Police officer Chen Shu

Chapter 676

Outside the residential area, there is a garbage recycling station.

A dozen burly men dressed in black gathered together, silently looking at a man wearing black-rimmed glasses standing in the middle.

The man had a ruddy complexion and an excited expression. He was listening intently to the report from others, and judging from the positions of the people present, he should be the leader.

The "drunkard" who had been lying at the bottom of the target building stepped forward and said, "Brother Li, I heard it very clearly. They must have prepared a lot of gunpowder."

After a pause, the drunk man swayed slightly and hesitated for a moment before saying, "We're not professional riot police, and we don't have systematic support. We can't stop this thing on our own."

Everyone present was a criminal investigator, and they had seen many firearms. They weren't particularly afraid of guns. But this powder was different. If something went wrong, even if the suspect didn't want it to explode, it might still detonate at some point.

One explosion and someone will die.

Human life is no matter who you are, no matter who is a criminal, a police officer, or a member of the public. If someone dies during an operation, that is a matter of utmost importance.

Simply put, police officers may not be afraid of criminals carrying guns, but they are terrified of them carrying explosives.

The drunkard's emotions infected the other detectives, and they silently watched their deputy captain, no longer feeling the excitement they had been feeling earlier.

"Two hours. The command center only gave us two hours. If we can't take it down within those two hours, we'll have to hand over the credit to the criminal investigation team and the special police. You've been police officers for so many years, you know how valuable this operation is. If we succeed, we'll all be choking on our soup."

Li Meng tried to use this tremendous achievement to lure everyone to take the risk with him, after all, as a criminal police officer, he cared more about the results of solving cases than other police officers.

After speaking, he adjusted his glasses and looked at each of the officers in his team one by one.

Then, Li Meng adjusted her glasses and said in a deep voice, "When we're doing this later, I need a few people to rush in with me in the first batch. Who's willing?"

Capable criminal investigators aren't fools; they're tired of blatant empty promises. Normally, they'd give this deputy captain some face when he asked for leave or work-related favors, but now, for this critical operation, they're unwilling to volunteer easily.

No matter how great the credit, you still need to be alive to claim it. Besides, it's obvious that Li Meng wanted to steal the credit in this operation. They're used to not having a legitimate reason for the operation, so it's not a big problem. What these veteran detectives are worried about is that if the explosives detonate, it will be a troublesome matter to trace the responsibility afterward.

In reality, only the leading few benefit from this kind of credit-grabbing; most people end up working for nothing, at most receiving scraps like "collective second-class merit" or "collective third-class merit." It's tasteless, but not worth throwing away.

Right now, we have to follow Li Meng and charge in, which means that the majority of the credit will go to the deputy captain, while the rest of the people who follow along will get some of the rewards.

So even though Li Meng, as the deputy captain, spoke up, there was nothing substantial to offer, and everyone was still hesitant.

What was initially an awkward situation was quickly broken by someone else.

Wen Zhao was the first to step forward: "Li Da, count me in."

When the group was planning this earlier, Li Meng promised to guarantee him a detective rank at the very least. Although a detective rank doesn't have a specific grade, it's still a small step up, and it's a necessary step to be promoted to instructor.

The chick quickly agreed, "I'll go too."

He was already quite old, even a few years older than Li Meng, and frankly speaking, his path to politics was practically blocked. Li Meng had previously confidently offered him the position of captain of the Major Crimes Unit, but Xiao Ji knew that someone of Li Meng's rank had no chance of actually making it happen.

Later, Li Meng promised to give up his second-class merit so that his child could attend a top school in the district. Xiao Ji hesitated for a long time, but considering that past awards were still somewhat considered when promoting someone, and that it would also bring real benefits to his child, he nodded in agreement.

Qian Tan spat and said rudely, "Don't you dare compete with me, the remaining spot is mine."

During a private conversation, Li Meng revealed that at the beginning of next month, Qian Tan would be transferred out along with several other senior officers from the Criminal Investigation Department. Their receiving units had already been decided: a police station in Zhengming District, and even the westernmost part of Dongzhou City; further west was the neighboring city.

Qian Tan's desired position as "deputy director" was something Li Meng, a mere deputy captain, couldn't guarantee. However, she could subtly change the list under the table, allowing Qian Tan to be transferred to a unit closer to home.

Over the years, Qian Tan has gradually come to terms with his job, acknowledging his ordinariness and deciding to shift his focus from work to family. This requires a workplace close to home, and he finally agreed.

"Li Da, add me in too!" A young man who had only been a detective for less than two years stared at his deputy captain with shining eyes, thinking this was a golden opportunity. At any time, in any place, they would never be short of someone like him.

"Alright! Let's move out!" Li Meng slapped down with her palm, and the matter was settled.

Temporary command center.

"You bunch of pig-brains!"

Director Wang's eyebrows furrowed, and his eyes widened: "Hey! I really don't understand. You're all veteran criminal investigators with over ten years of experience, how could something like this happen?"

Director Wang pointed at Ren Guoqing with great distress, on the verge of exploding in anger, a furious outburst.

Ren Guoqing's face turned pale and then red; he knew this matter had blown up.

If it's just a simple case of losing track of someone, that's manageable. Since the exact location of the neighborhood has been determined, as long as we put in the effort, we can just pile up manpower and resources on the front lines and identify the person again in two or three days.

But the problem is, why do people lose face?
Could they have already discovered the police who were following them?

Will they be alarmed by this and take preemptive action?

And that's the key point.

In a desperate situation, it's hard to guarantee that the other party won't immediately take measures and create some horrific or terrifying incident within the community.

"Go to the scene right now and keep an eye on them. Make sure there are no more problems!" Zhang Xuming, the branch executive, walked over to Ren Guoqing, tugged at his sleeve, and glanced at the door a few times.

"Okay, I'm coming right away!" Ren Guoqing realized what was happening, grabbed the police cap from the table, and jogged out.

As I was leaving, I bumped into Chen Shu, who was carrying a stack of documents and walking inside.

"Ren Da, remember to change into civilian clothes," Chen Shu whispered, clearly having overheard the argument inside.

"Sigh." Ren Guoqing stomped his foot heavily, let out a long sigh, and ran out.

Director Wang slammed his hand on the table, wanting to curse but suddenly losing the mood. He could only plop down in the chair, crossing his arms over his chest. His dejected appearance was a far cry from the high spirits he had when he first took office.

"Director Wang, bad news." Chen Shu came to the table and handed over the documents in his hand.

"Sigh, what news could be worse than the current situation? Tell me, I don't want to see it," Director Wang said weakly, waving his hand.

"The information from the Yiwu City Public Security Bureau says that these three people had previously purchased large quantities of matches from them," Chen Shu said in a low voice.

"What, matches? Why are they buying matches? To start a fire?"

"Matches are an important raw material for making explosives."

"What! Explosives?"

Director Wang suddenly stood up in shock, staring wide-eyed at Chen Shu. His Adam's apple bobbed twice, and he stammered as he answered, showing utter astonishment at the conclusion.

In response to Director Wang's shock and deep suspicion, Chen Shun could only nod.

"Yes, Director Wang, there are explosives."

(End of this chapter)