America: The Gear-Up Detective

Luke had already pleaded guilty an hour earlier, and although the trial had not yet officially begun, the system had already indicated that the mission was complete.

In other words, as long as the murderer is successfully apprehended and there are no major flaws in the evidence, and the logical chain is successfully closed, the system will recognize the task as completed. Even if the case has not been officially closed according to the police station's procedures, the system reward will still be issued as usual.

The bar wasn't a good place to check the rewards, so Rod decided to wait until he got home that night to take a closer look.

After several rounds of drinks, the conversation inevitably turned to the case.

Jackson looked at Evan, who had a wealth of experience in handling cases, and said, "Evan, you've solved so many cases, is this the fastest you've ever solved a case?"

Evan was old, but he could hold his liquor. He'd already downed three bottles of beer in no time and showed no signs of intoxication. Swaying his slightly graying hair, he answered Jackson:

"This time, it was all thanks to Rhodes' good luck that he discovered the body that had been submerged in the lake early on. He caught the murderer off guard, giving them no chance to collude and rendering their pre-prepared excuses useless."

Under normal circumstances, this body wouldn't be discovered for at least several years, or even more than a decade, at that point, and it would certainly become another unsolved case.

Anna, who was standing next to her, swirled the wine in her glass and chimed in, "I didn't expect that Park Yoon-chan would be targeted just for posting his stock earnings on TikTok."

"There's an old Chinese saying: 'When fellow countrymen meet, they'll stab each other in the back.' I guess Park Yoon-chan lowered his guard because he saw that the people he was contacting were all of Korean descent, and he had just broken up with his girlfriend."

After having one drink, Rod stopped drinking and started eating the pizza on the table, which served as his dinner, while replying to questions.

"I know, that's called 'you can't go wrong,' right?" Evan downed another drink and answered Rod in broken Chinese.

It was clear that although Evan wasn't drunk, the alcohol had made him relatively active.

"You know about this too?"

"Don't underestimate older people."

Amidst laughter, the gathering came to an end.

......

Nine o'clock in the evening, at my grandfather Edgar's ranch.

Rod returned to his room, washed away the smell of alcohol, and lay down on the bed.

There wasn't any strenuous exercise that day, but Rhodes still felt a bit tired with his 8.9 physique.

Forcing himself to stay alert, Rhodes eagerly checked the system rewards.

[Mission Complete: 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 Reward: Upon first completion of the system task, you will receive a critical hit and choose three out of five rewards.

Settlement:

The killer's identity has been confirmed; 100% complete.

The chain of evidence is complete, 90% complete.

The capture/death of the perpetrator is 100% complete.

"It seems the system's result calculation works from these three aspects. As long as these three parts are completed, the task can be finished?"

The most crucial first step in solving a case is identifying the killer. It's fair to say that if the killer can be identified, the case is already 80% solved.

The remaining witnesses and physical evidence are just a few key pieces to be added to the nearly completed puzzle, which is like targeting the problem and greatly reduces the difficulty of solving it.

"In the end, it's not just about sending the murderer to prison; there's also a reward for killing the murderer?"

That would be so much more convenient!

"Can settlement be made even if less than 100% of the evidence has been completed?"

That's true. In this case, the weapon used to cut off Park Yoon-chan's finger wasn't found, but that won't have a significant impact on the final outcome of the case.

Upon seeing this description, Rod had many thoughts running through his mind, but he suppressed them for the time being.

[Rewards: $10000 USD, Equipment Information*1, Equipable Slot*1, Blind Box, Free Attribute Points*0.1]

[Note: You may choose any three of the five rewards above.]

These rewards, except for the blind boxes, all seem pretty good.

The cash could solve Rhodes' immediate problem. Ten thousand US dollars was a lot of money, enough for Rhodes to rent a nice house and still have money left over for his living expenses.

Equipment information and equipment slots are the system's most important functions.

However, the current slots are [Equipment Slots (1/2)], one of which is equipped with [Detective Badge], and the other slot is empty. There is no need to rush to choose an equipment slot, since there is no extra equipment to equip at the moment.

Currently, acquiring equipment itself is much more difficult than obtaining equipment slots.

Therefore, equipment information can be an option, but it's best to wait until you actually get the "Glasses Full of Love". What if the system gives you the sunglasses that you already know about? You'd be devastated.

As for blind boxes, the system indicates that the items you can get from them are completely random. Higher-level ones may contain attribute points or equipment, but if you're unlucky, you might get a ball of yarn. This kind of luck-based option is not being considered for now.

There are also free attribute points, which are a must-have and don't need to be considered.

I initially continued working as a detective because I wanted to use the system to restore my physical attributes. Now that I have the opportunity to gain attribute points, there's no reason not to choose it.

It's only a reward of 0.1? Well, that's fine. After all, it takes me more than a month of training to increase my constitution attribute by 0.1.

Little by little, it will add up eventually, reaching 10 points, or even higher.

Rhodes used his willpower to select [10000 US dollars, equipment information *1, and free attribute points *0.1].

However, I'm not in a hurry to unlock the [Equipment Information]. I'll unlock the information after I get the sunglasses tomorrow when I have the chance.

First, allocate attribute points to [Constitution]. [Constitution: 9.0 (+1)].

Suddenly, Rod felt a warm current surge into his lower back, his kidneys felt slightly warm, and even his heartbeat slowly increased.

"Thump, thump, thump!"

My heartbeat grew stronger and stronger, and my arms and legs felt slightly numb as a result.

This feeling is like that first takeoff, when you're completely oblivious to the world around you, floating in the clouds.

About a minute later, the feeling slowly faded, and I fell from the clouds onto the mattress, and my kidneys and heartbeat returned to normal.

After a while, Rod got up, took off his clothes, walked to the bathroom, and stood in front of the full-length mirror.

He clenched his fist, the muscles in his arms taut, striking a common bodybuilding pose, his abs faintly visible.

Rod nodded in satisfaction.

He's still far from having muscles sculpted like by a knife and axe, but a physique of 9.0 is at least close to the level of a normal person, so he won't be out of breath after running a few steps.

Then he remembered the ten thousand US dollars he had received.

Rod returned to bed and picked up his phone.

No, no, still no.

There were no notifications of funds being deposited into bank cards, via SMS, or even credit card limits.

Rod thought for a moment, then opened another software with a green background and black logo—the Fidelity Investments App.

This is a software application for personal investment accounts used for stock trading and fund purchases.

Sure enough, the screen showed several funds that Rod's father, Li Jie, had bought for Rod a few years ago. One of them, a gold-related fund, had been stable, but it experienced a surge before today's settlement.

The profit is exactly ten thousand US dollars.

"What is this? Rewarding myself with my own money?"

Rhodes was a little confused. Would the fund still have increased if it hadn't received this system reward?

After watching for a while, Rod stopped worrying about the "chicken or the egg" question and carefully planned out his scheme to switch the sunglasses with the other person's glasses tomorrow before falling into a deep sleep.