Ring, ring, ring.
In Whale City Police Department’s call center, phones were frequently ringing. There were up to 100 operators picking up phones. They had a headset as they listened to the callers patiently. It was part of the busy daily life in Whale City.
An operator picked up the phone right before him and said, “Hi, this is 110 Call Service Desk.”
“Hi, someone fainted here. He looks like the fugitive the Whale City police wanted half an hour ago. I’m not sure if this is him. Come here quick. This is the address…”
The operator was stunned upon hearing what the person said.
The fugitive fainted?
Why did that sound like a scam?
However, the person who called gave his specific coordinates calmly. The operator could only report the call information following the regulations.
Soon, the information was sent to an investigator’s phone.
There were three men in casual clothes wearing glasses in Whale City. Everything they saw in the glasses had a layer of faint golden gleam covered on them.
In the golden gleam-filled streets, they could see some black stains occasionally. However, those stains were choppy and did not connect together.
“The sunlight’s gleam will disappear at night. We must locate him as soon as we can,” a man with stubs said in all seriousness.
“Captain Luo, someone called the police saying he saw the fugitive fainted on the ground,” a young man said while bringing over his phone.
Captain Luo looked at the junior in the team. “Are you sure?”
“He might be changing a host soon. We need to get to the victim now,” the other man said in all seriousness.
“Let’s go, let’s check it out.”
The three of them headed to Ke Meng’s house in a police car.
A couple of minutes later, Ke Meng welcomed three plainclothes officers and an officer in uniform at his door.
“Was it you who called the police?” Captain Luo glanced at Ke Meng.
“That’s right.”
The floor was shiny and golden in Captain Luo’s glasses. Some black stains, which were out of place with the golden gleams, were appearing.
Those stains were fresh. It proved that someone from Shadow Drift had indeed been here before.
“Is he upstairs?” Captain Luo saw some fresh stains connecting to a door.
“He fainted. He’s at the corner of the staircase,” Ke Meng explained and took the initiative to open the door.
The three of them looked at each other and said nothing.
However, the invisible ambiance became tense now. The four of them took out their pistols.
“Check with the drone,” Captain Luo ordered.
“Yes, sir!” A mini drone flew out of the police car’s window. It flew into the door at a steady speed. It turned on the flash while the camera was pointing above the staircase. They saw a man lying on the ground. His shadow reflected on the wall; it was dark.
In the car, the policeman that was controlling the drone approached him carefully and aimed at his face.
“It’s him, Captain Luo!” The policeman said loudly.
Captain Luo turned on the walkie-talkie and reported, “0000, we found the suspect here. We’re at…”
“Roger that.” A voice came from the walkie-talkie.
Captain Luo began learning what happened from Ke Meng after he put down the walkie-talkie.
“He was standing over there, checking out the rent notice. I happened to recognize him. I sneakily stunned him when he was going upstairs to check out the unit. That’s what happened,” Ke Meng explained.
Captain Luo looked at him with a suspicious expression. Did he stun such a dangerous man just like that?
Would he not be vigilant toward him?
He thought it was a false alarm. However, he was convinced that it was the man they were looking for through the image they saw on the drone.
This landlord, who seemed innocent before him, was not as simple as it seemed.
From what Captain Luo knew, the fugitive was a cunning man. It was hard to capture him, let alone ambush him from behind, which was a lowly method.
Soon, a couple of police cars rushed here. They parked close to Ke Meng’s house.
Many people, including armed soldiers and plainclothes police officers, appeared around Ke Meng. They marked off the place with police tape.
Some curious pedestrians were chased out and prohibited from entering.
The Chen family mother and daughter in the convenience store on the first floor were asked to get out by the officers. They were asked not to get close to the building and wait outside the police tape for more news. They were capturing a fugitive now. The mother and daughter could run their business again after that was done.
Chen Momo saw Ke Meng chatting with an officer by the police car when she got out. She wanted to check it out, but she could not be around since she was not the person who had called the police.
Theoretically, Ke Meng should be waiting for news outside the police tape as well. However, Captain Luo did not let him go. He figured Ke Meng was not as simple as it seemed. He wanted to ask him more questions later.
He saw Captain Luo take out a box from his jacket carefully. A heatwave came rushing as soon as the box was opened as if the temperature around had increased 10°C higher.
Ke Meng saw that the tiny box was made of jade. A small badge, two centimeters in diameter, laid in there, and a gleam was shining on its surface.
He felt very hot by just looking at the badge.
Captain Luo held onto the badge and looked at the few police officers around him and the rushing soldiers. He said, “Get ready to capture him.”
“You stay here, don’t move. I have more questions for you,” Captain Luo ordered Ke Meng, asking him to stay by the police car.
“Sure,” Ke Meng nodded and said. He could not stop staring at the badge in his hand. He had curiosity filled his face.
‘What’s that thing?’
If the big-faced cat was here, Ke Meng would find it out as long as he looked into the cat’s eyes for 15 seconds. However, the cat was upstairs.
The police officers covered Captain Luo and walked up the stairs slowly to capture the man with their guns.
Soon, the police officers carried a black transport bag down while sweating. They probably had placed the fugitive in the bag.
Ke Meng did not see the procedure of the man being captured. He only knew that the badge was hot, extremely hot. That reminded him of the over 40°C weather during summer outside in the south.
After Captain Luo came down, he took his round nearby with the box containing the hot badge. He then returned to Ke Meng.
“Did he go into your house?” Captain Luo asked with sweat filled his face.
“No.” Ke Meng shook his head. He began sweating gradually.
“That should be it. I walked through the entire staircase, he shouldn’t have gotten up.” Captain Luo covered the tiny box. Half of the heat was gone.
However, the residual temperature in the air would not go away so soon. Ke Meng began to sweat inevitably.
“Officer, what’s that thing? Why is it as hot as a furnace?” Ke Meng pointed at the tiny box in Captain Luo’s hand.
“You want to know?” Officer Luo looked at him.
“Yes.”
“Then tell me how did you stun him.” Officer Luo wiped off the sweat on his neck immediately while observing Ke Meng’s expression.
Ke Meng had a curious expression on his face instead of looking scared.
Officer Luo thought Ke Meng had powerful mental strength. However, instead of his character, Officer Luo was more eager to find out how Ke Meng had stunned the man.
“I was carrying a huge plush toy at that time, and I used it to slam his back. Later on, I went after him and used the plush toy to hit the back of his head. I stunned him like that,” Ke Meng explained again.
‘Why can’t I escape this question?’
Ke Meng thought he was too impulsive. He should not have stunned the fugitive. Instead, he should lock the door on the first floor. It would make more sense to lock him inside and call the police.
However, he had already stunned him. It had already been done, and there was no way that he could regret it.
Now that this Officer Luo could not stop asking how he had stunned the fugitive, he must have noticed the unusualness about Ke Meng.
“Is it hard to get close to him?” Ke Meng asked.
“Extremely difficult,” Officer Luo said while nodding. “A person who doesn’t have any special skills wouldn’t be able to ambush him successfully.”
When Officer Luo was speaking, a plainclothes officer next to him interrupted, “That plush toy must be something special. Can you show us?”
They had almost shown their cards when that was mentioned.
They would not discuss such non-standard topics when they talked to ordinary people.
However, something must be clearly off about Ke Meng. It was extremely difficult for ordinary people to ambush that cunning man.
The police had encountered citizens like Ke Meng, who owned special objects. They had the experience of handling such people.
The plainclothes officer realized he was being too serious after speaking, so he put it in another way. “We’re only registering the item, and we won’t take it away. But if something vile happens someday, and it has something to do with your item, you’ll have to take the responsibility.
“If you think you can’t handle it, you can give it to the police department. You’ll be awarded for your service. Don’t worry about it. The country isn’t lacking in such items. We’re not forcing you to do it.”