Once the five Mercedes-Benz police cars had been delivered, Zhou Quan and Mok Kam-chuen accompanied Song Shichang on a tour of some of West Kowloon Headquarters' less important departments.
The atmosphere between the two sides was friendly and harmonious, and officers along the way cast goodwill-filled looks at Song Shichang.
As noon approached, even Commissioner Wong appeared in person.
He brought a group of senior officers to host Song Shichang for a meal in the Headquarters cafeteria.
The meal was hardly lavish, but its significance was considerable.
After hosts and guest had enjoyed themselves, they went their separate ways. Everyone had other official duties to attend to, after all.
Back in his Operations Department office, Zhou Quan brewed himself a cup of hot tea, then leaned back in his office chair and rested with his eyes closed.
Zhou Quan had gained enormous benefits from this operation against Kwan Chai-ba.
Those benefits, however, were all intangible.
For the moment, they could not translate into any actual advancement for him. After all, he had only entered the Commissioned Rank at the beginning of the year.
No matter how considerable his contributions or how outstanding his results, there was simply no way he could be promoted again in the short term.
Quite a few of the men under Zhou Quan, however, had gained very direct advancement through this large-scale operation.
For those below inspector rank, it went without saying: promotions and pay raises were awarded where they were due.
Two men worth mentioning were the cold-faced killing machine He Wenzhan and the supercop Chan Ka-kui.
He Wenzhan, one of Zhou Quan's trusted core subordinates, had gained another Bath Star on his shoulder, completing his probation as an inspector ahead of schedule.
As for the supercop Chan Ka-kui, he also served under Zhou Quan,