Chapter 24

Chapter 24

Xia Tang is a full-time media relations officer who runs the police department's social media accounts.

Her first year on the job, things were pretty quiet online in Ningchuan. Xia Tang was always hearing other cops from other cities complain, and was glad she'd picked Ningchuan—until Shen Dongqing showed up.

Xia Tang was writing a legal awareness post when she suddenly got an alert from the public opinion monitoring system: a case in Ningchuan was blowing up online.

Xia Tang's heart dropped. She clicked in fast and saw a familiar face.

Shen Dongqing! Not you again!

She checked the case details—some thief was stealing out in the open. Xia Tang sucked in a sharp breath.

Shen Dongqing had live-streamed catching a thief a couple days ago, and it was pure drama, getting a ton of attention, but it also made a bunch of netizens who saw the clips question Ningchuan's safety. And now he was at it again, and this...

The only saving grace was that the thief got caught fast, and the public was focused on how dumb the thief was instead of blaming Ningchuan, which let Xia Tang and her coworkers breathe easy.

When she saw Shen Dongqing had cut the stream after getting to the station, Xia Tang relaxed a little, figured that was it for the day, and went back to work—until the monitoring system pinged again, this time with a higher alert level than before.

Please don't be Shen Dongqing again.

Xia Tang's hand shook as she clicked in. Her vision went black—she'd guessed right. And this time it was way bigger: a husband trying to kill his wife and daughter. She didn't even need to think about how huge this was gonna get.

Xia Tang quickly watched the stream clips, checked the trending lists, took a deep breath, and immediately reported it up the chain.

Her boss was just as rattled when he got the news. He and a few of his people watched the situation for over ten hours, nervous the whole time, before finally easing up.

Since Zhou Ming's crime hadn't ended in tragedy, the heat was intense, but netizens were all cursing Zhou Ming, not Ningchuan.

The only hot topic was whether Zhou Ming would actually get the death penalty—and whether he deserved it.

But the court's ruling wouldn't come for a while, so no point worrying about that yet. They'd made it through this one.

After this, every cop in Ningchuan's online PR unit knew who Shen Dongqing was. He'd already caused two PR storms—who knew if a third was coming.

"Xiao Xia, you think there's any way to prevent this?"

Xia Tang frowned at the question: "Chief, I've looked into it. The reason this blew up so big is Shen Dongqing was live-streaming. Netizens had too much info and read too much into it. Hard to prevent."

Unless they stopped Shen Dongqing from streaming, but that wasn't exactly legal either.

"Then keep thinking, and tell me when you've got something," the boss said after a pause.

As the boss left, Xia Tang traded looks with the other officers—everyone saw the helplessness in each other's eyes.

"Let's take turns catching some sleep. Zhou Ming's family hasn't shown up yet. When they do, there might be more trouble," a coworker said darkly—that was the lesson they'd learned from running other cities' accounts.

If the suspect's family didn't cause trouble, great, but they rarely kept quiet. Once they kicked up a fuss, the heat would spike again.

Hearing that, Xia Tang found a cot and lay down. She'd been up all night and needed some sleep, or she'd be useless at work.

...

Shen Dongqing woke up, grabbed his phone, and saw a bunch of trending screenshot messages from Zhang Feiyu.

"Dude, you're actually famous now!" Zhang Feiyu marveled.

Zhang Feiyu used to hear people say so-and-so was being spoon-fed by fate, and he never really believed it—until he saw Shen Dongqing. Now he knew it was real.

Shen Dongqing had only streamed a few times, and he'd already hit the top trends twice, not to mention the smaller platform trends. That talent and luck were seriously enviable.

"If you hit the trends a few more times, I bet some outdoor streamer will actually try to copy your thing."

Honestly, Zhang Feiyu was a little tempted to try it himself, but the problem was—how the hell do you just run into criminals?

Shen Dongqing quickly skimmed the trends and saw that netizens really were unstoppable. All the dirt on Zhou Ming had been dug up and exposed, along with all his sneaky little plans.

Zhou Ming was still in lockup, but he was already socially dead.

Shen Dongqing went back to his messages and saw Zhang Feiyu's reply.

"Copy my thing?" Shen Dongqing said. "Brother Zhang, you hear something?"

"We're in a streamer group, and someone said your thing has low competition and big potential, so they wanna try it," Zhang Feiyu replied. "But it's just a chat group—could be all talk. Not everyone has your luck, running into criminals out of nowhere."

Shen Dongqing went quiet and glanced at the system panel. There it was on his personal page: Criminal Attraction Aura.

Shen Dongqing had always hated the Criminal Attraction Aura. Even though it made it easier to blow up his streams, if he had the choice, he wouldn't want it.

But now, Shen Dongqing found himself not hating it as much.

At the end of the day, an aura was just an aura—neither good nor bad. It was simply that he hadn't been strong enough to bear the pressure it brought.

Shen Dongqing suddenly recalled what Xiao Ze had said yesterday. He had saved another mother and daughter, prevented a tragedy. In a sense, this might also be a benefit the aura brought him.

...

Shen Dongqing handed the Flying Camera to Huang Xin. Huang Xin was delighted but also hesitant.

He could tell Shen Dongqing's live streams relied heavily on this camera. Shen Dongqing was a full-time streamer—every day off meant lost income. Giving it away for free like this, what about Shen Dongqing's earnings?

They'd only met yesterday, and because he was too eager to play with the camera, Huang Xin had forcibly ignored this issue. But after spending a day together, Huang Xin considered himself Shen Dongqing's good friend, and these concerns surfaced.

He'd looked into it specifically—most streamers broadcast almost every day. If the last stream had high popularity, they'd rush to go live again to not let the heat fade.

He'd also seen the news online. Shen Dongqing's popularity was at its peak. If he didn't stream now, wouldn't he be losing out big time?

"Say what's on your mind!" Shen Dongqing looked at Huang Xin's hesitant expression and couldn't help saying.

"Brother Shen, if you give me the camera, what about your live streams?" Huang Xin gritted his teeth and said, pushing the Flying Camera back into Shen Dongqing's hands.

"Your popularity is high right now—you need to stream to catch this wave. I... I don't have to play with it right this second. When your popularity cools down, I'll come pick it up."

Huang Xin spoke with such sincerity that he almost moved himself—until he heard an earth-shaking burst of laughter.

Shen Dongqing laughed so hard his eyes curved into crescents. Meeting Huang Xin's resentful gaze, he couldn't stop, turning his back to laugh for a while before finally calming down.

"Sanjin, well said. But don't say it again," Shen Dongqing patted Huang Xin's head. What did he mean by "when popularity cools down"? Any other streamer might think you were cursing them.

"What's wrong with it?" Huang Xin protected his head, confused.

"Have you watched my live streams?" Shen Dongqing asked.

Huang Xin nodded. After going home yesterday, he'd gone through all of Shen Dongqing's streams.

"Finished them all?"

Huang Xin nodded again.

"Didn't you notice I take a few days off between streams?" Shen Dongqing said. "I streamed so long yesterday that I'll probably need to rest today, tomorrow, and maybe even the day after. Lending you the camera won't mess with my streaming at all."

"Just rest? Don't streamers stream every day?" Huang Xin was shocked—this didn't match what he'd found online.

"Streaming every day would burn me out." Shen Dongqing said quietly. To be ready for anything unexpected, he had to keep his body in peak condition.

Huang Xin was about to say it wasn't that big a deal, but then he remembered what Shen Dongqing's streams were like and shut up, obediently taking the camera and leaving.

...

After seeing Huang Xin off, Shen Dongqing grabbed a quick bite. He checked the time—still plenty of time before the hotpot—set a reminder alarm, and went back to studying the materials on his computer.

He'd been too exhausted yesterday. After just a few photos, he felt drowsy, barely managed to shower, and collapsed into bed without learning much. Now that he had time, he wanted to make good use of it.

Shen Dongqing was completely absorbed in the photos, even skipping a proper lunch and just grabbing a quick bite. His logic was simple: since they were having hotpot for dinner, eating less at lunch meant he could pig out later.

Xiao Ze was on the same page as Shen Dongqing. After working out for most of the day, he didn't bother cooking lunch and just reheated the egg tarts Shen Dongqing had given him.

When Xiao Min came to visit, she could smell food cooking from other people's homes as she passed by, but at Xiao Ze's place, all she could smell was the sweet aroma of pastries.

"Auntie, why are you here?" Xiao Ze stepped aside to let her in.

"I remembered you had the day off today, so I came by to check on you." As soon as Xiao Min entered, she noticed only one egg tart left on the table. "This is all you're having for lunch?"

"Didn't you say you don't like sweets? Why'd you suddenly buy these?" Xiao Min asked.

"A friend of mine gave them to me." Xiao Ze explained, and when he saw Xiao Min's eyes light up, he quickly added, "It's a guy, a male friend."

"Auntie, have a seat. I'll get you something to eat." Xiao Ze said.

"No, no, I just ate at home." Xiao Min sat down and looked around. The place was clean and tidy—looked decent at first glance, but there was no lived-in feel to it at all.

Xiao Min wanted to say something, but looking at Xiao Ze, she couldn't get the words out. His parents were gone, he spent most of his time at the police station, and only occasionally came home for a night. How could this place have any life to it?

"These egg tarts smell pretty good. I saw online that eating something sweet can help when you're feeling down. It's good you're having these." Xiao Min casually found a topic.

Seeing Xiao Ze not reacting much, she continued, "You're not getting any younger. You're twenty-eight now—it's time to settle down."

Xiao Min said it cautiously and noticed Xiao Ze still wasn't reacting. She thought he might actually be open to a blind date this time and was about to press further when she realized Xiao Ze wasn't just not reacting—he was zoning out.

Last night when Shen Dongqing had offered him the egg tarts, Xiao Ze hadn't thought much of it, just assuming Shen Dongqing had grabbed them on a whim.

But now, hearing Xiao Min's words, a thought surfaced in Xiao Ze's mind—had Shen Dongqing given him sweets specifically because he noticed he wasn't feeling great?

Xiao Ze had a sharp memory. When he thought back, he could recall exactly how Shen Dongqing had looked and acted at that moment.

Shen Dongqing had seemed to encourage him to eat more, and he'd known Xiao Ze was a little down. So...

Xiao Ze looked at the egg tart in his hand, a slight smile curling at the corners of his mouth. It took him a moment to remember he was in the middle of talking to Xiao Min.

Wait, why had his aunt gone silent?

Xiao Ze looked up and caught Xiao Min's suspicious look.

Xiao Min had actually believed Xiao Ze earlier—that the egg tarts were from just a friend. But what regular friend's gift would make someone smile while eating it?

Though, was this "guy" he mentioned even for real?

"Auntie, I was just spacing out a bit. What were you saying?" Xiao Ze took a bite of the egg tart to cover up his expression.

"Nothing much. Looks like those egg tarts from your friend are really good." Xiao Min held back her matchmaking words and tested the waters instead.

"They really are good." Xiao Ze thought the comment was a bit weird but responded anyway. He could now understand why so many people loved egg tarts—they really did taste so good.

Xiao Min was speechless. This kid wasn't biting!

The egg tarts weren't the point—the friend was!

"You're off today. Want to come over to my house for dinner?" Xiao Min decided not to rush it. If she pushed too hard and Xiao Ze got defensive, it would be even harder to get to the bottom of it. So she switched topics.

Originally, she'd planned to have Xiao Ze meet a blind date for dinner, but now, that was out the window. She'd just have him over instead—otherwise, left to his own devices, who knew how he'd skip meals.

Xiao Min often wondered where Xiao Ze had picked up this habit of not taking care of himself. Their family wasn't wealthy, but they were well-off. Yet anyone who saw what Xiao Ze ate at home would think he was poor.

Thankfully, Xiao Ze was a police officer and ate at the station cafeteria most of the time. Otherwise, he'd probably end up undernourished at home.

"Auntie, I already have dinner plans with someone tonight, so I can't make it." Xiao Ze shook his head.

"With the friend who gave you the egg tarts?" Xiao Min asked.

Xiao Ze didn't see any reason to hide it and nodded.

Xiao Min didn't say more, just asked a few more caring questions before getting up to leave.

Once she was out the door, Xiao Min glanced back, then hurried away and quickly called her husband to tell him about the situation.

"Tell me, is this friend a man or a woman? What exactly is their relationship?" Xiao Min mused. "What if I follow Xiao Ze tonight and see what this friend is like?"

"Honey, don't overthink it. Maybe it's just a regular friend who gave him some egg tarts. Old Liu at my work buys pastries and gives them out to everyone all the time—that's just normal friendship."

"Besides, if you try to tail Xiao Ze, have you forgotten what he does for a living? The moment you start following him, he'll definitely catch you!"

Xiao Min was disappointed. She even considered going back to push Xiao Ze into a blind date again, but since he already had plans tonight, there was no way he'd cancel to meet someone. And if she waited a couple of days, Xiao Ze would be buried in work again, with no time for matchmaking.

Xiao Min suddenly suspected that Xiao Ze hadn't actually made plans with a friend—that this was just a new tactic he'd come up with to dodge matchmaking, and she'd fallen for it so easily.

Xiao Min was frustrated, but there was nothing she could do. She could only sigh and leave.

Standing by the window, watching Xiao Min leave, Xiao Ze let out a breath of relief.

He hadn't heard what Xiao Min had said, but from her change in attitude and tone, he could guess well enough.

He really didn't want to go on blind dates, nor did he have any desire to find a partner.

Once he knew what he wanted, Xiao Ze hadn't budged. Even if Xiao Min said it was just a quick meeting, he was clear about his stance—going would only waste the woman's time and energy. Why bother?

But this time, Xiao Min hadn't pushed the matchmaking topic further, which surprised Xiao Ze. He couldn't help but replay the conversation in his head, wondering what had changed her mind.

If he could figure that out, then next time his aunt came over, he wouldn't have to worry about her bringing up blind dates.

After his parents died, among his remaining relatives, Xiao Min cared about him the most. Because he refused to go on blind dates, she'd become anxious, and he wanted to ease her worries as much as possible.

After carefully reviewing the conversation, Xiao Ze noticed something—Xiao Min seemed to drop the matchmaking topic after realizing he had friends who cared about him. Could it be that if he showed more evidence of friends caring about him, Xiao Min would feel at ease?

Xiao Ze decided to try that next time.

There was still plenty of time before his meeting with Shen Dongqing. Xiao Ze pulled out his phone and started looking at the new batch of wanted fugitive photos on the internal network, memorizing each one.

When his phone alarm went off, Xiao Ze put the phone down, changed his clothes, and headed out.

The hotpot place was a bit far from Shen Dongqing's, so Xiao Ze went to pick him up.

Otherwise, if Shen Dongqing took the bus, who knows if he'd run into another pickpocket on the way?

The car drove smoothly to the Shen residence. Xiao Ze checked the time and waited a moment before calling Shen Dongqing.

"It's about time. Are you ready to head out?"

Shen Dongqing was still a bit dazed when he answered the call—the intense studying had fried his brain. It wasn't until he heard Xiao Ze's voice that he remembered their plans and figured he was running late.

But when he checked, there were still five minutes before his alarm was set to go off. Still, that was about the right time anyway.

"Have you left?" Shen Dongqing asked in return.

"Depends on how you count it—I've left and I haven't," Xiao Ze replied. Before Shen Dongqing could get confused, he explained, "From my place, I've left. From your place, I haven't."

"You came all the way over?" Shen Dongqing dashed to the window and spotted a familiar car parked right downstairs.

The door opened, and a tall, well-built figure stepped out. The man looked up, his sharp features hitting with real visual impact.

"I'm here," Xiao Ze replied.

"Give me a second—I'll be right down." Shen Dongqing hung up, changed into his going-out clothes, and dashed downstairs without stopping.

"Captain Xiao, when did you get here?" Shen Dongqing asked casually.

"Not long ago. I figured it was about that time, so I called you," Xiao Ze replied.

Shen Dongqing didn't think much of it. He walked toward the passenger side, and his hand accidentally brushed the hood—the hood felt about room temperature.

"What's wrong?" Xiao Ze asked when he noticed Shen Dongqing stop.

"Nothing." Shen Dongqing shook his head and got into the passenger seat.

As the car started moving, Shen Dongqing watched the trees slide by outside the window and asked, "Captain Xiao, where do you live?"

Xiao Ze gave him a location.

Shen Dongqing pulled up the map. From Xiao Ze's place to Shen Dongqing's, it was at least a twenty-minute drive. In this weather, a twenty-minute drive would heat up the hood a lot—if he'd only waited a bit, the hood couldn't have cooled back to normal.

Xiao Ze was being way too thoughtful.

Shen Dongqing studied the map and realized Xiao Ze's thoughtfulness didn't end there.

His place was close to the police station, but it was in the opposite direction from Shen Dongqing's place. Yesterday hadn't been on the way either—he'd gone out of his way to take Shen Dongqing home.

"Captain Xiao, have criminals ever bullied you?"

After giving the address, Xiao Ze noticed Shen Dongqing had fallen quiet. He'd also thought of his lie from yesterday—once the address was out, the lie was bound to be exposed. He was wondering what Shen Dongqing was thinking when he heard that question.

Xiao Ze instinctively wanted to turn and look at Shen Dongqing, but he quickly caught himself, remembering he was driving. He forced himself to keep his eyes forward and focus on the road.

"No. Why would you even think that?" Xiao Ze found he couldn't keep up with Shen Dongqing's train of thought either.

"Because you're a really good guy, Captain Xiao. Good guys tend to get bullied by bad guys." Shen Dongqing said seriously—it was something he'd learned from recent experience.

Good people really did get pushed around by bad ones way too easily!

"No, I haven't. Remember, I'm a cop. Criminals are the ones scared of me—there's no way they'd mess with me." Xiao Ze reminded him.

Shen Dongqing nodded. He knew that given Xiao Ze's current position, the man had probably arrested countless criminals and might even be their worst nightmare. But what about when he first started?

Shen Dongqing also thought about how down Xiao Ze had been yesterday. Even if there was no open bullying, his heart must have been hurt too, right? That thought stung a little.

Even though he wasn't looking at Shen Dongqing, the softness in his gaze was too obvious for Xiao Ze to miss.

"I really haven't been bullied, okay?" Xiao Ze tried again to redirect Shen Dongqing's thoughts.

"I know, Captain Xiao. Just keep your eyes on the road." Shen Dongqing said, and the softness in his eyes faded, but Xiao Ze got the feeling he hadn't cleared anything up—Shen Dongqing was just hiding it.

Xiao Ze felt a strange frustration he couldn't shake, so he just drove with a cold look on his face.

He suspected he'd been too soft on Shen Dongqing, which was why Shen Dongqing thought he was easy to push around. Now he needed to show Shen Dongqing his real side.

...

"Man, what do you think Brother Xiao's up to today? He didn't even show for the get-together?" Du Wei elbowed the teammate next to him and asked.

Everyone knew that in the past, to dodge potential blind dates on his days off, Xiao Ze never missed a gathering. But today, he was a no-show.

"Du Wei, if you keep tugging at my shirt, you're going to stretch the collar out. Back off." The teammate shoved Du Wei away. His collar was already big enough without it getting any more revealing.

"What do you mean I stretched it? This shirt came with a big collar." Du Wei grumbled but pulled his hand back, ending up at the back of the group, idly looking around.

A familiar face appeared in his sight, and Du Wei's eyes lit up—Brother Xiao.

But why did Brother Xiao look so grim, like someone owed him millions? Was he on some tough mission?

Du Wei thought he understood, but that understanding lasted less than two seconds before he spotted Shen Dongqing standing next to Xiao Ze.

Du Wei immediately recognized him as the guy who'd greeted Xiao Ze yesterday.

Wait, no—this wasn't a mission. If it were official business, Xiao Ze wouldn't be hanging out with Shen Dongqing.

Shen Dongqing, meanwhile, looked all smiles. He spotted a milk tea shop nearby, said a few words to Xiao Ze, and went inside to buy a drink.

"Hey, look over there—discreetly. Brother Xiao seems to be out with someone." Du Wei whispered. When he saw everyone turn to look at once, he panicked and raised his voice a bit. "Can you guys look one at a time? If that many people stare at once, Brother Xiao will notice."

The others realized that too and quickly averted their eyes, but Xiao Ze still seemed to sense something, scanning the area before finding nothing.

"That's terrifying. Captain Xiao's awareness is insane—he can sense something's off from that far away with that many people?" a teammate marveled.

"Good thing we ducked fast, or we'd have been caught." Du Wei crouched behind a flower vase and whispered.

"We should stand up soon, right? Otherwise we won't be able to see where Captain Xiao goes." After a moment, one teammate said.

"Not just to see where he goes—if we keep crouching, I'm afraid security will come over." Du Wei said. They'd been squatting for a while, and people were already giving them strange looks.

One person crouching was inconspicuous, but a whole group crouching was just weird.