Police officer Chen Shu.

Chen Chuan brought up Liu Yan's kidnapping case, and Zhang Wei also became interested. Both of them put down their wine glasses and chopsticks, staring at Chen Shu with shining eyes.

Chen Shu was a little confused: "Li Meng is from the Criminal Investigation Department. He was involved in the task force from beginning to end. You can ask him."

Li Meng said, "Stop making fun of me. If it weren't for your reckless crash at the end, we might still be missing."

Chen Shu smiled wryly: "Do you think I wanted to crash into them? It was just slippery because of the rain. Luckily, neither of us was hurt."

Zhang Wei, who has been working on the road as a traffic policeman since graduating from police academy, agreed: "If an accident happens in the rain, it's almost always a major one. By the way, what exactly happened back then? Did you really need to risk your life like that?"

Seeing that everyone was interested, Chen Shu stopped hiding his story and recounted the case from beginning to end.

After hearing this, Chen Chuan's eyes reddened: "It's just a job, is it really necessary to work so hard?"

Zhang Wei added, "That's just his personality! Back in the day, we were on the bus going back to the college from the city, and we encountered a guy groping a young girl's butt. He just silently went up to her and threw her to the ground!"

Li Meng touched her nose and didn't say anything.

After Chen Chuan raised his glass and toasted Chen Shu, he glanced sideways at Li Meng and said, "This drinking session won't be on the house today. It has to be our wise and mighty Li Da, who received a second-class merit, who will treat us."

Li Meng knew Chen Chuan was annoyed that he had broken his leg on the way, yet he had gotten the credit for the kidnapping case. He chuckled and said, "Alright, alright, I'll treat you to dinner this week. Now let's see if you can eat all of my ten thousand yuan."

"You're smart to know what's good for you." Chen Chuan picked up the wine bottle and filled both of their glasses with wine.

"Dry!"

"Dry!"

Sitting to the side, Chen Shu was both amused and exasperated. Chen Chuan was a bit picky, but he was also a man of strong character.

After finishing his drink, Chen Chuan sat back down and pondered for a while before suddenly asking, "Why didn't you use your phones to locate the other party back then? I remember you didn't come to the Technical Investigation Division to look for us."

In today's society, everyone carries a mobile phone with them. When the public security organs use technology to handle cases, the preferred solution is to locate the mobile phone through the base station of the operator, which is always effective.

Li Meng said, "Because it was a case under the supervision of the Ministry, we used the personnel and equipment of the provincial technical investigation department, but it was still useless. Later, when we arrested and interrogated the people, we found out that the other party had prepared dozens of black cards and second-hand mobile phones before committing the crime. After making a call, they would separate the SIM card from the phone and throw it into the river."

Zhang Wei asked, "Didn't Chen Shu check the other party's license plate earlier? He also confirmed that they were on the highway heading north from Dongzhou. Weren't there any roadblocks or traffic jams behind them?"

Li Meng shook her head: "At the time, we also contacted the traffic police detachment and the highway traffic police, and the feedback we received was truly eye-opening."

Seeing that he had stopped talking and was looking for a cigarette, Chen Chuan quickly leaned over and handed him a Huazi cigarette to light.

Li Meng took a deep drag of her cigarette and slowly exhaled, squinting as she watched the rising smoke. She said, "First, they went to Xiamen in Fujian Province and pried off the license plate of a black Camry. Then they went around to Rao City in Jiangxi Province and stole another black Camry. Finally, when they entered our Donghai Province, they combined the license plate with the car to make it look completely real."

"Holy shit!"

Chen Chuan casually stubbed out the half-eaten cigarette and turned to Chen Shu, asking, "Is this real?"

Chen Shu shrugged: "I'm not very clear on these details, but this group of people is definitely professional. I heard that the three of them are from the same village. A few years ago, the three of them got into a fight on some random pretext, and ever since then, they've ignored each other when they see each other on the street."

Li Meng nodded: "When we visited their village later, the villagers didn't believe that these three people could be accomplices. Because the three of them were notoriously at odds in the village. One villager accidentally put the three of them at the same table when he was hosting a wedding banquet, and as a result, several tables were overturned on the spot."

"By the way, Li Meng. Have they caught their boss, Huang Zimin?" Chen Shu asked.

"I heard he ran towards the southern border of China that very night. He's a ruthless guy," Li Meng said in a low voice, tapping her bowl with her chopsticks.

Chen Shu picked up his wine glass and swirled it slightly clockwise, a strange premonition rising in his heart.

They will meet again.

……

The next morning, after everyone gathered downstairs in the dormitory, they lined up in a square formation and went to the teaching building under the leadership of the temporary district captain, a police officer from the city's special police detachment.

The long-standing practice of the Dongju Police Academy's rank promotion training is for a special police officer to serve as the temporary squad leader, responsible for the entire squad's learning and living arrangements for the following week.

The morning classes were theoretical, but not many people listened attentively. Most people took out their phones, turned off the sound, and fiddled with them in their desk drawers.

The police academy instructors were used to this kind of scene and didn't criticize him harshly. Perhaps he had gone through the same thing back then.

Chen Chuan deliberately pulled Chen Shu to sit in the last row of the classroom, somewhat smugly saying, "This seat is in high demand."

Chen Shu nodded: "The location is good, but I'm afraid I won't be able to see the video clearly when the teacher plays it at the end of class."

"Video? What video? What's so interesting about it?"

"A shooting incident in the southern region more than ten years ago. Recorded on the street."

Upon hearing this, Chen Chuan immediately became anxious: "Holy crap, isn't this top-secret material? Back in school, we were only given written materials. Why are they showing us videos now?"

Chen Shuchao gestured with his chin toward the blackboard: "Two routes, two paths. Our sea route is blocked, so we can only head west towards the land. Don't you think we need to stabilize that area first?"

"Stable? What do you mean by stable?" Chen Chuan straightened up and asked, his eyes wide.

Chen Shu calmly said, "Look at the blackboard."

Chen Shu, whose ears had been quiet for a while, was startled again by a "Holy shit!"

He frowned and said in a low voice, "Don't be so alarmed, we're still in class."

Chen Chuan made a couple of "oh" sounds, then leaned close to Chen Shu's ear and said, "Next, they're going to transfer police officers from all over the country to the Southern Region? This won't be a good year. I certainly wouldn't go."

Chen Shu took out a pen and wrote the registration website and contact information from the blackboard into his notebook. He thought for a moment, but still didn't explain it to Chen Chuan.

For police officers like them, being transferred to work in the still unstable southern region for a year is indeed unpleasant, and no one would be willing to go, even if they were promoted upon returning.

However, for frontline police officers, especially traffic police and police station officers, the promise of a "promotion" in exchange for a year's trip to the southern region is still extremely attractive.

I reckon I'll have to find someone or pull some strings in the end.

Chen Shu took out a pen and drew an equal sign between the two phrases "police station work" and "grassroots work in the southern region" in his notebook.