Chapter 51 The Situation

More than ten minutes passed, and a dozen fire trucks had arrived at the scene. Police tape went up, and firefighters with professional equipment slowly brought the fire under control.

Besides the onlookers, many reporters and various self-media personalities active on MicroTweet jammed the area near the warehouse.

These individual media outlets either smelled money or were serving hidden backers, and they were very active.

Afraid of trouble, Chao-ge and the twenty-odd men he brought had left the warehouse and were hiding in the logistics company's building, afraid to go out.

Chao-ge stood by the window, his brow furrowed, looking at the sea of people outside and then at the warehouse where the fire was gradually being put out. He felt extremely anxious.

The warehouse was almost completely burned down, and large areas of cargo were soaked, exposed to the public eye.

…

At the same time, at the Dragon City Police Department.

Shang Yao sat in his office, his face gloomy as he stared at his phone screen.

"Ring, ring!"

The phone suddenly rang, interrupting the live broadcast. Shang Yao glanced at it and saw that it was Jiang Zheng calling. After a moment's thought, he answered, "Hello?"

On the phone, Jiang Zheng said urgently, "Chief Shang, you have to find a way to buy some time! Because of the fire, we haven't had time to move a lot of the goods from the warehouse!"

Shang Yao was silent for a moment, then asked in a low voice, "Tell me, how am I supposed to buy time? Have you looked at your phone? How many people are live-streaming? There are words written on the wall! The public is stirred up! The people are even more curious than the police about what's hidden in the warehouse."

Jiang Zheng quickly said, "Don't worry, just give me a little more time, and I guarantee I'll take care of it! They've already sent troops over there, and we'll say it's classified military supplies and have the troops take it away directly! Chief Shang! As long as the goods aren't exposed on the spot, we can say whatever we want! Even if there's a bit of a conflict, we can explain it. Do you understand?"

Shang Yao thought for a moment, then remained silent.

Jiang Zheng's tone softened slightly. "Chief Shang, if so much cargo is exposed, it won't just be trouble for us, it'll be a lot of trouble for you too, right?"

Shang Yao sighed. "Hurry up, then."

"Okay!" Jiang Zheng hung up the phone immediately.

Shang Yao rubbed his forehead and called Lao Wu, the captain of his police squad, instructing him, "The team should leave now, but take your time on the road. Also, call the police chief of the jurisdiction and tell them to arrive a little later…"

…

Downstairs, Wang Daolin changed back into his police uniform and walked quickly upstairs while watching the live broadcast on his phone.

At that moment, the blogger in the video was saying to the camera, "Folks, the fire has been going on for forty or fifty minutes, and our live broadcast has been going on for almost half an hour. But still, not a single police officer has arrived on the scene…!"

Comments immediately flooded the screen, some saying the blogger was doomed, some posting question marks, and some blasting the police department.

Wang Daolin reached the door of the director's office, turned off the live stream, and pushed the door open.

Shang Yao sat at his desk, looked up at Wang Daolin, and asked, "You're here?"

Wang Daolin walked quickly to the desk and asked with a slightly anxious tone, "Chief Shang, I've already communicated with the police chief of Island Port District and asked them to go to the scene. But they said that you told them to…delay. What's going on?"

Shang Yao pointed to a chair and said slowly, "Don't worry, sit down and tell me slowly."

Wang Daolin frowned. "Chief Shang, the house is on fire! There's no time to take it slowly!"

Shang Yao interlaced his fingers and didn't beat around the bush. "Lao Wang, this matter involves the garrison. We can't move so quickly. We need to give them time to deal with it. Otherwise, if there's a conflict, it will easily disrupt the higher-ups' plans…!"

Hearing this, Wang Daolin couldn't help but ask, "In this situation, we can't afford to take care of them anymore! Once public opinion is stirred up, the pressure will immediately come to the police system. It's fine usually, we can turn a blind eye, but at a critical moment, we have to protect the reputation and credibility of our department."

Shang Yao waved his hand. "You don't understand, that warehouse…"

"I understand better than anyone else, I just don't usually say it. There are hidden forces behind this, that's for sure, right?" Wang Daolin interrupted Shang Yao. "How do you know that these forces aren't targeting the police department?! If we keep dragging this out, we'll lose control of the situation… and we'll get slapped in the face!"

The two men stared at each other, the atmosphere a little tense. Shang Yao tapped his fingers on the desk and said to Wang Daolin, "As long as we let the troops take the things away, we can completely deny any responsibility! Let the garrison solve the problem themselves… But if we expose everything now, will we be free of pressure? How much cargo is there! How will you explain it?"

Wang Daolin's tone became more and more urgent. "Chief, I don't agree with your opinion! Our principle is that we can't let the public question the credibility of the police department just to protect the garrison! If we do that, we'll definitely get scolded! I know Director Su very well. If this matter gets out of hand, there will definitely be an earthquake in the police department… I have to go to the scene!"

After speaking, Wang Daolin turned and walked towards the door.

Shang Yao stood up quickly and shouted at him, "Wang Daolin, wait! Don't be so impulsive! If you just go a little later, it'll all be over there!"

Hearing this, Wang Daolin turned his head and looked at Shang Yao, saying loudly, "If someone is really trying to make trouble behind the scenes! Even if I give you another hour, you won't be able to move those goods!"

After speaking, Wang Daolin slammed the door and left.

Shang Yao sat heavily in his chair, his face extremely gloomy.

…

A little while later, Lu Guangwei's car stopped at the side door of Warehouse No. 2. He didn't get out of the car immediately, but slowly rolled down the window and observed the situation outside.

The fire in the warehouse had been completely extinguished, and many cargo boxes were exposed. Outside the gate, a large number of reporters and self-media personalities were surrounding the area, constantly filming the warehouse.

Lu Guangwei frowned and was about to call Jiang Zheng to urge him to hurry up.

Just then, a loud siren sounded. He turned his head abruptly and froze in place.

He saw the crowd parting, and more than a dozen police cars drove directly into the warehouse courtyard and stopped in front of the door.

Wang Daolin opened the car door and got out of the car with a large number of police officers.

"Lao Wu, take the team and control the scene! The rest of you, follow me into the warehouse." After giving his orders, Wang Daolin led more than a dozen police officers towards the warehouse.

Hearing the sirens, Chao-ge and his men had already come out of the building and were standing in front of the warehouse. Wang Daolin looked at them, frowned, and asked, "Who is in charge here? Come with us to the warehouse. Someone reported that you are hiding psychotropic drugs!"

Chao-ge hurried over, leaned close to Wang Daolin, and said in a low voice, "Officer, there are military supplies inside here. The higher-ups have already agreed, and the military trucks will be here soon."

Wang Daolin cursed directly, "What bullshit military supplies! Hurry up and come inside with me!"

After speaking, Wang Daolin had his men escort the somewhat flustered Chao-ge into the warehouse.

"Open the boxes and inspect them!" With Wang Daolin's order, the police officers stepped forward one after another, opened the boxes, and saw that they were filled with large quantities of psychotropic drugs.

"These are military supplies?" Wang Daolin glanced at Chao-ge. "Come on, stand in a line and put on the handcuffs yourselves!"

The police officers swarmed forward and quickly subdued the twenty-odd men.

In the distance, Lu Guangwei, sitting in his car, saw this scene. His eyes were gloomy, and he immediately urged, "Drive! Let's go!"

…

At ten o'clock that night, Su Tianyu finished his meeting and walked while scrolling through his phone, looking at various live broadcasts and trending topics on Twitter.

After sorting out all the information, Su Tianyu felt that something was wrong. He immediately turned his head and shouted, "Monkey, arrange a plane for me immediately. I have to go back to Dragon City."