Chapter 316: I Can't Even Trust Myself

To put it bluntly, she was simply afraid her son might be in danger.

So the moment she heard Yu Dazhang was going out of town, Li Xuehe lost her appetite on the spot.

"Auntie, he's going to investigate a case, not counter-terrorism." Seeing Qu Tuotuo quickly picked up the thread:

"Don't worry. If it were really some especially dangerous operation, the SWAT team would be deployed, and it wouldn't be his turn."

She didn't want Yu Dazhang to go out of town either, but things had already come to this; she could only accept reality.

And at a time like this, Seeing Qu Tuotuo naturally had to help Yu Dazhang explain.

She wasn't the type of girl who liked to throw little tantrums—when it came to matters of right and wrong, she had always been clear-headed.

"You child…" Li Xuehe shook her head but didn't say anything more, only her expression still didn't look too good.

A father's love is indirect.

Yu Guangyuan looked at his son, hesitated to speak, and finally said only one sentence:

"Remember, don't play the hero no matter what."

The next day.

Inside the cold-case office.

"Bring the case files, the witness statements, and all the detailed materials on the kidnapping case—take them all along."

Yu Dazhang stood inside the room, directing his team members in their pre-departure preparations.

Even Lu Zhongxin was running around busily.

In this room, Yu Dazhang was clearly the youngest, yet he was directing four policemen with far more seniority than him—one of whom was even his own master.

But not one of those four had the slightest complaint about it; they all obeyed his orders without question and carried them out.

Because his ability was beyond doubt.

All four of them had worked with him before, and each had earned quite a bit of honor following his lead.

Now there was one thing the entire Songhai police force took as common knowledge: follow Fatty, and earning merit is a sure thing.

The only difference was the size of the merit earned.

But likewise, plenty of people gritted their teeth at Yu Dazhang in hatred.

Too many people in the Songhai police force had been unlucky because of him.

After every special case wrapped up, a large batch of people within the system would be dealt with—even sentenced.

Yu Dazhang himself couldn't care less about it.

That's just how life is: where there are those who love you, naturally there are those who hate you.

It's just that he was a bit more extreme.

To use a metaphor, Yu Dazhang is like Yanjing's douzhi.

Those who love him love him to the skies.

Those who hate him hate him to the ground.

"Check your gear." Yu Dazhang continued giving orders:

"Go over all your personal items once."

He didn't want to be this long-winded either, but the journey this time was simply too far—he had to be thorough.

After everything was checked, Yu Dazhang finally felt at ease. By then Li Jun had also appeared at the doorway.

"Are two police cars enough?"

He had come not only to see them off, but also to check whether their preparations were sufficient.

"Enough. I'll drive my own car there." Yu Dazhang replied:

"That makes three vehicles in total, and with one private car, it'll be more convenient when we're investigating."

Li Jun nodded and said nothing more.

Every member of this task force was a seasoned criminal investigator; the only one with a short service record was, oddly, the one who put him most at ease.

Li Jun saw them all the way down to the ground floor. After the few of them got in the car, he still couldn't help but remind them:

"Safety comes first. If you run into an emergency, try not to be reckless—call anytime if something comes up."

"Don't worry." Yu Dazhang smiled at him:

"Captain Li, when did you get so sentimental? That's not like your usual self."

At being spoken to like that, a hint of awkwardness showed on Li Jun's face.

"You brat." He patted the car body and urged:

"Go on, go on."

From Songhai to Yancheng the whole way is over twelve hundred kilometers.

Five people, three cars—at the very least it would take over ten hours of driving.

Luckily all five could drive, so they could take turns resting along the way.

Hurrying on the road is the most draining thing for the mind, but there were also easygoing moments.

When they stopped to rest midway, each of them took out the food they'd brought from home.

Maybe because they were traveling far, every family had prepared things very thoroughly—there were several kinds alone, from roast chicken to sausages.

Yu Dazhang's was the most lavish: Seeing Qu Tuotuo had ordered a whole table of dishes straight from the hotel and had them packed into his car.

It was already the end of November now, so there was no worry about the food going bad.

"You say you, even solving cases you manage to pick up such a great girlfriend—your luck is just unreal."

Zhang Sen remarked between bites.

"Please watch your wording." Yu Dazhang protested:

"What do you mean 'pick up a girlfriend'? It's my personal charm that conquered her."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Zhang Sen waved his hand, looking thoroughly fed up with Yu Dazhang:

"Are you going to let us eat or not?"

Lu Zhongxin and the others laughed along, none of them speaking, but a hint of envy flickered in their eyes.

They had all met Seeing Qu Tuotuo—who wouldn't want a partner so wealthy and so considerate, and one so good-looking to boot?

In later generations' parlance, she was the white moonlight in every man's heart.

After their meal, the group continued on their way and arrived that very evening at Yancheng in Province N.

They found a local inn, got their rooms, and Yu Dazhang gathered everyone together.

"Let me assign the tasks now."

He first looked at Ma Jian and Liu Miao:

"Tomorrow morning, you two keep moving, head to Yangcheng in Province D, and investigate any suspicious persons near the train station."

"If you spot anything unusual, don't act on your own—report to me immediately."

Time was tight, and this was the best arrangement he could make for now.

Although the task force had limited personnel, splitting up was still the best way to maximize efficiency.

The reason he paired Ma Jian and Liu Miao was that the two of them had the best chemistry.

During the days since the cold-case unit was formed, the three of them had dealt with each other almost daily and had already developed a decent rapport.

Lu Zhongxin and Zhang Sen, on the other hand, had joined on short notice and still needed time to mesh.

Hearing Yu Dazhang's arrangement, Ma Jian and the others immediately nodded and replied:

"Understood."

"One more thing." Yu Dazhang thought it over and decided a reminder was in order:

"If it's not necessary, don't reach out to the local police on your own. The city bureau leadership will handle the inter-jurisdictional coordination—when the time comes, we just file our reports through the proper channels."

At these words, all four people in the room turned questioning gazes on him.

"You don't trust the local police?"

It was Lu Zhongxin who spoke; he felt his disciple was making a mountain out of a molehill.

You can't hold every beat cop in suspicion just because one officer at one precinct has a problem.

As a criminal investigator, one shouldn't make the mistake of generalizing from a single case.

"I don't even trust myself." Yu Dazhang replied, a touch helplessly:

"A lot of the time, what we see isn't necessarily the truth. When you're out on the road, being a little careful is never wrong, is it?"

By saying it this way, he was saving Lu Zhongxin's face.

When it came to inter-jurisdictional cooperation, he had the most experience among them.

When he cracked the Severed-Finger Case in Province S, a single word from the top provincial bureau brass had given Yu Dazhang the green light.

Without that, with his rank alone, he couldn't have commanded Province S's police at all.

So it wasn't that he didn't trust the local police—it was that if they reached out on their own, the other side wouldn't take them seriously either.

The best approach was to use power to mobilize power.

He was sure Director Liu would help when the time came—after all, they represented the Songhai police force.

After sorting out Ma Jian and Liu Miao's assignments, Yu Dazhang turned to Lu Zhongxin and Zhang Sen:

"What did you get from yesterday's interrogation of Fang Peng?"

He was confident his master wouldn't let him down.

Sure enough, Lu Zhongxin answered at once:

"Following your instructions, we focused on his years at the Yancheng precinct—and we actually dug up some useful stuff."

(End of Chapter)