Police officer Chen Shu.

When Chen Shu arrived at the bureau, he went to the general office of the criminal investigation detachment and explained his purpose.

A young, newly recruited officer was in charge of receiving them. He looked troubled when he learned that only Officer Chen Shu was leading the team to make the arrest.

The new colleague was a little embarrassed: "This is not in accordance with the rules."

Chen Shu handed over the case documents and a letter of introduction from his unit, and then delivered his prepared statement: "You can send another police officer with us, making it two investigators. The fugitive will be detained here first, and then my colleague will fly over to make sure we have two before we transfer him. That way, there won't be any procedural problems!"

The new comrade scratched his head, hesitated for a long time, and still couldn't make a decision.

An older colleague, sitting nearby, couldn't stand it anymore: "This case-handling cooperation letter is just to notify us, why do you care how many police officers come?"

He turned to Chen Shu and said, "It's impossible for us to send anyone over there."

Chen Shu took out two packets of duck tongues from his backpack and handed them to the two men: "Thank you, boss! These are local specialties, they're not expensive, but they taste pretty good."

The old man weighed the half-pound package of duck tongues in his hand and did not refuse.

He reached for Ma Zhongyun's criminal detention warrant, which Chen Shu had placed on the table, glanced at it, and said in a low voice, "This place is in a mountain valley. You must be careful when you go to arrest him. Make sure to communicate with the local police station before you go."

The criminal detention warrant contained Ma Zhongyun's personal information, including his home address.

Seeing the old comrade's serious expression, Chen Shu's eyes flashed with surprise. He had anticipated that this trip would not be easy, but he hadn't expected that the local police would remind him of this first step of reporting.

After completing the formalities, Chen Shu bid farewell and left the Jiuping Municipal Bureau.

......

Without further ado, Chen Shu took the other three to a local car rental shop and rented a Volkswagen, heading straight to Erdan Town, which is Ma Zhiyun's hometown.

This is the junction of three provinces. With China's vigorous development of large-scale infrastructure in recent years, highways have connected and covered cities like an octopus, and the speed of travel has been greatly improved compared to previous years.

Following the Gaode navigation, the four drove on the highway for more than two hours and arrived at Erdan Town Police Station smoothly at around noon.

Although police stations across China operate on a 24-hour shift system, Chen Shu and his companions, out of empathy for their fellow travelers, decided to have lunch at a nearby small restaurant.

They waited until 2 p.m., their working hours, before finally entering the police station.

In the duty room of the police station, Chen Shu revealed his identity and purpose to the duty officer, hoping that the officer could arrange for a police officer to lead the way.

Although Erdan and Dongzhou are nearly 3,000 kilometers apart, their shared sense of professional honor in wearing dark blue police uniforms makes them appreciate each other.

The duty officer immediately made a decision and called over a local boy who looked about sixteen or seventeen years old, ordering him to lead Chen Shu to Gajia Village.

The little boy stood among a group of adult police officers, looking both thin and somewhat frightened, and kept his mouth tightly shut without saying a word.

Chen Shu, who had been watching the whole thing from the side, walked to the front desk, opened his backpack, and took out half of the duck tongues, distributing them to the station's leaders, police officers, and auxiliary police officers.

While everyone was tearing open small packets and munching on their food, I took out another pack of Liqun cigarettes and handed them out to everyone.

The duty officer exhaled a puff of smoke and said, "Since you've already reported to the bureau, just go ahead and make the arrests. If you need an office or a place to detain someone later, you can send it to me!"

While offering him cigarettes, Chen Shu glanced at the display case of police station staff hanging on the wall.

At that moment, he smiled and nodded, walked to the front desk with his back to the crowd outside, took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and stuffed it behind him, then casually called out, "Brother Lin, on the way here I asked the locals, and they all said there are many mountains here and the road conditions are complicated. This is our first time coming to the north from the south, and we've had a tough time at every turn. You see..."

Sitting behind the counter, Brother Lin glanced down at the cigarettes shoved behind the desk, grabbed them without thinking, and shoved them back into Chen Shu's hand: "Brother, what are you doing! No, no!"

He is also a generous and forthright person.

A smile appeared on Chen Shu's lips.

Brother Lin's voice was a bit loud, and everyone in the duty room looked over.

Chen Shu was somewhat embarrassed by the many stares he was receiving, carrying a carton of Liqun cigarettes. He shrugged, tore open the carton in front of everyone, and handed a pack to each person.

Back next to Brother Lin, still having half a carton left, he laughed and openly placed the cigarettes on the front desk: "Brother Lin, just leave them here. Brothers, help yourselves."

After Chen Shu and his group entered, Brother Lin stood up for the first time, looked Chen Shu up and down a few times, and thought he was someone important.

He turned and went into the room behind the duty room. A few minutes later, he came out with a group of three police officers, one of whom had a "Duty Police Officer" armband on his left arm.

The policeman had a common short buzz cut, dark skin, and a shiny police uniform, but his bulging pectoral muscles left a deep impression on Chen Shu.

"Xiao Yang, take this brother to Gajia Village to catch a fugitive later," Brother Lin said, pointing at Chen Shu.

Xiao Yang nodded, opened the table door, took a few steps to Chen Shu's side, and smiled: "Brother, shall we go?"

He is also a straightforward person.

Chen Shu chuckled contentedly, thanked Brother Lin, and left the police station with his men.

As the five men approached the Volkswagen sedan Chen Shu had rented and were about to get in, the large-statured Xiao Yang suggested taking their unit's Changhe car, since there were already five of them, and with the fugitive, there would be six.

This Volkswagen sedan is really too cramped.

Xiao Yang drove his Changhe van, bumping along the mountain road for over two hours before finally approaching their destination. Along the way, Xiao Yang also introduced the situation of Gajia Village to Chen Shu and the other three.

This village was established by several groups of people who migrated from inside the Great Wall in the early years. Over the decades, the villagers have become more or less related by blood, and because they all came from inside the Great Wall, they are extremely united with each other.

Chen Shu was actually still wondering why the local police didn't take the initiative to organize officers to arrest the fugitive after receiving information about him.

However, since Xiao Yang, the local policeman, was willing to cooperate, he didn't want to cause any unnecessary trouble.

With just one more hill to go before reaching Gajia Village, Xiao Yang slammed on the brakes and pulled the Changhe over to the side of the road, then turned off the engine.

Chen Shu was a little puzzled, but he still handed over a cigarette, lit it, and asked, "Brother, why did you stop?"

Xiao Yang took a deep drag and was about to exhale when he realized the car window was closed. He quickly rolled down the window with the cigarette still in his mouth.

He took the cigarette from his mouth with two fingers and pointed in the direction of Gajia Village: "I know that place well, and I know which house Ma Zhongyun lives in. It's not convenient for us to go in and arrest him now. Let's wait until it gets dark, then go to his house and take him away. We'll be quick in and quick out."

Chen Shu nodded, understanding his meaning. He took out cigarettes and handed them to the other three people.

Waiting for night to fall.