Chapter 1: Strange Phenomena in the Underworld

  Lan Jingqiu and others who went to Lan's Group for a job have successfully started working. This smoothness is beyond their expectations. From the recruitment situation, Lan Jingqiu finally understood why his own created Lan's Group is now declining - it's because there are incompetent and greedy people like that general manager in charge. Fortunately, he has returned; otherwise, Lan's Group would have changed its nature soon.

  He felt somewhat relieved in his heart because of this.

  Qian Xiaohong and Lu Xiaoying, however, did not think so. They came to the company for a job interview, first because they knew that Lan Jingqiu was originally the founder of the Lan Group, and they promised to help him save the Lan Group. Second, they thought that in such a large company, there would definitely be many handsome men, so they could find a man and fall in love. This was their main purpose for entering the company.

  After entering the company, several people were still happy. When they sat together, they thought of He Jucai, Ouyang Qing and others coming. Lan Jingqiu was very curious about how Ouyang Qing and Chen Zhenhua were doing.

  In fact, Lan Jingqiu didn't need to worry about them at all, because Ouyang Qing, Huo Jucui and Chen Zhenhua also didn't have to find work like they did. After all, the people they were attached to already had jobs - Ouyang Qing was in a government department, Huo Jucui worked at the Urban Management Bureau, Ouyang Qing was a clerk at the court, and Chen Zhenhua finally got to wear police uniform as he wished. From now on, he didn't have to just think about cases while sweeping the floor, but could openly solve them with his "colleagues" from the police station.

  He was eager to crack the case, and in less than two days after leaving the hospital, he returned to the police station where he had secretly investigated the death of a woman who died in the ruins not long ago. The five-story building covers an area of thousands of square meters, with steel glass sparkling on the walls, making the building look majestic and luxurious, with exquisite interior decoration. Many police officers were busy at work.

  He walked in through the gate, still feeling a bit nervous, looking around like a thief, hesitantly and stealthily not daring to go in. After struggling for a long time, he finally mustered up the courage and pretended to be familiar as he stepped into the house. He entered a relatively spacious office, where there were over ten police officers doing their own things: some chatting, laughing heartily from time to time; some reading newspapers; some making phone calls, smiling mysteriously, seemingly talking to girlfriends or at least women on the other end of the line. Only one policeman in the left corner was taking notes. Across from him sat a stylishly dressed middle-aged woman, speaking excitedly, with pearl-like saliva flying out like raindrops, splashing everywhere. Chen Zhenhua was some distance away, so he couldn't hear what she was saying, and the policeman just nodded habitually, recording on the paper with a ballpoint pen.

  Chen Zhenhua glanced around the office, uninterested in the chatting and newspaper-reading police officers. He slowly approached the policeman taking notes, eager to hear what case they were discussing. He hoped there would be a case that he could investigate, but what he heard was not what he had expected.

  "Sorry, madam," the policeman said, "we haven't received any similar reports of this situation here, so it's hard to investigate. How about this? You pay attention on the street, if you find or see that person again, report to the police and we can help you get back your current losses."

  "Am I supposed to go look for him myself? You're telling me to find him myself, Officer Huang - is that your name?" The woman seemed surprised by the policeman's words and stood up with a frown. "I came to report a case, and after talking about it for half a day, you tell me to go find the suspect myself? What are you people doing here? Eating?"

  "Yes, you're right, my name is Huang Aiguo. The case you mentioned is indeed rare," Huang Aiguo said with some impatience, seemingly suppressing a certain emotion in his heart. "We don't have any records of this here, so we can't find any suspects. What do you want us police to do?"

  The woman smiled wryly and shook her head, standing up to say coldly: "This is the police, the police who protect the people's lives and property, and on this wall are still hanging several silk banners with 'Cracking Cases Quickly', 'Crime-Fighting Heroes' and 'Heroic Police'. Don't you feel embarrassed?"

  The police officer looked up at the silk banner on the wall, glanced at it disdainfully, waved his hand to let the woman retreat, and then sat down in front of the computer to play games.

  Chen Zhenhua returned to the police station, and his colleagues in the office were not as enthusiastic about his arrival. No one showed surprise or welcome on their faces. Chen Zhenhua thought to himself that it was either because he had been a bad person when he was a real policeman before, so much so that even if he came back from the dead, no one would congratulate him; or else, the people in this police station, which made ordinary citizens respect and fear them, were just too indifferent.

  He didn't know where Chen Zhenhua's old desk was, and he didn't dare ask, couldn't even ask, so he simply sat down stupidly in a place, his eyes scanning around, idly checking everywhere.

  Suddenly, he saw a can of compressed air under the chair in front of him. He rushed over and stepped on it, then put it into the pocket of the uniform he was wearing, which actually belonged to the deceased Chen Zhenhua.

  He didn't forget he was a street sweeper!

  Fortunately, no one noticed his action, and perhaps no one would have deliberately paid attention to him. Otherwise, his inappropriate behavior would have caused a burst of laughter from his colleagues, followed by contemptuous glances at him.

  He put down the can of soda, sat back in his original position, with his knees together and his hands on his knees, looking like a prisoner being interrogated, stiff and awkward.

  He just sat there, with no one greeting him, only occasionally someone walking by would give him a forced smile.

  So at this time Chen Zhenhua felt bored.

  "Everyone stop playing!"

  When Chen Zhenhua was feeling bored, a middle-aged man walked into the office. He had a serious face and looked like he should be a leader. Chen Zhenhua couldn't recognize him, plus he wasn't really a police officer, just a spirit attached to a policeman's body, so he felt a bit tense, his heart beating faster. This mindset was really frustrating, after all, when you're doing something wrong, you can't help but feel uneasy when you see your superior.

  Others who heard someone shouting so loudly quickly got up and surrounded them, standing respectfully, waiting for the speaker to speak.

  "Be careful with your words," the man said. "Yesterday we cracked a murder case, and today reporters are coming to interview us. Whoever is asked must think carefully before speaking. If someone slips up and affects the image of the police department, I won't forgive them."

  "He will ask us, Director!" a policeman raised his hand and asked.

  "It's very likely," said the middle-aged man who was called Director, "Anyway, everyone has taken notice! For the sake of the police bureau's glorious image, we must take this matter seriously."

  Everyone lowered their heads and remained silent, the director saw that no one had anything to say, so he left with satisfaction.

  The head of the police station was referring to a murder case that had recently occurred in the city, which had caused a stir and was being closely watched by police from all over. The public had reacted strongly to the case, so the provincial government had put pressure on the police department to solve it quickly, in order to calm the public's nerves and also to salvage the reputation of the police department in people's minds.

  For this reason, police from all over the country are working overtime, but only the police in Haizhen City Police Station are idle, driving police cars on the streets every day. When they encounter young hooligans fighting and quarreling, they pretend not to see them, but when they encounter a group of elderly people demonstrating for low welfare benefits, they become fierce tigers, frowning and glaring.

  As for this case, they didn't plan to crack it either. Fortunately, heaven blessed them, and the murderer hid in the deep mountains but couldn't bear his stomach's hunger and sneaked into a village to steal chickens, only to be caught by villagers, who then took him to the police station. The director was overjoyed and loudly proclaimed that they had found evidence and arrested the murderer after working through the night and carefully investigating. As a result, all major media outlets competed to report on this, with reporters coming to interview them in order to promote the heroic image of the police.

  "Didn't the villagers catch the suspect?" Chen Zhenhua said to Police Officer Huang Aiguo, who had received the woman's report earlier, after hearing the director's reason for this interview.

  "How did you know?" Huang Aiguo looked at him and said, "Weren't you in the hospital when the case was solved?"

  "I had heard about this case a long time ago," Chen Zhenhua said, "I was sweeping the street at that time?" He was so excited to prove that what he said was true and accurate that he accidentally revealed his pre-mortem occupation.

  "Are you sweeping the streets?" The policeman asked with a chuckle, then furrowed his brow and took another look at Chen Zhenhua.

  "Oh," Chen Zhenhua's eyes rolled around, realizing she had misspoken, and hastily explained, "Didn't I go back to my hometown before I got sick? The front door of our house faces a big street, and I swept that street once."

  The police officer shrugged and said: "I thought you were a cop who became a sanitation worker?"

  Chen Zhenhua said unnaturally: "How could I?"

  The policeman didn't say anything else, continuing to stare at the computer as he thought about how to get through his game. As he thought, he pulled out a bottle of soda from his pocket and chugged it down in one gulp. After finishing the drink, he carelessly tossed the empty bottle on the ground. Chen Zhenhua hastily stepped on it to flatten it, then picked it up and put it back into his pocket.

  "What are you doing?" Huang Aiguo asked in surprise, staring at him.

  Chen Zhenhua found herself exposed again and could only stutter: "I... I... I'm just taking care of hygiene, aren't I?"

  "Cut the crap?" The policeman sneered, his mouth twisted in disdain as he looked at Chen Zhenhua with a tilted head.

  "Don't pretend?" Chen Zhenhua said with wide eyes, "What am I pretending?"

  "Don't others know what kind of person you are? Am I still unclear?" The police officer pouted and said, "Actually, I've seen through your ghostly appearance long ago."

  "Do you know I'm fake?" Chen Zhenhua could hardly believe his ears, he was so astonished that he involuntarily reached out to touch his own face, then took a step back and said, "You saw my ghostly appearance?"

  "Is it?" The policeman said, "You think you can scare me like this?"

  "Please don't tell anyone, okay?" Chen Zhenhua's body couldn't stop trembling. He didn't want the police uniform he had risked his life for to be taken away because of a slip of the tongue. His heart was even more anxious, as he had always wanted to be a detective and solve cases, but now his hope might turn into nothing before he could even officially solve one case.

  "Old man, I'm too lazy to talk about that broken thing." The policeman sneered again and said, "How your dormitory's hygiene is your business, whether you wash your socks or not has nothing to do with me, why should I go around talking about it?"

  "Are you talking about my personal hygiene?! Chen Zhenhua felt relieved after hearing that and secretly congratulated himself for not admitting it first."

  Just breathed a sigh of relief, another footsteps sounded again.