A Case Sparked by a Good Deed

Early that morning, Lin Xiaosu woke with a start to the sound of a dog barking. The moment he awoke, he felt true energy flowing through his entire body. With a tap of his toes, he reached the Gate, opened it, and saw Miao Ruolan.

Miao Ruolan held his clothes in her hands. They were surprisingly crisp and straight.

"You even ironed them for me?"

Miao Ruolan smiled faintly. "Mostly because I was worried they wouldn't dry. One pass with the iron, and they were dry last night... The boss is going out to handle paperwork today. You can't exactly run around everywhere in my dad's shabby pajamas."

Lin Xiaosu took the clothes. "Let me correct you on something. We're partners. I'm your boss, and you're mine. Besides... Ruolan, whatever you do, you're worth far more than two thousand a month."

The corners of Miao Ruolan's lips quietly curved upward. "Why don't you tell Old Zhou that? He gives me seven hundred and fifty every half month, like he's doing me some enormous favor..."

"Once we get the detective agency established, we'll take him apart!" Lin Xiaosu's voice came from inside the room.

Miao Ruolan burst out laughing.

Whenever she was with him, she seemed especially fond of laughing.

Lin Xiaosu stepped out of the room. With his sharply pressed trousers, crisp jacket, and an air of vigor that seemed to shine right through the tips of his hair, he truly started to look a little handsome in Miao Ruolan's eyes.

The little electric scooter in the courtyard had finished charging. Just as Miao Ruolan swung herself onto it, she suddenly stopped. "How about... you drive?"

Lin Xiaosu did not decline. He mounted the scooter and sped away with Miao Ruolan behind him.

The mountain road was narrow, with cliffs on both sides. Yet the electric scooter swept up leaves along the roadside with remarkable flair, flashing through the dense forest in a blur...

Miao Ruolan held his waist from behind, and a flush rose to her cheeks once more.

It was not nerves. With their current Ancient Martial Arts skills, nothing could happen to them here. Even if the scooter overturned, both of them had the reflexes to react.

She simply felt as though she had chosen the wrong method again...

Yesterday, she had driven with him behind her, his arms around her waist, making her entire body go a little weak.

Today, she did not dare drive him again.

So he drove her instead.

With that change, things were natural for the person in back, but things became a little sensitive for the person in front. If this guy rode slowly, she could naturally keep some distance from him. But once he sped up, under the force of inertia...

She had originally wanted to remind him not to rely on having cultivated Ancient Martial Arts and speed along on a road that was not suited for fast driving.

But under that strange, wonderful feeling, she seemed to grow lazy. She did not want to remind him.

What she did not know was that today's driving had not the slightest thing to do with whether Lin Xiaosu had cultivated Ancient Martial Arts. Lin Xiaosu was already a top-tier motorcyclist. At the 101 Test Track, he had performed high-difficulty maneuvers a hundred times more dangerous and thrilling than this countless times.

A few of those maneuvers had even been added to the system, becoming trial projects for new members.

Once the scooter came down from the mountain road and entered Phoenix City Avenue, its speed slowed considerably.

They rode all the way to Fengshan Police Station.

Miao Ruolan looked over the police station building. "Are we handling the paperwork here?"

"Mm. A detective agency is different from an ordinary business. It needs to be registered with the police... Officer Zhou!"

Lin Xiaosu raised his voice on the last three words.

A car that had just emerged from inside suddenly stopped. The Window rolled down, revealing Zhou Mei.

Heaven was his witness—Lin Xiaosu had clearly seen a flicker of delight in the officer's eyes. What was going on?

"You... why are you here?" Zhou Mei asked.

The young male officer in the passenger seat leaned his head back slightly, making it easier for Zhou Mei to speak with Lin Xiaosu.

"I have something to discuss with you."

Zhou Mei said, "Fine! Xiao Sun, put what we're doing on hold for now."

"Sister Zhou, we can't put this aside. Captain Zhang is watching us closely. He told us we absolutely had to..."

"Are you listening to me, or am I listening to you?" Zhou Mei shot him a glare. "Get out. Take Mr. Lin to the reception room, make him some good tea, and wait for me! I'll park the car."

The young officer surnamed Sun had no choice but to get out. He led Lin Xiaosu and Miao Ruolan to the reception room and made them tea.

He truly could not understand it.

How urgent was the matter they had on hand?

Sister Zhou was an experienced officer too. How could she fail to distinguish between what was urgent and what was not at a time like this? She was actually receiving guests now...

As he mulled it over, Zhou Mei came in.

With great warmth, she smiled. "Tell me first. What did you need from me?"

"Officer Zhou, here's the situation. I'm planning to open a detective agency in Phoenix City. According to the procedures for setting one up, I need to register it with the police..."

Xiao Sun cut in. "Mr. Lin, someone at the front desk handles registration. You can just go to the Window and take care of it. Sister Zhou, we should get going..."

Zhou Mei did not rise. She smiled lightly. "Sorry, Xiao Su. Xiao Sun was only recently assigned here, so he doesn't know any better. Please continue!"

Lin Xiaosu smiled faintly. "Officer Sun watched surveillance footage all night last night and did not sleep a wink. All he can think about is solving the case. That kind of dedication deserves recognition. If you have something urgent, go handle it first. I can go to the Window myself. It's all the same."

Officer Sun's brows immediately knitted together. "How did you know I watched surveillance footage all night?"

"..." Zhou Mei was equally astonished.

Even though she knew what Lin Xiaosu was capable of, she still could not accept something so fantastical.

It was one thing to tell someone had not slept all night—that merely showed sharp observation. But knowing that he had spent the night watching footage? Unless you had been lurking outside his Window watching him...

Lin Xiaosu smiled. "You can tell just by looking at Officer Sun's eyes! The signs of staying up all night are obvious. So what did he do without sleeping? Different activities leave different signs in the eyes. The rims of his eyes are somewhat bloodshot, showing that he had kept them wide open and fixed for a long time throughout the night. Combined with the fact that you two were rushing out in such a hurry, I boldly concluded that Officer Sun spent last night watching surveillance footage for criminal leads."

Zhou Mei and Officer Sun looked at each other.

Zhou Mei let out a soft breath. "I'm impressed! Are you telling me this proves you have what it takes to open a detective agency?"

"Of course. Since I plan to open a detective agency, I naturally need the corresponding professional ability. Otherwise, wouldn't it be a joke?" Lin Xiaosu lifted his teacup.

Zhou Mei said, "Opening a detective agency is not just about registration. There's a whole pile of procedures. If you handle them yourself, you probably won't finish within two months."

"I know! But what else can I do? I'll just take it slowly."

Zhou Mei said, "I can run the procedures for you. I'll handle them. At most, everything will be in place within a week."

Lin Xiaosu smiled. "..."

"Don't get happy too soon. I have conditions!" Zhou Mei said. "Help me think of a solution for the case I'm working on! Only if you can help me resolve this problem will I focus my energy on helping you!"

Officer Sun, sitting sideways in an office chair nearby, gave a slight twitch of his hand. His gaze turned toward Zhou Mei, filled with disbelief.

Inviting an outsider to help...

Was that in line with procedure?

Lin Xiaosu lightly shook his head. "I knew you'd pull something like this! But who told me I needed your help? Fine. I'll help you, then you help me!"

Zhou Mei became excited. "Xiao Sun, bring over the case file!"

"Sister Zhou, this..." Xiao Sun hesitated.

"I know what you want to say. Don't say it. Bring it over!"

Miao Ruolan clearly did not understand their half-spoken words and lingering hesitation.

If it had been the old Lin Xiaosu, he would not have understood either.

But was he still the same as before?

He knew this was about rules!

An ongoing investigation could not be leaked. That was discipline.

Driven by the urgent need to solve the case quickly, Zhou Mei had no choice but to seek his help. But at its core, that was a violation of procedure.

The best way to resolve such a dilemma was to avoid the details and address only the single most crucial point...

Lin Xiaosu spoke. "There's no need for the case file. Officer Zhou, just tell me about it..."

"Alright. This matter began with a good deed..."

Someone had found a leather bag. Unable to locate its owner, the person brought it to the police station.

If it had been an ordinary leather bag, that would have been a textbook good deed.

The problem was that when the bag was opened, there was no cash inside—only drugs! A full three kilograms!

A drug case involving such a terrifying quantity was already as big as it got in this small county town!

The Criminal Investigation Brigade was now searching for the owner. The location the person who found the bag had mentioned was a surveillance blind spot. They had pulled footage from a whole host of surrounding cameras for analysis—this was the footage Xiao Sun had watched last night—but they still could not find the owner.

That was the situation: a sky-shaking major case triggered by a good deed.

In an ordinary case of returning lost property, the owner would thank the finder for their upright character. But this time, whether the owner would thank the person who returned the bag or greet the finder's ancestors for eighteen generations was impossible to say.

In any case, every officer on the team found the whole thing both laughable and tearful.

No matter how many absurd elements the case contained, none of them could laugh, because their superiors had issued a death order: the case had to be solved within three days. Otherwise, once time dragged on, the people along that criminal chain would move the assets and relocate their personnel, and in the end, they would not catch a single one of them...