Ningjiang County, 3:00 in the afternoon, Building 10, Unit 808, Happiness Residential Complex, Songxin Town.
Luo Fei, an intern police officer who had only been on the job for three days, was going over the case with his mentor, Zhang Haiyang.
Just at noon today, the Songxin Town police station had received a report. Zhang Lan of Building 10, Unit 808, Happiness Residential Complex, had lost a pedigreed breed cat of considerable value. It had been gone for twenty-four hours without coming home, and she wanted the police station to help her find it.
Zhang Haiyang, who didn't have any pressing cases on hand, brought his new apprentice Luo Fei over.
"Ms. Zhang, when was the last time you saw the cat?" Zhang Haiyang asked the woman before him, who had a full figure, smooth fair skin, and an anxious expression on her face.
"It was at eleven o'clock yesterday morning when I left the house. Huahua was still in the room then. I came home late last night and was very sleepy, so I went straight to bed when I got back and didn't notice whether Huahua was there or not. But when I got up this morning, I found that Huahua was gone." The woman answered in a great hurry.
Seeing Luo Fei immediately take out a notebook and pen to take notes, Zhang Haiyang felt rather satisfied with this apprentice.
Honestly speaking, when the station chief asked him to mentor Luo Fei two days ago, Zhang Haiyang had been quite reluctant. He found taking on a newbie troublesome, and young people these days not only couldn't endure hardship but were also full of bad habits. On top of that, Luo Fei hadn't graduated from a proper police academy, so he really didn't want to.
But this year the station had taken in four new recruits, and all the senior officers were required to mentor a newcomer, so no matter how reluctant he was, there was nothing he could do.
Fortunately, after two days together, he was broadly satisfied with his apprentice. The kid had a good head on his shoulders, was diligent, had none of the spoiled-brat habits, and showed him, as his nominal mentor, proper respect.
Zhang Haiyang then continued asking some detailed questions, and Luo Fei recorded everything at his side.
However, Luo Fei's mind clearly wasn't entirely on finding the cat. Compared to finding a cat, Luo Fei cared far more about the cheat in his head.
The Gene Fusion System
Six months ago, Luo Fei, a third-rate suspense novelist struggling on the poverty line, had stayed up late writing novels for a week straight, ultimately died of sudden cardiac death, and arrived in this parallel world with a new identity.
A single-parent household with a family of four. His mother helped out in the middle school cafeteria, and his younger brother and sister were still in school. As for his own identity: a layabout graduate of a third-rate college, who had spent four years at university learning absolutely nothing. The result was graduation and unemployment—in other words, a jobless freeloader living off his mother at home.
As a transmigrator, Luo Fei had awakened his cheat in good time. But before he could even get excited, the system notified him that only by becoming a people's police officer could he bind the cheat.
And the only path for Luo Fei to become a people's police officer was the civil service examination.
But before transmigrating, Luo Fei had graduated many, many years ago. Asking him to take the civil service exam was quite unrealistic.
Yet who could refuse the temptation of a cheat!
No sooner said than done. Luo Fei steeled himself and bought nearly every civil service exam prep book and test paper available, studying desperately, studying to death. Of the twenty-four hours in a day, at least eighteen were spent either studying or preparing to study.
Heaven rewards the diligent. In April's provincial civil service exam, Luo Fei applied to the local Songxin Town police station and was accepted.
It had been far from easy. You have to understand that policing is a highly specialized profession, so police recruitment was basically done through the police academy joint examination for cadets.
In the civil service exam, the public security system actually offered very few openings, and even those were mostly clerical positions; most public security agencies simply didn't recruit through the civil service exam at all. By sheer luck, for whatever reason, the Songxin Town police station had released one civil service opening this year.
Under these circumstances, Luo Fei seized the opportunity, and with second place on the written exam, first place in the interview, and first place overall, he claimed that single precious slot and officially became a glorious police officer.
And just now, Luo Fei had bound his cheat.
Gene Fusion System
Host: Luo Fei
Gender: Male
Age: 23
Gene Fusion: None
Gold Coins: 0
Gene Shop: African Hyena Endurance Gene (2,000 gold coins), Praying Mantis Reflex Gene (2,000 gold coins), Monkey Agility Gene (2,000 gold coins), Eagle Vision Gene (2,000 gold coins), Viper Infrared Imaging Gene (2,000 gold coins), Gorilla Strength Gene (2,000 gold coins), Ant Strength Gene (5,000 gold coins), Cheetah Speed Gene (3,000 gold coins)
Luo Fei was already familiar with the system's functions.
"Ding! Congratulations, Host, on receiving the Beginner's Gift Package: Police Dog Olfaction Gene. The Host is advised to fuse it immediately."
The system's notification rang out.
"Fuse." Almost without hesitation, Luo Fei, whose heart was surging with excitement, chose to fuse. Nothing in heaven or earth mattered more than the system; he took the system's suggestions absolutely seriously.
The next second, Luo Fei felt a tickle in his nose. A moment later, the system notified him that the Police Dog Olfaction Gene had been successfully fused.
Immediately after, Luo Fei felt as if over a hundred different scents flooded his nostrils all at once—lady's perfume, the stench of sweat, the reek of luosifen, the body odor of a cat, and so on. For a moment, Luo Fei felt utterly miserable.
Fortunately, the sensation came fast and went fast too. Before long, Luo Fei had completely adapted to the various smells filling his nose—perhaps thanks to the system.
"Ms. Zhang, may we go inside and take a look?" Zhang Haiyang asked Zhang Lan at his side.
"Ah, yes, please come in." Zhang Lan hesitated a moment, then stepped aside to let Zhang Haiyang and Luo Fei in.
Zhang Haiyang entered the apartment first, and Luo Fei, suppressing the excitement in his heart, followed closely behind him.
The apartment had four bedrooms and two living rooms, visibly over 150 square meters.
It was tastefully decorated and very tidy, except for the half-eaten luosifen on the coffee table in the center of the living room, which smelled rather strong.
Zhang Lan hurried over, covered the luosifen, packed it up, and threw it into the trash.
After getting Zhang Lan's consent, Zhang Haiyang began looking around.
As an intern officer, Luo Fei stuck close behind Zhang Haiyang, the picture of a student at work.
After checking the bedrooms, Zhang Haiyang took Luo Fei to look at the bathroom as well, mainly to see if there were any openings a cat could have escaped through.
Just as he reached the bathroom door, Luo Fei caught a faint foul stench.
"Master, do you smell a disgusting stench?" Luo Fei asked, seeing that Zhang Haiyang beside him looked completely normal.
"A disgusting stench?" Zhang Haiyang shook his head, then walked out of the bathroom.
Luo Fei didn't dwell on it—a smelly bathroom was perfectly normal. Instead, having confirmed that his nose had indeed become more sensitive, he was secretly delighted.
So he too walked out of the bathroom.
Living Room
"Ms. Zhang, are you sure you didn't close any windows after you came back yesterday?"
"No. I got back very late yesterday."
Luo Fei was walking toward the living room when something occurred to him, and he stopped in his tracks, a thoughtful look appearing on his face.
"That faint stench just now felt so familiar. What was it like? Uh..."
"The smell of a corpse. That's right—it's the stench of a rotting animal carcass!"
Luo Fei instantly saw the light. He remembered now: that foul stench had been the smell of a rotting animal corpse. It was just that in the bathroom, the stench had been so faint that Luo Fei hadn't realized it right away.
Luo Fei returned to the bathroom, and that faint, disgusting stench once again filled his nostrils. Moreover, Luo Fei discovered that the faint stench was drifting in from outside the window—the closer he got to the window, the stronger it became.
Luo Fei leaned toward the window and drew a deep breath, confirming that the stench was coming from the balcony of the neighboring apartment.
In the living room, Zhang Haiyang was still questioning Zhang Lan.
Luo Fei walked out of the bathroom.
"Master, I'm going next door to ask if they've seen the cat." After excusing himself to Zhang Haiyang, Luo Fei left the apartment and headed straight for Unit 828 next door—the unit whose balcony the stench had come from.
Luo Fei didn't know what kind of corpse it was, but perhaps because he had written too many suspense novels in his past life, he felt there was definitely something wrong here.
Knock, knock, knock.
Luo Fei knocked on the door and waited a while, but there was no movement inside.
Knock, knock, knock.
Luo Fei knocked again.
"Coming! Who is it!"
An angry voice came from inside the apartment, followed by the slap-slap sound of slippers approaching from far off.
"What do you want?" With a creak, the door opened a crack, and a fierce-looking face with a full beard peered out through the gap, bloodshot eyes glaring at Luo Fei, its voice carrying anger and impatience.
About the male lead having graduated many years ago: this refers to Luo Fei before his transmigration having graduated many years ago. Many readers previously misunderstood this, so this author has now actively taken readers' feedback and added "before transmigration." There shouldn't be any misunderstanding now, right?