After hanging up the phone, Grace Smith, who was fuming with anger, felt his old face couldn’t hold up after being scolded by the director. As soon as he stepped out of the office, he saw several auxiliary police officers returning, all looking disheveled and dirty. He grumbled resentfully:

“Useless! All of you are useless... Where’s that useless Team One!?”

……

……

When James Brooks and his group of five returned to the police station, the sun was already high in the sky. Their police car had been requisitioned by the county criminal police team that arrived later, who drove it into the mountains to block the suspects! The five of them had to walk two kilometers before hitching a ride back to the county on a truck hauling bricks.

A bunch of half-grown boys, they’d panicked while running away. Jack Brooks had stepped right into a pile of manure, getting his leg covered in the stench; George Brooks had hidden in a thorn bush and torn a big hole in the seat of his pants; Henry Brooks and Charles, one lost his hat, the other his police baton. Only James Brooks managed to find cover not far away and wasn’t quite as bedraggled, but he didn’t fare much better—early morning dew had soaked both their pant legs in mud, and after getting on the brick truck, the red bricks left smears all over them. The whole way back, their hearts were pounding as they replayed the gunfight in their minds, not even noticing how disheveled they looked.

Watching gunfights in movies is thrilling, but when you actually hear gunshots up close, it’s pure panic—you feel like you’re about to wet your pants! Honestly, not peeing themselves was already an achievement.

As soon as the five of them walked through the police station gates, they were stunned. Except for the officer on duty, everyone was standing around in the courtyard! Seeing the five of them looking like they’d just rolled out of a brick kiln, people started snickering. At first, just a few snickered, then everyone joined in. When someone accidentally noticed the rip in Edward Johnson’s pants, someone shouted, “George Brooks, you’re exposed!”... George Brooks reached back and felt a bare patch, squeezed his legs together and squatted down in a panic, but with a ripping sound, the hole got even bigger. He nervously stood up again, both hands covering his rear. Over a dozen auxiliary police and more than twenty officers from the station were all laughing so hard they nearly fell over!

James Brooks and his four subordinates, a bunch of half-grown boys, looked at each other, unable to say a word out of embarrassment!

“What are you laughing at! Get serious! Grinning like Sichuan peppercorns—does that look good to you!?”

With his hands behind his back, Grace the instructor strode out of the office, his big persimmon-like face full of anger. His voice arrived before he did, instantly silencing the group of over thirty people.

The five of them had discussed things on the way back, but none of them thought they’d done anything wrong. Most of the officers at the station had never even handled a gun, let alone the auxiliary police—some had never even seen one; and when faced with an armed criminal, or even just someone with a knife, they’d run for it! ... Being a lowly auxiliary police officer, you barely make a thousand yuan a month, and even that’s not paid on time. If you get injured on duty, there’s nowhere to get your medical expenses reimbursed—that’s what’s really unfair!

The five of them were all nervous! Not for any other reason, but because Instructor Smith was glaring at them with the eyes of a butcher about to carve meat... Honestly, no one really expected these auxiliary police, who only made a few hundred yuan, to accomplish anything. Running away in a crisis was normal! But running into the city bureau’s people while fleeing—that was not normal; it wouldn’t have been a big deal, but the county director lost face in front of the city bureau, the station lost face in front of the director, and the instructor lost face in front of the director too. Now everyone was clamoring to severely punish those who fled in the face of danger... This was bad!

Crap, they’re going to pin the blame on us again!... James Brooks noticed Instructor Smith eyeing the five of them sideways, clearly up to no good. The timing couldn’t have been worse—the station chief, James Brooks’s second uncle Matthew Brooks, had gone to Beijing to visit a cousin, and just a couple of days after he left, this happened. With no one to back him up, even James Brooks felt extremely uneasy!

Grace Smith, glaring like he was about to slaughter a pig, put on a stern air with his hands behind his back and finally said to James Brooks and the others, “Are you kiln workers or brick haulers? Do you have any sense of organization or discipline? We couldn’t reach you all last night—tell me, what were you doing?”

“Reporting, Instructor, the car radio was broken!” James Brooks reported.

Of course, he didn’t dare say they’d accidentally unplugged the power while sleeping. If the car came back undamaged, they’d just say it got bumped and then started working again. Anyway, the station’s equipment was all old and worn out—some walkie-talkies didn’t work, but if you banged them against the wall a couple of times, they’d work again! These high-tech gadgets were about as reliable as the auxiliary police—always failing at critical moments.

“Oh, you’ve got an answer for everything, huh! What, none of the five of you have a cell phone? Don’t try to fool me. Tell me, were you all asleep? Every time there’s a mission, you boys are either slacking off or napping. You think I don’t know?”

The instructor, hands behind his back, started digging up old issues, trying to find a breakthrough to pin the blame on these boys, at the very least to set an example for the others.

“Reporting, Instructor, we completed the assigned task. Captain Qin ordered us to set up a checkpoint at the designated intersection, wait for the suspects, and report any emergencies to the command center without acting on our own... I believe we completed our mission perfectly and should be commended!”

James Brooks straightened up and spoke with great seriousness, deftly sidestepping the awkward topic. The officers burst out laughing!