"Who would've thought you had so many tricks up your sleeve?"
The two of them found a quiet Western restaurant and sat down. Luo Yan's gaze carried a faint trace of menace as she spoke.
"Tricks? What tricks?"
Chen Yi swallowed a bite of steak, feigning ignorance.
"Don't pretend with me. Are you really going to tell me those gold bars didn't come from Thief Three?"
Luo Yan's voice was icy, her sharp eyes piercing through him like daggers, as though she could see straight into his soul.
"Big sister, are you part dog? You turn hostile faster than flipping a page," Chen Yi grumbled, his tone laced with mock indignation. "I just helped you out again, and this is how you treat your benefactor?"
In truth, the moment he decided to reveal the gold bars, he had anticipated this confrontation.
"I'm a police officer. Combating crime is my duty, and right now, you're no exception!"
Luo Yan's words sent a chill down Chen Yi's spine. This woman was serious.
"Are you saying this as a friend or as a police officer?"
Chen Yi put down his knife and fork, meeting Luo Yan's gaze head-on.
He had thought the two of them had become friends. Given the circumstances, he assumed Luo Yan might turn a blind eye to the source of the gold bars, considering how much he had helped her.
After all, he hadn't stolen or robbed anyone. The police had failed to extract this information from Thief Three, and he had obtained the gold purely through his own abilities. What did that have to do with the police?
But he had underestimated Luo Yan, underestimated this fiery and principled woman who, despite her impulsive nature, held fast to her ideals.
Friend or officer?
Luo Yan was momentarily at a loss. How was she supposed to handle this? Should she really arrest Chen Yi in accordance with the law?
She simply felt that Chen Yi shouldn't have crossed the line. He should have turned over all of Thief Three's assets. But instead, he had chosen to keep some for himself, even exposing them to help her vent her frustrations.
Yet, when it came to what she should do next, she found herself uncertain.
By her principles and the rules of her profession, she should arrest him immediately.
For the first time, Luo Yan, who had always viewed fighting crime as her duty, hesitated.
She knew that Chen Yi had only done this because he saw her as a friend. Was she really going to stab him in the back?
At some point, Luo Yan had begun to see Chen Yi as a friend. This younger man, five years her junior, who was cunning and shrewd yet repeatedly came to her aid, had become someone she regarded as a companion.
Yes, he had helped her time and again. And what had she given him in return?
When he reported the hideout of the jewelry store robbers, she had "wrongfully" accused him of harassment afterward.
When he tracked down Thief Three, he ended up injured and hospitalized due to her oversight. If not for a stroke of luck, she might never have seen him again.
Now, he had stepped in to help her once more. Was she really going to arrest him?
Luo Yan stood frozen, unsure of what to do.
What should she do? Without realizing it, she had already come to owe him so much. Was she really going to follow protocol and take him into custody?
Sighing inwardly, she decided to let it go this time. Consider it the police department's compensation to him.
Even if she did arrest him, there was no evidence to prove that the gold bars were stolen from Thief Three. In the end, they'd have to release him anyway.
She clung to this reasoning as a justification for not arresting Chen Yi.
"This is the first and last time. Or rather, if something like this happens again, make sure I never find out."
After a long pause, Luo Yan finally made up her mind.
Once she finished speaking, she didn't spare Chen Yi another glance. Rising from her seat, she walked away.
It wasn't that she hated him; she had simply given herself an excuse and didn't want to linger long enough to regret it. Or perhaps she left quickly to avoid second thoughts.
Chen Yi watched her resolute figure disappear into the distance and couldn't help but shake his head with a bitter smile.
Someone like him, living like a stray dog, probably couldn't truly fit into Luo Yan's world.
Since ancient times, chivalry and the law have been at odds. Those who live by the rules of the underworld and those who serve the public order are natural enemies, their opposing ways of life predestined to clash.
Though society had entered the 21st century, and the underworld had shrunk considerably, it still existed. And Chen Yi, through and through, was a product of that world.
Luo Yan, on the other hand, was a police officer—a protector of the law whose duty was to combat crime.
With such different stances and ways of life, how could the two of them ever truly be friends?
Chen Yi realized he had overlooked this fundamental issue from the start. Today, she had chosen not to arrest him, but next time, she might not hesitate to do so.
As he stared at her retreating figure, his brow furrowed deeply.
In his eyes, a dark mist had begun to rise above Luo Yan's head, swirling like a dense black veil that swayed with her every step.
Malignant energy.
The ominous aura was thick and oppressive, far more intense than the faint traces he had seen in the hospital.
"Black corresponds to Kan Water. A police officer, akin to the ancient armored warriors, aligns with Li Fire. The hexagram of Water over Fire signifies harmony at first but chaos in the end. The Li trigram represents her essence, while Kan Water serves as the external force. Water overcomes fire—this is a great misfortune."
Chen Yi's expression grew somber. Ever since he entered the realm of divine insight, he had become increasingly attuned to the calculations of hexagrams, able to interpret their meanings with greater ease.
The malignant energy surrounding Luo Yan signified imminent danger, and Chen Yi could roughly deduce its source.
Kan symbolizes the middle-aged man, the thief, the adversary. Kan Water suppresses Li Fire, meaning a thief or criminal would harm the officer.
Harmony at first, chaos in the end—it suggested that while things might go smoothly at first, they would ultimately take a turn for the worse.
Given her profession, the most likely source of danger was retaliation from a criminal. And according to the hexagram, the perpetrator would be a middle-aged man.
After Luo Yan left, she felt an inexplicable emptiness in her heart, as though she had lost something important.
"Just a kid," she muttered to herself with a self-deprecating smile. "When did I start acting like a lovelorn woman?"
"Ugh, lovelorn woman, my foot! Even if I were one, he wouldn't be the ungrateful scoundrel I'm waiting for!"
Luo Yan wandered aimlessly through the streets, her thoughts a jumbled mess even she couldn't untangle. And when she couldn't make sense of something, she chose not to dwell on it—a lesson she had learned from her grandmother.
From a young age, her father had been her hero. Everyone in kindergarten knew she had a police officer for a father, and back then, police officers were the epitome of heroism in a child's eyes.
Though her father was rarely home and spent little time with her, he was her pride.
Until one day, that towering image came crashing down. She was no longer the object of envy among her peers.
Her father had taken money from the underworld and become a criminal. And as the child of a criminal, she was naturally branded a bad kid.
The transformation was instant and brutal. One moment, she was a cherished child; the next, she was the target of everyone's disdain.
Her father was arrested by his colleagues, and not long after, they returned with devastating news—he had taken his own life in custody.
Her mother collapsed upon hearing the news and spent the following days in a daze, staring blankly at their family portrait as though her soul had been taken from her.
Two years later, her mother succumbed to illness, leaving Luo Yan to live with her grandmother.
Her grandmother was a kind and loving woman who always told her not to dwell on unhappy things or try to understand what couldn't be understood. "Just live happily," she would say.
And so, Luo Yan became a cheerful, carefree girl, seemingly without a care in the world.
At eighteen, she was accepted into the police academy. That same year, her grandmother passed away, marking the last time Luo Yan ever shed tears.
After that, she returned to her carefree facade. But unlike before, she no longer formed close relationships. Deep down, she believed herself to be cursed—that anyone who got close to her would suffer misfortune.
When she graduated and became a police officer, she took on her father's former role, living the heroic life she had once idealized as a child.
Her closest companions became the criminals she pursued, and all her misfortune was directed at them.
Until the day she accompanied Chen Yi to the orphanage. Watching him hand over 100,000 yuan without hesitation to treat a sick child, a crack appeared in the walls around her heart. For a moment, she thought Chen Yi might be someone she could call a friend.
That was one reason she had chosen to help him.
But the moment he revealed the gold bars, she sealed her heart shut once more.
Her father's mistakes had destroyed her family, her childhood, and perhaps even her entire life. From that moment on, she had vowed to become a police officer who never "made mistakes."
She couldn't make mistakes, nor could she tolerate others making them.
What Chen Yi had done might seem harmless to others, but to her, it was unforgivable. She didn't want to see someone ruin themselves and those around them by making the same mistakes her father had.
She understood Chen Yi's way of life and knew he couldn't fully conform to her standards. All she could do was distance herself, taking her perceived misfortune with her.
As for why she cared so much about Chen Yi, she couldn't quite say. Perhaps it was because, as a child, she had wished for someone like him—a "big brother" who could protect and guide her.
For some reason, her mind filled once again with the image of that cunning scoundrel.
She suddenly stopped, looking up at the rare blue sky above Quancheng, and broke into a radiant, childlike smile.
"Don't dwell on unhappy things!"
Stretching her long legs, Luo Yan resumed her carefree stride, heading toward the underground parking lot.
The parking lot was dimly lit, a stark contrast to the bright midday sun above. Its shadowy corners felt like the remnants of twilight, devoid of life.
As Luo Yan approached her modified patrol car, she failed to notice a man crouching in a nearby corner, his predatory gaze fixed on her like a starving wolf.
Just as she opened the car door, a flash of light reflected in the window—sharp and blinding, even in the dim garage.
It was the glint of a blade. Someone was attacking her from behind.
Startled, Luo Yan's body tensed instinctively, adrenaline surging through her veins. She sidestepped the strike and, before the assailant could attack again, rolled gracefully to create a two-meter gap between them.
"Impressive reflexes. No wonder my brother fell at your hands," the man said, his voice cold and menacing.
The speaker was a middle-aged man, about 1.75 meters tall, dressed in black sportswear. His disheveled hair suggested days of neglect, and a long scar on his left cheek made his already sinister face even more terrifying.
He held a 30-centimeter watermelon knife casually, making no immediate move to press the attack.
It wasn't that he had missed his chance; he simply exuded confidence. The way he looked at Luo Yan was as if he were staring at a corpse.