Helping the Police Catch a Thief

Queens' autumn nights always carried a damp chill. Sycamore leaves rustled in the wind, casting swaying shadows beneath the streetlights like a band of tiptoeing thieves. Lin Mo pulled his coat tighter around himself, clutching a flashlight issued by the local police station. They had recently begun recruiting volunteer patrol officers, and Carlos had practically shoved him into it, saying, "You're good in a fight. You're more reliable than those retired old guys."

"Building 12 is clear. Building 13..." he reported his location into the radio, his voice scattered slightly by the wind. Dynamic Vision allowed him to see every movement clearly in the darkness: the window of Apartment 302 had not been fully shut, and a shirt on the clothesline flapped in the wind; the outdoor AC unit on the fifth floor dripped water, forming a small puddle on the ground; an orange cat sat atop a trash can, staring at mice darting around by the wall.

When he reached Building 15, Lin Mo slowed. This building was notorious in the neighborhood for being old and rundown. Most of the hallway lights were broken, and the peeling walls looked like crumbling bread. Three days earlier, Apartment 401 had been burglarized. Its resident, an elderly woman living alone, had lost half a year's worth of pension savings to a thief who had climbed in through the window. She had cried so hard she nearly passed out.

"Creak—"

A faint sound came from the fourth floor, like rusty hinges turning. Lin Mo immediately switched off his flashlight, crouched behind a trash can, and slowed his breathing at once with Physical Enhancement. Even his heartbeat dropped to a minimum. Dynamic Vision caught a shadow crouching on the windowsill of Apartment 402. Moving like an agile gecko, the figure dug his fingers into a crack in the wall and flipped himself inside, as silently as a falling leaf.

It was him. Lin Mo's eyes lit up. This was the "flying thief" everyone in the neighborhood had been talking about these past few days. Supposedly, he could race across vertical walls as if they were flat ground and run faster than a motorcycle. The police had chased him three times, and he had escaped every time. Last time, he had even jumped onto a rooftop and run across tiles for half a block, leaving the police dogs completely confused.

Lin Mo quietly pulled out his radio, then stopped just as he was about to call the police station. If he waited for the cops, the thief would definitely be long gone. Gritting his teeth, Lin Mo decided to try first. With Physical Enhancement, his speed and reactions might not be inferior to the flying thief's—and he had a secret weapon.

He circled to the back of the building. There were no streetlights here, only patchy moonlight filtering through the branches. Lin Mo activated his Phasing Ability and lightly brushed his fingertips across the wall, "seeing" the thief rummaging through drawers and cabinets inside. The thief moved with unbelievable efficiency. Even the sound of opening drawers was softer than a cat's paw touching the ground. His backpack was already bulging, probably filled with the cash and jewelry he had just stolen.

"Almost time." Lin Mo backed away until he was three meters from the window. A patch of shadow there was perfect for hiding him. He rolled his ankle, feeling the power of Physical Enhancement flow through his muscles like a coiled spring. Based on what he had observed, the thief had a habit of turning left after climbing out the window. There was a drainpipe there, and he would definitely slide down it.

Sure enough, less than two minutes later, the window was pushed open gently. The thief stuck his head out, looked around, and, after confirming that no one was there, grabbed the window frame like a monkey and slid down the drainpipe. He moved with incredible agility, lightly tapping the pipe with his feet a few times before landing on the ground without making a sound. With his stuffed backpack on his back, he was about to slip into the alley.

Now!

Lin Mo shot forward like an arrow leaving its bow. Physical Enhancement instantly pushed his speed to its limit, turning the wind in his ears into a sharp howl. He did not pounce on the thief directly—he was afraid of misjudging his strength and crippling the man. Instead, he calculated where the thief would step, lashed out with his right leg like a whip, and hooked the other man's ankle with his toes.

"Ow!"

The thief did not react in time. Losing his balance, he pitched forward like a sack of trash and hit the ground with a smack. The contents of his backpack scattered everywhere, and the sound of coins rolling was especially piercing in the silent night. He tried to get up, but Lin Mo was already there, pinning his back beneath one foot. The force was not great, but it left him unable to move.

"Who are you?" The thief's voice was tinged with fear, mixed with trembling gasps of pain. He wore a black hoodie, and his hood had fallen back to reveal a young face, probably in his early twenties. His eyes were wide as saucers, like those of a startled rabbit.

Lin Mo did not answer. He simply bent down and picked up the wallet and jewelry box from the ground. Inside was a pearl necklace, the sort an elderly woman might wear. He suddenly remembered that the resident of Apartment 402 was a woman living alone. The last time he had delivered a package to her, she had complained, "My son hasn't come to see me in a year."

"Don't move." Lin Mo kept his voice low, carrying the steadiness that came with Physical Enhancement. He pulled out his shoelace—he was wearing sneakers today, with thick, long laces—and quickly tied a slipknot around the thief's wrists, securing them to the nearby streetlamp. The knot was a little loose, but it was enough to keep him from breaking free anytime soon. It was like the "fake knot" Ted used to tie magic props: it looked tight but came undone with a pull. In this situation, though, the thief would not discover that so easily.

"Hey! Let me go! I know the captain in your precinct!" The thief was still talking tough, twisting his body as he tried to break free.

Lin Mo could not be bothered with him. He picked up the stolen goods and stuffed them back into the backpack, then called the police station through his radio. "This is the alley behind Building 15. I caught the flying thief. Get here fast."

After ending the call, he leaned against the streetlamp and watched the thief struggle in vain, suddenly finding it a little funny. This was the flying thief who had given the police headaches for half a month? Lin Mo had tripped him with one leg, and now he looked like a bound grasshopper. The synchronization rate of his Physical Enhancement had risen to 55% without him noticing. His sprint and reactions had been smoother than usual just now. Real combat really was a good way to improve his abilities.

"Just you wait. When I get out..." The thief was still making threats, his face flushed red from struggling.

Lin Mo gave him a kick—not hard, but enough to shut him up instantly. "Behave yourself. Wait for the police." He checked his watch. From spotting the thief to subduing him, it had taken less than five minutes—faster than helping Gretchen's grandmother pick up medicine.

A police siren sounded in the distance, drawing closer until it stopped at the mouth of the alley. Two officers ran over with flashlights in hand. When they saw the thief tied to the streetlamp, they both froze. "My God, isn't that the flying thief?" the younger officer exclaimed. He had chased the thief through three streets last time, only to watch helplessly as he jumped onto a roof. "You caught him?"

"I was passing by and happened to see him fall." Lin Mo handed over the backpack, keeping his tone as flat as possible. "All the stolen goods are inside."

The older officer—the veteran captain of the local police station, whose radio Lin Mo had repaired before—walked over and patted Lin Mo on the shoulder. "Thanks, kid. This guy runs faster than a rabbit, and you actually caught him." He crouched to inspect the rope around the thief's wrists, then smiled and shook his head. "You've got some skill with knots. It looks loose, but the more he struggles, the tighter it gets."

Lin Mo's heart skipped a beat, and he hurriedly said, "I just tied it randomly. I didn't expect it to work."

"Either way, you've done a great service." The old captain took out his handcuffs and locked them around the thief's wrists, then gave him another kick. "Go on, run again! Let's see how you jump onto rooftops this time!"

The thief hung his head, all his earlier arrogance gone. As the officers escorted him toward the police car, he turned back and glared viciously at Lin Mo, his eyes full of resentment. Lin Mo did not care. A small-time punk like this would straighten out after spending a few days inside.

"Come back to the station with us to make a statement?" the younger officer asked.

"No, I still have to patrol." Lin Mo pointed to his radio. "Carlos is still waiting for me to report in."

The old captain laughed. "Fine. We'll give you an award for bravery later. Oh, and there's a community safety lecture next week. How about you come tell everyone how to catch thieves?"

"I'll pass." Lin Mo quickly waved his hands. "I was just lucky."

After the police left, silence returned to the alley. Lin Mo picked up his shoelace from the ground. It had some dust on it, so he brushed it off and laced it back into his shoe. At the moment he had tripped the thief, he had actually felt a little scared afterward. What if he had failed to control his strength and broken the thief's leg? Physical Enhancement was getting stronger and stronger. He would have to be more careful in the future.

On his way back, he passed Ted's basement and saw that the light was still on. Lin Mo knocked on the door, and Ted poked his head out, his hair a mess and a magician's hat in his hand. "You're back? I heard sirens earlier. What happened?"

"I caught a thief." Lin Mo walked in. The basement smelled of glue and fabric, and Ted was altering his magic cape. "The flying thief."

"No way! Seriously?" Ted's eyes lit up, and the needle and thread in his hand fell to the floor. "How did you catch him? With your Wall-Crossing Technique? Or brute strength?"

"I just tripped him." Lin Mo picked up the half-altered cape. It had sequins sewn onto it, and they glittered painfully bright. "Are you going to a Bal Masqué?"

"This is an 'Invisibility Cloak'!" Ted snatched it back and said proudly, "I sewed reflective pieces into the lining. Under the lights, they can refract light, making it look like I'm invisible. Peter said the principle works, but I don't have enough material."

Lin Mo laughed. Watching Ted excitedly gesture as he explained, he suddenly felt that catching the thief was not so different from Ted altering a magic cape or Peter studying Mechanical Spiders. They were all using their own methods to make the neighborhood a little better.

"Oh, right." Ted suddenly remembered something and pulled a cookie from his pocket. "Peter asked me to give this to you. He said thanks for teaching him that geometry problem yesterday. It helped him solve the balance issue with the Mechanical Spider."

Lin Mo took the cookie. It was an oatmeal cookie baked by Aunt May, still faintly warm. He took a bite, and sweetness melted in his mouth, warming his heart. The tension from catching the thief seemed to have been soothed away by that single bite.

Back in his own basement, Lin Mo sat at his desk and looked at the synchronization rate on his wristband: 56%. A new notification appeared below it: [Detected that the host reasonably used Physical Enhancement to subdue a target without causing excessive harm. Skill unlocked: Precision Control (can limit force output error to within 5%).]

Precision Control? Lin Mo's eyes lit up. This skill had come at exactly the right time. He would no longer need to worry about using too much strength. He tried clenching his fist and could clearly feel power flowing through his fingertips. He could precisely control how much force he released—whether to gently crush a cookie or smash open a walnut with all his strength depended entirely on his intent.

Moonlight shone through the small window, falling onto the community map on his desk. Lin Mo drew a circle around Building 15 with a red pen and wrote, "Flying thief caught." The map already had quite a few circles: "Fire rescue," "Helped an old woman grab eggs," "Street magic," "Volunteer deliveries"... Every circle represented a time he had used his abilities to help someone.

He suddenly recalled the old captain mentioning an award for bravery. Whether he received an award was not important. What mattered was using these abilities he had gained by accident to do something real—not save the world, not fight aliens, but simply catch a thief who had stolen an old woman's pension on an autumn night in Queens, allowing a woman living alone to sleep peacefully.

Lin Mo closed his notebook. The faint glow of his wristband flickered in the darkness like a gentle star. He knew more trouble would come in the future: the awkwardness of using his abilities in fights, S.H.I.E.L.D.'s surveillance, perhaps even supervillains. But as long as he had Ted's magic cape, Peter's Mechanical Spider, Aunt May's cookies, and this community map covered in red circles, he would have the courage to keep moving forward.