Chapter 3

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Inside the Capital City Police Station.

Everyone looked at each other in astonishment. The plain-colored tote bag was open, revealing gold and jewelry still covered in fresh, earthy-smelling soil. Yet it couldn’t hide their dazzling brilliance. After police verification, the items inside were confirmed to be all the jewelry stolen from the Longxiang Jewelry store in East City half a month ago.

Seeing this, Zhao Lin finally breathed a sigh of relief. He looked at Ling Yue with great excitement and gratitude. “Miss Ling! Thank you so much! Thank you for helping us recover these items. These past few days, I was almost in despair!”

After speaking, he remembered the room full of police officers and quickly added, “Of course, I also want to thank all the police comrades for their hard work these days. Without your help, we wouldn’t have caught the thief so smoothly.”

Lin Shaoze held a pen, his gaze repeatedly scanning the transcript. Everything seemed far too coincidental. Ling Yue had “accidentally” discovered where the thief buried the loot, was “coincidentally” discovered and chased on the very day she dug it up, and they had just happened to arrive in time to catch the criminal.

How could it all be so perfectly timed?

His eyes fell on Ling Yue. He didn’t speak, but his scrutinizing gaze was clearly felt by her. Her scalp tingled. She knew her story had many holes, but she couldn’t possibly tell them the truth—that she could hear animals’ thoughts. Would they think she was crazy, or would they be the crazy ones?

Ling Yue tapped her fingertips lightly and smiled at him. “Captain Lin, do you have any more questions? If not, I’d like to go home and rest.”

The other officers were stunned. They didn’t know what their captain was doing. The suspect had already confessed, and the story had been told multiple times. The young lady had just carried dozens of kilograms of goods while running for her life—she must be exhausted.

“Captain Lin, why don’t we let Miss Ling go back first?”

“Wait.” Lin Shaoze said calmly. Under everyone’s gaze, he continued, “We still haven’t processed the reward for this case. Although it’s only three thousand yuan, along with Mr. Zhao’s…”

Ling Yue suddenly smiled, bright and radiant, interrupting him, “Three thousand yuan is not little at all.” At least it was two hundred more than her previous monthly salary of 2,800 yuan before resigning.

Yes, 2,800 yuan — in a first-tier city.

She should be grateful she still had a place to stay. Otherwise, she would have been forced to leave the city long ago.

Zhao Lin quickly chimed in, “And from our Longxiang Jewelry as well. Miss Ling has solved a huge problem for us. Once everything is verified, the 500,000 yuan reward will be transferred to your account immediately! No later than three days!”

Ling Yue naturally didn’t doubt his words. The hardship along the way had finally paid off. Her eyes sparkled like little stars as she listened.

Fifty thousand three thousand yuan!

Fifty thick stacks of red banknotes — enough to fill an entire suitcase!

When she left the station, her steps were light and energetic. Her heart was pounding like a little deer was trapped inside.

Ling Yue curved her eyes in delight. After all, she was just a recent university graduate. Despite what Zhihu or certain books claimed about everyone earning over ten thousand a month with seven-figure savings, in reality, 500,000 yuan was already enough to buy her own house in a third-tier county. And if she had one 500,000, how far could the next one be?

Outside the police station, Ling Yue finally stopped hesitating between a shared bike or walking. Why choose? Taking a taxi was obviously better!

While waiting for the car, she suddenly thought of something, ran into a nearby supermarket, and came out carrying a large bag filled with many items.

Inside the police station, several officers hid behind the door, pushing each other while looking at their captain’s back. The simple-minded Old Zhu was pushed out by his colleagues.

His staggering steps immediately caught Lin Shaoze’s attention. He looked at them in surprise as they winked and made faces at each other. His tone was stern but relatively gentle: “What are you guys doing? Why aren’t you training? Have you finished today’s tasks?”

“Come on, Captain! Just tell us — are you interested in that… Miss Ling?”

“Hmm.”

The teammates who hadn’t expected an answer were stunned. They looked at their captain in disbelief. “You actually admitted it? Well, Miss Ling is really beautiful, and her smile is so sweet. No wonder even our captain is…”

“Cheng Ziming.” Lin Shaoze gave him a flat look. In an instant, Cheng Ziming felt like a helpless little prey being stared down by a terrifying demon king.

“Captain, I was wrong!” He dropped to his knees extremely quickly.

Lin Shaoze knew exactly what these guys were thinking. He just couldn’t figure it out. A faint ripple appeared between his handsome brows. “I just feel like things aren’t that simple.”

“Can there really be so many coincidences in this world?”

The team members looked at each other. After a while, Cheng Ziming scratched his head. “Don’t they say there’s no story without coincidences? Besides, I think Miss Ling is very observant. Who would have guessed the thief would disguise himself as a scavenger? If she hadn’t pointed him out, and we hadn’t interrogated him thoroughly, we might have really let him go.”

“Also, before we even reacted, she had already smashed the guy with the bag. That move was clean and decisive — so cool!”

People with sharp observation skills were good at uncovering clues from trivial details. Moreover, wasn’t that exactly what Ling Yue had done earlier? Her strange action before smashing the suspect was probably because she had heard his footsteps.

Lin Shaoze tried to convince himself. The light in his eyes flickered.

Ling Yue, who had been “given” the halo of extraordinary insight: “……”

If she knew his guess, her head would definitely show a row of ellipses like in a comic. He was really overthinking it. There were no footsteps — she had purely been listening to the crows. The crows told her the thief’s location, allowing her to time everything perfectly.

Outside the police station, Ling Yue looked up at the sky. After a while, she finally spotted a few sneaky black shadows behind a utility pole. The corner of her lips lifted in a faint, imperceptible smile.

“Wait—”

Zhao Lin ran over while wiping his sweat. “Miss Ling, wait! Are you going home? How about I give you a ride?”

Before Ling Yue could refuse, he smiled kindly and said, “Who knows how long you’d have to wait under this sun. Besides, you’re my benefactor. If we hadn’t recovered these items, I don’t know what kind of punishment I would have faced.”

Ling Yue’s phone rang at that moment. She answered it, and the driver’s voice came through: “Sorry, passenger, I’m stuck in traffic. I can’t take this ride.”

Ling Yue glanced at Zhao Lin, then at the empty asphalt road where not even a ghost could be seen. She immediately made her decision and smiled brightly, “Then I’ll have to trouble you.”

Her demeanor was graceful and natural.

Zhao Lin was overjoyed and chuckled, “No trouble at all. I’m the one who should be thanking you!”

As expected of a branch manager in charge of more than a dozen employees, Zhao Lin was very pleasant to talk to. Like a gentle spring breeze, he effortlessly shared some interesting trivia and stories about jewelry, making the conversation lively and engaging. Unknowingly, it also shortened the distance between them.

Ling Yue put away the business card he had given her and slipped it into her pocket.

The enthusiastic Zhao Lin suddenly sighed, as if something had touched him. With the weariness typical of a middle-aged man, he said, “To be honest, this isn’t the first frustrating incident.”

“I remember it started with the theft of our store’s signature treasure — the Butterfly Knot Diamond Necklace. The name sounds ordinary, but it has quite the background.”

“Four years ago, our boss bought it at Sotheby’s autumn auction for 8 million US dollars. It once belonged to the greatest emperor of the Snow Country.”

He lowered his voice so only the two of them could hear. Ling Yue instantly forgot to convert dollars to RMB. Her mind was only filled with that astronomical number.

“Has it been found yet?” Ling Yue felt light-headed. She shifted her foot, stepping on the car’s carpet as if stepping on a soft cloud.

*Sigh.* While she was secretly delighted about 500,000 yuan, other people were already dealing in US dollars.

Zhao Lin shook his head with a bitter smile. “It ran away as if it had grown legs. We still haven’t found it.”

He rubbed his forehead, looking puzzled. “That day was very unfortunate. The store’s surveillance just happened to be broken and didn’t capture the thief. Nothing else unusual happened that day. The employees were all working normally. In the blink of an eye, the item disappeared. I remember there weren’t many customers that day, and no one even went near the area where the signature piece was displayed. It was simply…” He paused. “It was like seeing a ghost in broad daylight!”

Ling Yue’s breathing hitched. An idea unconsciously formed in her mind. *If it wasn’t a human… could it possibly be…*

Zhao Lin didn’t want to dwell on it. He was already very happy to have recovered this batch of jewelry and was about to change the subject when he suddenly heard the young woman’s soft voice:

“Maybe… I have a way.”

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