d2

For many reasons, the crime family that was at loggerheads with the Carlos Family also took credit for the Saprilla Club massacre.

When Luke heard that, he was stunned for a bit, before a smirk crossed his face.

With those people taking the blame for him, the numerous questions surrounding the Carlos Family's destruction would vanish. Nobody would be able to tie that to Luke.

Chris felt helpless; after doing so much work on the Carlos Family, it was the enemy of the Carlos Family who had benefited instead. That didn't feel good at all.

But no matter what, they had still contributed to the collapse of the Carlos Family. As for rebuilding the Carlos Family's smuggling route, it would take other criminal organizations several years.

Thus, they would be able to take credit for that.

Recently, Robert didn't speak much, and when he looked at Luke, it was with a complicated gaze.

Robert had a lot to say, but he left everything unsaid.

It was impossible for him to not notice something which even Selina had noticed.

Selina had yet to hear from Chris when she was trying to guess the reason for the change in Luke. This wasn't the case for Robert.

And when he thought of how Luke had randomly gone off on a trip and returned shrouded in intense murderous intent, it wasn't hard for Robert to connect the dots.

Robert had spent many years in the army and had survived a war zone. Thus, he was by no means an idiot. In fact, his senses were extremely sharp.

The only reason he had remained a chief in this tiny town was because he was tired of all the killing.

He had never imagined that after pulling himself out of a life of killing, the child he had raised would enter that life instead.

And he didn't feel like he was even qualified to reprimand Luke for that.

After all, if Luke hadn't gone on that "trip," Robert would've personally gone on such a "trip" himself a month later as well.

Time passed, and a week later, he summoned Luke to his office and asked, "Do you want to work somewhere else?"

Luke was stunned. "Why?"

Robert didn't answer. He asked again, "Do you want a bigger stage for yourself?"

Luke was astonished. "What?"

Robert continued, "If you're interested, I'll make use of my connections and help transfer you somewhere else. You're young, and I doubt you want to stay in this place and live the life of a retiree."

Luke sank into a short silence before answering, "Let me think it over."

Robert nodded. "Sure. Let me know when you've decided."

Luke didn't take long to make up his mind. Three days later, he gave Robert an answer.

Robert didn't say much about it. He only told Luke to put more effort now into learning more about everything related to his job.

Luke knew that this so-called learning period was the final stop before he moved on to the new job.

At a new place, he would no longer have Robert's protection. There, he would have to make as little mistakes as possible and contribute as much as he could.

Luke told Selina what was going to happen.

He wasn't worried that Selina would envy him for getting this opportunity. As partners who had survived death together, Luke didn't want his partner to be the last person to know that he was leaving. That would hurt her instead.

Selina stared at Luke with an odd expression for a long time before nodding. "Ok."

That reaction made Luke curious. That wasn't like her at all.

Just like that, time passed.

During this time, Luke discovered another hidden rule of the system.

This story started with Catherine's grumbles. She complained that Robert had been having a streak of bad luck recently, with numerous bad things happening to him.

Luke didn't think too much of it, but when he asked further, he found out that Robert had injured his fingers five times recently, stepped on animal shit six times, and had even gotten trash all over him after the wind blew if off the upper floor.

Fortunately, these were minor accidents and didn't hurt him much, but they still caused Catherine to worry. She even started becoming superstitious and wondered if a supernatural force was at work here. Thus, she started dragging Robert to the local church; so far, they had been there twice.

Alas, the last time they were at church, the bench Robert was sitting on collapsed, and a pointy part of the broken bench pierced Robert's backside, causing it to bleed.

Luke didn't think much of it at first, but after the church incident, he started growing suspicious as well.

Even when people had a run of bad luck, it wouldn't be to this extent. This was real life, not a scene out of the Final Destination films.

Luke kept thinking about it, but couldn't figure it out. That lasted until one day, when Robert challenged Luke to a bet while they were watching a football match. Luke turned it down.

Robert said resentfully, "My luck's been bad recently, but I don't need your sympathy. I refuse to believe that I'll never win a bet against you."

Luke didn't realize it then, but that night, when he was lying on his bed, an odd thought suddenly surfaced in his mind.

And when he was on the verge of falling asleep, he suddenly sat up in bed. "Is that why?"

Two days later, when they were watching yet another football match, he made a bet with Robert, and bet on a weak team.

As expected, Luke lost the bet.

At that moment, part of Robert's list of abilities dimmed and became unavailable.

Clearly, Luke no longer met the requirements required to learn these abilities. Some of what he learned were also automatically removed from his active abilities.

Luke didn't care about that. He started observing Robert.

Seemingly out of nowhere, Robert suddenly stopped being unlucky. After a few days passed, he had only hurt himself once from touching some boiling water, while the only other minor incident was getting drenched due to a leaking pipe in the bathroom.

Compared with his previous situation of three or four minor accidents every single day, his current situation was much better.

Luke looked for a chance to enter a bet with Robert again.

This time, it wasn't a bet on a football match. Rather, it was a shooting match between the two with a wager.

Luke lost uneventfully as he wasn't even trying his best.

At that moment, all the abilities in Robert's list dimmed, and the basic firearms Luke had learned became unavailable as well.

And from that moment on, Robert was no longer unlucky.

A few days passed with no accidents whatsoever. His mood became much better as a result.

It was then that Luke knew for sure about yet another rule of the system.

To learn an ability using the super learning mode, Luke had to first defeat an opponent to meet the requirement. Without meeting the requirement, he wouldn't be able to purchase the abilities in the list.

Previously, after killing the Mexican gang members, all their abilities had become available at once.

What was the difference between those people and Robert?

The answer was simple: Robert merely suffered bad luck from a minor bet, while the gang members even lost their lives from their defeat.

That gave Luke a rough understanding of how the super learning mode worked.

The so-called "requirement" he had to meet to purchase the abilities was something related to luck, or perhaps, fortune?

The dead naturally had no luck or fortune.

Perhaps the system had judged that by defeating and killing those people, Luke had robbed them of their luck or fortune, rendering them completely helpless as the system plundered their abilities.

If that was the case, Robert's stroke of bad luck was understandable.

Of course, this was all still speculation.

But Luke believed that he only needed to find a bad person to try and defeat instead of kill. By observing whether that person would become unlucky, Luke would be able to draw a conclusion.

Without bad luck, Robert's efficiency increased.

After Luke's fourth month in the force, he and Selina were called into Robert's office.

After Luke shut the door, Robert picked up two documents on the desk and handed one to each of them.

Luke skimmed through the document and said in astonishment, "So fast?"

Selina was also astonished. "Westside Houston Police Department's Major Crimes Division? Chief, how… how did you do this?"

Robert had a nonchalant expression. "Are both of you ready?"

Luke looked at Selina and asked, "You… you're transferring to Houston as well?"

Selina grinned and said, "Why? Are you disappointed that you can't get rid of me?"

Luke scratched his head. "No… I just don't know if you really want to leave this place."

Selina had an odd expression. "That's Houston we're talking about. It's a large city. More importantly, the salary there is much higher than what we get here."

That left Luke speechless.

Most people would want to go to a better workplace That was completely normal.

When the two were done talking, Robert said, "Ok. I don't have much to say. When you're there, do your best and don't embarrass me and our department."

Selina asked, "When are we going?"

Robert answered, "Any time you want, but no later than five days from now. We can't keep your future superior waiting for long, can we?"

Selina laughed and said, "No problem. I can set off in three days," before looking at Luke.

Luke hesitated slightly before nodding. "Sure, we'll leave in three days."

Without saying anything else, Robert waved his hand and told them to leave.

With their respective transfer orders, the two walked out of the department and got into their car.

Selina looked at the absent-minded Luke and asked, "What's on your mind?"

The question caught Luke by surprise. He collected his thoughts and said, "Nothing. I just never expected Robert to get the transfer done so quickly."

Selina nodded in agreement. "Yeah, when he told me to prepare, I thought it would take a few months or even half a year."

Luke asked, "Does it normally take that long?"

Selina smiled. "If it's a transfer as a normal police officer in charge of stuff like patrolling the streets, it only takes 10 days. But we're being transferred to the Major Crimes Division! The salary there is higher than for regular police officers!"

Luke smiled and thought, "So it turns out you're only thinking about the salary."

A farewell party was held for them. Most of their colleagues weren't jealous. After all, most of them had grown old as police officers in this town and weren't too interested in going to a new place like Houston.

There were pros and cons in transferring to a bigger city. Working as a police officer there would be much more dangerous and much busier. The competition there would also be stiffer, resulting in more stress as well.

The work environment there was completely unlike here in town, where they rarely had to work overtime. As long as they were careful not to offend anyone, they could remain police officers for a long time.

In any case, Luke and Selina weren't exactly being transferred purely on the strength of Robert's connections.

The two had performed well during the Carlos Family operation.

Against an ambush of 10 attackers with AKs, they survived and eliminated all the attackers instead.

Even Selina, who hadn't contributed as much as Luke, had still killed a gunman and held off eight gunmen all by herself at the start of the shootout.

In a situation like that, typical newbies would probably be pissing their pants in fear. Even the less courageous veteran officers wouldn't dare to face off against so many AKs.

As for Luke, his performance was so good it was almost illogical. He was a fresh graduate who had only joined the force for slightly over two months, yet he had single-handedly killed 13 gunmen during the operation, including a leader of the gang.

Not a single gunman he set his eyes on survived, and he had ultimately finished off even those who were injured.

This alone set him apart from all the officers of the department, excluding Robert.

Apart from that, Luke was Robert's godson. Nobody could do anything about Robert sending his own son away.

Thus, in their department, Luke was the person with the best performance and connections. Nobody could say anything about his transfer. Even if one was unhappy, one could only bear with it.

Luke didn't pay the others much mind, but he still needed to placate Catherine and the two children.

Ever since waking up in this world, he had lived with Robert's family.

The only reason he didn't call Robert and Catherine dad and mom was because Catherine was his paternal aunt.

Their relationship wasn't any worse than the relationship between members of other regular families.

In this family, there was the outspoken and magnanimous Robert and the kind and smart Catherine, and both had done a great job in building a happy and healthy family.

Now, the time had come for someone in the family to leave.

Luke had thought about this day many times in the past, but he never had a clear idea when it would happen.

Based on his previous plan, he was supposed to spend a few years in college. That was four additional years to act as a buffer for everyone to get used to not seeing each other everyday anymore.

But now, he was leaving for a new job at Houston's Major Crimes Division.

How busy was the Major Crimes Division of a police department in a major city? There were enough cases there to keep a person busy his entire life. Thus, Luke would rarely have the chance to come back in the future.

In fact, chances were higher that Catherine and the two children would be the ones who would go visit him there.

Although Catherine was very reluctant to part with him and was rather emotional, she didn't react too badly.

On the other hand, Joseph the brat, who spent a lot of time bickering with Luke, was the one who cried.

Claire was already in her sophomore year, so she coped better and didn't cry. But she still woke up with eyes red from crying for two days straight.

Regardless of their reluctance, the day of Luke's departure still arrived.

Luke didn't show too much emotion. He was completely calm, and left the house as if it was a normal work day; he even got Catherine to prepare two sandwiches for his lunch, before he bade everyone farewell with a smile on his face.

Today, Robert didn't leave for work on the dot. He stayed with Catherine and the two children and sent both Luke and Selina off.

They waved as the car left, and the youngest, Joseph, couldn't help asking, "When is Luke coming back?"

Robert answered, "He'll be back. In any case, you guys can go visit him during the school holidays. You can take the chance to visit Houston as well."

It would seem like Robert had just given himself more trouble with those words.

From then on, the two children would pester him to go to Houston during the school holidays.

Selina was in charge of driving. After they drove out of town, she asked, "Why am I still driving even after you bought a car?"

Luke answered nonchalantly, "Because you drive better than I do."

Selina was slightly speechless. "You never drive. When will your driving skills improve? Are you planning to have me drive all the time?"

Luke lifted the bag in his hand and said, "See, I even have your lunch prepared. A capable person like you will have to do more."

Selina curled her lip but didn't continue the topic. "Where are we staying in Houston?"

Luke was slightly stunned. "We? Where are we staying?"

Something seemed wrong about that.

Selina had an odd expression. "That's Houston. Do you think you can still stay in a three-story house like in Shackelford? How rich are you?"

Luke finally understood what she was getting at. His mind had been preoccupied with other things as of late. Thus, he hadn't even thought of this. He humbly asked for Selina's guidance. "What do you have in mind?"

Selina answered, "Simple: we rent a place together."

Luke nodded. "And?"

Selina continued, "By staying together, we can continue to use your car to and from work. With that, we can even save on transportation fees."

Luke thought to himself, "So this is your true motive."

Selina further asked, "Can you cook? If you can, we can save even more!"

Selina's meticulous planning truly rendered Luke speechless. Of clothing, food, housing and transport, she had accounted for three of them.

And she had factored him in as well for everything.

Selina was slightly embarrassed when she saw Luke's expression. "I don't have any other choice. I need to be careful with my spending when I'm new there. You know I don't have much savings."

Luke: "Hehe."

It wasn't that she didn't have much savings, but that many young people didn't have a habit of saving. Even middle-aged people didn't have much savings either. On top of that, credit cards and loans were extremely widespread, and people had a habit of spending first and worrying later.

Luke rejoiced that he had brought back 10,000 dollars from his trip to Mexico to test the system. Otherwise, he would probably have to eat dirt in Houston.

From his test, he confirmed that the system didn't mind when he profited from criminals.

As for profiting from non-criminals, that wouldn't fly. If he did that, he would no longer be clean. Instead, he would be a dirty cop.

Luke wasn't sure if the system would still consider him its host if he decided to become a corrupt officer.

Luke wouldn't risk losing the system over some money.

Just like that, the two set off for Houston.

For lunch, they only stopped at a random gas station and ate what Luke brought.

After the meal, Selina who had gotten bolder, said, "See, I was right. You're far-sighted; just your lunch alone saved us at least 10 dollars."

Luke thought, "Sure, thank you so much for the praise."

They also stopped at a random motel and spent one night there before resuming their journey the next morning. They were trying to reach the Westside Houston Police Department by 3:00pm.

When they arrived, they looked for the deputy chief's office, before entering to meet the superior of their future superior.

Robert had told them to look for this Thomas Park as soon as they arrived.

He had told Luke before that this person was an ex-comrade of his.

They were the best of friends who had fought together, as well as shared the spoils of war.

Naturally, Robert only told him about the former. As for the latter, that was Luke's imagination.

Thomas was an African American around 40 years old. He was slightly plump, and his position as deputy chief clearly hadn't accorded him much time to exercise.

Robert had been able to continue working out to maintain a fit figure because of his relatively free schedule working in a small town.

After the two greeted Thomas, he checked their records and transfer orders. He didn't say much to them.

In fact, given his position, he didn't even need to bother to personally meet the two detectives. However, since they were sent by his buddy Robert, he had to meet them.

Friendship could be both valuable and worthless.

But Thomas had always treated Robert differently.

He was well aware of how capable a combatant Robert was, and Robert had many other army buddies apart from him anyway.

Back then, during the war, there were over ten people alone who owed their lives to Robert multiple times over.

Some might no longer remember this due to the passage of time, but nobody wanted to be known as someone who forgot favors in their group of buddies.

Furthermore, Robert almost never asked for their help. Thus, this one favor he had asked for would naturally have a different weight to it.

Since Robert had asked Thomas to assign these two suitable positions here, he would naturally agree to it.

In any case, apart from Thomas, Robert had also pulled in a favor from a big shot. Because of that, there was no refusing this request.

It wasn't as if Robert was asking for high positions for the two. He was only asking for a transfer, while the two would remain at the same rank.

It was nothing for Thomas to assign two detectives to the Major Crimes Division.

Being a member of the Major Crimes Division was slightly different compared with other members of the police department.

Luke was still young, not even 19 years old. However, his record was rather impressive.

Killing 13 hitmen in a single night.

Someone with this on file was extremely rare, even in all of Houston.

Thomas didn't doubt the authenticity of the file; Robert wasn't the kind of person to fake his reports.

Even if Luke was no better than other newbie officers, Thomas would still agree to the transfer since it was a request from Robert.

In any case, that was a joint operation with the FBI. It was unlikely that those arrogant fellows would help fake a report just to place a police officer in a favorable light.

Even if Thomas accepting the two in his police department was an abuse of authority, he would still have the perfect excuse for that.

And that was their excellent records.

Those who questioned his decision to accept the two could freely go and challenge over ten hitmen. So long as they could break Luke's record, Thomas would be more than happy to allow that person into the Major Crimes Division as well.

Westside Department had always lacked incredibly capable combatants like these two. Thus, it made sense for Thomas to make an exception and allow these two in.

Of course, he still needed to act the part of a deputy chief. He only gave them a short speech of encouragement before picking up the phone and telling their future superior to come get them.

In truth, that was a hint to their future superior.

With the commanding officer of the Major Crimes Division picking up two new detectives from the deputy chief's office, anyone who didn't understand what that meant would be an idiot.

Everyone was very busy. Thus, Thomas and the commanding officer only had a short conversation.

After the two saluted the deputy chief and took their leave, they followed their new superior out to get started in their new roles.

Presently, Brock was rather unhappy.

Two detectives were suddenly shoved into his Major Crimes Division. Not only that, the two were clearly newbies.

Selina was a Latin American, and they were known to look younger than their age. She was 24 years old, yet looked even younger than 20.

She was full of vitality from her comfortable small town life and the amount of exercise she did back home.

As for Luke, his skin had turned extremely fair and tender after his body was enhanced by the system, which made him look even younger. In fact, he looked like a high school student.

Brock even wondered if this boy really was a proper police officer instead of a newbie whose sole experience in the force was issuing car tickets.

It was with this dissatisfaction that Brock brought the two to the office of the Major Crimes Division.

Although Brock was unhappy, Deputy Chief Thomas had made it clear that he had the backs of these two newbies. Thus, he couldn't cause trouble for them for no reason.

The Major Crimes Division was an extremely busy department, and the two newbies would still be of help in some way. He decided to first let them work on some less important cases.

Right after he stepped into the office, Brock called a female officer over and got her to take the two to their seats.

He then turned and looked at the two. "Selina, you'll be going to Berkeley. Luke, you'll be going to Ferrigno. Millie will bring you to them. Learn properly from them and try not to mess things up."

He was about to leave when Luke suddenly said, "Boss Brock, can we stay partners here?"

Brock's face fell. He hated these troublemakers the most, even more so when these ones had only joined through their connections.

But when he thought of Thomas, he suppressed his anger and asked, "Why?"

Luke replied calmly, "Because we were partners before this. We work well together."

Brock's expression didn't change as he said, "Oh? You work well together? Do you mean that one of you always cheers when the other issues tickets?"

A smile bloomed on Luke's face. "No. About a month ago, we worked together and killed ten Mexican hitmen who ambushed us."

Brock was stunned. "What?"

Luke continued, "The details of the operation are all in our records. I don't like to brag, but I believe you also know the importance of having a partner you can trust to have your back."

Brock frowned and hesitated slightly before saying, "Fine. Handle your affairs for now and come look for me before the end of the day."

Next, the two went with Millie and got all the procedures and paperwork done.

They got their uniforms, papers, and some money.

The money was in fact for them to purchase their equipment, such as their service guns.

They also needed to buy their batons, belts, holsters, and even riot control equipment, with the money issued to them.

So long as their equipment was in accordance with police regulations, it didn't matter where they bought them from.

Then, they returned to their desks and started cleaning them with some cleaning tools which they got from Millie.

Both of them seemed to be on the same wavelength as they once again selected two desks in one corner of the office.

This part of the office was rather dark and didn't get any direct sunlight. Thus, it was still empty.

They selected two tables that were at the farthest end in the corner; even the nearest occupied table was about four meters away from them. Thus, they had more privacy in this little corner of theirs.

Selina was happy to find that she could join two chairs together to make a makeshift bed and sleep here without anyone even noticing.

The two cleaned quickly, and with the help of Luke's high dexterity, they were done cleaning in half an hour.

After that, Selina volunteered to return the cleaning tools. After all, she hadn't even cleaned half the amount that Luke had. Thus, she decided to do her part this way.

Brock had just finished reading their files. He was filled with shock.

Killing 13 AK-wielding hitmen in a single night – a kid who wasn't even 19 years old had accomplished something like that? It was simply unimaginable.

But Brock had no choice but to believe what he read.

It was clearly written in the file that this had been a FBI-led operation. Luke and the police department had only been there to provide assistance.

The FBI wouldn't allow Luke to take the credit if he hadn't actually done all that.

Selina's record was much milder in comparison.

Even so, this beautiful woman in her 20s had still fought back against ten hitmen holding AKs. She survived that, and had even taken down one of the attackers.

Her courage and combat prowess were things that the female detectives in Brock's Major Crimes Division didn't have. One or two of the men might be able to do the same, but those were all veterans with over ten years of experience in the force.

It came as a surprise to him that the two new detectives shoved into his division were actually two capable officers instead of some useless, well-connected newbies.

Of course, to solve cases in the Major Crimes Division, combat prowess alone wasn't enough.

But no matter what, the Major Crimes Division would still welcome such capable combatants with open arms.

With Luke's record, whenever there were major cases which involved dangerous criminals in the future, they could unleash him on them.

They wouldn't even need him to repeat the feat of single-handedly killing 13 people. He just needed to get rid of the random two or three tricky opponents during their operations, and enemy morale would collapse.

When Brock thought this, his annoyance at Luke for speaking out earlier vanished.

One couldn't survive in the Major Crimes Division simply by currying favors.

The most important thing here was one's capability, and second to that was the manner in which one handled things.

Brock might still suppress or be unfair toward a capable subordinate, but he would never get rid of one.

That was something only an inexperienced superior would do.

So long as the subordinate obeyed his orders and remained useful, Brock didn't mind tolerating Luke's odd temper. In any case, Luke was backed by Deputy Chief Thomas.

Thus, Brock decided to try letting Luke do his own thing.

At this thought, Brock raised his head and scanned the office. Soon, he found the two in a corner of the office.

The two were nearly done cleaning up. Brock observed that the two didn't talk much but still work well together even when cleaning. They swiftly cleaned their desks.

And after they were done, without even speaking, Luke gathered the cleaning tools together and sat down, while Selina picked them up and walked away.

Brock was amazed by what he saw. Luke indeed hadn't been bragging. The two really worked very well together. Thus, it was understandable why they would rather remain partners.

Brock stopped looking at them and reached a decision. He then picked up his phone and told Millie to send the two into his office.

When the two entered, Brock didn't bother with pleasantries. He got straight to the point and told them they could remain partners. However, if they couldn't perform well, they would have to split up and learn from the more experienced detectives.

This time, Brock no longer viewed them with disregard like before. He paid close attention to their expressions when he spoke.

Joy could be seen on Selina's face, while Luke only smiled as he thanked Brock.

Brock was startled by Luke's reaction.

As the commanding officer of the Major Crimes Division, Brock had great observational skills and was very good at seeing through a person.

Now that he was paying close attention to the two, he easily realized that of the two, the boy Luke was the leader.

Similarly, Luke was the calmer person of the pair, and even the smile on his face was merely a facade. None of his true emotions leaked out; he was merely being polite.

Brock decided then that he needed to pay even more attention to Luke. As for Selina, he only needed to pay her a little bit of attention. After he was done talking, he told the two to leave.

Since the two had just arrived in Houston, they needed to deal with the problem of accommodation.

Brock told them to ask Millie for help. Millie in fact working in an administrative capacity in the department, focusing on logistics.

Millie was indeed good at what she did. She didn't need to ask anyone else; after poking around on her computer for two minutes, she printed out a list of houses for rent. All the available houses were located near the police department, suitable for Luke and Selina

The two thanked Millie before leaving the department together.

The department had given them three days to get settled before they had to officially start work.

That was because the Major Crimes Division was very busy, and the moment they started, they wouldn't have the time to properly settle down. That was why they were given a grace period first to get everything done.

The two didn't tarry; they spent half a day visiting eight houses they shortlisted, and ultimately settled on a two-bedroom apartment near the police department.

The biggest benefit of the place was the relative quiet of the area: there was no major traffic or large crowds anywhere near them, the only road close to the apartment being a tiny one at the back of the building.

The apartment building was rather old but still clean. The two bedrooms were rather tiny at about 10 square meters each. The living room was also rather small at around 20 square meters. The entire apartment was about 50 square meters in size.

Fortunately, the apartment was rather cheap, and with them splitting the rent, it was even cheaper.

After signing the rent agreement, they started moving their things from the car into the apartment.

The trunk and the backseat were crammed full of luggage, most of them belonging to Selina.

Luke truly couldn't understand why Selina had brought so many clothes and shoes even though they would be wearing police uniforms anyway.

Selina rolled her eyes when she heard what she thought was an idiotic question. "Please, we're joining the Major Crimes Division. Most of the time, we won't be in uniform. Why can't I wear something pretty then? It's not like I'm going to go to work in hot pants or something."

That left Luke speechless.

He had only brought a few casual clothes with him, and had left home with only one suitcase.

As for Selina, she had five suitcases, and had supposedly already tried her best to cut down on her luggage before reaching this number; there had initially been eight suitcases, most of which contained her so-called pretty clothes.

After they were done moving, Luke was too lazy to go out, so he ordered food instead.

After they ate, they took a short break before heading off to the supermarket.

They only had some basic electrical appliances in their apartment, and still had to buy more themselves.

Luke didn't have much to buy, but Selina bought a lot of stuff.

As she shopped, Selina didn't forget to stare at the price tag sadly and comment, "This thing is as much as an entire week's worth of my salary."

Luke could only remain silent.

He couldn't exactly offer to pay, right?

If he dared to offer to do so, Selina would really think that he was trying to court her.

Otherwise, why would he offer to pay for her cosmetic stuff?

Just look at her shopping cart. There were even tampons in there. Apart from boyfriends or husbands, men would rarely buy this stuff for women.

When they returned home, they didn't continue cleaning the place. Rather, they only carried their own things into their respective rooms before washing up and going to bed.

The next day, they headed to work.

When they arrived at the department, a few detectives could be seen in the Major Crimes Division's lounge. Some were here early while some had been here working through the night.

Only two people bothered to nod at the two in greeting.

Half an hour before work officially started, Brock arrived.

When he saw that the two had arrived early and were full of vigor, he was pleased.

From this, he could judge that these two at least weren't the type of troublemakers who liked to do things unconventionally. Generally, the more capable a person was, the more unconventional they tended to be.

In fact, they had a few of these capable yet unconventional detectives in the team. Those old foxes would only follow police procedure at the barest minimum required in order to get the job done; as far as they were concerned, the other procedures were as good as nonexistent.

Of course, that was also partly due to the relative freedom which members of the Major Crimes Division had. Most of the time, when things got busy, they would have to work several days in a row without rest. Thus, they didn't even work regular hours like the other police officers.

Brock waved at Luke and Selina and called them over to his office.

He cut straight to the chase when they entered. After all, he was also a very busy person. He searched his desk for a bit before taking out a file and tossing it over to Luke. "This case is now yours. Report back to me when there's progress. If you encounter something you can't solve, come find me as well. Any questions?"

Selina wanted to take a look at the file, but Luke merely smiled and said, "Yes, sir."

Brock waved his hand. "Since you're working for me, do the same as everyone else; just call me 'head.' Alright, get started."

Luke agreed before walking out. Selina did the same as well.

Inwardly, Brock mused to himself, "Indeed, the younger one is the leader."

In truth, that wasn't too weird.

When a man and a woman were partnered together, the man tended to be more suited to lead, while the woman was more suited for support. After all, women were generally better at networking and diplomacy, while men were better in combat situations and were more intimidating.

But then again, the boy looked too young. Could he intimidate the people they had to deal with? But Brock immediately tossed the thought aside.

He was a commanding officer, not a nanny; they would have to solve that sort of problem themselves. If they couldn't do something like that, they might as well quit the Major Crimes Division.

When Luke and Selina returned to their desks, they opened the folder. Luke sat in his own chair while Selina came over and sat on the armrest. Just like that, the two studied the file.

A homicide had happened in an apartment at 39, 107A Street, Westside. A woman had been killed there.

The division had received this case yesterday at the same time that Luke and Selina had arrived.

The Major Crimes Division had always been stretched thin in terms of manpower. With two new detectives in the team, Brock decided not to bother the others with the new case, and handed it to the pair instead.

After going through the file, Luke picked up his jacket, put it on, and covered his gun before saying, "Let's visit the scene."

He couldn't be bothered waiting for the autopsy report. In a major city like this, the forensic department would usually be extremely busy. It was very common for a report to take maybe a month or two if the case wasn't a priority. In fact, it might take as long as half a year.

Yes, this was never portrayed in TV shows.

In reality, the number of cases actually solved in the United States with the help of forensics was less than 5 percent.

Most of the time, cases were solved through actual police work; forensics only helped to give supporting evidence.

Generally, if the police couldn't find any leads in a case, they would have no choice but to classify it as a cold case.

Perhaps a day would come when the criminal would strike again, and leave behind some new clues. Only then would there be a chance to solve the cold case.

The two went to the parking lot and hopped into a police car.

This was the treatment accorded to members of the Major Crimes Division, but since Brock had yet to fully accept Luke and Selina, they couldn't openly take the car for their personal use. It was fine to occasionally drive the car back home, but if they did it every day, there would be complaints.

They got in the car and took 40 minutes to reach 39, 107A Street.

When they arrived at the scene, both of them observed their surroundings. Although it might not help with the case, police investigations were oftimes concluded with the discovery of something minor and overlooked.

This was an old apartment building that was at least 30 years old. The mottled walls and the outdated doors and windows were proof that this wasn't a place of the wealthy.

Naturally, there weren't any surveillance cameras in these old apartment buildings.

The only security measure the apartment building had was an elderly lady who watched the main entrance. She was about 60 years old and still looked quite spirited despite her age.

Luke mused that this granny here definitely wasn't as terrifying as Granny Lucy.

Selina went over and showed the granny her badge wallet with the new badge on it. On one side of the wallet was a police badge while on the other side was an ID card; they were most commonly issued to officers dressed in civilian clothes.

The granny remained calm and wasn't shocked to see the police. When she heard that they wanted the key for the apartment where the murder had happened, she fished out a key from behind her. "This is the only copy I have. Remember to return it when you're done."

Selina thanked her with a smile.

The two then headed up the stairs to the third floor.

Old apartment buildings like these didn't even have elevators.

When they arrived at apartment 305, they saw cordon tape over the door. Selina casually removed the tape and opened the door with the key.

The two then entered.

Forensics was already done with their work here. Thus, the two no longer needed to put on gloves, and only needed to be sure not to touch anything they saw in the room.

Looking at the human figure outlined on the floor, Luke said, "You check around here. I'll go check the bedroom."

After Selina nodded, Luke went to the bedroom.

The body had been discovered in the living room, and the bedroom wasn't exactly the first crime scene. Thus, the bedroom was still largely the same as before.

Luke scanned the room before raising his voice. "Selina."

Selina walked over, and when she saw the bedroom, she was somewhat horrified as well.

"So, have you investigated cases before which involved someone like this?" Luke asked with an odd expression on his face.

Selina shook her head. "No – not many people in our town believe in such superstitions."

"Do you know what these things are?" Luke asked.

Selina scanned the room before shaking her head. "There are only a few voodoo items here. I'm not sure what the other items are, but whatever the case, the things here definitely don't belong to a regular religion."

Luke nodded. "Fine. Looks like our victim is a witch."

As the two were speaking, Luke's phone rang. He answered, and after a while, he said, "Got it," before hanging up.

Selina asked, "What's up?"

Luke replied, "Let's go. Our witch's body is gone."

Selina said, "What?"

When they went back downstairs, Selina returned the key to the granny. She also passed her a name card, telling her to call them if she recalled anything. Then, the two got back into their car.

In the car, Selina asked, "What's going on? How did the body go missing?"

Luke replied, "The coroner was about to conduct an autopsy on the body. Right before starting, he went to the toilet, and the body was already gone by the time he got back."

Selina asked, "Anything on the surveillance cameras?"

Luke replied, "No idea. We'll have to check the footage ourselves. It was Brock who called me. He told us to take on the case of the missing body as well. After all, the disappearance of the body might be related to the murder."

Selina was somewhat disappointed. "Sigh, I thought she had been resurrected or something before she used her magic powers to teleport away."

Luke replied, "If that really did happen, I don't think we'd be able to keep the case for ourselves."

Selina asked, "Who would take over the case then? FBI?"

Luke had an odd expression as he muttered, "No, S.H.I.E.L.D."

Selina asked, "What?"

Luke replied, "Heh, nothing. Eyes on the road."

When they arrived at the forensics center, the two entered after showing their police IDs.

When they arrived at the morgue, they looked for a coroner called Tom before telling him why they were there.

Tom was a middle-aged Caucasian, and he was somewhat soft-spoken even though he looked very forceful whenever he spoke.

Even when he was dealing with two detectives who were obviously newbies, he didn't grow cocky. Rather, he told them everything that had happened.

In truth, there wasn't much he could tell them anyway. What Tom spent three minutes telling them was the same as what Brock had told Luke.

In the morning, Tom had a cup of coffee before work. Next, he felt nature's call, so he went to the bathroom. When he returned, he found that the body on the autopsy table had already disappeared without a trace.

Luke remained silent and allowed Selina to continue questioning Tom.

Tom was a man, and was most certainly happier to cooperate with a pretty woman like Selina instead of a man like Luke.

"Where's the security footage?"

Tom replied, "The surveillance cameras broke down last night. Someone was here to fix them this morning, but they were still down when the bodies went missing."

Luke interjected, "Who's the one who fixed the cameras?"

Tom blanked out slightly, as that was the first time Luke had asked a question since he arrived.

But he still answered honestly, "No idea. Logistics is in charge of that. You can try asking them."

Selina then stuffed her notebook into her pocket and a wide smile bloomed on her face. "Thank you, Tom."

The smile dazzled Tom somewhat as he nodded blankly. "Ah, sure, d- don't worry about it. You're most welcome."

Then, the pretty Latina waved at him before leaving the room.

Selina jogged to catch up with Luke before saying, "What do you think?"

Luke replied, "Let's first figure out what happened to the surveillance cameras. It's too much of a coincidence. Do you still remember what Robert told us?"

Selina tilted her head as she said, "When solving cases, many coincidences are in fact no coincidences?"

Luke nodded. "Therefore, we need to figure out how the surveillance cameras broke down."

After Selina asked two people for directions, they finally found the logistics department, and she told them the reason why she and Luke were there.

The person in charge here was a policewoman. Thus, Selina moved aside to let Luke take charge of the questioning this time.

The two had long reached a sort of tacit understanding.

Generally speaking, Selina would be in charge of communicating with men when it was safe to do so, and Luke would be in charge of communicating with middle-aged and old women. That was his job because of his pretty and tender face.

With a wide smile on his face, Luke told the policewoman what they were there for.

When the policewoman saw the handsome young man with a wide smile in front of her, she immediately had an amiable impression of him.

After taking a look at Luke's ID, she told him the name of the company in charge of maintaining the surveillance cameras.

Wales Dalick Electronic Communications Company.

This was the name of the company in charge of maintaining the surveillance cameras in this building. Luke borrowed the office phone and called the company.

After he identified himself, he asked a few questions before waiting and listening to the answers he got with an odd expression on his face.

After ending the call, he thanked the policewoman again before he and Selina left.

Selina asked, "What's going on?"

Luke replied, "The person on the phone told me they didn't receive any calls from the forensics department yesterday, and they didn't send anyone here today either."

Selina: "Huh?"

Luke grinned. "Interesting. Let us…"

Suddenly, Luke's phone rang. He answered the call, talked a bit, ended the call, and sank into silence.

Selina was driving. She glanced at him and asked, "What now?"

Luke had an odd expression. "Deputy Chief Thomas called me. He told us the case has been handed off and we can stop working on it."

Selina asked, "Handed to who?"

Luke replied, "FBI."

When the two returned to the police department, they saw four people come out, with one in the lead while the other three followed closely behind. All four wore black suits and sunglasses, and had solemn expressions; they looked like gang members from a movie.

The four walked past Luke and Selina.

Luke and Selina returned to the Major Crimes Division and headed straight to Brock's office.

When they returned, Brock nonchalantly asked, "Anything?"

Luke had an odd expression on his face once again. "Boss, the case has already been handed off by Deputy Chief Thomas. We're here to report to you."

Brock was stunned. "Handed off? Why wasn't I told? Did the deputy chief tell you that?" His face turned unsightly.

It was improper for the deputy chief to get involved in his subordinates' cases.

After all, if the higher management got personally involved in everything, what was the point of having commanding officers like Brock? Were they just puppets?

Luke thought about it and said, "In fact, not long after we arrived at the forensics department to investigate the missing body, we received a call to stop."

Brock nodded. That made him feel better. At the very least, these two were as clueless as he was.

He picked up a different file from the table and said, "Work on this case, then," and waved his hand to tell the two to leave.

Luke and Selina hmmed in response and left.

Outside, Selina whispered, "Looks like Brock's quite angry."

Luke answered, "I doubt he's angry at us. Well, forget it. Let's look at our new case."

They went back to their desks and opened the file. Selina was immediately shocked at its content. "What's the meaning of this? Are you sure that Brock still isn't prejudiced against us? Look at the kind of case he's given us."

Luke still remained calm. After skimming through the file, he said in a low voice, "It isn't necessarily because he's prejudiced against us. This is Houston; even weapon smugglers wouldn't resort to a shootout with the police. Did you notice that the final destination of these smuggled weapons is Mexico?"

Selina gave it some thought but was still unhappy. "We might have fought a Mexican cartel before, but that doesn't mean that we know Mexico well. Why are we getting a case like this? This is our first day at work! We don't even have any resources for gathering information!"

Luke nodded. "We no longer have Robert backing us up, so we need to think of a solution ourselves. Since we don't have any information, we'll have to look for it ourselves. A network of informants is something that takes time to grow, anyway."

At that moment, Selina suddenly thought of something, and decided to stop talking.

In truth, the main reason the two of them didn't have any informants was because of Luke's request for them to remain partners.

Otherwise, they would each be following a veteran detective, and would be able to make use of the information resources available to the veteran detectives they were following. They would then have the time to slowly grow their own network.

Luke had long seen this coming.

Of course, he was more willing to continue working with Selina. That was because he believed that Selina would support him unconditionally.

With Selina following his lead, both of them would share the credit when they solved cases, but following the system's calculations, his contribution rate would certainly be higher.

If he had to work with a veteran detective instead, he would be the one following the other person's lead. His rate of contribution from solving cases would then be greatly reduced as a result.

The two didn't tarry, and left in their car again.

That was what a normal work day for a detective in the Major Crimes Division was like.

To be promoted and to get a raise, they would have to work hard. There was so much work to be done that they would never be able to complete whatever was available.

After leaving the department, they grabbed a meal at a fast food restaurant.

This was a Mexican fast food restaurant.

At a Mexican restaurant, they naturally ordered some tacos, with meat and spicy sauce.

Both of them found this an extremely delicious meal.

Selina's parents were Mexicans through and through. Thus, they had Mexican food at home most of the time.

In Luke's previous life, he was from Sichuan, China. Thus, he had a deep love of spicy food.

Selina had two tacos while Luke had four. They spent almost 40 minutes eating.

After the meal, when they got back into their car, Selina asked, "So? Noticed anything?"

Luke replied, "Um, the tacos here are decent, but slightly worse than Sandra's."

Selina rolled her eyes. "Alright, alright. My mom isn't here. You can stop buttering her up." She might be saying that, but inwardly, she was still happy to hear Luke praising her mom.

Luke grinned and moved on from the topic. "Everything looks normal. But we were only there for a meal. If we could find something so easily, the case would've been solved long ago. Let's take a spin around the area instead."

The new case they had gotten had to do with arms trafficking, and it was suspected that a Mexican gang was behind it.

This was why Selina believed that Brock was prejudiced against the two of them.

These gangs varied in size, from several dozen to hundreds of members. Two newbie detectives without an information network wouldn't be able to deal with such a gang.

Luke, however, didn't share her thoughts.

Perhaps Brock was thinking of putting them in their place, but he certainly wasn't expecting the two of them to solve the case right away.

If they did manage to solve the case so easily, wouldn't that make the other detectives in the team look stupid?

In fact, the case had been with them for over two months. The detectives in charge of this case previously had been transferred off it to work on another urgent case. Evidently, everyone believed it was unlikely that this case would be solved.

As Selina drove, Luke never stopped observing their surroundings.

Suddenly, his face went blank as a familiar yet unfamiliar face seemed to walk past out of the corner of his eye.

It felt familiar since he seemed to have seen that face before.

It was unfamiliar because he couldn't recall who that person was, so he was sure that it was someone he didn't know.

The car continued moving for a few dozen meters before Luke suddenly said, "Turn around."

This was the advantage of their good teamwork. Selina turned without any hesitation. She merely asked, "What did you find?"

Finally, Luke recalled who that face belonged to. An odd expression surfaced on his face as he said, "I think… I saw the walking dead along the road just now."

Selina didn't doubt his words. Rather, she asked curiously, "Who?"

Luke took a deep breath before saying, "Do you remember our previous case? It's the dead witch… I saw her walking along the road."

Selina's hands trembled as she nearly crashed the car from her shock. "WTF?"

That was quite horrifying to hear.

How could a dead person be walking along the road? Was this a ghost encounter or something?

She quickly steadied her hands and drove faster. At the same time, she also started scanning the area as she drove.

A red flash appeared in Luke's line of sight as he quickly turned his head and said, "Slow down. She went into the street on the left."

This time, Selina no longer reacted excessively. She turned around at a normal speed before driving toward the street Luke mentioned.

When they arrived, the street was completely empty.

All they could see was an untidy street devoid of people and illuminated by bright sunlight.

After thinking for a bit, Luke drew his gun and checked it quickly before stuffing it back into the holster. "Let's get out and take a look around."

Although the case had been taken away from them, it now involved the resurrection of the dead.

How could Luke resist something so interesting?

He made sure Selina was behind him before he took the lead in the search.

Selina asked, "Where?"

Luke's gaze landed on an old iron door and said, "She went in there."

Selina asked, "Do we go in as well?"

This time, Luke hesitated.

They didn't have a warrant. If they entered however they wanted, they might receive complaints as a result. Moreover, entering the building would also put them in more danger.

Taking Selina into such danger for the sake of his curiosity was certainly something he needed to think about properly before making a move.

Just as he was thinking, his keen hearing caught wind of some sounds coming from behind the iron door.

"Hide," he whispered.

Selina immediately hid behind the car while Luke quickly stepped forward and hid next to the iron door.

After a few seconds, the door was kicked open.

An AK poked out the door, before a person rushed out.

Without any hesitation, Luke reached out with both hands. He grabbed the AK with one hand before grabbing the hand holding the gun with the other. Then, he flung the person down.

The person holding the AK was thus slammed to the ground.

This was the benefit of Brazilian jiu-jitsu. It could be used to either subdue or injure the opponent.

This person was wielding an AK in a large city like Houston. He clearly wasn't a law-abiding citizen.

When Luke looked at the person now lying on the ground, he immediately realized something.

This person was a Latino, and from the vicious tattoos all over his body, this person looked nothing like a normal law-abiding citizen.

Luke was about to crouch down and inspect this person when footsteps sounded from inside the building again.

He frowned.

The person he had slammed into the ground had in fact run out in a disorderly fashion with a flustered expression.

This time, the footsteps he heard were rather subdued and calm, signifying that the newcomer was a well-trained person who could control his pace even when running.

Luke picked the person up from the ground and hid behind him as he strained his ears and focused on the approaching footsteps.

The footsteps suddenly stopped. Luke's heart thumped as he counted to two silently before pushing the person he was holding toward the door.

At the exact same moment, someone jumped out the door as well. The newcomer crashed into the person Luke tossed over, and the two were immediately tangled up together.

At that moment, Luke raised the AK and shouted, "HPD! Freeze!"

The newcomer was by now on the ground. When he heard the shout, he was slightly stunned. When he saw the AK Luke was holding, his face was filled with disbelief. "Who are you trying to fool? No police officer in America uses an AK!"

Nevertheless, with an AK pointed at him point blank, he naturally didn't dare move.

At such a distance, the AK could easily kill him.

He quickly begged, "Please don't fire."

Luke strained his ears and didn't hear any other footsteps, but heard some gunshots instead.

Luke said, "Selina, show him your badge."

The person on the ground blanked out. "He's really a cop?"

A short time later, someone walked out behind him. When he looked at her, he realized that she was a pretty woman holding a Glock 23.

In her hand was a wallet which clearly showed her badge and ID.

The person on the ground finally heaved a sigh of relief. "We're on the same side. I'm from the FBI."

Luke wasn't shocked to hear that, but Selina was.

Luke didn't seem to care. "Drop your gun. Right now."

That person helplessly dropped his gun.

"Keep your hands up," Luke continued.

That person did as told.

Only then did Luke step forward to kick the gun away before saying, "Lie on the ground, face down."

The person cursed. "Can I show you my badge?"

Luke replied, "No. Get down, now."

That person had no choice but to obey.

The moment he did that, Luke stepped forward and pounced on him before cuffing the person's hands behind his back.

Getting his hands cuffed was rather painful, but the man could only say, "I have my badge with me. It's in my chest pocket."

Luke reached inside and took out a badge.

Indeed, he found the FBI badge and ID, and they didn't look fake.

"Selina, make a call to the department and have them verify this ID," Luke said.

Selina walked over, picked up the ID, and took out a phone from Luke's pocket before walking to the side to make a phone call.

After a while, she ended the call. "They're verifying it. It'll take a few minutes."

The person appeared to be in a rush. "I'm in the middle of a mission. Can you hurry up? My colleagues inside are in a shootout with the criminals."

Luke had been paying attention to the sounds inside the building. He had indeed been hearing the occasional gunshot.

In fact, he already knew who this person was.

Standing there, when Luke looked at the person lying on the ground, his heart thumped.

Surprisingly, he had encountered a major world organization, just like that.

System: You have defeated Cheney Spiegel. You may now learn all his abilities.

Cheney Spiegel's abilities list: Basic firearms, basic combat, basic information analysis… and so on.

All that wasn't the point.

Luke had a habit of messing around with the system whenever he was free, to figure out how the system operated.

Progress had been slow, but he had still found some hidden functions.

For example, after he unlocked an ability, he could actually see a short description of the ability. But the description would only show up upon his request.

Robert's basic firearms had a description stating that this ability was a product of his time in the United States military. As for Salazar's basic special combat, the system indicated that this was the product of his time in the United States SWAT.

Presently, this was what Luke saw in this person's abilities list: Basic firearms (product of S.H.I.E.L.D.), basic combat (product of S.H.I.E.L.D.), basic information analysis (product of S.H.I.E.L.D.).

S.H.I.E.L.D.

After a long wait, Luke had finally run into a member of this organization for the first time.

Perhaps he had seen one before, but if he had, he wasn't aware of it.

Luke's eyes flickered, but he remained silent.

Cheney said urgently, "Can you hurry up? Which department are you from?"

Luke replied, "Westside."

Cheney was overjoyed. "I just saw your deputy chief this morning, the Thomas guy. You can check with him directly."

Luke finally understood who the four men in black he had seen previously were.

This Cheney had been one of the four men in black, and they had most likely been there to see Thomas.

Luke said, "Selina, call Deputy Chief Thomas. I have his office number in my phone."

Selina did as told. A short while later, the call connected, and after a short conversation, she turned on the phone speaker and placed the phone in front of Cheney.

Cheney spoke quickly. "Deputy Chief Thomas, this is Agent Charles from the FBI. I was there when our head, John, went to see you. We're currently trying to arrest the suspect. Can you get your officers to provide us support?"

Thomas asked from the other end of the phone, "Where's your head? Get him to talk to me."

Thomas was quite helpless himself as he had never spoken to this Agent Charles before, so he didn't recognize the voice.

Luke interjected, "Deputy Chief Thomas, Luke here. This morning around 10:50 am, I saw a group of four men dressed in black leaving the department. I myself saw this person following a bearded, middle-aged person who was about 40 years old and 1.82 meters in height."

After hearing that, Thomas was finally sure that this person was from that agency. After all, when he sent them off this morning, it was around 10:40 am. He thus said, "I see, that's it then. Release him."

After a slight hesitation, Thomas added, "If possible, try to help them as well."

Luke replied, "Got it, deputy chief."

Only then did Thomas end the call.

Luke gestured at Selina as she immediately removed the cuffs from the man on the ground.

Cheney, the fake FBI Agent Charles, quickly stood up and stretched his arms. Luke picked up the gun on the ground and returned it to him. "Sorry, it's a habit of the job."

Cheney couldn't be bothered to hold a grudge. He was well aware of how the police worked in America. Luke had acted accordingly as he took his safety and that of his fellow officer into consideration.

In any case, Luke was the one who had helped him quickly prove his identity.

Cheney quickly said, "Three of my colleagues are still in there. There are also some Mexican gang members in there. Also, there's a female suspect in a red dress. Come with me and be very careful, especially when you encounter the woman in red. Keep your distance from her. She's incredibly strong in melee combat."

Luke's heart thumped as he thought, "Red dress? The dead witch I saw earlier was in a red dress as well!"

He didn't say anything and nodded. "Understood."

Then, he pointed at the AK. "Do you want this?"

Cheney shook his head. "No thanks." Things were very complicated in the building. Using an AK would only make things worse.

Luke nodded and cuffed the first person's arm to his leg to ensure that he wouldn't be able to flee even after waking up. Then, he searched that person for some AK magazines before saying, "Let's go, Selina. Cover our backs."

Selina nodded.

All three of them went through the iron door.

Cheney had only left earlier because he had been chasing the suspect with the AK, thinking that this person was their target.

But it turned out that he had been chasing the wrong person, and had gotten himself disarmed by Luke instead.

After the delay, he was very anxious. He only had three colleagues in there, and they had to face an entire Mexican gang. Apart from that, they had to be on the lookout for their target as well. Thus, they were in a rather bad spot.

The only good news was that their target was here to seek revenge against the Mexican gang. Thus, his colleagues wouldn't be facing a two-pronged attack from both their target and the Mexican gang.

After going through a passageway, they arrived at a warehouse.

This place was huge and was filled with numerous goods that were piled up everywhere, which limited their line of sight.

Luke immediately understood why Cheney had refused the AK.

In such an environment, a pistol was much better than an AK.

But Luke didn't mind.

He was far more dexterous than an average person, and after losing Robert's basic firearms and basic special combat abilities, he switched to Salazar's abilities instead.

The system was rather fair in this aspect.

So long as he met the requirement for the abilities, he could always freely switch from one person to another for the same ability.

Compared with Robert's military abilities, Salazar's SWAT abilities were far more suited to such an enclosed area.

Salazar was very well-practiced in using automatic rifles, even in such an enclosed area.

Cheney gestured at the two, and they understood what he was trying to say as he was using a common tactical gesture with them. The two then started advancing while providing each other cover.

In another corner of the warehouse, gunshots rang out every now and then, telling them clearly where to go.

Suddenly, a series of gunshots rang out as bullets rained down on Luke's group.

Luke reacted speedily as he had noticed the enemy the instant the latter raised his gun.

Without hesitation, Luke kicked Cheney in the ass and sent him stumbling to the ground.

At the same time, Luke bent low to the ground as well. Through a tiny crack between piles, he saw a pair of legs about eight meters away from him, which belonged to the person firing at them.

Bang! Bang! Bang! After three shots, two bloody wounds were left in the legs. The enemy wailed before collapsing to the ground.

Without hesitation, Luke fired two more bullets at the enemy's head, instantly silencing the latter.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

A series of gunshots rang out, and this time, they were aimed at Luke. Evidently, killing the first gang member had put a target on his back.

Luke rolled away on the ground, bullet holes appearing right where he had been.

Luke had a calm expression on his face as he fired his AK once again.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

He fired two bursts of three shots each and took down two gang members.

Salazar was an expert at indoor combat like this; even Robert wasn't his match.

After the two gang members went down, the warehouse sank into silence.

Cheney remained on the ground, not daring to move too much. The shootout earlier had ended as suddenly as it had started, and he was completely shocked.

As for Luke, he didn't stop. He crouched in an odd posture like a frog as he quickly crawled around in the warehouse.

There had been more than two people firing at him earlier.

After moving away from the dangerous spot, Luke quickly gestured at Selina.

Selina instantly understood what he meant. She started firing bullets at where the gang members were taking cover.

The gang members were completely untrained, and all they did was reach out to fire their guns randomly.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Bang! Bang! Bang!

After moving to the other side of the gang members, Luke fired his gun and took down another person.

Again, a hail of bullets rained down on Luke's position.

At that moment, it was Selina's turn to shift positions as she fired, causing a gang member to collapse to the ground as he clutched his shoulder.

Luke was moving to a new position, when he heard someone wail in pain before collapsing to the ground.

Reflexively, he fired two bullets into that person's head.

The warehouse then sank into dead silence.

This time, nobody dared to fire at Luke anymore.

It had only been a minute, and five of them were already dead. This was a nightmare for them.

They couldn't understand who they had offended. Why were there suddenly so many enemies?

Cheney, who was taking cover in a corner, whispered something.

Luke didn't bother to try and figure out what he was saying. There was still an unknown number of enemies in the warehouse.

He continued moving in that odd squat-like posture with his AK raised at all times.

Suddenly, someone appeared before him. Luke nearly opened fire, when he noticed who that person was, and he quickly withdrew.

Bang! Bang!

Two gunshots rang out, and the bullets hit the object which Luke was hiding behind.

Luke cursed inwardly.

The one firing at him wasn't one of the gang members. Rather, it was Cheney's colleague. The entirely black suits they wore were too easy to recognize.

But why did that person open fire on Luke before making sure who he was?

Then again, Cheney's colleagues couldn't be blamed either. Luke had been slaughtering his enemies the moment he arrived. They were very nervous to see him as well.

Fortunately, Cheney noticed this, and he quickly said something while gesturing at Luke.

Luke gave him the middle finger in response.

Cheney blanked out slightly, but he understood Luke's meaning and smiled helplessly.

Luke was venting his resentment for almost getting shot by Cheney's colleague earlier.

Cheney no longer dared to look down on Luke and Selina anymore.

In a short two minutes, with Luke as the vanguard and Selina as support, not a single one of their bullets were wasted as they killed five people in a row; their efficiency in a combat situation was terrifying.

Even Cheney wondered what kind of police they were – were the officers of the Westside Houston Police Department all this vicious?

Luke took a peek and saw that Cheney's colleague was no longer aiming at him.

That person also seemed to be in bad shape. His leg had been hit, and he could only stay hidden behind cover. No wonder he had reacted so fiercely earlier.

Luke waved before gesturing at that person.

When that person saw his gesture, he understood and nodded. He then raised his gun and fired a few shots in a certain direction.

Then, Luke started scanning the warehouse, and discovered that there were reactions from two different positions.

With his dynamic vision, he was able to immediately notice any minute change. Without any hesitation, he aimed his gun and fired three shots in a row.

"AHH!"

With a miserable wail, another enemy was hit. Slowly, the wail petered off.

Cheney's injured colleague was shocked. "Shit, this officer only ever fires kill shots."

Luke didn't hesitate whatsoever as he immediately started moving quickly again. He went around two shelves and was about to head to one side of the other position where there had been some movement.

Right at that moment, a red figure leapt over two shelves and pounced on Luke like a nimble cat.

With Luke's keen senses, he knew he wouldn't be able to raise his AK in time.

Thus, he dropped the AK before leaning backward immediately and kicking out with his leg.

The red figure hadn't expected such a swift reaction from Luke. The kick landed squarely in her abdomen, and she crashed loudly into a shelf.

Luke finally got a clear look at the red figure as he immediately shouted, "HPD! Freeze!" while he drew his gun and aimed it at her.

The red figure only blanked out for a moment and Luke's gun was already aimed at her head.

"Carol Mira?" Luke asked in a low voice.

The red figure clutched at her abdomen and gasped for breath while asking, "Y- you're the police?"

When Luke saw the system notification, he was overjoyed. His expression unchanged, he said, "Yes. Westside Police Department, Detective Luke Coulson."

The woman in red seemed to hesitate as she asked, "Are you here to catch me as well?"

Luke hesitated slightly before he shook his head. "No, I'm here on a weapons smuggling case."

Carol visibly relaxed as she said, "Can… can you let me go, then?"

Luke quickly recalled what he had seen in the file, and reached a conclusion. He remained silent.

Using his free hand, he pointed in one direction.

Carol looked over and saw Selina there.

Luke waved his hand and told the woman to hurry up. Joy surfaced on Carol's face as she nodded and whispered, "Thank you."

Then, she forced herself up and crawled over to Selina.

Luke's kick made her feel as if her entire belly had been pierced through. Fortunately, she had an unique ability that enabled her to quickly recover.

As she moved, Luke's gun remained pointed at her. Since she couldn't do anything about it, she stopped worrying about him.

Luke gestured at Selina and she silently moved to one side to open up a path for Carol.

Selina had been watching Luke's back all along, and she had been guarding the passageway they had come in from.

Carol glanced at her and nodded in thanks before fleeing.

When Luke saw Carol flee the warehouse, he sighed inwardly before focusing on what was happening inside the warehouse again.

He moved to Cheney and asked, "Where are your colleagues? The environment here is too difficult. A woman in red ambushed me earlier, and after I kicked her, she hid again. Do you want to tell your colleagues to move out? Otherwise, I'm afraid I might accidentally kill them."

Cheney broke out in a cold sweat when he heard that.

He had personally witnessed Luke's skills with a gun. He was too terrifying.

Almost every time he fired a shot, an enemy would die. If his colleagues were shot by mistake, they would most certainly die as well.

Although they were on a mission, this place was indeed too unfavorable for them.

After a slight hesitation, Cheney talked to his colleagues on the radio. Next, Luke started hearing people move toward them.

He heaved a sigh of relief when he heard that.

The two people moving toward them were probably Cheney's colleagues. Another person didn't move, and that was most likely the poor soul who had been shot in the leg.

Luke whispered to Cheney, "I'll go get your injured colleague as well. Remember, tell him to hold his fire."

Cheney nodded awkwardly and spoke into the radio again.

As for Luke, he quickly found the injured person and made sure that the person saw him clearly before he drew closer.

When he arrived, he said, "Please don't aim your gun at me anymore. Keep silent."

Then, he held his gun in one hand and dragged the person by the collar with his other hand. He didn't care if the person was hurting or not as he started to drag him toward Cheney.

Perhaps Luke had frightened off the enemy, as there was no longer any sign of them. Even when Luke reached Cheney, not a single shot had been fired at him.