Chapter 865: Justice and Kindness

Lao Zhang knelt on the ground, crying uncontrollably, clutching his own cellphone tightly. It was his own phone, but he had recorded two numbers on it — dialing one would mean losing his wife, and the other, his daughter. He knew full well what he had done, his heart torn with pain, tears streaming down ceaselessly.

“What have you done! What have you done!” Lin Qiupu walked over, questioning sharply.

Lao Zhang lifted his tear-streaked face. “No matter what, Tingting cannot die!”

Lin Qiupu was speechless. He feared Lao Zhang might do something impulsive and demanded, “Hand over your gun!”

Lao Zhang placed his service pistol, handcuffs, and police badge on the ground, along with the cellphone. Lin Qiupu only took the gun and ordered, “Stop crying, continue searching for your daughter!”

Lin Qiupu spoke into his radio, “Xiao Zheng, Xiao Fan, check the room where the explosion happened. The rest, continue searching. Tingting still has explosives on her; she’s still in danger!”

Upon hearing this, Lao Zhang wiped his tears with his sleeve, stood up, and resumed searching.

The incident had occurred suddenly, casting a shadow over everyone’s hearts. There was no time to say anything as they continued searching room after room.

Time passed beyond the deadline. As evening fell, after seven o’clock, a long silence on the radio was broken by a shout: “Found her! Found her!”

Everyone rushed towards the location of the discovery. In a small warehouse with its door kicked open, Tingting lay unconscious under a waterproof tarp, covered in explosives and electronic components, with a cellphone embedded among them.

Lao Zhang rushed in excitedly, pushing through the crowd to embrace Tingting. Lin Qiupu said, “Call an ambulance!”

Ten minutes later, Tingting was taken away. During this time, she woke up once, calling out “Dad” to Lao Zhang, causing tears to flow uncontrollably from his eyes.

Watching the ambulance depart, Lin Qiupu said, “Lao Zhang, you’re suspended from duty starting now.”

Lao Zhang said dimly, “I will take responsibility for everything I’ve done!”

“This is completely unfair!” Lin Dongxue exclaimed loudly. “We found Tingting two hours later. If Lao Zhang hadn’t acted, both would be dead. Now at least one person is alive!”

“But that doesn’t change the fact that he killed his wife,” Lin Qiupu said.

“So he should have done nothing and watched both his loved ones die before his eyes!?”

“I have a proposal!” Chen Shi looked around. “Everyone here is a witness. Our testimony decides the nature of Lao Zhang’s actions. We all know he acted out of desperation. As long as we unanimously state that the criminal triggered the bomb, then he is innocent.”

“You mean we’re all going to perjure ourselves?” Lin Qiupu frowned.

“Yes, we’ll all perjure ourselves!” Chen Shi admitted frankly. “For justice and kindness, I would rather choose kindness!”

Some police officers hesitated. “I support Chen Ge,” one said.

Lin Qiupu shook his head. “I will report this incident truthfully. How Lao Zhang’s actions are judged, whether there will be leniency, that’s for the court to decide. Someone once told me, police uphold not kindness, but justice!”

“That person is a fool!” Chen Shi retorted.

“That’s enough!” Lin Qiupu snapped back.

“What if this happened to you?” a police officer asked, his tone unfriendly.

“I would do the same as Lao Zhang, take responsibility for all the consequences of my actions!”

“Don’t give me that hypocritical nonsense!!!” the officer shouted. “The person who hired Zhou Xiao is Lie Guoxiao, your own father! We’re being targeted; only our families will suffer! I quit. I’m going back now, to protect my mom without leaving a step!”

He handed his credentials and gun to a colleague and left without looking back.

This officer had never clashed with Lin Qiupu since joining the force. Everyone knew it was the current tense atmosphere and witnessing Lao Zhang’s family tragedy that made him lose his composure.

Suppressing his anger, Lin Qiupu said, “Anyone else wants to leave, you can go home to protect your families. I won’t blame anyone!”

People looked at each other, and another officer stood up. “Sorry, Captain Lin. I haven’t been home in 48 hours. I’m really scared for my family.”

“Go,” Lin Qiupu said wearily.

He surveyed the remaining officers, seeing hesitation and wavering on their faces. But eventually, they chose to stay firm. Lin Qiupu said, “Dismissed,” and turned to walk back towards his car, his figure looking lonely.

In the tense atmosphere of Team Two, back at the station, Lin Qiupu sat alone in his office, lit a cigarette, watching it burn down slowly, his eyes hollow.

“Brother!” Lin Dongxue walked in and sat down beside him. “Shouldn’t you go home and rest for a while?”

“Should I go see Lie Guoxiao?” he unexpectedly spoke.

“See him? Will that help?”

“He’s doing all this just to retaliate against the police, knowing he’s done for. If I strike a deal with him…”

“Brother, don’t be foolish! If he escapes legal punishment, more people will suffer. You mustn’t lose your mind! This isn’t like you at all.”

“The me from before…” Lin Qiupu shook his head with a sigh. “Today’s events have made a mockery of police dignity and the authority of the law. If I were Lao Zhang, I would have done the same. But I still have to be the villain in this.”

Lin Dongxue squeezed Lin Qiupu’s hand, comforting him. “Brother, you’re doing the right thing, what a captain should do! Zhou Xiao and Ling Shuang will be arrested, for sure.”

Someone knocked on the door. A bomb disposal expert from the evidence center entered. “Captain Lin, I have a report for you to look over.”

Lin Qiupu resumed his usual demeanor, taking the papers and scanning them quickly. He wasn’t very familiar with bombs, but he picked up on a few key words and cautiously asked, “Does this mean there were issues with the bombs found at the scene?”

“The issue lies with those two cellphones. They were incapable of making calls at all, confirmed by our IT colleagues. They never traced any signals from those phones. I found a timing device in the wreckage. This wasn’t a remote-controlled bomb; it was a timed bomb!”

“What did you say!?” Lin Qiupu stood up abruptly.

“I don’t know if you’ve asked Officer Zhang, but was there a delay between dialing the number and the explosion? That’s all I can do.”

After the expert left, Lin Dongxue said, “That’s great! If it was a timed bomb, then Lao Zhang didn’t commit murder!”

“But why would it be a timed bomb? Doesn’t that contradict their rules of engagement?”

“They don’t have any rules of engagement at all!” Chen Shi stood in the doorway. “Ling Shuang was very confident in her psychological profile of him. She predicted that Lao Zhang would act this way, so she pre-arranged the whole scenario. In other words, Lao Zhang had no choice at all.”

“Lao Zhang had no choice? Then what about Captain Peng and Miss Gu?” Lin Qiupu asked.

“Yes, that’s why I’m here to discuss this. Captain Peng and I have discussed this for a long time. Miss Gu may have already…” This fact saddened Chen Shi deeply. “There’s no need to look for Miss Gu. Let’s put all our efforts into capturing Zhou Xiao!”