Chapter 549: The Fish in the Pond

Litang Township.

The police station was built in a large courtyard beside the provincial highway.

The gray cement walls and heavy iron gate gave a faint sense of authority, slightly out of step with modern trends; meanwhile, the shops lining both alleys hung blue and red signs, their festive appearance clashing with the mindset of civilians entering or leaving the station.

Tang Tang Xiaobo, chief of the Litang Township Police Station, received the call and led his men downstairs to greet them—the reception ceremony was essentially top-tier for a township level.

Huang Huang Qiangmin, as deputy director—even though he was non-regular and new—still commanded respect when visiting a township.

Jiang Yuan lagged behind, scanning the surroundings.

Entering through the main gate, the front-facing building was the service hall: two stories tall, facing south, with a row of transparent glass windows much like those of telecom or mobile service centers; on either side were waiting rooms, household registration offices, and other departments.

Behind the service hall stood two more buildings: one was a three-story comprehensive logistics building with six or seven offices in a row; the other was a slightly smaller dormitory building, four stories tall but visually similar in scale to the three-story logistics building.

"Captain Jiang, over here… let's grab a quick meal in the canteen first," the political instructor invited warmly.

"Where is the interrogation center?" Jiang Yuan asked directly.

"Ah…" The political instructor paused, then smiled: "We only have one interrogation room, on the first floor of the comprehensive building."

"Is the interrogation room combined with the inquiry room?" Jiang Yuan had seen similar setups.

The political instructor nodded.

"How many people can it hold? Separate or collective detention?"

The political instructor hadn't expected such questions—he cleared his throat twice before smiling: "We have two large rooms, each holding five or six people. We rarely detain suspects here; if someone needs solitary confinement, we send them straight to the county detention center after interrogation."

"So the chief means they mostly catch gamblers, and if someone's serious, they just send them to the county," said Wei Wei Zhenguo, who had come along on this trip—he was deputy captain of the Sixth Detachment and Mu Mu Zhiyang's master. Since training Mu Mu Zhiyang, he rarely followed Jiang Yuan anymore; this time, he'd come specifically to see off Wu Wu Junhao.

Wei Wei Zhenguo had seniority and spent years chasing criminals; he knew every township police station in the surrounding area.

The political instructor smiled at him and shook his head: "You don't have to undermine me right in front of Captain Jiang."

"Captain Jiang won't give you trouble—he's just focused on case matters," Wei Wei Zhenguo said, instantly putting the Litang Township officers at ease.

Everyone present understood the scheme Chai Tong had pulled—promotion in title, demotion in reality.

In terms of average suspicion levels among units, outside of secret departments, the police force ranked first.

Especially detectives, who constantly encounter society's dark underbelly—they seem to observe you from a fourth-dimensional space when they speak.

Yet on the other hand, police officers have very limited upward mobility, and collectively, they retain a certain simplicity.

It's like individual sheepherders, but when grouped, they're better suited for pulling carts.

The officers and auxiliary police of Litang Township Police Station welcomed Wu Wu Junhao with maximum enthusiasm, assigned him a private office, and then all ate together in the canteen.

Afterwards, Chief Tang Tang Xiaobo and the others stared expectantly at Jiang Yuan and his group, preparing to see them off.

Huang Huang Qiangmin smiled warmly and left with Wei Wei Zhenguo and the others in one vehicle.

Jiang Yuan, Mu Mu Zhiyang, Wang Wang Chuan, and Wu Wu Junhao remained behind.

Tang Tang Xiaobo turned to his new subordinate Wu Wu Junhao and smiled: "Wu, how should we arrange for Captain Jiang…"

"Use the conference room next to my office," Wu Wu Junhao replied bluntly.

Tang Tang Xiaobo blinked. "If you need to sleep, we have dormitories…"

"Arrange three dorm rooms too," Jiang Yuan volunteered. "We'll stay about a week."

The original station staff exchanged glances—our township may be remote, but you can drive back to the county in an hour and a half. Why stay in dorms? Could it be…

"Since we're here, I'd like to work a few cases with Chief Wu—is that alright?" Jiang Yuan asked politely.

The mystery was solved—no need for Tang Tang Xiaobo and the others to guess.

Tang Tang Xiaobo hesitated, then said: "Captain Jiang, Director Chai might have thoughts on this."

"Director Chai doesn't control where detectives go or which cases they solve," Wu Wu Junhao said, his blunt nature showing—he had no interest in compromise now.

Tang Tang Xiaobo sighed. "Actually, our station has few remaining cold cases. Your cold case team has cleared most of them over this period."

Since its formation, Jiang Yuan's cold case team, stationed in Ningtai County, had investigated cases across the province—but during spare time, they still swept through Ningtai County's cases.

Combined with Jiang Yuan's previous cleanups of Ningtai's cold cases, over a year and a half, even small places like Litang Township had few notable cases left.

Jiang Yuan, unbothered and straightforward, said: "This time, I'm just accompanying Chief Wu on cases—no matter how big or small, we'll take them. Let's start tonight—first, screen some cases tonight."

When it came to criminal cases, Tang Tang Xiaobo had nothing to say. The Criminal Investigation Detachment handled all criminal cases countywide; even if Jiang Yuan hadn't come, a formal request for cases would have compelled them to compile and submit them.

Realizing this, Tang Tang Xiaobo called over an officer and told him to accompany Jiang Yuan's group, then quietly withdrew.

Tang Tang Xiaobo felt he needed to seriously reconsider his life.

The next morning, Tang Tang Xiaobo rose early, drove to Old Chen's fried dough sticks shop, bought fried dough sticks, soy milk, and tofu pudding, and brought them to the station to entertain Jiang Yuan.

As the saying goes, the key to gift-giving isn't just price—it's frequency.

Tang Tang Xiaobo believed that if he showed enough diligence, he could at least warm the heart of a young man like Jiang Yuan—so he wouldn't end up as collateral damage.

Thinking of this, Tang Tang Xiaobo sighed. He was already caught in the crossfire—what did a township police chief in a remote area have to do with all this? He should've been living a carefree, immortal-like life, waiting for retirement.

But one weekend passed, and he'd inexplicably encountered a god.

Not even mentioning earlier cases—just Jiang Yuan's recent resolution of the Jingyang Line triple homicide—what level of case was that? If any officer from Litang Township had been involved, even just contributing one critical piece of evidence—mentioned once in the final report—would have earned at least a Third-Class Merit, possibly a Second-Class Merit with good fortune.

Why Jiang Yuan and Wu Wu Junhao received only commendations instead is another matter.

Leaving politics aside, purely in terms of criminal investigation, Tang Tang Xiaobo knew he was eight generations behind Jiang Yuan—but real life isn't just about solving cases.

"Has Captain Jiang arrived? Has he had breakfast?" Tang Tang Xiaobo entered the station and saw the internal affairs officer loitering in the courtyard.

"He's up. He went out."

"Where? Which case did he look at?"

"Said he won't look at specific cases yet—first, he wants to study our township's plant distribution, wants to be thorough." The internal affairs officer looked confused.

Tang Tang Xiaobo understood even less. He was older; even when following Jiang Yuan's cases, he focused only on famous major ones. With Jiang Yuan solving so many cases, he paid little attention to technical details.

In truth, Tang Tang Xiaobo had always been a fish swimming in the moat—changes of power on the city walls meant little to him. Major cases in the city, in Changyang City, or even among Houthi militants in the Middle East—all carried the same level of information intensity, and he only needed a general understanding.

He didn't clearly know how Jiang Yuan solved cases or what advanced techniques he used.

At this point, Tang Tang Xiaobo could only nod. "Just treat him carefully. Jiang Yuan of Ningtai—his fury burns fiercely. As long as it doesn't burn us, we're fine."

"Got it. Probably just accompanying Chief Wu to check things out," the internal affairs officer speculated, clinging to hope.