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

The photographer pressed the shutter and gave an "OK" sign. Suddenly, a discordant commotion and screams erupted from the ticket dispenser outside the lobby.

"Hey! What's wrong with you? Don't you have eyes? Why are you cutting in line?!"

A woman's shrill curse pierced through the wooden door.

The smile on Lu Jingyan's face vanished instantly.

He tucked the two newly stamped red books into the inside pocket of his white shirt, close to the chest. He fastened the buttons and smoothed out the wrinkles in the fabric.

"Go out and take a look." His voice returned to its usual coldness.

His large hand naturally wrapped around Su Xiaoxiao's shoulder, and he pushed open the wooden door of the photo studio and walked out.

The queuing hall on the first floor was in an uproar.

A large crowd gathered around the ticket dispenser.

The person who just shouted was a pregnant woman with a large belly. She was protecting her belly with one hand, and her other hand was trembling with anger as she pointed at the empty air in front of her and cursed loudly.

"Are all the people in front blind? A grown person is forcing their way in, and you're not even doing anything about it!"

She was breathing heavily, and a layer of cold sweat appeared on her forehead.

Standing next to me was a middle-aged woman with curly hair wearing a floral short-sleeved shirt. She was carrying an eco-friendly bag with the supermarket logo on it.

The woman turned pale with fright. She gripped the bag's handles tightly with both hands, the veins on the back of her hands bulging.

"Girl, what nonsense are you spouting?" The old woman's teeth chattered, and her voice was trembling.

She took two steps back, stepping on the heel of the person behind her, but didn't bother to apologize.

"There's no one in front of me! I was standing right in front of you, and a gust of cold wind swept past!"

The middle-aged woman swallowed hard, her saliva dry. She shrank her neck further into her collar.

"In broad daylight, could there be something unclean in this building? Amitabha..."

Upon hearing this, the couples queuing up nearby broke out in a cold sweat.

The central air conditioning in the lobby was already running at full blast. Now, the cold air was blowing down my neck, making me shiver and get goosebumps.

"I really didn't see anyone! I was only half a body length away from them just now," a young man wearing glasses chimed in, rubbing his arms.

"I felt someone elbow me hard in the ribs. When I turned around, there wasn't a soul in sight."

A buzz of discussion arose in the crowd. Some even took out their phones, seemingly wanting to film some kind of paranormal phenomenon.

The lobby was filled with the smell of cheap perfume and the sweaty odor of people, and it was as chaotic as a vegetable market.

Lu Jingyan protected Su Xiaoxiao, standing on the periphery of the crowd.

He was tall. His gaze passed over the heads of the people in front of him and landed directly on the open space in front of the ticket machine.

There are no ghosts. There are no paranormal events.

There was indeed nothing on that open space to the naked eye.

But his eyes, which had endured countless major cases, had long since developed a keen, venomous sensitivity.

There was a very thin layer of dust on the smooth tiles.

Right now, something heavy is stepping on that layer of dust and leaving two irregular blank shoe prints.

With alternating light and heavy pressure, the blank mark continued to move forward.

Accompanying this was the faint "thud" of the high-end leather shoe soles crushing the marble.

And a strong, pungent scent of men's cologne.

"This crappy place doesn't even have a VIP lane, I have to squeeze in myself. What bad luck."

A muttering sound, barely audible only to those very close, drifted out from that patch of air.

His voice was slick and arrogant, carrying an undisguised air of arrogance and irritability.

The rich kid hiding there is feeling pretty smug right now.

He spent 300,000 yuan to get this "high-dimensional optical camouflage uniform" from the black market. Although the seller said it was a defective product with a risk of electric leakage.

But it's incredibly effective at using it to trick these bumpkins and snatch a lucky number for "520".

He watched the numbers flashing on the queuing machine screen, feeling incredibly happy.

"Tell you to line up? I'm rich enough to buy out even light. Who can stop me?"

He whistled arrogantly. He stretched out an invisible hand, ready to press the print button on the ticket dispenser.

On the periphery of the crowd.

Lu Jingyan's jawline gradually tightened.

The muscles in his chin clenched into a hard, defined shape. His breathing became long and controlled.

He was all too familiar with that smell and sound.

He just smashed a set of these inferior light refraction techniques in the headquarters' underground vault a few days ago.

How could someone wear such black market contraband that endangers public safety and come to the Civil Affairs Bureau to cut in line and grab a number?

This is no longer simply a matter of legal ignorance.

This is like taking a dump on the neck of the police chief.

Lu Jingyan's dark eyes darkened.

The cold, murderous aura that was usually well hidden in his eyes slowly surged up. The air within a meter around him seemed to have been instantly sucked dry.

He released Su Xiaoxiao's shoulders. His right hand then moved down to her lower back.

I found nothing.

He came to get his marriage certificate today dressed in civilian clothes and didn't bring his standard-issue pistol at all.

"Boss..."

Su Xiaoxiao noticed the change in the man's aura beside her. She lowered her voice and called out.

The black tactical tablet that had been hanging on the outside of her canvas bag suddenly began to vibrate restlessly.

"Beep! Beep! Beep!"

A short, sharp electronic alarm sounded, muffled, trapped beneath the fabric of the canvas bag.

Su Xiaoxiao quickly unzipped the zipper and pulled out the tablet.

The metal casing on the back of the tablet was scorching hot. The cooling fan was whirring loudly.

"What's going on?" She bit her lower lip, her fingers swiping rapidly across the screen.

Directly switch to infrared spectral scanning mode.

On the black-and-white screen, the crowd in the hall appeared as clusters of orange-yellow heat.

And directly in front of the ticket dispenser, on that floor tile that appears to be completely empty to the naked eye.

A human-shaped silhouette stood there starkly.

The outline was a deep, almost purple red.

Because of the non-breathable optical invisibility cloak, the body heat cannot dissipate, making the person on the screen look like a freshly baked sweet potato.

You can even see his comical gesture of sticking out his buttocks and stretching out his arms to press the number machine.

"That son of a bitch..."

Su Xiaoxiao could see the red figure clearly.

Her chest heaved with anger. All the good mood she'd had after waiting in line for so long was completely ruined.

This was supposed to be her big day to get her marriage certificate, and she actually ran into this kind of scoundrel who used high-tech cheats to cut in line!

She looked up.

I watched as the ticket dispenser spit out a white queue number.

The document floated up out of thin air. It was being held by something, swaying gently in mid-air.

The women screamed in fright again.

Su Xiaoxiao stared at the bright red heat source outline on the tablet, gritted her teeth, and pointed to the front of the line: "Boss, there's some idiot in an invisibility cloak cutting in line!"