The Way Of The Evil Chapter 18

The Final Gentleman Part 2

Nevermind if they work a little overtime on normal days. But to receive continuous calls from the great Captain Shen chasing after their lives even during the weekend was a little tragic. The one who went out for a date with her lover had to come back; the one who finally could sleep lazily at home for the whole day for once had to come back; the one who was in domestic bliss with his wife had to come back; the one who "worked overtime" in another form in the hospital, enlightening a youth about his love problems also had to come back.

Shen Yexi was faced with a group whose heads were emitting animosity and felt that he was actually pretty innocent too.

It was not easy to do the job of a policeman. One of the reasons was because the vast majority of the criminals were too dedicated to their work of breaking the law. No matter if it was a clear day, a rainy day, a public holiday, they'll commit a crime the very moment they want to.

Regardless of the time of the day. The wages for the high-risk careers were like this too. It was no wonder that there were so many handsome men and beautiful women in the bureau who can only market themselves on their own. The initial rule that you can't be in a relations.h.i.+p with your colleagues was removed in the second month after Chief Mo was appointed. It was only through this that there was a small path of survival for the vast civil servants in the police force.

This time, the ones who were frenziedly caught were not just them. Matters that involve terrorist organisations, like car explosions, were rather sensitive. There was even a call from the mayor.

In the time Mo Cong put on his jacket, he already asked about the entire ancestry of the one who installed the bombs. Hatefully, he looked at An Jie leisurely using a spray bottle to water the flowers—An Yining, that brat wasn't around for once and he could have spent some alone time with his beloved lover.

Mo Cong had a withered and resentful expression as he personally showed up for the emergency meeting. The resentment of the elite team had already materialized. A layer of black air was floating in the office. Mo Cong slapped the table. "All of you convert your depression into strength for laozi[1] right now! Otherwise, next weekend, and next, next weekend and next, next, next weekend, you still have to work overtime. Enough overtime until you die of it!"

The people were silent… Uh, do departments like the reception or the archives or something still lack people?

"C-Chief…" At the door, the small investigator working overtime was afraid to speak  as he looked at the people in this room, knocking on the door, trembling in fright.

Mo Cong turned his head over with narrowed eyes—oof, he finally understood what "eyes like knives" meant.

"U-Uh, the mayor, the mayor called again. Asked for you… said…"

"Bulls.h.i.+t. Ask him, what's he rus.h.i.+ng for? If he rushed laozi again, I'll quit my job and tell him to investigate it himself!"

"But…" The small investigator was about to cry. With his lack of guts, he won't dare to talk to the mayor like this either.

An Yining inserted herself in, translating the words of her father who looked like an instructor outside but was a hoodlum internally. "Just tell the mayor that, at the moment, the Chief is frantically a.s.sembling members to investigate this issue. Once we have a conclusion, we'll report it to the mayor immediately."

As though he received a great pardon, the small investigator left quickly as though his feet weren't touching the floor. Once An Yining looked back and saw her own father currently glaring at her, she was confused, "What do you want?"

Mo Cong, "Where did you learn this from?"

An Yining rolled her eyes, "I was influenced by dad obviously."

Mo Cong's mouth twitched. "Bulls.h.i.+t, he mixed around even more than I did back then. His indirectness was even because he was influenced by me."

Shen Yexi gave a dry cough, reminding two certain people who had s.h.i.+fted the topic to their family life to take note of their effect on the others.

Mo Cong rolled his eyes at him, and put on an act of seriousness. "Everyone, you don't need to restrain yourself. You can put forth your own opinion."

No one was restraining themselves in the first place. Everyone was already so close with each other…

So, the great Miss Yang who had a huge temper from having her sleep disrupted also jumped out to act indecently. "Have those modest failures in the munic.i.p.al committee never seen a bomb before?  Those young masters who itch to bandage their little finger once they were p.r.i.c.ked by a barb wire, do they think terrorists don't know what they're doing? They've mixed in two bombs on public transport in such difficulty and not even a single rat died?"

In the utterly crowded public commute, only a few people suffered non-life-threatening wounds. Certainly, it did seem to be a bomb that didn't have much power.

Mo Cong deeply felt this way. But as the chief, he cannot aid his subordinate in her habit of indecent speech so easily, so he opened his mouth to say, "I've already explained the situation to the mayor. But the mayor believed that although the destructive power of the bomb wasn't big, it has dire effects, and would damage the stable solidarity in the society. It will easily affect the social order and cause panic in the people. Moreover, we need to provide preventive measures against the future. We cannot lock the stable door after the horse has bolted—after something big has really happened… Dr. Jiang, what's wrong?"

Jiang Hu's expression became increasingly baffled. Mo Cong gave a slight cough. After all, he was a friend of "that person" in his family, so he inquired good-naturedly. 

Jiang Hu said, "Chief Mo, about what you said, there were a few things I didn't understand. For example, what do you mean by 'lock the stable door after the horse has bolted'? And that… take what measures against the future?"

Mo Cong was nearly choked to death by him. He took a while before he managed to catch his breath. "Dr. Jiang can consult the idiom dictionary about this. Young people, when in Rome, do as the Romans do. Learn more Chinese phrases, yeah."

Jiang Hu was stunned, mentally thinking that he heard of "when in Rome, do as the Romans do". It meant that you should follow the customs of the place you're in, so he glanced at Mo Cong in extreme embarra.s.sment, cautiously asking, "Did I say something wrong? I'm sorry, I don't know the practices during meetings in the country…"

Shen Yexi shot a glance at the chief's green face and wanted to laugh but found it impolite. So he coughed dryly. "Back to the topic, back to the topic. Scatterbrain Hu, don't derail things."

Jiang Hu instantly pursed his lips and kept quiet. Mo Cong gave him a glance before giving Shen Yexi a glance—pretty good, huh, brat. It had only been two days and you've already made this western doctor submit to you?

Shen Yexi outright ignored him as if he was the background, becoming serious. "Regardless of whether they're terrorists, it's very dangerous for an explosion to happen on public commute in the city. No one knows if their first two attempts were just a practice drill either. What if an explosion of an even bigger range happens again next time?"

"If it's just a practice drill, won't they be afraid of alerting us?" Su Junzi asked.

"What do you mean?"

"To install a bomb on a public bus is a very high-profile action. Then what if the suspect didn't do it to wound the people on the bus, and only did it to cause a certain panic and terror?"

"And why would they want to cause panic and terror in the society? A political motive? If that's the case, then why didn't an organization jump out to elaborate on their political motive?" Yang Man interrupted. She turned to An Yining to ask, "When we've yet to catch the suspect, what's the extent we can heighten security?"

An Yining splayed her two hands. "Public buses are not like the subway. There are too many routes, too many stops and also too high a bus frequency. The majority are in high-density areas difficult to put under surveillance. Moreover, the so-called bomb that was reported to have caused the incident was like a certain toy where its prank went over the top. The size was very small—perhaps you can even clasp it in your clothes pocket. What we can only do is increase patrolling and warn the townspeople to be safe when they head out. We can't seriously search every single person's body one by one either."

"Was there any relation between the two buses that exploded?" Jiang Hu asked.

"The first is Bus 6 which went from the train station to the botanical garden. The second is Bus 97 which went from Yushui Gardens to Pingcheng County outside the city." An Yining spread a giant map of the road network on the table. Using a gel pen, she drew three black circles on it. "I've already marked out the common bus stops that both Bus 6 and Bus 97 stop at. They're Yumen, Yinqiao and the East Exit of Xianyang Intersection."

"Get someone to focus on these three bus stops. Also mark out the locations of the explosions too." Shen Yexi said, "What about the victims?"

This was basically one person speaking, followed by another speaking. Mo Cong's hands were crossed as he found out that he had already been completely reduced into someone outside the circle. He leaned against the chair, revealing a smile. Then, he stood up with light hands and feet, opening the door and leaving. At the door, a policeman happened to pa.s.s by. He opened his mouth, about to greet him when he was stopped by the index finger Mo Cong lifted at his lips. Then, the great chief looked like he was in a very good mood as he lifted his jacket… to leave, slacking off on his job.

If the sky collapsed, there was Shen Yexi to carry it now. Shen Yexi can't carry it? If Shen Yexi can't carry it, then there was still Jiang Hu, that giant witless vegetable[2].

"There's not even a single inking of a link between the victims." An Yining said. Seeing that a few people still had something to ask, the angelic big sister can't be bothered to do this anymore. She slapped the table. "My surname is An, my given name is Yining, not the Encyclopedia! Are you guys done? All of you asking me, but don't you know how to look at the data in your hands? Do you guys have eyes just to emit some air?!"

Shen Yexi, Jiang Hu, Yang Man, Su Junzi stared at her.

"Uh…" Jiang Hu weakly added in. An Yining looked down at him, scrowling. Jiang Hu's expression was rather innocent. "I actually wanted to say that, there is a slight link between the victims."

"What?"

"In the two cases of the vehicles exploding, there weren't many wounded, but each time, there was a child." Jiang Hu said.

Why were you always the one catching something fishy? Shen Yexi looked at him with scrutinizing eyes before grinning. Recently, he came to love the feeling of a certain person's soft and curly hair. So he once again stretched out his hand to mess it up again hard. He commented, "Not bad. Two pairs of eyes are truly more useful."

"Yining, you and Junzi gather the police force to the three bus stops you mentioned. Notice the flow of the people. While you're at it, you can contact the traffic police too and ask them to cooperate. Yang-jie, stay here to work with the Explosives Ordnance Disposal, See what you can obtain from the bomb. Jiang Hu, come with me. Let's visit the victims of the two bomb cases separately." Without waiting for Jiang Hu to object, Shen Yexi  ordered people around in seriousness. "Time to do work, time to do work. Wear more clothes today. The weather report said that there'll be heavy winds and a drop in temperature."

The few people stood up. At this time, Yang Man suddenly made a "hm?" sound, looking around. "Where's Chief Mo? When did he disappear?"

"Nevermind him!" The people spoke in unison. Chief Mo, you're being looked down on.

This time he went out, Jiang Hu instantly s.h.i.+vered. The office had the heater during winter and the air-conditioner during summer, a favorable climate throughout the year. But the Heavens won't give this much face. The slight chilly breeze unique to the northern cities was currently strutting around in a vile attempt to sneak into the clothes of every pa.s.serby. It was dry and cold, and sunlight was still s.h.i.+ning in the morning sky. But now, the sky became dark and gloomy.

Shen Yexi opened the car door. Picking up a towel left by G.o.d knew who, he tossed it at him. "Cold now, aren't you? I told you guys to wear a little more. If you don't listen to words from the elderly, you'll suffer a loss."

Jiang Hu laughed a little, taking it.

Shen Yexi was atypically meticulous, and Jiang Hu realized that this meticulousness actually did not only surface in his insight in work matters.

Once winter came, such things will often be present on the few cars often used for their fieldwork—a pair of cotton gloves, a towel. Sometimes, a few cotton coats for military use would even magically appear in the trunk.

On the days the hot water indicator for the water dispenser in the office was damaged, you'll always see a note pasted there in the morning: the hot water is turned on, careful. And who knew when it started but there had been an additional map of the public buses and subway. After Sheng Yao was injured, he especially drew out the path from the bureau to the hospital with a red pen. Without even a need to say it, they'll know that it was prepared for a certain someone with no sense of direction.

They all said that Shen Yexi was sly and slick. Although he was high-profile, it was always impossible for one to pick out his faults. But Jiang Hu thought, this person, Leader Shen, was actually really very, very good towards the people he accepted. It made people feel warm and fuzzy at all times.

The author has something to say:

Time to greet everyone a happy new year~~~~~~

Everyone, may you have great luck and profits in Year of the Tiger~

To be successful in your studies and work, and your family to be harmonious~~~~~~~~

Mn, tomorrow, I'm going to go for new years' visit. I'll request for a day off…The plot will start the day after tomorrow

Translator Note:

[1]: 老子, laozi, (literally, your dad) is a personal p.r.o.noun used to refer to yourself but with arrogance, exerting a dominance over the others
[2]: The original term was 洋葱大瓣蒜 (lit. garlic, giant onion) which was a double-layered joke. Aside from onion and garlic being closely-related, onion can mean stupid while for the phrase, garlic, " 洋葱, the first character can be read as "western", which something the characters have been calling Jiang Hu.