"Li Xiang, come over here for a moment."
When Hou Min saw them return, she immediately called Li Xiang, as the person who lost the phone was still waiting.
"On my way."
Li Xiang responded, put his phone back in his pocket, and jogged over.
As he got closer, he saw the girl from the hotpot restaurant, the one in the white down jacket eating skewers.
At this moment, she still had her sunglasses on.
Honestly, it seemed a bit pretentious.
That was Li Xiang’s first impression of her.
A normal person wouldn’t wear sunglasses all day!
But she was the phone’s owner, so he handed over the phone retrieved from the thief: "Got your phone back for you."
"Thank you so much."
Lin Feifei relaxed immediately upon seeing her phone: "Let me treat you to a meal. You’ve gone out of your way to help me get my phone back and didn’t even have dinner properly."
"No need to be so polite. Our duty is to protect the people’s lives and property. Check your phone; it looks like someone just called you."
After completing the task, the system rewarded Li Xiang with 600 diamonds, raising his balance to over 1000 diamonds and unlocking the dungeon feature.
Now the most important thing wasn’t eating but finishing the report first and then heading home to play the dungeon.
As for the lady’s offer for a meal!
I guess not, with those sunglasses on, love’s not on.
Why bother!
Lin Feifei unlocked her phone and indeed saw two missed calls, both from her assistant, indicating something urgent. She glanced at Li Xiang’s back and decided to make a call first.
"Xiao Ai, my phone was just stolen, but luckily someone helped me get it back. Don’t worry; I’ll tell you everything when I return. I’m on my way."
"Hey, Ms. Lin, please sign a few documents now that you’ve got your phone back; I need to complete the procedure."
"How long will it take approximately?"
Lin Feifei glanced at the time, feeling a bit dry-mouthed. Her assistant had just called, and the organizer was waiting for her.
"I’ll prepare the materials; it should take about half an hour if we hurry."
"Half an hour? Then I’ll come back to sign tomorrow; I really have urgent matters today."
"Alright then, make sure you come over by tomorrow morning."
-----------------
Li Xiang returned to the office and wrote a report on the incident of catching the thief. The whole process wasn’t very complicated, and he wrapped it up in a 500-word mini-essay.
He’s not a liberal arts student; he doesn’t have that kind of eloquent writing skill, so he just wrote a straightforward account.
"Li Xiang, you’re pretty fit, huh? That pickpocket said you chased him for three blocks and eventually wore him out. Nice!"
Sun Zhidong returned to the office and praised Li Xiang upon seeing him. He, too, is an auxiliary officer and knows well how rare it is for them to have opportunities to stand out.
"It was his bad luck; I was just semi-full, chasing after him. If I’d been hungry or too full, I might not have caught him."
If it weren’t for those attribute points, whether he could have caught up would have been unknown.
"Haha, true. Let’s go after work. I’m visiting my girlfriend’s house today, and I can give you a ride."
"That sounds good!"
Sun Zhidong is from a family that made money from urban renewal and drives a BMW 3 Series. Since visiting his girlfriend involves passing by where Li Xiang rents a room, Li Xiang often hitchhikes with him.
"What have you been busy with these past few days? I haven’t seen much of you at the station."
In the car, Li Xiang asked with concern because these past few mornings, Sun Zhidong basically just showed up for a brief moment and then vanished, busy with something else.
"Ah, women are troublesome. There’s a female singer having a concert at the stadium in a few days. My girlfriend is a fan and asked me to get two tickets. She could have told me earlier, but only mentioned it two days ago. I checked, and the tickets were already sold out! I’ve called in every favor these days, yet haven’t gotten any!"
Sun Zhidong was a bit speechless. He couldn’t understand why it was so difficult to get concert tickets: "What’s that singer’s name again? She’s not that famous, so how come there are no tickets left? By the way, Li Xiang, do you know what the singer’s name is?"
"If you hadn’t mentioned the concert, I wouldn’t have known about it. I’m totally out of the loop on these things."
Li Xiang’s entertainment activities are limited to gaming, occasionally watching shows, and listening to songs. But as for the names of stars and singers in the shows, he can’t really tell them apart.
Sun Zhidong: "Ah, being single is better!"
Li Xiang pursed his lips: Who’s he throwing shade at!
He doesn’t have his own house in Jinghai City; he rents an old-style house in a village within the city, and the 500 yuan rent per month is quite a burden for him. Luckily, Hongqiao Police Station comes with a perk of free lunch and dinner, saving him a lot.
With such conditions, how could he find a girlfriend?
His family had introduced him to some nice girls for matchmaking, but after hearing about his conditions, they didn’t want to add to his burden and decided they would seek other prospects instead.
Soon after, Li Xiang arrived home.
By this time, he was eager to take out his phone, click on the game icon, and enter the virtual space.
In an instant, Li Xiang’s surroundings seemed to melt away like ice and snow, turning into nothingness.
Transforming into a virtual cube world seemingly made up of a network grid, extending infinitely with no end in sight, no light source but glowing with an eerie luminescence.
[Ding, player Li Xiang, welcome to the Police Simulator’s virtual space.]
He had entered this scene before, but each time, he was left in awe.
"Unlock the first dungeon."
[Ding, the first dungeon ’Rogue’s World’ is now unlocked.]
[Dungeon Description: The Longhai Railway stretches 1800 kilometers, an important east-west corridor. A gang of thieves has long been plaguing the railway, stealing from travelers, much to the railway police’s disdain. Players will simulate anti-theft officers to eradicate the thief threat.]
[Start dungeon? Yes/No]
Already very curious about the dungeon, Li Xiang didn’t hesitate: "Yes."
The virtual space around him was again covered by some tangible objects, even the clothes on Li Xiang transformed into a jacket. About two seconds later, the surrounding environment had completely changed.
From a virtual environment, it turned into a train car, with Li Xiang himself standing awkwardly at the junction between two carriages. The next second, time resumed, and the previously frozen people and objects began to move, and the scenery outside the window retreated rapidly.
"Seeds, peanuts, drinks, anyone want some? Passengers in front, please make way."
A sweet voice from a train attendant came from behind, and Li Xiang instinctively stepped aside to let the trolley pass, everything feeling so real.
Next, Li Xiang checked the game’s taskbar, and immediately, a semi-transparent taskbar appeared in his retina:
[Dungeon: Rogue’s World]
[Main Task: An anti-theft officer must have a sharp eye, able to accurately identify pickpocket suspects among the bustling crowd and catch them all before the train arrives at the station.]
[Task rewards will be calculated based on task completion, failing if below 60%.]
[Note: The dungeon can only be opened for free once per day.]