Am I really hallucinating?

Chapter 457 This Lottery Ticket
At 1:57, after resolving the issues with the Bureau and submitting the hastily prepared report, Lu Chongming drove to the address Zheng Fan had given him, which was the bar.

He parked his car on the side of the road and saw Zheng Fan standing under the streetlight.

Zheng lit a cigarette but didn't smoke it himself. He put it in the beak of the black sparrow motorcycle and watched as the black beak held the cigarette until it burned out.

"Mr. Illusion?"

"Huh? Why are you so slow? Who's been messing with you again?" Zheng Fan, like a robot, didn't move his body at all, only his head rotated precisely ninety degrees to look at Lu Chongming, which startled Lu Chongming.

"No, it's just that the overpass was bombed at this time, causing quite a commotion. To save energy after dawn, I took care of the minor issues early. Why do you make it sound like I'm easily troubled..."

As Lu Chongming spoke, his voice trailed off as he looked at Zheng Fan silently watching him.

"You should know your own limitations."

"Okay," Lu Chongming said weakly.

Zheng Fan straightened up: "Besides, didn't you also say that someone within the Bureau would maliciously compete against you? Spreading your information is just the beginning. Since it's the beginning, you can't be sure the other party won't go further. With Jiangwen Street in such chaos right now, it's incredibly easy to use someone else to do your dirty work."

Upon hearing this, Lu Chongming's expression also became slightly serious: "You're right."

Having worked his way up from the gray streets, he naturally didn't harbor any illusions that the bureau was completely innocent.

"But we can talk about that later. First, help me look something up," Zheng Fan said, getting straight to the point.

"what?"

Zheng Fan handed over the note containing the intelligence. Lu Chongming took it, glanced at it a few times, and nodded, saying, "Another suspected system owner? Alright, it doesn't matter if it's just tracking someone's whereabouts."

Lu Chongming himself did not intend to use his position to hunt down other system owners for no reason. Even though doing so in the current Jiangwen Street would be very profitable, it would undoubtedly leave some leverage that could be easily exploited by those with ulterior motives.

He doesn't even trust the system yet, so naturally he wouldn't sacrifice current stability to do these things.

But if it's just a side job to help Zheng Fan check his whereabouts, then there's naturally no problem.

"There's another tainted creature, probably a female zombie. Not very tall." Zheng Fan described the zombie girl's general appearance, gesturing to show her height: "Anyway, that's it. You can investigate it yourself, just don't kill her. She's my daughter's pet."

Lu Chongming silently took notes, but after listening, his main point was: "You really have other hosts besides Miss Lin Yilin?"

"Nonsense, isn't this body just...?" Zheng Fan disgustedly tugged at Cheng Fei's face.

“That’s not what I meant.” Lu Chongming tried to find the right words, but suddenly didn’t know how to express himself: “It’s like… uh…”

"You don't mean 'having multiple relationships at the same time,' do you?"

“Yes! Ah, but there are still some differences.” Lu Chongming’s eyes lit up, but he waved his hands repeatedly to explain.

Zheng Fan put his hands in his pockets and said, "It's alright. My current situation is that I have indeed done it all. Lin Yilin brought me the feeling of ordinary daily life and mental relaxation, Jiang Si brought out my violent and disorderly side, Doris satisfied my past fantasies about music, and there was no reason to refuse such a handsome super robot as Carrot."

Lu Chongming's mouth gaped open slightly: "So there were more than two..."

"This second life, which is called an illusion, exists for me to fill the void left by my previous life. The invincible power I have is just right for that. If I can't live happily, I will leave this world without any regrets after I figure out the circumstances of my bizarre transmigration."

“…Although I don’t quite understand, Mr. Illusion is a very remarkable person. Your talent and your early upbringing shaped your extraordinary perspective.” Lu Chongming mentioned, “If it were me, I probably couldn’t be as carefree as you no matter how I put myself in your shoes.”

"That's true. In short, I'm very greedy, which is why I can't help but want to do things with this power I've gained. It's like a normal person who wins the lottery for no reason and will naturally squander it according to their own preferences."

As they spoke, the cigarette that the black sparrow was holding in its beak burned out.

"Alright, I'm going to find Xiao Zhao and the others. Don't keep me waiting too long. Although there aren't as many restrictions supporting this body now, this uncomfortable fatigue is still very unpleasant." Zheng Fan got on the motorcycle and started the engine.

“I will go back and investigate immediately, and keep in touch,” Lu Chongming replied.

Zheng nodded and drove off, the roar of his motorcycle spreading into the night, disappearing into the darkness along with his black figure.

“I really want to be as free and unrestrained as him…” Lu Chongming couldn’t help but sigh, but then he shook his head: “But even though he is free and unrestrained, he still gets entangled in things without realizing it.”

...At 2:30 a.m., Lu Chongming returned to the processing bureau.

"Hmm? Wasn't Captain Lu planning to take a break tonight? Why is it that you're back again at just past two in the morning after dealing with a Roller Gang?" The duty officer from the Bureau of Handling Affairs was familiar with Lu Chongming.

She was the one who greeted Lu Chongming when he first arrived, but now he's "Team Leader Lu," which is quite remarkable.

"Can't sleep?" Lu Chongming greeted him with a smile.

"I haven't seen you rest for a month, how can you not sleep?"

"I'm the kind of person who can't stay idle. Which monitoring team is on duty at the monitoring center tonight?"

"You're from Zhongwen's group. You had a conflict with Zhongwen when you first arrived, right? You want to check the surveillance footage?" the female member on duty replied and asked.

"Oh, I see. I'll go talk to them myself then. It's just a minor friction in the competition, nothing to worry about," Lu Chongming explained with a smile.

"Xiao Lu, you're already the captain, but you're always going it alone, which is a disadvantage. Don't you really plan to organize your own team?"

"I was originally in the mobile group. There's no set formation size, and I can't find anyone who can keep up with me. I can't expect others to suffer like this with me."

"That's right."

Lu Chongming walked deeper into the monitoring center. Even late at night, it was still bustling with activity, as many members who needed to access street surveillance footage came and went.

Lu Chongming attracted a lot of attention as soon as he entered.

“Lu Chongming?” a voice immediately said.

"Good evening, Zhongwen," Lu Chongming greeted without flinching.

The man standing in the center of the room, holding a hot coffee, looked Lu Chongming up and down: "Weren't you taking a break? Or are you still impatient to climb up? You're really something, saying you were taking a break but you secretly took care of a whole 'Roller Gang' convoy."

"It was just an accident, though you might not believe me if I say that."

"Heh." Zhong Wen chuckled, but surprisingly cooperated: "Speak, what do you want to investigate?"

"A tainted creature."

"You want to get involved in the tainted creature case again? Kang Zhengshan is investigating the recent frequent appearances of tainted creatures. Do you want to steal it?" Zhong Wen's tone was sarcastic.

Lu Chongming sighed inwardly, but remained calm on the surface: "I don't intend to rob it, I'm just looking into something for someone."

Zhongwen remained noncommittal: "It doesn't matter, you can investigate. Xiaotian, you help him."

Lu Chongming thought he would be given a hard time, since he hadn't applied for an internal investigation order and it was a purely personal request. If he was blocked, he would have no choice but to accept it, either apply for one or wait for the monitoring center to send a more accommodating team.

He did have some friction with Zhong Wen in front of him.

Zhong Wen was promoted to captain a little earlier than him, but when Lu Chongming first arrived, he was just an ordinary recruit, just like him. However, he had already spent a lot of time accumulating enough merits.

Since arriving, Lu Chongming has devoted all his free time to working hard, except when he was with the team. He investigated all kinds of cases and accidentally got involved in Zhong Wen's case.

Then, without knowing this, Lu Chongming solved the case before Zhong Wen, indirectly causing Zhong Wen's promotion to be delayed.

The two almost came to blows when they got angry, and ended up parting on bad terms.

Zhongwen's generosity made Lu Chongming feel a little embarrassed.

"Sooner or later, this will make countless enemies." At this moment, Zhong Wen muttered to himself, seemingly to himself, but also as if he was saying it specifically to Lu Chongming.

I really didn't mean to steal the credit...

Lu Chongming thought helplessly to himself. As for why he didn't say it, he knew that this was already the image he had in Zhong Wen's mind.

(End of this chapter)