Chapter 1 Prelude

  "Let's break up."

  The girl's voice was soft, but it sounded like thunder in Yang Xiaolin's ears. The hand holding the spatula stopped in mid-air: "Why?"

  "Why? I also want to know why! Why do other men go out and struggle, go out and make money, but you're willing to stay in this small police station and not leave? Every day finding keys for old men and women, or helping rich people find their dogs, do you think it's interesting?"

  The girl's voice was very loud, she seemed to be very excited, her hands waving in the air: "A salary of over 2,000 yuan a month, is this enough for us to buy a car or a house?"

  Yang Xiaolin didn't say a word, put down the spatula in his hand and continued to listen to the girl's explanation of why she wanted to leave.

  "After others get off work, they all know how to find a third industry, but you only know how to stay at home and do laundry, cook, or play with your toy guns."

  "It's a model gun."

  Yang Xiaolin corrected a sentence, and the girl listened with some annoyance, her mouth corner coldly smiling: "Good! Good! Model gun!"

  "You have time to be a moderator on that broken military website for pennies, but you don't even get paid. The boss of the Hai Tian Ye nightclub has come looking for you many times, and they're willing to give you 5,000 yuan in red envelopes every month if you just show up there every night, but you say you don't have time!"

  Yang Xiaolin turned off the gas stove, lit a cigarette, and took a hard drag, still saying nothing.

  The girl went on and on: "At first, I thought you were a cop, following you made me feel safe. But look at yourself, three years have passed, and you haven't even caught a single thief! When friends outside ask what you do, I'm too embarrassed to say you're a police officer!"

  Yang Xiaolin didn't try to distinguish what, he knew that when a woman wants to leave you, whatever you do is wrong. When a woman no longer loves you, there are no merits on your body. He carefully guarded his simple happiness, was it wrong?

  He always thought he was happy, after retiring and becoming a small police officer, his life became extremely simple. In fact, happiness is a kind of simplicity, Yang Xiaolin thought so. Until now, his simple happiness has been broken, so suddenly, yet long expected.

  Even if he was a detective himself, this girl would still leave because she wanted to.

  Yang Xiaolin looked up at the girl's eyes: "Is it Ah Wei from your company?"

  The girl's incessant scolding suddenly stopped, her eyes first showing a flurry of panic, followed by some trepidation: "You, you, when did you know?"

  Yang Xiaolin extinguished the cigarette butt and did not answer the girl's question. He was very angry and resentful in his heart, with a sense of frustration and depression. He wanted to slap this woman, but he didn't move his hand. He had an urge to cry, but he put on a calm face. He wanted to tell the girl that Ah Wei was a scoundrel who indulged in all vices, but when the words reached his lips, he swallowed them back. He knew that even if he spoke out now, the girl would not believe him and would only think it was his petty and jealous remark.

  At this time, Yang Xiaolin's mobile phone suddenly rang. Yang Xiaolin grabbed the phone: "Hello, oh Liu Dage, what's wrong? The fuse is broken? Don't worry, I'll go help you fix it right away. You must not touch it yourself, okay? I'll be there in 10 minutes! Okay, okay, wait for me."

  He hung up the phone and put away his rice bowl: "You clean up yourself, take whatever you want, I have something to do and will leave first. When you leave, bring the door with you."

  He seemed a bit hasty, as if he wanted to escape from something. Perhaps it was that he didn't want to see the girl leave. The girl stared blankly for a moment, then shouted: "Is it fun doing this every day? Are you a cop or an electrician?"

  Yang Xiaolin turned back and said to her: "From now on, remember, if you have difficulties, look for the police."

  Mr. Liu is a lonely old man, because he drinks too much, his hands shake all day long. The fuse in his house may be burnt out, this kind of work is very simple for ordinary people, but for Mr. Liu, putting the screwdriver accurately into the screw is quite difficult.

  Yang Xiaolin ran all the way and soon arrived at the building where Old Man Liu lived. He bought a new fuse in the hardware store, borrowed a small flashlight, took the elevator directly to the twelfth floor where Old Man Liu's home was located.

  He was uneasy all the way, with various thoughts popping up in his mind. Yang Xiaolin knew that bastard had been chasing his girlfriend for some time, but he always thought the girl wouldn't agree to it, and it turned out he was wrong.

  Is being a rascal so attractive?

  Yang Xiaolin leaned against the elevator wall, feeling a kind of powerlessness. The girl pursued that kind of stimulating life, hoping Yang Xiaolin could bring her a strong impact like gunfire and bullets, hoping their love was the kind of loyalty that would die together under the bandit's gun.

  Yang Xiaolin knew that his simple and happy life as a small-town cop had already made the girl tired of him. Even if there was no Ah Wei, someone else would appear, he had long been prepared, but when things came, it still made him somewhat unacceptable.

  The elevator had already reached the eighth floor. He raised a cold smile at the corner of his mouth: "Leave, then leave. One day you will regret it."

  This remark has a bit of an "Ah Q" spirit, but it's indeed the best excuse for men and women who have lost love to escape their pain. Yang Xiaolin suddenly had an impulse to do something earth-shaking, making that girl look on with envy. But what kind of earth-shaking feat is waiting for this small-town cop like himself to accomplish?

  The elevator stopped suddenly on the tenth floor, and the door slowly opened. There was no one outside. It seemed that the mischievous child had pressed the elevator button. Yang Xiaolin smiled helplessly and reached out to press the close-door button.

  The door slowly closed, and Yang Xiaolin continued to imagine himself doing something big. This time he went to Wang Dage's house, maybe he could catch a national A-level fugitive, just like in Hong Kong and Taiwan TV dramas. He was repairing the fuse when someone knocked on the door. When he opened it, he saw a bald head, and then a thrilling battle of wits began.

  "There's something big waiting for you to do."

  He suddenly heard a voice speaking, which made Gu Xiaolin very surprised. Yang Xiaolin, who had always insisted on atheism, looked around in all directions.

  Before finding the person who spoke, the light in the elevator suddenly flashed, and Yang Xiaolin felt that his body was rapidly sinking. He raised his head to look at the elevator indicator lights, and in that brief moment, the elevator had already fallen to the fifth floor and was still descending. Yang Xiaolin cursed loudly: "Damn it!"

  "Bang!" A loud crash, the elevator plummeted from the 11th floor to the basement!