Li Jie set down his plate, thoroughly satisfied, and glanced at his watch. Suddenly, he noticed that there were more than twice as many empty seats in the cafeteria as usual. The normally packed tables held only a few older officers nearing retirement, leisurely sipping their coffee.
"Where is everyone?"
Li Jie looked up and asked Frank, the veteran officer reading a newspaper across from him.
Without raising his head, Frank turned to the next page. "All fallen in action, Sheriff."
"Huh? Fallen in action?" Li Jie froze. "Was there a major case? How come I didn't hear about it?"
"Not that kind of fallen." Frank finally looked up, his expression a mixture of envy and bemusement at what young people got up to these days.
"Their wallets fell in action. After queuing all night, their minds probably did too."
"Queuing? For what? Black Friday's still a long way off, isn't it?"
Li Jie decided he couldn't just sit there talking and went to get a few more strips of bacon and a slice of pizza. "Is some supermarket running a sale on eggs and macaroni?"
"A lot more expensive than eggs."
Frank pulled out a sheet of newspaper and handed it over. The entire page was taken up by an enormous advertisement for Shortt Creative Workshop, a toy company owned by Wayne Enterprises.
Five brightly colored, stylish mecha toys struck a combined pose against a burning starfield. Beneath them, large golden letters gleamed:
For justice!
The Legendary Heroes Squad combining remote-controlled mecha series makes its spectacular debut!"
"Ah... huh... these things... are on sale already?" he muttered.
"On sale? It's absolute madness."
Frank jabbed a finger at the newspaper and clicked his tongue twice. "Each toy's over two feet tall and costs $599. All five, plus the limited-edition accessory