38: Chapter 38 A Brief Tranquility, Daily Life

Jianghai City, Walmart supermarket.

Although the city was on high alert and sirens wailed incessantly through the streets, for the ordinary citizens, life had to go on.

Rice, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, tea—which one didn't require careful budgeting?

Especially tonight, the supermarket was having a big sale, and the foot traffic in the discounted section was even more terrifying than the subway during rush hour.

"Excuse me, excuse me! Student, move aside, please!"

Qin Feng was wearing a washed-out gray hoodie, thick-rimmed black glasses perched on his nose, and his hair was as messy as a bird's nest.

He was carrying a tattered cloth bag, using his God-level Disguise Technique—though currently disguised as the gait of a college student squeezing through a cafeteria line—to carve a path through the crowded phalanx of middle-aged aunties.

[System Notification: Current disguise template — "Clear-eyed and foolish male college student".]

[Compatibility: 100%.]

Qin Feng couldn't help but admire the system's "God-level Disguise Technique (Permanent Edition)."

It wasn't just makeup; it was a micro-adjustment from the bones to the muscle structure.

Now, he looked like a slacker student who had been pulling all-nighters to finish his thesis, with unfocused eyes and zero aggressiveness.

Even if his own mother came, she would probably only ask, "Excuse me, who are you looking for?"

"The last batch of discounted free-range eggs! Only nine ninety-nine! At nine ninety-nine, you won't lose money, you won't be fooled!" the sales assistant yelled until hoarse.

Qin Feng's eyes lit up.

Nine ninety-nine?

For someone who had just received twelve million, this... was still a huge sum!

He had to grab them!

Qin Feng exerted force through his feet, moving like a slippery loach, instantly drilling to the front of the shelf.

At the same time.

A slender, dry hand with calluses on the knuckles also stretched over from the other side.

Two hands.

One on the left, one on the right.

Both pressed onto the last box of discounted free-range eggs on the shelf.

Time seemed to freeze for a moment.

Qin Feng looked over along that hand.

The cuffs of the black windbreaker were slightly worn, and the veins on the back of the hand were bulging—a physiological reaction to long-term high-pressure states.

Further up was a face with stubble, deep-set eye sockets, and the look of someone who hadn't slept for at least three days.

Xie Qingshang.

Qin Feng's heart contracted violently, but the expression on his face remained calm, even revealing a perfectly timed hint of the panic a "socially anxious student might feel when encountering a weird uncle."

Enemies often cross paths.

The ancients didn't lie to me.

How the hell could he run into the commander-in-chief of this capture operation while buying eggs?

Xie Qingshang clearly hadn't expected someone to compete with him.

He paused for a second, his bloodshot eyes sweeping over Qin Feng.

In that instant, his gaze was as sharp as a knife.

It was the instinct of a criminal investigation expert, scanning every detail of the young man in front of him like an X-ray.

If it were the old Qin Feng, even wearing a mask, he would have felt pressure under such a gaze.

But now.

Qin Feng just shrank his neck, his fingers timidly loosening a little, his eyes darting away: "Um... Uncle... Uncle, you go first?"

Xie Qingshang's mouth twitched.

Uncle?

I'm only twenty-eight this year!

Am I that old?

"I'm not in a rush." Xie Qingshang's voice was as hoarse as if it had been rubbed on sandpaper, carrying a thick sense of exhaustion. "Are you a student? Take it, you're still growing."

He said, letting go of his hand.

He turned and grabbed a box of the most expensive organic eggs from the shelf nearby, then casually picked up a few boxes of instant black coffee and chocolate.

Qin Feng held the box of loot, watching Xie Qingshang's back as he turned to leave.

This person was about to break.

That high-spirited genius consultant had been tortured into this ghost of a person by his own operation.

Qin Feng suddenly felt a bit bad.

Really, just a little bit.

"Um... thank you, officer." Qin Feng suddenly spoke.

Xie Qingshang's steps, which had just started, suddenly stopped.

His whole body was like a bow pulled to its limit.

He turned around slowly, the exhaustion in his eyes swept away, replaced by a heart-stopping scrutiny: "How did you know I'm a policeman?"

He was wearing casual clothes today.

The windbreaker was his personal wear, the pants were casual trousers.

Even to avoid detection, he had deliberately not worn his signature gold-rimmed glasses.

The few aunties nearby felt that the atmosphere was wrong and retreated one after another, clutching their cabbage.

Qin Feng, however, seemed completely unaware of the danger.

He freed a hand, pointed to Xie Qingshang's feet, and wore that naive smile typical of science students who think "this is just common sense."

"Your shoes."

Qin Feng pushed up the black-rimmed glasses sliding down his nose. "Those are police training leather shoes, the 07 model, right? The anti-slip tread on the sole is very distinctive; I've seen it on my military training instructor's feet."

Xie Qingshang looked down at his shoes.

It was indeed true.

Because he had been busy chasing suspects yesterday, he hadn't had time to change his shoes.

Qin Feng hadn't finished yet; he scanned the edge of the shoes and dealt another blow: "Also, there is red brick powder on the edge of your shoe. If I remember correctly, the... the thug Qin Feng landed at in the unfinished building in the news yesterday used this kind of red brick, right? That place must be blocked off now; only police can enter."

Xie Qingshang's pupils constricted.

He stared at Qin Feng for a full five seconds.

That kind of pressure was enough to make an ordinary person wet their pants.

But Qin Feng just blinked those "clear and foolish" eyes, looking at him innocently, as if he were just stating a simple physical phenomenon.

"Huu..."

Xie Qingshang let out a heavy breath, his tense shoulders relaxing.

He smiled.

Although it looked worse than crying.

"Good observation." Xie Qingshang took a piece of chocolate out of his pocket, peeled off the foil, and put it in his mouth. "Which school?"

"Jianghai Polytechnic, junior year, physics major." Qin Feng answered fluently; this was the perfect identity the system had forged for him.

"Physics department..." Xie Qingshang chewed the chocolate, the bitter taste making him much more alert. "No wonder your logic is so good. Young man, are you interested in applying to the police academy? Or come to the municipal bureau's technical department after graduation?"

This was a genuine appreciation of talent.

At this moment of national panic, there weren't many students who could deduce so much information from a pair of shoes and still talk to the police calmly.

Qin Feng scratched his head, revealing a mouthful of white teeth, smiling heartlessly.

"Probably not."

"Why?"

"I'm lazy, and also..." Qin Feng lowered his voice, as if afraid of being heard saying something embarrassing. "I'm afraid I won't pass the political background check."

Xie Qingshang was stunned: "You have a criminal record?"

"No, no, no!" Qin Feng waved his hands repeatedly. "It's just... when I was a kid, I peeked at Auntie Wang next door taking a bath, and my dad hung me up and beat me. Does that count as a stain?"

Xie Qingshang: "..."

He took a deep breath, feeling his migraine coming on again.

What kind of strange train of thought was this?

"Alright, go back to school early. Don't run around at night these few days." Xie Qingshang waved his hand and turned toward the checkout counter. "It's not safe outside; there's still a madman wandering around."

"Got it! Thanks for the reminder, officer! Goodbye, officer!"

Qin Feng held the eggs, turned around happily, and walked in the opposite direction.

The distance between the two gradually widened.

Five meters.

Ten meters.

Fifteen meters.

Xie Qingshang stood in line at the checkout, holding the box of instant coffee.

In his mind, the smiling face of that student just now lingered.

Clear, foolish, no hidden motives.

But for some reason, a strange sense of incongruity felt like a thorn, piercing his nerves.

Too natural.

Everything was too natural.

The student's reaction, that joke about "peeking at a bath," that action of scratching his head...

It was like...

It was like a "standard passerby template" written in a textbook.

"The red brick powder on the shoe..." Xie Qingshang muttered to himself.

That kind of red brick powder was extremely fine; if you didn't lie on the ground and look with a magnifying glass, you couldn't see it clearly.

That student had been standing the whole time; how could he have seen it at a glance?

Unless...

He was very familiar with that environment.

Or, he was very sensitive to that kind of shoe.

"Wait!"

Xie Qingshang suddenly raised his head, the coffee box in his hand crushed.

That voice!

Although the tone had changed, becoming young and immature.

But the rhythm of the speech, that tone that slightly rose at the end of the sentence...

It overlapped... with the man wearing the clown mask in the banquet hall yesterday, on certain frequencies!

"It's him!!!"

A chill ran from his tailbone to the top of his head, and all the hair on Xie Qingshang's body stood up at that moment.

He threw away what was in his hands, rushed out of the queue like an out-of-control beast, and ran toward the shelf just now.

"Stop!!! That student in the gray hoodie!!!"

The cashier screamed in fear: "Hey! Sir, you haven't paid!"

Xie Qingshang couldn't hear it at all.

He ran madly, knocked over the mountain of discounted toilet paper, and rushed to the shelf he had just been at.

Empty.

Only a few aunties were picking through the remaining rotten vegetable leaves.

That "student".

He was like a drop of water evaporated into the air.

Xie Qingshang rushed to the supermarket entrance, looking around blankly.

The crowd was surging, traffic was heavy.

Where was the shadow of that gray hoodie?

"Damn it! Damn it!!!"

Xie Qingshang punched the stone pillar at the entrance hard, blood flowing down through his fingers.

He had been played again.

Right under his nose.

That SSS-level thug wanted by the whole city, that Joker who had led thousands of police officers around in circles.

He had just been standing right in front of him.

He had competed for a box of nine ninety-nine eggs with him.

And even... chatted for a while?!

"Ding—"

Xie Qingshang's phone suddenly rang.

It was a text message from an unknown number.

He clicked it with trembling hands.

[Officer Xie, eat less chocolate, it's easy to get cavities.]

[Also, that box of organic eggs is good, it's good for the brain.]

[—Your enthusiastic citizen, Student Qin]

"Qin Feng!!!"

Xie Qingshang held his phone, standing at the busy supermarket entrance, letting out a desperate and angry roar.

And across the street.

An inconspicuous black sedan slowly raised its windows.

Qin Feng sat in the passenger seat, took off the thick-rimmed glasses, and threw them on the center console.

He looked at the box of discounted eggs he had grabbed, a smile belonging to a victor curled at the corners of his mouth.

"This round, not a loss."

Qin Feng was in a great mood, turning to look at Pei Ji who was driving.

"Let's go, home."

"Add a dish tonight, I want to eat... tomato scrambled eggs."