The atmosphere was silent for a while, until Lin Wangjiu was the first to speak to Sanfu:
“How about it? Shall we go for afternoon tea?”
“Let’s fire a couple more shots,” Sanfu replied, uncomfortably shifting his gaze away.
“Come on, let’s practice for half an hour, then go for afternoon tea! Yi’s Iced Coffee Delight, I’ll get us two cups,” Gary cheered happily.
Jiayi stood in place, tilting her head and laughing heartily.
When she accidentally met Sanfu’s gaze, she provocatively raised her eyebrows.
“What’s the big deal about fixed targets? Talk to me when you can hit a moving target with a hundred percent accuracy,” Sanfu snorted and turned back to put on his headphones.
Jiayi quickly seized the few seconds before he put them on, blurting out, “Afternoon tea, afternoon tea, afternoon tea~”
“…” Sanfu turned back to glare.
Jiayi stuck out her tongue, unfazed, and happily returned to her shooting position.
Now not competing, she continued to assume her isosceles stance, practicing her new position.
Half an hour passed quickly, even counting the seconds.
In the end, Sanfu couldn’t escape and had to return the gun and leave.
Liu Jiaming saw Brother Sanfu go out and then turned back to Jiayi and Gary, laughing, “Let’s go back for a full fortune afternoon tea~”
Jiayi also happily shook her head, forming a happy duo with Liu Jiaming.
Before running out of the training room, Jiayi didn’t forget to say goodbye to Alison, “Next time I’ll also bring you Yi’s Iced Coffee Delight and pineapple buns!”
The young policewoman left triumphantly, taking with her the energy and enthusiasm she had shared.
…
…
Between three and four in the afternoon, the detectives of Major Case Squad B were having snacks and drinking Yi’s Iced Coffee Delight.
Jiayi sipped her ice cream topping little by little; Liu Jiaming devoured his in one gulp, making it vanish instantly; Gary, blessed with good teeth, bit into his ice cream one bite at a time; Uncle Jiu, with a weak stomach, skipped the ice cream topping altogether and opted for a room-temperature coffee, even skipping the slush.
And Tan Sanfu, the host, savored his ice cream in small bites, slowly sipping the milk cap, then carefully chewing the slush, treating the Yi’s Iced Coffee Delight like a treasure—it was bought with his own money, after all, and must be cherished.
Upon returning from a meeting, Fang Zhenyue saw everyone eating buns and drinking coffee with great enjoyment and couldn’t help but smile and ask:
“What’s the occasion today? This lavish?”
“Brother Yue, we didn’t use your afternoon tea funds,” Jiayi pointed at Tan Sanfu and said, “Brother Sanfu treated us.”
“What happened? Did Sanfu find some money?” Fang Zhenyue plopped down at the desk, grabbed a cup of coffee, and took a couple of big gulps without minding the cold—truly young and vigorous.
“Hey, that’s enough. Brother Yue, try a pineapple bun to boost your brainpower,” Sanfu quickly interrupted everyone, awkwardly passing a pineapple bun to Fang Zhenyue with an embarrassed expression.
“Brother Sanfu didn’t find any money, but he lost a bet to me~” Jiayi couldn’t let Sanfu get away with it. Dare to do and dare to own up, understand? Want to be a CID officer but can’t even admit to losing a bet?
“Oh? What was the bet about?” Fang Zhenyue became interested.
“Shooting skills!” Jiayi made a gun-holding and firing gesture, then pretended to blow away the non-existent smoke from her fingertips after ‘firing.’
“Alright, alright, you’re the best! Next time! Next time I will definitely beat you!” Sanfu exclaimed furiously.
“I won’t bet with you next time,” Jiayi teased with an annoyingly playful eyebrow raise, laughing wickedly.
“I’ll go deliver some to Forensic Officer Sir Xu and Da Guangming as well!” Jiayi gathered some afternoon tea, happily running out.
“You’re just good at currying favor,” Sanfu leaned against the desk, unable to resist commenting.
“Jealous, aren’t you? It’s your own fault for not winning~” Jiayi was already far away.
“…” Sanfu sighed in frustration.
“Pfft!” Liu Jiaming was the first to burst out laughing.
“Ha ha ha…” Gary followed with a burst of laughter.
Uncle Jiu also shook his head, unable to hold back his amusement.
It seemed like seeing Sanfu defeated brought more joy than solving a case.
“Alright, alright, back to work!” Fang Zhenyue patted Gary on the shoulder, “Go to the archives to check the evidence entries of old cases, then visit the forensic department to see if they are still there and retest them if so. Sanfu, you check the forensic reports of old cases, let’s re-examine and recheck the evidence chain and rethink the case.”
“Understood.”
“Yes, sir!”
Both men acknowledged the orders and left. Fang Zhenyue quickly erased the whiteboard, starting to search through the existing files for known clues and testimonies.
Revisiting an old case, the body was gone, and many witnesses and relatives of the deceased were hard to find, making it tough to solve the case.
Fortunately, with new technology, their major crime unit had to do a bit less legwork.
The forensic science and pathology departments had to work harder, but this ensured they wouldn’t make mistakes!
…
…
Where there are people, there is kindness, and where there are many people, evil inevitably arises.
Lately, there were many villains and numerous cases. Inspector Sir Huang was so busy he often felt he didn’t have enough brains or hands, wishing he could borrow a hand from the thieves to flip through files and make calls.
Just the other day, there was a case of a fake ATM stealing citizens’ bank cards and PINs, leading to theft of their money. What are people thinking these days?
It’s surprising that the criminals had the ingenuity and skills to do this – if only they used their talents to build cabinets or do home renovations instead of making ATMs.
Reportedly, they invested quite a bit at the beginning, but were caught within a week, which was both laughable and pathetic.
Today, he finally had some downtime to sit in his own office.
The door closed, and he breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, he could sit in his own office chair, comfortably light an incense stick, and blissfully watch as the white smoke gracefully spiraled up from the incense burner, drawing technically intricate curves before ascending in a straight line towards the ceiling, and eventually dissipating slowly into a relaxing vapor that soothed both body and mind of Superintendent Huang.
After a short rest, he resigned himself to picking up a document from the thick stack on his desk and began to read it intently.
The documents were varied; he went through several miscellaneous ones requiring his approval for transfers and administrative matters, quickly growing impatient. Pushing those aside, he then pulled out a few case reports.
Although most of the report documents were written in a disorganized and confusing manner, akin to just noting down transactions, at least they contained good news about solving cases, which was always a mood booster.
The first one was a case-solving report from Major Crime Unit C. The criminal investigation logic and the evidence documents were completely disjointed. He needed to carefully review the additional evidence at the end of the report to fully comprehend it.
I’ve said it so many times, try to insert as many photos and files as possible into the document. It helps when bosses, lawyers, and others need to read it.
This guy really takes advantage of the fact that most people aren’t very good with computers and new stuff like Word documents, just sloppily doing as he pleases.
After reading for a while longer, Superintendent Huang even came across a handwritten statement and didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
Even if you write neatly, can it be clearer than typing on a computer? It’s already been said that nowadays, statements are kept as evidence after being signed by the declarants. When submitting reports, a printed copy is needed for easier reading and for display in court.
But then he sighed helplessly when he thought about how many of the old detectives struggled just to type with one finger.
The push for modernized office work has been underway for some time now, but achieving 100% quality implementation still requires time and patience.
With this mindset, he opened the combined case report for the Ferry Street Dismemberment and the Lok Wan Street Park Body Dumping.
He flipped to the end first, eager to assess Sergeant Fang from the internal nomination list, and started with Fang Zhenyue’s summary.
Then he discovered quite a bit of self-promotion about their own detectives.
Statements like, “Detective Liu Jiaming has strong learning abilities and is hardworking,” “The veteran detective Lin Wangjiu has rich experience and can often rely on his experience to provide excellent support work, very reliable,” and “Tan Sanfu is courageous and strategic, works overtime and conducts inquiries without complaints, completes tasks excellently, and has quite an independent working capability”…
I get it, I get it. Your Team B works overtime and solves cases, wanting bonuses and recognition. You make it so obvious, with not a hint of modesty or subtlety.
As Sir Huang grumbled, he continued reading down, coming to praise for Detective Gary and a new female detective who had joined.
Ah, this must be the promising young policewoman who was reported as a lucky star. What did Inspector Qiu Sushan say when she reported it? Gifted, with a superhuman intuition?
He shook the file, and then seriously read the part about Yi Jiayi in Fang Zhenyue’s report:
【…capable of performing logistics and administrative duties very well, very meticulous, showing the ability to coordinate messy and complicated matters.】
【…when the case investigation hit a bottleneck, she took the initiative to chat with Forensic Officer Sir Xu in the forensic department, re-discussing the autopsy process and examining the corpse. She demonstrated strong social skills, which are especially important in solving cases, in implementing communication with cooperating departments such as Forensic and Criminal Science departments, and likely had an unexpected impact! Indeed, at the critical juncture of merging the Lok Wan Street Park body dumping and the Ferry Street dismemberment cases, she indeed made a significant breakthrough! Detective Yi Jiayi, through communication with colleagues from other departments, identified suspicious clues, boldly hypothesized, and carefully verified, ultimately achieving the biggest breakthrough in the case-solving process.】
【Daring to boldly imagine is also a very important trait for a criminal detective, and Yi Jiayi particularly excels in this. Often, even experienced detectives cannot match her intuition and imagination. Understanding to extend clues from minor details, conducting case deductions and offender profiling, she often astonishes with her strong innate talents, a rare sight!】
【Strong learning ability, high enthusiasm for learning, high work passion, and a significant boost to the morale of the entire team. An important positive energy injected into the team, and a powerful driving force in the process of case investigation. Has a sense of justice and fairness.】
【In interrogations and similar areas, [the person] has a unique way of using soft tactics to overcome the hard, achieving miraculous effects. The key witness, Wu Shanrong, was willing to open up and cooperate with the police in questioning, and to testify in court, with Yi Jiayi playing a crucial role.】
Sir Huang couldn’t help but laugh the more he read what Sergeant Fang wrote; it sounded like a martial arts novel. Why doesn’t he serialize a novel in the “Ming Pao”? He might even earn more than everyone else in manuscript fees.
Yi Jiayi, a young girl just graduated, how could she be so capable?
Just boasting!
Why? Want these supervisors who read the report to praise him for his skill in managing subordinates, that he’s a good talent-spotter?
Shaking his head and smiling, Sir Huang put down the summary and picked up the reports of the two cases to sort them out.
This part is the full investigation process from the initial report, and will also be submitted to the Department of Justice as official documents.
Holding the report as he would any other, potentially distressing, he took a deep breath, focused, and prepared to delve in.
But his gaze had barely landed on the first page of the printed document when he slightly furrowed his brow, involuntarily uttering a “huh.”
The document title 【Ferry Street Dismemberment Case and Lok Wan Street Park Body Dumping Case】was surprisingly in large, bold, and centered text!!!
He had seen many reports, but none had ever had such an oddly clear and striking format!
On a single page of a document, seeing three features used simultaneously was already luxurious for Sir Huang.
Even if someone in the police station knew how to use these features, they often wouldn’t.
Back in the 90s, Microsoft Word was just about to release version 6.0. Now, as long as the document is functional, there’s no lavish pursuit of aesthetics yet, especially within the police station.
Sir Huang unconsciously sat up straighter, reading the text with a curious mind while admiring the document’s layout.
This report used large numerical symbols to mark out 【one】【two】【three】 major processes, and small numerical symbols (1) (2) (3) to list out the minor processes, not only presenting the key breakthroughs of the case in a clear format but also listing each specific activity carried out by the various departments, the evidence provided, and reasoning, etc.
It made detailed planning and differentiation, and even through various punctuation conversions, it clearly presented the creator’s logic.
Those who wanted to see the details could easily find them, and those who wanted to see the overall process could also easily see through the guidance.
Sir Huang couldn’t help but click his tongue in admiration; reading this report was perhaps too enjoyable?
Even many newspapers’ layouts aren’t as clear and straightforward as this case report!
Moreover, some key pieces of evidence, critical breakthroughs, and clues were highlighted in bold, so when you quickly scan, you wouldn’t miss important information.
Every piece of evidence is assigned a number and integrated into the process of case deduction, making it clear which piece of evidence supports which viewpoint. It’s so straightforward that even if Mr. Huang were a fool, he would be able to understand the entire case regulations within 10 minutes.
After reading just three pages, Mr. Huang was shaking his head while repeatedly exclaiming in amazement, thoroughly delighted.
When looking at the evidence files, Team B had cleverly used sticky notes on the first page of each file, so you didn’t need to read the documents—just looking at the labels on the sticky notes told you what evidence and statements were inside.
Even for evidence that couldn’t be presented as documents for reading, Team B had taken photos and included them in the files. There was no need to request archives; everything was clear at a glance.
So satisfying!
At that time, the Word document software hadn’t fully evolved into user-friendly software, not everyone knew how to use it, nor could they figure it out without having learned its functions.
Many people were unfamiliar with computers, completely lacking a mindset for using software, and didn’t understand the commonly accepted, default uses.
Comparing computers to remote controls, people smoothly concluded: Computers are really complex and hard to learn, utterly bewildering, and those softwares, you wouldn’t dare to click around or try things haphazardly.
Some couldn’t even imagine that such functions existed in the software!
Therefore, Mr. Huang sighed repeatedly, feeling that it was a precious rarity.
He couldn’t let go of the document, wishing that the entire police force could produce reports like this.
Thinking it, he did it—immediately picking up the phone to call Inspector Qiu Sushan from Team B:
“Who wrote this document report?”
Rarely receiving a call from Superintendent Huang, Qiu Sushan, understanding his intention, quickly put down the phone and ran to the opposite office of Team B, frantically asking:
“Who wrote the report on the Ferry Street dismemberment case?”
“Eleven,” said Fang Zhenyue, who was leading everyone through the case and sorting the evidence. Without waiting for Fang Zhenyue to ask why she needed to know, Qiu Sushan had already turned and run back to respond to Mr. Huang.
Leaving everyone in the Team B office staring at each other:
What’s going on?
Was there a problem with the report Eleven made?