Chapter 4: Outrageous Nerve

Ma Guoliang was momentarily taken aback. He hadn’t expected Liu Yixiong to come up with such a sordid scheme. Yet the lower the trick, the fewer limits it had. Perhaps only an old police hand like Liu could have thought of it. After all his years as an officer, Liu certainly knew how to set people up.

“I don’t care what method you use, as long as you get rid of her. And remember, don’t hurt her. She was in special forces. A minor incident is one thing, but if anything serious happens, we’ll have a hard time explaining it to the military region.” Ma was no fool. Some people were untouchable. If anything happened to an officer from a military region, the army would stand up for its own.

The call ended with a click. A cold smile crossed Liu’s lips. A new chief was coming? Fine. He would see whether she had three heads and six arms, daring to wade into the murky waters of his Gaoshan County. It was time to make another move.

He dialed a number. “Chief Li, the new public security bureau director arrives tomorrow. Are you ready?”

“Ah, Director Liu, we…” The man sounded frightened. Were they to deal with the new police chief as they had the county chiefs?

“What are you stammering for? Do it the usual way. But I hear she served in the military, so be careful. Get the people and everything else ready. Make a good job of it this time.”

“All right. You can count on us, sir. We’ll get it done.”

“Good. This time, get two men. The target is a woman, and I hear she’s good-looking. We’ll make it a prostitution case.”

“What?” The man was dumbfounded. The new police chief caught selling sex in the very county where she was taking office? It would be an explosive scandal. Perhaps only people in Gaoshan would dare do such a thing. After three county chiefs had died in a year, what was there left to fear?

At the railway station, Lin Ying studied the young man in front of her and smiled. He smiled back. “Instructor, are you going to Gaoshan County to fight the bad guys and protect the people?” he asked, grinning.

“Interested in coming with me?” Lin knew that if three county chiefs had died in Gaoshan in a year, its troubles must run terrifyingly deep. The darkness there was easy to imagine.

“Gaoshan is my hometown. I’ll go.”

“Really?” Lin was surprised. Could it be such a coincidence?

“Instructor, do you remember what I told you about my sister?”

Lin’s heart sank. Was the man Duan Fei had spoken of working at the Gaoshan County Public Security Bureau?

“That’s right. He’s at the bureau. I was young back then, but I’d recognize him even if he turned to ashes. And he has scratches on his arm that I gave him. They wouldn’t heal easily.” Duan’s gaze was sharp as a blade. He had trained relentlessly in hand-to-hand combat in the military so that one day he could avenge his sister.

“We’re going there to investigate cases. You can’t focus only on a personal vendetta. If you can’t follow orders, don’t come with me.” Lin knew how formidable Duan was in a fight. But if revenge was all he wanted, that would be a problem.

“You can trust me, Instructor. I know where to draw the line. I will avenge my sister, but I also want to bring justice back to Gaoshan.” His eyes shone with determination.

Lin nodded slowly.

A heavyset man approached. “Director Lin, everything’s taken care of. Are we going back to the bureau?”

She shook her head. “Not yet. We’ll find a hotel first. Are your surveillance devices in place?”

“All ready. Just waiting for your order.”

“Let me introduce you. This is Duan Fei. Duan, this is our communications expert from the province, Little Fatty. Wait—what’s your name again?”

“Xu Pang. You can call me Fatty Xu, too.” He grinned, his eyes disappearing into slits.

“Duan Fei. Nice to meet you.” Duan shook his hand. Just then another man approached and looked at Lin.

“Captain Lin?” His expression was so cold and composed that nothing seemed capable of shaking his resolve.

“Xie Zhijun?” Lin could sense that the young man was like a gun himself: the perfect sniper.

“Yes, ma’am. Sniper Xie Zhijun, reporting for duty.”

“A sniper? Whoa!” Xu stared at him, startled. Why had Director Lin brought a sniper? Curious, he looked Xie up and down.

After the three men had been introduced, they followed Lin out of the station.

None of them expected to be watched from the moment they entered Gaoshan County. But their tail soon discovered he had lost them.

“Damn, they’ve got nerve! They even dared follow you?” Xu couldn’t believe it. What kind of people were these?

“What’s wrong? Scared already?” Lin glanced at him. Xu Pang was an operations specialist as well as a communications expert.

“Don’t worry, Director. I can handle myself. I’m just wondering how they’ve got the nerve to follow the new police chief. How little respect do they have for you?”

Lin gave a faint smile, apparently unconcerned. “It wouldn’t be hard to get my photograph. Either someone from the city Organization Department would bring me to the post, or I might come on my own without announcing myself. They were ready for either.”

Inwardly, she was uneasy. Being watched as soon as she entered Gaoshan was no good sign. Her tail had been skilled, clearly experienced. Where had he come from?

“Duan Fei, go outside and see whether that man managed to follow us.”

Duan nodded. Shaking a tail was easy enough for him. The waters in Gaoshan really did run deep.

He returned shortly, his expression grim. “The man who followed us didn’t come up, but there are quite a few people nearby who look like plainclothes officers.”

Lin frowned. Plainclothes police following their newly appointed chief?

They certainly had nerve.

A cold glint flashed in her eyes, and her fighting spirit surged. In the past, she would already have gone out and knocked them all unconscious. Now she couldn’t resort to violence so easily; her new position would not allow it.

“Could there be a case underway?” Xu asked suddenly.

Lin raised an eyebrow. After a moment’s thought, she considered it quite possible.

She was about to give orders when a piercing scream rang out. “Ah!”