Chapter 1

Night, police station, detention room.

A police chief, around thirty years old, pushed open 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 quite shrewd and capable, and was regarded by his superiors as the "promising type." The aura he exuded was indeed different from that of ordinary police officers.

"Sit down." Chief Li pointed to a stool in the room with a solemn expression and tone, signaling the "subject (police term for a suspect)" beside him to go over there himself.

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

After he was seated, Chief Li stood still and stared at him for a few seconds before walking forward, placing a stack of documents on the table and sitting 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 man.

"You're new here, right?" The young man didn't reach for the cigarette; instead, he asked a question.

"Hmph..." Chief Li sneered and put the cigarettes away. "Who the hell do you think you are? When did it become your turn to ask me questions?"

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

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

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

"It doesn't matter if you don't answer..." The young man wasn't intimidated by the other man's aura at all. He still had a lazy expression on his face. "Actually, the answer is obvious..." He paused for half a second, then continued, "As far as I know, the public security departments usually transfer some grassroots cadres and police officers every few years... generally not 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 man's left chest. "I basically remember the police numbers of the officers in this area. Every time I see police officers patrolling the streets, I pay attention. But 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 much, and I'm not trying 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... I see a lot of information, so I unintentionally remember some things..." He shrugged. "If you don't believe me, I can recite the menu outside the Shaxian Snacks two streets over..."

"Hmph..." Chief Li sneered. "You kid... don't try to play tricks on me... You think you're very smart, huh? Huh?"

*Pa!*

Speaking of this, he suddenly slammed his hand on the table. "You're so smart? How did you get caught then?"

"Officer..." Facing the other man's aggressive approach, the young man remained calm. "I'll reiterate one more time... I'm 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 for a moment. "Even if my current identity is that of a criminal suspect... I wasn't 'caught' but surrendered myself."

"You..." Chief Li seemed about to curse again, but he stopped himself because he realized that this kid didn't respond to threats. "Heh... okay... you're quite knowledgeable." He put away his ferocity and adopted a more seasoned attitude. "I see you're well-versed (dialect, describes someone who is very familiar with and experienced in bad things)... a habitual offender, right?"

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

"Okay~ Then I'll add one to your record today." As Chief Li spoke, he raised the documents in front of him and slammed them 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, scribbled a few strokes angrily, and then asked, "Age."

"My citizen ID card is in the wallet you guys just confiscated," Feng Bujue replied irrelevantly.

Chief Li let out a breath from 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 questioning him about the case.

"Tell me, what is your relationship with the injured party?"

"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 harsh and shrank his neck back slightly. "Alright, alright... stop hitting... I don't know him."

"You don't know him, or he doesn't know you?"

"We don't know each other."

The police 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 of 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 kind of area at eleven-thirty at night?" Chief Li felt something was wrong after only hearing two sentences.

"Yeah." Feng Bujue tilted his head and replied with confidence. "If you don't believe me, you can check the road surveillance to see if I was taking a walk."

"According to your logic..." Chief Li also tilted his head. "I think those thieves and perverts who come out at night looking for opportunities to commit crimes but don't find suitable targets... are also 'taking a walk' on the street, right?"

Feng Bujue spread out 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'm 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 happen to walk into the flower and bird market that was already closed?" Chief Li asked, suppressing his anger and speaking aggressively. "And how did you happen to walk out with a half-dead injured person?"

"This is a long story..." Feng Bujue leaned back in the chair, stretched his back. "It has to start with me seeing that woman in red..."