Chapter 761: An Unexpected Discovery

"Didn't you just save a kid who fell into a well this morning and resolve the conflict between the two villages in Sunshine Community? Why do you look so down?"

Hearing Wang Yan's words, Xia Jie shook her head and sighed, "Sometimes you're just powerless…"

Xia Jie wasn't an unsociable person, and Wang Yan and the others were all new recruits who started together, so although she seemed quiet, communication with her was never troublesome.

"Let me guess—you're troubled by two things."

"Tell me," Xia Jie replied noncommittally.

Wang Yan smiled: "First, Cheng Suo and the others are protecting you too much, not letting you do anything. But you, on the other hand, want to follow in your father's footsteps and become a good cop who fights crime and serves the people. You don't want this, but you can't oppose them—they're not just your seniors, they're your superiors, right?"

"Second, I bet your mom doesn't approve of you being a cop, especially a patrol officer. She'd rather you be a household registration officer or sit in an office at the branch. After all, your father used to work with Song Ju and even saved his life—there's some face to be cashed in; it'd be easy to get you transferred to the branch."

"But you're still unwilling to accept it—you don't want your mom meddling in your job, and you don't want Cheng Suo and the others giving you special treatment. After all, us grassroots cops? Women are treated like men, and men like dogs."

"How do you know?"

"It's perfectly normal—put yourself in my shoes. If I were you, I wouldn't be happy either. You've graduated college and started working, and now they're treating you like a child?" Wang Yan shook his head. "Also, I noticed you seem to have some issues with Cheng Suo."

"No such thing," Xia Jie quickly shook her head, but under Wang Yan's smiling gaze, she slumped and sighed. "Fine, I admit—it's a little. Mainly because he won't let me do anything. Today, when we pulled that kid out of the well, it wasn't even a big deal, and he still gave me a day off to rest properly."

"And this morning, when he took me out to get familiar with the district, we ran into a purse-snatcher. We chased him all the way until we cornered him. But he pulled out a dagger—I wanted to rush in, but he grabbed me and said he'd mistaken the person, then just watched as the thief ran right past us."

"Let me say this fairly: you had no long weapons, and you were going to charge a man with a knife with bare hands? Even if it was two against one, who knows what would happen if he slashed? Don't overestimate your skills—even the best martial artist fears a kitchen knife. If you charged recklessly, Cheng Suo wouldn't just stand there watching you get hurt—he'd have to jump in too."

"Don't chase a cornered enemy; a desperate dog jumps over the wall. A thief trapped in a corner—you know how long it takes him to think about whether robbery or murder carries a heavier sentence? His eyes go red, he swings the knife. What if you get stabbed? How would Cheng Suo explain it to your mom? How would the station explain it to your mom? How would Song Ju explain it to your mom? If you're fine but Cheng Suo gets stabbed, he's not alone—he's got a whole family depending on him for meals."

"You know how painful that is—you've felt it yourself. Sure, maybe you and Cheng Suo could've disarmed him with bare hands. But there's still a real, significant risk. There's no need to be so reckless."

"Thieves need to fence stolen goods. And over the past few years, online shopping has wiped out many phone shops—those are easier to monitor. As long as he's still in Ping'an City, he'll eventually be caught."

After hearing Wang Yan's long explanation, Xia Jie fell silent for a moment, then asked, "What if there were bystanders around?"

"Then of course you can't let the thief escape—what if the public gets hurt? We're cops—we have to step up. Who else will?"

Wang Yan smiled. "But you still need strategy. You need to calm down the enraged thief, make him understand that attacking a cop carries a heavier sentence than snatching a purse. Learn Mobile Corps Commander tactics: when the enemy advances, retreat; when he retreats, harass him; keep him tied up and call for backup. In three or five minutes, our support arrives. Handling a petty thief? That's child's play."

"What if it were you? What would you do in this situation?"

"Me?" Wang Yan grinned, showing his white teeth. "I'd charge straight in—I'm really good at fighting."

Xia Jie rolled her eyes and gave him a disgusted look. "Everyone says you're great at grappling and hand-to-hand combat—I wonder if it's true."

"When everyone says something, even if it's not entirely accurate, there's usually some truth to it."

"Wanna spar sometime?"

Wang Yan nodded with a smile. "Anytime."

Xia Jie sighed. "Li Dawei told me everyone's staying at your place? Did Zhao Jiwei go over there today too?"

"Yeah, we're all colleagues—it's convenient. Plus, I'm alone, no family, no girlfriend—I could use the company. Don't you live far away too?"

"I live up north. How about it? Interested?"

"Not just interested—I've already prepared a room with an attached bathroom for you. One thousand a month. Not a cent less."

"I'll transfer you the money first. After I tell my mom, I'll move over."

"I think your mom's pretty controlling—she's unlikely to agree."

"What else can I do? It's so far away—I have to fight her to the end." Xia Jie tapped her phone, looking triumphant. "Once I move in, I'll shamelessly take advantage of you along with the rest of them."

"Hey, we help each other. If you can't carry everything, just call me—I'll come pick you up."

"No need. I'll just book a ride-hailing car—or if that fails, a cargo van. I heard from people at the station you caught two car thieves. Go ahead, get back to work. I'll let you know when I'm coming."

"Alright." Wang Yan nodded, said nothing more, and strolled back into the building.

The lesson here was this: online, people say that during graduation season, you hug everyone in your class just to hug one person. That's exactly what I'm doing now—I'm pulling Xia Jie over to live with me, but I'm also making things easier for the other three guys.

Looking at the whole story, besides her meddling mom, Xia Jie's biggest flaw is that she got transferred from patrol officer to household registration officer—making all her earlier struggles seem meaningless.

Other than that, no major issues—except at first, when she arrested a prostitute, she felt pity for the suspect and thought Cheng Suo shouldn't treat the woman so harshly, and she even sympathized with the main offender who'd disguised himself well. But first, she's a woman, and naturally more tender in some ways—she comes off as overly saintly, but that's just because she has shallow understanding of people. Once she learns from her mistakes, it'll be fine—understandable.

Overall, Xia Jie's pretty good…

Back in the underground interrogation room, the questioning of Meng Kunlong was nearing its end. Zhao Jiwei sat there awkwardly—he clearly hadn't performed well and was trapped in his own failure, worrying whether Zhang Zhijie thought poorly of him or whether it would ruin his future.

Zhao Jiwei had strong resilience, that was certain—but small setbacks triggered massive storms inside him, and that was deadly.

Even though the interrogation was winding down, Wang Yan still declined Zhao Jiwei's offer to sit, and stood with his arms crossed, listening for nearly twenty minutes.

Meng Kunlong had no concealment—his only subordinate, Kong Tian, had already confessed, so he couldn't hold out. He admitted to nearly everything he could remember. Like Kong Tian, he also revealed the locations where they fenced stolen goods.

They'd been stealing for too long—even after discounting the total value, and considering they operated as a duo, they were looking at at least three years.

But there were still many problems. After locking the two petty thieves in the station's holding room, Zhang Zhijie went to the backyard garden, lit a Hua Zi cigarette Wang Yan handed him, took a long drag, and exhaled deeply: "I've got several other cases piling up, and now another one comes in—damn, I'm just a workhorse…"

Both thieves operated across Ping'an City, roaming everywhere. We had to coordinate with the local police stations, cross-check all related reports and case filings—it was a tedious task. We needed to resolve as many of their crimes as possible.

Although we hadn't seized the actual stolen goods, as Wang Yan had said earlier, their payments always exceeded receipts, and receipts mostly came from fencing. With so many unexplained deposits and their own confessions, we could still send them to prison.

"What about the electric bike shops and phone shops they mentioned as fencing points? Aren't we going to arrest them?" Zhao Jiwei blinked, full of righteous indignation.

"How? If they just say 'I don't know,' we can't arrest them. They're running legitimate businesses—people sell things, they buy things. What's wrong with that?"

Zhang Zhijie shook his head. "We need concrete evidence proving these shop owners knew the goods were stolen. Only then can we arrest them. Jiwei, your education level is higher than ours, and you know the laws better—when you face situations, think more. As cops, we face countless frustrating things every day."

"Take elderly people over seventy—they're impossible to detain easily. What do you do? Scold them lightly? Useless. Scold them harshly? They just lie down on the ground. That's the best case—if they lie down inside our station, it becomes a huge mess."

Wang Yan patted Zhao Jiwei's shoulder and smiled: "Brother Zhang, I have an idea. Phones are too small, no way around it. But if they ride electric bikes to sell stolen goods, I can use surveillance footage to capture their faces, then use facial recognition to track and investigate them. The more thieves we catch and identify, the more witnesses we get—and with their transfer records as evidence, even if those shop owners give empty excuses, it won't hold up."

"That's true—we just can't prove they knowingly committed crimes, but with transfer records and multiple identifications, it becomes manageable. But the workload is enormous—we don't have enough people, and I've got a mountain of work already. No time."

"We two should be fine," Wang Yan said. "If not, I'll bring in Li Dawei and Xia Jie too—we'll pull surveillance footage, identify suspects, then just determine if they're suspects in our district. If they are, we report it; if not, we notify the other stations to arrest them. We're just investigating, not taking direct action—no danger."

"I can't decide that. I have to report this to the chief—he has to approve it before you do anything. But I doubt he'll agree—you're all new. We know how young people are—they promise everything, then when it's time to act, they vanish. Not just the chief won't trust you—I don't trust you either."

Zhang Zhijie shook his head with a smile. "Besides, you're handing out performance points to other stations. Sure, we're serving the people, but our own station has plenty of work. Instead of wasting time on this, why not focus on our own tasks? These petty thieves? When there's a special crackdown, they'll all vanish at once—don't get your hopes up too high."

Wang Yan nodded—he understood these principles perfectly. Even if he could arrest every petty thief in Ping'an City, the follow-up work wouldn't disappear. Arresting people was the easiest part—the real burden was gathering evidence, preparing documents, sending cases for inspection, filing charges—it was all a mountain of work.

And as Zhang Zhijie said, occasional cooperation with other stations was fine, but you can't keep doing free labor for them forever. If you haven't even fixed your own house, why go fix someone else's? It's basically impossible.

He didn't care either way—he just had the idea and made a suggestion. If the boss approves, they do it; if not, they drop it…

Even though Zhang Zhijie said all that, Wang Yan still went to report it to Wang Shouyi—this operation required minimal manpower and was feasible.

As expected, Wang Shouyi did not agree; he merely told them to report the shops dealing in stolen goods to the local police station. Seeking bargains is human nature—once these people accept stolen goods once, they'll do it twice, three times. So sooner or later, some thief will lead the police straight to these shops already on record, and they'll be swept up all at once.

But Wang Shouyi didn't close the door entirely, because there was still one mobile phone repair shop within their jurisdiction, and he indicated that under Zhang Zhijie's leadership, Wang Yan could handle the case.

This trust was earned after nearly two days of interaction. It came from two sources: Wang Yan had so much money he clearly wouldn't risk his life for nothing, and his police academy grades were outstanding. As for why he hadn't gotten into any of the top national police academies, at that time Wang Yan had lost both parents in quick succession, suddenly become rich, and was busy learning stock trading—he had no mental energy left for studying.

Yet this trust still needed to be maintained over time. If even a single misstep occurred, the trust would vanish, and rebuilding it would be far harder—only long-term police experience could restore it. Be excellent, and stay excellent.

So when Zhang Zhijie returned and told Wang Yan that the shop in the Balihe Police Station's jurisdiction had been assigned to him, Wang Yan drove over with Zhao Jiweng, whose fighting spirit had reignited, to the vicinity of the mobile phone repair shop and copied all surveillance footage covering the shop's entrance from nearby merchants and intersections.

Generally, individual merchants' surveillance is saved for a week, while street surveillance is kept for a month. Simply watching the shop's entrance, capturing clear facial shots, isn't much work.

Especially since this was a mobile phone repair shop—though still profitable, modern phone repair no longer yields the same profits as in past years. Nowadays, most phone manufacturers offer after-sales service; even if unreliable, it still exists and has diverted a large portion of the market. On the other hand, thanks to online shopping, prices for accessories have become more transparent. Though scams still occur, profit margins have dropped significantly.

This shop was a tiny place under twenty square meters. Normally, there were customers, but never many—easy to investigate.

"Didn't we just finish watching surveillance, and now we're watching again?" Zhao Jiweng complained helplessly.

"I bet you wasted your time at police academy," said Xia Jie, who didn't want to go home but had nothing else to do and had come over to help. "Whether big or small cases, the first thing you do when something happens is narrow down the scope and check surveillance."

"I know that, I just don't feel the thrill of solving cases."

"The thrill is right here. You want to be like Sherlock Holmes, piecing together clues and reasoning, right? But technology hasn't advanced for nothing. Even if you join the Criminal Investigation Unit and work on murder cases, you're still watching surveillance. As long as the case remains unsolved, surveillance never stops—you might even have to examine it frame by frame."

Wang Yan wasn't idle either—he was watching surveillance too, focusing on the longest-running intersection camera, which had captured the shop. While speaking, he casually zoomed in and took a screenshot.

At that moment, Li Dawei and Yang Shu returned with the station's veteran officers. Seeing the three seated in a row, Li Dawei walked over and massaged Wang Yan's shoulders. "Brother Yan, what are you all busy with?"

"What else? We're watching surveillance."

"No, what case is this? Did you solve the diaper thing?" Li Dawei had been gleeful earlier, and now he was still smiling.

"Comrade Li Dawei, your attitude isn't right. Isn't every case we handle serving the people? I'll have to urge the political instructor to give you a special class—you must write a twenty-thousand-word reflection."

"Don't you dare! I was just joking. What's really going on? Tell me—I can help out. I'll tell you, I'm the most enthusiastic and can't sit still."

Xia Jie chuckled. "You've got a clear self-awareness, then."

"Yeah, that's my best trait," Li Dawei said shamelessly, grinning. He then nudged Zhao Jiweng. "Tell me what's going on."

"The diaper case was settled this morning, but then the Yangguang Community incident delayed us. The diaper thief was a five-year-old kid taking care of his six-month-old sister—he's still a child himself… After handling that, on our way back we spotted two car thieves, brought them in, interrogated them for two hours, and they confessed to everything. Conservatively, they'll get three years. Brother Zhang is preparing the paperwork now."

"You caught thieves already?" After hearing all that, Li Dawei's small eyes widened. "Then what surveillance are you watching now?"

"See that mobile phone repair shop? One of those two thieves sold stolen phones there three times—four phones total. So we're going through every person who entered the shop. We can catch other thieves and, while we're at it, take down the shop owner too."

"I'll help you watch!" Li Dawei said without hesitation, determined.

"Fine." Wang Yan paused his actions, turned back, and smiled at Yang Shu, who hadn't spoken but clearly shared the same enthusiasm. "Alright, Comrade Xia Jie, step aside—Yang Shu watches here, Li Dawei watches there. Wait, what's that look for? Why waste manpower when you've got it?"

Xia Jie rolled her eyes but obediently stood up and vacated her seat, handing over the computer to Li Dawei. She didn't care what task she did—she just wanted to feel involved.

"I checked—the number of people entering this shop isn't large. Send me clear facial shots of every person who entered."

"It's just one shop—why do you need so many people to watch?" Li Dawei asked bluntly.

"These are three different camera angles. Some don't show faces clearly from your position, but they're visible from the others."

Wang Yan explained, then sat down at another empty computer, downloaded and installed Photoshop software to process the images. He also opened a spreadsheet—after enhancing and identifying a photo, he recorded the identity information.

With nothing else to do, Xia Jie pulled over a stool and sat beside Wang Yan, watching his smooth, impressive moves.

They were all new recruits; Wang Suo hadn't assigned them tasks. Other officers had considered asking them to help, but when they saw the three sitting watching surveillance—and Wang Yan processing images—they were stunned. Without waiting for the station chief to announce it, everyone in the station began digging through their own cases, looking for ones with unclear images, and rushed to ask Wang Yan to fix them so they could close them quickly.

In the police station, whoever answers the call is responsible for the case until the end. Major cases go to the Criminal Investigation Unit; all the small ones stay with the station. Many cases stall due to unclear images, waiting for the branch's technical staff to process them before proceeding. As a result, nearly every officer here has a pile of similar cases needing technical support.

Why was Wang Shouyi happy? Now the station had its own technician. Just seat Wang Yan down, and many backlog cases could make progress—most of them could be solved directly. With images and evidence, you arrest the suspect immediately. The reason you couldn't arrest before? You didn't know who it was.

And what did Wang Shouyi value most? Public satisfaction. Though he always acted like a stubborn old dog and ranked at the bottom of the city, he didn't want to keep relying on his seniority to wheedle favors from Song Ju, only to be scolded. Who wouldn't want to save face?

These backlog cases were the best way to boost public satisfaction. And raising the clearance rate meant better performance. He had one year left before retiring to the branch for a quiet life—this final push could give him a strong finish. Of course he was happy…

Three people watched surveillance for suspects; Wang Yan enhanced the images; the restless Xia Jie volunteered to compile the identity data of identified individuals. It became an assembly line—speed was fast.

Mostly because this level of image enhancement isn't difficult. For Wang Yan, it was basic—level one would suffice. For someone approaching master level, it was as easy as drinking water.

Near evening shift end, they successfully reviewed everyone whose face was visible within the past month. Not many—just over a hundred.

Thieves didn't look much different from ordinary people. Wang Yan couldn't tell someone's nature from blurry surveillance. But he could spot the shady ones—those people, even if innocent, had to be included in the investigation range. Also, anyone with a criminal record was a priority.

Then there were those who entered for less than two minutes—these were usually just asking prices, chatting briefly, failing to agree on terms, or the shop owner couldn't fix the issue.

For the rest whose status was unclear, they used a simple, direct method: call each person one by one using the station's landline. Wang Yan taught them the script—ten to fifteen calls per person was enough. Mainly to confirm whether they had steady jobs and paid social insurance. People with stable employment, unless they had some issue, could be almost certainly ruled out. After all, decent people rarely stole phones.

After all this, the final list had only sixteen names left.

"What's next? We track each of these sixteen people?" Li Dawei said confidently. "I've got a feeling one of these sixteen is the thief."

"Obviously. We've got to follow each one, and we can't let them notice," Zhao Jiweng said excitedly. He was back in the thrilling phase of solving cases—credit was waving at him.

Before Wang Yan could speak, Wang Shouyi's voice came from afar: "Hey, what are you guys whispering about over there?"

"Report, Chief! We're discussing tracking suspects," Li Dawei snapped off a crisp salute.

"Track which suspects?" Wang Shouyi was confused—was there something he didn't know about in his own station?

Wang Yan smiled and explained: "Didn't you assign us the mobile phone repair shop dealing in stolen goods? This afternoon, I and Jiweng pulled the surveillance, identified over a hundred people who entered, and after elimination, we're left with sixteen. Two have prior theft records, eight are shady types, and six have no fixed jobs. We thought we'd narrow it down further—there's likely a thief among them."

"You moved fast. Good work." Wang Shouyi nodded with a smile. "But no rush. You're new, and no specific assignments have been made yet. Go home early today. You've seen how busy the station is—you won't get to leave early again. Jiweng's going to stay at Wang Yan's place, right? Go home early, get settled. That's all—go. The real work's coming. Be here by 7:30 tomorrow morning for the meeting. Xia Jie, watch your way home—it's far."

After giving his instructions, he walked out, hands behind his back, leisurely—off duty…

Li Dawei looked at Wang Yan. "Brother Yan, what now?"

Hearing him, Yang Shu, Zhao Jiweng, and Xia Jie all turned their eyes toward Wang Yan. In their five-member group, Wang Yan's position had been established. This was due to his demonstrated excellence—his image enhancement skills alone were enough to make Li Dawei and the others envious—and also because they all lived in seven-hundred-square-meter apartments…

"Go home, what else? We'll handle it tomorrow." Wang Yan stood up, stretched with a loud crack, and Li Dawei, envious, copied him—his clumsy attempt nearly twisted his waist, yet made no sound.

Xia Jie muttered "See you tomorrow," packed up, and left.

Li Dawei said, "I'm heading home too—it's been two days. Tomorrow morning I'll come to your place, Brother Yan, pick up my stuff, and we'll go to work together."

"Come early—we need to eat."

Li Dawei nodded and left without delay.

"Jiweng, what are you standing around for? Grab your luggage—we're leaving." Wang Yan patted Zhao Jiweng's shoulder.

After Zhao Jiweng picked up a light suitcase, Wang Yan and the others changed into civilian clothes, waved goodbye to Zhang Zhijie—who still hadn't left—and headed out, got in the car, and drove off.

"I think we should go check out that shop first."

On the way, listening to Wang Yan and Yang Shu discuss what to eat over the car's music, Zhao Jiwei timidly chipped in.

"Why?" Yang Shu didn't understand. "Aren't we going tomorrow anyway?"

"Just to get a sense of things. We've already pulled his records—no criminal history—but seeing him in person gives you a better feel." After a pause, Zhao Jiwei added, "Besides, this is our first case. I'm excited—I won't be able to sleep unless I've seen him…"

"That's a good reason," Wang Yan nodded with a smile. "Alright, let's go check it out. But promise me—you two won't say a word or act oddly. You get what I mean?"

"Fine. We're just looking anyway. Otherwise I'll keep worrying," Zhao Jiwei said, a little embarrassed but pleased by Wang Yan's approval.

"I get it," Yang Shu nodded. "I get nervous the night before big exams—like the Gaokao or the bar exam. My mind just races."

They chatted aimlessly along the way, agreeing to eat at a restaurant Li Dawei strongly recommended. They pulled over near the entrance of a mobile repair shop called "Guangfei," then walked in, led by Wang Yan.

The shop was small, with two glass counters arranged in an L-shape: a long one holding several phones of all kinds, and a short one opposite the entrance. The walls were lined with tempered film, chargers, phone cases, and headphones. Behind the short counter lay a cluttered workbench, filled with all sorts of tools, spare parts, and half-disassembled phones.

The shop owner, Li Guangfei, thirty-two, sat behind the counter, watching borderline livestreams while eating spicy hotpot. A small electric fan blew the scent of the hotpot throughout the room. He was slightly overweight, with a round face, heavy bags under his eyes, dark eye sockets, and a visibly frail appearance. His hair was a messy nest, and his pupils seemed slightly constricted?

Wang Yan said nothing, stepped forward two paces: "I've got an Ai Yi Pao 8. The back glass is shattered. How much to replace it?"

As he spoke, he studied Li Guangfei's face and carefully observed the exposed skin.

"Depends—original parts or domestic? Original is 2,200, domestic is 1,000. If you don't want it anymore, I'll buy it for 3,500. But prices vary—it depends on the condition. Some can be fixed, some can't. Do you have the phone? Let me see."

"No, I got a new one after the X incident last year. The old one's just sitting there. I saw your shop and came in to ask." Wang Yan waved his hand. "Alright, if you're fixing it, I'll come back. I'm leaving now—I'm already hungry just smelling your hotpot."

"This stuff's just delicious. I miss it if I don't eat it for a few days," Li Guangfei smiled and called out, "Come back again!"

Wang Yan led Zhao Jiwei and Yang Shu, who had said nothing and watched silently the whole time, out to the car and drove toward Li Dawei's recommended restaurant.

"What did you notice?"

"Not much… just looked weak?" Yang Shu replied thoughtfully.

Zhao Jiwei fully agreed: "Definitely weak. Those huge eye bags, watching borderline livestreams, going 'bro, bro'—who else would be that weak?"

Wang Yan nodded. "That's all? Nothing else?"

"What else?" Yang Shu frowned, hesitating. "He just seemed sleazy—combined with buying and selling stolen goods, always looking for a bargain. I don't think there's anything else."

"He's financially strained," Zhao Jiwei said. "That fits him buying stolen goods and helping thieves fence them."

Amid their confusion, Wang Yan pulled out his phone and dialed Zhang Zhijie.

"Hello, Wang Yan? What's up?"

"Brother Zhang, here's the thing: on our way back, Jiwei said he wanted to check out the fence's shop—he couldn't sleep unless he saw him—so I went with him and Yang Shu. We pretended to get the phone fixed and chatted a bit. I noticed his condition was off—pupils slightly constricted. I suspect he's using ice or drugs."

"What? Drug use?" Zhang Zhijie's dull, listless voice suddenly perked up. "Did we blow our cover? How sure are you?"

"No, we just exchanged a few words, nothing more. As for certainty—ninety percent." Wang Yan explained. "My grandpa was a barefoot doctor. I learned some traditional Chinese medicine from him as a kid. Plus, I studied the symptoms of various drug use carefully at police academy. Combined, I'm very confident."

"Got it. I'll report this to the chief right away. You two don't need to do anything else—don't move a muscle, understood?" Zhang Zhijie warned anxiously.

"Don't worry, Brother Zhang. We'll eat dinner and head home. That's it—bye."

Wang Yan hung up, looked at Zhao Jiwei and Yang Shu's wide-eyed, stunned, yet gleaming faces, and chuckled. "Don't ask how I knew—I already told you. Don't get too excited. We've just uncovered a drug trafficking lead. We're lucky if we get credit for this instead of the whole station. If it's not Brother Zhang, we're already lucky. Even if our station doesn't report it right away and investigates on its own, we still have to report key leads. The district has an anti-drug unit, the city has a task force—dozens of people. Do you think they'll use a tiny Balihe Police Station? Don't dream. As long as our names appear in the report, that's enough."

"Yang Shu's fine. But Jiwei—you need to be extra careful. Don't always try to show off or chase glory. It's useless. If you want to get rich, you'll end up in jail. Don't count on bonuses—they're barely five grand, stable as hell. As for promotion? I'm not crushing you, but you've got no shot. Think about it: our senior officers have more experience and ability than us. Why are they still just officers?"

"Don't say 'why can't I be the boss?' If you keep this mindset, you'll never be. You won't last long—you'll die from recklessness or get yourself into trouble chasing quick wins. Your career path doesn't exist now—and it won't. Just stay grounded, steady, and you'll last."

Zhao Jiwei naturally resented this—he thought Wang Yan was rich and talked from a position of comfort. He thought a moment, then asked: "What about you? What's your plan?"

"Look, didn't I say it already? Serve the people. I wouldn't take a promotion even if offered. I don't care how you do it—I'm staying in Balihe as a police officer for life. More likely, I'll never get promoted. You don't think having a little money means I can do whatever I want, do you? Do you think the police inspectorate is decoration? Enough. Stop dreaming for me."

"I'm being fair, by the way. I didn't tell Brother Zhang it was under my brilliant leadership and my flawless insight that we found this. I put you two first—he'll tell the chief the same way."

I'm telling you, I've got your back—I didn't tell Brother Zhang that these issues were discovered under my brilliant leadership and my unmatched insight; I put you front and center, so Brother Zhang must've told the chief the same way.

Wang Yan waved it off. The kid's ambition was written all over his face, but he lacked real ability. Grounded work was the only way. He hadn't lied to Zhao Jiwei—he could flatter and climb, but only slowly, over time. Zhao Jiwei rushed in headfirst whenever something came up—he'd never do anything well.

Wang Yan waved his hand; the kid's ambition was written all over his face, but he simply didn't have the ability—grounded hard work was the real issue. He hadn't lied to Zhao Jiwei: yes, he could kiss ass and had a chance to advance, but that wouldn't happen overnight—it still required time. Zhao Jiwei, the moment he heard there was something to do, would rush in blindly and accomplish nothing.

"It's nothing. Just a tiny bit of credit—useless really. But it's still an accumulation. After all, it goes on your record. Enough about that—I'm just thinking about food now. Our canteen's cooking is terrible. Lunch…"

After catching and interrogating the thief, they'd eaten at the canteen. The head cook was barely level two—truly mediocre. Wang Yan had even considered rolling up his sleeves and cooking himself. But he gave up—the thought of cooking too much was exhausting, too little was never enough. He'd just endure it.

In Shandong Province, the food was naturally Shandong cuisine. Li Dawei's recommended restaurant's skill hovered around level four—economical, affordable, and popular.

Yang Shu treated them to a hearty meal, and they headed back. As expected, Zhao Jiwei erupted in shock and thanks: the place was spacious, close to the station, scenic, with bedding and pillows everywhere, and a pile of toiletries—he was stunned.

Though he had no money and hated spending it, he wasn't a freeloader. The kind of guy who'd help Li Dawei's annoying old man clean up shit just because he donated little—he might have been trying to impress the station, but he was undeniably hardworking.

So this kid was quick to act—before even enjoying himself, he jumped right into chores.

That made Yang Shu feel awkward, so he joined in.

Only Wang Yan sat comfortably on a soft cushion by the floor-to-ceiling window, smiling as he read a book. After these two days, he felt good—though he hadn't even fully experienced police life yet; the novelty was still strong…

Thank you to Brother Fumai Xing for the 5,000-coin donation and continued support.

Daily thanks to the kind brothers who voted for monthly tickets.

Thank you to all the brothers who gave recommendations.

Thank you to the silent readers who keep reading.

Thank you to the brothers who silently support the book.