Villain? No, I'll catch up with the protagonist after passing the civil service exam.

The street food stalls exuded a rich aroma of cumin and lamb skewers.

The bells of shared bicycles rang crisply in the alleyways filled with the atmosphere of everyday life.

"Ring ring—"

Lu Jingyan braced himself on the ground with his long legs, and the front wheel of his bicycle barely avoided a manhole cover that wasn't properly covered.

The bike chain was out of oil, and it made a squeaking noise when I pedaled.

Su Xiaoxiao sat on the hard back seat. Her arms were wrapped around the man's waist, and her cheek was pressed against the faded old police uniform.

"Ouch, I'm so shaken up." She rubbed her sore bottom and muttered softly.

"Speed ​​bumps," Lu Jingyan replied.

He gripped the handlebars, half of which had lost their rubber cover, and squeezed the brakes. The brakes screeched against the rims.

The two stopped at the crossroads of an old street.

The streetlights cast a dim yellow glow. Several moths fluttered around the bulbs.

Ahead was a whole row of food stalls. The range hoods were whirring, and white fumes were billowing straight into the sky.

The air was filled with the pungent aroma of chili powder and the overpowering fragrance of hot oil poured over scallions.

"I'm hungry." Su Xiaoxiao sniffed.

She jumped off the back seat, dusted off her canvas bag, and pointed to the fried noodle stall with a red plastic canopy on the street corner.

"This is it! I've been eating energy paste in Space City for half a month, and my mouth is so bland I could fly out of it."

Lu Jingyan pushed the shared bicycle into the white-lined grid on the side of the road.

He kicked off the footrest. He took out his old phone with the cracked screen, scanned the code, and locked the car.

With a "click," the bike lock engaged. One dollar and fifty cents were deducted.

He turned around and followed Su Xiaoxiao toward the smoky stall.

The stall owner was a chubby middle-aged man wearing a tank top. He had a towel of indeterminate color draped around his neck and was stirring the food in a wok.

Flames leaped up the edge of the pot, making people's faces burn.

"Boss, two bowls of stir-fried rice noodles, please! One with extra chili and bean sprouts, and the other without scallions and with less oil!"

Su Xiaoxiao expertly stated her requirements and pulled out two greasy red plastic stools.

"Alright! Please make yourselves at home, it'll be ready in a minute!" The chubby uncle didn't even look up, his large iron ladle clanging loudly against the iron pot.

Lu Jingyan walked to the low table.

A layer of transparent plastic glass covered the table, beneath which lay a dirty menu. The surface was sticky and stained with half-circles of beer marks left by previous customers.

He didn't sit down immediately.

He reached into his pocket with his long, slender fingers and pulled out a pack of tissues. He took two tissues, bent down, and vigorously wiped the table.

The white tissue instantly turned grayish-black.

Su Xiaoxiao rested her chin on her hand, watching his serious expression.

"Director Lu, this will have to do." She nudged the edge of his leather shoe with her toe. "This isn't your sterile interstellar command center."

Lu Jingyan threw the dirty tissue into the trash can at her feet.

"Inadequate hygiene conditions can easily lead to acute gastrointestinal infections."

He pulled down the cuff of his trousers and sat down on the slightly wobbly plastic stool. His long legs were bent awkwardly.

"Come on, a little dirt won't make you sick."

Su Xiaoxiao smiled and took apart a pair of disposable wooden chopsticks. She rubbed them together a couple of times to remove the splinters, then handed them to him.

"Look, let's get down to earth."

Lu Jingyan took the chopsticks. The rough texture of the wood surface reached his fingertips.

It felt stiff, but more real than those liquid metal tableware from Sirius.

At the next table sat a middle-aged couple in their pajamas. On the table were several skewers of grilled lamb kidneys and two cheap green-bottled beers.

The two were arguing over something trivial, and they were talking quite loudly.

"How many times have I told you to buy light soy sauce? You bought dark soy sauce and now the dishes are all black and murky, how are we supposed to eat them!" The woman tapped the rim of her bowl with her chopsticks, spitting as she spoke.

"Then the supermarket is having a discount on dark soy sauce! It's a dollar and fifty cents cheaper!" the man retorted, sticking his neck out, and took a big gulp of beer.

"You'll buy it just because it's a dollar and fifty cents cheaper! If you get food poisoning, a hospital visit and injections will cost hundreds! Have you lost your mind?!"

The noise, mixed with the beeping of horns from the surrounding electric vehicles, created complete chaos.

Lu Jingyan didn't find it noisy.

He leaned back in his plastic chair, his deep black eyes silently watching the blushing couple next door.

There is no longer the freakish Titan who would try to snap his fingers and wipe out half of all life in the universe.

The interstellar charlatan wielding a lightsaber and attempting to brainwash people with the Force is gone.

There is no extraterrestrial fleet that blots out the sky and stops outside the atmosphere demanding resources.

There was only one couple, who sat on the street arguing heatedly over buying the wrong bottle of soy sauce and over a price difference of one yuan and fifty cents.

The man's Adam's apple bobbed up and down.

The beating heart in my chest finally settled back into my stomach.

He suddenly realized that this was the real world he had been working so hard to protect—by solving cases, issuing tickets, and arresting people while running a sewing machine.

Rough, noisy, full of trivial calculations, yet so vivid that you don't want to close your eyes.

"What are you thinking about? You seem so engrossed."

Su Xiaoxiao waved her hand in front of his eyes.

"It's nothing."

Lu Jingyan withdrew his gaze. The cold, hard defense in his eyes completely disappeared, revealing a rare hint of relaxation.

"Stir-fried noodles are here! Be careful, they're hot!"

The portly man placed two large, chipped porcelain bowls steadily on the table. Steam billowed out immediately.

The rice noodles were stir-fried until they were glistening with oil. They were topped with a layer of crisp mung bean sprouts and a few thin slices of egg.

Su Xiaoxiao couldn't wait to pick up a big mouthful with her chopsticks, blow on it twice, and then stuff it into her mouth.

"Hot, hot, hot..." She hissed, catching her breath from the heat, but still managed a mumbled comment, "Delicious! This is the taste!"

Lu Jingyan looked at the fine beads of sweat on her nose.

He didn't rush to pick up his chopsticks. Instead, he took a rough napkin from the simple plastic chopstick holder next to him and handed it to her.

"Eat slowly. Nobody's going to take it from you."

He picked up his chopsticks, took a rice noodle, and put it in his mouth.

It's too oily, too salty, and has too much MSG. It makes my heart burn a little.

But these coarse carbohydrates truly filled the hunger pangs in my body.

The two sat under the dim streetlights. The surrounding area was filled with the noisy sounds of people playing drinking games.

Halfway through her meal, Su Xiaoxiao's eyes darted around. She reached for Lu Jingyan's bowl with her chopsticks.

He took the biggest piece of egg.

Lu Jingyan paused for a moment, looking at the missing piece of scrambled egg in his bowl.

"Isn't it in your bowl?" He looked up at her.

"Yes, there is." Su Xiaoxiao bit into an egg, smiling like a cat that had just stolen some cream. "But the ones in other people's bowls always taste a little better, right?"

Lu Jingyan remained silent.

He silently moved the remaining few pieces of broken egg from his bowl to the top of hers.

After finishing the last bite of noodles, Su Xiaoxiao let out a satisfied burp.

Lu Jingyan stood up. He took out his phone and scanned the grease-stained WeChat payment code in front of the stall.

"WeChat payment, 20 yuan."

A mechanical female voice rang out in the noisy street.

"Boss, the money's gone." Lu Jingyan put his phone back in his pocket.

"Alright! Take care, you two, come again next time!" The chubby uncle wiped the sweat from his face with a towel and continued tossing the wok.

The early autumn night breeze felt a bit chilly.

The two walked side by side along the old street's cobblestone path. The streetlights cast long shadows of them.

Not far along, a row of old sycamore trees appeared at the end of the street.

The shadows of the trees swayed gently.

After paying the bill, the two walked side by side to a familiar old office building. The old sign that read "Jinghai City Special Case Investigation Team" still hung next to the rusty iron gate.