Chapter 27: Skipping Authority Levels

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

When he could not find the piano competition data, Zhao Yu had originally wanted to go talk with the three victims. Since they had actually attended the contest, maybe they would remember something important.

But on further consideration, he quickly gave up the idea. He had heard through his eavesdropper that Qu Ping had placed surveillance around the three victims, so if he tried to visit them then Qu Ping would quickly find out what Zhao Yu knew.

If Qu Ping caught wind of the direction of Zhao Yu’s investigation, the result would be disastrous. But the gods were on his side because just as Zhao Yu had been troubled with his dilemma, Li Beini told him that the competition roster was already in her hands!

The overjoyed Zhao Yu quickly rushed back to the police office. In order to keep their investigation a secret, the two did not meet up at the office, but instead went to a restaurant near the building, almost like a spy meeting.

“Amazing!” Zhao Yu praised Li Beini’s handiness. “To get your hands on something so difficult, that’s…amazing!!”

“Oh please!” Li Beini smirked, “I am from the Police Academy Information Department after all. If I couldn’t even do this, how could I show my face around here?”

“Don’t get so conceited” Zhao Yu retorted. But he was curious, “Tell me, where did you find this? I already searched through the entire records department at the Second Middle School, but I didn’t find anything at all!”

“I pulled this out straight from the city’s records, but, honestly…” Li Beini whispered, “I’m just an intern, so I don’t have enough administrator privilege. To pull the case information, I actually used Team Leader Mao’s username and password! You’ll have to help me take care of that later!”

“What!” Zhao Yu jumped in shock at what she said. Even though he was not well educated himself, the other Zhao Yu was from the STEM department, and was very familiar with these keywords. Pulling out case information was basically when the police department needed information from another department, so the departments shared their information with the police, letting them use it as they needed.

Because the information contained a high amount of undisclosed intelligence to the public, there was a certain legal responsibility attached to a person pulling out the information. Only authorities within the police department could use this power. The higher your authority, the more information you could pull out.

Because of this, to use someone else’s authority to pull information was considered a heavy offense. To pull information from a level higher than your own could be considered a criminal offense! Because Li Beini used Team Leader Mao Wei’s authority, the consequence was clear. Even if Mao Wei gave her permission himself, it was still enough to give Li Beini some trouble.

“My God! How do you have his username and password?” Zhao Yu was very worried.

“Mao’s not exactly careful. Every time when he enters his password, he doesn’t even bother covering it up. It’d be a bigger surprise if I didn’t know!” Li Beini was surprisingly calm.

“How could you do this? Are you stupid? If they investigate this, then it’s over for you!” Zhao Yu scratched his head.

“You said you were in a hurry! So, I helped you?” Li Beini remained calm, “Senior, you have to clear this case! If you don’t, then you owe me for the rest of your life!”

“Okay, sounds good! Very admirable! Today I won’t say thank you, but from now on you’re under my wing! If you end up in some trouble, just come look for me!” Zhao Yu patted Li Beini on the shoulder, but startled her. “Don’t worry, it’s just authority.” Zhao Yu patted himself on the chest, “I’ll go find Mao right after this, no matter the method, I’ll make sure he takes care of it! If he doesn’t, then I’ll quit with you! We share the same consequences! Okay?”

Hearing Zhao Yu’s confident speech, despite not knowing some of his words, Li Beini felt warm inside. The little girl felt her love for Zhao Yu surge back. Even if he was only acting, she still felt it was worth her effort!

“Senior…Umm…Actually, what I said was a little vague!” Li Beini blushed as she spoke, “I’m not dumb enough to cross the line that easily. Even though I used Team Leader Mao’s username and password to pull the case information, I used a virus and erased my tracks! If the higher-up doesn’t send someone to investigate, they shouldn’t find me!”

“Oh?” Zhao Yu gasped, then suddenly realized what happened and laughed, “Aren’t you sly. I almost got tricked by you! But, this is good, great!”

To avoid the awkward situation, Li Beini hurriedly lowered her head and asked Zhao Yu, “Senior, I’m a bit hungry. How about you buy me for some food?”

“Right! Right! Look at me, not being considerate, please don’t mind me!” Zhao Yu hurriedly raised his head, and shouted in a thunderous voice for a waiter, “Waiter, we’re ready to order!!” Zhao Yu was from the streets–hostile to enemies, but very generous to people he considered close to him! Li Beini helped him greatly, so he definitely had to treat her!

Soon, a luxurious set of food was placed in front of the two–steaks, salad, clam, abalone. It was so fancy that Li Beini felt dizzy. She kept muttering, “I can’t eat all of this!”

Zhao Yu paid over one-thousand yuan out of his pocket for, but that was how it was done on the streets. Some things, either you do not do it at all, or you do it well so they can see that you mean it!

Even as they were eating, Zhao Yu could not help but mention the case. He asked Li Beini curiously, “Even if it was from the city’s records, why would they have such old information?”

“Of course they have it!” Li Beini replied, “Even though the contest was held at Qinshan Second Middle School, the contest was entirely organized by the City’s Culture and Education Bureau! One is the host, the other is the organizer. Obviously you go to whoever organized it to find records, right?”

“Oh…” Li Beini’s words inspired Zhao Yu greatly.

“Oh…here!” Li Beini looked around to make sure there were no people watching them, then pulled out the photo on her phone and showed it to Zhao Yu, “This was the city record’s only information regarding the tenth Annual High School Piano Competition. But it wasn’t complete, the only information left is name of the final ten winners, here…”

Zhao Yu looked at it carefully, and quickly found the Lost Hand Case’s three victim’s names. They were all there! Not only that, but the three names were even side by side:

“Luo Meina, 1336 points, 4th place;

Yuan Lili, 1057 points, 5th place;

Gao Tian, 1020 points, 6th place…”

“How’s that, senior?” Li Beini grinned, “See? Your instinct was right! The Lost Hand Case definitely had something to do with this competition!”

“Right! Of course!” Zhao Yu praised himself inside his head. He was also highly excited. The list in front of him had already proved his hunch. It seemed that the culprit should be on the list.

Zhao Yu carefully looked at every other name on the list, but no name stood out to him.

Who was the culprit?!