He was a bureau-level official in Mainland China's government administration, as well as a First-Class Police Commissioner whose shoulders bore a silver olive branch and three silver four-pointed stars.
He was Director Song An, head of the National Security Second Bureau.
Director Song had come to Hong Kong Island in person and gone straight to the Police Force Number One.
The significance behind that was beyond question: something extremely important must have happened.
It was no exaggeration to say that, in every respect, this might be the highest-level matter Zhou Quan had encountered in his police career so far.
After all, an ordinary incident would never have brought Director Song into action.
Their last meeting had been when Zhou Quan handed over the Police Force's National Security Department's S-class top-secret files.
At the time, Song An's main purpose had been to escort those documents back to Mainland China. He had been assigned a task by Mainland China's policing system.
Now, however, he had come to the Hong Kong Island Police Force on his own initiative.
There was a very clear difference in what those two visits meant.
Could the Red Thief have appeared on Hong Kong Island?
His straight brows drawing together slightly, Zhou Quan silently speculated about Song An's purpose.
But that was impossible!
From the day he met Song An, he had made the corresponding arrangements.
The National Security Department had never relaxed its pursuit and investigation of the Red Thief.
Most importantly, using his foreknowledge, Zhou Quan had already identified the Red Thief's leader, Siu Chi Yan, who used his position as a Hong Kong Polytechnic University professor as cover.
Yet before today, Zhou Quan had never received any reports of unusual activity.
Zhou Quan had considerable confidence in both his grasp of developments on Hong Kong