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

Enraged, Zhao Tiezhu kicked the wall and drew his gun to grab the man. Lu Jingyan reached out and pressed down on the barrel of his gun, his voice low and menacing: "Put the gun away. I'll go myself."

The metal casing of the gun barrel was icy cold.

Zhao Tiezhu's chest heaved violently. Two heavy breaths escaped from his nostrils, hitting the cold air in the corridor.

He gritted his teeth, a hard lump forming on his cheek. He forcefully shoved the large-caliber pistol back into its quick-draw holster at his waist.

"That old bastard..." He started cursing, but couldn't finish. It felt like there was a rusty iron filings stuck in his throat, and even swallowing made his throat ache.

Lu Jingyan didn't look at him again.

He picked up the old stainless steel thermos from the top of the water dispenser and turned to walk towards the stairwell.

Leather shoes stepped on the terrazzo steps.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

The voice was neither hurried nor slow, the rhythm as steady as a clock without emotion.

At the end of the third-floor corridor. Archives Department.

The room was on the shady side and never saw sunlight. A musty smell of fermented old kraft paper seeped out from the cracks in the door, mixed with the pungent smell of cheap jasmine incense.

The overhead light was off inside.

Only the old-fashioned green glass-shaded desk lamp was lit. A dim, yellowish halo shone on the desktop, illuminating the swirling dust particles clearly.

Old Chen sat in that old, swivel chair with its rollers. A pair of gold-rimmed reading glasses perched on his nose.

He was looking down, organizing the stacks of yellowed, old files on the table.

Holding the edge of the file pages with his left hand, he gently smoothed out the curled corners.

My fingers are shaking violently.

The paper rustled softly as it was rubbed between my fingertips.

A yellowed case closure report slipped from my hand and slid down the smooth edge of the table, landing lightly on the dusty tile floor.

Old Chen bent down to pick it up.

Two dull cracking sounds came from his spine. He stretched out his arm, his fingertips just touching the edge of the paper.

The half-closed wooden door to the office was pushed open.

The door hinges were dry, and they creaked and groaned for a long time. The sound was jarring in the quiet room.

Lu Jingyan stepped over the high wooden threshold and slammed the door shut behind him.

Click. Locking tongue engagement.

Old Chen's body suddenly stiffened.

He slowly straightened up, clutching the piece of paper he had picked up tightly in his hand. His reading glasses slid down half an inch from his nose, obscuring the lifeless look in his eyes.

"Mr. Lu..." Old Chen began, his lips chapped.

His face was wrinkled and he tried hard to force out his usual friendly and prosperous smile.

But his facial muscles were twitching uncontrollably. His smile looked worse than a grimace.

Lu Jingyan didn't respond.

He walked over and pulled out a wooden folding chair opposite the desk. He sat down with a swagger.

He placed the thermos in his hand on the corner of the table.

The flat bottom struck the glass tabletop with a dull thud.

The radiator in the corner made a gurgling sound as water circulated.

"Has your wife's illness been settled in a hospital abroad?"

Lu Jingyan stared at the file box on the table, his tone as calm as if he were chatting casually in the staff canteen.

Old Chen felt a violent chill run down his spine.

The crumpled file in his hand fell to the table with a "thud".

He slumped back in the chair, feeling as if his spine had been removed. The swivel chair's casters moved back half an inch.

"You...you found out everything."

Old Chen took off his reading glasses. He haphazardly wiped his face with the rough back of his hand. The age spots on the back of his hand were particularly striking under the lamplight.

Lu Jingyan looked at him.

There was no thunderous rage in his black eyes. Only a rough, cold chill, as if sanded smooth by sandpaper.

"Eighty million in overseas accounts. Passenger servers in three countries."

He tapped his long, slender fingers twice on the table.

"In the end, we still used the batch of encryption keys that the bureau had just scrapped the day before yesterday. Old Chen, you've been working in this room for almost thirty years, and this is all the counter-surveillance techniques you've learned?"

Old Chen hung his head. His shoulders began to tremble violently.

"I'm scared..."

He suddenly covered his face with his hands. The sound leaked out muffledly from between his fingers, carrying the urge to sob.

"Mr. Lu, I'm scared. The world is changing too fast, so fast that this old man can't keep up at all."

Old Chen suddenly raised his head.

His eyes were so red they looked like they were about to bleed. A few murky tears streamed down the deep creases at the corners of his eyes and landed on the glass tabletop.

"In the past, when we handled cases, we'd mostly deal with a few homemade shotguns and watermelon knives. We'd just put on a stab-proof vest and charge in to fight."

He spread his arms out and gestured wildly in the air, his knuckles turning white from gripping them so tightly.

"And now?"

His voice cracked, revealing a sense of despair at being crushed by unknown technology.

"The Sirius fleet, antimatter machine guns, invisibility suits... those high-dimensional monsters could easily puncture a huge hole in our Earth just by letting some scrap metal slip through their fingers!"

Old Chen became more and more excited as he spoke, his spittle flying out.

"Our Criminal Law and Public Security Administration Law are nothing compared to their laser cannons that can reach thousands of degrees! Can they even stop bullets?!"

He gripped the edge of the table tightly, his fingernails scraping against the glass with a piercing sound.

"My wife has end-stage renal disease and can't even do dialysis. People from the black market contacted me, saying that if I give them the password to the evidence vault, they'll send me to the Andromeda medical space station to get an artificial kidney..."

Old Chen was panting heavily, his chest heaving violently. Cold sweat had plastered his sparse hair to his forehead.

"I want to leave myself a way out... Human laws will eventually crumble in the face of alien technology, what's the point of me clinging to this pile of worthless paper!"

Lu Jingyan listened quietly.

No one spoke to interrupt his hysteria.

My gaze swept across the desk.

Next to it was a transparent, heat-resistant glass teapot. The water inside was still warm. At the bottom were some loose, inexpensive green tea leaves.

Lu Jingyan took a clean paper cup from a disposable paper tube next to him.

He lifted the teapot by the handle, tilting his wrist slightly.

The pale green tea flowed out from the spout of the teapot.

It splashed against the bottom of the empty paper cup, creating a ring of white foam. The sound of the water was crisp and clear, especially in the quiet office.

He poured it to about seven-tenths full.

Put the teapot down. Hold the paper cup by the rim with two fingers and push it towards Old Chen.

"Have a drink of water. My throat is hoarse."

Old Chen stared blankly at the steaming cup of tea.

He thought Lu Jing would slam his fist on the table and yell at him at the banquet, then pull out his service pistol and point it at his head. But instead, it was just a glass of water that was neither hot nor cold.

He stretched out his two hands, trembling, and picked up the soft paper cup.

The heat transferred to his palm, making him shiver.

Lu Jingyan looked at the tea stems swirling in the cup.

"Alien technology is indeed impressive. A single piece of equipment can give an ordinary person the power to destroy a city."

He leaned back in his chair. He pulled an unopened pack of tissues from his pocket and tossed it next to Old Chen.

"So you feel fear. You feel that in the face of absolute technological superiority, this police uniform is just a laughable decoration."

Lu Jingyan's hard jawline slowly tightened. A barely perceptible hint of heartache flashed in his eyes.

"But you've got one thing wrong."

He extended his index finger and pointed to the pile of yellowed manila documents in front of Old Chen.

"The law is not meant to be a bullet stopper."

Lu Jingyan's voice was deep and resonant, like the dull thud of an old drum, making one's eardrums tingle.

"It's meant to set rules for the living. It's meant to tell those monsters with laser cannons and mechs that if you dare to do evil on this land, you will definitely pay the price."

He turned his head and pointed outside the door.

"You sold the password. Those auxiliary police officers outside who are only earning minimum wage, those grassroots brothers who can't even afford bulletproof vests, will have to risk their lives to fill the hole you created."

Old Chen's hand holding the paper cup trembled violently.

A few drops of scalding tea spilled out and landed on his dark police trousers. He didn't feel the heat, but felt as if his heart had been squeezed and burst by something.

"I..." He opened his mouth, but couldn't utter a sound of rebuttal. Tears streamed down his face.

"Times will change. Aliens will come. And there may be even more outrageous technologies falling on our heads in the future."

Lu Jingyan stood up.

His leather shoes made a steady sound on the tiles. He lowered his eyelids and looked at the old policeman he had only worked with for a few days.

Old Chen kept his head down.

He brought the paper cup to his lips and swallowed the slightly bitter tea, along with the tea leaves, in large gulps.

The bitterness spread across the back of my tongue, easing the bloody and bitter taste in my mouth.

He put down the paper cup and slowly stood up from the swivel chair.

Those rough, weathered hands emerged from the sleeves. Palms up, wrists together. They were extended forward.

This is a perfectly standard posture, like waiting to be handcuffed.

Lu Jingyan looked at the hands covered with age spots.

Old Chen finished his last sip of tea and extended his hands. Lu Jingyan didn't take out handcuffs, but simply sighed: "Times are changing, technology is changing, but the bottom line for the police cannot change. Come with me."