The dim light is like countless shining ghosts, wandering around the city. The high-rise buildings are transparent, like a willful dancer, showing off her charm. The tall and short buildings are staggered, with stars of lights, the night sky is as luxurious as black velvet.

  A sudden rainstorm suddenly shattered the city's lights in the wet streets, the cold light swaying in the storm, ready to strike at any moment. A loud clap of thunder tore through the midnight sky, causing citizens to toss and turn in their sleep. The flashes of lightning illuminated the city as if it were daytime, sparking sparks in the air. This was a sleepless night.

  At three o'clock in the morning, outside Jinchang Department Store, more than 50 police officers were staring at the department store building with a wretched look. The pea-sized raindrops hit their foreheads and flowed down their cheeks, but they didn't even bother to wipe them away.

  Jinchang Department Store is a local enterprise in Jinyang City, under the care of the municipal government, it has developed into the largest enterprise in Jinyang City over the past decade or so, and also the largest taxpayer in Jinyang City. Unexpectedly, last night's big fire burned the department store from the first floor to the third floor, and I don't know how much economic loss was caused to the department store building.

  More than 50 police officers stood silently in the rain, not a single one dared to make a sound. Their eyes kept glancing at the black-faced officer who was leading them, their station chief Guo Tiezhu.

  "What about Song Baiyu? Why didn't Song Baiyu come, did you guys not inform him?" Guo Tiezhu shouted loudly after scanning the crowd back and forth several times.

  Two minutes ago, Guo Tiezhu was scolded by the director of the municipal bureau until he was speechless, saying that the Chengxi police station was just a bunch of idle people who only ate and didn't work. The department store was right next to the Chengxi police station, but it was the last to arrive at the fire scene, and also had the worst response rate, which made Guo Tiezhu very angry.

  "I called Song Boyu's home phone and mobile phone, but no one answered." A crisp voice sounded timidly, it was Hu Jing from the comprehensive department of Chengxi Police Station. Hu Jing had just graduated from police school, with a round face and a student haircut, seeing Hei Mian's angry face with wide eyes, she felt a bit guilty.

  "That guy can't even be found when he's on duty, let alone after work. It's a miracle if you can find him, Hu Jing." Another female cop patted Hu Jing's shoulder and comforted her.

  This female police officer is the deputy director of the police station, named Luo Shuyuan. She wears a black and stern policewoman's uniform, a police hat, and a light gray shirt with a tie. Her healthy wheat-colored skin and tall, slender figure are one in a million. The ordinary design of the police uniform is perfectly embodied under her supermodel-like physique. Especially the police badge and epaulets make people feel awe-inspired and humble. The faint blush on her pretty face adds a touch of femininity and beauty to her intimidating demeanor.

  Lu Shuwen is in her early twenties, but has already served as a police officer for five years. With the tenacity unique to girls, she not only achieved many accomplishments at work but also obtained a university undergraduate degree through self-study. Lu Shuwen's outstanding performance made her the most popular person at the Chengxi Police Station, and even Guo Tiezhu dared not underestimate what she said.

  "Lu Suo Chang, what do you mean by that?" Guo Tiezhu heard the implication behind Lu Shuwen's words and turned to ask, in the entire West City police station, only Lu Shuwen dared to talk back to him.

  Lu Shuwan snorted coldly at his words, but was too lazy to respond.

  "Director Guo, Song Baiyu has the same rank as us and receives the same salary. But look at what he usually does. He's always late to work and occasionally drops by the police station for a stroll, but can't even stay for long before leaving. What kind of policeman is that!"

  "We have 66 people in our detachment, not counting those sent out. Among them, Song Baiyu is the most relaxed. He's supposed to be in charge of comprehensive affairs, but most of that work is done by Xiao Hu. All he does is water flowers, trim grass, and occasionally fix the police station's wiring. And yet, this errand boy takes up one of our positions."

  "Yes, Director Guo, actually I wanted to say this a long time ago. Song Baiyu is just a parasite in our department, he has no skills at all. The work he does can be done by any ordinary laborer on the street. Someone like him should have been fired a long time ago, and his presence in our department only tarnishes our image."

  “……”

  Lu Shuwen didn't say a word, but many mouths spoke for her. All Lu Shuwen heard was so many people framing Song Baiyu's wrongs, and she frowned again.

  "You... all of you, speak with your conscience, who among those who have been to our police station doesn't praise the beauty of our flowers and plants? Who doesn't envy our well-done office greening? Without Song Boyu, would you have such a good working environment? Moreover, since Song Boyu came to our police station, when has our electricity ever malfunctioned?" A slightly chubby policeman, with a red face and ears, defended himself. The chubby man's name was Zhang Pengfei, an old policeman at the Chengxi Police Station, and also the only person in the police station who got along with Song Boyu.

  "Zhang Pangzi, we are police, but what does Song Boyu do, electrician? Or a landscaping worker..."

  "That's enough, all of you shut up!" Guo Tiezhu was annoyed that every time he mentioned Song Baiyu, the people below him would start making a racket and wouldn't stop, making Guo Tiezhu's already throbbing headache even worse.

  Guo Tiezhu's mind flashed back to Song Boyu's information, and it seemed that Song Boyu was forced into the Chengxi Police Station by the Municipal Bureau. At that time, the director of the Municipal Bureau, Liang Yu, also asked him to take good care of Song Boyu, which was also the reason why he had been ignoring Song Boyu all along. However, over the past two years, he had tried to probe several times but did not find any background information on Song Boyu. Moreover, after Liang Yu threw Song Boyu into the Chengxi Police Station, he seemed to have forgotten about him altogether. Could it be that Song Boyu's background was not as complicated as he had imagined?

  "Who was on duty tonight, and why wasn't the fire discovered until it had been burning for so long?" Guo Tiezhu coldly swept his gaze over his subordinates who were silent as cicadas due to his loud roar, and asked in a low voice. When the police arrived at the scene, the big fire had already spread from the first floor to the second floor, and it can be imagined how long the department store had been on fire before the alarm was sounded.

  Many police officers looked at me, I looked at them, with a thoughtful expression on their faces.

  "Song Baiyu!" Several people shouted out at the same time all of a sudden.

  After hearing Song Baiyu's three words, Zhang Pengfei's face turned pale, while Guo Tiejun let out a heavy hum, having mentally sentenced Song Baiyu to death. The several dozen other police officers' faces showed more or less of a schadenfreude expression. The vice governor is likely to come to Jinyang City for inspection soon, and Song Baiyu made a mistake at the critical moment. Isn't this like Old Shouxing hanging himself - being dissatisfied with living too long?

  "No, Song Baiyu may not have a sense of time when he's on duty, but he's never delayed his own work. When it's his turn to be on duty, he's always been meticulous. Since he was on duty tonight, he can't possibly not be at the police station!" Luo Shuyuan thought for a moment before shaking her head and saying this with unusual certainty. Luo Shuyuan had strong principles, although she disliked Song Baiyu, she still objectively spoke up for him.

  "I'll go take a look." Zhang Pengfei heard Luo Shuyuan's words, and with a grateful glance at her, he quickly ran into the building of the West City Police Station.

  The police station and the Jinchang Department Store were originally only separated by a wall, so after Zhang Pengfei entered the police station, the remaining people looked at each other and followed Guo Tiezhu into the police station.

  "Found him, found him, Bo Yu is here, he fainted." Almost at the same time as everyone stepped into the police station, Zhang Pengfei's voice also rang out in a timely manner.

  "This..." As everyone followed the sound and walked into the courtyard, when they saw the scene in front of them, the expressions on their faces became even more bizarre.

  Due to several hours of torrential rain, the courtyard was filled with muddy water, and Song Baiyu lay quietly in the muddy water. Next to Song Baiyu was an aluminum alloy ladder and some maintenance tools, among which a section of bright red electrical wire was the most eye-catching.

  Seeing Song Bo Yu's pale face, everyone started discussing again.

  "With a body like that and still being a police officer, it's really embarrassing."

  "A big man like you, and yet you still get drenched by the rain. If this gets out, it'll be a joke."

  “……”

  Guo Tiezhu's face turned iron-green as he stared at Song Boyu for a moment, then waved his hand and said in a deep voice: "Zhang Pengfei, take Song Boyu to the hospital first. The rest of you go back and rest."

  Upon hearing Guo Tiezhu's order, Zhang Pengfei didn't say a word and carried Song Boyu out. He couldn't bear his colleagues' gossip about Song Boyu anymore. The others were indeed tired after being busy for half the night, so when they saw Song Boyu being carried away by Zhang Pengfei, they also left the police station one after another.

  Lu Shuwen did not leave immediately, but carefully scanned the yard. She found that the potted plants that were usually full of the yard had disappeared. She remembered Song Boyu's fondness for those potted plants and guessed that they had been moved into the room by Song Boyu. The electrical wires in the yard had also been renovated. Suddenly, a thought flashed through her mind: the wiring of Jinchang Department Store seemed to be installed at the same time as the wiring of Chengxi Police Station. And as far as she knew, Song Boyu's electrical engineering skills were quite impressive. Could it be...

  "Director Guo, Song Baiyu he..." Luo Shuyuan saw Guo Tiezhu's ashen face and hesitated whether to tell him her conjecture.

  "Shuwen, I know you're a good person from the police station, but don't plead for him this time. Look at what Song Boyu has done! If it weren't for him, our police station would have been scolded by Director Liang today and wouldn't be able to hold its head up!" Before Luo Shuwen could finish speaking, she was interrupted by Guo Tiezhu.

  "Director Guo, actually Song Baiyu has done a great job. Replacing him with someone else wouldn't make it any better. These hundreds of pots of flowers in the courtyard must be worth over 100,000 yuan. If Song Baiyu hadn't moved them into the house one by one, our police station would have suffered a huge loss." Lu Shuyuan's thoughts were not confirmed, she hesitated for a moment and didn't say it out loud, instead saying something else.

  "I'd rather not have those flowers, we're a police station, not a flower garden." Guo Tiejun abruptly interrupted Luo Shuyuan's words, thought for a moment and felt that his attitude was a bit too hard, so he let out a sigh and spoke in a softer tone: "Shuyuan, you're from the criminal investigation department, I'm assigning you the task of investigating the truth behind the fire at Jinchang Department Store. You also heard what Director Liang said earlier, if our police station can't deliver results that satisfy him..."

  Just over ten minutes ago, the director of the municipal bureau, in a fit of anger, assigned Guo Tiezhu a difficult task: to investigate the truth behind the department store fire. However, with such a heavy rainstorm tonight, even if there were any clues, they would have been washed away by the storm. Guo Tiezhu seemed to see his own bleak prospects.

  "Don't worry, Director Guo, I'll try my best." Luo Shuyuan replied, seeing Guo Tiezhu's face suddenly look several years older.

  Guo Tiezhu looked at Luo Shuwen with gratitude and didn't say anything else, then left the police station.

  "Song Baiyu, Song Baiyu, I hope my guess is correct, otherwise you'll really have to roll out of the West City Police Station." After Guo Tiezhu left, Luo Shuyuan took another look at the bright wire in the muddy ground and turned around to head towards the fire scene.