Chapter 39: A Swarm

The next day.

As soon as the morning meeting ended, Jiang Yuan dressed neatly and went downstairs to wait for Wei Zhenguo and the others.

The target was merely a thief who stole an electric scooter—no need to move under cover of night.

Yet despite catching just a petty thief, Jiang Yuan still felt a flicker of nervousness; he had never conducted a real-life arrest before.

Jiang Yuan’s nervousness vanished the moment Wei Zhenguo and the others arrived.

“Aren’t there too many of us?” Jiang Yuan faced a group of seven men and one woman—adding himself, that made eight men and one woman.

From the video Jiang Yuan had seen, the suspect’s build and movements were clearly frail; yet all nine people present—including the female officer—looked capable of tackling the thief with ease.

Wei Zhenguo said: “When arresting, you need numbers. We’re cops—when cops catch thieves, we use three or four times the number to pin them down at once. You just follow me.”

Wei Zhenguo was genuinely trying to protect Jiang Yuan. A trace examiner this skilled at fingerprint analysis was a gift from heaven for Ningtai County—and Wei Zhenguo wanted to claim as much of it as he could.

As for Jiang Yuan’s lack of arrest experience, Wei Zhenguo didn’t care at all—he’d just bring more people.

Even those useless, show-off department heads always did the same thing when joining arrests.

Nine people took two cars, no sirens or flashing lights, and drove silently to a small residential complex beside a bridge. They got out and saw two more officers in duty uniforms stepping out of a parked car.

“Captain Wei.” The man stepped forward, greeting them warmly.

“Old Gu.” Wei Zhenguo shook his hand, then introduced the others: “This is Old Gu, deputy chief of our Pizhou Police Station. These are all my team members. Xiao Jiang is a new recruit from the Criminal Science Unit… Do we know the suspect’s location?”

“He should be home. His address is on record. We sent someone to observe yesterday—he had lights on at night. He’s probably still asleep.” Old Gu glanced at the nine men crowding around him and clucked his tongue. “What kind of case is this?”

He didn’t ask for details—only the severity of the case.

For ongoing cases or unsolved backlog cases, everyone usually kept quiet unless necessary; such details were both investigative resources and potential evidence for conviction—even county bureau officers strictly adhered to this rule.

Wei Zhenguo smiled. “Not a big case.”

Old Gu, seeing how many men Wei Zhenguo brought, grew even more serious: “The suspect lives in an old complex—conditions are complicated. If you need more personnel for surveillance, we’ve got a few on duty…”

“Enough, enough—we’re just being cautious.” Wei Zhenguo declined politely, then asked Old Gu to lead the way. The eleven of them split into three groups and entered the complex from both front and back entrances.

The complex consisted of only three towers, each 20 to 24 stories tall, but since they were all slab buildings, each floor held over a dozen apartments arranged in a U-shape, surrounding a long central courtyard with safety staircases looping inside and out.

This kind of layout looked simple but was complex to control.

Both front and back entrances, plus two garage entrances, were fully accessible to vehicles and pedestrians.

Inside the complex, ground-level parking was available, and the underground parking lot was equally walkable. Two entrances and two staircases led down to the underground parking.

Each tower had four elevators—two on the east side, two on the west—with one elevator per tower reaching the underground parking. Add two safety staircases per tower and two more from the garages themselves, and the entire complex felt like a labyrinth.

As Jiang Yuan listened to the property manager’s description, images from Hong Kong crime films flashed through his mind.

If the suspect spotted them and fled today, the chase could be filmed from above: a 22-story U-shaped staircase, with both sides scrambling up and down, left and right, front and back—perhaps even leaping over railings, risking their lives to jump between floors or straight to the ground.

The dim, half-lit stairwell lights would make the chase terrifying, amplifying tension and anxiety.

If they could drive or break into a unit, the film could shift to car theft or hostage-taking—thirty extras across three towers could easily make a movie.

Wei Zhenguo’s face showed no expression.

His uniform was wrinkled, just like the creases on his face.

But in his eyes, Wei Zhenguo clearly radiated more confidence outside the office than inside.

“Two people at each entrance, one at each garage entrance—use walkie-talkies for immediate support. And remember to turn on your body cameras.” Wei Zhenguo walked while listening, then dispatched the team.

The remaining five regrouped and took one elevator straight up to the 12th floor.

The door opened, and a young couple looked up to see five police officers in uniform—their eyes went wide.

“One officer on each side of the hallway.” Wei Zhenguo gave a brief order, then led the group to the suspect’s door.

The door number was 1209.

“Knock and say there’s a leak downstairs—you need to check.” Wei Zhenguo said, then positioned himself and the others on either side of the door.

Through the peephole, the suspect could only see an old property worker.

Inside, an impatient voice soon replied.

Jiang Yuan exhaled in relief.

If the suspect was home, the chance of arrest was high.

As Jiang Yuan thought this, after a few exchanges through the door, it clicked open.

Without prompting, two strong officers sidestepped in and shoved the unsuspecting suspect against the wall.

“Police. Don’t move. What’s your name?” Several voices barked, stern and heavy.

“Cai Bin…”

“Cai Bin. You’re under arrest…” As handcuffs snapped on, an officer pressed: “How many people live here? Is anyone else home?”

“There’s… my wife—no, my girlfriend—inside.” Cai Bin raised his voice: “Yun, it’s the police—this has nothing to do with you. Don’t move!”

Jiang Yuan stood right there, with nothing to do.

The suspect offered no resistance—just shouted a few times. The entire arrest went as smoothly as a drill.

“Nervous?” Wei Zhenguo had the female officer lead the suspect’s girlfriend out, then walked over to Jiang Yuan and asked with a smile.

Jiang Yuan nodded slightly. “A little.”

“Most arrests are like this.” Wei Zhenguo gestured with his chin. “Those who resist violently usually fall into two categories: those who committed serious crimes, or those who are truly innocent. So if you encounter violent resistance, stay alert during interrogation.”

Jiang Yuan looked at Cai Bin, firmly pinned down, and nodded slowly again.

“Let’s go down.” Wei Zhenguo ordered the officers stationed at the entrances to regroup at the complex gate and wait for the cars.

The officers guarding the front and back entrances and garage doors strolled back slowly.

Eleven of them gathered together, surrounding the two suspects, standing out sharply in the morning light at the complex gate.

Cai Bin, hands cuffed, squirmed uneasily, staring at the large group of officers, utterly bewildered.

Two or three officers arresting one thief was common.

But eleven officers showing up all at once? Something had to be wrong.

The more Cai Bin thought about it, the more uneasy he felt. He couldn’t help asking: “Why are you arresting me?”

“Don’t you know what you did?” Wei Zhenguo’s gaze sharpened on Cai Bin.

Cai Bin counted the officers again and shook his head fiercely: “I didn’t do anything! You’ve got the wrong guy—I swear!”

“Wrong guy? Think again.” Wei Zhenguo’s dark face wrinkled like a crude version of Bao Zheng. He swept his finger in a circle around them and said slowly: “Do you think we’re just out for a stroll?”

“No, I… I didn’t…” Cai Bin felt haunted by vengeful ghosts.

“We’ll talk about it back at the station.” Wei Zhenguo pointed at the body camera, acting strictly by the book.

The more formal Wei Zhenguo became, the more uncomfortable Cai Bin felt—even Cai Bin’s girlfriend now regarded him with growing suspicion.