CM | Chapter 4

Gu Yao walked straight ahead, passing those police officers and then Wang Meng, until she stood at the closest point to Chen Feiyu, closer than anyone else.

The sun overhead was getting harsher, and the temperature kept rising. Gu Yao narrowed her eyes, and only then did she make out Chen Feiyu’s face and expression. At that moment, she was calm beyond measure.

In criminal psychology, there is a theory that says you can achieve psychological resonance with a criminal. Roughly speaking, it means understanding what the criminal is thinking and treating them as a chess partner. Know the enemy, and know yourself, or if you don’t know what the criminal is thinking, how can you act ahead of him?

But whether in China or abroad, every year there are so-called solid, well-written psychology studies. At first glance they seem very reasonable, but dig deeper and you find they were written by people who don’t understand criminal psychology at all. What those people understand is only the world in their own heads, and whether that can really reach the level of “resonance” is anyone’s guess.

From the little while she’d spent overhearing Wang Meng trying to talk Chen Feiyu down just now, Gu Yao had formed a judgment of him. This Wang Meng might have some academic knowledge, and he was very skilled at applying textbook theories, but why had half an hour of conversation still failed to break through Chen Feiyu’s psychological defenses?

In fact, there were even a few moments when Wang Meng was being led by Chen Feiyu’s pace, and Wang Meng himself hadn’t noticed at all.

Gu Yao was certain the problem lay in the word “resonance.” And every time Wang Meng started spouting textbook jargon, Chen Feiyu would tap his foot, a sign of impatience. Either he couldn’t take it in, or he thought Wang Meng was showing off in front of an expert.

With that in mind, Gu Yao did not open with some stock line like “I’m here to help you.” She took a breath and decided to throw the question back at Chen Feiyu first: “Chen Feiyu, what do you want to talk to me about?”

As soon as she said that, Wang Meng frowned and instinctively looked toward Gu Yao’s back. Gu Yao’s behavior was far too out of line.

But Chen Feiyu suddenly smiled. Gu Yao’s wording was rude, and her tone was harsh, yet this was the most pleasant line he’d heard since he took the hostage onto the rooftop.

Chen Feiyu suddenly said, “I like you.”

Gu Yao lifted a brow.

Chen Feiyu hit the nail on the head. “You’re not putting on fake politeness, or acting like you’re superior because you’re highly educated.”

Gu Yao naturally knew what Chen Feiyu meant. People like Wang Meng, psychological experts like him, usually had a common flaw. They wore suits and ties, came with high degrees, and carried professional elite titles. All of that naturally formed a kind of pride, a sense of superiority. When facing patients and criminals who needed psychological help, that superiority would become a thorn. It would directly irritate the other side and also become an obstacle to building trust between the two.

For many elite experts, this was almost an impossible problem, because they did not think it was their problem at all. What, because I use my excellence and expertise to help you solve a problem, I’m the one who’s wrong?

Yes. From a criminal’s point of view, being too outstanding is wrong.

Just through these three short sentences, Gu Yao could further confirm that Chen Feiyu was highly intelligent. Not only did he have layers beneath his words, he also understood psychology very well. He even knew what he was doing right now. Then the nature of this case changed. At the very least, Chen Feiyu carried the genes of a born criminal, and he also belonged to the category of a mentally driven criminal. Born factors plus acquired ones, and the odds of him acting on crime were almost 100 percent.

After that, Gu Yao and Chen Feiyu spoke very quickly.

“Chen Feiyu, who gave you your name?”

“My father. He’s been dead for a long time.”

“Can I ask how he died?”

“Heart attack.”

“What was your relationship like with him?”

“I don’t really remember him. He died early.”

“Are you from here?”

“No, I settled here later.”

“Did you come here alone?”

“Yes.”

“Then after you came here, did you ever go back to your hometown?”

“That kind of place, why would I go back?”

At the mention of his “hometown,” a flash of disdain crossed Chen Feiyu’s eyes, but Gu Yao’s lips curved faintly with amusement.

At this point, Wang Meng stepped up behind Gu Yao and said in a low voice, “Don’t go off on tangents. No matter what he wants to talk to you about, the goal of this operation is to save the hostage.”

Gu Yao frowned, and it was a look of disgust.

Because of Wang Meng’s interruption, Gu Yao and Chen Feiyu’s conversation stopped for a moment.

Chen Feiyu looked a little anxious and urged her, “Do you still have questions? I want to hear them.”

Gu Yao said, word by word, “Your mother, is she doing okay now?”

After a few seconds of silence, Chen Feiyu suddenly burst out laughing in a rough, rasping voice. The sound was eerie. Even though the sun was almost overhead, it still made people’s hair stand on end.

It was precisely because of that strange laughter that Wang Meng finally realized something. He immediately turned around and said to the police officers, “Can you check whether Chen Feiyu’s mother is still alive?”

A police officer nodded. “That’ll take some time.”

Wang Meng went back to Gu Yao’s side and said in a low voice, “The police will immediately investigate what happened in Chen Feiyu’s hometown. Try to keep him steady, and don’t provoke him.”

Only after dropping those words did Wang Meng feel like he had settled back into control.

In Wang Meng’s view, before Gu Yao arrived, this had all been his territory. He had already talked with Chen Feiyu for half an hour and basically had the situation under control. Who would have thought that just when he was about to close the net, Gu Yao would suddenly act, throwing his rhythm into chaos and drawing all of Chen Feiyu’s attention.

Then Gu Yao became the one in control.

Wang Meng felt unwilling, and he also knew the situation Gu Yao was in right now, so he had the duty and responsibility to become the bridge between Gu Yao and the police. He believed the police officers on site would all understand that Gu Yao was only the vanguard. The true commander was still him, Wang Meng.

But while Wang Meng was thinking all this, Gu Yao simply treated his words like shit.

Gu Yao said, “Chen Feiyu, what did you eat this morning?”

Everyone else at the scene froze.

Chen Feiyu said, “Two boiled eggs and a cup of coffee. What about you?”

“A small piece of bread. I haven’t even had water until now.”

“You’re dieting?”

“No. I could have had two boiled eggs and a cup of coffee too, but because of you, I didn’t get the chance.”

“So you’re saying I owe you a meal?”

Gu Yao smiled. “If you don’t mind, I want to eat something now.”

Chen Feiyu was silent for a second. “Fine.”

Gu Yao didn’t stand on ceremony with him either. She turned back to look at Wang Meng. “Get me something to eat and a bottle of mineral water.”

Wang Meng froze, but he couldn’t flare up on the spot, so he had no choice but to take a sandwich and a bottle of water out of his bag. Neither of them had been touched. These were originally the “props” he’d prepared.

At times, using these props in front of the negotiation target could make the other side expose their weakness. But today Wang Meng hadn’t even gotten to use them, and he hadn’t expected Gu Yao to ask for them only a few minutes in.

The police officers exchanged looks.

Gu Yao took the sandwich, and just as she opened the wrapping paper, she heard Wang Meng grit out, “Don’t get your priorities backwards. Our goal is to save the hostage and stop Chen Feiyu.”

Gu Yao took a bite of the sandwich and chewed slowly, while signaling for Wang Meng to twist open the cap of the mineral water bottle.

Wang Meng held back his anger and did as she said. Only after Gu Yao took a sip of water and swallowed did she lift her eyes, looking at him with a cold gaze.

“You mean Chen Feiyu’s life doesn’t matter, only the hostage needs to be saved.”

Gu Yao spoke very slowly, enunciating clearly, and she had no intention of lowering her volume. It was enough for the police officers nearby to hear.

Wang Meng choked. “That’s not what I meant!”

Gu Yao only curved her lips.

At the same time, Qin Song successfully intercepted Chen Feiyu’s ex-wife and the two police officers escorting her on the fifth floor.

Qin Song briefly explained the situation on the rooftop, then said, “The situation over there is unstable right now. For the hostage’s safety, and to avoid further provoking Chen Feiyu, could you please wait here for a few minutes?”

The two police officers looked at each other, a little conflicted.

Seeing that, Qin Song added, “Or I can pass a communication device in. You can contact the negotiation specialist directly, and then decide at the right time whether to bring her out?”

The two police officers discussed it briefly, then called the female officer in charge of communications. They got the lead officer on the rooftop to agree.

Very quickly, Qin Song returned to the rooftop with a communication device. After greeting the police officers on site, he was about to pass the device over Gu Yao by crossing in front of Wang Meng, but Wang Meng suddenly raised a hand to stop him and snatched the communication device away.

Qin Song was stunned and tried to take it back.

But Wang Meng said, “Don’t forget, I’m the one in charge of negotiations for this operation. You can’t shoulder this responsibility.”

Qin Song could not possibly stand there and argue with Wang Meng over a communication device. That would affect the entire operation. But he also had no intention of compromising with that asshole, so Qin Song turned around without another word and walked behind Gu Yao. He didn’t say a thing, just took out a Bluetooth earpiece and put it on Gu Yao’s ear.

Gu Yao was eating the sandwich. She looked at Qin Song and smiled slightly.

Qin Song patted her shoulder, glanced at Chen Feiyu, and quickly returned to the fifth floor.

Once Qin Song got back to the fifth floor, he connected the Bluetooth and went straight to Gu Yao: “Do you have anything you want to ask? Chen Feiyu’s ex-wife is right beside me.”

Gu Yao lowered her head slightly and said in a low voice, “Two questions. First, did she know that Chen Feiyu’s relationship with his mother was terrible, and how detailed was her understanding of it? Second, why did she divorce Chen Feiyu?”

Qin Song quickly did as told and repeated the questions to the two police officers on site.

The police officers knew time was not on their side, so they temporarily opened an interview session.

At first, Chen Feiyu’s ex-wife still dodged and hemmed and hawed, but very quickly, under the police officers’ skillful questioning, she revealed a few things.

Chen Feiyu’s ex-wife did know about Chen Feiyu’s relationship with his mother. Not only was it terrible, they had already cut ties entirely. In fact, Chen Feiyu’s mother had even repeatedly “reminded” Chen Feiyu’s ex-wife to be careful around him. She had even brought up the domestic violence his father had done, and how, when Chen Feiyu was very young, he had already tortured small animals to death.

As for the reason for the divorce, it was self-evident. No woman could endure living with a man who had violent tendencies.

After getting the answer, Qin Song quickly told Gu Yao.

Gu Yao had already eaten more than half of the sandwich. She wrapped up the packaging paper and threw it near her feet, then took a few more sips of water before looking toward Chen Feiyu, who had been waiting on the opposite side the whole time.

Chen Feiyu didn’t grow anxious or angry because of Gu Yao’s slow chewing and delay. It seemed he didn’t care about that little bit of time at all, and he also very much enjoyed his interaction with Gu Yao. Not only did he show the composure of an unusual criminal, he even seemed very “concerned” about Gu Yao’s feelings.

Chen Feiyu said, “How was that sandwich?”

Gu Yao frowned, looking thoroughly disgusted. “Terrible. The egg salad inside wasn’t fresh, and the ham’s texture wasn’t smooth enough.”

“But you ate half of it.”

“I didn’t have any other choice. Luckily, I still had a bottle of water to help me swallow those disgusting things, and to add a bit of fullness too.”

Chen Feiyu gloated, “What kind of bullshit expert is he, eating that?”

He was talking about Wang Meng.

The two of them completely ignored how others felt. Wang Meng’s face went hot, as if he’d been humiliated.

But Chen Feiyu looked like he’d just made a new friend, wearing a smile almost like a child’s. “Do you hate him? I mean that whole elite, self-important act. Deep down, he’s just an asshole.”

Gu Yao raised a brow. “Honestly, this is the first time I’ve seen him in a year. But I suspect that a year ago, I had a lot of dealings with this guy, and they were very unpleasant. So even though I’ve lost part of my memory now, physically I still can’t hide how much I dislike him. You’re right, he’s an asshole to the core.”

The police officers at the scene didn’t quite understand what she meant, but Wang Meng’s face turned red with anger. He stepped forward two paces and warned Gu Yao through gritted teeth, “I have to remind you, letting a criminal lead your pace is very dangerous!”

But Gu Yao didn’t even look at Wang Meng. She only shrugged and, with a sarcastic smile, asked Chen Feiyu, “Look, he’s getting flustered. Sorry, because of work, I have to ask you a few sensitive questions now.”

As soon as Gu Yao finished speaking, silence fell over the scene. For a moment, the only sound was the wind.

The smile on Chen Feiyu’s face slowly faded, but there wasn’t the slightest trace of tension in him. He looked relaxed. He even changed his sitting posture and crossed one leg over the other.

Wang Meng and the police officers all went on high alert. They were terrified that if Gu Yao misspoke and provoked Chen Feiyu, the hostage, Liu Yu, who was already being held by Chen Feiyu, would be further endangered. She had already lost consciousness, and half her body was hanging outside the eaves. Only a nylon rope held her hand and the railing together, and blood had already soaked into the rope.

The firefighters below were also waiting, ready to rescue Liu Yu at any moment.

I’m afraid the only people at the scene who could still feel even a little relaxed were Chen Feiyu and Gu Yao.

After a while, Chen Feiyu suddenly said, “You’re too greedy.”

Gu Yao smiled and did not defend herself.

Chen Feiyu said, “You want to use a few sensitive questions to condense my life, give me a profile. Why should I answer you?”

Gu Yao seemed to agree with him very much and nodded. “You’re right, or we can make a trade.”

“How?”

“I’ll say my guess first. Take it as the preliminary profile I’ve made of you. If there’s anything wrong, please correct me. But you need to have enough reason to convince me and let me know where I was wrong.”

Gu Yao’s words left Wang Meng completely stunned. Why was she speaking as if she were asking for guidance? What did she think Chen Feiyu was, a lunatic, a criminal!

But before Wang Meng could object, Chen Feiyu had already said, “You mean an academic exchange.”

Gu Yao said, “An academic exchange, mutual growth. How about that?”

Chen Feiyu laughed. “You want to use me as a research project and turn me into a paper?”

Gu Yao wrinkled her nose. “Mm… I haven’t thought that far yet. I’m in recovery right now, so other than occasionally going out to teach classes, I stay at the clinic and receive patients who need help. Why don’t you think of it the other way around? Maybe I can also help answer some of your questions and help you find the answer?”

Chen Feiyu was starting to take interest in Gu Yao’s suggestion. It was like some kind of challenge, or maybe provocation. He hadn’t felt this excited in a very long time.

Chen Feiyu said, “Fine. What’s your preliminary profile of me?”

Gu Yao said, “Probably three points.”

Gu Yao deliberately paused for a second. Seeing Chen Feiyu impatiently tap his foot, she then said, “First, I guess you’ve studied psychology, social psychology, or criminal psychology, and you pay close attention to practice. But you’re self-taught, not classically trained, so ordinary psychological negotiation techniques look ridiculous on you. Just like earlier, on the surface you chatted with him very smoothly and answered every question, but in reality you looked down on him, even scorned him. You saw right through him, and you carefully hid that fact so the other side couldn’t detect anything.”

The “him” referred to Wang Meng.

Wang Meng sucked in a few rough breaths and was practically about to explode from anger, because Gu Yao wasn’t just humiliating him, she was doing it in front of so many people. Today’s events would definitely have to be written up when they went back. The police would have to write reports, and the psychological expert would too. All of this humiliation would be recorded in the file. Gu Yao was clearly doing it on purpose!

For a moment, everyone’s attention at the scene was drawn to Gu Yao and Chen Feiyu’s conversation. No one noticed that above the space in front of Gu Yao, a small aerial drone had appeared sometime earlier.

At that moment, Chen Feiyu answered, “Your first point is correct. I noticed my own psychological problems when I was very young. I thought about saving myself, but I didn’t know how. My mother didn’t think it was necessary either. She believed I was born a lunatic. She even insisted that one day I would kill someone, end up in prison, or in a psychiatric hospital. In her eyes, trash like me only belonged there. So I started teaching myself psychology in my teens. I also did similar work, trying to understand others in these kinds of groups, using those theories and cases to interpret myself. My education isn’t high, but I’m a fast learner. Even those psychology experts with doctorates can’t dissect me.”

By the end of that sentence, Chen Feiyu even sounded a little smug.

Gu Yao said, “Then do you think prison and a psychiatric hospital can help you?”

Chen Feiyu was highly dismissive. “Bullshit.”

“So you also don’t think talking to psychological experts can make you… feel a little better.”

“Those people all come in with aggression. Their starting point is already wrong.”

“I’m curious, why do you think those psychology experts with doctorates can’t dissect you?”

After a few seconds of silence, Chen Feiyu suddenly asked back, “You’re the expert. Shouldn’t that answer come from you?”

Gu Yao smiled. “My answer is the second point in my preliminary profile of you.”

Chen Feiyu widened his eyes. “Oh? What is it?”

“Vicarious trauma.”

Chen Feiyu fell silent, but the shock on his face did not fade for a long time.

Gu Yao began explaining with an example. “People understand PTSD as ‘traumatic stress response.’ This kind of psychological problem is very common in the United States, especially among soldiers who spend years on the battlefield. The U.S. government sent in a large number of psychologists to help treat them. And what happened? After listening to soldiers describe their battlefield experiences again and again, those doctors all developed vicarious trauma. *Time* magazine’s view on this was that family members and psychologists who stay with PTSD patients will suffer something even worse than the patients themselves, ‘secondary trauma,’ even ‘fourth-hand trauma.’ Some psychologists even end up becoming criminals because of it.”

Chen Feiyu drew in a breath and asked, “You mean my mother’s mental abuse of me was because she had this problem, and the root cause was my father’s domestic violence. As for those psychology experts who helped me, either they couldn’t resonate with me, or they were affected by me and suffered secondary trauma.”

Chen Feiyu seemed a little confused for a moment.

But Gu Yao only said flatly, “No, Chen Feiyu. The one with vicarious trauma is you. And you’re not just a secondary trauma case.”

In an instant, Chen Feiyu froze. His shoulders began to droop, his sitting posture no longer as relaxed as before. The whole person looked as if he’d suffered a severe blow, somewhat dispirited.

Gu Yao narrowed her eyes and seized the chance to lay out the third point of her profile.

“Your father had a history of domestic violence. Your mother suffered mental and physical abuse for years. She decided you were your father’s incarnation, and the rest of your maternal relatives firmly believed it too. So even when you were still just a child, you were abused mentally day after day, because they believed that once you grew up and had enough strength, you would start abusing women.”

“You often thought about your father, wondering whether he’d experienced the same thing, whether he had a mother who abused him too. And your father probably suffered domestic violence when he was young, which is why he went from being a victim of domestic violence to becoming the abuser. You even thought that if your father hadn’t died too early from heart disease, then one day he would have killed his wife, your mother, and maybe then you would have been saved. You even went looking for proof, trying to prove your guess was right. You suspected he didn’t die of heart disease at all, and your mother even said something like this: ‘If your father hadn’t died so young, he definitely would have gone to prison or ended up in a psychiatric hospital.'”

“But unfortunately, you couldn’t prove your father’s cause of death. All you could do was figure out your own psychological problems, like whether you inherited violent genes, and whether those genes would make you act on them later. Because of that, you started trying to torture small animals when you were very young. You wanted to prove that you weren’t into that sort of thing, but unexpectedly, in the process of torturing them, you actually felt a bit of comfort and pleasure. You were no longer weak in front of them, you even became the one in control. That was the only way you could vent. You transferred the trauma you’d suffered onto other weak lives, and your inferiority would be soothed, your self-esteem would be repaired. But as you grew older, your desire and your ability to inflict violence got stronger and stronger. Torturing small animals was no longer enough to satisfy you.”

Chen Feiyu was already completely immersed in Gu Yao’s account. At the entire scene, there was nothing but Gu Yao’s voice, and even the wind had stopped at that moment.

Gu Yao’s description was almost exact down to the details. Although it differed slightly from Chen Feiyu’s real experience, she was the first person he had encountered in this field who seemed to truly “understand” him.

It was like when someone went to have their fortune told. Most fortune tellers used stock phrases and flattering words, while also tailoring them according to the person’s current expression and state of mind. Those words sounded right at first, but on closer thought, they could seem to apply to many people. But if the fortune teller’s reading was extremely precise, even down to specific times, events, and people, then the person asking would naturally develop the mindset of, “You’re amazing, you really know how to interpret things,” and they would keep asking question after question, hoping to get a solution as soon as possible.

That was exactly Chen Feiyu’s mindset right now.

Even Chen Feiyu himself had not expected that just from his conversation with Wang Meng, just from those harmless questions Gu Yao had started with, these scattered details would be linked together by her and woven into an almost correct “profile.”

Over here, the police officers listened while keeping a close eye on Chen Feiyu’s movements.

Chen Feiyu’s hand had already moved away from the nylon rope tying Liu Yu down. His crossed leg also came down, and he leaned forward, both elbows braced on his knees, utterly focused.

At that moment, Wang Meng stepped forward again and cut Gu Yao off. “I warned you not to provoke him!”

Gu Yao was interrupted and was just about to say something when Chen Feiyu suddenly roared, “Shut up. Let her finish!”

Wang Meng was shocked. The next second, the police officers dragged him to the back.

Gu Yao quickly looked at Chen Feiyu, and at the same time caught that instant flash of explosive anger on his face. His brows drew low and knitted together, his upper eyelids suddenly widened, his lower eyelids tightened, the muscles in his cheeks clenched, his nostrils flared, the corners of his mouth pulled down, his lips pressed into a line, his jaw thrust forward, his teeth clenched hard, the masseter muscle clearly standing out, his head lowered, his body leaning even farther forward, muscles taut, even his hands clenched into fists.

Although all those movements happened in just two or three seconds, in that moment Chen Feiyu looked like a lion about to pounce and bite down on an antelope.

Almost at the same time, Gu Yao called out, “Chen Feiyu!”

Chen Feiyu froze and looked at Gu Yao, slowly calming down.

A few seconds later, he said three words: “Please continue.”

Gu Yao went on. “I don’t know how many people you’ve killed, but I’m guessing they’re all women. The first person you killed was your mother. That was something you had to do. For you, it was like a self-redemptive ritual. Only by starting that ritual could you be freed. But this ritual was a double-edged sword. It could free you for a moment, but it could also become a shackle. From the moment you killed your mother, things spiraled out of control. Just like when you tortured those small animals, your switch had been flipped, and you started craving the killing of other targets. But completing those targets never gave you the same sense of accomplishment as killing your mother. You didn’t know what to do, so you could only keep searching for them one by one. Even if those women only shared your mother’s hairstyle, or the same tone of voice… That’s why I asked you at the beginning whether your mother was doing okay now.”

The female police officer in charge of communications, using the cover of the police officer in front of her, quickly reported the situation back to headquarters. The situation now was no longer something they could handle. If Chen Feiyu really had a prior history of “killing” as Gu Yao had analyzed, then they needed armed police officers to come in for support!

Right at that moment, Qin Song, who was on the fifth floor, also quickly asked Chen Feiyu’s ex-wife, “Do you know anything about Chen Feiyu’s mother?”

Chen Feiyu’s ex-wife couldn’t hear the conversation on the rooftop. She only said blankly, “We were still in contact in the first couple of years. Later I heard Chen Feiyu say that his mom remarried and followed that man somewhere else. Before she left, she had a huge fight with him, said she was cutting ties with him as mother and son, and that they would never have anything to do with each other again…”

“Didn’t you think there was something wrong there? You never called his mother?”

“I did, but that number had already been deactivated.”

Their conversation reached Gu Yao’s ears. Looking up, Gu Yao suddenly changed direction. “Chen Feiyu, have you already found your next target?”

Chen Feiyu froze again.

Everyone was very quiet, staring straight at him.

Then Gu Yao added slowly, “You even firmly believe that would be enough to replace the sense of accomplishment from your first killing, but to prove that point, you can only rely on practice.”

Almost at the same time, Xu Shuo, far away in Li City, also saw this livestream on his phone screen.

The close-up of Gu Yao’s face and the words she said were captured perfectly by the aerial drone, frame by frame. Another window also appeared on the phone screen, and inside it was a man with very heavy dark circles and very pale skin.

The dark-circled man asked, “How is it? Pretty exciting, right? This woman is really something!”

Xu Shuo was silent for a long time. “Don’t you think something is a little off about her?”

“What do you mean? She looks pretty good, her figure’s not bad, she’s quick with her words, or are you talking about her pale skin and slim waist?”

“The accident a year ago dealt a heavy blow to her body. She’s spent a year recovering, but she’s far from how she used to be. Her constitution is very weak now. She’s been away from front-line work for a full year, but when she suddenly faced a criminal, she was far too calm and professional. Even more precise than that man just now.”

“Hey, this woman is a psychological expert, isn’t she? Isn’t it normal for her to act professionally?”

Xu Shuo said decisively, “No.”

She and Chen Feiyu were getting along too smoothly.

And that kind of harmony was not something professionalism could give her.

Author’s note: This chapter is greasy as hell. I really didn’t want to drop it all at once, but because the pacing runs straight through, splitting it into two chapters didn’t make sense either, so I had to grit my teeth and do it…

One more tiny tip: On the mainland, local police officers at police stations generally do not carry guns. Ordinary police equipment is enough for daily duties and maintaining public order.

Guns are only issued when major crimes are involved, and even then firearms are usually collected and centrally managed. Using them requires strict approval. Please note that this is very different from the Hong Kong police. In TVB dramas, whether it’s police management or street patrol and traffic officers, they’re all armed.