Chapter 16

That day, Pang Guangbuyi ended up holding in all his questions, puzzled but too afraid to ask.

Because he knew his captain too well — anything Lin Jiafan said was like nails hammered in with spit. Once it was said, there was no changing it.

Luo Jingyao did want to ask, but on second thought, she wasn’t really a member of the Special Case Investigation Unit. If he had concerns and didn’t want her getting too deeply involved, it was understandable.

The three of them returned to the police station in silence.

After getting out of the car, Luo Jingyao hesitated for a moment, then decided to cross the road to the flower shop. Once inside, the clerk informed her that someone had indeed come earlier to place an order for flowers to be used at a wedding.

She immediately dialed the number the customer had left behind. After a pleasant conversation, they finalized a large order worth 120,000 yuan.

As previously agreed, Luo Jingyao generously offered an 85% discount.

It was painful to her wallet, yes — but since Lin Jiafan had kept his word, she couldn’t bring herself to break hers.

After all, a sale is a sale.

In high spirits and with some rare free time on her hands, Luo Jingyao gave her staff a half-day off and stayed to work alone until late into the night before finally closing up the shop.

As she pulled down the electric shutter at the storefront, she turned around to wait for the ride she had just ordered. She happened to look up — and there it was: the brightly lit office building of the Jinshi City Public Security Bureau.

She subconsciously counted the floors from the ground up — one, two, three… seven — and noticed a shadow moving behind one of the lit windows. Thinking back, that should be the office of the Special Case Investigation Unit.

Beep-beep-beep—

A sharp honk snapped Luo Jingyao back to her senses. She quickly opened the car door and got in, lowering her gaze to hide the flicker of calculation in her eyes.

The Next Morning

The Victoria Secret Slimming Bootcamp started at 8:30 AM sharp, but the mall’s main entrance wasn’t open yet at that hour.

Following Boss Jiang’s instructions, Luo Jingyao entered through a staff entrance on the mall’s north side and descended to the basement level. There, she was immediately greeted by the lively sounds of people shouting commands and encouragement.

“Coach Luo! Morning!”

The moment she stepped in, the same enthusiasm from yesterday washed over her.

Coming to greet her was an old acquaintance—Coach Xiaohai. He had been helping two heavier-set clients warm up by walking laps, but he quickly jogged over when he saw her.

“Boss Jiang gave me a heads-up. She said you’ll spend a couple days settling in before we assign you a regular class. Do you have any specialties?”

Luo Jingyao didn’t respond right away. Instead, she glanced around the space.

Slimming aerobics, spin bikes, a heavyset area…

After considering her options, she pointed to the equipment area she had passed by yesterday.

Coach Xiaohai didn’t seem surprised by her choice. He brought her over, gave a brief explanation to another coach, then returned to his own tasks.

That coach only gave Luo Jingyao a polite nod in greeting and assigned her two clients, clearly not interested in bonding with the new colleague.

That suited Luo Jingyao just fine. She quickly got into work mode.

As time passed, some trainees began to hit their physical limits. Groans and complaints echoed across the room, accompanied by the harsh shouts of the instructors. The scene was only marginally kinder than a slaughterhouse.

But Luo Jingyao merely sighed inwardly. She was used to scenes like this—sweat, tears, and even blood were nothing new.

Dedicated to doing her job well, beads of sweat soon formed on her forehead. Unlike some coaches who sneaked off to play on their phones whenever possible, she looked a little out of place—too serious.

While she was helping a client with their bench press form, two men in dark blue maintenance uniforms walked in through the entrance.

“Hey, Brother Zhao! You’re here early again!” a coach greeted casually with a wave.

Hearing the commotion, Luo Jingyao glanced up while keeping her hands on the barbell for safety.

The man leading the way was the same one she had bumped into yesterday.

“Yeah, I promised Boss Jiang I’d fix the overhead lights in this section. Ran out of tools yesterday, so today I had to come make sure you all can see again,” Zhao laughed heartily.

The coach chuckled, then looked curiously at the young man behind him. “And this is…?”

“Oh! A new guy from our maintenance team. Insisted on coming to help me out!”

“Nice! Finally got you some backup, huh? Maybe now you won’t be so overworked,” the coach teased. “Although… maybe he’s just here to learn some fitness tips?”

Before he could say more, Zhao quickly waved his hands. “Hey now, don’t make stuff up. What skills do I have to teach? Young folks these days are way more capable than us!”

“Hahaha…” the coach chuckled awkwardly, then walked away.

With him gone, the two men were now fully visible—and the “new guy” from maintenance was suddenly and unavoidably in Luo Jingyao’s line of sight.

Gulp.

She clearly heard herself swallow. Her grip faltered, nearly dropping the barbell.

To be honest, seeing Lin Jiafan here surprised her—but not too much.

Shaking her head in frustration, she realized she should’ve seen this coming. Yesterday, when he rejected her offer and didn’t agree to let Pang Guangbuyi interrogate the bootcamp staff, he must’ve already had this plan in mind.

Suddenly, Lin Jiafan—now in a maintenance uniform—turned his face slightly, as if sensing her gaze.

Luo Jingyao stiffened and quickly turned her back.

But unfortunately, fate wasn’t on her side. She could still feel the intensity of his gaze lingering on her for a long while. Finally, she gave up and slumped her shoulders in resignation.

She spent the entire morning in that uneasy state. When lunchtime came at last, she quickly followed behind Coach Xiaohai toward the cafeteria without looking back.

But what was meant to happen would happen eventually.

After barely managing to finish the bland “healthy weight-loss meal,” she stood to head to the restroom. As she passed a fire door, a long arm suddenly reached out from the side and yanked her into a dark stairwell.

Reacting instinctively, Luo Jingyao swung her elbow toward the intruder’s face.

The man was quick—he bent slightly and dodged, planning to back away. But in the next second, she caught his arm and twisted it behind his back.

“Tch…”

In the darkness, the man sucked in a breath through his teeth.

At the same time, Luo Jingyao’s eyes adjusted enough to see the navy-blue sleeve clutched in her hand.

She bared her teeth in frustration, then released his arm and awkwardly took two steps back, trying to increase the distance between them in the narrow space.

“Officer Lin, grabbing someone like that without warning can easily cause misunderstandings…” she muttered dryly, rubbing her hands together.

Massaging his shoulder where she’d twisted him, Lin Jiafan asked with some irritation, “I thought I made myself very clear yesterday. So, Coach Luo—do you have an explanation for why you’re here today?”

Explanation?

Luo Jingyao raised her chin, half-defiant: “I told you—I have a side gig!”

The contract she signed with the police never said she couldn’t have another job. This wasn’t breach of contract, right?

Seeing her somewhat defiant look, Lin Jiafan rubbed his temples and sighed. He patiently said, “Coach Luo, first of all, thank you for your outstanding contribution to our investigation of the murders. Second, I want to make it clear—we’re not using you and tossing you aside. But this training center has too many unstable factors. If you’re not careful, your personal safety could be at serious risk.”

he previous two times he involved a woman, it was because he had full confidence in his control over the situation.

Although many often questioned his investigative methods and accused him of using any means necessary to solve a case, placing an uninvolved person in danger—even for the sake of solving a case—was something he simply could not bring himself to do.

Lin Jiafan indeed had a strong feeling that Coach Luo would not behave as instructed, which was one of the reasons he personally came today. Unexpectedly, he caught her red-handed.

Despite his rare, heartfelt attempt at persuasion, Luo Jingyao remained unmoved. She looked skeptically at the man who was still rotating his shoulders and asked, “Are you sure this place poses a threat to my personal safety, and not yours?”

She had initially thought that as a team leader, Lin Jiafan would be significantly more capable than the other three, but now it seemed he was just about the same.

“…”

His response was utter silence. Only his suddenly more hurried breathing suggested that he was furious but didn’t know how to refute her.

“Do I have to leave?” she asked after a long pause.

“I promise I won’t cause trouble or take any unnecessary risks. With your current identity in the logistics department, trying to investigate the coaches here… you’d still be at it by the next millennium,” Luo Jingyao quickly added, hearing the hint of compromise in his tone.

“Two days. If there’s no progress after two days, you have to leave,” Lin Jiafan sighed quietly, then reluctantly pulled a small communicator from his pocket and handed it to her.

“Got it,” Luo Jingyao nodded obediently. After expertly putting the communicator on, she extended her hand toward the emergency exit and raised her eyebrows, gesturing for him to go first.

Since he had already made the decision, Lin Jiafan didn’t argue further. With his long legs, he strode off and left the stairwell.

Luo Jingyao lingered in the stairwell for a moment longer before finally pushing open the door and stepping out.

She originally intended to follow her plan and head to the restroom, but just as she turned to leave, a voice full of suspicion suddenly called out behind her:

“Miss Luo.”

Her heart skipped a beat, but she forced herself to appear calm as she turned around.

She was met with the face of Boss Jiang, though his expression was hard to read in the dim light.

“Just now… what were you doing in there?”