Bu Tao hated dealing with bureaucracy, but it was everywhere, from the managing hierarchy of the local supermarket to the very top of the State Council. It was an inescapable part of society.

Early in his career, Bu Tao had seen police officers who genuinely wanted to protect the city, but were passed over for promotion by officers who knew how to play the game. They quickly learned that the only way to succeed wasn't to follow the rules, but to align themselves with the right commissioner. The game seemed simple, but impressing the higher ups in the police organization required a mixture of competence and ass kissing.

An officer can’t be too useful or too useless. Being too impressive created jealousy by other officers and being useless would bring down the organization. 

Bu Tao had personally experienced the political nature of work after transferring from the traffic division to the criminal investigation division. As a rookie investigator, much of the credit for apprehending the criminals went to his sergeant. There was little else he could do, except questioning his sergeant's inability at every turn. He didn't care about getting the merit, but seeing how worthless some of the superiors were, he felt uncertain about the future. It made sense that the public didn't trust police officers.

"You gotta hold your tongue Tao," a fellow officer told him. "The sergeant is only a few merits away from becoming lieutenant. Once he's promoted, you'll also get a chance to be promoted. If you act out, everyone will mark you as a troublemaker."

That was how things worked in the world, there was a sequence of events and proper order everyone had to follow. Breaking that order meant going against the rest of the group.

Bu Tao didn't care about moving up the rank. Bufu and Li Yun called him stupid, but he didn't care. If he saw something that pissed him off, then damn well he was going to act pissed. He often got into arguments with other officers. 

"You remind me of myself when I was your age," General Commissioner Heng had once told him. Back then, he was Butao's captain. "Your report about everyone's incompetence is very thorough, but do you think this is something internal affairs isn't aware of?"

It wasn't like the higher ups were blind to everything that was happening. They had experienced the upward climb themselves, and knew it was part of tempering the future officers. They all found Bu Tao be capable and heroic, but too rash to reach a higher level within the organization.

"Captain!" Bu Tao formally saluted. "I know I am out of bounds, but it is not something I could ignore."

"Unfortunately, finding good officers is like finding good people," Captain Heng rebuked. "Imagine if we fire all these people on the list, who else to replace them?"

"Plenty," Bu Tao as he listed five other officers he felt were fit for the sergeant and lieutenant positions.

"The people you list are capable, but they lack the ability to lead. They can work hard, but can they lead a dozen people to solve a case?"

"Captain, that comes with experience. If you don't give them the opportunity, they will not learn. You're giving people who only know how to bark out orders, but don't know how to actively solve cases. We aren't going to suffer from any more failures than now. Our reputation frankly stinks."

Captain Heng agreed; the Yide Police Department wasn't well liked in the community. "You didn't list yourself, why not?"

"Captain Heng, you're s****** me, you know how many demerits I have from fighting with my sergeant and lieutenants?" asked Bu Tao.

Captain Heng laughed. "That's rich, coming from you. At least you know where you stand on the totem pole."

Out of everyone in the police force, Captain Heng liked Bu Tao the most, but he also knew it would be difficult for Bu Tao to step up the ladder. Many of the other commissioners tolerated Bu Tao because he could solve cases. If he wasn't so outspoken, he might have been promoted.

For the longest time, everyone thought it would take Bu Tao at least ten years before he could be promoted to sergeant. Even when Bu Tao caught the serial killer known for terrorizing women, the lieutenant in charge was planning to take the credit if the General Commissioner Jing hadn't intervened.

Everyone was surprised that Bu Tao had a huge backer. No one knew he had connection to the General Commissioner from the Provincial office. 

"You held the trump card hidden pretty well," Captain Heng commented when he awarded Bu Tao with his sergeant position.

"It wasn't meant to be used as a trump card," Bu Tao replied. He met his wife, Jing Tingting, during the academy. It never occurred to him that his future father-in-law was the General Commissioner until after their parents met for marriage negotiation.

It was tough when they first dated because General Commissioner Jing didn't like Bu Tao. They forced his hand by getting Jing Tingting pregnant with Little Nai.

With a bit of backing, Bu Tao made it to Captain, but not without earning enough merits to earn admiration and respect from other officers. The rank was high, but above him was the commissioner, the deputy general commissioner, and finally the general commissioner. 

*****

"You s******, you're not telling me everything," Bu Tao spoke loudly to Li Yun. He was well aware that while he was investigating what had happened to Zhang Mi, Li Yun had gathered everyone else to investigate separately. He was not informed about the nature of Abyss or even aware of its existence.

"I told you about everything important," said Li Yun. To him, the Abyss wasn't important. It could go up in flames and he would still be fine.

Bu Tao shook his head at himself, sometimes, it was better not to know everything. "So, what do you know?"

Li Yun told him that they have evidence on the five horsemen, but  needed information on the governor and cooperation from someone high in office that could force the investigation to continue when they leak the news.

"How is everything from your end?" Li Yun asked.

"They accepted my request for transfer to the provincial office," said Bu Tao.

"So you really contacted your old captain?" asked Li Yun. Li Yun had only met Commissioner Heng once, but at that time, he wasn't as astute as he was now. His overall impression of him was rather good. "And he agreed?"

"Yeah," Bu Tao liked being in the Yide Police department, but there were so many limitations. If he wanted to gain more information, he needed to transfer. "Little Yun, I'm going to hang up, Cao Cao is calling."

Bu Tao hung up and took the call from Commissioner Heng.

"Commissioner?" Bu Tao asked.

"Just want to call to congratulate you on becoming the Captain of the provincial CID," Commissioner Heng said over the phone.

The local police station generally had higher jurisdiction rights than the provincial police, but in terms of ranking, working in the provincial police was considered more prestigious and higher.

"Thank you Commissioner," Bu Tao responded. "You didn't have to directly approve of my transfer request."

"Why do you sound like I intentionally gave you favors over everyone else?" asked Commissioner Heng. "I only recommended you, but we still need to have all the other commissioners finalize your appointment. You don't have a lot of fans in the provincial office."

A recommendation from the general commissioner generally meant the other commissioners would agree. Although the former General Commissioner Jing was his father-in-law, the man didn't exactly want Bu Tao to work in the same office. With him long retired, Commissioner Heng wanted Bu Tao to work there to offset some of the old ways of thinking.

Bu Tao knew Commissioner Heng for a few years, and knew how crafty he was when it came to playing the game. He knew a lot of things that were happening behind the scenes but chose to ignore it. The man was playing a long game, and he had finally reached the top. As for his end goal, Bu Tao wasn't sure. He had rarely seen Commissioner Heng committing any serious infractions.

"Sir, thank you, but we both know what happened to the old commissioner," said Bu Tao. The former commissioner after Commissioner Jing was charged with bribery in connection to a drug cartel. However, many people knew what was happening until he got power-hungry and plotted a scheme against Governor Ning. The old commissioner never thought Governor Ning would strike first and ousted him from the position.  Governor Ning didn't particularly like Commissioner Heng, but he was a person in the neutral position and very little authority, making him the best person to take the mantel temporarily before he could find a better replacement. It worked to Commissioner Heng’s benefit.

"Have you thought about how to secure your position?" asked Bu Tao.

GC Heng raised his eyebrow, it was the first time Bu Tao directly asked him about his position. He had only been in position for a year. It may seem like a long time, but it wasn't enough for him to gather enough allies. 

Bu Tao remembered when Commissioner Heng was Captain, he always hoped to have more power to fight corruption. When it first started, every barrier he had to fight down broke a piece of his own morals. Eventually, GC Heng learned that to get the work done, it was better to use underhanded methods. It was quicker than the red tapes that were meant to stop those naive enough to believe that the law existed to protect the people.

GC Heng wondered if Bu Tao was finally able to see eye to eye with him. Sometimes to make big moves, underhanded means were needed.