Chapter 5: You've Been Duped!

Taking advantage of everyone's stunned state, Lu Zhongxin pulled Yu Dazhang aside.

"Are you crazy? Is that any way to apologize?"

"I thought you wanted me to go after him."

"Go after my ass. Go bow your head and this'll blow over."

This time Yu Dazhang finally understood completely, and once more stepped in front of everyone from the Second Brigade:

"Sorry about that, cut that last bit and don't air it…"

Apologizing is also a matter of technique. Next, Yu Dazhang only emphasized that at the time he had been eager to handle the case, got carried away in the heat of the moment, and hadn't thought it through that much.

The main point being: it wasn't on purpose.

This way he both lowered his head and wouldn't give anyone a handle to keep harping on.

If he admitted he'd wanted to ride Zhang Sen to catch the suspect, that would be a character issue.

Fortunately, Zhang Sen and the Second Brigade people had no intention of digging deeper; they'd come here just to save face.

After Yu Dazhang apologized, he had just been about to go up and shake Zhang Sen's hand as a gesture, when the phones of Second Brigade Captain Liu Zhe and Third Brigade Captain Zhang Dong rang at the same time.

The two of them answered almost in sync.

"Got it, understood, we'll head out immediately!"

"Copy that, yes yes yes."

They hung up in sync as well.

Liu Zhe waved at the Second Brigade people:

"First Brigade needs backup. All of Second Brigade, follow me!"

Third Brigade Captain Zhang Dong also immediately called out to his own team:

"Same as him, move out!"

You could've just said 'ditto' and we'd get it too… Yu Dazhang grumbled inwardly.

This meant there was a "big job"!

Joint operations between brigades were perfectly normal; in his past life Yu Dazhang had long gotten used to this way of working.

The First Brigade was the major-crimes unit, mainly handling eight categories of cases: intentional homicide, robbery, arson, explosions, poisoning…

All major criminal cases were taken on first by the First Brigade for investigation.

The Second Brigade handled fraud, the Third Brigade handled pickpockets.

If a brigade ran into a sudden situation and didn't have enough hands, it needed the other brigades to back them up.

Once in the car, Yu Dazhang patted Lu Zhongxin's arm:

"Master, what case is it?"

"I hear it's a kidnapping case, don't know the details." Lu Zhongxin irritably brushed his hand away:

"In a bit, whatever I tell you to do, you do it. Don't pull any more stunts—if something goes wrong again, I'm not covering for you."

Yu Dazhang knew his master was just talking out of anger, so he didn't take it to heart and agreed with a silly grin.

Right now he was just a probationary police officer, with little weight or influence, and this was a sudden situation—even if there were case briefings, they wouldn't reach him.

Besides, once Yu Dazhang got to the scene he'd only be doing auxiliary work; if anything real came up, they wouldn't let a total rookie like him take point.

Arriving at the scene, Yu Dazhang looked around. It was an abandoned factory building on the outskirts.

The First Brigade people were lined up in battle formation about twenty meters from the factory entrance.

Seeing the reinforcements arrive, the First Brigade captain immediately came forward and spoke rapidly with Liu Zhe and Zhang Dong.

In less than half a minute, after Liu Zhe and Zhang Dong nodded in acknowledgment, they called Lu Zhongxin and the other veteran criminal investigators over—apparently to arrange the specific deployment.

In less than half a minute, Lu Zhongxin was back by the car.

"Xiao Zhao, you three go to the back of the factory. A First Brigade colleague is holding position there; go assist him and follow his commands for all actions."

"Understood, Master, don't worry."

Xiao Zhao quickly mapped out the route to the back of the factory, and before leaving shot Yu Dazhang a half-smiling glance.

The mockery was unmistakable.

"What?" Yu Dazhang wasn't about to take it lying down:

"You want to go?"

Xiao Zhao's face immediately went cold, but he didn't dare talk back. He turned and jogged off with the other two rookies.

"Dazhang." Lu Zhongxin stepped forward and clapped Yu Dazhang on the shoulder: "Your mission is also very arduous."

"Mission guaranteed complete!" Yu Dazhang stood ramrod straight, eyes firm, sucking in his belly.

Lu Zhongxin nodded in satisfaction—this apprentice of his still showed him proper respect:

"You just stand watch here, don't let any strangers approach."

"Stand watch?" Yu Dazhang was dumbfounded.

This place was a wasteland—nothing but an abandoned factory and an unfinished building. What was there to watch?

And there were no residents nearby at all; no strangers could possibly approach.

This arrangement made it perfectly clear they didn't want him joining the operation.

Seeing Yu Dazhang about to rebel, Lu Zhongxin's eyes bulged:

"Remember what I told you on the way here or not!"

Got it—he's afraid I'll cause him trouble… Yu Dazhang muttered to himself, but verbally he was very cooperative:

"I'll do as you say. But Master, at least give me a quick rundown of the case."

Please... do.... bookmark.... 6.... 9.... book.... store....!

He'd taken part in too many cases in his past life; Yu Dazhang couldn't possibly remember every single one clearly.

Especially for cases like this, where he was just helping out temporarily, Yu Dazhang couldn't recall a single thing.

"No time to explain in detail. Just carry out the task I assigned you."

After Lu Zhongxin finished speaking, he turned and ran toward the factory building.

"Sigh, you..." Yu Dazhang raised his hand toward Lu Zhongxin's retreating back.

He really runs fast~

So he's just left me hanging here... Yu Dazhang suddenly felt like a car watcher.

Fine, I'll wait and see. All actions must follow orders, after all.

Thinking this, Yu Dazhang truly began to look around.

As he looked, he felt something was off somewhere.

The First Team likely found this place through technical means like phone triangulation.

But why would the kidnappers choose a place like this?

The area is open on all sides, rarely visited by people; once surrounded, there would be no possibility of escape.

Two possibilities...

First, the kidnappers are stupid, chose the wrong hiding spot, and got located by the police.

Second, the kidnappers did it on purpose!

The more Yu Dazhang thought about it, the more he felt the second possibility was greater.

He pondered while looking at the surrounding buildings:

"If I were the kidnapper..."

"Choosing such a rarely visited location would have only one purpose... to leave the police's undercover officers with nowhere to hide."

"The factory building absolutely could not be my hiding spot."

"I would deliberately call the victim's family from inside the factory building; if the family had already called the police, the police would lock onto this location."

"Next, I would just need to leave the tracked phone inside the factory building and then move to a location with a good vantage point to observe."

"A good vantage point means being at a high place, and that location must have access from all directions, not just a single exit."

"Looking at it this way..."

Yu Dazhang scanned the area, finally fixing his gaze on the unfinished building closest to the factory.

That's it!

"If it were me, this unfinished building would be the best hiding spot."

"It allows observation of the factory situation while enabling a quick escape at any time."

"Because the unfinished building has no walls built, the entire structure is open, unlike an occupied residential building where a blockage at the unit door would make it a trap with no escape."

Let's hope it's a stupid thief... Yu Dazhang let out a sigh.

In his past life, he was also an old detective and knew he couldn't act on mere speculation.

Just as he was about to shift his gaze, he suddenly saw a wisp of smoke and dust rising from one of the windows of that unfinished building.

Yu Dazhang's pupils contracted slightly!

Someone is there!!

(End of this chapter)