Special District 9

Qin Yu looked at Ol’ Three and his group with narrowed eyes as he replied curtly, “I got your words, but I can’t do work that isn’t mine.”

“Do you have a cousin in a high-ranking position in the Police Bureau or something?” Ol’ Three sneered coldly. He raised his hand to grab Qin Yu’s collar and hissed, “A lowly newcomer like you should start by shoving from the very bottom, you hear me?”

“Don’t touch me.”

“Heh, you think you are a fucking cactus? I’ll touch you as I please, what are you going to do?”

Ol’ Three was a brawny man. He raised his right arm and unhesitatingly threw a punch toward Qin Yu’s cheeks.

Qin Yu took a step back. At the same time, his hands darted forth to grip Ol’ Three’s wrist as he stretched his right leg out.

Peng! Bang!

A loud crashing sound echoed in the dormitory room. Ol’ Three was thrown onto one of the beds, and his head crashed directly onto the metal railing.

“You bastard! Beat him up!” Ol’ Three hollered as he grabbed the back of his head.

Qin Yu bent forward and reached into the lower bunk bed to grab Ol’ Three’s collar. Then, he raised his right leg and kicked straight at the latter’s temples.

Peng!

Ol’ Three was sent crashing across the room before the back of his head banged onto the wall again. Furious, he roared, “Beat him to death! I’ll take responsibility if anything happens!”

Right after those words were said, the crowd immediately charged toward Qin Yu.

Qin Yu nimbly dived through the bunk bed, but after retreating a bit, he found himself pressed against a corner between the bed and the window.

Ol’ Three stood up and grabbed the baton hanging on the wall. He began walking toward Qin Yu as he cursed menacingly, “You twit. You want to rebel against me when you have only been here for a few minutes…”

At this moment, the doors were suddenly pushed open, and a woman wearing a green police uniform hollered loudly, “What are you all pulling here?!”

Everyone in the room immediately turned their heads over.

Ol’ Three quickly wiped off the blood on his head before greeting with a smile, “Wen-jie.”

“I can hear you all screaming all the way from the other end of the corridor. What the heck are you doing? Killing someone?” The woman appeared to be in her thirties. Even though she was on the shorter side, she had an exquisite oval face and a pair of big eyes.

“Nothing much. A new friend just joined us, so we were got a little rowdy while chatting,” Ol’ Three replied.

The woman took a sweeping gaze through the room before looking at Ol’ Three in annoyance, berating him, “Why are you so domineering? He has just arrived but you are already making things difficult for him?”

“That’s not it. I arranged shifts for him, but he refused to follow my orders,” Ol’ Three placed his baton down as he explained with gritted teeth.

“How many times have I seen you playing card during work time?” Wen-jie rolled her eyes at Ol’ Three as she warned him impatiently. “Just try causing another commotion, and don’t blame me for showing no mercy when I report this up.”

“Got it, Wen-jie,” Ol’ Three nodded.

Wen-jie couldn’t be bothered to enter the dormitory room either. Standing by the doorway, she turned to Qin Yu and asked, “You are the newcomer?”

“I am,” Qin Yu nodded.

“Why haven’t you collected your uniform yet?”

“I went there earlier, but no one was there,” Qin Yu replied with an honest look on his face.

Wen Jie glared at him and reprimanded, “Bullshit. I have been in my office all this while.”

Qin Yu scratched his head before replying, “Is it? I must have gone to the wrong place.”

“Follow me,” Wen-jie tossed those words over before turning around to leave.

“Alright,” Qin Yu nodded. He quickly bent down to grab his luggage before heading out. He also beckoned for Qi Lin before leaving the room, saying, “You should come with me too.”

Qi Lin also had no idea how he should face the current Ol’ Three, so he immediately leaped at that opportunity to head out too.

In the dormitory room, Ol’ Three rubbed the huge bump on his head before spitting out bloodied sputum from his mouth, “That bastard sure knows some vicious moves.”

“Are you alright, Third Brother?”

Ol’ Three didn’t reply. Instead, he took out his phone, dialed a number, and began speaking, “Hey, are you in your office? Nothing much. I just wanted to check if that Qin Yu who just joined our platoon earlier today has any relations with those on top… No? Are you certain? Ah, alright. See you.”

…

Along the corridor.

With her hands behind her back, Wen-jie turned to Qin Yu and asked, “You have someone above?”

Qin Yu was surprised by that question, “I don’t.”

“Then you should live a little more humbly. The situation here is very complicated,” Wen-jie warned. Despite her cold exterior, she was warm on the inside. “Try to avoid fighting with them as much as you can’t. It won’t kill you to take on a bit more work.”

“Thanks, Wen-jie,” Qin Yu nodded.

Wen-jie silently led Qin Yu over to the storage room on the first floor and took out a set of uniform, a set of training clothes, a pair of handcuffs, and a police baton. After that, she left to deal with her other work.

In the main hall of the first floor, Qi Lin scanned his watch and said, “I need to deliver some documents later on, so I won’t be accompanying you. Later when you return to the bunk, apologize to them and don’t fight with them anymore. Ol’ Three has Platoon Commander Yuan backing him, so it won’t do you good to offend him.”

“Alright, I’ll deal with it later,” Qin Yu nodded with a smile. “Let’s eat together if you have nothing up later in the night.”

“Un. I’ll come look for you if I’m free,” Qi Lin accepted the offer.

After chatting for a while, Qin Yu carried his items back to the dormitory room, but by then, Ol’ Three and the others had already left. There were only two other people left in the room. They shot Qin Yu cold glances before continuing on with their conversation.

Qin Yu glanced at those two before walking leisurely over to his bedside. He quickly packed his items on his own, not paying any heed to those two at all.

…

In the blink of an eye, it was already seven at night. After packing his stuff, Qin Yu saw that Qi Lin still hadn’t come back to find him, so he decided to walk around the streets on his own to familiarize himself with the area while grabbing some dinner.

He got off his bed, grabbed a fanny bag from under his pillow, and wrapped it around him. After that, he headed out of the dormitory room.

“Sorry!”

Just as Qin Yu was heading out, he bumped into Qi Lin, who was rushing back. The two of them looked at one another for an instant, and the latter immediately began explaining, “There was a last-minute meeting, so I got delayed a little. You are going to…”

“I thought you weren’t coming, so I was going to walk around the area and grab some food,” Qin Yu said with a smile. “Come, let’s go grab a bite together.”

“I have a buddy that I’m meeting today to discuss something. Do you want to join us?” Qi Lin asked.

“Sure,” Qin Yu nodded. “I’m fine with it. Let’s eat together then.”

“Great.”

After chatting for a bit, they headed down the stairs, and at the main hall, they bumped into another lad.

Qi Lin’s friend was a person named Li Fugui, but people usually called him by his nickname ‘Old Cat’. According to some insiders, he had some ties with Superintendent Li, but as the two of them were rarely spotted together, most people didn’t really know what their relationship was.

Furthermore, this fellow tended to be quite restless when it came to causing trouble.

The most overboard thing he had ever done was to call prostitutes over after getting drunk during his shift and holding a goddamned selection amongst them to choose one. He ended up getting caught during a spot check.

But despite so, he was only given a warning and was suspended for half a month. On the other hand, the colleagues who reported him ended in great misfortune. Not only were they punished, they were even asked to retire from the Police Bureau.

While Old Cat’s name sounded a little shabby, he was actually quite a decent-looking chap. If Qin Yu was the type of man who carried an air of valiance, Old Cat would be the kind that looked a little thuggish, similar to a celebrity who was very popular before the epoch, Zhang Yishan.

Qi Lin quickly introduced them to one another, “This is Old Cat, a buddy who usually takes care of me. This is Qin Yu, a newcomer in our Squad One.”

“I heard that you fought with Ol’ Three and the others as soon as you came?” With a hand in his pocket, Old Cat smiled mischievously. “Looks like you have quite the temper?”

“Nah, we just argued a little,” Qin Yu replied vaguely.

He felt that Old Cat’s personality was a little too rash and direct.

“I don’t like them either. You did well,” Old Cat nodded. “Platoon 1 is filled with a bunch of rotten apples who go around doing all sorts of useless stuff.”

Qin Yu was left a little speechless by those words. He turned around to look at Qi Lin, and the latter scratched his head and explained, “This is how Old Cat is. He says whatever that is on his mind.”

“Where are we going?” Old Cat asked.

“I just came here, so I don’t know where the good food is,” Qin Yu said. “I’ll follow your lead.”

“Who’s treating?” Old Cat snuck a glance at the two as he asked slyly.

“Heh, I am,” Qin Yu replied with a chuckle.

“Oh, you’re treating?” With a grand wave of his hand, Old Cat said, “Let’s head to Second Sis’ place then!”

“Don’t. It’s too expensive,” Qi Lin said.

“Are we spending your money over here?” Old Cat glanced at Qi Lin and said.

“ It’s alright, I still have a few coins in my pocket. It should be enough for a meal.”

The truth was that Qin Yu’s heart was aching as he said those words. As there was a dire lack of resources nowadays, agriculture crops such as vegetables and fruits that require huge plots of land to grow were considered as luxury products. Back in the Development District, there were many who would put their life on their line just to get a mouthful of food. As such, most people wouldn’t even head to the restaurants once a year.

However, he also knew the importance of making friends for a newcomer like him. So, it was inevitable that he would have to spend some money in order to socialize, not to mention, he already had a stable job now too.

After deciding on the location, they walked alongside the road for roughly two kilometers before finally arriving at a restaurant called Little Tavern.

Looking at the exterior of the restaurant, Qin Yu subconsciously touched his bag as he felt another pang of pain assaulting his heart.

“Let’s go!” Old Cat beckoned as he began walking up the stairs leading into the restaurant.

Weng!

At this moment, the roar of the engine sounded by the roadside. Following that, a jeep appeared at the entrance.

The three men turned their heads over, and Old Cat remarked in astonishment, “Those fellows are driving a petrol vehicle? Who are they?”

Petrol vehicles had already become an extremely rare medium of transportation in the current era. Most areas on earth had already become inhabitable zones—they were either too cold or had lethal radiation lingering in the surroundings. This made it nigh impossible to extract crude oil. As a result, petrol became a sorely lacking resource.

That was also the reason why Old Cat was so shocked.

After the jeep stopped by the roadside, four men and a woman came down from the car and walked toward the restaurant.

“Let’s go in too,” Qin Yu said.

He had seen his fair share of sights back at the Development District, so after looking at the jeep for a while, he turned his head back and continued walking toward the restaurant.

However, as it turned out, Old Cat’s feet were still rooted to the spot. He was staring at the woman standing amongst the four men as he remarked, “How gorgeous!”

Qin Yu turned his head over and saw the lustful look in Old Cat’s eyes. Shaking his head in exasperation, he said, “Let’s go. That woman came with other guys.”

The woman amongst the four men blinked her beautiful big eyes as she looked around her surroundings. Then, she lowered her head and said, “I need to use the washroom.”

“Hurry up and walk. Don’t try to pull anything,” a short middle-aged man told her harshly.

His accent was a little raw, carrying the intonation of a native Japanese.

Weng weng!

At this moment, the phone in Qi Lin’s pocket rang. He took out his phone and glanced at the message he had just received. Then, he raised his head to look at Qin Yu with a complicated look in his eyes.

—

-jie means big sister, kind of like the Japanese’s anego or Korean’s noonim.