Special District 9 Chapter 147: Underhanded Platoon Commander Liu

Liu Baochen was a wily old fox. There was nothing outstanding about him as a police officer, but he was exceptionally skilled in office politics. After arresting Hua-jie and the others, he inquired not into the details of the case but the possibility that Qin Yu was serving as a protective umbrella of a ‘meat store’.

Bucktooth did hack Old Zhang, but this case had no direct relation with Qin Yu. Furthermore, as Bucktooth wasn’t legally an adult yet, even if Liu Baochen were to pull some strings in the matter, it would just end with a huge compensation and a light punishment. However, if Hua-jie were to admit to having monetary agreements with Qin Yu, that would be a huge scandal. If things go well, he might even be able to strip Qin Yu of his uniform.

So, Liu Baochen tried all of his means inside the interrogation room, attempting to get Hua-jie to bite down on Qin Yu. However, Hua-jie was someone who had survived on the streets for many years. She sharply noticed that the matter wasn’t resolved right away when she brought up Qin Yu’s name; on the contrary, Liu Baochen was showing clear intentions of leading her on. As such, she began to feign ignorance, vehemently denying having any ties with Qin Yu.

From this, it could be seen that Hua-jie was still quite a loyal individual. Had it been anyone else in her position, considering that she wasn’t close with Qin Yu, and that Liu Baochen was putting out all sorts of baits and threats, that person could have very well given in and sabotaged Qin Yu by now. However, Hua-jie didn’t do so. She would rather endure a beating than to admit to something that hadn’t happened.

Liu Baochen continued his interrogation for a long while, but after seeing how sly Hua-jie was, and his gut feeling told him that Qin Yu had no peculiar relations with this ‘meat store’ either, he eventually chose to back down in disappointment.

…

The following morning.

In the subsidiary hospital of the Police Headquarters, Liu Baochen met up with the victim of the hacking incident, Old Zhang.

“Do you know who I am?”

“I… I know…” Old Zhang lay on the bed, completely wrapped in bandages like a mummy. “You are Platoon Commander Liu… the officer in charge of my case… the other police officers have already told me.”

“Un.” Liu Baochen nodded. “What’s your economic condition?”

“Not too good, I’m living by the day,” Old Zhang replied. Without any shame, he leaned forward a little and asked, “Platoon Commander Liu, how do you think my case can be resolved?”

“What else? You can ask for compensation.”

“Do you think 3000 is alright?” Old Zhang shot him a look.

“3000?” Liu Baochen burst into laughter. He bent down and whispered into Old Zhang’s ears, “Do you think that you’re only worth 3000?”

Old Zhang was stunned by those words.

“I can tell you frankly that the child who hacked you doesn’t have residential rights, and it seems like your injuries are quite severe based on your medical reports. As long as you put on a more forceful front and refuse to budge, they’ll fall into a panic,” Liu Baochen said as he offered a ploy to Old Zhang.

“As long as you refuse to reconcile, that child will be taken into custody before being sentenced at a later date. If he has to serve a term, he’ll have a criminal record to his name, which means that he’ll be evicted out of Special District 9 without fail. For the next ten years, he won’t be able to apply for permanent residency rights here.”

As a ruffian on the streets, how could Old Zhang know anything about the law? By the time he finished hearing what Liu Baochen had to say, his eyes lit up in excitement as he asked, “Is it really that severe?”

“What else do you think?” Liu Baochen said as he put up two fingers. “Ask him for this much. He’ll be able to fork it out.”

…

An hour later.

“What did you say? 20,000?” Qin Yu stared at Old Zhang with widened eyes. “Are you joking with me?”

“Don’t expect me to reconcile if you don’t fork out this much,” Old Zhang replied smugly. “I know your younger brother doesn’t have residency rights in Special District 9. As long as I bite into this matter, he’ll surely be sent into jail. By the time he finishes serving his term, he’ll be evicted out, unable to apply for residency rights for the next ten years.”

Those words caused anger to gush into Qin Yu’s heart. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that Old Zhang couldn’t have known all of this. It was obvious that Liu Baochen was behind this matter.

“Are you going to fork out the sum or not?” Old Zhang looked at Qin Yu smugly. “If you don’t, I’ll be informing the Police Bureau to go by the official procedures.”

Qin Yu glared at Old Zhang with a reddened face for a long while before finally nodding in resignation. “Fine, so be it. I’ll raise the sum.”

“20,000 is the compensation sum,” Old Zhang immediately changed his words. “You still need to pay me 2000 for administrative fees.”

Qin Yu clenched his fists tightly before abruptly bursting into cold laughter. “Very wel. I’ll pay you 22,000.”

“I’m telling you…”

Pah!

Without waiting for Old Zhang to finish his words, Qin Yu leaned forward to pull Old Zhang’s collar forward, meeting him face-to-face. “Don’t go too far. I am an officer of the Police Bureau. Do you think that a day won’t come where you’ll fall into my hands?”

Old Zhang actually felt deeply nervous inside at this moment. He usually did all sorts of things for money, so there was a lot of dirt on him. Getting eyed by Qin Yu would truly be a disaster to him.

“Fine, just 22,000 then.”

“Give me a moment, I’ll raise the money.” Qin Yu tossed those words over before leaving the room.

…

Time ticked into the afternoon.

In Residence 88, Qin Yu paced around hesitantly for a long time before finally giving a call to Lin Nianlei.

In just 20 minutes, Lin Nianlei returned on an electric motorcycle. With her unkempt hair fluttering along with the wind, she stopped right by the entrance of the residence.

“What’s wrong? Something must have happened for you to call me out in the middle of the afternoon,” Lin Nianlei leaped down the motorcycle as she asked. Her face was slightly reddened from the frost, as usual.

Qin Yu brooded for a long while before finally asking, “Can you lend me some money? I really have no way out right now…”

Lin Nianlei was surprised to hear those words. “What do you suddenly need money for?”

Ten minutes later, Qin Yu filled Lin Nianlei in on the details of the incident in her room.

After listening to the story, Lin Nianlei looked at Qin Yu curiously and asked, “… 22,000 is not a small sum of money. Is a child who has no blood ties with really worth you going so far for?”

“Ey, you don’t need to test me. I know what you’re thinking on the inside,” Qin Yu said with a sigh. “To be honest, I’m also hesitating over this matter. Like you said, that child has no blood ties with me, and I have already done a lot for him by saving him and raising him during this period of time. No one can fault me even if I abandon him right now. But the thing is that… if he were to be thrown into prison for two to three years before being evicted out of Special District 9… his life would really be ruined. He’s still so young. Someone of his age shouldn’t have to pay such a heavy price for his mistake.”

Lin Nianlei fell silent.

“I didn’t manage to get much sleep yesterday,” Qin Yu as he sighed deeply. “As I lay down on my bed, I couldn’t help but think about my own past. Bucktooth’s experiences are simply too similar to mine. If I hadn’t met that old man when I was younger, would I have long died in the field? You know, there are always a few benefactors whose appearance marks a turning point in a person’s life… Perhaps, the benefactor that Bucktooth is meant to meet is me. Maybe, I was meant to repay the debt I owe to that old man to Bucktooth.”

“You sure have a way with convincing yourself,” Lin Nianlei laughed.

“My business outside has stopped for the time being,” Qin Yu raised his head and said. “Ma Lao-er isn’t doing too well recently, so I don’t want to raise this matter with them. However, I really don’t have too much money with me on hand, so I could only turn to you for help.”

Lin Nianlei blinked her eyes a few times before raising her hands out into a shrug. “You are overestimating my financial status. It has been a long time since I have received any pocket money from my family. I’m only able to get by because my older brother usually supplements my income a little… Even if you were to ask me 220 now, I would have to get a loan from the bank to fork out the sum.”

“Is that so… Forget it then, treat it as if I’ve never asked this question…”

“But! Even though I don’t have any money, I have a particular strength—I am good with people,” Lin Nianlei said gleefully as she took out her phone. “Write me a 23,000 dollars debt note. I’ll borrow the sum from a colleague.”

“Will do.”

“The interest of 1000 will be paid to my colleague. You can’t expect her to lend money to a stranger without expecting anything in return,” Lin Nianlei emphasized.

“No problem! Once the medicine route returns, I’ll immediately return this debt to her!” Qin Yu said as he began penning down a debt note.

…

Ten at night, Zhu Wei sent Bucktooth back to Residence 88. Hua-jie and the others were also released after paying their fines.

In the room, Bucktooth stood with his head lowered, not saying a word at all.

Qin Yu, on the other hand, had a darkened look on his face as he berated, “Can you at least think before acting? Don’t you know what kind of background you have? Why the heck did you hack him with a chopper? Have you thought about the consequences beforehand, or do you take me to be a nanny who wipes your ass each time you take a shit?”

Bucktooth raised his head to look at Qin Yu, but he seemed to be unable to meet Qin Yu in the eye. “I’ll return the money to you.”

…

Songjiang City.

A man dressed in a goatskin windbreaker with his hair tied into his ponytail took a look at the person standing in front of him and said, “I have goods with me right now, and I have no issues with you becoming our distributor. However, I need to make things clear first. I can supply you with goods, but you have to pay me once every week. If you fail to keep this promise, don’t blame me for turning against you.”

“Don’t worry, Brother Xiao! I’ll surely pay you on time!” the other party replied joyfully.

Brother Xiao pondered for a moment before he raised his hand.

A well-built lad standing by his left quickly pulled two bags onto the table and said, “You may check the goods.”