Miss Assassin is heavily addicted

Chapter 49, Section 6: Splitting Up
Two hours later.

The sun was high in the sky over Greenley, but thankfully it was only early April, and the warm sunlight was quite pleasant.

The wind rising from the sea brushed against the green trees lining the street, and sunlight dappled through the gaps in the leaves, illuminating the ground.

The entrance to Lane 9 on Makang Street.

Holding her notebook of interview records, Loris said goodbye to the tailor shop owner she had just finished questioning. Then, standing in the shade of a tree, she continued writing with a pen, recalling the details.

"Another Peruvian...three days ago..."

He Ye followed wearily beside him, sighing like an old ox exhausted from plowing the field, wanting to pat his butt and sit down on the steps without caring about his image.

The two had been conducting door-to-door investigations for nearly three hours without interruption, covering more than 130 people from Lane 7 to Lane 9, including watch shops, shoe repair shops, and tenants in front of residential buildings.

Under Lolis's supervision, He Ye conducted numerous interrogations, recording over sixty pieces of information in his notebook, though most were useless.

In short, he was already parched, not to mention it was lunchtime. He Ye felt he needed to remind this workaholic that he should at least rest for an hour before continuing his visits and investigations.

“I say, sir, I think we should find a place to eat.”

He Ye eventually sat down on the steps in front of the tailor shop, fanning himself with his police hat like a migrant worker seeking shade, before turning to look at his superior who was still writing and taking notes.

"It's already twelve o'clock?" Loris asked in surprise.

He Ye glanced at the watch on his wrist: "12:27."

"Then we really should rest and eat. Let's go."

After Lorice finished speaking, she put the palm-sized black book into her jacket pocket, along with the pen, and then walked forward with her hands in her pockets and a hand in her hand.

Thank goodness, she still has some sense of right and wrong, and isn't so fanatical as to exploit even her lunch break.

He Ye breathed a sigh of relief, patted his bottom, and quickly followed.

As he walked, he recalled the events of the morning, his first day as an auxiliary police officer; he went from shop to shop, asking if there were any new faces or suspicious persons recently, and if so, describing their appearance.

To be honest, the efficiency was very low, but with Loris's dedication, they actually managed to find a few clues.

However, there were no of their people on Makang Street, or rather, He Ye didn't know they had any, so we were quite at ease.

He stretched and yawned as he walked, his mind elsewhere, reflecting on his own status.

Finally, the two arrived at the bakery on the street corner.

He Ye stood there with his arms crossed. He glanced at the restaurant not far away, which sold hot dishes such as onion soup, beef stew in red wine, and pasta.

In short, it was a proper lunch.

Then he looked at the bakery in front of him.

Lorice walked in with a normal expression, seemingly planning to have a "fast food" meal to finish what she should have enjoyed for lunch, as if lunch had always been like this for her.

"Hello, two Set Meals B, please."

She even ordered lunch for He Ye.

Heye: "..."

The B set meal, which cost 8 crowns, consisted of three pieces of bread with bacon, cheese, and a cup of hot milk.

She came out carrying a plate and saw He Ye still standing by the roadside with his arms crossed. She raised an eyebrow and said, "I ordered it for you. Go get it yourself, you idiot."

"..." What else could He Ye say? He scratched his head, sighed, and walked away. "Alright, alright."

Loris, disapproving of this attitude, frowned and said, "You're not happy even though I'm treating you? Remember to give me 8 yuan later, I'm not treating you anymore."

"I'm not trying to be mean, sir, but this is just too much." He Ye was in a bad mood, but Loris had already taken her tray and sat down, too lazy to pay him any attention.

He Ye had no choice but to go inside the shop and watch the owner put black bread and bacon slices on the plate, along with freshly poured hot milk, as if she had returned to her student days and faced the cafeteria auntie's breakfast.

"Sir, your Package B has already been paid for by the policewoman," the shopkeeper said.

Seeing this, He Ye didn't ask for a refund. Instead, she reached into her pocket, exchanged some change with the owner, and then walked out with her plate.

Outside the bakery, there are seats for customers, with parasols set up between round tables and weathered wooden chairs on either side.

He Ye sat down opposite Lolis and pushed five yuan and three coins over to her: "Here you go, here you go."

Loris raised an eyebrow and accepted the gift without hesitation, biting into her bread while flipping through her black leather notebook with her other hand. Even while eating, she was recalling the contents of her work. What exactly did catching spies mean to this guy?
Could it be that her family members were targeted by spies?
"By the way, why are you working even while eating? Is there a reason why you're so keen on catching spies?" He Ye asked casually, picking up his milk glass and slowly drinking it to moisten his throat.

Loris didn't mince words: "Catching a spy can get you a promotion."

Well, He Ye was speechless after hearing that. It really was an impeccable answer. There was no deep-seated grievance as a reason; it was just for a promotion. It seems that he loves his job very much, inside and out…

No, perhaps there is a deeper reason.

Just as employees work hard not just for the boss's money, but for their monthly salary, military ranks represent a kind of honor, which she probably needs. "Let me see your notebook too," Loris said, looking up.

He Ye snapped out of her daze and calmly handed it over: "Here you go."

Loris opened his black leather notebook, hesitated for a moment, and muttered, "You really can't judge a book by its cover... Your handwriting is quite good."

He Ye took it as a compliment. While eating her not-so-enjoyable lunch, she looked at the passersby around her. It was obvious that the citizens avoided her because of her police uniform.

Lorice's dedication to her work, in a way, is a way of protecting the city of Greeley. Unfortunately, under the current system, a disturbing power divide still exists between citizens and police officers.

I've been thinking too far ahead...

He Ye munched on dry bread, savoring his dry lunch. The restless feeling made him start to overthink again. Sigh, I really don't know what Rayleigh is doing right now.

He'd probably have a much easier time with Officer Rory than on his own; he's probably having a big meal at some restaurant right now.

—Achoo!

Meanwhile, in a restaurant.

Rayleigh suddenly sneezed, blew his nose into the spaghetti, his nose full of snot, wondering who was slandering him again.

"What's wrong?" Officer Rory asked from the side.

"I guess they put too much pepper in it, and it made me choke." Rayleigh snapped out of his reverie, took a deep breath, and savored the aroma. "I have to admit, it smells amazing! Commander Rory, you even treated me to dinner. I'll definitely go with you on my next duty!"

"Hahaha, let's eat," Rory said with a laugh.

I hope he's eating dry bread too—

He Ye snapped out of her thoughts and continued eating. A few minutes later, her lunch was completely empty, but Lolis across from her was still eating and watching, and it was unclear when it would end.

Whatever, I'm taking a break anyway.

There was a newspaper box on the table, probably placed there by the owner to help customers pass the time. He Ye randomly picked one out and looked at it, only to find that it was from six months ago.

She quickly lost interest after flipping through the pages, and just then, the midday sun became even more dazzling, its rays falling over the parasol onto He Ye's cheek.

He leaned back in the wooden chair, covered his face with the newspaper and took a nap, then folded his arms and drifted off to sleep, looking very relaxed.

……

Ten minutes later.

When He Ye woke up, the newspaper on his face had been taken away. He squinted and saw blonde hair that was the same color as the sunlight. The girl had a newspaper rolled up in her hand and slapped He Ye's cheek with an unfriendly expression, like a class representative collecting homework in school.

"Hey, still sleeping? Get up and get to work."

It turned out to be Loris.

As expected, one tends to overthink when half-asleep. He Ye rubbed his head and sat up: "What time is it?"

12:47.

Oh, so there's no afternoon break yet.

He Ye looked dejected, but he had no better solution. After all, it was Lori who was leading him on duty, and as her superior, she had the final say.

The two got up and left the bakery, continuing their investigation from where they had stopped that morning.

He followed lazily behind, one hand in his pocket, unable to resist yawning as if he had been woken up from his afternoon nap.

Loris saw all of this and couldn't help but complain, "You look exhausted even though you haven't done anything. How can Isabel possibly take a liking to you like this?"

"..." He Ye himself didn't even know that he had been chosen?

However, he felt he should protest, after all, there's a principle called work-life balance—but then he thought the protest was just in his mind, because Loris definitely wouldn't listen.

He might even hit himself a few more times.

Banishing the drowsiness from his mind, He Ye realized that working together was far too inefficient. Based on the principle of finishing early and leaving get off work early, he offered a suggestion:

"Then let's split up. That will be much faster. It's just that there's nothing to do while we're on the sidelines."

“Auxiliary officers cannot act alone,” Loris replied.

"Okay, let's stay at the entrance of this alley. You go to the far left, and I'll go to the far right to conduct inquiries and investigations on both sides before meeting up in the middle. That way, it won't be considered acting alone, how about that?"

After she finished speaking, Loris fell silent for a moment. Clearly, this suggestion sounded much more reasonable, but she still had some concerns. She looked He Ye up and down and asked, "Are you sure you won't slack off?"

He Ye thought about what kind of person he was:

"of course not."

(End of this chapter)