CJLTNS Chapter 1

“Ten thousand yuan! and I’ll give you the photo!”

“How much? Ten thousand? Why don’t you just go rob someone!”

Inside the office of the Kangzhou City Public Security Bureau, a “concerned citizen” was seated at a desk, haggling with two police officers across from him.

When the officers heard the quoted price, their expressions turned sour. One of them, a round-faced officer, forced out a strained smile, his appearance reminiscent of the Maitreya Buddha sitting in a temple. He nudged his thinner-faced colleague with his elbow, signaling him to keep his temper in check.

“This comrade, I’m Ma Pingchuan, Deputy Captain of the Criminal Investigation Unit here in Kangzhou,” he began. “Now, we police and the people—we’re on the same team, right? We’re just trying to catch the murderer quickly and keep the public safe, aren’t we? So how about you cooperate and just hand over the photo?”

The person sitting on the other side of the table didn’t react much to Ma Pingchuan’s good temper. He shook his head and said, “No way, ten thousand it is. That’s the market price. I can’t break the rules.”

The police officer next to Ma Pingchuan immediately stood up and pointed a finger at the man across the table. “It’s every citizen’s duty to cooperate with a police investigation. If you keep this up and refuse to disclose what you know, you could be charged with obstructing justice!”

The man on the other side of the table calmly picked up a disposable paper cup and took a sip of water. He silently thought to himself, The water’s not bad—kind of sweet. But why haven’t they changed these disposable cups? They still have that faint plastic smell like before.

He curled his lips and put the cup down. “Officer, please try to understand—every trade has its rules. In my line of work, we trade photos for money. If I just give them to you for free, what would my clients think if they heard about it?”

The hot-tempered officer was about to say something else, but Ma Pingchuan shot him a look. He immediately fell silent.

“Comrade, you know how it works—government funds have to go through formal procedures. Just give us a moment to report to our superiors. Yuan Kai, go inform the team captain about the situation.”

Yuan Kai glared at the man across the table, eyes wide. As he stood up, his movement dragged the chair back with a sharp screech, loud and jarring.

Fuming, Yuan Kai left the office, walked down the hallway, and went upstairs to the second floor. He entered another office with three dark reddish-brown desks, one in each corner. A whiteboard hung on the wall in the middle, covered with photos and messy lines connecting them.

A girl quickly came up to him. “Kai-ge, how did it go? Did you get the photo?”

Yuan Kai frowned and shook his head, then looked toward the back of the office. “Captain, the guy wants ten thousand for the photo.”

“Ten thousand? Ten grand for one photo? That’s daylight robbery! Even my brother’s limited edition photo cards are only three thousand!”

Her brother again… Yuan Kai looked at the girl with a mix of frustration and disappointment. “Li Fangfei, you…”

He thought for a moment, then swallowed his words. He really didn’t understand young girls’ obsession with internet celebrities. He turned his gaze back to the corner.

The desk was stacked so high with files that only the top of someone’s head and a bit of their forehead were visible behind it. Wisps of white smoke curled up intermittently.

“Give it to him,” came a low, hoarse voice from behind the desk—raspy from too many late nights and too many cigarettes.

Hearing that voice, Yuan Kai hesitated. “But he wants the money today, and we’ll have to go through the reimbursement process. Once Director Wu hears about it, he’s definitely going to nag us.”

His voice got softer and softer, the last few words barely louder than a mosquito buzz.

The man behind the desk stood up and stubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray. “I’ll pay for it. I want to see what kind of photo he has that he dares to ask the Criminal Investigation Unit for money.”

“Alright!”

Now that someone was covering the payment, there was no need to go through red tape or endure Wu’s nagging. Yuan Kai immediately perked up and eagerly followed behind. “Captain, you’ve got to see this. That guy’s way out of line.”

Li Fangfei followed the two of them, munching on a bag of chips. She pouted and shook her head, muttering under her breath, “Now that’s what you call filthy rich… it’s just unfair.”

In Kangzhou’s public institutions, everyone knew about Jiang Chong—Captain Jiang of the Kangzhou Public Security Bureau’s Criminal Investigation Unit. Born into the Jiang Group, he came into the world with a silver spoon in his mouth. Yet instead of inheriting a fortune, he chose to become a police officer.

Back when real estate was booming, the Jiang Group was the undisputed richest enterprise in Kang City. Although the rise of healthcare and internet finance had knocked them down a few spots in recent years, the Jiang Group was still one of the city’s top ten conglomerates.

Jiang Chong exuded an air of money no matter where he went. Because of him, the bottled water at the Kangzhou Public Security Bureau was the slightly sweet “21 Bottles of Nongfu Spring,” unlike other departments that still drank the ten-yuan-a-barrel Ice Dew.

Li Fangfei had heard that the Criminal Investigation Captain, Jiang Chong, was rich and handsome—standing at 1.88 meters tall and looking like a male model, he was basically the Chinese version of Hyun Bin.

Li Fangfei was a female intern who had only joined the Criminal Investigation Division last year. Female officers were already rare in the police force, let alone in criminal investigation. She fantasized about joining the team, winning over Jiang Chong, and securing both love and wealth—her path to the pinnacle of life.

After graduation, Li Fangfei worked extremely hard to get into the Criminal Investigation Division. She had planned to use her charm to win over Jiang Chong. When she first arrived, she spoke in soft tones, broke cookies into tiny pieces to eat, and never dared to eat her fill in the cafeteria—always saving her real meals for after work.

But just two weeks into the job, when she followed the team to a crime scene, Jiang Chong assigned her to fish a corpse out of a river. When she saw the bloated body, she completely gave up any interest in Jiang Chong. No man would ever send a girl he liked to recover a waterlogged corpse—especially one swollen to monstrous proportions.

The corpse made her throw up for an entire day. The next day, Li Fangfei came to work with her true self on full display—no makeup, no daily hair-washing, and loudly munching chips and cookies at her desk.

Even though her feelings for Jiang Chong had cooled, Li Fangfei had to admit—his physique was still impressive.

Standing nearly 1.9 meters tall, with well-defined muscles from years of training, his body lines were visible through the thin dress shirt. Add to that his long legs, and he was an attention magnet wherever he went.

Li Fangfei sighed. Some people really did have it all. Not only did he have such an amazing physique, but he was also born into a wealthy family. Frustrated, she grabbed another handful of chips and stuffed them into her mouth.

“Captain!”

Ma Pingchuan stood up as soon as he saw Jiang Chong enter. Jiang Chong stepped into the room, blocking most of the doorway—the room dimmed a little with his presence.

He looked at the person standing with their back to him, most likely the one here to report something. Just this Monday, there had been a brutal murder in an alley behind a KTV on the west side of the city. One person had died, but unfortunately, there were no surveillance cameras in the alley. On top of that, a heavy rainstorm that night had washed away bloodstains and footprints. It had been a full day, and the case had made no progress.

Half an hour ago, someone suddenly came to the police station claiming to have a photo that might show the suspect. This gave the Criminal Investigation Division a spark of hope. Unfortunately, the person was asking an outrageous price—ten thousand yuan for a single photo.

Jiang Chong examined the person from behind: wearing a white T-shirt with a slightly yellowed neckline, a black wristwatch on the left wrist, loose cargo shorts, and gray canvas sneakers with mud stains. On the floor beside them was an old, bulging brown backpack, also dotted with mud.

Jiang Chong made a quick judgment: this person was not very hygienic.

The person turned around when they heard Ma Pingchuan call out. They faced Jiang Chong directly.

“Captain, this is the civilian who came to provide a lead—Yu Xin.”

Yu Xin. That name was one Jiang Chong would never forget.

In the dim office, Jiang Chong finally got a clear look at Yu Xin’s face. His hair was slightly messy, clearly uncut for a while—long enough to cover part of his eyes and ears.

His facial features were well-defined. The deep eye sockets gave him a vaguely ethnic-minority look, with thick eyelashes and classic fox-like eyes. His nose was small and high-bridged, and the corners of his lips curved slightly in a natural smile. His skin was pale and unhealthy-looking. If it weren’t for the heavy dark circles under his eyes, with a bit of grooming, he could rival the pop idols that Li Fangfei admired.

Jiang Chong and Yu Xin stared at each other in silence. Neither spoke.

Ma Pingchuan looked confused. He thought Jiang Chong was furious about this guy asking for money. But that didn’t make sense. Jiang Chong was so rich that he single-handedly elevated the standards of the entire Kangzhou Public Security Bureau. A mere ten thousand yuan wouldn’t even make him blink.

Jiang Chong was slightly taller than Yu Xin. At 1.8 meters tall, Yu Xin still had to tilt his head up slightly to face him. Jiang Chong’s broad frame blocked most of the sunlight streaming in from the doorway. The light that did shine past him created a sort of halo around his body.

Damn it, still that handsome. What is he, the Buddha or a Bodhisattva? Why the hell is he glowing?

Yu Xin silently grumbled in his heart, then forced a smile onto his face. “So you’re the big boss, huh? Like I said—money first, then the photo.”

Jiang Chong stared intently at Yu Xin, his chest rising and falling ever so slightly. His hands, hanging by the seams of his trousers, clenched into fists. Ma Pingchuan sensed the tension—uh-oh, was Jiang Chong about to lose his temper?

He quickly stepped forward, forcing a smile to defuse the situation. “Let’s all sit down, everyone.”

Ma Pingchuan pulled Jiang Chong into the seat beside him, directly across from Yu Xin.

Yu Xin plopped down casually, bouncing his right leg up and down like a sewing machine, making his whole body shake.

Seeing him like that, the unchanging iciness on Jiang Chong’s face twitched ever so slightly. He opened his noble lips: “I’ll pay. I’ll transfer it right now.”

The moment he heard the word “pay,” Yu Xin stopped bouncing his leg instantly. “How do you want to pay? Cash, card, or WeChat?”

Jiang Chong, who kept 40,000–50,000 yuan in cash in his office drawer to streamline expenses and buy snacks for his team, raised a hand to stop Ma Pingchuan—who was about to get the cash—and said, “WeChat.”

Yu Xin took out his phone from his pants pocket, tapped a few times, pulled up his WeChat payment QR code, and held it out to Jiang Chong.

Jiang Chong paused for a second when he saw the code, but quickly composed himself. Within less than a second, he scanned it and transferred 10,000 yuan.

When Yu Xin saw the 10,000 yuan hit his account, he couldn’t hold back his smile.

The wider Yu Xin smiled, the colder Jiang Chong’s expression became. “You can give us the photo now, right?”

Yu Xin was a man of strong professional ethics—he got paid, he delivered. He immediately opened his photo album, found a dark and grainy image, and handed it over. “I took this behind the KTV that night. That guy’s probably your killer!”

Jiang Chong picked up the phone, and Ma Pingchuan and Yuan Kai leaned in beside him to take a look. Since it was nighttime, the photo on the phone was a bit dark, but it was very clear. It showed a person wearing a black raincoat walking away, the hood pulled over their head, revealing most of their face.

Jiang Chong put down the phone and looked at Yu Xin. “How can you be sure that this person is the killer?”

Yu Xin looked full of confidence as he took his phone back. “I staked out the back door all night that night. He was the only one sneaking around. Occasionally, chefs and waiters came and went, but their behavior was totally normal. Besides, I’m sure you already investigated all the KTV staff and found nothing—otherwise you wouldn’t have paid for my photo.”

That… actually made sense. Jiang Chong clenched his molars tightly—he had never felt this much regret over spending money. He nodded and took out his phone. “Fair enough. I’ll add you on WeChat. Send me the photo there.”

Yu Xin held up his phone and shook his head. “Boss, we’re both using iPhones—let’s just use AirDrop.”

“Alright, AirDrop it is.”

A few seconds later, Jiang Chong received the photo sent by “Xin.” He immediately forwarded it to a group chat called “Criminal Investigation TangYuan Group (Singles Version)”, followed by a message: “Tangyuan, run a facial recognition scan.”

Everyone at the police bureau knew about the “Tangyuan duo” in the criminal investigation team—Tang Qijun and Yuan Kai—Jiang Chong’s top lieutenants. One was calm, the other sharp. Tang Qijun was a classic homebody, into computers and video games, while Yuan Kai was agile and quick-witted, skilled at tailing and surveillance. They’d both been with Jiang Chong since their first day in the criminal unit.

Jiang Chong put down his phone and looked up at Yu Xin. “Yu Xin, what were you doing there that night, just happened to be in that spot?”

Often, informants or those who proactively provide clues turn out to be suspects themselves. No matter how much Yu Xin looked like a helpful citizen, Jiang Chong wasn’t going to overlook any detail.

Jiang Chong’s gaze was cold and sharp—so sharp that it made many criminals tremble. Yu Xin met his eyes for a moment, then bent down and pulled a box from the side pocket of his backpack, taking out a handful of business cards and handing them out, even giving one to Ma Pingchuan: “I’m a reporter for Joy Media, been tracking celebrity activity for a long time. That night, I was tailing a celebrity and camped out at the back entrance all night.”

Jiang Chong glanced at the business card. It was poorly made, with cheap material and little texture. In plain black print, it read: “Joy Media Reporter, Yu Xin.”

Jiang Chong let out a soft scoff in his mind. Calling him a reporter was being generous—he was a paparazzo, someone who secretly photographed celebrities’ private lives to sell the photos. No wonder he demanded payment earlier—standard practice in that line of work.

Even though they’d finally found a lead and it should’ve been a good thing, Ma Pingchuan could sense Jiang Chong’s mood drop. Jiang Chong stood up and instructed Ma Pingchuan to have Yu Xin complete the registration and sign the necessary forms.

When Yu Xin walked out of the police building, a brown backpack slung over his shoulder, he didn’t notice that someone was watching him.

Jiang Chong held a cigarette between his fingers, exhaling a puff of smoke. Through the haze, he watched Yu Xin get into an older model sedan at the roadside and disappear into the rush hour traffic.

Jiang Chong raised the cigarette to his lips and took another drag. After a full day and night without sleep, the nicotine perked him up a bit. He tapped the railing with his fingers, silently thinking to himself:

Yu Xin, after six years… You’ve finally shown up.

---

Every domineering Captain has a doctor friend, but Jiang Chong’s doctor friend happens to be a forensic pathologist.

Fang Xu, the chief forensic examiner at the Kangzhou City Public Security Bureau, came downstairs in a white lab coat, holding a bowl of instant noodles. He walked over to Jiang Chong, took a slurp, and asked, “Jiang Chong, what are you looking at?”

Jiang Chong shook his head. “Nothing.”

Fang Xu wanted to say more, but just then, his apprentice Sun Xiaoyang came out of the Criminal Investigation Division’s office holding a sausage. “Master, here’s your sausage!”

Sun Xiaoyang treated the Criminal Investigation Division’s office like his own home. Fang Xu handed him the bowl and praised him, “Xiaoyang, I think you’ve improved again!”

Sun Xiaoyang scratched his head shyly. “That’s all thanks to your great teaching, Master!”

Watching the master and apprentice compliment each other like this, Jiang Chong found it a bit hard on the eyes and automatically moved away from them.