Everyone ignored Hu Jia’s roar, pretending not to hear. They had all been drinking late at night; who knew whose hand had touched whose?
Hu Jia wasn’t truly angry, of course. He just wanted to change the subject.
Normally, Lü Qingqing would have helped him tidy up his room, but she had disappeared that day.
The Spring Festival holiday was only three days long.
On the fourth day, work resumed, and school started again.
However, such peace lasted less than two days before the festive atmosphere in the city was shattered.
There were thieves, and not the kind with only rudimentary skills.
They were agile, scaling walls, leaping high, capable of anything.
Everyone knew that the Spring Festival period was a prime time for thieves and robbers.
So, when the first thief appeared, people didn’t pay much attention. But to their surprise, the police station received over ten reports in just four or five days.
The stolen items were not only from wealthy households but also from well-off families. The criminal investigation team was swamped.
After all, those prominent families held positions of status and influence, exerting pressure on the police department. Ouyang Wen had no choice but to do his best.
This led to a severe shortage of police personnel. Lü Qingqing suggested to Ouyang Wen that they bring Gao Liang back.
But there were still not enough people, so the city bureau had to call the special operations team for assistance.
“Do they really think we’re their private bodyguards?” Hu Jia slammed the table in anger.
Logically, it shouldn’t take so many police officers to catch a thief. However, some high-ranking officials and prominent families actually requested patrol officers to guard their homes.
“With too much ill-gotten wealth at home, they naturally feel guilty and fear ghosts,” Lü Qingqing understood Hu Jia’s point perfectly. Police officers served everyone, but now they were being monopolized by a select few.
How could this not infuriate them?
Yet, many people were not angry at all. Instead, they relished it, being the first to volunteer.
After all, guarding the homes of influential people brought rewards, and guarding the homes of high officials brought prestige.
The training institute also did something strange: it announced that this situation would be used as a final examination.
This was perplexing. The graduation was in March, so arranging a final exam in mid-February seemed a bit rushed.
But the training institute stated that since they would be supporting the patrol teams anyway, combining the two tasks would save expenses.
Regardless of the reason, Lü Qingqing was happy.
She had been looking for an opportunity to help, and now one had presented itself.
The only downside was that Tong Meng would be joining the operation.
Lü Qingqing considered this as a trial run before the potential merger of the special operations team and the criminal investigation team.
“Let’s go! That strange person is so peculiar, turning the entire city upside down without a trace,” Ouyang Wen looked at everyone and issued the patrol order.
“Wait!” Tong Meng called out loudly, reporting, “Captain Hu hasn’t arrived yet?”
Uh…
Lü Qingqing’s face instantly darkened.
This woman never missed an opportunity to court trouble.
“He’s not coming!” Ouyang Wen said, brief and to the point.
“But…”
“Tong Meng! You are here to investigate the case, not to coordinate,” Ouyang Wen said with displeasure. “Let’s go! Patrol your designated areas.”
Lü Qingqing glanced at Tong Meng and chuckled.
Given Hu Jia’s temperament, it was already a favor that he allowed Li Yang and Luo Wenwu to participate in this theft case. Of course, another reason was that Lü Qingqing had not informed Hu Jia that she was also involved in this case.
According to the team assignments, Lü Qingqing was assigned to the second patrol area, teamed with Zhou Fengjiu and Guan Jinsong.
Tong Meng was in the third area, with Zhan Ruoxuan unhappily following behind her.
No discoveries were made throughout the day.
But that very night, a prominent household in the city was robbed.
The family that reported the crime was named Tang. According to Xin’er, a maid at the Tang residence, she had seen the thief’s true face.
Xin’er said the thief was very short, only reaching up to her knees. He looked like a five or six-year-old child.
He wore a dark costume and a colorful hat. Most terrifyingly, he wore a monkey mask.
The stolen item from the Tang family was, once again, a jewelry box, the same as what the previous victims had lost.
Xin’er was terrified at the time, but the thief remained unhurried, leaping over walls and scaling rooftops with a few somersaults before disappearing from the compound.
“Really, he was so ugly! Baring his teeth, his face full of wrinkles.”
Although Xiao Tao’s testimony sounded somewhat absurd, it provided two crucial pieces of information: first, the thief was short, like a child; and second, he wore a monkey mask.
Such distinctive features should have made it easy to identify the suspect, yet the police found nothing in the following two or three days.
Items continued to be stolen, emergency calls kept coming in, pressure from above intensified, and those working below were reprimanded more and more frequently.
“What do you think that monster is?” Guan Jinsong had been following Lü Qingqing for the past two days. “We’ve seen quite a few witnesses, but it feels like everyone is saying something different.”
Lü Qingqing pressed her temples, truly frustrated.
Over the past few days, the city had seen many eyewitness accounts of the thief. Some said he knew qinggong, others said he wielded a staff, some claimed he was vicious and attacked people, while others described him as timid, fleeing at the slightest sound.
“Let’s check the mask shops,” Lü Qingqing said, noticing small stalls on the street. She wanted to see what kind of mask the culprit was wearing.
She ended up buying many monkey masks on the street, but the witnesses all said they didn’t look quite right.
That evening, Lü Qingqing returned home. As soon as she entered, she froze.
It was true what they said: chasing eagles all day, only to have your eyes pecked by one.
A thief had broken into her home.
No, a thief had broken into Hu Jia’s home.
The scene was like a tornado had swept through. Belongings were scattered everywhere; not a single item on the table remained upright.
Hu Jia sat on the edge of the bed, his head bowed. When he saw Lü Qingqing enter, he merely lifted his head slightly.
The atmosphere made Lü Qingqing feel uneasy.
Could something important have been stolen?
“What’s missing?”
“The key!”
Huh?
Lü Qingqing hadn’t reacted at first. After a moment, she exclaimed, “The key?”
Hu Jia was extremely vexed. The key had been placed neatly in the drawer, but now it was gone, along with several silver dollars.
They always heard that the phantom thief stole jewelry. Could the fact that this key was in a wooden box have caused a misunderstanding?
News of the stolen key quickly reached the special operations team.
The air in the room was heavy; even the usually jovial Li Yang dared not speak.
They meticulously searched the room but found no trace left by the thief. Hu Jia was furious. “Tell me, how far have you gotten with the theft investigation? I’ll join!”
Hu Jia joined the investigation. While this was a good thing, Hu Jia’s perpetually gloomy demeanor made everyone reluctant to approach him.
“Short stature? Go find someone nearby called Mao Zi.”
“Mao Zi?”
Luo Wenwu suspected he had misheard. “You mean the leader of the beggars?”
Hu Jia nodded. “I suspect this thief has dwarfism. People with such conditions usually cannot do heavy labor and often resort to begging. As the leader of the beggars in the city, he should know the most.”