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

Lu Jingyan raised his hand.

Rough fingertips pressed against the peeling paint on the iron gate. The rusty, slightly prickly coolness of the metal sent a shiver down his spine.

With a slight exertion of force in the wrist, push forward.

"Creak—"

The door hinges had been without lubrication for too long. The sharp, piercing noise of metal rubbing against metal echoed in the empty hallway.

The door panel was just cracked open.

The distinctive flavor of pickled cabbage noodles, mixed with the burnt smell of cheap printer toner, filled my nostrils.

This smell doesn't go on the table.

But compared to the lifeless, sterile air circulating in an alien space station, this smell can instantly bring you back to life.

Lu Jingyan stepped over the high threshold. His black leather shoes trod on the slightly uneven terrazzo floor.

The office was as messy as usual.

Several old-fashioned desks were pushed together. On the desks were piles of files half a foot high, and several potted green ivy plants, almost dying of drought, drooped their leaves.

At the workstation by the window, veteran detective Lao Li was holding a stainless steel lunchbox.

He had half a mouthful of instant noodles in his mouth and a mouse in his hand. The surveillance footage of the visit was playing on the screen.

The old laser printer next to it was groaning in pain. The A4 paper it was spitting out was stuck halfway, covered in black streaks of leaked ink.

"Old Li, the noodles are getting soggy."

Lu Jingyan stood at the doorway, one hand in his pocket, and gave a reminder in a voice that was neither too loud nor too soft.

"Slurp—" Old Li slurped the noodles into his mouth.

He turned his head impatiently, muttering indistinctly, "Who is it? Don't you know we're on a case..."

The words came to an abrupt halt.

The plastic fork in Old Li's hand fell into the lunchbox with a "thud." Two drops of oily soup splashed up and landed on the collar of his yellowed police uniform.

His bloodshot eyes were wide open. His mouth was agape, with half a noodle still hanging from his lips.

"Lu, Lu..."

Old Li suddenly stood up. He stood up too quickly, and his thigh hit the drawer of his desk, making him gasp in pain.

But he didn't bother rubbing his legs. He scrambled around the table, frantically rubbing the grease off his trousers with both hands.

"Chief! Old Chief! Come out quickly!" Old Li shouted at the top of his lungs, his voice hoarse, "Captain Lu is back!"

That shout caused the door to the private office inside to open directly.

"What are you yelling about! Is the sky falling?"

The old bureau chief, with a beer belly, walked out carrying a chipped enamel mug and frowning.

He was wearing reading glasses today, and his hair on top of his head had thinned even more.

His gaze passed over Old Li's shoulder and landed on the tall, handsome young man at the door.

The old director stopped.

His feet seemed rooted to the spot. His hand holding the teacup began to tremble, the water sloshing around, and the warm tea spilled onto the back of his hand, but he was completely unaware.

The lobby was so quiet that only the beeping of the printer indicating a paper jam could be heard.

The old director swallowed hard, took off his reading glasses, rubbed his eyes, put them back on, and stared intently for two more seconds.

"Oh my God..."

He placed the teacup on the nearest table and jogged over with his short legs.

His eyes were visibly red. The wrinkles around his eyes were knitted together, and tears were welling up in his eyes.

"Commander Lu... no, you should call him the Interstellar Chief now."

The old director rubbed his hands nervously, wanting to shake hands but not daring to extend them.

His back hunched involuntarily, and his tone revealed a sense of fear and awe as if he were facing a deity.

"Your presence is truly special; why didn't you send a notification from the capital beforehand? I... I didn't even prepare a red carpet..."

Looking at Lu Jingyan's faded old police uniform, he finally couldn't hold back his tears, which streamed down his face.

"You're the living Yama... the living Bodhisattva who has taken over the entire universe! Why are you back dressed like this?"

Lu Jingyan did not respond.

He reached out and grasped the old director's two rough, trembling hands.

The warmth from my palm felt reassuring.

"Director, call me Xiao Lu." Lu Jingyan looked at his former superior and said calmly, "I've resigned. My personnel file is still in the special investigation team. I'm here to cancel my leave."

The old bureau chief was stunned. His mind couldn't process the amount of information conveyed in those few words.

"Resigned? He was a high-ranking official who ruled the Milky Way!"

He slapped his thigh in frustration and turned to look at Su Xiaoxiao standing behind Lu Jingyan.

"Xiaoxiao, did you guys do something wrong and get punished? That can't be. I saw on TV that those alien leaders were more obedient to him than they were to their own fathers."

Su Xiaoxiao walked in carrying a canvas bag.

She tossed her bag onto her workstation, expertly opened a drawer, and pulled out an opened bag of potato chips.

"Director, please stop making wild guesses." She popped a potato chip into her mouth, crunching it loudly. "The boss thought those aliens were too noisy, so he quit."

The old director gasped.

He suddenly slapped his forehead, as if he had remembered something of paramount importance.

"Yes, yes, yes! Whatever the reason, it's good that you're back. It's good that you're back!"

He grabbed Lu Jingyan's arm and dragged him toward his private director's office.

"Come, come, Xiao Lu. This office is yours from now on. I just checked it out, and the feng shui here is good, facing south."

The old director hurriedly pushed open the door.

Pointing to the faux leather boss's chair inside, he hurriedly went to collect the newspapers and teacups from the table.

"I'll move out right now and squeeze into the living room with Old Li and the others. It's too beneath someone of your status to sit in the living room!"

Lu Jingyan stopped at the door.

He watched as the old director, clutching a stack of old newspapers, prepared to rummage through them. A hint of helplessness flashed in his deep black eyes.

He went inside.

Long, slender fingers rested on the old director's shoulder. His wrist sank down.

This force, though not heavy, carried an irresistible and steady strength.

"Hey? Xiao Lu, you..."

The old director was pulled by this force, his legs went weak, and he slumped down onto the artificial leather boss's chair.

The chair emitted a dull creak in protest.

Lu Jingyan braced his hands on either side of the chair back, firmly pressing the old director into his rightful place.

"You are the director; only you can sit in this position."

Lu Jingyan lowered his head, looking directly into the old director's panicked eyes. His voice wasn't loud, but it carried a calm and reassuring quality.

"I used to be your soldier, and I still am. I went out for a while, cleaned up those unruly scum, and now it's time to come back to work."

He straightened up and smoothed the hem of his suit jacket.

"As long as I'm in this building, the rules can't be broken. If they are, my trip will have been for nothing."

The old director sat in his chair. Looking at the man's tall, broad back, his throat felt like it was blocked with cotton, aching with a soreness.

He knew that the man in front of him truly regarded that lofty power as trash.

Lu Jingyan turned and walked out of the bureau chief's office.

He walked through the messy hall and headed straight for his old workstation against the wall.

He's left this table empty for almost a year.

The green paint on the desktop was peeling and chipping away, revealing the yellowed compressed wood underneath. A thin layer of dust covered the computer monitor.

The mousepad was the same one he left behind before he left, but the edges were already frayed.

Lu Jingyan pulled out the hard wooden chair.

sit down.

The chair legs scraped against the terrazzo floor with a harsh, screeching sound.

He took a tissue and casually wiped the keyboard and monitor. Then he opened the first locked drawer on the right.

The lock was a little stiff. He applied a little force with his wrist and pulled it outwards.

"Splash!"

The drawer was pulled open. Inside, a thick stack of yellow kraft paper files was neatly arranged.

All of them were cases that had piled up before he left.

There were no antimatter bombs, no intergalactic smuggling, and no Infinity Gauntlet to destroy the universe.

He picked up the top file.

I flipped open the cover with my fingers. The paper was slightly damp and soft, and the edges smelled a bit musty.

"Submitted by Nancheng Subdistrict Office. Ms. Zhang, a resident of Building 3 in Hongxing Community, reported that her neighbor across the hall was illegally running an electric wire in the corridor to charge her electric bicycle, which caused a dispute."

Lu Jingyan stared at the line of text.

There was not a trace of impatience in his deep black eyes. He pulled a two-yuan black carbon pen from the pen holder and snapped off the cap.

He kept his head down, his gaze sweeping across the transcript of the case file line by line.

"According to the Fire Safety Management Regulations, charging in the corridor constitutes illegal occupation of public passageways and creates safety hazards."

He murmured a sentence. The pen in his hand drew a straight underline on the paper.

It feels very reassuring.

The scratching sound of the pen tip across the paper is a hundred times more pleasant than the wailing of air raid sirens in the spaceport.

Silence returned to the hall. Old Li continued eating his soggy noodles, while Su Xiaoxiao was banging on the old, malfunctioning computer.

Suddenly, a series of chaotic footsteps came from outside the stairwell.

The sound of military boots stepping on the stairs was quite loud.

"Hurry, hurry! I heard we've been assigned to this group. It's right inside this door!"

A young, excited male voice rang out from outside.

"Keep your voice down! That's the Special Investigations Unit inside. I've heard that anyone you pick out from there is a tough guy who's earned a first-class merit." Another woman's voice was very low, with obvious tension.

Three hairy heads peeked out from outside the iron gate.

They were all in brand-new police uniforms, with the two-stripe insignia still on their shoulder straps. Their faces revealed the innocent naiveté and curiosity of someone fresh out of police academy.