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

A black armored police car braked suddenly.

The tires left a short, dark trail on the dew-covered asphalt. It came to a steady stop in front of the jewelry store, which was heavily cordoned off with yellow warning tape.

Lu Jingyan opened the car door.

The leather shoes sank into the ground strewn with shards of glass. The hard soles crushed the broken glass, producing a series of piercing "crunches."

The morning mist had not yet completely dissipated.

The entire commercial street was illuminated by the flashing red and blue lights on the police cars. The air was filled with the acrid smell of burning electrical wires, mixed with the cold, hard chill unique to an autumn morning.

Old Wang from the Xicheng branch came out of the store, panting heavily.

His light blue short-sleeved police uniform was completely soaked with sweat. The collar was yellowed from the sweat and smelled sour.

"Mr. Lu, Mr. Lu."

Old Wang grabbed a crumpled wad of toilet paper and wiped his forehead haphazardly. Sweat streamed into his eyes, making him blink rapidly.

"You've finally arrived. This case is incredibly bizarre; we brothers are truly at our wits' end."

Lu Jingyan didn't say anything. He put one hand in the pocket of his casual jacket and strode into the jewelry store.

The terrible state of the store came straight into view.

The explosion-proof roller shutter door was forcibly pulled up halfway. The inside was so messy that there wasn't even room to step.

The three-centimeter-thick tempered explosion-proof glass shattered into thousands of pieces. Under the makeshift searchlights, the glass shone brightly, hurting the eyes.

All four heavy mahogany display cases overturned on the ground.

The red velvet cushions inside were torn to shreds. The cushions were completely empty, not even a single gold thread remained.

An elderly detective with gray hair was squatting in the corner of the counter.

He was holding a powerful flashlight and a magnifying glass, his face almost pressed against the marble floor tiles.

Hearing the noise, the veteran detective turned around. He adjusted his reading glasses and sighed.

"Director Lu." Veteran detective Zhou stood up and patted the white dust off his trousers.

He stuffed the magnifying glass into his pocket, his tone revealing a resigned dejection.

"I've been doing forensic investigation for twenty years. What kind of thieves and robbers haven't I seen? But this job, our city bureau really can't do it."

Old Zhou pointed to the ground, which was cleaner than if a dog had licked it.

"The door lock wasn't broken. There wasn't even a footprint, fingerprint, or fiber left on the ground. I just watched the security camera show those gold necklaces lining up and floating out."

He lowered his voice and leaned closer to Old Wang.

"Director Wang, I'm thinking, shouldn't we submit a report to the headquarters in the capital to request the mobilization of that high-dimensional space retracing device? This must have been done by those extraterrestrial remnants who know supernatural magic."

Old Wang nodded repeatedly in deep agreement.

"Yes, yes, yes. If this isn't haunted, then some kind of spatial folding magic was used. Otherwise, how could this person just vanish into thin air?"

Lu Jingyan looked at his two old partners, both looking worried.

He pulled his hands out of his pockets and took out a pair of white medical rubber gloves from his tactical waist pack.

Pinch the edge with your fingers and pull it down. With a soft "snap," the rubber pressed firmly against the skin.

"No need to apply for a regression device. And don't blame it on ghosts or spirits."

Lu Jingyan's voice was steady. Without any official jargon, he effectively shut down Old Wang's pent-up complaints.

He looked up, his gaze sweeping across the room full of searchlights.

"Pull the roller shutter all the way down. Turn off all the lights. Draw the blackout curtains."

Old Wang was stunned.

He held the wad of sweat-soaked toilet paper, staring blankly at Lu Jingyan.

"Huh? Turn off the lights? How are we supposed to investigate in the dark..."

"Stop talking nonsense!"

Zhao Tiezhu squeezed in from behind, carrying an antimatter machine gun. His loud voice made the ceiling lights sway.

"Just lock me up because the station chief tells you to! The special investigation team is handling a case; who are you to give orders?"

Old Wang trembled at the shout. He quickly waved to the several stunned auxiliary police officers.

"Quickly! Close the door! Turn off the power!"

"Splash—"

The roller shutter door slammed heavily onto the ground.

The jewelry store was instantly plunged into complete darkness. Only a faint sliver of morning light leaked in through the ventilation vents.

The air grew quiet. Only a few heavy breaths could be heard.

in the dark.

Lu Jingyan pulled out a tactical high-powered flashlight from his waist.

He didn't open it. Instead, he knelt on one knee next to the overturned display case, pressing his wrist down so that the flashlight head was pressed firmly against the cold marble floor tiles.

Press the switch at the tail with your thumb.

"Click".

A cold, white, blinding beam of light shot out parallel to the ground.

The beam of light, like a sharp scalpel, pressed tightly against the surface of the tile, cutting through the dense darkness.

"hiss--"

In the darkness, Old Zhou suddenly gasped.

He lost his grip on the magnifying glass, and it crashed to the ground with a loud thud.

Under parallel light, the marble floor, which appeared clean and reflective to the naked eye, revealed a layer of fine gray dust that was normally invisible.

And amidst these uniform floating dust particles.

A long string of blank outlines was clearly imprinted.

Those were the size of the soles of adult male shoes. There was no dust inside the outline, but the dust around it was compressed into a ring of tiny bumps.

It felt as if it had been pressed down by some unseen, heavy object.

Old Wang's hand, used to wipe away sweat, froze in mid-air. His mouth was slightly open, unable to close for a long time.

"These...these are footprints?"

Old Wang stammered. He took two steps forward in disbelief, afraid of ruining the scene.

"Isn't he supposed to be invisible? How can he leave footprints?"

Lu Jingyan held the flashlight. His wrist moved slowly.

The beam of light followed the blank outline, extending from the display case to the center of the hall, and finally turning towards the ventilation duct in the corner.

"Stealth devices can only refract light. They can fool the retina and surveillance cameras."

Lu Jingyan stood up. His voice carried a rigid, criminal investigation logic in the silent darkness.

"But it cannot eliminate the mass of carbon-based life. Nor can it counteract Earth's gravity."

He turned off the flashlight. The hall fell into darkness again.

"As long as he has weight, when he steps on the floor tiles, he will press the suspended dust into the gaps. When parallel light shines on him, the difference in the thickness of the dust will create shadows that will naturally trace his movement."

The lights came back on.

Old Zhou stood there, his wrinkled face showing a mixture of red and white.

He spent half his life in forensic science, his mind filled with nothing but the use of high-dimensional instruments. He forgot the basic physical trace analysis he learned in his first police academy lesson.

This supreme commander looks excessively young.

No superpowers, no alien technology. Just a broken flashlight, and in three minutes, they uncovered the whole story of this "paranormal event."

Lu Jingyan ignored the shock of the veteran detectives.

He turned his head and looked at Su Xiaoxiao, who was standing at the door with a metal backpack on her back.

"Xiaoxiao, take your temperature."

Su Xiaoxiao responded.

She tightened the straps on her shoulders and pulled a military-grade high-precision thermal imager from her bag.

The camera was focused on the path that the blank outline had taken.

Fingers flew across the tablet.

A green snowflake flashed across the thermal imager's screen. Immediately afterward, a series of dark red patches jumped out clearly onto the image of the floor tiles.

That was the residual heat left by the alternating stomping of two feet.

The red spot of light is visibly fading, and the edges are beginning to turn yellow and green.

Su Xiaoxiao stared at the data stream that was jumping wildly in the lower right corner of the screen.

"Boss. The residual heat on the floor tiles is 26 degrees Celsius, and it's rapidly dissipating."

She spoke quickly, with a hint of excitement.

"Based on calculations of the cooling capacity of the indoor central air conditioning, this footprint was definitely left no more than five minutes ago!"

Old Wang finally understood.

That thief didn't go far! He's in the vicinity!

In his haste, he yanked out the walkie-talkie from his waist, his palms sweating so badly he almost dropped it.

"Quickly! Notify the brothers outside! Seal off all exits of the commercial street! Don't let even a rat out!"

Lu Jingyan pulled off his gloves.

Instead of leaving the dirty gloves on the scene, he folded them up and stuffed them back into the discarded bag in his tactical waist pack.

The man looked up. His deep black eyes were fixed on the ventilation duct entrance in the corner where the blinds had been removed.

There was a very fine metallic scratch on the edge of the ventilation duct, as if it had been scraped by a hard object.

Lu Jingyan pointed to the trail of lingering red heat disappearing into the ventilation duct on the thermal imager, his tone cold and hard: "Optical cloaking can't hide body temperature and mass. They've just left, go after them."