Ningjiang County, 3 PM, Songxin Town, Happiness District, Building 10, Apartment 808
Rookie police officer Luo Fei, who has been on the job for just three days, is learning about the case with his mentor Zhang Haiyang.
Just this noon, Songxin Town police station received a report from Zhang Lan of Building 10, Apartment 808, in Happiness District, that she had lost a valuable pedigreed cat that hadn't returned home for 24 hours. She hoped the police could help retrieve her cat.
Since Zhang Haiyang didn't have any other cases, he brought his new apprentice Luo Fei along.
"Ms. Zhang, when was the last time you saw the cat?" Zhang Haiyang asked the woman in front of him, who was voluptuous, with smooth white skin and a worried expression.
"It was yesterday at eleven o'clock in the morning when I went out. At that time, Huahua was still in the room. I came home late last night and was very tired, so I went straight to sleep and didn't notice if Huahua was around. But this morning, I found that Huahua was missing." The woman answered anxiously.
Zhang Haiyang was quite satisfied to see Luo Fei immediately taking out his notebook and pen to record everything.
To be honest, when the police chief assigned him to mentor Luo Fei a couple of days ago, Zhang Haiyang wasn't very happy. He found it troublesome to train a newcomer. He thought that young people nowadays couldn't endure hardship, had bad habits, and Luo Fei hadn't even graduated from a proper police academy, so he was genuinely reluctant.
However, since the police station had recruited four newcomers this year, the experienced staff had to take on trainees, so he had no choice even if he was unwilling.
Fortunately, after spending a couple of days with his trainee, he was generally satisfied with Luo Fei. He was smart, diligent, didn't have any spoiled traits, and showed enough respect for him as his mentor in name.
Zhang Haiyang then continued to ask some detailed questions, which Luo Fei fully documented.
However, at this moment, Luo Fei's mind was evidently not entirely focused on finding the cat. Compared to recovering the cat, Luo Fei was more concerned about the cheat skill in his mind.
Gene Fusion System
Six months ago, Luo Fei, a third-rate mystery novelist struggling to make ends meet, was suddenly transported to this parallel world with a new identity after dying from overwork after burning the midnight oil for a week to write his novel.
He found himself in a single-parent family of four, with a mother working in a middle school cafeteria, a brother, and a sister still in school. His identity was that of a graduate from a mediocre bachelor's program, unemployed, lounging at home, relying on his parents for support after four years of university amounted to nothing.
As a transmigrator, Luo Fei quickly awakened his cheat skill, but before he could get excited, the system informed him that he must become a police officer to bind it.
And the only way for Luo Fei to become a police officer was to pass the civil service examination.
But having graduated many years before his crossing, taking the civil service exam seemed unrealistic.
Yet, who could resist the temptation of a cheat skill!
So he went all in, purchasing almost every civil service exam book and paper he could find, studying desperately, pushing himself to the limit, studying 18 out of 24 hours a day.
Heaven rewards the diligent, and in April's provincial exam, Luo Fei applied to Songxin Town's police station and was accepted.
It wasn't easy, considering the stringent professional requirements for police work, where almost all recruits are students from police schools through joint exams.
In civil service exams, police recruitment spots are very limited, primarily for desk jobs, and many police agencies usually don't recruit through such exams. Luckily, for some unknown reason, Songxin Town's police station offered a civil service recruitment vacancy this year.
In this situation, Luo Fei seized the opportunity with a second-place written exam, first-place interview, and first overall score to secure the sole valuable spot, officially becoming a glorious police officer.
Just moments ago, Luo Fei had bound his cheat skill.
Gene Fusion System
Host: Luo Fei
Gender: Male
Age: 23
Gene Fusion: None
Gold Coins: 0
Gene Marketplace: African Hyena Resilience Gene (2000 Gold Coins), Knife Mantis Reaction Gene (2000 Gold Coins), Monkey Agility Gene (2000 Gold Coins), Eagle Vision Gene (2000 Gold Coins), Viper Infrared Imaging Gene (2000 Gold Coins), Gorilla Strength Gene (2000 Gold Coins), Ant Strength Gene (5000 Gold Coins), Cheetah Speed Gene (3000 Gold Coins)
Luo Fei was already well aware of the system's functions.
"Ding, congratulations to the host for receiving the newbie gift pack: Police Dog Scent Gene. It's recommended that the host fuse it immediately," the system's voice chimed in.
"Fuse," Luo Fei almost immediately, with immense excitement, chose to fuse. The system's recommendation was taken very seriously by Luo Fei.
The next second, Luo Fei felt a tingling in his nose, and moments later, the system alerted him that the Police Dog Scent Gene had fused successfully.
Suddenly, Luo Fei sensed a flood of hundreds of different odors at once: women's perfume, sweaty stench, the smell of snail noodles, feline body odor, and countless others. For a fleeting moment, he felt extremely uncomfortable.
Thankfully, the sensation passed quickly, and before long, Luo Fei found himself fully adjusted to the array of scents filling his nose, perhaps due to the system's influence.
"Ms. Zhang, may we take a look inside your apartment?" Zhang Haiyang asked Zhang Lan.
"Um... sure, come on in." Zhang Lan hesitated a bit before stepping aside to let Zhang Haiyang and Luo Fei enter.
Zhang Haiyang led the way inside, and Luo Fei, fighting his inner excitement, followed closely behind him into the house.
The house was a four-bedroom, two-living-room apartment, estimated to be over 150 square meters in size.
It was finely adorned and tidy, though the smell from half-eaten snail noodles on the coffee table in the living room was a bit strong.
Zhang Lan quickly covered the snail noodles, packed them, and tossed them into the trash bin.
After getting Zhang Lan's consent, Zhang Haiyang started looking around.
As a rookie, Luo Fei followed closely behind Zhang Haiyang, working diligently to learn.
After inspecting the bedroom, Zhang Haiyang, with Luo Fei in tow, checked the bathroom mainly to see if there was any way the cat could have escaped.
Just as they reached the bathroom door, Luo Fei detected a faint foul odor.
"Master, don't you smell something disgusting?" Luo Fei asked, noticing that Zhang Haiyang seemed unaffected.
"Disgusting odor?" Zhang Haiyang shook his head and then stepped out of the bathroom.
Luo Fei didn't pay much attention; it was normal for a bathroom to have a foul smell. Instead, he felt a secret joy for confirming his enhanced sense of smell.
He followed suit out of the bathroom.
Living Room
"Ms. Zhang, are you sure you didn't close any windows after you got home last night?"
"No, I came home very late yesterday..."
Luo Fei, who was on his way to the living room, suddenly stopped in his tracks, a thoughtful expression on his face.
"That faint foul smell seemed so familiar, like... uh......"
"The smell of a corpse, indeed, it was the stench of a decaying animal?"
Luo Fei instantly realized; he recalled that the foul odor was the smell of a rotting animal carcass. He hadn't made the connection earlier in the bathroom because it was so faint.
Returning to the bathroom, the faint putrid smell again assaulted his nostrils. Luo Fei found that the odor wafted in through the window, intensifying closer to it.
Through the window, Luo Fei took a deep breath, confirming that the stench emanated from the neighboring apartment's balcony.
In the living room, Zhang Haiyang was still questioning Zhang Lan.
Luo Fei exited the bathroom.
"Master, I'll go next door to ask if they've seen the cat," Luo Fei informed Zhang Haiyang before leaving the apartment and heading straight to the adjacent apartment, 828, from whose balcony the foul smell had drifted.
Luo Fei wasn't sure what kind of corpse emitted that odor, but perhaps because he had written too many mystery novels in his past life, he suspected something was amiss.
"Knock, knock, knock"
Luo Fei rapped on the door, but after waiting a moment, there was no response.
"Knock, knock, knock"
He knocked again.
"Coming, who is it!"
A voice tinged with annoyance came from within, followed by the sound of someone approaching in slippers.
"What do you want?" With a creak, the door opened partially, revealing a fierce, bearded face with bloodshot eyes glaring at Luo Fei, the man's voice filled with impatience and anger.