】

【Jiangzhou police: Is this kid ever going to stop? He’s nearly exhausted our fuel budget!】

【The director’s probably lining up on the rooftop by now.】

【They should rename the show *Jiang Chen’s Crime Files*. The ratings would go through the roof.】

Wang Qiang stared at the mass of officers below the slope. Holy shit! Why were they here again? He couldn’t even cry anymore. He felt like a kidnapped hostage forced to film a documentary about his captors. When the police charged up, would they pin him to the ground as an accomplice too?

He hurriedly set the camera down and called the director with shaking hands. The phone rang several times before it was answered.

Back at the production office, the director had assumed Jiang Chen’s stunt was fake. When Wang Qiang told him SWAT had surrounded the mountain again, he sprang out of his chair.

“What?! SWAT went there again?!”

He gathered his things in a flurry and rushed downstairs with the assistant director and operations staff. *Three’s a Team* was supposed to bring people closer together! Why did Jiang Chen keep bringing the police and the public closer together? In two days he’d summoned Jiangzhou SWAT twice!

In the elevator, the director glared at the head of props in the corner. “Tell me the truth! Did you prepare a tomb-robbing script and props for Jiang Chen behind my back? Did you buy that Luoyang shovel?”

The props specialist shrank into the corner, nearly in tears. “No, Director! I swear I haven’t even gotten a clear look at Jiang Chen! How could I have prepared a Luoyang shovel and antiques for him?”

Everyone piled into the production van and sped toward the western hills. On the way, the director rubbed his aching brow and asked the props specialist, “Then where did those bottles and jars on the screen come from?”

The specialist swallowed and offered a cautious guess. “Director, is it possible they really did dig up someone’s ancestral grave?”

The director slapped his forehead, his vision darkening. He nearly fainted. This was bad. They were completely finished!

At the site, as with the courtyard explosion the day before, heavily armed officers stretched out long lines of tape and surrounded the area. Wang Qiang stood inside the cordon, staring at dark gun barrels and riot shields, bewildered and close to tears.

He slowly turned to Jiang Chen, who was still examining a pottery jar. “Jiang Chen, I suddenly have a very serious question.”

Without looking up, Jiang Chen said, “What?”

Wang Qiang took a deep breath, his voice trembling. “When SWAT comes up to question us and asks who organized this tomb-robbing operation… who should I point to?”

Jiang Chen looked at him speechlessly. Damn! Weren’t they supposed to share good times and bad? When they found the objects, he’d even planned to give Wang Qiang a share. Now the police weren’t even here yet, and the man had prepared his statement? He wasn’t getting anything!

The exchange set the comments alight.

【Hahahahaha!】

【And that’s the end of their brotherhood!】

【Cameraman: I’m just an employee. I don’t want to sew uniforms in prison!】

【Wang Qiang is ready to turn state’s witness. That betrayal was practically light-speed.】

【The Idea Guy: Jiang Chen.】

【The Action Guy: Old Liu.】

【The Easygoing Guy: Old Chen.】

【The director: mastermind behind the scenes.】

【Production crew: Please stop completing the chain of criminal responsibility in the comments! The legal department is losing its mind!】

Captain Sun soon stepped out of the armored vehicle and strode forward. “Spread out! Protect the site! Nobody touches the unearthed artifacts!”

Once his officers were in position, his gaze found Jiang Chen through the crowd. The look he gave him was unmistakable: You again! You again!

Captain Sun walked to the edge of the robber’s hole and looked down at its neat opening and the professional-looking exposed section of rammed earth. He gave a cold laugh and turned to the trio.

“Did the three of you dig this?”

Wang Qiang raised his hand, eager to distance himself. “Officer, I—”

But Jiang Chen, Liu San, and Chen Ming exchanged a perfectly coordinated glance and answered together: “We didn’t dig it! It collapsed on its own!”

Wang Qiang’s words stuck in his throat. Holy shit! These three really were professionals! When had they coordinated their story?

Captain Sun had no interest in listening to nonsense. Archaeological experts had already called; the livestream recording had preserved the evidence. These three had dug it with a Luoyang shovel!

He stepped forward, expression grave. “Enough acting. The experts are on their way. Their preliminary assessment is that this is very likely a major ancient tomb. Your actions are suspected of constituting illegal excavation of ancient cultural sites and tombs, and the circumstances are extremely serious.”

He listed the charges and waved a hand. “Officers! Take the three of them to the vehicle!”

Several SWAT officers advanced with silver handcuffs. At that critical moment, a van came racing toward them, horn blaring. With a squeal of brakes, it pulled up. Before it had fully stopped, the director leaned halfway out of the window and shouted in his rasping voice:

“Captain Sun! Wait! Spare them!”