pjbooks Chapter 36 Command Post
Chapter 36 Command Post
In front of "Minjiang No. 3 Middle School".
Or rather, in front of the former site of Minjiang No. 3 Middle School.
Jiang Yirong walked through the crowd of hundreds of police officers and detectives, crossed the newly erected cordon, and stood face to face with the surging white fog, only inches away.
She stared at the school gate, half-hidden in the white mist, her eyes dark, her brows twitching wildly.
"Director Jiang."
She turned around and saw a middle-aged man who looked to be in his forties.
The man was wearing a police uniform with an olive branch and three silver stars engraved on his badge. His usually stern and resolute face was now covered in sweat, and it was clearly not because of the weather.
"Director Liang."
Jiang Yirong was facing him, but she gestured with her lips towards the school gate, as if to say, "Is this the place?"
Since their work overlapped significantly and they frequently met at special meetings, the middle-aged man understood Jiang Yirong's meaning without needing a verbal explanation, based on her expression.
He said in a deep voice:
Yes, this is the place.
"This fog..."
Jiang Yirong walked towards the school gate, raised her hand, and slowly probed into the white mist that confined, or rather occupied, the area inside the school gate and swallowed the entire campus.
The feel wasn't strange.
Although the thick white fog was so dense that it looked like a huge living thing, when you put your hand in it, you only felt empty and there was no real tactile sensation.
It seems that this is just simple fog.
"This fog is unusual."
Director Liang, who had been standing behind him, only spoke up to remind Jiang Yirong when she reached out her hand.
"What's so special about it?"
Jiang Yirong did not withdraw her hand, but simply turned around and asked calmly.
If even touching this fog would cause problems, then the person behind him named Liang Congjian would have stopped him from the very beginning.
At this moment, if you act panicked, it will only make people look down on you.
Liang Congjian smiled.
"This isn't the place to talk, Lao Jiang. Why don't we go sit down at the temporary command post?"
……
"The Criminal Investigation Department was the first to receive reports from the public."
"After receiving the report, the captain of the third criminal investigation team first led ten colleagues to the scene."
"They took photos first, then reported the situation to their superiors. After leaving two team members to guard the area, the third team leader and eight other police officers entered the white fog, but there was no news of them coming out."
"After the scheduled ten minutes for communication were up, the two police officers who were on duty realized that something had gone wrong. They waited for an extra five minutes and then immediately reported the information to the headquarters and then to me."
"After I gathered the information, I informed several key leaders, and received instructions from above to tentatively designate this incident as the 'May 22 Incident.' Subsequently, a temporary command post was immediately established near the incident area, where I took command and dispatched a large number of police officers to investigate. To date, we have only achieved some preliminary results."
In the temporary command post of Liang Congjian, the police chief of Minjiang City, located in a residential building opposite Minjiang No. 3 Middle School.
Jiang Yirong squinted and looked out the window.
The entire sky above Minjiang No. 3 Middle School was shrouded in white mist, which miraculously remained consistent from top to bottom, making it look from a distance like a giant gas cube built according to the school's boundaries.
The kind of binding force that is completely impossible in reality will leave anyone who sees it for the first time in a state of continuous amazement and confusion.
Outside of Minjiang No. 3 Middle School, across a cordon several dozen meters long, police officers stood everywhere.
They formed a human wall to prevent curious onlookers or other ill-intentioned individuals from getting close.
"To form such a human wall, the entire mobile police force of the Minjiang River area must have been mobilized here."
Jiang Yirong tapped the teacup in front of her and said softly.
"yes."
Liang Congjian gave a bitter smile.
"It wasn't just the criminal investigation department's police force; officers from other departments, including the economic crime investigation department and the local police station... even senior students from the Minjiang Police Academy and bailiffs from the court department, were all seconded here to help maintain order. We finally managed to surround the area where the incident occurred."
"After all, this high school covers several hundred acres... It's close to the suburbs, so land prices are cheap. Managing it will require a lot of manpower."
"Fortunately, it's close to the suburbs, so it won't attract too much attention and won't cause such a sensation."
"Won't this cause a sensation?"
Jiang Yirong glanced at him, smiled, and instantly saw through the self-comforting tone in his words.
She picked up the teaspoon and pointed it at the white mist.
"This kind of fog, which stretches upwards for hundreds of meters without dissipating into the surrounding air, can be seen even from several kilometers away, or even more than ten kilometers away."
"Flat land is one thing, but Minjiang City has no shortage of skyscrapers and high vantage points with good views... At least before I arrived, photos and videos had already spread overseas, and people were even flying drones to broadcast live from above. If the live broadcast signal hadn't been detected and cut off in time..."
Upon hearing this, Liang Congjian's bitter expression deepened, and even his smile vanished completely.
"Just as you saw, Lao Jiang, the situation here absolutely cannot be covered up."
"A dense fog hundreds of meters high, covering only the entire school—such a bizarre situation!"
"If this continues... not only will the higher-ups be watching, but the eyes of countries all over the world will be drawn to it! Although I'm from a local police department, I still have this much sensitivity to public opinion."
"Old Jiang, since you're here, you must have some arrangements from above, so I'd like to ask you... how exactly should this matter be handled?!"
"A thousand senior high school students represent at least several thousand families, not to mention school teachers, administrators... Leaving aside the police officers involved—we need to bring these people to justice!"
"Moreover, this white fog is so brightly visible, even if we can designate a restricted area of several hundred meters or even several kilometers, how can we stop drones from taking off and filming from tens of kilometers away? Besides, such a large target can be clearly seen with the current precision of satellites; it simply cannot be concealed... How are we going to explain the situation to the world then?!"
In the "command center" temporarily requisitioned residential houses, the conversation between the two made the atmosphere increasingly heavy.
Liang Congjian looked at the capable woman in front of him, who was about the same age as him—Jiang Yirong, the director of the Minjiang City Security Bureau.
Several years ago, she was transferred here from the Jingzhou Security Department at the same level.
Logically, this should have been an exile, but Liang Congjian learned by chance about the woman's powerful connections.
Furthermore, he also learned that Jiang Yirong's transfer to Minjiang was not due to problems with her work or family background... but simply because of her personal affairs.
Therefore, he has been very friendly to his colleagues in this similar system for many years.
Through his deliberate arrangement, the working relationship between the two had reached a point where the other party could comfortably accept being called "Old Jiang" by him.
By now.
Faced with such a thorny situation, the fact that a mere local police chief was sitting in the temporary command post clearly indicated that the main local leaders and those above him had not yet made arrangements or plans on how to deal with this unprecedented event.
Therefore, Liang Congjian is just a transitional character, like a role player in basketball.
Even role players should fulfill their responsibilities.
The political arena is ever-changing.
If, during his temporary tenure here, he can produce some achievements that his superiors can accept, or at least not be considered as "facts" of making mistakes, then...
So, faced with such a momentous event, he could at least avoid the first wave of shock and get off the bus safely and smoothly.
But whether it's merit or "facts," they must be seen, otherwise they will become mistakes open to criticism.
In order to be seen by those above, the most important thing is to have someone who can act as their eyes.
So at this moment, he sat there, quietly watching the "old ginger" in front of him, not daring to relax for a moment, quietly waiting for her answer.
"...Tell me about it first, Lao Liang."
"Since you've thought it through so clearly, have you found out anything about this white fog so far?"
Jiang Yirong did not directly answer Liang Congjian's question.
Upon hearing this, although Liang Congjian remained upright, he secretly breathed a sigh of relief as he looked at Jiang Yirong's calm expression.