Chapter 1

—What is it like to meet your ex again?

Officer Lu: “The tactical uniform I hadn’t washed after a long night still had the criminal’s blood on it; I was holding a garish welcome banner in my hands, in the chaos and panic of welcoming the grand arrival of the Hong Kong Police Force. And my ex was dressed like she was walking a runway, swaggering out of the gate. She raised a knife above my head and plunged it right into the Victoria Harbour I’d been dreaming of.”

.

“Why aren’t you at the airport yet? Didn’t you see the police affairs group messages?” The administrative female officer urged over the phone.

“Processing a scene, where would I find time to check my phone?”

Lu Shimiao sandwiched the phone between her shoulder and her ear, pressing the camera shutter with her fingertip. The scene instantly flared with high-frequency flash.

The car thief with a split-open scalp was squatting across from her, identifying the stolen goods.

The subway entrance was in the midst of rush hour. The rubberneckers and the hurrying commuters inevitably collided and grumbled at each other, the noise swarming. The forty-eight-story building beside them overlooked the urban street view; this crime scene ruined the view and grated on the nerves.

The thought that she’d have to drive over forty kilometers to pick someone up at Pudong made Lu Shimiao’s heart churn with irritation.

“I thought the Hong Kong Police Force was arriving in the afternoon? Why’s it so early?”

“The meeting was moved up.” It was just as chaotic over at the airport. Ren Lili couldn’t help her curiosity and asked an extra question: “Processing a scene so early in the morning? Which case got solved?”

“Large-scale motorcycle theft.”

Sweat dripped from the flyaway hair on Lu Shimiao’s temples, her duty uniform more than half soaked, but her fair skin held a layer of milky white that seemed out of sync with the blazing sun. “We squatted all night; got them with the goods and the criminals in hand.”

A case with an evidence chain that had taken three months to complete did nothing to spark Lu Shimiao’s interest. Instead, the administrative officer on the other end was overjoyed for quite a while.

“So this hopeless case can be packed up and sent to the procuratorate?”

“Who knows if the prosecution will send it back for more evidence! Over thirty motorcycles, I’ve been photographing since 4 a.m., not daring to slack off on a single one.”

Lu Shimiao waved at the criminal, signaling him to step forward a bit. Only after the flash went off did she brush off the call. “So I really can’t make it to the airport pickup.”

“But the city leaders specifically requested you… How am I supposed to explain?” Ren Lili was also in a bind.

The Hong Kong Police Force coming to the mainland to study was a top priority for the Ministry of Public Security this year. The police mobile terminal had issued the notice three months in advance; all kinds of red-letter documents had long since reached the administrative staff. The City Bureau gave the order: the visiting superintendents must be properly arranged.

Three days ago, the Hong Kong Police Force had called the leadership. They asked the City Bureau whether there were any mainland officers who had been exchange students at the Hong Kong Police College.

When the Chief of Police heard that, wasn’t that just naming the Criminal Techniques Center’s Officer Lu? Lu Shimiao was the apple of their Public Security Bureau’s eye and also the only police academy student who had gone to Hong Kong on exchange. As soon as her name was reported, the Hong Kong superintendent didn’t say another word; she changed her flight straight from the capital and rushed to Shanghai, impatient to report.

So for today’s reception team, Lu Shimiao was absolutely indispensable.

“I’ve been up all night catching criminals, I’m still wearing my uniform, dusty and grimy. Wouldn’t it be bad to go like this?” With a major case just cracked, even if she skipped the pickup she could still balance merits and demerits. Lu Shimiao dawdled, unwilling to compromise.

“Give me the phone.” A cold voice cut in.

The Chief of Police saw the administrative officer still hadn’t hung up after ages, reached out and snatched the phone. “Little Lu, who’s with you right now?”

The chief’s deadly question pierced through the phone and caught Lu Shimiao’s heart off guard. Lu Shimiao brought the sandwiched phone to her hand, her reply hollow: “Field Operations Team.”

“Hand your work over to them. You come to Pudong to receive the guests.” The chief finished and hung up.

The screen went black, reflecting Lu Shimiao’s weary face.

Hell.

Monthly salary six thousand five, life more bitter than an Americano.

She really wanted to just resign and be done with it. But then she thought about the recent rise in oil prices… Lu Shimiao silently stuffed her phone into her pocket, getting ready to flash out of the scene.

Before she could take off her camera, suddenly a roar from the young guys in the Field Operations Team tore through the crowd.

“Stop!”

“Don’t run!” The surrounding officers on duty also took off, chasing forward.

What’s going on?

Lu Shimiao lifted her eyes and glanced at the pursuit that had ended sloppily barely ten meters out. A middle-aged man with a familiar face was being pinned to the ground by colleagues. Just one glance was enough for her to identify the criminal. That middle-aged man was precisely the downstream end of the theft ring the police had been hunting—the trader of the stolen motorcycles! In the time it took for a single phone call, both the upstream and downstream criminals had fallen into place. The case-clearance bonus was already beckoning her!

Ha, truly, you search for iron shoes worn to nothing, only to find it…

“Squat down!”

Out of the corner of her eye Lu Shimiao spotted the bald suspect opposite trying to stand up and immediately barked a warning.

Who knew the handcuffed bald man would lock eyes with her, and for whatever reason, he shot forward fast as an arrow, rushing at her with his shiny bald head.

Lu Shimiao swung her camera behind her back and smoothly drew her police baton from her duty belt, nimbly sidestepping. The motion flowed as one, less than an instant. The bald guy, however, made a sliding kneel to brake in time, and his bloody, round head barreled right into Lu Shimiao’s arms. He wiped his face against the beautiful officer’s tactical uniform. “Comrade officer, there’s too much blood blurring my vision, let me wipe it off.”

Anyway, knocking over an officer didn’t count as assaulting police. He was clearly trying to take advantage and get under her skin. Lu Shimiao had seen plenty of such scumbags in the force. She was too lazy to bother with an idiot.

Officer Lu grabbed his clothes and hauled him up from the ground. “If you can’t master the Iron Head technique, you can work on your ‘Iron Bars Behind Bars’ tears in prison.”

She handed the guy over to a colleague, wrapped up the remaining work, then swayed lazily into the mall’s underground parking to find her car.

She pressed the unlock button, and the front of an Audi RS7 blazed with colorful light.

A black warrior coupe, matched with a battle-scarred beauty—a setup straight out of a drama. The onlookers in the parking lot all turned to look. Facing all those envious stares, Lu Shimiao’s face was full of apathy as she slowly pulled open the door and hid herself inside.

She let out a deflated sigh and angled the rearview mirror toward herself. In the mirror, her unwashed hair for two days was slick and shiny with grease, her tactical uniform carried not just mud but the criminal’s blood, and the mix of sweat and blood drown out the car’s air freshener.

Forget it.

Lu Shimiao couldn’t be bothered to tidy up. Let the leadership see her in this shabby state, so they’d stop hounding her every single day. She started the car, sped out of the mall, and dashed onto the elevated highway.

At the same time, the plane hovered high above, the cabin hidden within thick clouds.

Xue Tong sat with arms crossed, leaning back in her seat, feigning sleep. Her swan-like neck pulled an elegant shoulder line; her black hair cascaded like a waterfall past her neck, a Hong Kong–style work ID hanging just above her collarbone. Her fingertips tapped rhythmically at her elbow joint, and with eyes closed she looked like a magazine editorial.

“You specially had me make that phone call to the Shanghai Police Force—don’t think I can’t see through your intentions.” An Lin leaned his head over from the next seat, whispering in Cantonese beside her ear.

Xue Tong’s fingertips paused. She still had her eyes shut.

“After four years you still can’t let go? That into her?” An Lin knitted his brow, his mouth prattling on again. “She’s not even a lesbian, what’s the point? You only need to hold on another half year…”

“You really are annoying.” Xue Tong’s cold gaze shot over, tinged with disappointment. “None of your damn business.”

“I won’t say anything! As soon as I mention her you get mad at me.” An Lin gave up, turned over and closed his eyes to sleep.

He just wanted to land quickly now and see how great the charm of this mainland female cop that Xue Tong couldn’t stop thinking about really was. So great that their superintendent was losing sleep and appetite; one extra mention of her name and she looked ready to swallow someone whole.

–

Ren Lili was chatting with ground staff, a large welcome sign in hand. When she saw Lu Shimiao, who had rushed over all travel-worn, she couldn’t help muttering a quick “Amitabha.” But when she looked more carefully… the Amitabha had come too early.

This wasn’t just dusty and grimy? This was downright unsightly!

Lili reached out and grabbed Lu Shimiao’s tactical uniform; a wave of blood scent hit her immediately. “Did someone assault an officer?”

Lu Shimiao yawned and brushed it off. “Some idiot smeared me.”

“I’ll borrow a set of duty uniforms for you.” Afraid the leadership would blame Lu Shimiao, Lili moved toward the police office. But she was pulled back by the arm before taking two steps.

Lu Shimiao: “Don’t bother. There’s no time.”

Ren Lili glanced at the terminal screen showing the Hong Kong Police Force flight had already landed. She was right, there really was no time…

Lili looked at the welcome sign in her hand, a quick idea sparking, and stuffed it into Lu Shimiao’s arms. “Then use the light sign to cover your clothes. Just rely on your face.”

Just relying on her face—Officer Lu could definitely manage. Lu Shimiao’s looks not only charmed both men and women inside the station, she was famously good-looking across all three institutions of public security, procuratorate, and court. She wore a wolf-cut medium-length hairstyle, the ends landing at her collarbone. When she blinked, subtle emotions hid inside her expression, refusing to reveal themselves. A sense of boundaries flowed beneath her surface, like a thin, flexible net enclosing her. Her restrained and cool gaze was itself the biggest tease, let alone Lu Shimiao’s three-dimensional and exquisite features. After watching her for just this moment, Lili’s face already held a layer of shyness.

“What’s this?” Lu Shimiao looked in shock at the gaudy red and green welcome sign in her arms. An ordinary square hand sign was piled with seven or eight dazzling colors, LED bulbs flashing along the edges, exactly like the “Good Morning” stickers your seventh aunt loves to use in the family group chat.

“The board the bureau made.” Lili answered.

Lu Shimiao was so stunned she clicked her tongue. “Maybe you should just borrow that duty uniform for me after all.”

“Oh, it’s too late, hurry up.” Ren Lili grabbed her arm and sprinted all the way into the terminal.

They’d barely reached the arrival gate when a large crowd started pouring out. The Chief of Police, standing in the front row, saw Lu Shimiao walking over with the light sign and didn’t feel like calling her out for being late. He patted the spot next to him. “Come stand here properly.”

Lu Shimiao obediently went over, propped herself on the railing with her elbows, and forced her nearly shut eyelids to stay open purely by willpower. She then let out a jaw-cracking yawn right in front of the leadership.

“Hold it higher, how else will they see it?” The chief gave the lazy Officer Lu a glance.

Lu Shimiao didn’t want to argue. Fine, she’d hold it up, might as well hide her face too. With a dark expression she obediently lifted the sign high in front of her face.

The chief looked and was still unsatisfied. “It’s blocking your face. Hold it even higher.”

Lu Shimiao: “…”

Truly singing without looking at the songbook—absolutely ridiculous. Holding this thing up, who knew if it would kill their police team or the Hong Kong Police Force first.

Fine…

Anyway, all she had was the fate of following orders. Lu Shimiao lifted the sign further up.

The light board slowly rose, inch by inch.

Her field of vision gradually cleared.

And there, emerging from the exit, was a woman in a cropped jacket, zipper wide open, wearing nothing but a sexy black bandeau underneath, her two honey-toned legs swaying with allure as she walked in Lu Shimiao’s direction. From afar, she looked like a Bond girl. The kind of alpha flirt who stood at the top of the food chain, ready to put two “bang bang” shots right through anyone’s heart.

But as the person drew nearer…

When Lu Shimiao’s gaze passed through the crowd and locked onto the cold, clear eyes of that alpha, suddenly she couldn’t help but burst out a curse.

“Shit!”

Who would have thought that the peak of her social suicide had reached yet another summit.

— About how my vague ex-flame has become my bureau chief’s honored guest.

…
…

Author’s note:

“Ar Sit: ‘Sit’ is the Hong Kong English romanization (Cantonese spelling) of the surname ‘Xue’ (薛). Her friends call her ‘Ar Sit’ (or ‘Arsit’).”
Note: Cantonese will rarely appear in the future; it only appears more frequently in the opening chapters.

T/N: In some parts where the author uses or refers to Cantonese, and depending on the context, the word will be used in Cantonese, but its meaning will be given in parentheses or brackets.