Cigarettes and Police Guns [Crime Investigation]

[Wolfish, Cool-Headed Hunter x Catlike Prey]

[Mystery and Deduction | Spy Games | Interwoven Light and Dark Plotlines]

[Two Strong but Tragic Leads | Mutual Salvation | Rivals to Lovers]

Chi Tianjing, former captain of the West City Criminal Investigation Detachment in the imperial capital, is transferred to G City as deputy captain of the First Criminal Investigation Detachment. Darkness and crime, light and justice, which have lain dormant in G City for more than twenty years, begin to surge once more.

A young woman with an imperial capital household registration and honors to her name at just twenty-six suddenly applies to move to a southern city's police bureau and take an outdoor deputy captain's post. Everyone thinks she's there to coast, enjoy a cushy job, and retire in comfort.

Including Zhu Yu, current captain of G City's First Criminal Investigation Detachment, a woman who can't stand the slightest flaw.

"My team doesn't tolerate dead weight. The First Detachment takes on the toughest cases. If you can't handle it, get out."

*

Zhu Yu's first impression of this new subordinate, who had shown up unannounced and whose background she hadn't even checked, was poor.

A good-for-nothing mascot from the capital, carefree because she had connections.

Until the strange cases that had been piling up led them, step by step, to details unrelated to the cases themselves, all of which pointed to one person.

"Chi Tianjing? How could she be a police officer? She's a murderer! She's not even Chinese. She's the adopted daughter of Noguchi, Japan's biggest crime syndicate. Her name is Noguchi Sanko."

"Three years ago, in a prison in Wa State, that woman killed sixty-seven people in one night with nothing but a towel. Oh, and her name isn't Chi Tianjing. It's Ruan Aya."

"Of the two undercover agents known to have been sent out by the Ministry of State Security three years ago as part of Operation Shattering the Formation, Comrade Vermilion Bird and Comrade Azure Phoenix, Chi Tianjing was one. She shot and killed her teammate."

The truth grew more elusive. It wasn't just about three years ago, or Chi Tianjing.

It also involved the sacrifice of Zhu Yu's parents, which she had witnessed with her own eyes twenty years ago, and the person who had connected all these crimes over the past two decades.

"That explosion three years ago didn't kill Ruan Aya," they said with a laugh. "Of course it didn't. She can't die. That would be such a waste."

[Reader's Guide]

1. A slightly slow start; the main plot begins in the latter part of the first case.

2. One-on-one, both leads have no past partners. The pursued lead once admired someone, a woman, and has no involvement with men.

3. Entirely fictional! All cases, locations, and names in this story are fictional!

4. Includes a crossover.

5. The values of all the positive characters align with the core socialist values. The story does not encourage criminal behavior in any way and firmly upholds and promotes patriotism and positive values.

6. Please read the latest version on Jinjiang Literature City! The pirated version after the story went premium differs from the official one; I've revised it!

---The companion series, the completed The Magnolia Seal, is also available---

A year ago, Lu Li, a member of a special task force in the People's Armed Police, was caught in an avalanche while on duty. Of the five members of her team, she was the only survivor.

Eleven titanium alloy pins had been implanted in her body, and the pain of her wartime trauma weighed heavily on the young woman.

So Lu Li shouldered her backpack and set out alone.

There, she met Lan Lerao.

A love story on the road is free and easy. Two lonely hearts collided by day and night.

Lu Li couldn't help being curious about the smiling older woman and wanting to know more about her.

Han Chinese, single, flower shop owner. She had a bewitchingly beautiful face, along with scars and tattoos like someone from the underworld.

Lu Li had a vague sense that Lan Lerao was a dangerous person.

But Lu Li was drawn to both danger and Lan Lerao.

*

"What kind of person is Mavinda?"

The world's power brokers had long been troubled by this question. If there had to be an answer, it was: "A creature who is both extremely dangerous and extremely charismatic."

"Who is she?"

There was no answer.

During the humanitarian rescue in Kachin six years ago, the devastated terrorist organization roared that this despicable cop's lackey should crawl back to China. A noble soul was trapped in a battered shell, with nowhere left to belong.

But she wasn't a cop.

She wasn't even Mavinda.

Theme: Justice is eternal.