Chapter 794

During the seven-day National Day holiday, only Zhao Jiwei in Ping'an City's public security system truly enjoyed it; everyone else endured the hardship and fatigue of standing guard and on-duty work, while Zhao Jiwei used not a single brain cell, simply following his older brother's footsteps and effortlessly earning merit.

With the Lao Zhao family taken down and Liu Young Master arrested, Wang Yan's work became much smoother. The entire bar street was thoroughly inspected, over ten thousand ID checks were conducted, and more than a thousand individuals not on record were identified.

This ratio was certainly high, but given Ping'an City's overall situation, the unique nature of the bar street, and the special characteristics of this crowd of pleasure-seekers, it became an acceptable normal phenomenon.

This data indicated that Ping'an City's operators had not yet been eradicated; with the Lao Zhao family gone, others had seized the market, and these people were likely drinking two taels more alcohol than usual during this period.

But they failed to realize that without the Lao Zhao family drawing attention, anti-drug forces had now turned their full gaze upon them—whether they could even survive two months was questionable. After all, even the mighty Lao Zhao family had been taken down; how could these people continue living so carefree?

As for the Lao Zhao family's affairs, it unfolded exactly as Wang Yan had expected: the entire city searched for six days, and the operation ended as soon as the holiday did. This wasn't without benefit—at least tourists felt quite satisfied: if they encountered trouble, police arrived within five minutes and handled matters swiftly and decisively. After all, tourists typically faced only a few scenarios: losing belongings, quarreling with other tourists, or being cheated by locals.

No cases of theft occurred, because thieves dared not act—police were everywhere; only someone truly insane would steal at such a time. Fights, however, happened regularly and were handled case by case; most often, both sides received equal punishment and the matter was dropped, unless the violence was too severe, someone was hospitalized, or the victim didn't fight back…

Cases of being cheated were much simpler: police arrived, summoned market supervision personnel, forced on-site compensation and fines, and ordered business closures for rectification. This was overseen by municipal leadership; directives had already been issued before the holiday during the Golden Week preparation meeting, so there was little bureaucracy, and it earned considerable goodwill from tourists.

As for the deeper issues tied to the Lao Zhao family, those had nothing to do with Wang Yan. Politics, after all, is the art of compromise—what to rush, what to delay, all depends on respective interests. But one thing was certain: the city would undergo a series of major personnel reshuffles; the province would likely take about half a year.

If Beijing applied stronger pressure, a "tiger hunting" news story could even emerge this month.

All Wang Yan could do was withstand all kinds of so-called pressure, crack down on the immediate illegal and criminal activities, and leave the behind-the-scenes matters to others. Problems always have solutions—that was certain. He had raised the issue; as long as the Lao Zhao family was taken down, the rest could be handled by whoever wanted to deal with it. It was simply a matter of passing the buck up the chain, finally landing at the provincial level, then Beijing.

As for the matter concerning Liu Yilin, that was even less of an issue. Although these individuals were deeply entangled, they were all second-generation elites; though their parents held power, it wasn't enough to be untouchable. Moreover, with this uncontrolled brute and rookie Wang Yan watching from below, they were all burning their own asses.

The key was, he was also extremely popular: the title "Officer Wang" had become widely known among netizens. A previous property dispute incident was dug up again, and the municipal bureau issued an official notice explaining why this young officer had received two commendations and two third-class merits in just three months.

Reporters from all sides sought interviews with Wang Yan, but he refused; instead, they went to Dongning Village, Xincheng Aofu, and Fengdan Bali to interview ordinary citizens, even interviewing the couple whose dogs had bitten people and who had been publicly vilified. These two had no courage to speak ill of Wang Yan—netizens had bullied them so fiercely they wished they were dead, and they kept apologizing, begging forgiveness, promising to reform, and pleading for the netizens to restore peace to their family life.

Wang Yan didn't really care about these two, but he also thought the netizens' frenzied trampling went too far; they had already been publicly punished once. Not only were they no longer allowed to walk their dogs without leashes, they now dared not even keep dogs—his goal of compulsory education had been achieved.

So, out of humanitarian spirit, Wang Yan recorded a video addressing the couple's case and, incidentally, explained relevant laws regarding rumor-mongering, spreading rumors, defamation, and cyberbullying, effectively closing the chapter on the matter.

As a result, he currently enjoyed massive online popularity, with "Balihe Police Affairs" having over 700,000 followers. If Wang Yan went viral online, that would be fine—after all, you can suppress something temporarily, but not forever.

Consequently, over the past few days, he casually dismantled Liu Yilin's so-called inner circle—every last one was caught. Those who had been traveling or enjoying themselves in other cities were also apprehended.

For this, the municipal bureau established two special task forces: one targeting the Lao Zhao family, the other targeting these young masters, even borrowing personnel from various sub-bureaus—these were major cases, and manpower was insufficient.

Overall, this National Day holiday met Wang Yan's expectations: the Lao Zhao family he wanted to take down was gone, and the ones he hadn't planned to target—Yue Wei and that group of young masters—were also taken down. The harvest was substantial…

Early that morning, Wang Yan drove Zhao Jiwei to the sub-bureau, found Liu Dui Leader in the Anti-Drug Unit, his eyes dark-circled and face gaunt.

"Oh my, Liu Dui Leader, it's only been a few days—how did you end up like this?" Wang Yan exclaimed dramatically, then plopped himself onto the office sofa.

"Who else but you? National Day was already heavy with duties, and both the Lao Zhao family and those young masters were involved in drugs. Though the municipal bureau is leading the case, us foot soldiers still have our share of work. Just the other day, we traveled to Yunnan and Guangdong—worn out completely." Liu Dui Leader frowned, sipped coffee, then gulped strong tea to counteract the caffeine.

"Your health matters most, Liu Dui Leader," Wang Yan said sympathetically, but then told Zhao Jiwei to place a USB drive on Liu's desk. "But you've got new work again, Liu Dui Leader."

"What work?"

"Liu Dui Leader really needs to rest—you're getting sluggish. What else could it be? I'm practically on par with police dogs in the Anti-Drug Unit, and I can't let my colleagues' expectations go unmet. These are the lists of suspected drug users we identified during our bar street security checks: over a hundred on-record repeat offenders, plus 1,484 not on record. Knowing you're busy, we came here specially to deliver them."

"How many?" Liu Dui Leader snapped awake, incredulous.

"A total of 1,625," Wang Yan replied with a smile.

Sssss…

Liu Dui Leader sucked in a sharp breath, contributing his share to global warming. He quickly plugged the USB drive into his computer and opened the list.

The list had been compiled by Zhao Jiwei with great care: beyond all the details, the boy had categorized suspects by address—clear at a glance.

After copying and pasting once, Liu Dui Leader pulled out the USB drive and returned it to Zhao Jiwei, offered a few casual words of praise, then turned to Wang Yan and asked, "How confident are you?"

"Of course I'm confident—why else would we come here? Liu Dui Leader, you've got to have some trust; otherwise, all those people I previously gave you would've been innocent."

Liu Dui Leader laughed: "Don't overthink it. The numbers are just so shocking. But your ability is truly incredible—you outperform police dogs. Can you share your method? If everyone had your skill, our anti-drug work would be so much easier."

Wang Yan shook his head: "No. There's no shortcut. It requires vast relevant knowledge and meticulous observational insight. Otherwise, I wouldn't have kept it to myself—I'd have written it all down long ago."

Liu Dui Leader sighed, then smiled: "I suppose I was being too idealistic. If anyone could do this, the state would have already promoted it nationwide—drug abuse would've vanished from our country long ago. But thank you, Wang Yan. We'll investigate all these thousand-plus individuals—we'll surely find big fish. And regardless, our work this year is guaranteed to be saturated; everyone will benefit. This is all your doing. Don't worry—I'll definitely recommend you for merit."

"Ah, Liu Dui Leader, don't say that. Merit belongs to everyone, not just us. Without everyone's hard work, how could we crack drug traffickers? How could the people enjoy peace? Only through unity can we overcome hardship—we dare not claim credit."

"Highly principled," Liu Dui Leader could only say. He thought this speech was excellent—he planned to use it when reporting to Song Ju, and filed it away…

"Alright, Liu Dui Leader, we won't disturb you anymore. Let's go see Luo Team Leader—earlier we caught a perverted murderer; I wonder how far the investigation has come."

Wang Yan waved goodbye without asking Liu to see them off, and headed to the Criminal Investigation Division. He'd been here several times before and was somewhat familiar. Even if he weren't, he now commanded serious respect—everyone greeted him with friendly smiles.

"What brings you here? Asking about the Yue Wei case?" Luo Team Leader rose with a smile and poured tea for Wang Yan.

Watching the tea leaves unfurl in the hot water, Wang Yan asked, "I came to deliver the list of suspected drug users to Liu Dui Leader—stopped by on the way. Have you found the body?"

"The Yue Wei case has been nonstop. The special task force remains active. After continuous interrogations and investigations for so many days, we even sent people to Heilongjiang. We now have full knowledge of Yue Wei's case. He killed fifteen people total; before this, he killed three more in his hometown in Heilongjiang—all women, all with clear signs of prostitution."

So far, only two survivors remain: one was the woman from the night of the incident; the other was the woman who survived when Yue Wei's mother died. After prolonged interrogation, Yue Wei finally revealed the burial sites—in Hulushan, in the northeast.

The kid is physically strong—he carried and dragged each body alone, dug the pits, and buried them all. Twelve bodies total. We received confirmation yesterday; I was just about to report to Chief Song and lead a team to exhume them. Want to come along?"

"Nah, no need. Nothing to see—it'd just ruin my mood. Since that's settled, I won't keep you. Can't let Song Ju catch me—I've stirred up too much trouble lately; he probably can't stand me."

"You know that, huh? You shouldn't have meddled. But you really are impressive—causing such a huge stir and still walking away unscathed. I admire you. Police should be like you."

"Come on, Luo Team Leader, I don't want trouble either—but what can I do when I stumble into it? No more talk—I'm leaving."

Luo Team Leader chuckled, shaking his head. He truly respected Wang Yan—doing what others couldn't, daring what others feared, utterly fearless. Yet Wang Yan's actions were flawless, fully aligned with a police officer's duty—so why did so many believe he was wrong?

Probably because the world is sick, and red has been stained black…

On the way back, Zhao Jiwei couldn't sit still.

Wang Yan smiled: "Already celebrating?"

"Don't count the three-month probation reduction—I've never earned merit before, not even a third-class merit. I've been here for months—I've asked around. Among everyone, only Cao Army Supervisor got a third-class merit, Gao You once got a third-class merit and once a second-class merit; everyone else only got commendations."

"Yue Wei confessed, the bodies were found—it won't take long to close the case. I'm about to get my third-class merit! Yan Ge, how can I not be thrilled?"

Zhao Jiwei was ecstatic, his eyes gleaming with ambition.

"You're celebrating a bit too early—it'll still take a week to close the case. You're already happy now, but when…"

"Then I'll be even happier! No, I've got to call my parents right away—tell them the good news." He pulled out his phone and dialed his parents, speaking in thick Shandong dialect.

Wang Yan smiled, shaking his head. Earlier, Zhao Jiwei had been excited, but not this intensely—because the suspect hadn't confessed, the bodies hadn't been found, the case couldn't be closed. Now that he had confessed, all that remained was autopsies, victim identification, and writing the report—and the case would be closed…

Indeed, as Wang Yan predicted, exactly one week passed: one day to exhume the bodies, four days to confirm identities with Heilongjiang, and two days to write the report.

Three days after closing the case, on October 31st, a Monday, the officers of Balihe Police Station gathered early in the back courtyard again—Song Ju arrived to award medals, as Wang Yan's second-class merit and Zhao Jiwei's third-class merit had been approved.

Song Ju was thoroughly familiar with this routine—it was an essential self-cultivation for any leader. He lavished praise on Wang Yan and Zhao Jiwei, then affirmed the work achievements of the Balihe Police Station. Only half a month had passed, yet public satisfaction continued to rise steadily—highly encouraging.

After completing the routine, the comrades dispersed to attend to their own duties. Wang Yan, following protocol, joined Song Ju and Wang Suozhang in smoking, clutching his medals and certificates.

Even the most senior leaders could never smoke inside a police station—it would damage their dignity and authority. Besides, smoking together and chatting casually was an intimate act; at higher ranks, such signals could not be casually sent out.

But Song Ju was an exception. He was young himself, had once worked in Balihe, and Wang Shouyi was his master. Of course, Wang Yan—the prodigy of merit—was also involved. Smoking together made them closer, and that was better.

"For now, the Zhao family and those second-generation cases seem settled, but you still need to be careful—always stay alert. You've angered too many people over just these two matters. Not just you—I and Master are also caught up in your fallout."

"I stand upright and act justly—why should I fear them?"

"You're not afraid, but am I?" Wang Shouyi sighed. "I've got over seven months left before I retire. Can't you let me enjoy a peaceful end? Go bother the next station chief."

Wang Yan shook his head with amusement: "Relax, Chief, Song Ju. With these two incidents, those people will stay at least two li away from me—they won't even dare show their faces. Even if I wanted trouble, I couldn't find anyone."

"That's true—you've built quite a fearsome reputation now…" Song Ju chuckled wryly. "You're stubborn and unyielding—no one can touch you. Listen: good news. Once the Zhao family and those second-generation cases are officially closed, you'll get a First-Class Merit, and Zhao Jiwei will get a Second-Class Merit."

"What? Changed your mind?"

"Logically, I shouldn't be satisfied with what you've done—how could a leader be? But Director Liang ultimately agreed. He didn't say it outright, but he hinted it to me. Don't overthink it—you think they're really afraid of you, some petty cop with a bit of money? No. They just don't want to play the villain anymore. The matter's already out, the people are dealt with, the provincial and Beijing authorities all know. Why bother holding a grudge?"

"But the more they act this way, the more careful you must be, understand? In life, how many people are truly magnanimous? They preach morality when it's about others, but when it's about themselves, they'd kill you in a heartbeat. I shouldn't even be saying this—but you get my meaning, right? Don't stir up trouble. Just do your job well."

"Aren't you eager to solve cases? Including your station's three, our district still has eight homicide cases, plus one arson and three major robberies—all unsolved for decades. I'll assign you two people. You can go solve them."

"You make it sound like I'm doing something extraordinary, Song Ju. Isn't this just my job?" Wang Yan waved his hand. "Solving cases is incidental. What I truly prefer is visiting the masses."

"Speaking of which—weren't you writing a paper? Did you finish it? Did you submit it to Qiushi? And the legal exam ended just two days ago—how did you do?"

"You're not letting me rest, are you? I can't control other places, but in Balihe? Whoever breaks the law, I arrest. Otherwise, I'd be betraying Dong Nianfeng and Zhao Zhenye."

Wang Yan smiled. Looking at the helpless Song Ju and the already resigned Wang Suozhang, he added: "The legal exam? No problem—I'll get an A certificate. The paper was finished two days ago—I submitted it to every journal. They may not have reviewed mine yet, but I'll hear back in a few days. Qiushi? Not missed—I submitted three: one on mass work experience, one on insights, one on reflections. This month, I'll get replies."

"You actually wrote it? Why didn't you tell me?" Wang Shouyi asked, astonished.

"It wasn't confirmed yet—no point mentioning it."

Wang Yan wasn't boasting. Over the past week, he hadn't rested. On his shift, he sat in the station all day to finish everything—and then, without sleep, took the legal exam the next day. Routine stuff.

His literary talent was unquestionable—he'd once been a literary elder, an expert scholar. Writing papers came easily; his prose was brilliant. And he'd genuinely visited twenty thousand people. What he wrote was his real experience and reflections—concise, distilled, using compelling stories to convey profound ideas. For him, it was effortless.

He'd seized the opportunity with Qiushi—the most difficult and impactful journal.

He was a twenty-two-year-old fresh graduate from police academy, born into a peasant family—his household registration was still agricultural. His parents were dead; he'd fought his way up alone. He did mass work, wrote about mass work—it was hard struggle, deep implementation of thought, rooting himself at the grassroots, going among the people. And his writing was top-tier. His profile was stacked with buffs.

Once they learned his background and confirmed his work experience, his papers would be accepted and published—only the question was how many of the three would be chosen. When that happened, the impact would be enormous…

Song Ju smiled: "You're surprisingly low-key—submitted everything and didn't say a word."

"What's there to be loud about? I'm a billionaire too, but I don't strut around like I own the sky." Wang Yan said. "I'm not bragging—my papers will definitely be published. And what I wrote isn't even complete—it's just reflections from twenty thousand visits. Not polished yet. When I've visited fifty thousand, I'll publish again. After covering the entire jurisdiction, I'll publish once more. Step by step, we'll refine our 'Balihe Method.' If it gains traction, maybe next year I'll become a model worker."

"Then my master wears a white shirt giving lectures everywhere, and you ride straight to the top?" Song Ju looked unimpressed. "Just now you were humble, now you're floating. As long as you don't cause another huge incident, I'll thank heaven and earth. Fine—you're the ancestor. I can't reason with you. I'm leaving, Master."

Song Ju waved his hand irritably, tossed his cigarette butt into the flowerbed, and left with the municipal bureau staff.

Watching Song Ju depart, Wang Shouyi gave a thumbs-up: "Seeing Song Ju like this? I feel better. I'm not the only one suffering."

He was truly out of options. Let it be what it would be. His wish was no longer for a deputy department-level retirement benefit—he'd be happy just to retire quietly as a full section-level officer. He wouldn't listen to Wang Yan's nonsense…