Anyway, talking to each other slowly, the two of them eventually reached the same dark market where Victoria had left her car.
"This is the most dangerous area of our city, where all the shady criminals gather constantly because various illegal trades happen here. What were you doing here that left your car behind?" Rozer asked Victoria, a mix of surprise and concern in his voice.
Victoria stayed silent for a moment, unsure of how to answer Rozer's question. But in the next instant, regaining her composure, she replied, "Oh… I'm writing an article for college about the rising crime in our city. That's why I came here." As she spoke, her eyes darted around the area nervously.
"Oh, alright. But you do know that just a few hours ago, the police caught a gang along with the Russian mafia, right? And our city's superheroine, Secret Admiral, helped them. Did you meet her or even see her?" Rozer asked again, his excitement barely contained.
"Oh! So that's what happened here," Victoria murmured, lost in thought for a moment, wondering what to say next. Then, regaining her composure, she replied, "Yes, I left my car here back in that chaos and walked away. Now don't ask so many questions. Since you've helped me, a little treat is only fair. Do one thing—there's a café not far from here called 'Adam's Kitchen.' Take your bike there, and I'll follow with the car." Saying this, Victoria got into her car, started it, and drove off toward the café.
Meanwhile, on the other side, Cheng and his boss had been locked up in a police cell, and the authorities had beaten both of them badly. This enraged Cheng beyond measure.
"How am I supposed to collect the money now? How will I get proper treatment for my wise mother? I really missed such a perfect opportunity to earn, without taking a loan, and provide good care for my mother… I could have invested the remaining money in a decent business and lived an honest life. But that Secret Admiral ruined all my plans. And now, if anything happens to my mother… I won't let Secret Admiral live," Cheng thought bitterly, his mind simmering with rage.
"Hey, Cheng, what are you thinking about?" Cheng's boss snapped, rubbing his aching body. "I've never been beaten this badly in my life—first that heroine thrashed us inside the shop, and now these cops. All because of you. What was the need to steal in such a big place? We were getting by just fine with small-time thefts, weren't we?"
But hearing his boss's words, Cheng shot him an angry look and replied fiercely, "I don't want to live a life like yours forever—where you eat one day and then stay hungry for ten. I'm going to earn so much money that I can eat at a five-star hotel every single day." Saying this, Cheng stared out through the bars of his cell.
"You talk nonsense," his boss scoffed. "Cheng, open your eyes and face reality. Right now, you're in custody, and the crime you're locked up for carries a minimum sentence of two years—if you're lucky. Otherwise, you'll be eating and drinking inside prison for four years. And here you are, talking about becoming a rich man," he added mockingly.
But at that moment, countless thoughts were racing through Cheng's mind. He knew that if he failed to deposit the money at the hospital on time, the doctors would refuse to treat his mother and would throw her out of the hospital, and then she would die. Cheng could not let that happen, because in his life there was only his mother—his father had died in an accident when Cheng was still a child. Cheng could not understand how he would escape this disaster, because he knew his boss was not lying, and these police officers were so corrupt that they would pin even the thefts Cheng and his boss had never committed on them.
"Excuse me! Please listen—come here… I need your help," Cheng said to a policeman standing outside the cell.
But the policeman ignored him. Seeing this, Cheng grew furious and began shouting loudly from inside his cell, "My mother is in the hospital. Her operation is scheduled for tomorrow. I need to pay the hospital fees—please let me go. If you can't do that, then please help me, let me make a phone call. Otherwise my mother will die. Please, sir, listen to me just once—please let me make a call."
But the police officers were busy with their own work, and for them, Cheng was merely a scapegoat through whom they planned to close their old pending cases. When Cheng kept shouting and pleading for help again and again, one of the policemen grew furious and angrily started moving toward the cell.
"Cheng, don't do this," his boss warned him quietly. "They'll kill you right here in this cell. Don't provoke them. Nothing will happen to your mother."
"What's wrong with you, you bastard? Why are you screaming your throat out?" the policeman snapped. "This is a police headquarters, not your father's house where you can shout like a loudspeaker. If another word comes out of your mouth, I'll hang you before the court even sentences you—because here, the law is the police, and the executioners are also the police." Saying this, the policeman burst into laughter and started walking away.
"I won't stay silent," Cheng cried out. "After all, I'm only asking for a small favor from you. Let me make one call. In return, I'll do whatever you say—I'll sign wherever you tell me to." Cheng begged the policeman, his voice trembling.
But the policeman was so drowned in the arrogance of his position that even desperate pleas had no effect on him. Seeing Cheng crying and breaking down like this, his boss came closer and tried to calm him, saying, "Cheng, these police officers listen to only two kinds of people—those who have money in their pockets, and those who have power. And you are neither of the two, which is why they won't listen to you. But yes, they can certainly kill people like you and me, and trap us in false cases. Believe it or not, more than half the people who become criminals do so because these police officers turn them into criminals." Saying this, he tried to console Cheng.
But Cheng was burning with rage at that moment, and once again he began shouting abuses at the police officers. "You bastards, you parasites living off dirty money! You only show the power of your uniform to the poor and the helpless. You polish the shoes of the rich, roam around as servants of the powerful and politicians, but you can't help a helpless man. I'm asking for just one phone call, and you're acting like it'll cost you your life. Mark my words—you'll die a dog's death, and your corpses will rot on the road, and no one will even bother to pick them up." Saying this, Cheng started kicking the iron bars of the cell violently, again and again.
Seeing his actions, the police officers sitting there grew enraged. One of them, whose name was Marcus, opened the cell along with two of his colleagues and went inside, then began beating Cheng mercilessly. They kept striking him with hands, fists, kicks, and the butt of a gun. Watching Cheng being beaten so brutally, the other prisoners in the cell were terrified and crawled into a corner, sitting there in fear.
"Sir, please leave him—he is innocent. If you beat him like this, he will die," Cheng's boss pleaded, clutching the policemen's feet.
But the police officers did not listen to a single word from Cheng's boss and began beating him as well. Just then, one of the policemen noticed Cheng, whose head and nose were bleeding heavily.
"Sir, look—his breathing is breaking. He's about to die. We need to admit him to a hospital immediately, otherwise he will die," one policeman said, trying to stop Marcus.
"Let the bastard die," Marcus sneered. "Dare to fight with the police. Everyone listen carefully—the entire power lies in the hands of the city's police. You'll only reach the court if we take you there. And if any of you speak beyond your limits or file a complaint against a police officer, you bastards will be 'encountered' even before reaching court. And don't worry—nothing will happen to the police even after that, because if you file a complaint, the investigation will be done by another police officer anyway." Saying this, Marcus laughed loudly and delivered a powerful kick to Cheng's stomach.
The very next moment, Cheng suddenly began gasping for breath. Perhaps due to the beating by the police, one of his internal organs had been injured, which was making it difficult for him to breathe. Seeing this, Marcus called over a constable.
"Listen, Garrie! Take him away and get him admitted to a public hospital. If this bastard dies here, we'll have to deal with his filthy corpse ourselves. And if he dies there, dump his body with the hospital staff and tell them to cremate it as an unclaimed body. Write in the report that he was already injured when he was taken into custody, and that's how he died," Marcus said. After that, he lit a cigarette and sat back in his chair, while all the police officers began praising him, because he was famous across the city for his third‑degree torture.
Garrie immediately loaded Cheng's body into a jeep and took him to the hospital. When the doctors saw Cheng's condition, they sent him straight to the ICU.
"How did he sustain such severe injuries? Did you police officers beat him?" the doctor asked Garrie in a stern tone.
"No, doctor! When he was taken into custody, all these injuries were already on his body. At that time, he seemed fine, so we brought him to the headquarters. But suddenly his condition worsened, so we had to bring him to the hospital. You take a look and treat him—if he survives, let me know. Otherwise, Marcus sir has said to cremate him along with the unclaimed bodies," Garrie said. Saying this, he stepped outside while making a phone call.
"These police officers will never change. Even though they are meant to be servants of the people, they behave like the people's masters. Who knows why the government never puts any consideration on their atrocities," the doctor thought to himself, and then went into the ICU to treat Cheng.
Meanwhile, Victoria and Rozer were sitting in the café, sipping coffee. But Victoria had no idea that the injustice she had become Secret Admiral to fight against existed on Earth more because of humans than even demons. What was going to happen to Cheng now, and what step Dar Goddess Aethna would take next—no one knew.