Special District 9

Qin Yu was standing in the Black Street Sector’s Municipal Police Bureau. He smiled at a middle-aged man as he asked, “Is it my turn now?”

“Un, come in,” the middle-aged man waved his hand before heading over to the office room located at the left.

Qin Yu tidied up his clothes a little before following the middle-aged man in.

The office was quite large, spanning roughly 60 square meters. There was a person already seated inside when Qin Yu entered. That person was in his forties, and he had a 八-shaped mustache. He had a clearly defined cheekbone that made him look particularly fierce.

The middle-aged man walked up to the desk and put down two stacks of papers, saying, “Chief, this is the last one.”

“Has he been through the physical checkup?” the chief asked as he picked up the document on the table.

“He has.”

“Got it. You can go out now.”

“Yes, sir.”

After a short exchange, the middle-aged man left the room. Qin Yu took two steps forward and stood quietly before the office desk, waiting patiently as the chief looked through his documents.

While browsing through the papers, the chief began to read out loud, “Qin Yu, 22-years old, 75kg, 1.82 meters, born before the epoch, came from H Province J City. Heh, that isn’t too far away from the current Songjiang. Before coming here, you were living in the Development District. Your parents have gone missing, and you have no other kin… Hm? Why is your resume empty?”

“I don’t have a resume,” Qin Yu replied with a smile. “Surviving in the Development District is exhausting enough. I had to do everything that brings me food, so I hardly had the time to build up a resume.”

“Hahaha, that sounds about right” the chief chuckled softly at Qin Yu’s remarks. “Nevertheless, you should have still written a line or two before coming here. It won’t look good in the archives if you don’t have a resume.”

“Alright, I’ll fill something in later on,” Qin Yu swiftly conceded on that.

The chief looked through the information once more before asking again, “If you don’t have any resume, that would mean you have never served military service before. Do you have any experience using guns?”

Qin Yu shook his head unhesitatingly and replied, “No.”

“Are there any crimes listed in your civil record?”

“There isn’t.”

The chief pondered for a moment before he placed the documents in his hand down to look at Qin Yu, and he said, “The Development District is a place with no laws and restraints. To be able to earn enough money to purchase the residential right and a job in Special District 9… Looks like you are a person with quite a bit of experience.”

“I was lucky to meet good people,” Qin Yu replied with a grin.

The chief lifted his teacup as he assessed Qin Yu from head to toe before nodding meaningfully, “You look quite spirited.”

Qin Yu simply smiled in response to those words.

The chief put down his teacup before crossing his arms. He assessed Qin Yu for a moment and said, “The situation surrounding Special District 9 is a little unique. Even though it is officially under the administration of the Confederate Government, it has an extremely high level of autonomy, making it very different from that of the other eight Special Districts. There is a diverse range of people living here; other than the Chinese, there are the Caucasians, African-Americans… This creates a very complex environment. There are chaotic elements that we have been wanting to tackle but have yet been able to do so. As a policeman, you’ll have to learn how to adapt and integrate into such an environment.”

“I understand,” Qin Yu nodded with a serious expression.

“Also, I don’t care what you have gone through in the past, but now that you are living off me, I expect you to rein in your claws. If you try to pull anything funny, I’ll deal with you right away,” the chief warned with a calm voice.

“Superintendent Li, I am here to share your troubles,” Qin Yu replied with a smile.

“Heh, is that so?” the chief replied with a slight chuckle.

He tapped on the touchscreen phone on his desk and lowered his head over toward the mic.

A few seconds over, a male voice sounded from the phone, “Morning, Superintendent Li. This is the First Crime Investigation Squad.”

“Where is Yuan Ke?” Superintendent Li asked.

“… Platoon Commander Yuan isn’t around. He just went out.”

“I’m assigning a new person to your platoon. Come and fetch him.”

“Alright, I’m coming over.”

“That’s it then,” Superintendent Li touched his 八-shaped mustache as he tapped on the hang-up button. Then, he raised his head and said, “Go and wait at the doorway. Someone will fetch you in a while’s time. I’ll leave it to you to learn the rules in your team.”

“I understand, Superintendent Li,” Qin Yu nodded.

He took two steps forward as he took out a very small black bag from his pocket, and he placed it on the table, “Little Qi has told me that it’s extremely hard to get a job in the Police Bureau of the Special Districts. If not for your help, I would have been on the waiting list for a very long time. So, he told me to not forget my manners.”

Superintendent Li opened the black bag, and when he saw a bean-sized diamond inside, he was slightly taken aback, “You must have been really capable at the Development District, I didn’t think that you would have been able to lay your hands on this too! Aiyo, I wonder how many years has it been since I last saw this?”

Qin Yu smiled quietly at those remarks.

Superintendent Li casually tossed the bag into his drawer and locked it up before pointing at Qin Yu and saying, “You might be young, but it seems like you still have quite a bit in you!”

“This is the most I can afford with the little money I have,” Qin Yu scratched his head with feigned embarrassment. Noting that Superintendent Li wasn’t going to head out right away to have lunch, he chatted with him a little longer.

A few minutes later, a slightly plump young man who was of the same age as Qin Yu walked into the room. With a completely straightened body, he saluted, “Superintendent Li, Team 1 Tier-3 Police Officer Qi Lin is here to bring the new colleague to the team.”

Superintendent Li patted Qin Yu’s arm and said, “Work hard. I’m looking forward to seeing you in the list of nominees at the end of the year.”

“I will try my best,” Qin Yu nodded.

“Alright, you should get going now.”

Superintendent Li turned to Qi Lin and said, “Tell Yuan Ke to take care of this fellow.”

A piece of diamond and ten minutes of conversation had won him Superintendent Li’s words to ‘take care of him’, but that was all there was to it.

…

Along the corridors of the Police Bureau.

The slightly plump Qi Lin walked on Qin Yu’s left as he asked casually, “Bro, where are you from?”

“The Development District.”

“You came from that there?” Qi Lin was stunned. “It must have been difficult for you.”

“I was lucky,” Qin Yu smiled.

Qi Lin nodded, but he didn’t continue to probe any deeper in either. In this era of scarcity where survival was difficult, there was hardly anyone who didn’t carry any secrets on them.

The two of them continued to walk on quickly as Qi Lin introduced the current circumstances of the Police Bureau. They were basically in charge of dealing with the crimes within the sector, and this included maintaining the stability in the area and conducting crime investigation. However, their scope of work didn’t cover the entry visas, distributing residential rights, handling immigration procedures, and those kinds of administrative work.

It was similar to how it was before the epoch, but the division of work wasn’t as fine. For example, the department that Qin Yu was under was responsible for ensuring security within the sector on top of dealing with crime investigation work.

It took roughly an hour for Qi Lin to bring Qin Yu around the fifth floor of the Police Bureau. He introduced the latter to the gun armory, interrogation chamber, common working space, training rooms, canteen, and the various facilities around.

In their interactions, Qin Yu realized that Qi Lin was a very sociable person. No matter where he went, he would be able to get a few words in with everyone else. Furthermore, he was extremely patient as well. He would answer any question Qin Yu asked properly.

At least on the surface, it would appear that he was a warm-hearted individual.

Two in the afternoon, Qi Lin brought Qin Yu over to the Communications Department and told him to buy an internal phone. However, after scanning the stocks available on the counter, Qin Yu realized that there was only a single model, and it was an old one. The price was rather unfriendly too.

“What model is this? Why have I never heard of it before?” Qin Yu glanced at the phone before turning to ask Qi Lin. “It’s fine. I’ll head out to the streets to buy one myself after I settle down. The phone here is too expensive.”

Qi Lin smiled after hearing those words. He looked at the lad seated on the other side of the counter before leaning over to Qin Yu’s earside to say, “It’ll be better for you to buy your phone here.”

“Why?” Qin Yu asked.

“There isn’t any particular reason. The Communications Department is under the Police Bureau, but this phone counter is a private business. The boss is a friend of Platoon Commander Yuan, so whenever a newcomer joins the team, he would buy a phone here,” Qi Lin said.

“It’s best not to stand out too much when you have only just arrived here. The phone might not be too usable, but it’ll spare you the hassle of having to liaise with the Communications Department. After your information is in the system, all you have to do is to key in your name and police id, and you’ll be able to use it right away.”

Qin Yu had lived in the lawless Development District for multiple years. How could someone like him not understand how society worked? He immediately understood what was going on after hearing Qi Lin’s words, so he didn’t insist on the matter anymore.

Bearing with the pain in his heart, he turned to the owner of the store and said, “I’ll take one, thanks.”

What pain did he have to bear?

Well, Qin Yu was a particularly thrifty individual. If there was such a thing, he was willing to even fight to get a warranty when buying a pair of socks. It was due to this personality of his that he was able to save sufficient money to get himself a job in Special District 9.

After receiving the phone, Qi Ling brought him out of the Police Bureau to a convenience shop at the opposite side of the street.

It was nearing the eighth month. Despite the clear skies, the weather was still freezing cold. Bits of snow could still be seen along the streets.

“Has it been snowing in the Special District all this while?” Qin Yu asked.

“For the past three years, yes,” Qi Ling replied.

“Damn, it’ll be a pain to deal with,” Qin Yu shook his head and said.

While the two of them chatted with one another, they walked into a huge convenience store.

As he patted off the small bits of snow from him, Qin Yu shot a sweeping gaze around the store and remarked with a smile, “How weird there isn’t anyone around in this huge store.”

“Take a look around and buy whatever you need,” Qi Ling said as he took a puff from his e-cigarette.

Qin Yu nodded as he began to walk through the aisles. But the more he walked, the tighter his frown became. When he finally returned around ten minutes later, there was not a single good to be seen in his hands.

“You aren’t going to buy anything?” Qi Lin walked over from the counter and asked.

Qin Yu looked at Qi Lin with a frown before asking, “Bro, are you earning money out of this?”

“What’s wrong?”

“The prices in here are hiked up 30% compared to those outside, and many of the things here are imitations. I squeezed the bedding they sell earlier, and it feels like they have stuffed metal wires in there. My hands are still hurting from that!”

“… The goods they here are so-so, but the newcomers of the Police Bureau would still buy from here.”

“Why?” Qin Yu asked.

“Because this is the store opened by Platoon Commander Yuan’s older cousin,” Qi Ling replied quietly. “You can consider it as the unofficial supplier of the Police Bureau.”

Qin Yu’s expression immediately crumbled. He was stifled for a long while before he asked, “Then does Superintendent Li buy his goods here too?”

“That’s ridiculous. Even if Superintendent Li wants to buy it, Platoon Commander Yuan wouldn’t dare to sell it to him,” Qi Lin rolled his eyes as he explained. “Those who buy from here are mostly newcomers. Just endure it for two months or something, and you won’t need to buy anything here anymore.”

“I won’t even endure it for a day. Aren’t they treating us as if we are dumbasses?” Qin Yu snapped. “Let’s go. Bring me to another store.”

Qi Lin sighed deeply as he advised, “You have already spent so much to get here, what does this bit of money count as? Listen to my advice and buy your stuff from here. Otherwise, you will stick out like a sore thumb.”

“I have already given enough respect to Platoon Commander Yuan by buying that damned phone,” Qin Yu said as he walked out of the store.

“Sigh, Qin Yu, just listen to me on this…”

“Are you earning a commission out of this?”

“I’m saying this for your own good. At least buy some…”

“Buy your head! Their darned toilet papers are like knives! I’ll have to waste a plaster each time I use it to wipe my ass,” Qin Yu had no intentions of negotiating with Qi Lin on this matter, and he walked out of the store right away.

…

Four in the afternoon.

In the dormitory of the Police Bureau, the doorway of the second room of Platoon 1, Qi Lin shouted to the few people in the room with a smile, “Third Brother, I’ve brought the new man back.”

There were seven people that were gathered around a round table, playing cards. Upon hearing Qi Lin’s voice, the leader of the group glanced at Qin Yu and said, “Come in.”

Hearing those words, the two men walked in.

Qin Yu quickly scanned the room and found that even though the room wasn’t even 30 meters square large, there were six bunk beds in total, making a total of twelve beds. There were also two public metal cupboards and a lot of private possession here and there. Space was tight, but on the whole, it still looked clean. At the very least, there weren’t any weird smells.

“Qin Yu, let me introduce you to them. This is Third Brother, the leader of our Squad 1.” Qi Lin revealed the other party’s identity in a roundabout manner. “Third Brother has been here for three years, and his capabilities are top-notch, making him the trusty aide of Platoon Commander Yuan. Third Brother, this is Qin Yu, our new brother.”

“Nice to meet you, Third Brother,” Qin Yu said as he stretched his hand out with a smile.

The ‘Third Brother’, otherwise known as Ol’ Three, sported a buzz cut. He turned his head over slightly to glance at Qin Yu, and with just a symbolic nod of his head, he asked, “Where are you from?”

“The Development District,” Qin Yu replied frankly.

Ol’ Three was taken aback, “The Development District? What did you do there?”

“I helped my boss to deliver goods, basic necessities.”

“Ah, so you’re a runner? Not bad.”

“That isn’t it, I was just responsible for driving the car.”

“Oh, a driver,” Ol’ Three’s surprised look vanished. Changing into a lackadaisical tone, he continued to ask, “What strings did you pull to get into the Police Bureau?”

“I had a friend to help me liaise with someone, and I paid the fee to get in here.”

“Ah, so you bought it with money?” Ol’ Three had already turned his head back to the cards in his hands by now. “Got it. For now, you’ll have to wait for Platoon Commander Yuan to come back to assign you something. Qi Lin, bring him to the bed by the windowside.”

“Alright.”

Qi Lin turned to Qin Yu and said, “You’ll be taking that bed over there.”

“Got it,” Qin Yu carried the luggage that he had left by the door earlier in together with his daily necessities and began moving them over to where his bed was.

“Eh, wait a moment,” Ol’ Three saw the items that Qin Yu was carrying and suddenly shouted out.

“What’s wrong, Third Brother?” Qin Yu asked.

Ol’ Three took a look at the bags Qin Yu was carrying and asked, “Where did you buy your daily necessities from?”

“I can’t remember what the name is, but it’s just a convenience store by the side,” Qin Yu replied calmly.

Ol’ Three was busy playing cards, so without turning around, he asked, “Qi Lin, haven’t you told the newcomer where we buy our goods from?”

Those words left Qi Lin in an awkward position, He had already told Qin Yu about this, but the latter just wouldn’t listen to him. It would feel like he was a snitch if he were to rat on Qin Yu, but at the same time, he didn’t want to carry the blame for this matter either.

After two seconds of silence, Qin Yu was the one who spoke up, “Qi Lin told me to buy my daily necessities at the opposite store, but I’m short on money, so I went to the store beside.”

“Pair of twos,” Ol’ Three continued playing his cards, leaving Qin Yu standing by the side for a few seconds before he finally spoke again, “That so? I understand, you can get back to packing your stuff.”

“Alright,” Qin Yu nodded as he began to open up his stuff and pack his area.

QI Lin walked over and helped Qin Yu to organize his stuff too. At the same time, he whispered to him quietly, “Newcomers would always take the upper bed near the window because of the draft that leaks into the room. It can get quite cold at night. Cover yourself well at night and grit your teeth for a while, It’ll be fine once another newcomer comes in.”

“Don’t worry, this is nothing. I have lived outside for several months at end before,” Qin Yu replied, thinking nothing of the matter. He opened his luggage, discreetly took out two boxes of Chunghwa cigarettes, and stuffed them into Qi Lin’s hand.

(It is a premium brand of cigarette)

“This is…” Qi Lin was slightly surprised by the gift.

“I saw you smoking an e-cigarette earlier,” Qin Yu replied with a chuckle. “I don’t have anything good on me, so I can only give you this. It was tough on you to have to bring me around the whole day.”

In this era where securing food was a challenge, traditional cigarettes could be considered as a luxury good, not to mention that Chunghwa was a premium brand before the epoch. Most of the smoking population hadn’t seen it around ever since the catastrophe, let alone smoke it.

Holding onto the two boxes tightly, Qi Lin said with a shocked expression, “You were able to get this in the Development District? Chunghwa! Do you know how many years I haven’t seen this around?”

“Rural areas have their own benefits too,” Qin Yu replied with a grin. “I can pack on my own, so you can do whatever else you need to. I’ll treat you some food later on.”

“Haha, thanks for the treat then, brother!” Qi Lin didn’t stand on ceremony and quietly placed the box of cigarettes into his pockets.

While the two of them were chatting, Ol’ Three suddenly turned his head over and spoke to Qin Yu, “Aiyo, you still have some goods on you?”

Qin Yu didn’t expect this fellow to be observing him all this while. So, after a slight moment of daze, he replied, “My friend gave it to me.”

“That is some good stuff you have over there. We haven’t even seen it before,” Ol’ Three scoffed.

Qi Lin was stunned for a moment before he hurriedly took out the two boxes of Chunghwa and walked over with a slightly lowered back, “We are all brothers, so it goes without saying that we should share it with one another. Come, come, take one each.”

Qin Yu gave the cigarettes to Qi Lin because he felt bad for making the latter walk around with him the whole day, so he wanted to thank him for that. However, he didn’t think that he owe anyone else in the room anything. However, since Ol’ Three had seen it and spoken it out loud, out of consideration that he would be living here from now on and it would be awkward to make relations too stiff, he lowered his head and took out another box of Chunghwa from his bag.

Over at the card table, Ol’ Three pushed away Qi Lin’s arm and said, “Your cigarette is too good for me. Poor folks like me can’t get used to good stuff like that.”

Those words made Qi Lin freeze on the spot.

At the same time, Qin Yu also sensed the thorns in those words, so he stuffed the box back into his bag with a frown before getting back to packing his stuff.

Ol’ Three threw his card out before turning to look at Qin Yu with his lips curled up, “Hey, we have a rule here that newcomers will have to take three days worth of shifts. Today, tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow, you will be responsible for patrols. You have no problem with that, right?”

Hearing those words, Qin Yu turned to look at Qi Lin, only to see the latter dodging his gaze. He immediately understood what was going on, so he asked, “Third Brother, how does that work?”

“You’ll be in the bureau in the day and patrol the streets at night,” Ol’ Three replied calmly as he took a sip of water.

“Then there should be overtime pay, right?”

“It’s an internal rule of our squad, what do you think?” Ol’ Three replied without even raising his head.

“Qin Yu, let it go. I’ll swap out with someone else and accompany you for two days.”

Qi Lin was initially still a little hesitant, but looking at the Chunghwa in his hands, he bulked up his courage and spoke up.

“Aren’t you loyal, Little Qi!” the young man seated beside Ol’ Three teased.

“We’re all brothers. It’s only right for us to take care of each other,” Qi Lin chuckled.

Ol’ Three placed down his cup. He pointed at Qi Lin and said, “After he has taken his uniform, tell him how the shifts work.”

“Noted,” Qi Lin nodded.

“Third Brother, I’m afraid that I won’t be able to do the shifts,” Qin Yu suddenly interjected at this point in time.

The whole room immediately fell silent right after.

Ol’ Three licked his lips before twisting his neck over to look at Qin Yu, “This is something all newcomers have to do. What is so special about you that you aren’t able to do it?”

“My heart isn’t doing too well. I won’t be able to deal with toiling for three days straight.”

“That isn’t an issue. I’ll prepare some medicine specially for you, so this matter is settled then.”

“I said that I won’t be able to do it,” Qin Yu repeated with a smile.

“Son of a bitch!” After being rebutted by a newcomer twice, Ol’ Three’s face immediately darkened. “Who do you think you are? Why can’t you do something that everyone else has been doing?”

“Third Brother, we are all brothers over here. There’s no need to get mad at him. We can always talk things out…” Seeing that things were blowing out of hand, Qi Lin tried to calm the atmosphere down.

Peng!

Ol’ Three punched Qi Lin’s shoulder and bellowed, “Who the fuck do you think you are? Who is a brother with you? Do you have any place to talk here?”

Scrunching the cigarette in his hand tightly together, QI Lin lowered his head and stood quietly on the spot.