Special District 9

Shortly after Qin Yu entered the room, Superintendent Li dived straight into the point concisely, “I’ll give you a suggestion for the fake medicine incident.”

“Please do.” Qin Yu nodded.

“Since it’ll be hard to cleanse the Ma Family’s reputation, you should just get Old Ma to admit to the matter.” Superintendent Li had always been the careful type, and he would choose the safest way out of any situation wherever possible.

“Get him to push one of his subordinates forward to take the fall, and we’ll do our best to minimize the adverse impact of the incident. As for the two victims who have lost their lives, they’ll have to make sure to compensate them with a sizable sum.

Qin Yu was taken aback by the suggestion. He asked incredulously, “Superintendent Li, if you get Old Ma to admit to the matter, wouldn’t that be doing exactly what Yuan Hua wants?”

“What else can we do other than that?” Superintendent Li asked with a frown. “Are you confident of catching the person who swapped the medicine? Do you know what kind of follow-up moves Yuan Hua has prepared? If the situation worsens, do you have any countermeasures to remedy the situation?”

Qin Yu fell silent.

“If he admits to the matter right now and pushes someone forward to take the blame, we’ll be able to lessen the pressure coming from the Police Headquarters,” Superintendent Li said as he stood up. “One has to pay the price of one’s mistake. This will be a painful lesson for them.”

“I don’t think Old Ma will agree to it,” Qin Yu spoke up. “He knows that his business over at Black Street Sector hinges on his reputation, and this matter will affect his influence. If he admits to selling fake medicine, that would be taking away something he has built up for many years now. Without this advantage, how is he going to compete with the others?”

“But if he fails to cleanse himself of blame, the responsibility for this incident will still fall on the Ma Family. Not only so, Yuan Hua is likely to take follow-up actions to further complicate the situation. By then, not only will the Ma Family lose their reputation and influence, we’ll also be in a bad plight too,” Superintendent Li told Qin Yu grimly.

“If Old Ma agrees to this, I can give him still some time to recover before deciding whether to continue the partnership. If he doesn’t, we’ll terminate the partnership right away and find a new distributor to work with.”

These were the words that Qin Yu feared hearing from Superintendent Li the most, but the latter still said them anyway.

To Superintendent Li, as long as the distributor in charge of handling the sales of the medicine was able to ensure everything went smoothly, it didn’t matter at all who was responsible for it. It could be the Ma Family, or what Li Family or Bai Family. All he asked for was the distributor to do it safely and not bring him any trouble.

However, the Ma Family’s mistake had put him in a really dangerous position. So, it was understandable why Superintendent Li would want to get rid of an unreliable partner who exposed him to unnecessary risks.

After all, in the world of the adults, profits were more important than sentiments, not to mention that Superintendent Li had no particular sentiments toward Old Ma at all.

Qin Yu thought for a moment before he turned to Superintendent Li and said, “Uncle Li, I think that there’s still hope for this matter. Ma Lao-er has already uncovered where the culprit behind the medicine swapping, Little Qu, is.”

“Where is he?” Superintendent Li asked.

“Fengbei,” Qin Yu replied honestly.

Superintendent Li placed his hands behind his back and walked around contemplatively for a moment before asking softly, “Can you guess what Yuan Hua will be up to next?”

“He’ll try to silence Little Qu,” Qin Yu replied right away.

“Are you familiar with the situation over at Fengbei?” Superintendent Li asked once more.

Qin Yu couldn’t reply to that question.

Superintendent Li walked over and looked at Qin Yu as he spoke, “The pharmaceutical companies backing Yuan Hua are all at Fengbei. These people wield power far beyond your imagination. Ma Lao-er couldn’t even stop Little Qu in Songjiang, so what can you do even if you head to Fengbei?”

Qin Yu wasn’t able to answer this question either.

“To bring Little Qu back alive in the enemy’s turf, how difficult of a task would that be?” Superintendent Li added with a frown. “I don’t think that there’s a need to take on such risk. The best we can do in such a situation is to rationally reduce our losses.”

Qin Yu hesitated for a moment after hearing those words, but he clenched his fists and said, “I still want to give it a try.”

Superintendent Li was astounded by Qin Yu’s response. He lost his cool and exclaimed, “Did the heat get to your head? Don’t you know what kind of identity you have right now? Ma Lao-er can fight with others to snatch Little Qu over, but are you in a position to do the same?”

“I’ll leave Ma Lao-er to handle things on the ground. I’ll just offer him ideas by the side so as to ensure that things don’t go awry,” Qin Yu replied insistently. “If we can pull this off, we can turn the tables on Yuan Hua and force him into a corner instead. If it fails… you’ll still be the superintendent of this Police Bureau. I’ll carry the responsibility of this matter by myself.”

“Just what are you aiming for?” Superintendent Li exclaimed in exasperation. “Is there only an Old Ma and a Yuan Hua in Songjiang? You have the goods in your hand, do you need to be afraid of being unable to find a distributor to sell them on your behalf?”

“I’m acquainted with Ma Lao-er. I wish to help him,” Qin Yu replied with a very forced reason.

Superintendent Li fell silent.

…

Ten minutes after Qin Yu walked out of Superintendent Li’s office, he called his platoon commander and requested a three-days leave.

Meanwhile, the senator representing the Police Bureaus raised his head to look at Old Li and asked, “What is Qin Yu trying to do? Did he receive a bribe from the Ma Family? Why else would he get involved in this mess?”

Superintendent Li shook his head and replied, “It’s not a matter of money. It’s the people that Qin Yu values.”

“People? What do you mean by that?”

“He’s worried that I would try to slot someone in after getting rid of the Ma Family,” Superintendent Li pointed out sharply. “He wants to retain control over what happens on the ground, that’s why he’s taking this risk.”

The senator took a while to digest those words before he remarked in wonderment, “If that’s the case, that would mean that Qin Yu is a person who has both wits and tenacity!”

“Let him do what he wants,” Superintendent Li said as he looked out of the windows. “If a mule wants to become a horse, it would have to go through some trials.”

“Qin Yu is a Tier-2 Police Officer, and he’s a person you have been explicitly looking out for. If something happens to him in Fengbei, it’s likely that the higher-ups will pick on you for this,” the senator advised by the side.

Superintendent Li shook his head and said, “Trouble will still come knocking even if I try to avoid it. Had it been a few days ago, who could have thought that this fake medicine incident could actually happen? Sigh! Ever since I stood against Yuan Hua over Qi Lin’s matter, I knew that my road ahead as the superintendent is bound to be tough.”

The senator sighed deeply by the side.

“Just snatching Little Qu over won’t be enough to resolve this problem though,” Superintendent Li muttered beneath his breath. “Let’s hope that Qin Yu might be able to stir up some unexpected changes in the situation in his trip to Fengbei.”

…

Two hours later, in Residence 88.

Qin Yu took out 50 dollars and passed them over to Bucktooth, saying, “I’ll be out for work over the next few days, so make sure that you don’t cause any trouble, alright? If you have any urgent matters, you can head to the Police Bureau to find Zhu Wei. Understand?”

“Yeah, I got it.” Bucktooth nodded. “When are you coming back?”

“I’m not sure either,” Qin Yu said as he glanced at his watch. “Don’t roam around the streets at night. Lock the doors and go to sleep early.”

“You don’t have to worry about me. I’m someone who has even slept in the snowfield before,” Bucktooth replied with a grin. “I’ll look after your house for you.”

Di ling ling!

It was at this moment that Qin Yu’s phone rang.

“Hello?”

“How are you going to Fengbei?” Old Ma asked.

“By train,” Qin Yu replied. Then, he added, “You’re heading over too?”

“Ma Lao-er is a dimwit. Sometimes, he just doesn’t think before he acts,” Old Ma replied affirmatively. “I’m still a little worried, so I want to head over to have a look too.”

Qin Yu thought for a moment before saying, “It won’t be safe for you to go by train, you still have a case on you. You could try going by a dealer to smuggle you over, but it’ll still be quite risky.”

“We’ll be driving,” Old Ma replied concisely. “You go on ahead first, we’ll meet at Fengbei.”

“Alright.”

Seven at night, Qin Yu, together with Guan Qi, got onto a train headed toward Fengbei. But as soon as the two of them settled down, Old Cat suddenly walked over while munching on a ham sandwich.

Qin Yu was stunned. “You’re going with us too?”

Old Cat rolled his eyes and replied matter-of-factly, “For the sake of transcending this ordinary life with you, I’m destined to live the life of a wanderer.

“Heh.” Qin Yu looked at Old Cat before a slight smile formed on his lips.

…

Fengbei City.

Ma Lao-er was standing in the midst of a dirty alley. He waited for quite a while before a young man walked over from the opposite end.

“You need a weapon?” the young man asked.

“Un. Old Lu introduced me here,” Ma Lao-er replied with a nod.

The young man quickly scanned the surroundings before opening the bag he was carrying, “Pick what you need.”