Chapter 1

Night. Police station, detention room.

A police chief, around thirty years old, opened the door and brought in a young man in his twenties, wearing handcuffs.

This police chief’s surname was Li, and he had recently transferred to this branch. He was a rather shrewd and capable person, regarded by his superiors as “having great potential.” The aura he exuded was indeed different from that of ordinary police officers.

“Sit down.” Chief Li pointed to a chair in the middle of the room with a solemn expression and tone, signaling the “subject” (police term for a suspect) beside him to go over.

Hearing this, the young man silently walked over and sat down on the chair, unhurriedly.

After he was seated, Chief Li first stood there staring at him for a few seconds, then walked forward, placed a stack of files on the table, and sat down across from him.

Two seconds later, Chief Li took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, tapped the pack, and casually offered one to the other party.

“You’re new here, aren’t you?” The young man didn't reach for the cigarette; instead, he asked a question.

“Hmph…” Chief Li sneered, then put the cigarettes away. “Who the hell do you think you are? Since when is it your turn to ask me questions?”

Due to the needs of the job, cursing is one of the basic skills of grassroots police officers. The language habits vary from place to place, but most of the time it is used as a modal particle.

Of course, this would not happen in more formal, recorded statements.

Right now, there was only a camera in the room, no recording equipment, so Chief Li used a three-character curse to intimidate the kid with dead fish eyes in front of him.

“It doesn’t matter if you don’t answer…” The young man was not intimidated by the other party's imposing manner; he still wore a lazy expression. “Actually, the answer is obvious…” He paused for half a second, then continued, “As far as I know, the public security department usually transfers some grassroots cadres and police officers every few years… They usually don’t transfer them very far, just from Branch A to Branch B, from Police Station A to Police Station B… Mainly to avoid the phenomenon of ‘forming cliques’ in certain places.” His gaze quickly moved to the other party’s left chest. “I basically remember the police numbers of the officers in this area. Every time I see patrol officers on the street, I pay attention. And your number… is unfamiliar. You must have been transferred from somewhere else recently.”

“What do you mean, kid? What are you trying to do?” Chief Li’s expression changed slightly, and his voice gradually rose.

“Nothing, and I don’t want to do anything…” the young man replied. “My brain is more relaxed when I exercise in the morning, so I inevitably look around. Looking around… you see a lot of information, so you unintentionally remember some things…” He shrugged. “If you don’t believe me, I can recite the menu outside the Shaxian Snacks restaurant two blocks away for you…”

“Hmph…” Chief Li sneered. “You kid… stop trying to play tricks with me… You think you’re very smart, huh?”

*Pa!*

Speaking of this, he suddenly slammed the table. “You’re so smart? How did you get caught?”

“Officer…” Facing the other party’s blustering offensive, the young man remained calm. “I reiterate… I am the one who reported the crime. I was the one who called 110. If you don’t believe me, you can check the call records. The number and voice all match.” He paused. “Even if my current identity is a criminal suspect… I wasn’t ‘caught,’ but turned myself in.”

“You…” Chief Li seemed about to curse again, but stopped himself, because he realized that this kid didn’t respond to hard tactics. “Heh… good… you’re quite the expert.” He put away his ferocity and adopted a more seasoned attitude. “I see you’re an old hand at this (dialect, describing someone who is very skilled and experienced in bad things)… a repeat offender, right?”

“So far, I have no criminal record,” the young man replied.

“Good~ then I’ll add one to your record today.” As Chief Li spoke, he raised the file in front of him and slammed it down again. He took out a pen from his chest pocket and asked in a formulaic tone, “Name.”

“Feng Bujue.”

“Gender.”

“Whatever you think.”

Chief Li looked up and glared at Jue Ge, angrily scribbled a few strokes, and then asked, “Age.”

“My citizen ID card is in the wallet that you confiscated just now,” Feng Bujue replied, answering a question with a question.

Chief Li took a long breath through his nostrils and picked up the walkie-talkie. “Xiao Dong, is there a wallet among the subject’s belongings?”

Five minutes later…

Chief Li copied down a set of basic information from Jue Ge’s citizen ID card.

Then, he began to question him about the case.

“Tell me, what is your relationship with the victim?”

“Are you sure it’s not the deceased? I think he probably died on the way to the hospital…”

“Answer my question!” Chief Li immediately shouted and slammed the table a few times.

Feng Bujue probably found it jarring and shrank his neck slightly. “Okay, okay… stop hitting it… I don’t know him.”

“You don’t know him, or he doesn’t know you?”

“Neither of us knows each other.”

The chief wrote a few more strokes on the paper and then said, “Describe the situation at the time of the incident.”

“Oh…” Jue Ge pretended to organize his thoughts (in reality, he had already thought about how to answer every question). “At the time, I was taking a walk on the street and happened to pass the intersection of DF Road and XN Road…”

“You were taking a walk in that area at eleven thirty at night?” Chief Li felt something was wrong after only hearing a few sentences.

“Yes.” Feng Bujue tilted his head and answered matter-of-factly, “If you don’t believe me, you can check the road surveillance and see if I was walking.”

“According to your statement…” Chief Li also tilted his head. “I think those thieves and perverts who come out at night looking for opportunities to commit crimes, but haven’t found a suitable target… are also ‘walking’ on the street, right?”

Feng Bujue spread his hands. “Our law emphasizes the presumption of innocence, you know.”

“Hmph…” Chief Li sneered. “This isn’t a courtroom, and I’m not debating with you.”

“I’m not debating with you either…” Feng Bujue said. “I’m just stating a fact—even if I am a pervert or a thief, as long as you don’t have evidence to prove my crime, or I haven’t committed a crime yet, then if I say I’m taking a walk… I’m taking a walk.”

“Then how did you ‘walk’ into the flower and bird market that was already closed?” Chief Li asked, suppressing his anger, his tone intense. “And how did you ‘walk’ out with a half-dead victim?”

“Well, that’s a long story…” Feng Bujue leaned back in his chair and stretched his back. “It has to start with me seeing that woman in red ghost…”