Chapter Forty-Four: Everyone on the Special Task Force Is Dependable

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After learning that the other man was wearing a police uniform, Yu Dazhang had been using a process of elimination to determine his identity.

Since neither the detachment nor the local police station had sent anyone to Zhang Yan’s home, he could rule out the possibility that the man was an active-duty police officer.

From there, his identity was not difficult to guess.

There were only two possibilities:

1. He was impersonating a police officer.
2. He was a police academy cadet.

Determining which one it was was simple enough. All he had to do was look at the shoulder insignia and the police identification number.

There were no four-corner police emblems on the shoulder insignia. That alone was enough to establish that the man was not impersonating a police officer.

If he had been posing as one, a counterfeit uniform would certainly have been fitted with shoulder insignia convincing enough to pass for the real thing.

Then there was the police number. That would reveal the man’s true identity at once.

Yu Dazhang himself had graduated from a police academy, so he knew all too well the differences between police uniforms.

The identification number on the chest of an active-duty officer’s uniform consisted solely of digits.

For a police academy cadet, however, Chinese characters or letters were added before the numbers.

For example, S stood for judicial administration.

X stood for criminal investigation.

The moment Yu Dazhang realized the man’s identity, he was both astonished and delighted.

He was astonished that the man, like him, was studying at a police academy.

Previously, he had guessed that the man might be studying medicine or law.

He had never once considered that he might be a fellow police trainee.

It was not that his imagination was lacking.

Think about it. You are investigating a murderer, and everyone working beside you is a fellow police officer.

Under those circumstances, your subconscious naturally regards anyone in a police uniform as an ally. It would be impossible to imagine that the murderer might be one of your companions.

That was how a person’s surroundings influenced him, and Yu Dazhang was no exception.

What delighted him was that the identity of a police academy cadet also fit the murderer’s characteristics perfectly.

He understood the law and had studied forensic medicine.

He possessed a certain degree of counter-surveillance ability and exceptional psychological fortitude.

He was also around the same age as Zhang Yan.

When all these conditions converged in a single person, Yu Dazhang issued the order to close the net without hesitation.

.

The arrests on both sides proceeded smoothly. There was no resistance and no attempt to flee.

Next came the interrogation, which was still to be handled by Lü Zhongxin.

At that moment, Yu Dazhang stood at the entrance to the detachment compound, watching the traffic pass along the road. No one knew what was on his mind.

His face revealed no emotion, yet it seemed to conceal countless thoughts...

Five minutes later, an SUV pulled up outside the compound.

The doors opened, and two dusty, travel-worn men in police uniforms stepped out.

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They were members of the special investigation team whom Yu Dazhang had dispatched several days earlier to investigate Kong Lingjie’s ex-wife.

“Why are you here?” one of the team members asked.

“Waiting for you.” Yu Dazhang smiled, a relaxed and cheerful expression on his face.

“You’re too kind.” The other team member quickly beckoned for Yu Dazhang to get into the vehicle. “Let’s talk inside. Come on.”

Once they were in the car, Yu Dazhang patted the shoulder of the team member sitting in the driver’s seat, signaling him not to start the engine yet.

“Wait a moment. I’ll look over the materials you brought back first.”

The materials would determine the direction of his next step.

Did they think catching the suspect meant the case was over?

Not even close.

Otherwise, why call him a suspect instead of a criminal?

Until a court delivered its verdict, no one could be definitively declared guilty.

Once the case entered the trial stage, the person would be called the defendant. Only after a verdict was handed down would he become a criminal.

What Yu Dazhang had to do now was gather as much evidence as possible and complete the chain of proof.

“Here.” The team member in the passenger seat twisted around and handed him a document bag. “There’s also a disc inside. You can read it with the laptop in the back seat.”

Yu Dazhang took it and first removed the printed documents, leafing through them.

He read them extremely carefully, not missing a single line, as though he intended to commit every detail to memory.

Then he opened the disc and inserted it into the laptop.

When a playback window appeared on the screen, he moved his finger across the touchpad and positioned the cursor over the play button.

The video began to play. Yu Dazhang’s expression grew solemn, his eyes fixed intently on the images on the screen.

Five minutes later, he closed the laptop and looked at the two team members in front of him.

“That’s all?”

The two men were stunned.

What more did he want?

What an imposing tone. Some people were idle to death while others were worked to death.

For the past several days, they had been so busy they barely had time to sleep, spending almost all their time searching for people.

Once they found someone, they immediately collected materials and organized the information. Then Yu Dazhang had ordered them to rush back without stopping.

What was that saying again?

Even if they had no credit, they had certainly suffered for the cause.

He had not offered them a single word of encouragement, and now his tone even suggested that they had brought back too little.

What were they supposed to do if they felt like hitting him?

Seeing that neither of them spoke, and that both were staring at him with expressions suggesting a toothache, Yu Dazhang widened his eyes.

“Did you forget what I asked you to do during our last call?”

“Oh, that? Yes, we handled it. It’s right here.” As he spoke, the team member in the passenger seat took a small bottle, about as thick as a thumb, from his coat pocket.

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“I was afraid it might get crushed in the document bag, so I kept it on me.”

He handed the bottle to Yu Dazhang with an air of someone presenting a hard-won achievement, then added:

“I thought you were complaining that the materials we brought back were incomplete.”

Every member of the special investigation team was dependable...

Yu Dazhang accepted the little bottle, examined it in his hand, and then placed it inside the document bag.

“Well done,” he said, sincerely praising them. “You really are veteran detectives. Thorough as ever.”

From the moment he joined the special investigation team, Yu Dazhang had sensed that some people in it were merely there to make up the numbers.

But after working and cooperating with them over the past several days, he gradually changed his mind.

Or rather, his initial judgment should never have existed in the first place.

These front-line detectives worked through the night, kept watch at stakeouts, and traveled constantly on assignments. Irregular meals were simply part of everyday life.

They even had to be ready at any moment to take up their weapons and risk their lives.

Yet not one of them had complained—not once, at least not in Yu Dazhang’s hearing.

In his previous life, he had been exactly the same kind of person. This time, however, he had mocked others for merely padding their credentials.

So what if they were polishing their resumes?

Who did not want some dazzling achievements on their record?

Anyone without the slightest selfish thought was probably living in a temple.

Hearing Yu Dazhang’s praise, the two men actually felt flattered.

Why did that feel so good?

He had not even said much, but somehow it sounded wonderful.

It was as though the fatigue that had accumulated throughout their journey had been gently brushed away by a cool breeze, instantly diluted by that one simple compliment from the young man.

“Go inside.”

Yu Dazhang carefully held the document bag tightly in his hands, a trace of concern in his voice.

“Wash your faces properly at the detachment, eat something hot, and get some rest. You two have really worked hard these past few days.”

He actually knew how to show concern for people...

A smile unconsciously appeared on both men’s faces.

As they drove into the compound, the team member in the passenger seat asked in an apparently casual tone:

“How far has the case progressed?”

Based on their past experience, complicated cases like this were solved one painstaking step at a time.

They required enormous amounts of time, energy, and resources.

Kong Lingjie was the only breakthrough point. If he refused to speak, the case would be unlikely to make any substantial progress in the near future.

“All the principal suspects have been brought in,” Yu Dazhang replied instinctively as he gazed out the window.

“Skreeeeech!”

The ear-piercing sound of brakes rang out.

The two men in front turned around at the same time.

“What did you just say?!”

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