Police officer Chen Shu

Chapter 420 Only the first place will be remembered.

With the competition approaching, it will be extremely difficult for Chen Shu, who comes from a police station and has only been a special police officer for a total of two years, to win first place in this city-wide special police skills competition.

Fortunately, the usual champion First Brigade underestimated the team. In the previous competition, in order to take the opportunity to train the police officers' on-the-spot ability to cope with the provincial capital competition at the end of the year, they only sent the rookies in the team. As a result, Chen Shu's Zhengming Brigade came in second place on the overall score list, only two points away from the first place First Brigade.

In the final team event, the score difference between the first and second place was exactly three points, which revealed Chen Shu's earlier reason for giving up the sniper competition.

The more experienced police officers on the sidelines had already noticed something fishy going on.

"Tsk tsk, I knew it! How could a veteran sniper like Chen Shu miss? Zhengming's goal this time is very clear: he wants to take first place!"

"I initially thought these young guys from the police station were just trying to cause trouble for our SWAT team, but I was wrong. They're not just trying to cause trouble, they're blatantly trying to sabotage us!"

"Hey, don't talk about you being a SWAT officer and me being a SWAT officer. Now that Chen Shu has come to us SWAT officers, we're all brothers. We SWAT officers don't have such clear-cut divisions like in the local police stations; we're all one family!"

"Hehe, that's a good idea. Putting everything else aside, just look at what happened to that big team. I reckon even if he trained for a few more years, he still wouldn't be able to catch up."

"How do you know Zhengming is no good? Hey, have you all checked Chen Shu's resume and achievements? Tsk tsk, our bureau hasn't produced someone like him in years."

On the stands, a thin policeman's eyes lit up. One sentence he uttered attracted the attention of those around him, who gathered around and urged him to say it a few more times.

On the platform across two aisles, Captain Gao also spotted Zhengming, this year's dark horse.
Old Gao held in his hand the real-time scores and rankings of each brigade, which had just been copied and sent over by Director Chu from the brigade office. The first place was naturally the First Brigade, but the second place was surprisingly the Zhengming Brigade, which had always been last in the rankings. This rapid improvement impressed Old Gao, but also made him somewhat suspicious.

He glanced at Director Wang, who was sitting next to him intently watching the other teams' competition, then thought for a moment and beckoned Director Chu over, whispering, "You didn't copy it wrong?"

Director Chu was taken aback, then realized that the detachment leader must have seen Zhengming's unusually good performance this year.

He took out a handwritten note from his shirt pocket and handed it to Lao Gao: "Gao Zhi, is this Zhengming's score? I thought it was unusual at first glance, so I went to the organizing committee to check Zhengming's detailed participation information. Take a look."

"By the way, I also specifically asked someone to retrieve their personnel records and competition results from previous years. In terms of personnel, they are basically the same group of people from the past. I think the scores should be correct, and there is no problem with them."

"Ah."

Having said all that, Lao Gao naturally knew it was probably true, but he still took the note and glanced at it. Apart from Xu Mingliang, whom he recognized from his previous job as a bomb disposal expert in the brigade, he had never heard of any of the other names.

Apart from "Chen Shu" in the captain's column.

He quietly slipped the note back into his shirt pocket.

Seeing that the branch captain had stopped speaking, Director Chu knew it was time for him to step down. However, after a moment's hesitation, he thought he understood the branch captain's concern about the direct subordinate brigade winning the championship, and still spoke frankly, only his voice became even lower: "Chief Gao, I just went to the judges' side."

He paused, and seeing that the detachment leader was looking at him directly, he continued, "Beibang's score in the team event was a few points lower than in previous years because they accidentally wounded a hostage during the operation. However, they are still in first place among the detachments that have been assessed. Hmm, do you think I should go and put in a good word with the judges?"

Old Gao felt a chill run down his spine. He never expected that his meticulous office director would think of the possibility of the First Direct Brigade being defeated, something that had never happened in previous years.

Indeed, this man named Chen Shu has such outstanding past achievements that it's hard not to have some thoughts about him.

The First Directly Subordinate Brigade is an operational brigade directly stationed within the branch, and it is a strike force comprised entirely of police officers with resources from the entire branch.

It is both the face of the detachment and its sharpest weapon. If the First Battalion loses in the competition, it will not only be the First Battalion that loses face, but the entire detachment will become a laughing stock among its peers.

Including him, the detachment leader.

At this moment, Director Wang, who had been silently and intently watching the game, coughed twice and casually said, "Old Gao, what are you doing, a squad leader? Come and watch the game with me."

His tone was calm, yet it resonated like thunder. Old Gao turned to look at the newly appointed deputy director of the municipal bureau, who had taken over the SWAT team, waiting for his next words.

There was no further response for a long time.

Old Gao then waved for Director Chu to leave, moved his chair forward, straightened his back, and looked seriously at the competition venue. For the first time, he began to seriously observe his team members who were sweating on the field.

If he wasn't mistaken, Zhengming Brigade and First Brigade were only two points apart in total score, and the first and second place in the final team event were exactly three points apart.

"Zhengming, Chen Shu, you're quite interesting."

Chen Shu gathered his team members together and smiled brightly: "So, it's the last match. Are you confident you can beat Team One?"

Chen Chuan, who hadn't won a single point in the competition, was the first to jump out: "I thought these guys were something special, but now I see they're just lookers who dress up properly. Forget about you real SWAT officers, even a seasoned veteran like me from the city bureau could swap clothes with them and look just as good!"

"Haha, Brother Chuan, you're too modest!"

"Hey, you know what, with Chuan Ge's square face, if he puts on a proper set of gear, he'll definitely look like a real pro!"

"Brother Chuan, you absolutely must seize this opportunity and try your best to help us win this team event and take the championship!" Pu Shu, who won the individual event but could not participate in the team event, held Chen Chuan's right hand with both hands, pleading with tears streaming down his face.

It's unclear whether the snot and tears were real or just meant to disgust Chen Chuan.

However, Chen Chuan, with his high emotional intelligence, used self-deprecation to also bring down the First Detachment Assault Team, which had always been high and mighty in the eyes of the special police, to "suffer humiliation" along with him, thus relieving some of the pressure from his long-standing authority as the top officer.

As the laughter and noise of the crowd gradually quieted down, all eyes turned to Chen Shu, and the atmosphere became serious.

"We were lucky this time and made it to second place, only two points behind first. If we can win the team competition, first place in the overall score will no longer be a dream. Don't you really want to give it a try?" Chen Shu said in a calm voice, seemingly asking a question, but actually stating a given fact.

In the next few minutes, Chen Shu briefly analyzed the mistakes made by the team in the previous competition and stated his plans.

"A large group of officers used firearms and wounded hostages, which is a penalty according to the rules, so our bottom line is not to fire. Secondly, our rappelling wasn't skillful enough, our breaching of the door was too ordinary, and our negotiations were utter nonsense. If we did those things, we definitely wouldn't get high marks. So we need to approach it from another angle. Furthermore, we shouldn't ignore the public's perception; we need to put on a bit of a show of bravado, and their cheers and encouragement are a plus."

Chen Shu spoke eloquently, and the team members looked expectant and excited. This kind of competition only happens once a year, and each time it's a major event for the Dongzhou City Special Police System. If they achieve anything in this competition, they can brag about it for a whole year!
"Team Leader Chen, it's your turn next. Please proceed to the waiting area to prepare." A staff member from the martial arts arena ran over.

Chen Shu took a deep breath, looked at the young and excited team members in front of him one by one, and nodded: "Let's go."

As the line headed to the waiting area, Chen Shu, who was standing at the very back, was pulled back by Xu Mingliang.

Xu Mingliang said in a low voice, "Captain Chen, I think your unconventional move is a bit risky. If the judges don't like it and give it a low score, all our previous efforts will be wasted! Team projects with high scores are easily outpaced, and we might end up in the bottom three. Take my advice, play it safe, just follow the normal strategy, and at least we can stay in the top three!"

Chen Shu smiled at Xu Mingliang, took a few steps forward to find a good spot with a wide view, pointed to the display area in the distance where the flags of the various district and county brigades were flying, and then turned his head and smiled:

"Brother Xu, with so many flags, besides the one standing alone at the front that belongs to the First Brigade, which was in first place last year, there's a whole bunch of tigers and dragons mixed together in all sorts of colors. Can you tell which brigade they belong to? Can you tell which two were in the top three last year?"

Although Xu Mingliang, who had been used to lying down, had made great efforts to catch up in the past few months and even won the individual event for the team, at this moment, he suddenly felt that he was getting old.

He looked in the direction of the sound and saw that even though it was only a few steps away, he could clearly feel a resolute aura rising up, as if it was constantly pushing him away.

The young policeman, standing tall and proud, leaned on his rifle, his gaze fixed on the undulating flag display area, his expression profound.

"Brother Xu, only by being number one can you be remembered."

(End of this chapter)