Special District 9

The murder case of the New Epoch Road Villa was officially taken up by the Black Street Sector’s Police Bureau. Yet, despite how things had blown up over the last few hours, Superintendent Li surprisingly never made an appearance.

Instead, he left Songjiang for a meeting over at Fengbei. Due to that, the highest official supervising the case fell onto the shoulders of the soon-to-retire vice superintendent of the Police Bureau.

This left the commander of Platoon 2, who was tasked with the case, extremely bewildered. He couldn’t discern what the attitude of those above was regarding the case, so he chose to neglect the investigation and drag things out instead.

…

Nine-thirty in the morning.

Old Cat’s phone rang.

“Hello?” Superintendent Li’s voice sounded from the other side of the phone.

“You heard about it?” Old Cat asked with a lowered head.

There was a moment of silence before Superintendent Li spoke with an authoritative voice, “I don’t know what you are thinking, but don’t get involved in Qi Lin’s affairs. Return to the bureau right now and stay in your office for the next few days.”

“That won’t do,” Old Cat refused without any hesitation.

“Are you a dimwit? Where did your brain go to?” Superintendent Li exclaimed in agitation. “Even I have been trying to stay out of the case regarding the medicine smugglers, but you actually foolishly dived right into it. Do you know what kinds of profits are involved in the route that Qi Lin has in his hands? Do you know how many people, both inside and outside the Police Bureau, are eyeing this matter? What can a mere vice platoon commander like you do?”

“Old Li, I am I, you are you. What I do have nothing to do with you. You don’t need to get so agitated over this. Even if things run out of control in the end, I’ll bear the consequences myself. I won’t drag you down with me,” Old Cat retorted blindly.

“Bullshit!” Superintendent Li immediately roared in fury. “I am I, you are you? You still have the cheek to say something like that? If not for me, do you think you’ll be able to become a vice platoon commander and fool around in the Police Bureau?”

“If you are going to put it this way, I can only show my hand then,” Old Cat replied shamelessly. “You can either ignore me or take care of me and Qi Lin together.”

“You… Are you a moron?”

“Old Li, it has gotten too peaceful for you recently. Yuan Ke has been using his older brother’s money to make friends throughout the Police Bureau. Do you think that his end goal would be a mere platoon commander? Is that even possible? Yuan Ke wishes to rise through the ranks in the Police Bureau, that’s something that everyone can see with their two eyes. Do you think that everything will pass by you peacefully just because you chose to steer clear of it? That’s being overly optimistic. In the first place, it’s impossible for you to stay out of matters in that position of yours!”

While Old Cat might appear to be a dunce at times, his words were exceptionally sharp.

“Stop hesitating over what to do. Let me awaken you as well!” he howled.

“Awaken your ass! You are seriously…”

Du du!

Before Superintendent Li could finish his words, Old Cat had already hung up the phone. Fuming with rage, he called Old Cat two times more right after, but the latter simply didn’t pick up.

…

On the car.

Superintendent Li pondered with a frown for a long while before finally dialing Qin Yu’s number, “Hello, Qin Yu?”

“Yes, Superintendent Li?”

“Old Cat is getting into something very dangerous at the moment. You usually get along quite well with him, so I hope that you can give him a call and talk…”

“Superintendent Li. I have come to a consensus with Old Cat on some matters, and I was just about to call you to talk to you about it.”

Hearing those words, Superintendent Li’s body immediately shot up to an upright posture as he exclaimed, “Can you youngsters just calm down a little and think rationally? Old Cat is a dimwit who can get into a stupor without even drinking, so why the heck are you playing along with him too?!”

“Superintendent Li, please hear me out,” Qin Yu tried to interrupt the other party.

“Speak.”

“I just came into contact with the rivals of the Yuan Family…” With a lowered head, Qin Yu began telling Superintendent Li about his thoughts.

…

New Epoch Road, on the second floor of a villa.

With a left hand in his pocket and his right hand holding a phone against his ear, Yuan Ke stood by the window as he spoke, “Old Li went into hiding. He didn’t even go to the Police Bureau today.”

“What do you think his intentions are?” Yuan Hua asked.

“It’s obvious. He doesn’t want to get involved in this matter, so he found an excuse to steer clear of this. However, looking at it from another perspective, he’s already giving us quite a lot of leeway over here,” Yuan Ke said. “For a major case like this, without Old Li calling the shots in the Police Bureau, those below wouldn’t dare to move recklessly. He’s giving us time to find Qi Lin and resolve everything.”

“Seems like Old Li isn’t completely brainless after all,” Yuan Hua replied coldly. “Since he’s already giving us leeway, you should hurry up and settle the problem.”

“Don’t worry, Qi Lin can’t possibly get away anymore.”

“If there’s nothing else, I’m hanging up.”

The two brothers ended their call there.

Yuan Ke was just about to walk out of the room when Ol’ Three knocked on the door and entered.

“What’s wrong?” Yuan Ke asked with a frown.

“An underground doctor in Dirt Street got called over yesterday night and went missing right after,” Ol’ Three reported. “Our men didn’t spot him leaving the street, so I reckon that he should still be there at the moment. I think that there’s a good chance that he’s treating Qi Lin at the moment since he was shot.”

Yuan Ke nodded as he paced around contemplatively for a moment before asking, “Is there news on Old Cat?”

“He went on an arrest operation by the borders yesterday night, but he suddenly left after receiving a call, and no one has seen him since then,” Ol’ Three replied. “He wasn’t at the bureau this morning either.”

“He’s with Qi Lin,” Yuan Ke concluded.

“You also know about the relationship between Old Cat and Superintendent Li,” Ol’ Three reminded. “It’ll be hard to deal with him.”

“That fellow is a dimwit,” Yuan Ke remarked with a slight nod. He pondered for a while longer before instructing, “Follow the lead and find Qi Lin first. As long as we can find his location, we can bypass Old Cat during the arrest. No matter what, don’t touch Old Cat.”

“Got it,” Ol’ Three nodded.

…

Six-thirty in the evening.

Along the red light district of Dirt Street, a crude-looking young man spat on the ground as he said, “I went to the underground doctor’s house, and his assistant told me that the underground doctor brought equipment and medicine for treating gunshot wounds with him.”

“Is there anything else?”

“I checked his call history as well. The last call the underground doctor made was to a person called Wu Long. He’s a minor character that works in the casino,” the crude-looking young man replied with a smirk. “He’s in Dirt Street right now. Our brothers have already caught onto him. He hasn’t come out of his house for a day now.”

“Confirm it again. I’ll lead my men to Dirt Street right now.”

“Alright.”

…

An hour later.

Twenty cars were parked along a street cloaked in a layer of frosty snow.

Yuan Ke and Ol’ Three waited in the car for around ten minutes when a crude-looking young man suddenly ran over. With a subservient bend of his back, he stood outside the car window and reported, “They are inside.”

“How many of them are there?”

“At least three to four,” the crude-looking young man replied softly. “Our brothers were only able to see them through the windows, so they weren’t able to catch a clear glimpse.”

Ol’ Three opened the car door and alighted from the car before shouting loudly, “Guys, get out here! It’s time to move!”

“I’ll go too,” Yuan Ke said as he got off the car too.

Ol’ Three was slightly taken aback. He advised worriedly, “Isn’t it inconvenient for you to get too involved in this matter?”

“Old Li has already quietly acknowledged it, so what’s there to hide anymore? It’s already show hand,” Yuan Ke replied nonchalantly as he got down.

…

Meanwhile…