Chapter 355: Is My File Something Just Anyone Can Read?

Inside the observation room.

Captain Hua stared at the surveillance feed, silent for a long time, his gaze so complex it was hard to describe.

Even after Yu Dazhang walked out of the interrogation room and disappeared from the screen, he still hadn't come back to himself, as if lost in some deep thought.

No one noticed that his hands had already clenched into fists, the knuckles faintly white from the force.

At this moment, Wang Hao's words kept echoing in his mind…

"Can take on twenty Yanchengs."

The moment he heard that line, his attention could no longer focus; his whole brain was consumed by it.

At the same time, he could also tell that number was a conservative estimate.

During the previous rescue operation, the SWAT team and the armed police had all been deployed.

So what scale would this one be?

It wasn't that his imagination wasn't rich enough—it was that an operation of that scale was something he had never come across.

He even felt that something like this happening domestically was pure nonsense.

But everything unfolding before his eyes left him no choice but to believe it.

Having been a cop for nearly twenty years, Captain Hua believed he had seen every kind of big scene, yet this case still shocked him.

If I were the one leading the investigation of this case… an idea rose unbidden in Captain Hua's mind.

If it could be cracked successfully, a personal first-class merit was a certainty.

Still not enough~

With a case this big, the "deputy" in his title would be stripped away, and within a year he would absolutely be promoted to the full post.

A brilliant career ahead!

All this he could think of himself, so that fatty must have thought of it too.

Don't be fooled by his short years of service—he was no stranger to experience.

But strangely, why did he look not the least bit excited?

The case had reached this stage under his handling—how could he still be so calm?

Could it be that he had no ambition at all, or had he seen through all of this?

The more Captain Hua thought about it, the more something felt off; by the end, he realized he was finding it harder and harder to read this fatty who'd come over from another province.

"Captain Hua." At some unknown point, Yu Dazhang had appeared at his side:

"You're familiar with this area, get in touch with Jianning over there so we have a place to stay when we arrive."

Hua Kaiquan immediately snapped back, replying almost on reflex:

"Oh, alright."

He then took out his phone and made a series of arrangements.

"It's been arranged with the other side—when we get to Jianning, we'll head straight to the municipal bureau." Captain Hua said to Yu Dazhang:

"From now on, the criminal investigators from the provincial department are at your disposal."

He had handed over the authority.

From this moment on, the provincial department formally entered the case, shifting from a cooperative relationship to a joint investigation.

With a case this big, if the provincial department were only cooperating, people would definitely laugh their heads off.

Just think about it.

A few criminal investigators from out of town, mobilizing large numbers of police and resources in Province N, rescuing tens of thousands of cheap laborers.

And in the end, the local police of this province had only played an assisting role?

To put it bluntly, the provincial department put in the people and the effort, yet didn't get a shred of the credit…

If word of this got out, it wouldn't just be a matter of losing face—it would raise questions about the competence of the upper leadership.

So, when a case grows to a certain scale, it naturally draws intense attention from all sides.

Not only because of the severity of the case itself, but also because of the interests and reputations involved on every side.

Under such circumstances, both the local police and the higher-ups hope to be part of this case.

In fact, after the rescue at the Yancheng industrial zone, the provincial department had already decided to step into this case.

The reason was simple: rescuing so many people in one go was itself a tremendous achievement.

No matter how far the case ultimately goes, that achievement remains.

If the provincial department joined this case, that achievement would be credited to the province.

After all, the operation took place here in Province N, and the people and effort came from the local police.

Yu Dazhang of course understood what Captain Hua meant—human nature, and he showed understanding.

After he left, Captain Hua didn't go downstairs with him; instead, after waiting for Yu Dazhang to walk out of the observation room, he took out his phone and dialed:

"Leader, it's me, Hua Kaiquan."

"Something?" The voice on the other end was steady, carrying an air of authority.

"It's like this." Captain Hua said respectfully:

"I'd like to pull the file on a colleague, one from Songhai."

"Something like that you can handle yourself." The man on the other end sounded quite puzzled:

"No need to check in with me."

Captain Hua caught the displeasure in his leader's tone and hurriedly explained:

"I tried, but the reply I got was that my clearance wasn't sufficient—the other party's file has reached a classified level, yet as far as I know, he's a rookie with less than a year of service."

After their first meeting and the subsequent briefing, Captain Hua had developed a strong interest in Yu Dazhang; after the meeting he had tried to pull Yu Dazhang's file.

After all, the best way to understand someone is to read their file—it's far more polite than asking them face-to-face.

At the time, Captain Hua didn't think too much about it; it was purely out of curiosity, wanting to see what was so extraordinary about this outrageously young fatty.

Who would have thought that, at his level, he simply couldn't pull up the other party's file.

By all reason, given Captain Hua's rank, he was fully capable of accessing files of the same level, let alone those of a new officer.

This meant that the fatty's file had a higher security clearance than his own.

"You mean Yu Dazhang, right?"

The person on the other end had actually guessed at once who Captain Hua was talking about, and from the tone of his voice, he knew even more:

"It's not just you — even I have to apply to the ministry before I can see his file."

Apply to the ministry?

Hua Kaiquan was stunned for a moment.

Then, he quickly came back to himself.

The security clearance had already been taken to this extent?!

The person on the other end was the top leader of the provincial bureau, and even at this level he couldn't directly access that fatty's file?

That's a bit of a stretch.

He also picked up another layer of meaning from the leader's words: the higher-ups had also tried to pull Yu Dazhang's file.

"Then…" Captain Hua hemmed and hawed.

He wanted to ask whether they had ultimately gotten their hands on Yu Dazhang's file.

But such a question, he found a bit hard to bring himself to ask.

When you've been plainly told it's classified, and you keep pressing — it would be hard to avoid being suspected of impure motives.

"I'll send you his file shortly."

The tone on the other end was very grave:

"Remember, only you may look at it; delete it immediately after reading. You know the confidentiality regulations better than anyone."

Clearly, the leader had only made this decision out of the needs of the case.

On this side of Province N, Captain Hua was cooperating with Yu Dazhang on the case; getting to know each other better would also facilitate the unfolding and execution of the follow-up work.

"Understood, don't worry, leader."

After ending the call, Captain Hua immediately went downstairs, just in time to see Yu Dazhang and the others' vehicle pulling out of the municipal bureau compound.

He immediately got into the police car and said to the officer in the driver's seat:

"Follow them."

Then he opened his email on his phone, refreshing every dozen seconds or so.

About five minutes later, his eyes suddenly lit up, because a new unread email had appeared in his inbox.

He quickly opened the email and focused his attention on its contents.

As he read, his gaze gradually grew dazed.

"This is…"

Captain Hua's voice was very soft, as if muttering to himself, yet also as if speaking to someone else.

"What kind of joke is this — this is a new officer's file?!"

(End of chapter)