Nanjiang City, Yunlin Street, Spring Tide Home.
Inside a tobacco and liquor store on the ground floor to the right of the East Gate of Phase One, North District, Zhang Jian, captain of the Yunlin Police Station's criminal investigation team, wore a grim expression.
"Shen Xin, at 11:35, I radioed everyone that surveillance caught the suspect riding toward the East Gate. Did you hear me or not?"
Shen Xin was in his early twenties, with a fair and clean-cut look. He had just graduated from the police academy last year and was now an intern at the Yunlin Police Station.
"I heard you."
Shen Xin nodded.
Zhang Jian continued, "From where the camera caught him, it takes less than two minutes to ride to the East Gate. Look at the surveillance timestamp yourself. At 11:34, where were you?"
Spring Tide Home was a resettlement community without proper property management. Its surveillance system was poorly maintained; the camera at the East Gate, for instance, was broken.
However, a camera outside the tobacco and liquor store could see Shen Xin on his stakeout at the East Gate.
The footage showed that at 11:34:47, Shen Xin, who had been lingering at the East Gate, walked north and disappeared from the camera's view.
He didn't reappear until 11:35:34.
That meant there was a gap of nearly a minute in between.
Shen Xin pressed his lips together, not knowing how to answer.
He had indeed stepped away for a moment. After the long stakeout, he'd had to pee and went to relieve himself in the green belt north of the East Gate.
But who could have known the timing would be so awful, that the suspect would be spotted heading for the East Gate at that exact moment?
The thing was, he had returned immediately after hearing the call on the radio.
But he truly hadn't seen the suspect.
"Shen Xin, this is no small matter. Don't you dare drop the ball on me," Zhang Jian's tone grew even sterner.
Spring Tide Home was the largest resettlement community in Yunlin Street, built in three phases with a permanent population of thirty thousand.
Recently, a gang had appeared in the area, specifically targeting expensive Number 6 electric scooters for theft.
In just a few days, they had stolen over a dozen scooters in one go. They were unbelievably rampant.
"Old Zhang, that's enough."
Just then, a middle-aged man standing nearby with graying temples, a thin face, and wearing a crew-neck cardigan stepped forward. He tugged on Zhang Jian's arm and said in a low voice, "The suspect got away. None of us are happy about it, but you can't just pick on Xiaoshen."
"When was I picking on him?" Zhang Jian's eyes widened. "Lao Li, I'm just trying to get a clear picture of what happened."
The middle-aged man's name was Li Dongsheng. He was the mentor Shen Xin had acknowledged after starting his internship at the police station.
"What is there to ask about?" Li Dongsheng pointed at the monitor. "You saw the footage. Shen Xin probably just had to pee. Besides, he came right back. How could it be so coincidental that the suspect slipped away in that tiny window? As far as I can tell, the timing doesn't add up."
The suspect was spotted heading for the East Gate at 11:35, and Shen Xin was away from the camera's view for less than a minute.
Could it be so coincidental that the person vanished in just thirty seconds?
It would have taken time for the suspect to ride over.
"Old Zhang, this gang isn't your average crew. They're bold and resourceful. It wasn't just our team that failed today. The stakeouts at the other several communities all came up empty-handed. You can't keep finding fault with Xiaoshen."
It wasn't just their location where the operation had failed.
Even the owner of the tobacco and liquor store chimed in to help, saying that ever since Shen Xin started his rotation at the community police office, he had been very responsible. The camera right out front had been broken for a long time, and it was Shen Xin who discovered it during his patrol and urged her to get it fixed.
"Hold on."
Zhang Jian waved a hand, stopping Li Dongsheng from saying more. "I was just asking," he said, exasperated.
He understood Li Dongsheng.
After all, it was his own apprentice; of course he'd feel protective.
"Alright, I'm going to check on the other communities." Zhang Jian waved his hand, annoyed.
Just as Li Dongsheng had said, the operation hadn't just failed here in Phase One's North District. The stakeouts at the other four communities had all failed to catch anyone as well.
And yet, three more Number 6 electric scooters had been stolen in one fell swoop.
Zhang Jian was completely numb. He had organized nearly twenty people for such a large-scale operation, and they still hadn't managed to catch a single person. It was truly a bit humiliating.
Following Li Dongsheng out of the store, the cool night air cleared Shen Xin's head a little. The first thing he did was admit his mistake to Li Dongsheng.
'If I hadn't gone to relieve myself, maybe I would have been there to catch the suspect.'
'And catching one could have led us to the entire gang.'
'Now, with such a big operation, we've tipped our hand. The suspects might flee and commit crimes elsewhere.'
'It'll be much harder to catch them then.'
"This isn't your fault. We all share the responsibility."
Li Dongsheng waved his hand dismissively. "It's a huge resettlement community, and we have so few people. We deployed everyone we could, one person per exit. There were bound to be oversights."
It wasn't just Shen Xin's post where they slipped through.
Shen Xin grunted in acknowledgment, but he still felt wronged and frustrated.
"Alright, it's getting late. Your shift should've been over a while ago. Why don't you head home for now," Li Dongsheng said.
Shen Xin was currently on rotation at the community police office. He didn't get rotating days off and had to be up early for work tomorrow.
After saying this, he walked off quickly to meet up with the main team in the other communities.
Watching his master leave, Shen Xin sighed and walked dejectedly toward the police office.
On the way, Shen Xin replayed the operation in his mind.
'I did leave for a moment, but I was right next to the East Gate. I came back the second I heard the radio call.'
'But I really didn't see anyone leaving on a Number 6 electric scooter.'
'The key is that all the community's exits were being watched. So where did the suspect go? It's not like he could've just sprouted wings and flown away.'
'This whole thing is just so weird.'
Back at the police office, no one was there.
The other officer, Old Zhou, had gone to Phase Two for the stakeout.
Just as he was about to open the door, a cat suddenly darted out from the green belt nearby.
"Da Mei!"
Shen Xin's eyes lit up.
It was a calico cat.
Last month, the final stop on Shen Xin's internship rotation had been the community police office.
There were many residential communities in this area, and many stray cats.
As for Shen Xin, he had loved small animals since he was a kid, and they seemed to be particularly fond of him too.
Take Da Mei, for example.
Calicos are already considered the beauties of the cat world, and she was a long-haired one with a perfectly symmetrical face. It was no exaggeration to say that wherever Da Mei went, there wasn't a single tomcat that didn't stare.
But she was extremely wary. Shen Xin had heard from the local cat lovers that they had organized adoption attempts for Da Mei more than once, but none had ever succeeded.
And yet, Da Mei was only ever unguarded around Shen Xin.
She would often run to the police office to ask for rubs.
"Where did you run off to?" Shen Xin quickly crouched down and checked Da Mei's body.
Thankfully, there were no injuries.
Shen Xin hadn't seen Da Mei since last weekend.
Crucially, she had just given birth to a litter and was at her weakest, needing a lot of nutrition.
Shen Xin had been quite worried about her.
Da Mei meowed, continuously rubbing against Shen Xin's pant leg.
Shen Xin thought she was hungry, so he opened the door and took out some cat food for her.
But she didn't eat. Instead, she kept rubbing against his pant leg and even pawed at his shoelaces.
"Alright, I know you must have been starving and miserable after getting lost. I'll buy you some canned food tomorrow to help you recover," Shen Xin said, picking Da Mei up to comfort her.
Da Mei just kept crying out to Shen Xin.
Shen Xin didn't think much of it, already planning to canvass the surrounding businesses again to see if there were any witnesses.
'An electric scooter and a living person can't just vanish into thin air, can they?'
Just as he was about to put Da Mei down, she suddenly seemed to become flustered and exasperated. She ducked her head and bit Shen Xin's hand.
She didn't use any force; her teeth just grazed his skin lightly.
Startled by the nip, Shen Xin instinctively let go. Da Mei landed on the ground and continued to MEOW nonstop at him, even tugging at his pants with her paws.
"What are you doing? Now you're biting me."
Shen Xin exclaimed. As he looked down, he suddenly noticed something wasn't right.
In the darkness of the night, an icon that looked like a battery meter had suddenly appeared above Da Mei's head. It was glowing, like a 3D projection from a sci-fi movie.
Shen Xin instinctively rubbed his eyes, thinking they were playing tricks on him.
But they weren't.
There really was an icon above Da Mei's head, moving along with her.
And when she meowed urgently, the bars inside the icon's frame would fade and disappear, one by one.
Shen Xin was completely dumbfounded. 'Have I been working too many night shifts? Am I hallucinating?'