You're a US police officer, what are you thinking about going back to the East for?

Leon blinked rapidly, looking somewhat tired. When he blasted the trafficker's head off with a shotgun, his heart hadn't even started racing.

Killing someone is just a matter of pulling a trigger.

But now, facing this suffocating social festering wound, this profound sense of powerlessness is more painful for him than killing ten people.

[Urgent Mission: Retrieve the Lamb - Completed]

[Result: You swiftly ended the crime, saving the girl before she suffered any real harm. While your methods were somewhat brutal, the result is impeccable.]

[Team member Carlos Mendes carried out the assault and provided the initial suppressive fire, sacrificing his knee in the process, making a major contribution.]

Your participation rate: 40%

[Actual amount distributed: 120 Justice Points]

Lyon stared at the "40%" mark. Normally, he would have cursed and complained that Carlos, that reckless madman, was stealing monsters too ruthlessly, even taking the lion's share of such a small amount.

But at this moment, he simply closed the system panel in his mind without any expression.

The person was rescued, the kidnapper's head was blown open, and the system notified that the mission was over. But this was just the simplest step; the real mess to clean up had only just begun.

What to do next?

As Leon looked into the mother's desperate eyes and listened to her tearful complaints about the harsh administrator and CPS, the gears in his mind began to turn.

The silence lasted for a few seconds.

and many more.

"Apartment manager..."

Lyon's eyes flickered, his thoughts drifting back to that rainy Halloween night a few days earlier.

It was in the old, run-down apartment building where he used to live.

That night, weren't those two kids, Tommy and Jimmy, dressed in cheap Spider-Man and vampire costumes, just wandering around the hallway asking for candy?

He also remembered Tommy saying that their mother worked the night shift in the laundry room and would lock them in the house until the next morning.

According to the mother in front of her, if the administrator was the kind who was extremely strict in order to avoid taking responsibility, he should have called CPS to take the two children away long ago.

But Tommy and Jimmy had lived in that building for so long, and the single mother was clearly not a first-time night shift worker, yet no social worker had ever come to their door and knocked on it.

And that homeless man, old Bill, the former engineer at Thor.

Old Bill said he sneaked in to avoid the rain.

Lyon didn't think much of it at the time, but now he recalls the layout of the apartment building more carefully.

Although the electronic access control downstairs is old, it is not completely broken, and the main gate faces the security booth of the administrator.

Unless the building manager is blind or deaf, how could a homeless man who smells foul and walks unsteadily quietly follow other residents into the house and then swagger up the stairs to his own floor?

unless……

The image of the apartment manager flashed into Leon's mind.

That was an old man named Harry.

He was probably in his sixties, always wearing a Seattle Kraken hoodie, reading glasses, and always holding the day's newspaper or doing crossword puzzles.

Leon hadn't had much contact with him. Usually, when Leon passed by the duty room, the old man always had a stern face, as if he wanted to keep strangers away. Occasionally, he would even roar loudly because someone's garbage hadn't been sorted.

Lyon had always thought he was just a lazy, good-natured old man who was good for nothing.

But now it seems...

ht142's masterpiece, "You're a beautiful policewoman, why are you always thinking about going back to the East?", click to read now!

"That old guy..."

Lyon narrowed his eyes, a sudden realization dawning on him.

Perhaps Harry isn't blind, nor is he lazy.

That night, he simply raised the newspaper a few inches to block his view, pretending not to see a homeless man who was freezing to death sneaking in to enjoy the warmth.

Although that homeless man snatched my takeout as soon as he walked in...

He knew that the single mother upstairs had locked her child in the house, but he never picked up the phone to call the police or report it to the CPS. He just silently filled in his word puzzles and guarded that broken door.

With this in mind, Leon looked at his mother, who was on the verge of collapse, and had an idea.

Listen, ma'am.

Lyon broke the silence by speaking.

"If the building manager at your current place is really that mean, perhaps you should consider moving to another place."

The woman paused, then looked up blankly, her eyes red and swollen.

"Moving? But... my credit score is very low, and I have a child with me, so no landlord is willing to take me in..."

I know a place.

Leon tore a page from his notebook, quickly wrote down an address, and handed it to her:

"This is the apartment complex where I used to live. It's just a few blocks away."

"To be honest, the environment there isn't very good. The facilities are a bit old, and there's occasionally a strange smell in the corridors."

"However, the rent there is very cheap, and there is no complicated credit check required, as long as you can pay the low rent on time."