People's understanding of beauty, their feelings toward beauty, and their need for beauty came second only to their desire for wealth and power.
Among certain social classes unable to obtain wealth and power, the need for beauty surpassed those two things and became their primary pursuit.
Lin Qi's handsomeness was also a form of beauty. When the police officer developed a favorable impression of Lin Qi and empathized with his frustration over losing the ring he had meant to give his girlfriend, everything began to change.
Of course, even without those changes, Lin Qi would have kept things moving forward. He was in a Phone Booth outside the antique shop, just about to call the police and report that an illicit goods transaction was taking place there, when a car with its police lights on but its Police Siren silent stopped outside the antique shop.
Two police officers got out of the car, and one of them even drew his pistol. It looked as though they had come on duty.
This left Lin Qi somewhat... confused. He hung up the phone, hesitating. He had watched Michael's house all morning and into noon, and he wasn't sure whether Little Michael had obtained the ring. But now, it seemed things were a little more complicated than he had expected.
Just as he was considering whether to sneak into Michael's house again to check on the Gold Ring, he saw Little Michael being dragged out by two police officers. They even put Handcuffs on him. Seeing this, Lin Qi breathed a sigh of relief and felt that the slight trembling in his legs had been worth it.
He had chased Little Michael's car all the way on his bicycle. If the bison hadn't been so eye-catching, he might have missed it at the previous intersection. Fortunately, its orange base and bright-red Flame Pattern stood out on the entire street, allowing him to find his target at a glance.
Little Michael would never have imagined that this Gold Ring would turn him into a "prisoner," much less that deliberately running farther away would result in his arrest within the jurisdiction of another police station.
Every city in the Bayer Federation had a district police station. These police stations were usually located near City Hall, and their work consisted mainly of administration. In other words, the district police stations were responsible for management, not field operations.
The ones truly responsible for frontline work were the various branch stations—for example, the branch station on Such-and-Such Street in Sabine City or the Such-and-Such District branch station. These branches marked out their own jurisdictions. They did not enforce the law across district lines, nor did they interfere with the work of other districts.
It appeared that each branch station was independent, but there were also certain things they shared, such as some information.
Little Michael's actions had doomed him. If he had sold the Gold Ring at an antique shop near his home, the local district police station would have handled the arrest. In the end, he would have met the Sheriff he had seen that morning, leaving him with some room to maneuver—or at least a channel for communication.
But he hadn't done that. After crossing more than one district, he was arrested. The police station in this district knew nothing about him, so naturally, they had no reason to sit down and have a proper conversation with a burglar. They certainly weren't going to listen to his nonsense—every criminal brought into a police station claimed to be innocent until all the evidence was laid out in court.
What came next was a matter of waiting and maneuvering. Lin Qi rode his bicycle back to the Warehouse District and waited for the police station's "summons." They weren't investigating him; they wanted his assistance with the investigation. He would certainly cooperate with the police, and he would even take the initiative to clear Michael of suspicion. That was right—he was just that upright, kindhearted, good person who never falsely accused anyone.
As soon as he returned to the warehouse, he noticed that Vera seemed to be in a somewhat unusual mood. As a considerate young man, he took the initiative to ask her about it.
"You don't seem to be feeling very well?" He carried a cup of hot milk over to Vera and set it on the table in front of her. "You might not be used to hot milk, but trust me, it's good for you."
Vera thanked him, then picked up the hot milk and took a sip. It was a rare experience for her. In the Bayer Federation—and indeed throughout the entire world—people had no habit of drinking heated liquids. Even women lying on delivery beds would gulp down cold drinks steeped in ice.
When the first mouthful of hot milk, rich with its intense milky fragrance, entered Vera's mouth, its warmth—slightly above body temperature—slid into her stomach and spread a comforting heat throughout her body. She was somewhat astonished.
She had never imagined that hot milk could taste so good. It was richer and more fragrant than refrigerated or room-temperature milk, and more comforting as well.
"Thank you!" She set down the cup and thanked him again. "I'm fine. Thank you for your concern. I just... Could you leave me alone for a while?"
Lin Qi shrugged and walked away from her. "Of course. But if you need anything, make sure you call me. Anything at all!"
After the two of them exchanged a glance, Lin Qi left without hesitation. Vera's face, meanwhile, held a sorrowfulness of which she herself was unaware.
When she had returned home the night before, she had found that her husband was drunk again. He had been coming home drunk these past few days. Vera could actually understand it. After all, this was a time of opportunity. Once Gepu received permission from management to become a company partner, the status of the entire family would change.
She sympathized deeply with her husband and felt sorry for him as well. Drinking so much every day was terrible for his health, but she had no way to persuade him. Gepu was a chauvinist and the head of the household. She couldn't convince him.
Last night, when she was changing the pajamas of her husband, who had collapsed onto the bed and was snoring away as usual, she accidentally discovered several lipstick marks on his buttocks.
In that instant, a bolt of lightning tore through her heart, and she almost couldn't breathe.
She had never imagined that she would one day face something like this. She wasn't naive enough to believe, like the child currently explaining things at the police station, that this was merely a "joke" between colleagues.
His pants had come off. This was no longer a joke.
In a daze, she changed Gepu's clothes and guiltily wiped away the evidence as though she herself had done something wrong. Although she pretended to act as usual, her heart had already fallen into chaos.
She needed to calm down. She needed distance. She had come to work especially early that day, and her entire being seemed to be trapped in despair, her soul almost frozen stiff.
She subconsciously lifted the hot milk and took a sip. The warmth it brought gave her body a trace of heat and made her feel a little better. She didn't know what to do. Her mind was a complete mess.
Divorce?
Even if she really could leave Gepu, he would never allow her to do so. This was a hypocritical society. People didn't truly care about a family's circumstances, yet they always treated familial harmony and happiness as one of the standards by which a successful person was judged.
From the company's management to the president of the Federation, they were constantly declaring the value and importance of family to themselves and to society.
Gepu was in the middle of his rise. He would never agree. And even if he did, what would happen to the children? Suspicion was the cancer of trust. Once the seed of suspicion had been planted, all trust would begin to crumble and disintegrate. Every one of Gepu's previous bouts of overtime, every time he had gone out, now seemed to Vera like an excuse intended for an affair.
She even felt that her marriage itself was a fraud!
She was about to collapse. It felt as though the sky were falling!
The more pessimistic a person was, the more likely they were to imagine things turning out especially badly. Vera soon finished the hot milk in her hands. The warmth spreading through her body gradually cooled, and with no new source of heat, her breathing grew sharp.
With every breath, she had to straighten her body, as if she were drowning, as if she were suffocating.
Her vision grew dim and murky as well. She wanted to call for help, but her instincts sent her the mistaken signal that the moment she opened her mouth, she would be swallowed by the flood.
Just as she was in utter despair, a warmth appeared in her arms from somewhere unknown. The entire darkened world gradually began to fade, and she even heard someone speaking beside her.