Chapter 283: Ducks

Image Office.

To comply with the new surveillance system's requirements, the Image Office was relocated to the new building. The new building shared a wall with the Police Dog Unit; it had previously been rented out as a supermarket, but was now reclaimed, repainted, and still smelled strongly of fresh renovation.

The first batch of four large assets assigned were one veteran officer and three contract workers or auxiliary police. Combined with the existing veteran, mid-career, and junior officers already in the Image Office, the Ningtai County Criminal Investigation Brigade's Image Section now had seven personnel.

Seven people were enough to handle cases independently, but given the current complexity of the surveillance system, even just watching the feeds was already overwhelming—let alone making arrests. The millions spent on the system were essentially wasted.

For the leadership, the former was no problem—overtime could solve it. The latter was truly unacceptable.

Huang Qiangmin strode confidently into the small building housing the Image Office. The interior remained as empty as a supermarket, but the growing number of server rooms and equipment had begun to occupy substantial space.

As he walked deeper, he saw several people intensely staring at surveillance screens, while two others sat at computers, doing something unknown.

Huang Qiangmin was satisfied. These days, any subordinate staring at a computer screen—even if they were just browsing—was a good colleague. The real priority was cracking down on those staring at phone screens. "All busy, huh?" Huang Qiangmin's tone was pure veteran leadership; he was already fully prepared, inside and out, for the deputy director position.

"Chief Huang."

"Big Huang."

The Image staff all stood up.

"Sit, sit. I brought Jiang Yuan over to take a look. Zhuang Wei—you know him, right?" Huang Qiangmin called out Zhuang Wei, the original four-eyes.

Though he was the earliest hire in the Criminal Investigation Brigade and always wore glasses, no one called him "Four-Eyes" anymore. Now, Zhuang Wei was merely the oldest glasses-wearing officer. But seeing Jiang Yuan, Zhuang Wei's four lenses sparkled with determination.

Months ago, Jiang Yuan had already demonstrated extraordinary ability in the Image Office, humbling all three officers there. Specifically, he had folded their combined IQ, experience, and pride—folded it, folded it again, folded it once more…

Before the surveillance system upgrade, Zhuang Wei and the others had almost nothing to do.

Few cases occurred in the county; the three of them received fewer requests to review footage in a month than they had in three days before. The work was quiet, yet the emptiness made them feel hollow.

Now, with the system upgraded, Zhuang Wei and the others finally had work to do. Had Jiang Yuan not suddenly appeared, he'd have forgotten the whole system was sold by Jiang Yuan.

"Jiang Yuan's back—did the Changyang case end?" Zhuang Wei felt a pang of regret, mixed with anticipation. If the lease was up, wouldn't that mean another round of sales?

"Not yet. Came back to rest for a few days." Jiang Yuan smiled, offering a casual greeting.

"Oh, I knew it! You performed so well, Changyang City wouldn't let you go. The reputation 'Ningtai Jiang Yuan, Fierce Flame'—I've even heard it in the county."

"That's probably because the county is called Ningtai."

"Hahaha… No wonder you're young—you've got the internet memes down pat." Zhuang Wei laughed loudly, then stopped when no one joined in. Huang Qiangmin said: "Zhuang Wei, give Jiang Yuan a rundown of the surveillance system."

His mannerisms gave Jiang Yuan the feeling of being similar to his third uncle.

Zhuang Wei immediately responded, then obediently vacated his seat: "Dr. Jiang, you take this chair."

"No need. I'm not good with this system. You operate it—I'll learn by watching." Jiang Yuan was politely deferential.

Zhuang Wei chuckled twice, seeing Jiang Yuan's firmness, then simply shoved the chair aside and bent over to operate the mouse himself.

Although the manufacturer's high-level surveillance system administrators could use keyboard shortcuts and command lines to perform flashy maneuvers, for Zhuang Wei, visual icons were more than enough.

"Any recent cases?" Jiang Yuan asked directly.

"Hmm… there are some, but not many." Zhuang Wei didn't dare admit he couldn't keep up.

Jiang Yuan merely nodded: "Then skip to the cases. No need to watch live feeds—this part will probably be handled by public security later."

Zhuang Wei hummed in agreement and pulled up a minor case from a few days prior.

On the screen, a young man in his twenties glanced left and right before stealing an electric scooter…

Yes, urban theft now meant stealing electric scooters. Though some traditional thieves still persisted in stealing bags, especially phones, it was rare.

Phones differ from wallets. Wallets are carried on the body but aren't constantly monitored; phones, however, are frequently held, pulled out, and checked at random moments.

Someone might say, "But phones spend a lot of time in pockets." Yet from a professional standpoint, stealing phones had become the last resort for traditional thieves—low profit, difficult to fence, and the victims made their job harder, making phone theft increasingly low-value.

Electric scooters, by contrast, were easier. The overall difficulty was low—even a beginner thief could learn forced lock-picking after just thirty minutes of training.

"Arrested him?" Jiang Yuan asked, watching the screen.

"Yes, caught him. A rookie—he rode straight to a secondhand shop to sell it. The shop owner, watching our cameras, made him leave his phone number…" Zhuang Wei spoke as he pulled up another video.

In this video, prepared for evidence, the secondhand shop owner clearly looked up toward the roadside camera after inspecting the lock. The high-definition camera clearly captured the owner's facial expression.

It was a suppressed smile—part resignation, part amusement, part sorrow at the tide of the times.

"Normal thieves wouldn't do that," Jiang Yuan said, young and unsure of the nuance.

Zhuang Wei adjusted his glasses, his eyes still sharp as they'd been fifteen years ago: "These rookies are the new generation of internet thieves—they learn theft techniques online, then try it themselves. They have no connections, just barge in."

Zhuang Wei adjusted his glasses and said with eyes that had once been sharp fifteen years ago: "This kind of novice thief is a new-generation online petty thief—learns theft techniques online, then jumps right in and starts trying it out. Has no connections at all, just barges in. "So he got caught trying?"

"Yeah. Back to the furnace. Depends on him—some come out of the furnace with real skills and go right back to stealing." Zhuang Wei spoke indifferently. "Some go in and out three or five times in their lives—that's their whole existence." After seeing so many, Zhuang Wei had no sympathy left for such people.

Jiang Yuan exhaled: "I thought with the new surveillance system, no one would dare steal anymore."

"How could that be?" Huang Qiangmin smiled, trying to reassure Jiang Yuan. "These petty thieves are like fish in a pond. Have you ever seen one? A village digs a new pond, completely isolated, even the water is disinfected—but after a while, fish still appear."

Jiang Yuan stared, then nodded: "Seems true."

"These self-emerging rookies? Impossible to stop. I heard someone say fish eggs lie dormant in the soil, surviving for years. Or fish eggs in the water—disinfection can't kill them. No matter how clean we make the environment, these people will always appear. When they do, we eliminate them." Huang Qiangmin feared Jiang Yuan might overthink or become too discouraged.

Jiang Yuan listened, recalling the environment of Jiang Village. Jiang Village was the largest and primary settlement at the foot of Mount Sining, nestled by the Taihe River, where villagers once dug many fish ponds.

Some ponds were for freshwater fish, others for mussels or turtles, and some, for ducks.

In duck ponds, small fish rarely survived. Jiang Yuan thought of this, then looked at Zhuang Wei and said: "Then raise ducks."

"What?" No one understood.

Jiang Yuan explained his theory: "Let them actively forage and eat the small fish. As long as there are enough ducks, they'll naturally seek food—what matters is having predators."

Zhuang Wei understood, pointing at his own nose: "So we're the ducks?"

"You're the predators of thieves," Jiang Yuan corrected.

Zhuang Wei sighed: "We're the predators of thieves. Ducks." The Image Office fell into an awkward, silent moment.

Jiang Yuan paused for a few seconds: "Let's catch some thieves together!"

。

"Yes, yes, let's catch thieves!"

"Catch thieves, catch thieves!"

The more socially adept colleagues began enthusiastically joining the absurd rhythm.

Fifteen years ago, the high-education, socially anxious, four-eyed officer Zhuang Wei suddenly remembered a video he'd watched today, and as he operated the mouse, softly sang: "Let's be ducks together, be ducks together…"