There are some things you just don’t do. While most unscrupulous acts can be to some degree justified, those which are morally reprehensible deserve no defence. And stealing from a COVID worker during the execution of their duty unquestionably falls into that category.
It was in the past few days that Mr. Zhao (赵), an epidemic-prevention worker assigned to Nanjing South Railway Station, also known colloquially as “Nanzhan”, had his cellphone stolen.
就在这几天，南京南站的防疫人员赵先生（俗称“南站”）的手机被盗。
Zhao had just been doing his job, which was checking the health codes of passengers as they arrive in Nanzhan after alighting from their trains.
赵先生当时正在做他的工作，在乘客下车到达南站时检查他们的健康码。
Clad in PPE. In this heat. All day long.
穿着个人防护装备。在这炎热的天气里。整天。
Which was when the perpetrator thought to be the best time to help himself to Zhao’s phone, sitting beside his station.
就在这个时候，肇事者认为是拿起坐在他的车站旁边的赵的电话的最佳时机。
Upon finding his phone missing, Zhao quickly reported the matter to the police.
发现手机不见了，赵某赶紧向警方报案。
Law enforcement was then able to access surveillance camera footage and quickly identify the thief via the real-name identity system employed by China Railway for all travelling passengers.
随后，执法部门能够访问监控录像，并通过中国铁路公司为所有旅行乘客使用的实名身份系统快速识别小偷。
Coincidentally, the suspect was also surnamed Zhao, same character even. With this knowledge, police quickly traced his then whereabouts to a hotel he had checked into in Zhejiang province, he having quickly fled the scene of his crime. Local law enforcement called in the help of their Zhejiang-based colleagues.
巧合的是，犯罪嫌疑人也姓赵，甚至性格也一样。得知这一情况后，警方迅速追踪到他当时的行踪，找到了他入住的浙江省一家酒店，随后他迅速逃离了犯罪现场。当地执法部门向浙江同事求助。
Quickly gaining access to the suspect’s hotel room, the police wasted no time in handcuffing Zhao so as to prevent any attempt to interfere with evidence.
警方迅速进入犯罪嫌疑人的酒店房间，立即给赵戴上手铐，以防止任何干扰证据的企图。
Spying a backpack on the floor, a plain-clothes detective addressed the suspected thief; “Where’s the cellphone? It’s in here, isn’t it?”.
一名便衣侦探发现地板上有一个背包，于是对嫌疑小偷进行了询问。 “手机在哪儿？就在这儿，不是吗？”。
Finding the phone therein, the officer continued, “It’s this cell phone, right?”.
警察发现里面有手机，继续说道：“是这个手机，对吗？”。
At first, Zhao insisted that he had just picked up the phone “at random”. He only admitted the wrongdoing when police showed him the surveillance video.
起初，赵坚称自己只是“随意”拿起电话。当警方向他展示监控录像后，他才承认了自己的不当行为。
Zhang Bu, with Nanjing Railway Public Security Bureau’s Nanjing South Station Police Station, spoke with The Paper. He confirmed that Zhao had arrived at Nanjing South Railway Station by train on the day of the crime.
南京铁路公安局南京南站派出所民警张步接受澎湃新闻采访。他证实，案发当天，赵某已乘坐火车抵达南京南站。
This is one of the advantages to China’s real-name identity system it insists on being implemented across much of society’s main functions. While controversial to some, the system in this case helped apprehend a man guilty of a crime against not just one victim who was only helping to keep the populace safe, but the soul of humanity itself.
这是中国坚持在社会许多主要职能中实施实名身份制度的优势之一。尽管对一些人来说存在争议，但本案中的系统帮助逮捕了一名犯有罪行的男子，该男子不仅针对一名仅帮助保护民众安全的受害者，而且还针对人类本身的灵魂。