Chapter 1 Starting
July 17, 2022, night.
Blue Star Shanghai, a commercial street in Puxi.
An ordinary milk tea shop.
The air-conditioned environment of 24 degrees was definitely not hot, but there were still fine beads of sweat sliding down Wu Fan's temples.
The clenched fists and solemn expression all showed that this young man in his early 20s was on high alert.
There is no other reason.
Just over ten minutes ago, Wu Fan was pulling down the roller blinds to close the store. When he turned around, he saw a large circle of light appearing silently beside the operating table.
The aperture floated strangely in mid-air, glowing with a faint blue light. It seemed to be a little more than one meter in diameter. Not far from the aperture was the table that Wu Fan had bought himself. It was a rectangle with a size of 1.3X0.5. The diameter of the aperture It's about the same length as the table, just over a meter and less than a meter and a half.
Wu Fan knows very well that there is absolutely no thing or condition that can produce this kind of aperture in his store:
The phone was in his pocket, and as soon as the rolling shutter door was closed, no outside light could come in. The only light source in the store was the chandelier above his head. After Wu Fan turned off the light, he could still see the aperture floating slowly.
There is no doubt that Wu Fan encountered an unusual event.
As an Internet literature enthusiast with more than ten years of reading experience, Wu Fan quickly accepted this fact.
But he had trouble with what to do next.
Did you take the initiative to contact the official?
Or should you cover it up secretly and take it one step at a time?
Reason told Wu Fan that reporting the facts was the best and most appropriate approach.
However, as an ordinary person who has been ordinary for twenty-six years.
There is another fire in Wu Fan's heart, swaying tenaciously in the strong wind of reason: What if this aperture is an opportunity? What if this aperture can bring something good?
Bang bang bang——
Just as Wu Fan was struggling in his heart, a knocking sound suddenly came from outside the closed rolling shutter door.
The unique material sound of the rolling shutter door undulated like waves, and along with the "crash" came a male voice: "Hey, is there anyone in the store?"
My name is not Hey, my name is Yonghunting Shuangzi.
Less than half a second after a saucy remark subconsciously popped up in his mind, Wu Fan's whole body suddenly trembled, and he came back to his senses as if he had been electrocuted.
A drop of sweat, larger and more rapid than before, slid down Wu Fan's forehead, slowed down under the buffer of the beard on his chin, and finally penetrated into his collar.
"Who, who?" Wu Fan gritted his teeth and forced his tone to sound normal: "It's closed! Come back tomorrow!"
Maybe it's an old customer, Wu Fan comforted himself.
However, the dopamine produced by self-comfort had not yet started neurotransmission, and the other party's reply almost made Wu Fan suffer cardiorespiratory arrest:
"Police station on patrol! Open the door, master!" (People in Shanghai generally call people they don't know "master")
Cao Yi is 28 years old and a native of Shanghai. After graduating from the police academy, he was assigned to work at the Huaihai Police Station. This year is his fifth year wearing the police badge.
As a very large international city, Shanghai has a permanent population of more than 20 million, but the crime rate is the lowest among cities of the same level in the world. Naturally, this is inseparable from the dedication and even sacrifice of grassroots police officers like Cao Yi.
Although the area under the jurisdiction of the Huaihai Police Station is not large, it has jurisdiction over many commercial districts and historical buildings, so the intensity of patrolling by the police station is still quite large - of course, the patrol equipment is relatively advanced.
The standard patrol team in the Huaihai Road area is a team of six people. The street where Wu Fan's milk tea shop is located is located at the junction of the commercial street, the Second Cancer Hospital, and the Shencheng elevated exit. The geographical location is relatively complex and important, so it is classified as a fixed one. One of the long-term patrol points.
Today, Cao Yizheng and his friends are conducting routine inspections.
As usual, there were no major incidents in the whole area, but there were a few scattered trivial things in daily life: a certain aunt complained about stray cats in the community, someone illegally parked shared bicycles on the pedestrian street, and encountered a foreign truck at the elevated exit asking for directions, etc. wait.
After patrolling for more than half of the circle, a young man stretched himself leisurely: "Yawn~ I feel a little bored."
This young man's name is Zheng Yuan. He just graduated from the police academy this year and has a bit of a wild temper.
The aura of a standard academic school has not completely faded away, and he is the youngest junior in the entire patrol team.
"It's good to be boring. It shows that the society is stable," another older patrol member in the team smiled, and at the same time unscrewed the water bottle he brought with him and took a few sips, and finally said "ha" boldly. With a sound, he drank the boiled water in a daze and exuded the momentum of Liangshan Juyi. "It would be a bad thing if one day even patrol teams like ours have to work hard."
"That's right, I'm just talking casually," Zheng Yuan laughed twice and brought up another topic: "By the way, have you heard that yesterday there was a gang that pirated brand-name bags in Pudong? A pile of high imitation Prada Hermès bags costs 10 to 20 million, which is enough to judge. Hey, what is that?"
Cao Yi was listening with great interest with his head tilted to the side. When he heard the second half of Zheng Yuan's sentence, he subconsciously turned his head in the direction he was speaking. After seeing the situation clearly, he grinned: "Oh, what's going on?"
Dozens of meters away from Cao Yi and others, above a shop whose name could not be seen clearly at night, a not very wide but extremely bright light beam shot straight into the sky, making it particularly dazzling in the dark night.
As a very large city, one of the most famous sights in Shanghai is the Bund light show.
Every night, many high-rise buildings in Pudong will turn on lights outside the building, creating an extremely spectacular illuminated night view.
However, this does not mean that anyone can cast high-intensity lights at will in Shanghai.
In fact, Shanghai's control over light is very strict - large search facilities must be reported before use, and the use of remote search lights is prohibited in the city after 11 o'clock (except for New Year's Eve).
After all, light pollution is also one of the real livelihood issues these days.
The light show on the Bund, which represents Shanghai's image, cannot cross the line, let alone the Huaihai Business District.
So when he saw someone "illegally using" high-intensity lights, Cao Yi had to stop him out of duty.
Then there was the knock on the door that Wu Fan heard.
After announcing his home, Cao Yi stood there and waited.
After about half a minute, with a crashing sound, the rolling shutter door was pulled up about two-thirds of its height, revealing Wu Fan's face in the store.
In fact, until this time, Cao Yi had not linked this matter to an abnormal event.
He straightened his chest and ensured that the law enforcement recorder on his chest could cover the situation in front of him:
"Hello, master, we are from the patrol team of Huaihai Police Station. What's going on with the light outside your store? Nong Xiaohaofa bans bright lights in the city after eleven o'clock?"
Wu Fan, who originally thought he could not escape and planned to take the initiative to reveal everything, was stunned: "?"
"Master, don't be nervous, we won't fine you," Cao Yi smiled. He misunderstood Wu Fan's expression as a temporary silence caused by fear, and then he looked into the store: "The machine is at the back. Cut it? Just turn it off and be more careful next time."
Then the next second, Cao Yi's smile froze.
He pointed at the light circle floating in the room, which was constantly popping out various tiny mysterious symbols, with a question mark on his face:
"I was wiped, what the hell is this????"