Director Zhao felt like a child caught doing something wrong, standing there, unsure of what to do. "I didn't know it would turn out like this. At the time, I just thought to get the corpse up first. The doctor also said not to move it anymore, or it would damage the body. I really didn't think that far ahead." He explained to Wu Shuang, looking both comical and ridiculous.

"Is there any way to get her up now?" Wu Shuang asked Mu Rongyun. "I need to know how she died."

"The corpse seems to have been buried here for several days, but judging from the livor mortis, it's been over a week. The soil is quite deep; if you use sharp tools to dig, it's easy to damage the surface. I suggest you gradually soften and loosen the surrounding soil with water, then dig around and extract the body. This way, it might be preserved a bit better." Mu Rongyun adjusted his glasses carefully, adopting a more conservative approach, the downside being that it takes relatively longer.

"Then I'll get someone to do it right away." Hearing this, Director Zhao was ready to make a call to summon people, but was stopped by Mu Rongyun.

"Team Wu, let the City Police Department handle it." Was this an act of looking down on them? Director Zhao glanced at Mu Rongyun twice; the kind of indifference displayed was far more than simply ignoring him.

"Please assist us, Director Zhao." Wu Shuang noticed his displeased expression and smiled at him to ease the tension. "We'll now head to your office to further discuss this situation; what do you think?"

Director Zhao said nothing and walked toward the office, Wu Shuang joined Mu Rongyun, glancing at him sideways. "Do you have to be like this?"

"If you lack capability, don't do things beyond your abilities." It seemed the body was quite damaged. Wu Shuang shook her head amusedly at Mu Rongyun, acknowledging his seriousness in work, unmatched by her.

"It'll be afternoon by the time they come from the department!"

"We can head back for now. The rest of the work here is excavation, and transporting the body by car to the department is sufficient. We don't need to stay here all the time." Mu Rongyun spoke softly.

"I still want to stay a bit longer."

"Because of Xiao Lin?" Mu Rongyun adjusted his glasses, holding a digital camera in his hand. "That doctor who saved lives was Xiao Lin, and the other one was Hua Qingyi."

Wu Shuang nodded; she had guessed who it was from the beginning when Director Zhao started talking about the doctor's rescue, an intuition transforming from uncertainty to confirmation.

After a cold laugh, Mu Rongyun followed Director Zhao's pace, leaving Wu Shuang alone on the street. Wu Shuang was speechless at his sudden change; as they say, a woman's heart is like the sea, how can men be equally unpredictable?

Director Zhao hadn't even stepped through the police station's door when he heard Xiao Lin screaming inside, always startling people and causing concern. Without looking, he rushed in, finding Xiao Lin being bent over by an elbow, hands flailing wildly in mid-air, shouting incomprehensibly.

"What are you doing? Stop right now! This is the police station, what do you think you're doing fighting here?" Director Zhao swiftly stepped up and rescued Xiao Lin from the hold.

"Hit a police officer, I'll make sure you end up in jail." Freed, Xiao Lin hid behind Director Zhao, pointing fingers at the two in front, starting to shout with newfound confidence in his support.

"What's going on?" Director Zhao asked Xiao Lin.

"I tried to take their statement, but they weren't cooperative and even tried to hit me." Xiao Lin stood behind Director Zhao, implying his grievances, a habit Director Zhao knew well. Upon identifying the persons involved, some underlying truths naturally surfaced.

Xiao Lin leaned against the table, observing the person hiding behind Director Zhao without reacting to Xiao Lin's accusations. Hua Qingyi showed no care in his expression, still regretting not breaking a limb or two of Xiao Lin's; the fellow seemed tailor-made for a beating.

"What happened?" Director Zhao maintained his authoritative presence, scolding the humiliated Xiao Lin. Embarrassment knew no bounds, especially as it involved police matters. "Apologies, please sit here." Director Zhao gestured to a chair. "Give me the statement." This was directed at Xiao Lin.

The paper had barely any lines written on it, the writing was disjointed, without focus or logical inquiry; he nodded awkwardly at Xiao Lin, asking with shame, "I went to the scene with the City Police Department folks yesterday, but didn't catch up with you two; could we take a statement again?"

"Whatever." Hua Qingyi replied tersely, saying no more.

"Did you see, Director, that's his attitude, so arrogant." Xiao Lin saw Hua Qingyi's indifferent demeanor even toward Director Zhao, his provocative tone intensified.

"Get out first, stop embarrassing yourself here." After chastising Xiao Lin, Director Zhao cleared him out. "Young Master Hua, please do not take offense, his relative works in the City Police Department, making him somewhat insolent. Please bear with him."

"Oh? You know me?" Hua Qingyi squinted, having not seen the old man clearly; now upon closer inspection, the person seemed particularly shrewd, with 'calculations' written all over his face.

"We met briefly once, and you left a deep impression." Last night was dark, not noticing the other's appearance, but Director Zhao was astounded upon seeing him now, grateful Xiao Lin hadn't done anything foolish; otherwise, a mere signal from him would have ended his career.

"You mentioned that person's backing is the City Police Department? I know quite a few there, and I'm curious who could embolden him this much. As someone serving the people, treating civilians so aggressively—is this how power should be used?" Xiao Lin lit a cigarette. Not as direct as Hua Qingyi, but he had not missed a single detail about the previous incident.

"Um... I wonder what happened earlier that left you two so upset." Director Zhao moved to his desk, picked up a cup, took a sip, the alcohol aroma drifting, closest to Xiao Lin.

"If one were to charge him, abuse of power and bribery would suffice. If deeper probed, your position as Director could be compromised too; as a leader, responsible for the wrongdoings of subordinates." (To be continued. If you like this work, you're welcome to visit Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for it, and your support is my greatest motivation.)

Next chapter will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.