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

Seeing that the conversation was over, Hayes felt like he had a nail in his butt and didn't want to stay a second longer.

The subtle sense of alienation in the air, along with the strange tacit understanding between Sterling and Leon that left him unable to get a word in edgewise, made this federal agent feel extremely uncomfortable.

"I will have my assistant send the specific information to your encrypted email address."

After hastily uttering those words, Hayes grabbed his briefcase and fled the suffocating office as if escaping.

As the door closed, Sterling let out a long sigh, resting his chin on the back of his hand, looking somewhat weary.

Then, her gaze lightly fell on Mia, who was still standing next to her.

Mia's awkward posture did not escape Sterling's notice at all.

She raised an eyebrow, her eyes becoming somewhat strange, her expression complex, but she said nothing. She simply took a key from the drawer and tossed it to Leon.

"then."

Lyon raised his hand and caught it steadily.

"ACU's office is downstairs. Go and show your little one around."

Sterling rubbed his temples, his voice languid.

"As for that idiot Hayes's suggestion of long-term surveillance..."

"Just listen to it, don't take it seriously."

"I don't have that much time to play house with those people from the Federation."

"You can investigate, track down, and find more melons from this vine; I have no objection to that."

"But when it's time to act, act decisively. This matter cannot be delayed for six months. The West District Police Station cannot afford to wait, and neither can I."

"What I need are tangible results that can be presented at the press conference as soon as possible, not an observation report that says everything is under control. Understand?"

Leon twirled the key ring on his finger, a smirk playing on his lips.

"Don't worry, Chief. I don't like squatting in the grass feeding mosquitoes either."

"That's good."

Sterling nodded in satisfaction, watching Leon turn to open the door, then, as if suddenly remembering something, called him back.

"Wait a minute, Vance."

Lyon stopped, placed his hand on the doorknob, and turned around.

"Any other instructions? Like, advance payment for tonight's overtime?"

Stop being so cheeky.

Sterling rolled his eyes at him, leaned back in his chair, and wore an amused expression.

"Let me give you a heads-up. Those guys at ACU are different from the slackers you run into at the patrol station."

"There are no slackers there. Anyone who can get into my anti-crime special task force has some skills, either they have solid cases to handle, or they have connections so unconventional that even I have a headache."

"Moreover, they are a very closed-off small group."

"The previous team leader was just transferred... ah, actually, I should say he was just carried away."

"The deputy team leader originally thought he would be promoted, but I parachuted in you, a second-level patrol officer with only two years of experience, and you've completely taken over their roles."

Sterling looked at Lyon meaningfully:

"This is not a comfortable position."

"If you're worried about not being able to control the situation, or afraid of getting a beating from your subordinates on your first day at work..."

"I can temporarily change the transfer order now, so you can go in first as an acting team leader or a regular team member and get to know people."

"How's it going? Do you need me to help you downgrade?"

This is clearly a provocation tactic, but it's not entirely wrong.

Parachuted-in leaders, especially those parachuted into an elite department filled with villains, usually end up in a terrible situation.

But if she really changes her transfer order and acknowledges this older sister, then Lyon will probably truly be inferior to Sterling from now on.

After hearing this, Lyon not only didn't show any fear, but his smile became even brighter.

He opened the door, waved his hand with his back to Sterling, and said indifferently:

"Relegation? Forget it."

"Just a pack of mad dogs that only know how to bite."

"Just wait here for my good news."

After saying that, he strode out, and Mia quickly followed, limping, and thoughtfully closed the door behind them.

Just as Leon reached the glass door with the frosted ACU (Anti-Crime Special Unit) sticker, before his hand even touched the doorknob, a series of loud, clanging noises, like a party, erupted from inside.

"Clang!"

It sounded like something heavy was hitting a metal cabinet, followed by the screeching sound of tables and chairs scraping against the floor, and the shouting of a group of people.

"Run! Run some more!"

"Don't hit me in the face! I still need my looks to make a living, Jacob, you lunatic!"

Mia was startled and instinctively shrank behind Leon.

"Is this the department we're going to?"

She swallowed hard, feeling that the commotion was even more exciting than the arrest scene.

"Should we call for backup?"

"Stop yelling, we're just providing support."

Lyon reached out and pushed open the door, and a whiff of air mixed with the smells of stale pizza, energy drinks, and heavy smoke rushed out.

The office was vibrant with life, a scene of everything thriving.

A burly Black man, nearly two meters tall, was seen chasing a tech geek wearing a plaid shirt and thick-rimmed glasses, running wildly around the house, wielding a keyboard that belonged to an unknown person.

A Latino man in a leather jacket was sitting next to me with his legs propped up on the table, cracking sunflower seeds and whistling and cheering.

"You dare use our entire quarterly informant budget to buy graphics cards?!"

The burly man named Jacob roared so loudly that dust was falling from the ceiling.

"I need to buy information from an informant, and all I have left in my account???"

"Two dollars? I'd rather pay for nothing than a hot dog for my informant!"

The bespectacled man nimbly maneuvered around the desk piled high with trash, all the while shouting his explanation:

"That's an RTX 5090! It's for work purposes; do you understand computing power?!"

"With today's complex encryption algorithms, how can I crack those drug dealers' hard drives without computing power? This is an investment for justice!"

"Screw your investment! Your Steam online time is almost higher than your attendance!"

"How can you blame me? Didn't Reynolds embezzle public funds last time to replace the exhaust pipe on his flashy motorcycle, saying it would make him faster at chasing cars!"

"Everyone's doing their own thing, why are you making me do military training all by myself? Why don't you go beat him up!"

"Because I can't beat him; he could knock my teeth out with one punch!"

"Hahahaha!"

Inside, there were three or four other guys who looked equally listless and had dark circles under their eyes, sitting on the table smoking. Some of them were even clapping and cheering, showing no intention of breaking up the fight.

"and……"

The burly man was clearly enraged and kicked a wheelchair away.

"I should be at home sleeping with a stripper at this time, but I've been forced to wait here all morning for some damn new team leader who just parachuted in from who-knows-where."

"I'm furious right now. If you can't pay back the informant fees, I'll shove a graphics card up your ass!"

"Bang!"

Another chair has been caught in the crossfire.

Lyon stood at the door with his arms crossed, not only not stepping forward to stop it, but also watching the farce with great interest.

now it's right.

If these people were sitting quietly in front of their computers writing reports, Lyon would think that Sterling had somehow gotten himself into an administrative position.

It's normal to be irritable.

Departments like ACU have work schedules that are the opposite of those of normal people.

These people usually start work around 3 or 4 pm and work until 4 or 5 am.

Because that's when Seattle's dark side is most active.

A large number of gang members, drug dealers, and pimps only become active after sunset.

Moreover, it's convenient to do things at night.

In the alleyway late at night, the streetlights are dim, there are many blind spots for security cameras, and few eyewitnesses.

Whether it's breaking down doors to arrest people, or some unlucky gang members accidentally "falling down the stairs," "drowning," or being thrown into a meat grinder and becoming missing persons, it's all much easier to handle than in broad daylight.

He had handled several similar borderline cases when he was a night patrol officer, and had dealt with the outsourcing company that covered for these special operations teams.

It was an organization with a particularly charitable-sounding name, something like "Ren'ai Organ Donation, Life Circulation Biomedical Resource Recycling and Body Transport Service Company," a name that was incredibly difficult to pronounce.

The person in charge of the liaison was a somewhat neurotic Asian exchange student named Alex.

Because Lyon speaks Chinese, the two got along quite well.

Of course, this doesn't mean Seattle is clean during the day.

In this free country, drugs are as common in some neighborhoods as chewing gum.

Those street drug dealers made no attempt to hide; they simply set up a small box on a street corner, filled with brightly colored, colorful packets that looked like Halloween candy.

People from ACU occasionally intervene, but more often than not, they simply use their days to catch up on sleep or deal with internal conflicts, like this one.

"Make way, make way!"

Just as Leon was reminiscing, the bespectacled man being chased, in a panic, ran headfirst towards the door, clearly trying to use Leon, who had just entered, as cover.

"Excuse me, someone's about to die here!"