Chapter 25 - Arrangements
Although Fang Ping had wanted to rely solely on himself, he felt that tact was crucial at this state.
He decided to call the police after a while. If that did not work, he could think of some other way.
When night came, Fang Ping left under some excuse and called the police with a public phone.
The result was just as Fang Ping had predicted. He had told the other person that he suspected his upstairs tenant to be fishy while refusing to divulge his own identity.
The female operator had nothing to say to that. She reassured him instead of reprimanding him. “We’ll definitely ensure the safety of everyone and their possessions. We’ll send someone to patrol the area…”
As if what she said was real… Fang Ping knew the answer without needing to think.
This was the norm, seeing as the police’s manpower was limited, and he had not exactly provided enough concrete proof to warrant an investigation and the deployment of a number of officers.
If that happened, the police would not have time to work on real crimes; their time would be devoted to inconsequential affairs such as those.
There were many who issued false reports. The possibility of them really deploying someone here was low, unless Fang Ping told them that he was going to die.
Fang Ping did not even tell them who he was, which promptly lowered the possibility of them coming by a notch.
—
Fang Ping was not reluctant to report his name, but he feared that the man above him had some way of getting inside information.
If he had told them his name, the man might take prompt action in the case of him harboring malicious intent towards him and that he knew Fang Ping knew.
Now he had called the police as an anonymous citizen. If the man had gotten wind of it somehow, he would not guess that Fang Ping was the one behind this when there were so many people living in the area.
The first time, he tried to report anonymously and it did not yield any results. Fang Ping was a little helpless.
Sun City was not a sprawling metropolis. Police manpower was limited, and the extent of their patrolling was too. It was often that they left many things be.
It was rare that they would take action on a report in which the suspect had not committed any visible crime yet, especially when it was called in from a public phone.
Fang Ping could forget about seeking assistance from the police.
He could only rely on himself. He could search the suspect for evidence after he had disarmed him. It was not too late to call the police after all that.
If he found nothing…
Fang Ping rubbed his forehead. He must cause a scene even if he had found nothing.
He himself would be arrested if he could not find any evidence of the crimes committed by the upstairs tenant.
He, a heroic teen, had done something out of line in the process of helping the police to capture a criminal, and would have to apologize to the police for those misdeeds…
The police would definitely take notice, no matter if the suspect was a criminal or not.
If the suspect was not, that would be nice. He would apologize for his mistakes and pay for them before going on his merry way.
It would be even better if the suspect was really a criminal. He could probably get a commendation out of this fiasco.
After weighing the pros and cons, Fang Ping reached the conclusion that the worst he could get was a reprimand, which was not really a huge loss.
That was a risk he was willing to take if that meant that his life was not at stake.
After thinking it through, Fang Ping relaxed and started thinking about how he could disarm the man.
—
That night, Fang Ping continued with his training.
He eyed the window on the second floor, feeling someone’s eye on him.
“He’s observing me!”
Fang Ping reached this conclusion. He was more convinced that the man upstairs was after him.
He hit the nail on the head by accident.
Huang Bin really gazed down for a while from his place upstairs, but he did not watch for long, he had his own matters to attend to.
—
The next day.
While Fang Ping went out for school, he met Huang Bin again when the latter was back with his breakfast.
The last morning Huang Bin did not greet Fang Ping as he could pretend that he did not know him.
But then this changed after he met Fang Ping the previous night. In order to preserve his “honest man” image, he greeted Fang Ping with a smile.
The greeting did not work in his favor, for Fang Ping immediately suspected his unsolicited goodwill.
If Huang Bin had known what he was thinking, he might go mad from repressed grievance.
How was greeting him was an act of unsolicited goodwill?
If he had not greeted Fang Ping, the other might have suspected him because he pretended not to know him.
Suspicion worked like that. If you suspected one of wrongdoing, he would seem suspicious no matter what he had done.
Now that Fang Ping suspected that Huang Bin was after him, he seemed fishy no matter what.
After basically confirming that the other did not harbor goodwill against him, Fang Ping was even firmer in his intention to dispose of the man.
Either deliberate or not, he had his ways of going about that.
—
In the morning, Fang Ping appeared to be concentrating on his studies, but he was devising his future plan of action.
He had disappeared instantly after the morning classes ended.
Chen Fan watched as he bolted out. Aside from exclaiming over his physique, he could only admire the other’s capabilities.
Fang Ping had arrived exactly before afternoon classes commenced.
No one discovered the extra few small bags in his pockets.
Sleeping pills and tranquilizers would work best if one wanted to immobilize someone else, but, of course, they were hard to procure given that they were both prescription drugs.
Fang Ping did not intend to purchase those from the start. Their effects were mediocre at best, and they would take a long time to take effect.
Plus the other was a martial artist, which meant that his resistance to drugs was stronger than the average civilian. Off-the-rack sleeping pills would not work on him.
Except if took huge doses of them in one go. He was not stupid, though, at least not gullible enough to take a pile of sterilely white pills.
An ordinary student would find himself stumped in this situation.
Unfortunately for the target, Fang Ping was not one.
Fang Ping had visited a sex shop during the afternoon.
In his past life, he had a friend, a reporter who conducted a clandestine investigation on ecstasy, a hot topic back then.
Results proved that the claim that the drug would induce unconsciousness and temporary loss of memory within a few seconds was bullsh*t.
If there were drugs that worked like that, there would not be any need for anesthesiologists.
There were still drugs that were similar to, and to some extent more effective than narcotics.
Those drugs magnified the anesthetic effect of it without concern for the side-effects it would induce.
Nausea and dizziness were commonplace.
That friend of Fang Ping’s had experimented on himself by drinking a little of the Amnesia Water. He did not pass out, but his mind was fogged and he found himself unable to muster the energy to move.
Fang Ping was there. He had snatched his friend’s wallet from him in front of his face.
According to his friend, he had known that it was happening to him, but he had felt powerless to stop it. Despite having the intention to stop him, his limbs felt like jelly and he could not even speak.
The effects were not as mind-blowing as previously rumored. He had only suffered the aforementioned conditions for twenty minutes.
It was probably because he had taken so little of it, but he was wary of experimenting further for fear of it permanently affecting his body.
It was due to that experience that Fang Ping knew just where he could procure the stuff.
In this time, most sex shops were selling these publicly for an affordable price.
In the afternoon, Fang Ping had visited several stores and procured three small bags for 400 bucks.
The perverted owner had proclaimed that those worked astonishingly well, and had recommended some aphrodisiacs to Fang Ping on the side.
Women would turn as stiff as a log after taking the drugs that Fang Ping had bought, he said, and that was why he would not recommend Fang Ping use them.
Fang Ping scoffed at the owner’s perverted thoughts. Did he look like a pervert?
Unbeknownst to him, Fang Ping indeed looked like that kind of person to everyone when he had visited a sex shop to purchase something like that.
—
After procuring the drugs, the next thing he would need to think about was making the man consume them.
Fang Ping worried that a martial artist would have higher resistance. The owner had told him that a 5ml dose was enough, but Fang Ping had bought three small bottles that added up to 50ml.
Ten times the normal dose should even immobilize a martial artist, shouldn’t it?
The man upstairs did not cook for himself, choosing to eat outside food instead.
There was no Meituan or Eleme 1 at this point in time, so he had to bring food home for himself.
Fang Ping had taken extra notice the past day. There were meal boxes in the pile of trash the tenant upstairs came down to dispose of.
The process of lacing his food became much more tedious without a delivery guy.
Fang Ping continued to think. Just how could he make him consume the drug?
His current identity as a student and his neighbor would work well to erase the man’s suspicion towards him. The man would not put up is guard against him, would he?
—
Fang Ping was scheming the whole day.
It was only when school had ended for the day that Fang Ping shook his head in bemusement. Why did he feel like an antagonist?
He stuffed the thought down. Fang Ping reassured himself. The worst that could happen was a few days’ nausea, which he could compensate for after the incident.
His target was not a woman. What could he do, take advantage of him?
If his target proved to be criminal, he would be doing his part to rid the society of debris.
After he arrived home, he shut himself into his room immediately and poured the bottles of drugs together.
After consideration, he changed into a long-sleeved shirt and donned a coat.
This would be a better disguise.
When Fang Ping emerged from his room, Fang Yuan stared at him with surprise. What was the deal with her brother now?
“Fang Ping, aren’t you feeling hot?”
The April weather was not as sweltering as summer, but the temperature was still pretty warm.
Fang Ping suddenly wore a coat upon returning home. He could not possibly have fallen sick, could he?
Fang Ping had only regained his senses at the sight of his sister. The target was a martial artist. If he failed to immobilize him, it might cause trouble. His family was home at night, so it was not safe.
His parents were both out during the day, and Fang Yuan had to go to school too.
He should take action during the day to minimize any risk.
At that, Fang Ping took his jacket off and said with a smile, “Nothing. I was just feeling a little cold.”
“Are you sick?” Fang Yuan asked with concern.
Fang Ping was prepared to deny that, but he nodded after some thought. “I’m feeling a little unwell. If I really feel sick, I’ll take tomorrow off. I’ll probably recover after sleeping it off the next day.”
Fang Yuan reached to touch his forehead, relaxing after knowing that he was not feverish.
When Fang Mingrong and Li Yuying heard that he was feeling unwell and thus had to take the next day off, they showed some concern over him.
Fang Ping said that his condition was not serious. Although the couple was worried, they did not say anything.
They had only thought of sending him to the hospital for a checkup if he had not recovered come the next day.
Li Yuying had prepared to take the next day off to take care of her son, too, but Fang Ping had refused staunchly.
Seeing that his condition was really not that serious, Li Yuying relented, but then she also handed Fang Ping a hundred bucks for him to take a taxi to the hospital if needed.
—
Fang Ping relaxed after everything was arranged. All that was left was waiting for the next day to strike.