Special District 9

Twirling a pen in his right hand, Qin Yu looked at the young lady seated in front of him as he asked, “Have you recovered from the shock yet?”

“Un.”

The young lady twirled her hair with a slightly dazed expression. Her face was still ghastly pale from the shock she had just gone through. It took a long while before she was able to nod.

Qin Yu took a look at the other party’s condition before walking over to the water dispenser to get her cup of warm water, “Drink some water, it’ll help. If you still feel uncomfortable, we can get you a check-up at the hospital.”

“Thanks. I-It’s fine, there’s no need to go to the hospital. I’m not injured,” the young lady took a sip from the cup before thanking Qin Yu out of politeness. She took in a deep breath before saying, “You can ask your questions.”

“I’ll start then,” Qin Yu took his seat once more and grabbed his notebook to take down notes. “Your name?”

“Lin Nianlei.”

“Age?”

“20.”

“Gender?”

“??” Lin Nianlei was a little speechless. “You can’t tell?”

“This is a routine procedure. There’s a video recording. I have to ask this question,” Qin Yu explained with a smile.

“Female.”

“The address of the place you are staying.”

“…” Lin Nianlei visibly hesitated for a moment upon hearing this question. “Fengbei City.”

“You are from the capital?”

“Yes.”

“… What are you doing here? Work, or immigration?” Qin Yu had never questioned an eye-witness before, but there were forms on the book that he could easily follow. Nevertheless, as this was the first time he was doing this, he decided to do it thoroughly so as to avoid making any mistakes.

“Work.”

“…!”

After clarifying all of the basic particulars, Qin Yu began asking about the details of the case, “Where were you kidnapped? Do you know who the culprits are?”

“I’m not too sure either. I was…” Lin Nianlei was just about to answer the questions relating to the case when the door to the interrogation room suddenly opened. Superintendent Li, together with Old Cat and a few other people, walked in.

Qin Yu glanced over before quickly rising to his feet to greet him, “Superintendent Li.”

“You are in the midst of your interrogation?” Superintendent Li asked.

“Un. I was about to verify the details of the case.”

“Nice to meet you, Miss Lin.” After nodding at Qin Yu, Superintendent Li courteously stretched his hand forward as he introduced himself to Lin Nianlei, “I am the superintendent of this Police Bureau.”

“Pleased to meet you,” Lin Nianlei replied as she shook hands with Superintendent Li.

“Someone is here to receive you from the broadcasting station. You should get going,” Superintendent Li said with a smile. “Leave the case to us. Don’t worry, we won’t allow the other two suspects to get away.”

Qin Yu was a little curious about the current situation before him. Superintendent Li wasn’t around, and yet, he knew who the young lady was. Furthermore, he made the call to release the young lady when the questioning wasn’t over yet. So, Qin Yu shot another assessing look at the young lady.

She was around 1.7 meters tall, and she had a beautiful figure. Her face was slightly cloaked in dirt, and her hair was extremely messy, but even those weren’t able to conceal her exquisite looks.

Old Cat said that she looked similar to the popular star, Jun Ji-hyun, but Qin Yu felt that her looks were much more pleasing. This was because her eyes were large and spirited, and her physical proportions were better as well. Most importantly of all, her complexion was perfect. Her skin had a glistening glow to it, reminiscent of a porcelain doll. In this era, what kind of family could raise such a delicate child?

It was obvious that Superintendent Li had his own reasons for suddenly coming down here and releasing Lin Nianlin right away.

After chatting for a while with Superintendent Li, they headed down the stairs together.

Five minutes later, a few middle-aged men alighted from an electronic vehicle. They traded some pleasantries with Superintendent Li before taking Lin Nianlei away with them.

Qin Yu glanced at the license pasted on the windscreen of the vehicle and saw that it was a car from the Songjiang City Broadcasting Company.

Sending Lin Nianlei off with their eyes, Superintendent Li quickly made a few calls before calling out to them, “Follow me to my office.”

“What’s going on?” Qin Yu turned to Old Cat and asked.

Old Cat scratched his nose as he replied quietly, “You lad have really stepped onto the dog king shit crapped by the dog king itself. You were able to catch the eye of the superiors right after getting the job. Sigh, but this is to be expected, I guess. Capable people fare well no matter where they go.”

Those words gave Qin Yu an inkling of what was going to happen.

…

A few minutes later.

In the office, Superintendent Li patted Qin Yu’s shoulder as he said, “I knew that you were a person with potential, but I didn’t think that you would shine so quickly.”

“It was a coincidence,” Qin Yu said with a smile.

“You really brought us glory this time around!” Superintendent Li could hardly conceal his joy as he paced around the room with his hand behind his back. “That Matsushita has quite a lot of major cases under him; he’s a person whom even the headquarters want to capture. But two years ago, he fled to the Development District, so those on top can’t catch him even if they wanted to. Yet, as soon as he tried to make a comeback, he ended up getting done in by you. I’ll be able to brag about this at the meeting tomorrow! You have really brought up the prestige of our bureau this time around. You deserve to be complimented!”

Qin Yu silently listened to Superintendent Li’s words without responding.

“Sigh!” Superintendent Li sat down on the chair and lit up the Chunghwa which Qin Yu had given him. With a regretful expression, he said, “Had it been anyone else, he would have been able to be promoted from Tier-3 to Tier-1 right away. After a short period of fitting in, he would be assigned the role of a squad leader. However, it’ll be hard to do the same for you. You have just arrived, and your profile has only been keyed into the system less than 24 hours ago. There might be quite a bit of gossip if I were to promote you so quickly.”

As soon as Old Cat heard those words, he immediately spoke up on Qin Yu’s behalf, “Contribution is not something that can be given to someone; it’s something that one has to put his life on the line in order to obtain! Who is the one who chased Matsushita? Who is the one who shot him down? Who is the one who saved the hostage? Everything is clear for everyone to see, so what gossip are you afraid of? You are the superintendent here! You don’t have enough shit to give one to all of the nonsense spewing out from people’s mouths.”

“Can you run your words through your brain when you speak to me?” the usually calm Superintendent Li looked at Qin Yu awkwardly as he berated Old Cat.

Old Cat harrumphed coldly as he turned his head to the side.

“Qin Yu, the credit is yours. No one will be able to take it away from you. However, the situation is in the bureau is a little complicated. You only came here not too long ago; if I were to promote you so quickly, there would be a lot of problems afterward,” Superintendent Li told Qin Yu. “However, there is still a lot of time ahead of us. We can take it slowly.”

“Superintendent Li, you have helped me a lot. I am already satisfied,” Qin Yu replied with a smile. “It’s fine.”

“Within a month, I’ll first promote you from your probation status to an official Tier-3 Police Officer. I’ll get someone to write a case report and submit it tomorrow. That should be enough to get you Third-class Merits. By then, we’ll be able to have you promoted to Tier-2 by the end of the year,” Superintendent Li said.

He contemplated for a brief moment over here before continuing on, “For the time being, it’s still impossible to assign you as a squad leader because your time here is simply too short. You don’t have any close friends around yet, so there’s no one who will recognize you if you were to suddenly become a squad leader. Let’s do this instead. I’ll talk with Yuan Ke and make you a vice squad leader first. This is a role decided internally by the bureau; it won’t be logged into the system, and it’s not an official title either. However, after you get familiar with the duties and the people, I’ll find a vacancy to slot you in. Other than that, I’ll also individually reward you with a sum of 3000 for the case. It’ll be sent to your account at the end of the month.”

“Thank you, Superintendent Li,” Qin Yu was actually very satisfied with the outcome. He immediately bowed deeply and thanked him.

“Alright, that’s all then,” Superintendent said with a wave of his hand. “The two of you can leave now.”

“Do rest early.”

“Go on.”

Qin Yu and Old Cat left the room together.

Superintendent Li took a sip of water, and just as he was about to stand up and return home, the phone suddenly rang.

“Hello?”

“Superintendent Li, I would like to ask about the report for the case. How should I write the portion concerning Ol’ Three? Should we consider the situation with Platoon Commander Yuan too…?”

Superintendent Li pondered for a moment before replying, “I have already heard about his situation. That fellow didn’t lead his men there to capture those criminals. Let’s see, I believe you can emphasize that point more…”

…

On the afternoon of the next day, in the hospital.

“What did those above say?” Ol’ Three, while lying on a bed, asked one of the visiting colleagues.

“The Police Bureau will cover the medical fees of all injured personnel. They will be applying for a Third-class Merits for our whole squad. As for bonuses, other then Qin Yu, everyone who suffered severe injuries in the case will be compensated 5000, and those who aren’t injured will be given 3000,” the colleague replied meekly with a lowered head.

Hearing those words, Ol’ Three was stunned for a very long while. “What about Qin Yu and Old Cat?”

“I don’t know the situation for Old Cat,” the colleague shook his head and replied. “However, I heard that Superintendent Li has already promised Qin Yu to promote him to Tier-2 by the end of the year, and he’ll individually apply for Third-class Merits for him. Heh, the office has also informed the platoon to make him a vice squad leader.”

Upon hearing those words, Ol’ Three immediately flared up. He exclaimed indignantly, “What the heck? Did justice and fairness get flushed into the sewage? Is Qin Yu Superintendent Li’s fucking illegitimate son?! I was the one who contributed the manpower, and I was the one who tanked the damage too. When that grenade flew over, I thought that I saw my life flashing across my eyes! So why did all of the good stuff go to that brat? This is bullshit! Look at the wound on my ass! If I hadn’t dodged fast enough, the bullet would have pierced through my intestines! And all I get from the bureau is just 5000? What the hell is this? I’m asking you what the hell is this!”

“The hell I would know!” The colleague rolled his eyes. “Our squad has tried speaking up for you, but Superintendent Li rebutted our words by saying that Matsushita is an individual target; the credit goes solely to the one who got him. Not to mention, Qin Yu didn’t get him in the restaurant but chased him all the way to the alley. And the reason why we were at the restaurant in the first place, he knows about it too…”

“Forget it, don’t say any more,” Ol’ Three couldn’t bring himself to listen on anymore. He lay on his bed with a fatigued look as he muttered, “My mum has always told me when I was younger that I was born under a star of misfortune…”

…

Ol’ Three felt very aggrieved. He felt that Qin Yu had stolen the credit he deserved. To that, however, Qin Yu felt that he had been wronged. That was because the greatest beneficiary from the case was not him but the person whom Superintendent Li hadn’t talked about at all, Old Cat.

From a Tier-1 Police Officer, he was promoted to a Tier-3 Police Commander.

At the same time, due to an internal reshuffling of posts, he somehow ended up as the vice platoon commander of Platoon 3. Furthermore, his individual Third-class Merits was approved within a single day,

There weren’t many people in the bureau who heard of this matter, but those who knew about it were all guessing the relationship between Old Cat and Superintendent Li, and this was including Qin Yu as well.

Qin Yu couldn’t help but lament at how who risk their lives couldn’t possibly hope to match those who were born with good lives, and those who were born with good lives were beneath those who governed the lives of others…