Chapter 137: Countless Merits

N Province, Y City.

Wearing police uniforms, Xiao Yu and Guo Qiang stepped off the high-speed train.

When police officers traveled to another province, they had to wear uniforms unless on a confidential mission. For cross-provincial cases, carrying firearms required special approval and proof from both locations.

This time, their arrival in N Province was not for work.

Xiao Yu and Guo Qiang were dressed very formally. Guo Qiang was not carrying a gun. As for Xiao Yu, he didn’t even have the qualifications to carry one yet.

Can you believe that a newly promoted Superintendent doesn’t have the qualification to carry a firearm?

To carry a gun, one needed special training and had to pass an assessment. The entire process could take a few months to half a year before the permit was issued. But how long had Xiao Yu been on the force? He had been solving cases all the time, where would he find the time to get the qualification?

It was not just Superintendents, even Commissioners weren’t allowed to handle firearms without the proper qualifications. Using a police firearm without the qualification during a mission was a crime. This showed just how strict the country was about firearm management.

Xiao Yu had planned to train for his firearm qualification during this period, but then this situation came up. 

As they walked out of the station, three formally dressed police officers were waiting outside. The local and visiting police units had already coordinated. They were here to welcome their comrades from another province.

However…

When the three officers saw Xiao Yu, they were stunned. They stared at the insignia on Xiao Yu’s shoulder. 

The ‘two bars and one star’ insignia – Superintendent?!

It was worth noting that the highest rank among the officers welcoming Xiao Yu and Guo Qiang was also Superintendent. Of course, rank didn’t mean everything, in the police system, rank advanced automatically with years of service.

Under normal circumstances, it would take about thirteen years to be promoted to Superintendent, without any merits or achievements. Special promotions were given for individual merits, group achievements, outstanding performance, commendations, and awards.

The problem was… 

How old was this guy in front of them? Even if he was over thirty, they wouldn’t be so shocked. But that handsome young face, at most, looked like it was twenty-one or twenty-two. 

A Superintendent? We must be seeing things.

“Hello!” Xiao Yu greeted, flashing a bright smile at the three stunned officers and extending his hand. “I’m Xiao Yu, the Deputy Captain of the Criminal Investigation Unit in Bencheng. You guys are from the S County unit, right?”

The three policemen snapped out of their daze and exchanged glances. The leading Superintendent quickly extended his hand to shake Xiao Yu’s. 

“I’m Qian Long, Captain of the Criminal Investigation Unit in S County.”

The Criminal Investigation Unit was a regular establishment within the county-level departments. Qian Long’s position was the same level as Zhao Changshan, both were Senior Directors. Xiao Yu, on the other hand, was a Deputy Section Director, one level lower.

Qian Long warmly led Xiao Yu and Guo Qiang to treat them to a welcoming meal. Hosting colleagues from other units was a given. 

When they go to Bincheng, they would receive the same hospitality.

There was no alcohol at the table, rules were rules, so they toasted with water instead. After the meal and getting to know each other, Xiao Yu turned to Qian Long. 

“Captain Qian, can you tell us what happened?”

“Yeah.” The smile vanished from Qian Long’s face, replaced by a heavy sigh. “It was one of my subordinates, a team leader. He was 29, and his child is only three.”

Xiao Yu and Guo Qiang immediately felt a heavy sadness.

“They cut his tendons, took out his eyes, cut off his tongue, and then dumped his body in a reservoir. If the rope hadn’t loosened and the body floated up, we might never have found him,” Qian Long said each word through gritted teeth.

Xiao Yu’s eyes suddenly flashed with a cold, sharp light. Guo Qiang’s face turned grim, a flicker of murderous intent in his eyes.

When they left, they only knew that a colleague from a fellow unit had been killed. They never expected it to be this brutal.

“Let’s go,” Xiao Yu stood up. “Let’s take a look.”

Such cases involving murder wouldn’t be cremated immediately, as they were part of the evidence chain. Being in criminal investigation, they all understood the procedure. 

Qian Long didn’t waste any time. Two police cars drove from Y City to S County, stopping at a makeshift morgue. County-level units rarely had proper cold storage for bodies, so the morgue was just a cold storage room.

In the freezing air, Xiao Yu walked in and saw a makeshift steel frame bed with a swollen body lying on it. Fortunately, the body was found relatively early and wasn’t in an advanced state of decay. Otherwise, the corpse would have burst, making it hard to keep intact.

Even so, seeing the body made Xiao Yu’s blood boil with anger, his eyes flashing with murderous intent. 

It was too tragic. Although he had seen worse, the fact that the victim was a fellow police officer made it unbearable.

The wrists and ankles had been severed with some kind of sharp weapon. Not only were the tendons cut, but the bones were also shattered. The eye sockets were sunken, meaning the eyes had been gouged out. The mouth was a dark hole, the tongue gone. The cause of death was the neck. The arteries, trachea, and esophagus had been cut open.

Xiao Yu quietly observed. His gaze moved inch by inch over the body. His expression grew colder than the air in the storage room.

Guo Qiang couldn’t bear to look any longer and turned away, his body trembling. Not from fear or horror, but from anger he could barely control.

Suddenly, Guo Qiang turned to Xiao Yu and gritted his teeth, “Boss, we can’t let these bastards get away with this.”

He knew very well what Xiao Yu was capable of.

From the first day Xiao Yu joined the criminal investigation team, he had been his apprentice. Although this apprentice had far surpassed his master in skill. Now, Xiao Yu had even become his superior. If Guo Qiang asked Xiao Yu for a favor, Xiao Yu would certainly help.

Xiao Yu shook his head, “There are rules.”

Even within the same city’s police system, officers couldn’t interfere with cases from other units. It was even more complicated with cases from another province. Random interference would create chaos.

Qian Long, who had been silent, couldn’t help but glance at the insignia on Xiao Yu’s shoulder, his mouth twitching as he earnestly said, “If you can help, I’ll report to my superiors and coordinate with your unit in Bencheng. We can get the paperwork done in a day.”

On the way back, Qian Long’s co-leader secretly called the office to look up Xiao Yu. A young Superintendent in his twenties was too shocking. Few believed it was real.

When the subordinate called back, the co-leader was stunned. He stared at Qian Long and held up three fingers.

Qian Long thought, ‘What? A third-class merit? That’s nothing to be shocked about.’

The co-leader shook his head and said, “Three first-class merits, and… a second-level honorary title!”

Hearing this, Qian Long felt as if the world had turned upside down. It seemed unreal.

A police academy graduate who had been on the force for less than five months, and only 22 years old, was already a Superintendent?

This could only be because of countless meritorious deeds.