Not long after, Han Fei arrived at the police station.
Seeing that almost all the officers were sitting at their desks, completely engrossed in something, Han Fei felt quite pleased.
He almost instinctively assumed that everyone was studying past case files, learning from experience, or perhaps gaining knowledge through other means.
Han Fei thought to himself that the officers under his command were finally taking things seriously and finally had some initiative!
After all, in the past, when the officers first arrived at the station in the morning, they would usually be smoking and chatting, only returning to their desks when it was time to start work—provided they didn’t have any active cases, of course.
When there was a case, the officers would never behave like this; they knew what was important.
“Did I walk into the wrong place? What’s going on? Did the sun rise from the west today? Everyone’s so focused?” Han Fei said as he walked up behind one of the officers. “Studying past case files?”
As soon as he finished speaking, Han Fei saw the officer look at him with a panicked expression and quickly put away his phone.
It was the classic look of someone caught slacking off by their boss.
Not just this officer, but the others also looked up at Han Fei in unison, then hurriedly stashed their phones away.
Although the officer had put his phone away quickly, Han Fei still caught a glimpse of the screen—he was playing a game. Only then did Han Fei realize that, good grief, these officers weren’t studying cases or learning anything at all. They were just playing games.
Han Fei’s face immediately darkened.
He had been too optimistic about his team of seasoned slackers!
But then again, it made sense. It wasn’t yet work hours, and the station didn’t have any pressing cases at the moment. It was no surprise that these veterans weren’t seriously studying cases or proactively learning.
Seeing the officers’ fearful expressions as they looked at him, Han Fei suddenly wondered if he had been too harsh on them, making everyone so afraid of him.
Han Fei wanted to change that. He wanted to get along better with his team.
“It’s fine, go ahead and play. There’s still some time before work starts. What game are you playing?”
As soon as he finished speaking, the officer shook his head like a rattle drum. “I wasn’t playing anything!”
“I saw it! What do you mean, ‘not playing’? Are you afraid I’ll ask you to play with me again? Think I’m too bad at it?” Han Fei’s face turned stern.
A long time ago, Han Fei had also been obsessed with gaming for a while.
Back then, the police station wasn’t as busy as it was now. It was quite laid-back, so the officers had plenty of free time, clocking in and out on the dot, with no overtime.
Every day after work, Han Fei would ask the officers to play games with him, but he was so bad at it that no one wanted to team up with him.
To avoid having to play with Han Fei, the officers had practically clawed their way up to the highest rank in the game, claiming that their ranks didn’t match and they couldn’t play together.
After that, Han Fei quit gaming altogether because no one would play with him, and he couldn’t win on his own…
“No, no!” the officer quickly denied, throwing in a flattering comment. “How could I think you’re bad? Your gaming skills are the best I’ve ever seen, Captain Han!”
With that, he pulled out his phone and started enthusiastically recommending the game he was playing to Han Fei.
Compared to other games on the market, this one had great graphics and wasn’t too competitive, making it perfect for older players like Han Fei or those with slower reflexes.
The officer had only recommended the game as a formality, expecting Han Fei to brush it off since he had quit gaming long ago. Even if he recommended a new game, Han Fei probably wouldn’t be interested.
But to the officer’s surprise, after hearing the pitch, Han Fei immediately became intrigued.
Nice graphics, not too competitive—this game seemed perfect for him! Han Fei thought to himself.
“This game sounds interesting. I’ll download it later, and you can play with me after work tonight.” Han Fei glanced at the clock on the wall. “There’s still ten minutes before work starts. Don’t play anymore after that.”
…
The morning passed quickly.
The police station still hadn’t received any urgent cases by midday.
During lunch and the short break afterward, Han Fei downloaded the game the officer had recommended and started playing.
Once he started, he was hooked.
So much so that Han Fei, who usually needed a cigarette after lunch every day, didn’t go out to smoke today. Instead, he spent the entire time playing the game—not just by himself, but also dragging a few officers into it.
Xu Mo was completely baffled.
What was going on? Even the “old-timer” Han Fei was obsessed with this game?
The game’s appeal was way too broad!
But even so, Xu Mo still underestimated just how popular the game was.
Since its release, barely twenty to thirty hours ago, downloads across major app stores had already surpassed fifty million and were still skyrocketing.
And that was just the domestic data—overseas numbers hadn’t even been tallied yet!
Moreover, the game’s ability to generate revenue was shockingly strong.
Nine out of ten players were spending money on it, with half being light spenders and the other half being heavy spenders, contributing significantly to the game’s income.
After slacking off a bit during the break, Han Fei finally put his phone down when work resumed in the afternoon.
At 1 p.m., the police station received a report.
A farmer in the outskirts had discovered a body in an abandoned well outside his yard.
After receiving the report, the officers rushed to the scene.
The farmer had noticed a strong smell of decay coming from the well and, upon looking down, was horrified to find a body inside. He immediately called the police.
When the officers arrived at the scene, they quickly retrieved the body from the well.
Xu Mo put on gloves and stepped forward to examine the body.
“The victim is male. His face has been deliberately disfigured, making identification impossible. He appears to be between 32 and 35 years old. The cause of death is severe bleeding from stab wounds, not drowning.” Xu Mo pointed to several obvious knife wounds on the victim’s lower back.
“Time of death is approximately three days ago. When the body was retrieved, it was face down. He was killed and then thrown into the well.”
“The victim is about 185 centimeters tall and weighs around 170 pounds. The killer is likely a local resident—no one would choose to dump a body in an unfamiliar area. Additionally, there’s more than one perpetrator, and they probably had a vehicle. Otherwise, it would’ve been difficult to transport the body to the well and discard it.”