When Lin Shuyue arrived, a throng of fellow reporters, carrying their “long guns and short cannons” (cameras with long and short lenses), had already surrounded the entrance of the police station. However, they were all being held back by the guards outside the gate, separated by a barrier, and were clamoring with questions.

“Hello, I’m a reporter from Pengcheng Weekly. Could you tell me where the officer in charge of the Suishan case is? Could you ask him to come out and disclose the details of the case to us?”

“Yes, we have the right to know about this.”

“Please tell us what information you can. We need to give the concerned citizens who care about the murdered sisters some answers.”

Two guards stood behind the barrier. The younger one tightly pursed his lips and said nothing, while the older one politely and thoughtfully said, “We understand that our reporter friends are eager, but the suspect was only apprehended less than a day ago. The officers handling the case haven’t slept for a day and a night, racing against time to investigate and process the case. We ask for your patience and understanding. Please be considerate of the frontline officers who are working tirelessly.”

Lin Shuyue couldn’t help but take another look at the middle-aged guard who had spoken. He was used to such scenes, his words were impeccable, and his handling was very experienced.

The reporters from the various newspapers were helpless but unwilling to leave. They continued to stake out the entrance of the police station, hoping to capture some footage or catch a relevant officer to ask some questions to report back to their superiors.

Lin Shuyue wasn’t surprised by this at all. Her parents were frontline police officers, and the police station was like her second home when she was a child. She had seen such scenes many times. It would be strange if the reporters could get anything out of the police officers who remembered the confidentiality regulations.

She walked to a corner away from the crowd of reporters, took out the small, black xiaolingtong phone^[1]T/N: PHS phone, a type of low-cost mobile phone popular in China in the early 2000s, found a string of numbers she had saved yesterday, and dialed.

After a few rings, the other end picked up. He Yuling’s gentle voice came through: “Xiao Lin, right? Team Leader Hang instructed that if you came to the police station, I should bring you directly to see him. Wait for me at the side entrance next to the pedestrian street. There are too many people at the main entrance.”

Lin Shuyue bypassed the group of her colleagues who were still steadfastly waiting at the main entrance and, following the instructions, came to the opposite side of a fruit shop on the pedestrian street.

Sure enough, an inconspicuous small door appeared before her eyes. The female police officer was waiting there.

The two nodded in greeting, exchanged a few brief words, walked through a bicycle shed, entered the reception hall, and arrived at a guest room. Then, she got a cup of warm water from the water dispenser by the door and handed it to Lin Shuyue, smiling. “Xiao Lin, wait here for a moment. Team Leader Hang will be here soon.”

“Thank you for your trouble, Officer He.”

“It’s no trouble. Wait here for a bit. I’ll go out and get back to work.” Officer He Yuling said and left the room.

The police station’s reception room wasn’t large. There was a set of wooden sofas, separated by a coffee table of the same color. On the coffee table, there was only a tissue box and nothing else.

In the four corners of the reception room were green plants that Lin Shuyue couldn’t name, at least a meter tall.

After the female police officer left, Lin Shuyue felt a bit bored sitting alone, so she stood up and walked to the window to look outside.

It was the backyard of the police station. The walls were surrounded by greenery. In the center was a basketball court, and next to the basketball court was a reddish-brown synthetic running track. Between the track and the basketball court was a row of exercise equipment.

A group of young police officers, wearing uniform shorts and T-shirts, were sweating profusely, diligently doing physical training.

Seeing this scene, Lin Shuyue couldn’t help but think of her life before her transmigration.

While studying at the Public Security University, not only did she have to keep up with her academic studies, but physical training was also essential.

Looking at the young police officers sweating under the scorching sun, Lin Shuyue felt a pang of nostalgia, longing to join them.

This feeling was very subtle, similar to the feeling of looking forward to vacation while at school, and then missing school while on vacation.

Creak~ The door of the reception room was pushed open from the outside. Lin Shuyue looked up and saw Team Leader Hang holding a green folder.

He gestured towards the sofa with his chin. “Sit.”

Lin Shuyue walked over and sat down.

Team Leader Hang closed the door and sat down opposite Lin Shuyue. “Let me introduce myself first. My name is Hang Jiabai.”

“I don’t need to go into detail about yesterday’s arrest. You should understand it all. I believe you’ve also gathered most of the details of the case. Is there anything you’d like to ask?”

Lin Shuyue had never worked as a reporter, but the original owner had experience. On the way from the office to the police station, she had already prepared the questions she wanted to ask.

She took out a black leather notebook and a black ballpoint pen from her bag and asked the questions she wanted to ask.

“Team Leader Hang, I’d like to ask about the murderer’s motive…his family background…”

After asking the last question, Lin Shuyue stood up. “Thank you for your cooperation, Team Leader Hang.”

Lin Shuyue extended her right hand towards Hang Jiabai. Hang Jiabai also stood up, looked at Lin Shuyue’s hand for two seconds, smiled, and extended his hand.

His hand was large, his fingers long and slender, his knuckles well-defined, and his palm was covered in thick calluses, warm, dry, and rough.

Their hands clasped lightly and then quickly separated. Lin Shuyue slung her bag over her shoulder and walked out the door. Hang Jiabai also followed her out with the folder.

Officer He was busy receiving a citizen who had come to report a case. Lin Shuyue stood and listened for a moment. Her money had been stolen. She had been walking down the street, and just two minutes ago, she had taken out her wallet to buy something, and in the blink of an eye, it was gone.

A group of police officers in their twenties came out from inside. Several of them were women, wearing police uniforms, standing tall and straight, looking valiant and heroic.

Lin Shuyue brushed past them, her heart feeling like an overturned spice jar, a hundred different flavors welling up.

She should have been one of them.

Now, she was a reporter.

Lin Shuyue decided that she would look into how to take the civil service exam when she got back. She wanted to get into the police force.

However, just as she made up her mind, the Good and Evil Detection System popped up: [The host’s profession is bound to the journalist profession. The host cannot change it without authorization.]

Lin Shuyue was stunned: [What does this mean?]

The Good and Evil Detection System didn’t waste any words. It directly projected a screen into the air and played a video.

The video showed her grandparents and her at a temple. In the temple, she was standing outside the door, looking at a magnolia tree covered in blossoms. Her grandparents were inside, asking an old monk to tell her fortune.

The old monk said that if she didn’t pursue a dangerous profession, such as the military or police, she could live to a ripe old age. But if she did, she would face a life-or-death trial at the age of 21. If she survived it, her life would be smooth sailing afterward.

Lin Shuyue’s gaze greedily scanned the two elderly people in the video, her eyes slowly reddening.

She suddenly remembered that when she was filling out her university application, her grandparents had strongly objected to her choice of the Public Security University. Her grandmother had hit her for the first and only time in her life.

At the time, she didn’t understand at all. She cried and insisted on following in her parent’s footsteps and becoming a police officer, disregarding her grandmother’s talk of fate.

Her grandparents couldn’t win against her stubbornness and eventually relented. Their only request was that she take a desk job.

Lin Shuyue agreed.

The week before she chased after the human trafficker, she had just celebrated her twentieth birthday, entering her twenty-first year!

Lin Shuyue covered her eyes with her hand: [I’ve already died once. Hasn’t my trial passed yet?]

[No. Fate is predetermined and will not change because of a change in time and space.]

The video continued to play. The grandparents in the video expressed their concerns about her future. The two elderly people hadn’t smiled once since leaving the main hall of the temple, their brows furrowed.

Lin Shuyue’s heart ached. Her mother was a criminal police officer, and her father was also a criminal police officer. Her mother died in the line of duty while pursuing a serial killer when she was five years old. Her father passed away when she was sixteen.

Her grandparents, within ten years, had experienced the pain of a white-haired person sending off a black-haired person twice.

Lin Shuyue was also very grateful, grateful that she had died after them. Otherwise, Lin Shuyue couldn’t imagine how devastated her grandparents would have been if the news of her sacrifice had reached them.

The words her grandmother had softly spoken to her when she was about to fill out her college application forms surfaced in Lin Shuyue’s mind.

She closed her eyes. The sun outside shone on her skin, so hot that it felt like it could burn her.

Lin Shuyue walked outside mechanically. In front of the police station stood a bright five-star red flag.

There was a breeze today, but the wind also carried heat. The five-star red flag fluttered in the wind.

Lin Shuyue looked at it for a long time, then turned around and strode away.

The wheelchair-bound teacher Zhang, who had taught them theory classes, had once said that there was more than one way to serve the country. As long as you have the heart, you can do it in any profession!

This sentence could also be applied to Lin Shuyue’s current situation. Fighting criminals wasn’t something only police officers could do; she could do it as a reporter as well.

A man stood by the window of an office on the second floor, his gaze following the bouncing ponytail.

Zhao Youcheng walked over to him and also looked outside. Lin Shuyue had already turned the corner and disappeared from view.

“Team Leader Hang, what are you looking at? Looking at that group of reporters? What’s so interesting about them?”

Team Leader Hang retracted his gaze. “Nothing. Hurry up and get ready. How’s the Lu Yukang case coming along?”

Zhao Youcheng immediately retracted his gaze as well. “He’s still not saying anything.”

“Keep interrogating him. Get him to talk.”

“Yes, sir.” As they talked, they strode out, throwing themselves into their intense work.

In this era in Pengcheng, there were many motorcycle taxis parked along the roadside. Motorcycle taxis were everywhere, with a starting price of one yuan, and two yuan for longer distances.

Lin Shuyue thought of herself yesterday, being scammed into paying five yuan for a five-minute motorcycle ride, and sighed. Who would have thought she’d be one of those people who got ripped off by a motorcycle taxi driver?

She took the bus to the office, rode the elevator to the fifth floor, and pushed open the glass door of the office. A blast of cold air hit her in the face, completely dissipating the summer heat she had brought in from outside.

Lin Shuyue first got a cup of cold water from the water dispenser at the entrance. The water flowed down her throat, making her feel refreshed and invigorated.

The reporters from the news department had all gone out to cover stories. Lin Shuyue opened her computer, opened a document, typed a title, and began writing tomorrow’s report.

The old-fashioned computer was a bit slow, but she quickly got used to it and began typing away.

The desks in the newspaper office were all lined up together. Lin Shuyue’s keyboard clicks, although not loud in the relatively noisy office, still attracted attention.

Everyone got up and looked for the source, slowly gathering behind Lin Shuyue.

Lin Shuyue was someone who easily became engrossed in her work. Her slender, fair fingers flew across the keyboard, as light and swift as if they were dancing. Characters appeared on the blank document one by one with her keystrokes.

Finally, she typed the last period, stretched, and looked up. She was startled to see the pairs of bright, excited eyes surrounding her.