Chapter 131

Chapter 131

Regarding Officer Pan's words, Bai Xingshu truly couldn't argue back.

But...

"I'm not afraid of danger! I want to follow Senior Bai!" Luo Yu said enthusiastically, turning his earnest, pleading gaze toward Bai Xingshu. "I believe in Senior's words—he'll definitely protect me!"

Luo Yu's eyes, brimming with pure trust, were like those of a baby bird, easily stirring a protective instinct in others.

Shen Geng: "..."

His mouth twitched.

He was also Luo Yu's senior, wasn’t he? Yet it felt like all of Luo Yu's enthusiasm was directed at Bai Xingshu, completely ignoring him.

Shen Geng stared at Luo Yu for a few seconds, then glanced at the always dazzlingly handsome Bai Xingshu.

Come to think of it, from the moment Luo Yu appeared until now, Bai Xingshu hadn’t actually exchanged many words with him.

Bai Xingshu's talent for attracting elite Alphas... wasn’t that a bit too exaggerated?!

Naturally, Bai Xingshu was delighted upon hearing this. He put on a cocky face, only to be kicked discreetly by Officer Pan from behind.

Tch.

Bai Xingshu reined in his smug act and turned to Luo Yu, answering with relative honesty, "Actually, if you follow me and something really happens, I’d definitely hand you over to Shen Geng."

As he spoke, he patted Shen Geng’s shoulder beside him and gave Luo Yu a thumbs-up. "Shen Geng—the only dependable one in this whole car!"

The moment those words left his mouth, Bai Xingshu was met with a barrage of playful hits from the seasoned colleagues in the car.

You little brat, who are you calling unreliable?!

Asking for trouble, huh?!

After a brief bout of playful chaos, they soon arrived at their destination. Everyone quietly took their assigned positions and began surveillance using their equipment.

Bai Xingshu, Shen Geng, and Luo Yu were naturally grouped together.

On paper, the three were under the guidance of Officer Pan, a seasoned officer. However, the operational style of the Shunwang Police Division was way more rough-and-tumble compared to Shangqing’s.

After working with Bai Xingshu and Shen Geng a few times and finding them relatively reliable (?), they were practically treated as full-fledged officers.

And if they were already being treated as full-fledged officers, having them mentor a rookie like Luo Yu was completely reasonable.

Bai Xingshu couldn’t care less.

He had mentored plenty of people before and was quite an old hand at it.

He sensed the various metal accessories on Luo Yu’s person—used for tracking purposes—and then focused seriously, working alongside Shen Geng to complete the surveillance mission.

Meticulously, they recorded everything happening within their assigned area.

After about an hour, Bai Xingshu noticed Luo Yu fighting back a yawn.

Luo Yu had been suppressing this natural reflex for a while now.

Though Luo Yu had come to Shunwang as a temp with the goal of getting close to the royal family, he understood clearly that his own skills mattered more than sucking up to anyone.

He'd always planned to attend a military academy, though his original preference was for the Joint Academy rather than the Capital Academy.

These fundamental principles were crystal clear in his mind.

So he genuinely spent a long time watching the surveillance feed with Bai Xingshu.

However, Luo Yu's sleep deprivation from earlier was now uncontrollably catching up with him.

Bai Xingshu was pretty patient with rookies.

"Luo Yu, why don't you catch some rest over there? I'll call you if anything comes up," Bai Xingshu suggested.

Struggling to stay awake, Luo Yu immediately felt even more certain that his earlier judgment was correct.

Bai Xingshu was such a decent, kind guy!

Luo Yu gave Bai Xingshu a grateful look, but this was his first shot at proving himself—he couldn’t afford to leave an impression of incompetence.

With firm resolve, Luo Yu refused, "I'm good!"

After demonstrating his determination, Luo Yu gazed expectantly and asked, "Senior, when are you going to get some action and take these guys out?"

Luo Yu had done his research and knew exactly what Bai Xingshu had accomplished back when he was in Shangqing.

Staring at surveillance screens for too long was tiring—it was the perfect time to showcase his 98-point phys score.

Bai Xingshu gave Luo Yu a blank stare while he heard Shen Geng stifle a laugh.

"I’m not, I don’t, stop making things up!" Bai Xingshu shot back defensively. "Under normal circumstances, I follow the playbook!"

Shen Geng, eyes twinkling with amusement, backed him up, "That’s right. He only jumps in when things go sideways."

Whether in police work or military operations, the top priority was always completing the mission.

If the task was surveillance and observation, then the first requirement was to remain quiet and hidden—not to make a scene.

In this regard, Bai Xingshu had indeed never acted recklessly.

The reason why many people perceived Bai Xingshu as impulsive and always charging ahead was largely due to his handling of unexpected situations on the scene.

No op ever goes 100% smooth.

Especially in major cases, suspects were slippery as hell.

It was perfectly normal for suspects to suddenly flee from an unexpected direction during an arrest or to whip out some unexpected heat.

In such moments, if Bai Xingshu was present, he would react instantly—parkouring over walls, risking his neck, and eliminating these surprises decisively.

These actions made for one hell of a show.

Luo Yu glanced at Shen Geng.

Shen Geng’s tone had this fond note.

Looking at Shen Geng’s expression now, Luo Yu could also see that it was warm and genuine.

Luo Yu's mind was blown.

Are people really trying this hard these days just to build good relations with the royal family?

This realization startled him, and Luo Yu's drowsiness faded significantly. Of course, because of this, he realized that tonight would probably just mean watching footage and following leads.

And so, Luo Yu got down to business once again, carefully examining the video footage.

After all, this was his one shot to show what he's got!

After keeping his eyes peeled for over an hour, Luo Yu suddenly noticed something off.

It was around 4 a.m.

The suspects they were tailing had slowed down significantly, as regular folks would be hitting the streets soon.

While they could fool the smart analysis of the surveillance system, dealing with real, living people was a whole other ballgame.

This was precisely when the criminals were most jumpy and alert.

While reviewing the footage, Luo Yu even spotted a few instances where the suspects were trading words or even throwing hands.

Amid this tense atmosphere, Luo Yu noticed a man stumbling around, looking three sheets to the wind, walking straight toward the suspects' location.

"What should we do?" Luo Yu shot the question to Bai Xingshu and Shen Geng. "Should we stop him?"

Bai Xingshu shook his head. "No, you don’t know if he’s one of them playing drunk."

Something similar had happened before in Shangqing.

Bai Xingshu hadn't bitten on that bait, but Shen Geng had been fooled once.

He accidentally revealed to the criminals that they were being watched. Fortunately, Shen Geng reacted quickly, avoiding any irreversible consequences—though it did lead to an immediate arrest operation, catching him endless ribbing from the police station.

Used by Bai Xingshu as an object lesson for Luo Yu, Shen Geng didn't bat an eye.

He simply stood up.

"I’ll handle it," Shen Geng threw over his shoulder as he left.

Luo Yu just blinked at Shen Geng’s departing figure, then turned to Bai Xingshu in confusion. "But didn’t you say we shouldn’t stop him because he might be one of them?"

Bai Xingshu didn’t look at Luo Yu. Instead, he propped his chin on his fist, watching Shen Geng leave, and replied,

"True, but he might also just be an ordinary person, right?"

"We can't write him off just because of a possibility."

After learning from his past mistake, Shen Geng didn’t decide to never act again—instead, he spent a long time thinking about how to handle such binary choices, finding a third way.

Now...

"So, we're betting he's got this."