America: The Gear-Up Detective

Los Angeles, USA, 2023.

Pyramid Lake, located beside Interstate 5.

In April, the morning sun shines on the lake in Los Angeles, reflecting the azure sky, and a gentle breeze makes the temperature relatively cool.

Rod stood by the lake with his fishing rod in hand, taking a break from baiting the water and looking at the slightly rippling surface of the lake.

A handsome face with black hair and blue eyes, slightly thin, was reflected in the lake.

He wore a short-sleeved shirt over a light blue shirt and greyish-white casual trousers. Around his neck hung a badge engraved with "LAPD" and "DETECTIVE," the laurel leaf decorations on the edge of the badge reflecting a metallic sheen in the sunlight.

Hanging on his left hip was a 9mm dark yellow FN-509 pistol, a weapon Rod had never handled before and which was now the standard sidearm of the LAPD.

Looking at the somewhat unfamiliar face, Rhodes sighed inwardly:

"How did I end up time-traveling? It's all that heartless boss's fault for making us work all night!"

A month ago, Rod was just an ordinary student at Sun Yat-sen University. However, after a sudden cardiac death caused by working overtime all night, he was transported to Los Angeles, America, to live as Rod Lee, an Asian detective.

A month isn't a long time, but Rod has largely adapted to the pace of life here, and even has the leisure to go fishing with his "grandfather".

Despite not seeing a single fish in those three hours.

"Rhodes, I heard from your mother that you've completely broken up with all your girlfriends this past month?"

My grandfather, Edgar Rodwood, was over seventy years old, but he was in good shape and not as obese as many Americans are now. He was also in good spirits and would get up at four in the morning to go fishing.

Edgar, wearing a windbreaker, sat on a portable chair not far away, gently casting his fishing rod. Seemingly afraid of disturbing the fish in the lake, he asked Rod in a low voice.

"Yes, I've thought about it, and I realize I've been too indulgent before. From now on, I plan to live a proper... life."

He was a popular person in the past.

My father is Chinese, my mother is a white woman from Texas, and I have an older brother who is a lawyer.

Rod's handsome appearance with black hair and blue eyes, a result of his mixed heritage, meant that he was never short of female admirers from childhood to adulthood.

Her private life can only be described as chaotic.

This also led to the original owner's excessive indulgence, leaving his body extremely weak. It was only during this month that Rhodes was able to recuperate; otherwise, even the slight morning breeze would have given him a fever before he even got back.

Therefore, the sooner you break off these messy relationships, the better it is for your health.

"This spot isn't good; no fish are biting."

Grandpa Edgar muttered to himself as he moved his stool around.

Fishermen always have many reasons for going home empty-handed, such as: bad location, arriving too early...

Rod was helpless against his somewhat willful grandfather. Who gets up at four in the morning to go fishing? The fish probably aren't even awake yet.

Unfortunately, the original owner had some unpleasantness with her parents due to work reasons, so she could only temporarily live at her maternal grandfather's house.

"Have you ever seen Los Angeles at four in the morning?" Rod joked.

"What can I say, man?" After making a joke about the prisoner who had died in a plane crash, Rod glanced at the time. It was getting late, and he needed to get to the detective station early to prepare.

Edgar gave an awkward smile. "Let's try another place."

Rod glanced at the time. "Let's fish for another half hour."

A gentle breeze rippled the surface of the secluded lake, and Rhodes felt a slight chill.

Rod pulled his thin shirt tighter around himself, and carrying the empty fish bucket and equipment, the two walked along the lake for about ten minutes before finding a place to sit down.

Take out the fishing rod, bait the fishing spot, attach the bait, and cast the line.

A few minutes later, Rod suddenly felt as if the fishhook had hooked something.

I instinctively pulled up the fishing rod, but it wouldn't budge.

"I need to stand up!"

Rod stood up abruptly, his arm muscles bulging, the fishing rod taut and bent into a bow, but the big fish still didn't surface.

"Grandpa, come quick! It's a big fish!"

With both of them pulling together, they finally managed to pull the object up.

But the two of them were dumbfounded when they saw what was in front of them.

"What is this? A... bucket?"

Rhodes raised an eyebrow, somewhat surprised, not only by the bucket of glue in front of him, but also by a message that had popped up from the system after a long period of silence.

[Luck: 15]

[Mission Update: The barrel of corpses that should have sunk to the bottom of the lake was fished up by two fishermen and brought back to the light.]

A reward will be given for solving this case.

Completion Rewards: Hidden

[Note: Hidden quest rewards are to prevent you from taking risks to complete quests just for the rewards. All quests can be refused without penalty. Please consider carefully!]

This is a system that awakened along with Rhode's journey, which Rhode calls the [Equipment Slot System].

After a month of research on the system, Rhodes discovered that it can place items classified as "equipment" into the equipment slot, thereby granting them a certain effect bonus.

A screen of light unfolded in the process.

Name: Rod Lee

Age: 25

[Height/Weight: 186/83.7]

[Position: Detective (Murder and Heist Division)]

【property:

Strength: 10.3 (+1)

Agility: 9.9 (+1)

Constitution: 8.8 (+1)

Spirit: 11.6 (+1)

Luck: 12

(Note 1: The average value of the attributes of healthy males is 10, and the extreme value is 20.)

(Note 2: Luck is a special attribute and cannot be increased by adding attribute points. Furthermore, the luck value of the same person will fluctuate at different times and is not fixed. The daily luck value is 10.)

【Equipment slots (1/2):】

1. Detective Badge: Remember kid, LAPD is just a job!

Your physical fitness has been enhanced in all aspects, with all attributes increasing by 1.

Passive Skill: Increases efficiency by 20% when performing physical training.

[Available Experience Points: 31]

【技能：汉语lv3、英语lv4、厨艺lv2、手枪射击lv3、警用擒拿lv2、交配lv3……】

Putting everything else aside, the fact that the constitution attribute is as high as 8.8 with the equipment bonus already speaks volumes. The cleaner you cut off those messy relationships, the better it is for your body.

The system currently has two equipable slots and one empty slot.

As for the Luck value, as a special attribute, Rhode still doesn't understand what it's used for.

"Her luck value has changed?"

Is this what fortune truly means?

"You can catch strange things just by fishing, and even activate system quests?"

For the past month, Rhodes could only study the system's basic functions. Apart from that, the system was completely malfunctioning, as if it were broken. Unexpectedly, it has now refreshed and started generating new tasks!

"It's not a mandatory task, so that's perfect."

"But a corpse-sinking barrel? So, could this be...?"

Just as Rhodes was browsing the system information, his grandfather Edgar stepped forward and lifted the lid of the bucket.

"Wait a minute... okay."

"Holy...my God, what's that stuff in there?"

Edgar, despite being an old-school Texas cowboy, was so shocked by what he saw that he jumped up.

As the lid of the bucket was lifted, a strong smell of decay hit them, causing Rod and his grandfather Edgar to gag.

Suppressing the nauseating smell, Rod cautiously peered into the bucket.

The bucket was almost completely filled with cement.

And submerged in the cement was a corpse, its body curled up.