In the dilapidated courtyard,
Su Mo wiped the sweat from his forehead and hung up the call.
Good grief—
In this day and age, does nobody believe the truth anymore?
He had to explain for ages just to convince the dispatcher that he had actually caught a bunch of thieves.
Even then, it still sounded like the guy didn't quite believe him.
But regardless, at least the station had agreed to send someone.
Now, all that was left was to wait for the officers to arrive and haul all these thieves away.
At that moment, though, the thieves were still stunned—completely clueless.
"Did he just… call the cops?"
"Yeah… I think he reported us."
"But wait… wasn't he just elected Thief King? Why would he call the cops?"
"I think I heard him say something about being a cop himself…"
The moment that last line came out, the entire group of over thirty people went dead silent.
Every single one of them looked at Su Mo in a daze.
This was the Thief King they had just selected themselves.
The one whose top-tier stealing skills had left them in awe.
The one they had each personally tied up like a bunch of mummies, unable to even wiggle.
And now you're telling them—this guy is a cop?
What kind of sick joke was this?!
Even on the wildest day of their lives, none of them could have imagined this level of absurdity.
"Mo... Brother Su Mo, you're joking, right?"
"Come on, stop messing around. The brothers are scared half to death here."
Xiao Liu's face was pale, his lips trembling.
He just couldn't believe it. Su Mo was really a cop?
And worse—he was the one who brought Su Mo into the thieves' den.
He was the one who personally vouched for him to become Thief King.
He was the one who tied up every last one of these thieves with his own hands.
If the entire Nancheng District thieves got wiped out…
Well, Xiao Liu would deserve a lot of the credit.
But thinking about the future, Xiao Liu couldn't help but shiver.
The entire underworld in Nancheng would probably hate his guts.
"Sorry. I'm a cop."
Su Mo shrugged, then patted Xiao Liu on the shoulder, sighing:
"Some surprises are just meant to be. Even I'm still kinda dazed."
"Who could've guessed I'd become Thief King on my first day as a cop?"
"Well, it is what it is. You'll get used to it."
That was it.
The last straw.
Over thirty thieves nearly passed out on the spot.
They'd ruled the Nancheng streets for years, and now they'd fallen at the hands of a rookie cop?
Even worse—
They had lined up to beg the cop to tie them up?
Just thinking about it made their vision go black.
It was so stupid they wanted to cry.
"I don't accept this!"
Wang Ping, who was supposed to be Thief King, burst out in anguish:
"You're a cop—how do you know those amazing stealing techniques?!"
"You're a cop! How could you learn something like that?!"
In Wang Ping's eyes, cops were supposed to be the perfect examples of character and discipline.
Stealing techniques?
Even a dog wouldn't learn that crap!
And that preconceived notion was exactly what had caused all of them to be taken out in one move.
"So what if I'm a cop? Cops are people too."
Su Mo glanced lazily at them.
"Everyone's got hobbies."
That line nearly made Wang Ping and the others cough up blood.
Stealing?
You're calling that a hobby?!
Who the hell treats theft like a weekend pastime?!
At that moment, their spirits truly collapsed.
Getting caught was one thing—
But getting caught this way? It was unbearable!
And just as everyone was mentally spiraling,
footsteps echoed from outside the courtyard.
It was still morning—the Thief King Selection was ongoing.
More thieves were arriving.
"From now on, no one speaks without permission."
Su Mo's expression turned serious.
"If more thieves come in, you tell them I'm teaching you some advanced techniques."
"If anyone says anything out of line, their sentence gets bumped—what should've been three years becomes five!"
"But if you cooperate with the police, that counts as a merit.
You might even get a reduced sentence based on your performance."
He glanced around the room:
"Even if someone slips through, I just miss catching one more.
But if any of you talk, you're the ones doing extra years."
"Think about it—what's the smarter move?"
Hearing that, Wang Ping and the rest started shifting their eyes.
Human nature was like that—people didn't mind having little,
as long as no one else had more.
Why should they be the ones caught, while other thieves walked free?
And cooperating with the police meant possible sentence reductions.
Who didn't want to get out of jail faster?
It only took a second.
Wang Ping and the rest made up their minds.
Screw loyalty. Everyone here's a thief—what "honor" is there to protect?
Let's just get it over with.
Right then, the door creaked open.
A man with glasses and a backpack stepped in.
But the moment he saw the group of tied-up people, his expression turned cautious.
One foot slid halfway back through the door—
He was ready to bolt.
But at that critical moment, the "head thief" Wang Ping suddenly burst out laughing:
"Hahaha! Brother Su Mo's techniques are truly incredible! I'm blown away by these stealing skills!"
The other thieves cursed him inwardly—shameless!
But immediately followed suit, not daring to fall behind.
"Hahaha, yeah! These techniques are way better than the last Thief King's!"
"Absolutely! Brother Su Mo's skill is godlike!"
"Nobody stop me—I'm bowing to Brother Su Mo right now! Brother Su Mo, I thank you!"
Never mind what they were really thinking.
Never mind the smiles that looked more like they were crying.
At that moment, they successfully convinced the man with glasses.
His face relaxed into a grin.
"Ohhh, Thief King's teaching his tricks, huh?
Phew, I thought it was a police raid or something…"
With zero suspicion or hesitation,
he walked right in and joined the soon-to-be-bound army.
And so it went.
From 8 AM to around 10 AM,
another 7 or 8 thieves arrived—
and every single one got tied up.
By the time Su Mo was binding the ninth new arrival…
Clomp, clomp, clomp—
A wave of hurried footsteps echoed from outside.
BANG!
The courtyard door was kicked open with a loud crash.
Six or seven uniformed officers barged in, batons in hand.
Following them were none other than Yang Guoming and Li Yongnian.
At first, everyone looked pretty relaxed.
They had heard this was just a rookie cop who caught a petty thief.
They were just here to check things out and bring the guy back.
But when the door swung open—
And over forty people turned their heads to look at them in unison…
The officers holding batons froze.
Yang Guoming and Li Yongnian froze too.
This book is provided by FunNovel Novel Book | Fan Fiction Novel [Beautiful Free Novel Book]