Police officer Chen Shu

Chapter 373 Aftereffects of the Shooting
Police cars arrived one after another with sirens blaring.

In the lead police car, a young policeman in plainclothes, wearing frameless glasses, quickly jumped out.

He glanced at Old A, who was lying motionless on the ground, and his expression changed drastically.

"Chen Shu, you shot him dead?" The other party had obviously heard the gunshot and was extremely surprised.

The doors of the other police cars opened one after another, and armed police officers got out and surrounded the vehicles.

"Li Meng, go check Old A's vital signs."

A steady voice rang out. The one who could address the young and impetuous deputy captain of the Criminal Investigation Brigade by his name was naturally his mentor, Captain Ren Guoqing of the Criminal Investigation Brigade.

Li Meng nodded, walked to Old A lying on the ground, pointed her finger under his nose, then touched his neck, and finally shook her head.

"Ren Da, the man is dead."

"Okay, you're in charge of handling the situation from now on."

Ren Guoqing shouted to Li Meng, then walked over to Chen Shu and forcibly pulled him into the police car he had come from.

"Ren Da, I'm fine." Sitting in the back seat, Chen Shu, with a serious expression, calmly watched the police officers working outside through the windshield.

Ren Guoqing chuckled noncommittally, then pulled out a crumpled pack of cigarettes from his pocket, took out a crooked cigarette, and shoved it into Chen Shu's hand.

"Have a smoke to warm yourself up, look how cold you are."

Ren Guoqing stroked his chin and looked out the window, wanting to say a few words of comfort to Chen Shu, but he didn't know what to say.

Experience told him that shooting and killing criminals can leave some police officers with a lifelong trauma. Over the decades of criminal investigation, he has seen many excellent officers regrettably transferred away from the front line of criminal investigation because of this incident.

But Chen Shu is a different story; he might be feeling quite smug right now. Maybe...

He suddenly felt like laughing.

This is disrespectful to the deceased.

In reality, no police officer would show any respect to a murderer, especially one who resisted arrest and fired shots at police officers while fleeing.

He suddenly remembered a piece of good news he had received earlier and felt that saying it now would be the most effective psychological counseling measure.

"Chen Shu, news from the hospital. Chen Chuan and the auxiliary police officer who was with him are both fine, just minor injuries."

He paused for a moment, then slowly laughed along with the person beside him.

The previously stiff and tense atmosphere inside the car suddenly relaxed, and the previous dullness and heaviness dissipated from the air.

"Thank God they're really alright!"

After the mission was completed, Chen Shu led his team back to their unit.

It was well past midnight. The returning officers changed out of their uniforms and either went home or stayed behind. The once bustling office building suddenly became deserted.

Chen Shu sat in his office on the third floor, lit a cigarette, and sipped it slowly while lost in thought.

He was unaware that the ash on his cigarette had grown long until it burned his fingers, at which point he was startled to realize how quickly time had passed.

As I was pondering, my ears twitched, and I heard footsteps slowly echoing down the corridor.

"Knock knock knock." The knocking sounded, and Chen Shu looked up to see Xu Mingliang, who had just finished showering, walking in wearing a black T-shirt with the word SWAT printed on it and wide-legged pants, steaming hot.

He walked over to Chen Shu, casually picked up the cigarette case from the table, and under Chen Shu's gaze, took out a cigarette, lit it, squinted his eyes, and took a few deep drags with obvious enjoyment, remarking:

"Chen Chuan's white cigarettes are still the best!"

"hehe."

Chen Shu forced a smile and casually dealt with the situation, seemingly not pleased with the intrusion from outsiders.

Xu Mingliang, a veteran special police officer nearing forty, sat down with a thud, resting his right elbow on the table, and continued to puff on his cigarette.

Do you know why I came here?

Although Chen Shu was preoccupied and quite agitated at the moment, he was still drawn to the question posed by Xu Mingliang.

As the only bomb disposal expert in the special police detachment, Xu Mingliang had been doing the most dangerous job for more than ten years. According to seniority and merit, he should have been promoted within the detachment, not demoted to a brigade in a district or county.

After all, the branch is under the municipal bureau. Whether in terms of the level of the platform or the breadth of the network, Xu Mingliang, who has worked there for more than ten years, is definitely far superior to the district and county brigade that started from scratch.

“You don’t need to guess.” Xu Mingliang exhaled a smoke ring and laughed, “I asked to come down here myself.”

Next, Xu Mingliang recounted his story with his former apprentice, Xiao Ma.

A few years ago, Xu Mingliang received a notice from the brigade leadership that he would be promoted to officer at the end of the year and appointed as a deputy squadron leader under the brigade's directly subordinate patrol brigade. Therefore, the leadership hoped that he could formally train his apprentice, Xiao Ma, during the time before the transfer.

The idea behind bringing someone out is to ensure they can work independently, like Xu Mingliang in the past, becoming a true bomb disposal expert. They should be ready for any mission, and train when there are no missions.

Xiao Ma has been following Xu Mingliang for two or three years and has mastered most of the necessary skills and knowledge, but he still lacks practical experience.

Firstly, such police reports are extremely rare in Dongzhou City, only four or five a year. Under such circumstances, they are most likely false or unsubstantiated.

Secondly, Xu Mingliang, as a veteran bomb disposal expert, often prefers to go himself when faced with dangerous situations, leaving his apprentice, Xiao Ma, to stand at a distance and observe. Afterwards, they review the scene using video footage for analysis and instruction, but this approach lacks a certain depth.

For Xu Mingliang, this promotion was also a very happy thing. He knew that this was the result of his many years of hard work for the unit, and the thought of becoming a junior leader without having to deal with this dangerous thing made him extremely happy.

Sometimes he couldn't help it and often showed it to his apprentice, Xiao Ma.

Xiao Ma, born in the 95s, was initially resistant to being assigned by his superiors to work with Xu Mingliang on bomb disposal. However, there was nothing he could do; the police force was semi-military in its management, so he had no choice but to go, even if he didn't want to.

Fortunately, his master, Xu Mingliang, always took great care of him, teaching him everything he knew, both what he should and shouldn't have. And when real danger arose, he was the one who immediately rolled up his sleeves and got to the scene.

After two years, Xiao Ma's restless thoughts had subsided somewhat. But now, upon learning that Xu Mingliang was about to be promoted and transferred, and that he would be solely responsible for the bomb disposal work, his heart couldn't take it, and he found it difficult to concentrate on his studies and work.

Just at this point in time, a police report came in, saying that someone was illegally possessing explosives.

Although it's called a mine, its operation is actually quite simple for professional bomb disposal experts. They are only responsible for initial reconnaissance; the actual operation involves either using a robot to remove the explosive charge and place it in a blast-proof container for detonation, or remotely detonating it using a built-in detonator—in any case, it won't harm anyone.

At the time, Xu Mingliang wanted Xiao Ma to get started as soon as possible, so he arranged for Xiao Ma to go and check it out by himself.

"Just taking a look shouldn't cause any problems. The main thing is to give Xiao Ma a sense of being on the spot, which is a necessary process for him to go on missions alone in the future," Xu Mingliang thought.

He took a walkie-talkie, sat on the equipment vehicle, and remotely commanded the operation while watching the monitor. He was also thinking about whether to take this opportunity to give Xiao Ma a few challenging questions to test his ability to adapt to combat situations.

Unexpectedly, something went wrong in the end.

(End of this chapter)