Chapter 190: The Strange Case File

Xiao Yu, now fully recovered, walked into the Criminal Investigation Division. 

After greeting his colleagues, he made his usual rounds to visit the offices of the boss and the department head, dropping off a pack of special-edition cigarettes for each of them. These cigarettes weren’t particularly expensive, but they were hard to come by. 

To be honest, people who knew their cigarettes—especially those in official circles—understood the significance. 

At a dinner table, if you pulled out a pack of these special-edition cigarettes, it was not just for show, it also carried weight. If you didn’t have the right connections, you wouldn’t have access to such cigarettes. And if you did, it sparked all kinds of speculation. 

No one in their right mind would want to offend someone smoking these. Well, unless they were completely brainless.

Recently, with Xiao Yu around, the Criminal Investigation Division’s case-solving ability had become almost unreal, especially after the recent corpse theft case that ended up involving two murders. 

The case was eventually classified as a major crime, and the entire division was awarded a collective second-class merit. Xiao Yu received an individual second-class merit.

Now, don’t underestimate the collective award. This kind of recognition boosted everyone’s career. 

According to the department head Zhao Changshan, even the boss, Zhou Tinghu, could be in line for a promotion. Originally, both of them thought they’d just work in the Criminal Investigation Division until retirement, but with Xiao Yu being so outstanding, not getting promoted was becoming increasingly difficult.

The cigarettes Xiao Yu gave were meant for Zhou Tinghu to pass on as a favor—borrowing flowers to offer to Buddha, so to speak. 

The cigarettes had been sent over from the capital by Wang Dong, who had originally promised ten packs but ended up sending twenty. Apparently, the extra ten packs were a personal gift from the higher-ups.

As for the credit Xiao Yu earned for busting the assassin group… 

To be honest, after earning four first-class merits, Xiao Yu had become desensitized to accolades. Wang Dong and the higher-ups were scratching their heads over how to properly reward him.

Why was it so tricky to award him? 

Because there was a certain protocol when it came to handing out first-class merits.

Upon receiving three first-class merits, one was usually granted an honorary title. Upon the fifth first-class merit, an additional honorary title was given. By the sixth, that title got upgraded to a first-degree honor.

And here’s where it got scary: if someone managed to earn ten first-class merits, they were awarded the National Honor medal.

So, what exactly was the National Honor?

You could say, if you had that medal and displayed it in your home, it wouldn’t matter who it was, what rank they held, or how powerful they were—if they were in this country, they’d have to show you respect. 

Did that sound exaggerated? It was not in the slightest. 

That medal represented ten first-class merits, earned by putting your life on the line ten times.

Forget about ten for a moment. Even in the police force, there were very few people who had earned five first-class merits, let alone a 22-year-old like Xiao Yu. And we’re not even talking about regular first-class merits here. This would also come with an additional honorary title. 

Xiao Yu had just recently been awarded an honorary title, and now there was talk of another? 

How were they supposed to hand out these merits?

But, credit must be given where it was due. Nobody dared withhold a reward like that. If you start holding back life-risking rewards, who was going to risk their life next time? 

That was just common sense, and it was not a rule anyone dared break.

While the higher-ups were getting headaches over how to handle this, Xiao Yu was having a great time. His days off had been pretty sweet lately. His wife was loosening up a lot more now. Whether it was black stockings or a schoolgirl outfit, she’d wear whatever he asked for. Basically, Mu Qingwu had been all about having a kid recently, practically obsessed. Somehow, she’d heard that at 28, her age might make it harder to conceive, so she was constantly on Xiao Yu’s case. So, yeah, Xiao Yu was living the good life. 

It hurt, but he enjoyed every minute of it.

Back at his desk at the station, Xiao Yu found himself in a relaxed but slightly bored mood. 

The smaller cases that the team was handling didn’t need his attention at all. After all, using a cannon to shoot a mosquito would be overkill, right? And besides, everyone knew Xiao Yu was often called in by national security to help with their cases. 

So, if they were to pull him off an investigation midway through, someone else would have to pick it back up. No one wanted to bother Xiao Yu unless it was something big, and at most, they’d just ask for his advice. Even Xiao Yu was starting to feel that his career as a cop was a bit too easy.

With nothing much to do, Xiao Yu started flipping through old cold cases. Who knows, maybe he’d get lucky and stumble across a new lead.

As he flipped through the files, something suddenly caught his eye.

Xiao Yu’s eyes locked onto a case file.

What the heck?

“How did a case like this end up with the Criminal Investigation Unit?”

He was confused as he opened the file.

It was a theft case. Just your run-of-the-mill theft. 

Normally, something like this would be handled by the Anti-Theft Unit or maybe a local police station, which dealt with all sorts of cases.

But the Criminal Investigation Unit? That was a whole different league.

Their focus was on investigating and assisting with ordinary, major, and significant criminal cases. Sure, the reality was that they didn’t usually handle significant cases—those were way out of their league. But if they were called in to assist on a bigger case, they had to pitch in.

And now, with Xiao Yu on the team, they’ve actually been involved in coordinating and assisting with several major cases. 

Yeah, he could brag about that for the rest of his life.

Typically, though, the lowest level of cases the Criminal Investigation Unit dealt with were “ordinary” criminal cases. To put it bluntly, theft didn’t even make the cut for ordinary. And yet, somehow, in the case archives of the Criminal Investigation Unit, there was a theft case listed. Not just any theft case, either—a tricky one.

Can you believe that?

Xiao Yu was definitely baffled. After going through the case file, he furrowed his brow and muttered, “Something’s off about this case.”

What exactly was off?

First of all, it was indeed a theft case. But the strange part was that it happened on a train. Usually, thefts on trains were handled by railway police.

But here’s where it got weird.

Six years ago, there was a theft on a train. A family of three was traveling somewhere when their belongings were stolen. Naturally, they reported it to the police.

And then, things got really bizarre.

Six days after reporting the theft, the entire family was found dead in their home. They had committed suicide by poisoning.

Just a few days after being robbed, the whole family takes their own lives? Didn’t that seem odd?

But wait, it got even stranger.

When the police arrived at the scene of the family’s suicide, they found the very items that had been stolen from them on the train.