The next day, at 8:30 AM.
Yuan Ke sat in his private office, smiling as he told Qin Yu, “Let’s skip the hypocritical pleasantries. Everyone involved in last night’s case gets a subsidy of three hundred. The money comes out of the team’s budget…”
Qin Yu stared blankly for a second before immediately giving a thumbs up. “Generous.”
“Hurry up with the interrogations. I’m waiting for the results.”
“Will do.” Qin Yu nodded. “If there’s nothing else, I’ll head out.”
“Hey, wait a second.” Yuan Ke opened his small cabinet, took out a new pair of leather boots, and asked, “What’s your shoe size?”
“Forty-three.”
“Perfect, we wear the same size.” Yuan Ke placed the shoebox on his desk. “A friend gave them to me, but I haven’t worn them. Take them.”
“These… these look expensive.”
“A pair of shoes is nothing,” Yuan Ke said, waving his hand. “Take them.”
Qin Yu glanced down at the shoebox, suddenly realizing that Yuan Ke’s loyalty to his subordinates wasn’t just empty talk. As long as you produced results, he would fight to get you every benefit he could.
“Thank you, Team Leader Yuan.”
“Don’t mention it. Go on,” Yuan Ke smiled.
“Right!”
Qin Yu left with the shoebox.
…
Over the next two days, the brothers in Group Three poured almost all their energy into the interrogations. But to Qin Yu’s surprise, Third Uncle and Ma Lao’er were incredibly tight-lipped. Although the two lackeys had already spilled everything, the ringleaders were different—one played dumb and acted crazy, while the other refused to say a single word.
Interrogation wasn’t Qin Yu’s strong suit. This wasn’t the Unplanned Zone; many of his old methods and experiences couldn’t be used here. When it came purely to extracting confessions from criminals, the rest of Group Three clearly had more experience. So, he simply handed the task over to Lao Hei, Guan Qi, and the others, waiting only for clues and results.
Thursday afternoon, a little past three o’clock.
Qin Yu was sitting in the office shooting the breeze with Qi Lin, Lao Hei, Xiao Liu, and the others when Zhu Wei swaggered in from outside, slightly buzzed.
“Fuck, no interrogations? Everyone taking a break?” Zhu Wei let out a boozy belch, grinning as he asked.
“Yeah, just taking a breather.” Qin Yu nodded.
“Smack!”
Zhu Wei habitually slapped the back of Qin Yu’s head. “Scoot over.”
Qin Yu smiled and shifted his weight. “Stop messing with me. Why do you always have to slap my head?”
“Fuck, what’s wrong with tapping your head? You’re about to become a regular officer, so you’re putting on airs now, huh?” Zhu Wei teased.
“Why are you out drinking during work hours again?” Qin Yu casually asked. “I mean, even if your liver can handle it, your wallet can’t, right? A drinking session isn’t cheap!”
“Too many friends, too many social obligations, no choice.” Zhu Wei crossed his legs. “My family is pushing me to get married. They introduced me to some Japanese broad, so I went to meet her and had a few drinks.”
“Ah.”
Qin Yu nodded, deliberately pulling a Chunghwa cigarette from his pocket. He clamped it between his lips and lit it with his lighter.
“The fuck?!” Zhu Wei froze, immediately craning his neck to curse. “You bastard, didn’t you say you were out of smokes? Why are you holding out on your own brothers? Come on, give me one.”
“I’m out. This is the last one,” Qin Yu replied, taking a drag.
“Damn, stop bullying the Group Leader. Those smokes are expensive, why are you always mooching off him?” Guan Qi joked, then extended a hand with a smile. “But I’m different. I made a breakthrough today, so by all rights, you should reward me with one.”
If no one was willing to joke around and act out, probably no one in the group would dare mess with Qin Yu. But with a reckless idiot like Zhu Wei constantly roasting Qin Yu for having no background and no money, it made everyone else lose their filter, regardless of the occasion.
“I’m really out,” Qin Yu said, pushing Zhu Wei away. “I only had this one left.”
“Fuck, so stingy. Hurry up, give me one.” Zhu Wei reached out and grabbed Qin Yu’s wrist.
“Group Leader, don’t be so cheap. Take them out and share. Even half a cigarette each is fine.” Lao Hei leaned in as well.
“I seriously don’t have any.” Qin Yu leaned back in his chair, dodging them.
“Rob him!” Zhu Wei yelled, his breath reeking of alcohol. He pinned Qin Yu’s arms down and bellowed, “Come on, come on, hold him down! Empty his pockets and divide the loot! Motherfucker, this kid doesn’t know the rules. Being this stingy when he just got here…”
“Old Zhu, stop messing around, I really don’t have any,” Qin Yu insisted with a laugh.
“Hurry up, hold him down. Xiao Liu, grab his legs!” Zhu Wei continued shouting.
The atmosphere grew rowdier. Aside from Qi Lin and the two Thai brothers who were absent due to injuries, every member of Group Three rushed over to the chair, grabbing at Qin Yu to steal his cigarettes.
“Fuck, stop it, I’m really out…”
Qin Yu wrestled with the crowd, his face plastered with a smile. The young, strapping officers followed Zhu Wei’s lead, roughhousing with Qin Yu in a chaotic dogpile.
“How are we going to survive the day? You guys are acting like you’ve never smoked in your lives,” Qi Lin said with a smile, getting up to pour some water.
“Damn it, you think I can’t handle you? Hand them over.” Zhu Wei pinned Qin Yu’s arm and reached for his pants pocket.
Right at that moment, Qin Yu suddenly grabbed the police dagger on his desk. Pinching the blade between his thumb and index finger, he viciously stabbed downward.
“Thwack!”
With one strike, Zhu Wei instantly froze in place.
“Stop messing with me, alright? Keep pushing it and I’ll stab you…” Qin Yu shouted with a laugh. Gripping the tip of the blade with his right hand, he pulled the knife out and plunged it toward Zhu Wei’s thigh again.
“Thwack!”
The second strike pierced Zhu Wei’s leg, and he immediately stumbled two steps backward.
The moment they saw blood, the other group members froze in their tracks. Qi Lin stared blankly at Qin Yu, his eyes filled with shock.
“Oh, fuck? What happened? Did I actually stab you? Look, I was just making a gesture.” Qin Yu feigned surprise, immediately grabbing the knife and standing up. He looked down at the wound on Zhu Wei’s leg. “You okay?”
The intense pain made Zhu Wei instantly snap. He shoved at Qin Yu. “You fucking pull a knife when we’re just playing around?”
Qin Yu looked up, still smiling. “I told you to stop messing with me. I don’t know my own strength. You kept pushing the joke, and look, I stabbed you.”
Hearing this, everyone in the room fell completely silent. As their gazes shifted to Qin Yu, the playful expressions from moments ago vanished from their faces.
“Don’t mess with me anymore, hear me? Haha.” Qin Yu smiled, putting the knife down and reaching out to help Zhu Wei up. “Come on, come on, let’s get you to the infirmary.”
Zhu Wei hesitated for a moment. He looked at Qin Yu without losing his temper again, then lowered his head and followed him to the infirmary.
…
After this minor incident, no one in Group Three ever dared to take a joke with Qin Yu too far again. That naturally included the reckless Zhu Wei. Furthermore, no one treated him like a rookie officer anymore.
Watching from the sidelines, Qi Lin had a clear view of exactly how Qin Yu handled Zhu Wei. He suddenly realized that when Qin Yu was smiling and chatting with you, his mind might be on something entirely different. You might think you were close, that you were friends, but the moment you crossed a line, he would use an unimaginable method to put you in your place—all while leaving you an out to save face. At the same time, Qi Lin recalled how Lao San, who had always been domineering within the team, hadn’t dared to cause any trouble for Qin Yu since the kidnapping case. What did that mean? It meant Qin Yu had already dealt with him in private.
It was only then that Qi Lin realized that perhaps only someone like Qin Yu could thrive in such a complex environment.
Bold, meticulous, worldly, and deeply perceptive of human nature.
Forged in the Unplanned Zone for over a decade, perhaps he was just waiting to spread his wings here.
…
After parting ways with Zhu Wei at the infirmary, Qin Yu suddenly remembered the apartment he had rented. He had been so busy these past few days that he hadn’t even visited it, so he grabbed Lao Mao and headed toward Courtyard 88.
Meanwhile.
Inside a warehouse on Tu Zha Street, a man around sixty years old leaned on a cane and muttered, “Qin Yu. I’ve never heard of him.”
“I had someone look into it. He’s new.”
“He just got here and already locked up Xiao’er and Da Min. Does he have backing?” The old man pondered for a moment before turning to give an order. “Take some men and go find this Qin Yu.”