Chapter 654 — Bearing the Guilt
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 2
"Take them all back to the station and interrogate them separately!" Qiu Lingshan waved a hand and ordered her subordinates. At this moment she was a completely different person from the Qiu Lingshan who had acted spoiled and petulant before Wei Zhao; she had returned to her usual brisk competence.
"Report: no victims found at the scene. The dungeon door has been forcibly broken open, and there is no one inside!" The subordinate in charge of the final sweep came out and reported to Qiu Lingshan. "And the only dead body should be one of the gang members — the surgeon."
"Fine. Squad Four stays behind on guard duty; everyone else, pull out!" Qiu Lingshan knew perfectly well there were no victims here. If there had been a victim, it was her — she had been the only one in that dungeon, and now that she was out, there was no one left inside.
Sitting in the police car, listening to her subordinates' praise and admiration, Qiu Lingshan felt as though she were in a dream! The case was solved, just like that? Wasn't that too fast? Yesterday she had been agonizing over this case, and today she had won a complete victory in one stroke!
Wei Zhao... what sort of man are you, really? Qiu Lingshan was suddenly finding Wei Zhao harder and harder to read. She had turned to him for help only yesterday, and today the case was solved. True, it smacked somewhat of a lucky fluke, but Wei Zhao's capabilities were beyond any doubt.
Without her quite realizing it, Qiu Lingshan's attitude toward Wei Zhao had shifted a little. Before, she had simply thought him lucky, but now it seemed that was not entirely the case, and her own earlier notions really had been naive and laughable. And to think she had wanted to challenge him to a contest! Recalling how Wei Zhao had kicked the dungeon's iron door off its hinges with a single blow, Qiu Lingshan silently admitted she was outmatched. She had now advanced to the late Yellow Rank, and that iron door ought to pose no problem for her either, but there was no way she could knock it down that effortlessly with one or two kicks.
In the past, playing the coy, brainless little girl in front of Wei Zhao had made Qiu Lingshan a little uncomfortable, but now she seemed to have grown somewhat used to it. At the very least, she no longer got angry, and deep down there was even a faint, indescribable thrill.
Was there really something wrong with her, in her heart? Why did it seem she had a slight tendency toward masochism?
"Captain Song, this time you'll surely be promoted, won't you?" Liu Wangli and Qiu Lingshan were fairly close. When Qiu Lingshan first arrived at the police bureau, she had been the captain of Squad One, and also Liu Wangli's direct superior.
"I've only just been made captain — how would I be promoted again?" Qiu Lingshan said this, but deep down she felt a faint stirring of anticipation. Even without a promotion in rank, her grade should be raised a notch, shouldn't it?
"Fair enough, but this is a major case, and you put yourself in harm's way, Captain Song — at the very least you'll earn a Second-Class Merit, won't you?" Liu Wangli said with a smile.