Villain? No, I'll catch up with the protagonist after passing the civil service exam.

The tranquil and profound night view in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows of the seven-star hotel in Jinghai City did not last long.

The few days of peace passed in a flash. The piercing sound of sirens tore through the morning mist, abruptly dragging the entire city from its slumber.

The red and blue flashing lights shone on the bumpy asphalt road.

The tin cart selling pancakes was blocked on the side road by the morning rush hour traffic. The smell of diesel fuel from the exhaust pipe mixed with the sweet aroma of soy milk, carried by the autumn wind, and went straight into the nostrils of passersby.

The honeymoon period is over.

The frosted glass door on the first floor of the command center was pushed open.

Lu Jingyan walked in with steady steps. He wasn't wearing his crisp police uniform today; instead, he wore a dark gray casual jacket over a neatly pressed white shirt.

The black leather shoes made a dull thud as they stepped on the composite floor.

The atmosphere in the lobby was tense. Several passing police officers, carrying thick blue folders, hurried by and immediately stopped and saluted when they saw him.

Lu Jingyan nodded in response and strode towards the core conference room at the end of the corridor.

As soon as I opened the door, the cold air, mixed with the smell of sweat, hit me.

The air conditioning in the conference room was blasting. White smoke billowed out of the vents. But the local branch leaders sitting at the oval table were all flushed from the heat.

"This is impossible to verify! It's utter nonsense!"

Old Wang from the Xicheng branch was clutching a crumpled wad of toilet paper. He wiped his forehead haphazardly with the paper; sweat had already soaked through the collar of his police uniform, turning it a dark gray.

Old Wang was so anxious that he stomped his feet, the tips of his shoes hitting the legs of the solid wood table with a thud.

"The store's security door was perfectly fine, and I didn't even see a single person in the photos. The store manager who called the police insists it's haunted. If this case is submitted to higher authorities, won't they skin me alive?"

Zhao Tiezhu leaned against the door frame, his two thick arms crossed over his chest.

He was chewing a piece of mint gum, making a smacking sound.

"Old Wang, you're such a coward." Zhao Tiezhu glanced at him out of the corner of his eye and spat. "We've seen the cannons of the alien fleet, and a few petty thieves scared you to death?"

Old Wang had a bitter face and waved his hands repeatedly.

"Brother Zhao, you don't know the value of money until you're in charge. If we really encountered aliens, we could just call the SWAT team to access the electromagnetic network. But this time... this time they're invisible and intangible!"

Lu Jingyan walked to the leather chair at the head of the table and sat down.

He placed his old thermos on the table with a loud "bang".

With a flick of his fingers, he unscrewed the metal lid. Steam rose from the rim of the cup, and a few plump red goji berries swirled on the surface.

He lowered his head and took a sip. The warm water slid down his esophagus, suppressing the dryness in his throat.

"Tell me the details of the case." His voice was steady, without much inflection.

The meeting room fell silent instantly. Even the sound of the water dispenser boiling water could be heard clearly.

Old Wang swallowed hard. He quickly grabbed the black remote control on the table. His fingers trembled slightly, and it took him two tries to press the play button correctly.

The holographic screen on the wall flickered and lit up.

The scene shifts to a Lao Feng Xiang gold shop on a bustling commercial street in the capital. The time displayed in the upper right corner is 3:30 AM.

The streets were deserted. The dim streetlights shone on the roller shutters.

"Mr. Lu, look here. The roller shutter is locked tight, there's not a single sign of it being pried open."

Old Wang pointed at the screen, his voice trembling.

In the footage, the explosion-proof glass display case inside the jewelry store suddenly cracked without warning.

It felt like being struck by an invisible, heavy object. Spiderweb-like cracks quickly spread across the bulletproof glass, and then it shattered into shards with a crash.

There was no hammer. There were no bricks.

Even in the blind spots of the surveillance cameras, not a single moth could be seen.

Then, an even more absurd scene unfolded.

Dozens of pure gold necklaces hanging on the display shelf seemed to be tethered by an invisible thread. One after another, they slowly floated out from the cracks in the glass.

A thick, gleaming golden chain floated in mid-air, bobbing up and down twice.

Then, lined up, they slipped out one by one through the gaps in the louvers of the ceiling vents, completely disappearing from the blind spots of the surveillance cameras.

After watching this video...

In the conference room, several criminal police officers from different branches gasped in shock.

A young police officer who had just graduated rubbed the goosebumps that had appeared on his arms.

"Is this...is this really haunted? Or has that kind of telekinetic ability resurfaced?"

"What a load of rubbish!"

Zhao Tiezhu took a tissue, spat out the chewing gum, wrapped it up, and threw it into the trash can.

"Our Skynet restraints have long since locked down those supernatural wavelengths. Now, not even a mutated mosquito can fly on this Earth."

Old Wang wiped his sweat even faster. He crumpled the tissue into a hole, and it stuck to his shiny forehead.

"Then this is truly unbelievable! Mr. Lu, it's not that our Xicheng branch is negligent. This case is completely beyond the realm of common scientific knowledge!"

Lu Jingyan took another sip of water.

He tightened the lid of the thermos. His gaze remained fixed on the frozen surveillance footage.

"Playback." He bent his index finger and tapped the edge of the table with his knuckle. "Three seconds before the glass shattered, slowed down tenfold."

Old Wang frantically pressed the back button.

The image moved forward frame by frame, like an old-fashioned projector that had jammed.

Lu Jingyan stood up. His leather shoes clicked on the carpet as he walked to the large screen.

He extended his index finger and pointed it at the center of the shattered glass.

"Did you see that?"

Everyone quickly gathered around and craned their necks to get a better look.

Before the bulletproof glass shattered completely, a very slight, inwardly concave curve appeared on its surface.

It felt like a hard, blunt object was pressing down on it, applying pressure.

"And the trail of the necklace floating up."

Lu Jingyan's finger slowly traced the path of the floating gold necklace across the screen.

"Gold has a very high density. If it were to be extracted remotely using a magnetic field, the surrounding electronic monitoring equipment would be instantly paralyzed due to the strong magnetic interference."

He turned his head and looked at Old Wang, whose face was full of confusion.

"The surveillance camera footage is very clear, with no snow or background noise. This indicates that there is no high-dimensional magnetic field at the scene."

"The necklace exhibited a slight downward arc as it turned in the air. This was due to the force of gravity and inertia."

Lu Jingyan walked back to the long table and picked up the thin paper file.

The paper rubs together, making a rustling sound.

"If it's a ghost, it doesn't need to break glass." His tone was cold and hard, conveying a sense of grounded confidence that he had brought all mysteries back to reality.

Lu Jingyan closed the file, picked up the black coat draped over the back of the chair, and said, "There are no ghosts or gods, only thieves who didn't study physics properly. Go to the scene."