A sudden shout from an assistant superintendent left Fat Sha frozen in place.
A few seconds later, he finally came to his senses under the blazing gazes of He Wenzhan and Shao Meiqi.
Fat Sha belatedly lifted his tactical vest and felt around his waist for his holster.
"Damn it! Those bastards must've taken my service pistol in the chaos."
At that moment, Fat Sha didn't care that a superior was present. He let out a curse.
As a police officer, how could he not know the consequences of losing his service pistol?
At that moment, the fear in his heart even eclipsed the pain of his injuries.
Fat Sha was incredibly slow to react, but someone else at the scene acted swiftly and decisively.
Shao Meiqi, who had always been upright and abided by police regulations, reached up and pressed the frequency knob on the radio at her shoulder.
Her expression composed, she asked Zhou Quan for instructions. "Sir, should we report this to Control Room?"
With Zhou Quan, an assistant superintendent, at the scene, Shao Meiqi hadn't directly reported it to Control Room.
Before Zhou Quan could give any instructions, Fat Sha had already completely lost his composure.
"Sir, the superintendent is going to promote me next month."
Fat Sha rubbed his hands together and sidled up to Zhou Quan, pleading shamelessly. "Sir, could you make an exception for me?
"I know those Gou Hok Jai. They're Ponytail's men. I promise I'll get the pistol back."
After speaking, Fat Sha gazed up at Zhou Quan, his face full of expectation.
His shameless words made Shao Meiqi and the other PTU officers change expression all at once.
Getting their assistant superintendent to keep quiet about this would be dragging him into it, wouldn't it?
If anything criminal happened because of that police pistol, their assistant superintendent would surely be implicated too.
Even the other members of their unit wouldn't escape responsibility.
"Assistant superintendent..."
Only He Wenzhan looked hesitant.
He and Fat Sha had joined the force at the same time, and they usually got along very well.
On top of that, He Wenzhan was always warmhearted toward his colleagues.
Once you put on this uniform, you were one of their own.
Now his brother was on the verge of a promotion. If the lost-pistol incident was reported to Control Room, then not only would the promotion be off the table, he might even be dismissed and sent to court.
If Zhou Quan, the assistant superintendent, hadn't been there, He Wenzhan would definitely have helped Fat Sha take the risk, given his character.
But Zhou Quan was there, and he was also the direct commander of their unit.
No matter how much He Wenzhan wanted to save his brother's future, he couldn't urge his superior to show favoritism and break the law.
So after hesitating for a while, he ultimately said nothing.
Zhou Quan first glanced at He Wenzhan in some surprise, then turned his gaze to Shao Meiqi.
"Let's not report it to Control Room just yet."
Waving a hand, Zhou Quan gave his instructions.
Shao Meiqi was surprised. She was about to advise her assistant superintendent.
Officers in the Anti-Triad Unit who dealt with Gou Hok Jai regularly, like Fat Sha, inevitably picked up some underworld habits.
They might not go so far as to bully ordinary citizens, but they certainly weren't very scrupulous in how they operated.
Deep down, Shao Meiqi, an upright officer, felt some antipathy toward Fat Sha.
Her assistant superintendent had a bright future ahead of him, and she naturally didn't want to see him dragged down by someone like Fat Sha.
But before Shao Meiqi could say anything, Zhou Quan's order came first.
"Everyone, check beneath the trash in this alley and see if Sergeant Lam's service pistol is there."
His gaze swept over the members of the unit in the alley as Zhou Quan spoke.
Although he wasn't related to Fat Sha, He Wenzhan had made a good point.
They were all brothers in the force, and Zhou Quan didn't want to see Fat Sha convicted either.
After all, Zhou Quan knew exactly where the service pistol was.
Zhou Quan's words made all the officers at the scene understand.
The narrow alley was full of discarded plastic and cardboard. Perhaps Fat Sha's service pistol had been covered by the trash when it fell.
Come to think of it, Ponytail was just a Gou Hok Jai from a small gang.
Would his men really have the nerve to snatch a police officer's service pistol?
If they'd only attacked Fat Sha from behind, then even if the Police Force found out afterward,
they could still use a personal grudge as an excuse and push a few of the gang's men forward as scapegoats.
But snatching a police officer's service pistol-that would be a whole different matter.
Forget Tsim Sha Tsui; the whole Yau Tsim District might be swept up in an anti-gang crackdown.
So their assistant superintendent's guess seemed quite plausible.
"Yes, sir!"
Everyone answered in unison, then followed Zhou Quan's instructions and began searching the trash along both sides of the alley.
"Right, right! Check beneath the trash."
At that moment, Fat Sha also seemed to come to his senses.
Because of the pain from his injuries and his fear of being caught by an assistant superintendent after losing his service pistol, he hadn't considered that possibility at all.
Now that Zhou Quan had reminded him, he immediately staggered over to the spot where he'd been beaten unconscious earlier.
All the officers searched together, and within just a few minutes, they had turned over all the trash along both sides of the alley.
"Assistant superintendent, found it!"
Shao Meiqi cried out in delight as she pulled a black .38 Revolver out from beneath a pile of newspapers and plastic bags.
Since her squad had been the first to find the unconscious Fat Sha, she had taken her people to search near that spot.
Just as Zhou Quan had known, Fat Sha's service pistol had been found.
Taking the pistol Shao Meiqi handed him, Zhou Quan flicked his wrist and swung out the revolver's cylinder.
Only after confirming that none of the bullets were missing did he hand the pistol to Fat Sha, who had hurried to his side with an expectant look on his face.
"Be more careful from now on. Losing your service pistol is no small matter."
Glancing at the bandage on Fat Sha's forehead, Zhou Quan offered a reminder and a word of comfort. "Your injuries are serious. Hurry home and get some rest."
Fat Sha took the pistol and immediately slid it into the holster at his waist.
"Thank you, sir!"
Fat Sha bowed repeatedly in gratitude, his face full of appreciation. "Sorry for the trouble, assistant superintendent."
"Fall in!"
Zhou Quan nodded slightly. Instead of saying anything more to Fat Sha, he turned to the officers in his unit.
"Resume patrol!"
After speaking, Zhou Quan led the way out of the alley.
Besides not wanting to see a fellow officer convicted, he had an even more important reason for helping Fat Sha recover his service pistol.
He wanted to remove Fat Sha's influence from his plans for tonight, so the men under his command could take the credit on their own.
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