Chapter 452: For a police officer to reach this point is already the pinnacle

Honorary title?

Yu Dazhang heard it and drifted for two seconds before it registered.

He certainly knew what an honorary title represented; he just never imagined that one day he would be the bearer of such glory.

Within the public security system, there were only two honorary titles:

Second-Class Heroic Model and First-Class Heroic Model.

These two titles were rarely awarded while the recipient was alive; posthumous conferrals were far more common.

In other words, very few people received this honor standing upright.

The vast majority were awarded after death.

The value went without saying — not only promotions and bonuses, but even one's children could be recommended for admission to public security colleges and universities.

Most importantly, this was an honor — the lifelong pursuit of every police officer.

Li Jun saw Yu Dazhang staring at him with burning eyes, and laughed as he teased:

"Last time you stole the spotlight from Province S; this time you have to give the Ministry some face, right?"

"Of course, of course I will." Yu Dazhang nodded mechanically, then immediately caught himself and hurriedly said:

"I'm very honored to attend the Ministry's commendation ceremony. I'm so excited, I really didn't expect…"

He truly didn't know how to express what he felt, so he inevitably became a bit incoherent.

In his view, for a police officer to reach this point was already the pinnacle.

He had also never imagined that one day he would receive such an honor.

"Oh, one more thing."

Li Jun added:

"Starting this month, your rank has been promoted to Section-Level (full)."

When Yu Dazhang walked out of the detachment commander's office, he felt as if his feet were stepping on cotton, weightless.

One surprise after another left him overwhelmed, as if he were in a dream.

No — he had never had such a sweet dream before.

That evening.

Yu Dazhang shared the good news with Seeing Qu Tuotuo.

It seemed the only person who could share his joy with him now was Seeing Qu Tuotuo.

His parents had never agreed with him continuing as a police officer in the first place, so they didn't care at all whether he earned merit.

Sharing it with colleagues would be showing off — it would only invite resentment.

"If it weren't for the Yu family incident this time, would you have been promoted to team captain?"

Seeing Qu Tuotuo clearly didn't know much about police ranks, so she chose to ask in a way she could understand.

"Heh heh, you underestimate me."

At this moment Yu Dazhang was feeling a bit puffed up; mainly, in front of Seeing Qu Tuotuo, there was no need for him to hold back:

"Let me tell you, before this, leaders from other branches had already spoken with me privately — as long as I applied to transfer there, they would appoint me brigade commander on the spot."

This wasn't something he was making up off the top of his head.

In fact, plenty of people had offered conditions even more generous than this, but he had turned them all down one by one.

He had no interest in being an official, but he could certainly show off a little in front of Seeing Qu Tuotuo.

"Not going was the right call."

Seeing Qu Tuotuo also looked indifferent:

"It's just a job; going to another district would be too far from home."

Today the two of them had specifically picked a private kitchen restaurant. To celebrate, Yu Dazhang had even reported to his superiors and had a little to drink.

Slightly tipsy, Seeing Qu Tuotuo looked at Yu Dazhang and asked:

"Are you deliberately losing weight?"

Yu Dazhang was caught off guard by the question. He lowered his head and looked at his belly — it seemed the same as always.

"No." He shook his head:

"Eat when I should, drink when I should. I'd rather die fat than go hungry."

Ever since learning his obesity was hormonal, he had given up on the idea of losing weight.

His endocrine system was already in chaos; if he wrecked his body by starving, wouldn't that just make things worse?

So he decided it was best to let nature take its course.

"But why do I feel like you've lost weight again?" Seeing Qu Tuotuo stared at his face and said:

"If you look closely, your face already has some contour now, and your chin seems to have lost a layer."

I used to be a ball, didn't I… Yu Dazhang felt a bit offended.

"Probably lost too much blood before, hurt my vitality." He grabbed a random excuse. The hormonal obesity thing — he hadn't told anyone.

He figured it was his own business; there was no need to let the people around him worry along with him.

The two were chatting when Yu Dazhang's phone suddenly rang.

Who would call him at this hour?

The brigade knew he had reported in today, so they shouldn't bother him lightly.

And his family knew he was going out to eat with Seeing Qu Tuotuo tonight, so naturally they wouldn't call him at this time either.

With questions in mind, Yu Dazhang first glanced at the caller ID.

The phone screen didn't show a phone number — only a capital "P" flashing continuously.

What the heck is this?

It was the first time he had ever seen a call display showing letters.

After a moment's hesitation, Yu Dazhang still pressed answer.

"Hello?"

"It's me." A low, magnetic male voice came from the other end.

The voice was somewhat familiar, but Yu Dazhang couldn't recall it offhand:

"Who are you?"

"Li Mingzhao," the other party replied.

Hearing this name, Yu Dazhang unconsciously raised his voice and quickly said:

"Ah, hello, leader."

No wonder he didn't recognize him—today's Li Mingzhao sounded somewhat suppressed, as if his mood was very low.

"Recently we've run into a bit of trouble; we're short on personnel."

Li Mingzhao's voice was still as steady as before, but it couldn't conceal the heavy weariness in his tone:

"You also know that not just anyone can be slotted in here, so I was thinking you could come over and help."

Seems pretty dangerous... Yu Dazhang picked up two key points from his words.

1. Trouble.

2. Personnel shortage.

Looking at these two key points separately leads to another conclusion: the personnel shortage was caused by this trouble.

He suddenly recalled something Ye Lin had once let slip to him.

One of the National Security teams was staking out a location when they were spotted by the other side; in the end, on the National Security side it was one death, four heavy burdens, while the other side got away clean.

Could it be that that incident still hasn't been resolved... Yu Dazhang felt this possibility was very high.

In that case, Li Mingzhao's manpower shortage this time was very likely caused by combat attrition.

"Um..."

Yu Dazhang hesitated; he didn't really want to go:

"Leader, look here, the personnel on your side are all king-of-soldiers level; with all this fat on me, going would just be making trouble for you."

The problem was, those king-of-soldiers types had all been messed with by the other side until they were short-handed, and he hadn't undergone any systematic military training—going would just be seeking death.

"This time we lost on the prediction front." Li Mingzhao sighed:

"Sometimes relying too much on technology makes you overlook certain things; the truly useful tactics are all thought up by people."

So it's just that they lost by playing the brain game... Yu Dazhang immediately caught the unspoken meaning in Li Mingzhao's words.

He was willing to repay the favor—after all, Li Mingzhao had helped him plenty before.

It's just that the missions National Security carries out are all high-end; whether in difficulty or danger, they're beyond what a regular criminal detective like him could imagine.

Put bluntly: no confidence.

Yu Dazhang wasn't so confident as to think he could be in his element over at National Security.

But just as he was about to refuse again, Li Mingzhao suddenly spoke up:

"This is also Ye Lin's idea. Before she got shot, she said you should be brought in to try, and that you've got plenty of clever tricks."

In that sentence of his, Yu Dazhang only noticed one piece of information.

Ye Lin got shot!

Yu Dazhang suddenly sprang up from his seat and asked through gritted teeth:

"How is she now?!"

(End of chapter)