Chapter 436: A Surprise at First Brigade

"Master, Master, hold on a moment."

Yu Dazhang quickly cut in:

"Since there's already a task force, we shouldn't get involved anymore. You taught me that rule yourself."

Solving cases has its rules too.

Cases are handled by their dedicated task force; during the investigation period, no one else is allowed to casually interfere with or disrupt their work.

Unless the case goes unsolved past the deadline and the task force is disbanded, leaving the case behind, only then can other personnel step in to continue the investigation.

Yu Dazhang was no rookie; he naturally knew these rules inside and out.

Besides, it's already been half a month — the optimal window for cracking the case is long gone.

Sending him in now would just be making things hard for him.

"Of course I know the rules."

Lu Zhongxin shot him a glare:

"This is Captain Wei's idea. He wants you to take a look and help out. After all, our brigade took the lead on this case — if it goes unsolved in the end, it's First Brigade's face that gets lost."

That was true… Yu Dazhang was a member of First Brigade now, so naturally he had to think about the brigade's reputation.

Collective honor and all that.

One's glory is shared by all — nobody wants their own department looked down on by the others.

But he still felt something was off. After thinking it over, he looked at Lu Zhongxin:

"Why didn't Captain Wei tell me himself?"

If Wei Qian had given him the order directly, Yu Dazhang would have carried it out without hesitation.

But Captain Wei had taken the roundabout way of having his master come talk to him — that was a bit intriguing.

"I came to tell you this so both sides have a way to step back gracefully."

Lu Zhongxin said quietly:

"If Captain Wei told you himself, it would be the same as putting you on the task force. If it really came to that, you'd have no way out."

"Mainly, it's out of consideration for your reputation. So far, there hasn't been a case you couldn't crack."

How thoughtful indeed… Yu Dazhang understood now.

The idea was for him to take a look first — if he felt confident, he'd join the task force and crack the case.

If it seemed tricky, he'd pretend he'd never seen it, and Wei Qian's side would keep mum.

That was the so-called "step back."

It gave him room to try, while also leaving him a way out.

No matter what decision he ultimately made, it wouldn't put him in an awkward or difficult position.

Once he figured all this out, Yu Dazhang suddenly felt a bit disgusted.

What is this, treating me like some female detective prodigy?

It's perfectly normal for criminal police to fail to crack a case. Who dares claim they solve every one? If such a person really existed, there'd be no cold cases left in the country.

"Master, how can you still not understand me after all this time?"

Yu Dazhang was a little annoyed. He looked at Lu Zhongxin in displeasure:

"I've never solved cases for the sake of some reputation. As long as I've done my best, I've lived up to this police uniform I'm wearing."

The cases he'd handled before were either special cases or cold cases — if he'd been after fame, he shouldn't have taken any of them on.

"I knew you'd say that."

Lu Zhongxin nodded with satisfaction:

"Let's go, Captain Wei is waiting for us."

He walked ahead, his back straighter than before.

Downstairs, the two got into a police car. Wei Qian sat in the driver's seat, and when he saw them get in, he asked with a smile:

"Made up your mind?"

"Nothing to think about." Yu Dazhang replied directly:

"If I needed people to protect me just to handle a case, I'd look down on myself."

Hearing this, the smile on Wei Qian's face grew even brighter.

"Not bad — he hasn't gotten a big head."

Twenty minutes later.

The police car stopped in front of a residential building. "This is the case file. Read it before going up."

Wei Qian took out the case file and handed it over.

"Why only hand it over now?" Yu Dazhang muttered as he took it.

"Reading materials in the car makes you dizzy." Wei Qian explained:

"And it's bad for your eyes too. This case has already been around for half a month — it won't hurt to wait a little longer."

He's still got that temper… Yu Dazhang smiled and said nothing.

In his previous life, he'd served under Wei Qian the longest.

Captain Wei seemed smooth and slick on the surface, but was actually very straightforward — a man of decisive, swift action.

People he took a liking to, he'd give them his whole heart and care for them; people he didn't like, he wouldn't even bother greeting them on a normal day.

In his previous life, when Yu Dazhang was framed by Zhao Hang's snitching, it was Wei Qian who stepped up to back him — not only standing firm against the bureau leadership, but nearly throwing punches at Zhao Hang.

Running into a leader like that, subordinates naturally felt a mix of awe and respect.

Opening the case file, Yu Dazhang was immediately drawn in by its contents.

On December 8, 2014, police received a report. The caller said their close friend had been out of contact for over 24 hours — phone off, no one home.

The police arrived at the scene based on the address provided by the other party.

After breaking down the door, they found a female corpse in the bedroom.

She was wearing a nightgown, her complexion was pale, there were obvious external injuries on her head, her hands were stretched out in a figure-eight shape, her head was tilted to the right, and a piece of cloth was held in her mouth.

A subsequent forensic examination determined that the cause of death was severe blunt-force trauma to the head resulting in intracranial hemorrhage.

The deceased was named Shi Wenyan, a local, 27 years old, a white-collar worker who had been employed at a real estate company — high salary, and a beautiful woman at that.

After the case occurred, the police immediately set up a special task force to investigate.

The lock on the victim's door showed no signs of being pried, and the windows were also intact.

Moreover, Shi Wenyan's home was on the seventh floor, which ruled out the possibility of entry from the balcony.

To this end, the task force even specially called in a fire ladder to inspect the exterior wall, and no traces of climbing were found.

All the signs indicated that this case was very likely committed by someone the victim knew.

Judging from the situation at the crime scene, it seemed that the victim Shi Wenyan had voluntarily opened the door for the killer, allowing them to enter the house smoothly.

However, after an in-depth investigation into Shi Wenyan's social relationships and work history, no valuable leads were found.

Everyone who knew Shi Wenyan stated that they had not gone to her home on the 8th.

Moreover, they were all able to provide corresponding alibis.

The scene had even been deliberately cleaned — fingerprints and footprints had been wiped away, leaving not the slightest trace.

Shi Wenyan's jewelry, phone, and other valuables were not taken, and she had not been sexually assaulted before her death.

It was precisely because no leads or motive could be found that the task force's investigation reached a deadlock.

After Yu Dazhang finished reading the case file, he did not voice his opinion immediately as usual, but slowly closed the file, then leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes.

His movements seemed a little slow, looking as though he was thinking about something.

Wei Qian and Lu Zhongxin stared at him eagerly from the side, not even daring to take a deep breath, afraid of disturbing him.

For some unknown reason, at this moment all three of them felt a vague sense of tension.

They were all veteran criminal investigators with rich experience, yet they failed to notice that this fatty's hands were trembling slightly.

In fact, Yu Dazhang was not really thinking about anything.

He was merely using the closed-eyes-thinking pose to cover up the excitement inside him.

The reason his hands trembled was that when emotions run high, the sympathetic nerves become excited, causing increased muscle contraction — this is physiological hand tremor, a normal stress response.

And there was only one reason for his emotional excitement:

He had encountered this case in his previous life when he was in the First Brigade.

A sticky bean bun fell from the sky… Yu Dazhang shouted in his heart.

My rebirth perk has arrived!

(End of this chapter)