Qin Yu threw his arm up, arching his body and leaning hard to the left.
“Thump!”
A muffled thud echoed as Qin Yu deflected the burly man, forcing him two steps back. Standing his ground, Qin Yu immediately threw his hands up and yelled, “Brother, brother, don’t make this hard on me! The Ninth District is nearly seven million square kilometers, packed with ruthless bosses. What the hell do I amount to? Why waste your time on me?”
Knocked back, the burly man gripped his knife, staring in shock. “You actually know a fucking thing or two?”
“What do I know? I’m just a lowly cop…!” Qin Yu grimaced, sweat pouring down his forehead as he yelled at the old man in the car. “Uncle Ma, I really can’t make the call on this case. Do me a favor and let me off the hook, alright?”
Old Man Ma frowned and glanced at Qin Yu. He pondered for a moment before shouting to the burly man, “Hold off on him for now.”
The burly man lowered his knife and took a slight step back.
“Since you claim this has nothing to do with you, tell me—who ordered you to crack this case?” Old Man Ma asked, clearly trying to back Qin Yu into a corner.
Instead of lying, Qin Yu responded with extremely specific details. “It’s an order from Police Headquarters. They gave the Police Department a strict deadline to wipe out the drug trafficking gangs in the Black Street area. Bureau Director Li is personally overseeing it. The case was dumped on Team One, and Team Leader Yuan Ke was the one who told me I had to get the job done before the deadline.”
Everyone was dumbfounded. No one expected this kid to not only skip covering for his Team Leader and Bureau Director Li, but to actually spill the beans so spinelessly and completely.
Seeing their stunned reactions, Qin Yu quickly added, “Uncle Ma, if you can pass that money up the ladder and get the higher-ups to say we can delay this, I’ll immediately redo the evidence and let your family go. I have absolutely no problem with that.”
“Heh, you really do know what to say to whoever you’re talking to, don’t you?” Old Man Ma stared at Qin Yu, an amused smirk on his face.
Qin Yu pressed his palms together and nodded repeatedly. “I’m just a bottom-tier cop trying to survive. Who could I possibly dare to offend?”
The old man fell silent for a few seconds, then waved his hand. “Let him go.”
“Brother Ma!” the burly man protested, raising his knife to block Qin Yu’s path.
“Let him go,” the old man repeated with another wave.
The four men glared coldly at Qin Yu before finally stepping aside.
“Don’t worry, Uncle Ma. Even though I can’t release your family right now, they’re still in my custody. I’ll make sure they’re well taken care of,” Qin Yu added, showing he knew how to play the game.
Old Man Ma paused, then suddenly chuckled. “Alright, I’ll leave it to you.”
“It’s no trouble at all,” Qin Yu nodded, then turned and walked away.
Inside the alley.
The burly man stepped forward, looking at Old Man Ma. “This kid is way too soft. I think he’s telling the truth—he really doesn’t have the authority to handle this.”
Old Man Ma lit another cigarette and gently shook his head. “He’s not soft. He’s slick.”
The burly man stared blankly at him.
“A truly soft guy would have pissed his pants the second he saw us,” Old Man Ma said, exhaling smoke. “Don’t you get it? He’s sending us a message.”
“What message?” the burly man asked.
“That this crackdown really has nothing to do with him. The problem is with Yuan Ke and Bureau Director Li,” Old Man Ma muttered softly. “He’s just the grunt doing the legwork. He didn’t want to make enemies out of us for his bosses, which is why he threw Yuan Ke and Fat Li under the bus without a second thought.”
“Ah, so his relationship with Yuan Ke isn’t as tight as we thought?” the burly man reasoned. “Yuan Ke promoted him, probably just to…?”
“Exactly,” the old man cut in. “I have a feeling this sudden official crackdown on illicit medicines has something to do with that other batch that hit the market recently. We used to be the only players in town, but now there’s fresh blood… so the real issue might just be competition.”
“So what’s next?”
“Pressuring this Qin Yu is useless now,” the old man said, waving his hand. “Get in the car. First, we figure out why the police are seizing the goods. Once we know that, we’ll know how to handle Ma Lao’er and Da Min’s situation.”
…
Qin Yu left the alley and hurried back to the Police Department as fast as he could.
Old Man Ma’s analysis was dead-on. Qin Yu simply refused to be anyone’s scapegoat. If Yuan Ke wanted to order him to crack a case, fine. But once the arrests were made and the inevitable backlash hit, the Team Leader needed to be the one absorbing it. There was absolutely no way Qin Yu was going to shoulder the heat. With his current lack of clout, he couldn’t withstand any of it; just maintaining his basic survival was hard enough.
The moment he arrived at the station, Qin Yu went straight to Yuan Ke and reported the ambush by Old Man Ma, watching closely for his superior’s reaction.
Hearing the report, Yuan Ke looked shocked and offered a stern warning. “These people are not to be fucked with. You need to watch your back right now. But don’t worry, I’ll take the heat on this end. Over the next few days, I’ll have people spread the word that I personally ordered your squad to wipe out the drug rings. That way, any future trouble will come straight to me.”
Hearing this, Qin Yu temporarily shelved his suspicions about Yuan Ke. The man’s response was flawless and surprisingly loyal, making him sound like a leader worth relying on.
With that minor crisis averted, Qin Yu immediately headed to the interrogation room. He continued to aggressively pressure Ma Lao’er and Da Min, determined to extract a confession as soon as possible and follow the trail to bigger fish.
…
After six grueling hours of interrogation, Ma Lao’er and Da Min kept their mouths shut, stubbornly refusing to cooperate.
Lao Hei finally lost his patience. He dragged the two men down to a basement with no cameras or recording equipment, employing alternative “methods” to force them to talk. But even after a vicious beating, neither man would spill a single word.
Left with no other options, Qin Yu had to turn to their underlings for leads, even though what they knew was not central to the operation.
Inside the interrogation room.
Taking a drag from his e-cigarette, Qin Yu tilted his head and glared at one of Ma Lao’er’s men. “Give me something useful! All you’re spitting out is trivial bullshit. How the hell am I supposed to help you like this?”
The lackey kept his head down. “Boss, it’s really not that I’m holding back. But now that we’ve been pinched, all the merchandise and the rest of the crew have definitely gone into hiding. Whatever intel I had before is useless now.”
“Maybe you just don’t understand how ruthless Lao Hei can be.” Qin Yu stood up impatiently. “Alright, I’m done talking. Let Lao Hei teach you a lesson.”
“Boss, boss, don’t do this! I can’t take a beating. Just let me think a bit more!”
“Then hurry the fuck up and think. I haven’t even eaten yet.” Qin Yu bent down and sat back down.
The lackey stared at the floor in deep thought for a long time before suddenly slapping his forehead. “Hey, I actually do have a lead.”
“What is it?” Qin Yu asked.
“Before we got nabbed, I overheard Ma Lao’er talking on the phone. It sounded like he was talking about some big shot supplier coming to Songjiang in the next few days,” the lackey said, his eyes lighting up.
Qin Yu’s eyes lit up with excitement. “Are you bullshitting me?”
…
In a slum in Songjiang.
A disheveled man gripped his phone and asked in a low voice, “Has the heat died down? The product is all backed up. I have to move it soon.”
Old Man Ma hesitated for a long moment before answering helplessly. “Let’s meet up and talk first.”