Chapter 1: Scamming or Robbery?

The beginning of April in the Magic City is the rainy season around Qingming Festival.

Despite Qingming having passed, the rain continued to fall.

The windscreen wipers periodically swiped across the windshield, but under the canopy of trees that block out the streetlights the view ahead remains hazy.

Du Qiu with his left hand on the steering wheel while his right hand habitually kneading his temple with a bitter smile on his lips.

A month ago after attending his father’s memorial service he finally opened the New Year’s present his father had sent to him. It was a crystal pillow. Surprisingly, the headaches that had plagued him for many years started to gradually ease after using it.

Life is so unpredictable; in the face of the life and death of loved ones, past resentments and conflicts seem like fleeting clouds.

Du Qiu sighs placing his right hand back on the steering wheel.

“I once shattered a complete mirror, my pillow at night soaked with tears…”

The ringtone of the mobile phone sounds. Du Qiu glances at the phone on the console which displays an incoming call from “Two Orioles”.

Pressing answer, Du Qiu uses a Bluetooth headset to take the call.

“Du Qiu, why haven’t you arrived yet? I think someone was chasing me. I was so scared, I ran all the way and now I am almost at my apartment complex.”

“Liuli, I’m almost there. Don’t scare yourself. Magic City is one of the safest cities in our Tang Country(China)…”

“Du Qiu, can you hurry up please?” The voice on the other end rarely carries a pleading tone.

This is the first time his ex-girlfriend had shown such vulnerability to him.

The romance between Zhang Mingliu and Du Qiu dates back to three years ago when Du Qiu had just started his Ph.D. while Zhang Mingliu was in her senior year of undergraduate studies.

This straightforward Northeastern girl displayed what it means when they say ‘a girl chasing a guy is separated by a thin veil,’ and she conquered the typical engineering-minded Du Qiu within a week.

“I’m already driving fast; the roads are slippery due to the rain. This is a car, not a plane,” Du Qiu responds with some surprise but has already habitually started to retort Zhang Mingliu.

“Du Qiu! If you’re not worried about being late then take your time!” Zhang Mingliu’s familiar roar rings out from the headset.

“Your temper is still so explosive. Ah f***…”

With a screech, the urgent sound of braking fills the air.

In that brief moment, a figure suddenly darts out from the side of the road into the beam of the headlights.

As the car rolls to a stop, it is unclear whether the figure was knocked into the air by the car or if they used their hands to push against the hood and perform a rolling stunt.

In the end, the person flipped from the right side of the car to the left!

Du Qiu steadies his nerves taking deep breaths as he takes off his headset and unbuckles his seatbelt. He slowly opens the car door and steps out to assess the situation.

Luckily it is currently around 10 p.m, most of the streets are quiet with few people and cars around.

Otherwise, when the figure flew from the car and landed in the middle of the road, they would surely have been hit and run over a second time by a car in another lane and there would be no chance of survival.

But now, the situation Du Qiu sees is a bit bizarre. To the left of the car hood, a person was getting up; despite the drizzle, this person is already completely drenched.

Du Qiu’s eyes are sharp. Aside from a trace of blood on their forehead, the person’s arms and legs appear to be fine.

Clearly, the somewhat challenging mid-air roll was performed by the person intentionally, which means they either have some martial arts skills, or they are very adept at scamming.

“How are you? Do you need me to take you to the hospital?” Although Du Qiu has some suspicions, he still approaches with concern and asks.

The man is leaning on the car hood, facing sideways to Du Qiu, and seems to be muttering something. Du Qiu faintly hears the last few words “…ssemida!”

Hmm, a Korean?

Du Qiu has this thought flash through his mind when the man, with his head down approached him.

The man suddenly raises his head, a fierce light flashes in his eyes, but before Du Qiu could clearly see his face, the man swings his right hand forward and a glimmer of blade sweeps out…

Damn… am I being robbed?

A fraction of a second later, Du Qiu’s hastily retreats while raising his leg to kick him…

A loud “bang” echoes.

The thought crosses Du Qiu’s mind in an instant, “F*** he has a gun?”

That’s right, a gunshot sounded at the same moment his foot kicked out, and Du Qiu missed his kick.

This caused Du Qiu to stagger and almost fall, but fortunately, he was quick enough to steady himself by holding onto the car.

Glancing back he notices that the person who might be scamming or robbing has collapsed in the middle of the road.

Du Qiu, with keen eyes, notices the person has been shot in the shoulder.

At this moment, several figures rush towards the person on the ground, surrounding them. One of them quickly approaches, kicks away the knife from the assailant’s hand while pulling out handcuffs to secure him.

Being born into a police family and having undergone his father’s training from a young age, it takes Du Qiu only a tenth of a second to come to his senses and realize these people are probably police officers.

Obviously, those who can decisively shoot are definitely criminal police!

Of course, Du Qiu concludes this from the proficient way these individuals handcuff the culprit.

“Which criminal police team are you from?” Du Qiu quickly scans the immediate group of three people, none of whom are wearing uniforms.

He is familiar with most members of the several teams under the city bureau’s general criminal police team, however the three people before him were complete strangers.

He feels a bit nostalgic, his father served as a peacekeeping officer. He hasn’t visited the general criminal police team for over a year due to his death, it seems that quite a few newcomers have joined in such a short time.

One of the individuals approaches, shows Du Qiu an ID briefly, and says, “Thank you! It’s thanks to your car that we were able to stop the criminal; otherwise, he would have escaped. Please give me your ID for registration.”

Du Qiu has only a glance at the police badge before it’s tucked away, but he doesn’t probe further. There are indeed occasional impostors posing as police officers in Tang Country, but with a service pistol and standard handcuffing technique, they shouldn’t be fakes.

He doesn’t have his ID card, so he hands over his driver’s license.

“Heh, your name is quite interesting. It sounds homophonous with the protagonist of an old movie.” The person simply uses a cellphone to take a photo of Du Qiu’s license and returns it, even while commenting.

“Oh, my dad was being lazy when he named me; he directly used both his and my mom’s surnames.”

“Okay, you can leave now. Hurry up and drive away.” The person gestures for Du Qiu to drive off.

Although Du Qiu still has some doubts, he gets back into his car and leaves.

If it weren’t for the fact that the person was a criminal being pursued by the police tonight, this minor car accident would not have been settled so easily.

As he drives away, he looks through the rearview mirror and sees a woman emerging from the side of the road.

The man he had spoken to previously is now talking to the woman, seeming to give a report.

“Strange, when did the general criminal police team get a female supervisor?”