Desperate people, accept the seed of my soul!

"Here." She beckoned.

Li Rui walked over and sat down: "Sorry, something came up with the team and I'm late."

"Why are you being so polite with me?" Wang Shiwei pushed a glass of iced Americano that had already been ordered over her shoulder. "Same as always, no sugar, no milk."

Li Rui smiled, picked up his coffee and took a big gulp. The bitter liquid went down his throat, suppressing the restlessness in his heart.

After exchanging a few pleasantries, the conversation quickly became relaxed in the atmosphere of old friends reuniting.

Wang Shiwei rested her chin on her hand, her gaze inadvertently sweeping over Li Rui's left forearm resting on the table.

There was a winding scar there, which had faded a lot, but it still looked rather gruesome in the sunlight.

"This scar... is still there."

Wang Shiwei's voice suddenly softened, her gaze becoming gentle and distant, "Do you remember what happened at the food street behind the police academy that year?"

Li Rui followed her gaze to his arm, then smiled nonchalantly: "Remember him? That guy who was slashing around with a knife."

"So many people were terrified and backed away." Wang Shiwei looked into Li Rui's eyes, as if she could see through time. "Only you charged forward like a leopard. When you pressed down on that knife with your bare hand, blood flowed down your arm, staining half of your clothes red."

"I was really scared at the time," she said softly. "But what I remember most clearly was your eyes. They were so fierce, like you wanted to tear that person to pieces, yet so pure and unadulterated. Later I realized that you didn't just hate that person; you couldn't tolerate that kind of evil."

She picked up her coffee, took a sip, and shook her head with a touch of melancholy: "Back then, I felt that there was an inextinguishable fire burning brightly within you. It's such a pity..."

She paused, her smile fading, "It's a pity you already had Su Xiao by your side back then."

Li Rui's throat tightened slightly.

During his final year at police academy, Wang Shiwei did ask him out a few times, but he was completely focused on training and exam preparation, and with Su Xiao already in his heart, his responses were always slow.

Later, Wang Shiwei graduated and went to work for the provincial government, and their contact gradually disappeared.

"Let's not talk about things from the past." He waved his hand, somewhat embarrassed, and changed the subject. "What about you? Why were you transferred to Dawn City?"

"Yes, I'm doing some administrative work at the Special Investigation Bureau with Uncle Gu." Wang Shiwei put down her cup and naturally brought the topic back to the main point, "But how have you been lately? You look like you haven't been sleeping well."

This sentence is like opening a valve.

Li Rui remained silent for a few seconds.

The sunlight outside the window was blinding, yet he felt something stuck in his chest—Zhang Ziqian's smug smile at him at the courthouse entrance, the light in Su Xiao's eyes when she said "burn through the darkness" that morning, and the mangled photo of the tortured female college student in the case file…

These images were swirling in his mind.

"I'm under a lot of pressure." He finally chose a restrained way of putting it, his fingers stroking the rim of the glass. "I recently handled a case... The murderer's methods were very cruel, and the chain of evidence was complete. It should have been an ironclad case."

Wang Shiwei listened quietly without interrupting.

"But the other party has connections and managed to get a mental health assessment for 'intermittent violent outbursts'." Li Rui's voice deepened. "In full view of everyone, the mental illness test was passed... and then no criminal charges were pursued, and they were forced into medical treatment."

His fists clenched unconsciously.

"That girl... was only in her early twenties. She was tortured for three hours and died in excruciating pain. Her parents are still waiting for an explanation." Li Rui stared at the table. "Sometimes I feel that the rules have become a shell protecting scum. We work ourselves to the bone to arrest people and collect evidence, but in the end, it's no match for a single report from Huiguang Pharmaceuticals."

Upon hearing the words "Huiguang Pharmaceuticals," Wang Shiwei's hand, which was stirring her coffee, paused almost imperceptibly.

Huiguang Pharmaceuticals...that's the business that my brother, Wang Shijun, is currently focusing on controlling.

Last night, I met with Zhang Zhaoqing, the chairman of Huiguang Pharmaceutical.

Unexpectedly, it became related to a case handled by Li Rui.

She lowered her eyes to look at the swirling brown vortex in the glass, her eyelashes casting tiny shadows beneath her eyes.

The pause was very short, almost negligible—but Li Rui saw it.

"Huiguang Pharmaceuticals..." Wang Shiwei repeated softly, her expression returning to normal as she looked up, though her brows were slightly furrowed. "I've heard of this company; they're quite famous in the field of neuropharmaceuticals. I never expected..."

She didn't finish her sentence, but the disgust in her tone was clear.

This slight disgust eased the knot in Li Rui's chest a little.

At least some people understand that this is blatant exploitation of loopholes.

"Sorry, I shouldn't have poured out all this troubles to you." Li Rui sighed and forced a smile. "You just transferred here, I should have been talking about something happy."

"Don't say that." Wang Shiwei shook her head, looking at him seriously. "Li Rui, a principled and hardworking criminal police officer like you shouldn't be trapped by such... despicable methods."

She paused for a moment, leaned forward slightly, and lowered her voice: "To be honest, this time when I was transferred to the Special Investigation Bureau with Uncle Gu, although I was doing administrative work, I saw some differences. This department has special authority and relatively independent resources. It handles mostly tricky or...sensitive cases, and is less constrained by conventional rules and local relationships."

Li Rui raised his eyes.

"Uncle Gu admires driven, principled, and pragmatic people." Wang Shiwei's tone was sincere, with a hint of consideration for her old classmate. "If you feel that you are not up to the task in your current position... perhaps you could consider changing environments? The Special Investigation Bureau may be more suitable for you to showcase your abilities, and it needs people like you more."

This is the truth.

She genuinely felt it was a waste for a truly talented person like Li Rui to be stuck at the grassroots level and suffering mistreatment.

But this is also a kind of calculation.

With the Special Investigation Bureau newly established, the Wang family needed to place more of their own people there, or at least people who could be influenced by her.

"Come to the Special Investigation Bureau, Li Rui," Wang Shiwei extended an invitation. "This place might be more suitable for you to showcase your talents, and it needs your 'fire' to burn through those shady things."

Li Rui looked into Wang Shiwei's sincere eyes and remained silent for a long time.

If it were at a different time, he might actually have fallen for it.

After all, the kind of unfettered, crime-solving environment that directly confronts evil is every criminal investigator's dream.

But he ultimately shook his head.

"Thank you for your kindness, Shiwei." Li Rui gave a somewhat tired but determined smile. "The Special Investigation Bureau sounds good, but I'm a sentimental person and a bit stubborn."

"Team Leader Liao has been kind to me, and the brothers in the team are all counting on me. Besides..." He thought of the electrician Liu Zhen, whom they hadn't caught yet, "I still have unfinished business to attend to. I'm not used to giving up halfway, and I'm even less used to changing course just because I hit a wall."

"I'm a criminal investigator, and this is my battlefield."