Los Angeles Legendary Sleuth

Mid-June in Los Angeles boasts an average temperature between 17 and 27 degrees Celsius, neither cold nor hot, making it quite suitable for outdoor activities.

As dawn breaks, a gentle breeze flows.

The Reed community is lush with green grass, the air filled with birdsong and the scent of flowers.

Many residents have come out for a morning stroll or exercise.

Luke is off today, still lying in bed asleep, oblivious to the sunlight streaming into the bedroom.

A familiar voice rings in his ear, "Congratulations, host, for catching Angela's murderer, Kalof.

You arrested Naris Kasiri, the killer of Darcy, and successfully solved the 'Holy Blood' case.

Reward: forty lottery draws."

Luke is awakened by the system's voice, gradually opening his eyes. Waking up to the sound of the system's rewards might be a sign that today is going to be a good day.

Forty lottery draws is not a small number, and Luke didn't hesitate to begin drawing.

He drew five cards and 35,000 US dollars.

Among them, he drew three old cards and two new cards.

The three old cards were a Micro-expression Analysis Card, one

An Accuracy Card, one

A Profile Card, one

New cards: Lock Opening Cards, two [enables quick learning of Lock Opening Skill, duration 3 hours]

This card might be useless for ordinary people, but it does have practical use for the police.

Last time Luke and Little Black went to August's house for an investigation. Although they had a search warrant, no one was at August's house; Little Black could pick locks, so they simply unlocked the door and entered to search.

Afterward, Luke asked why Little Black knew how to pick locks.

In his words, many kids who grew up in the slums know how to pick locks—it's nothing special.

After breakfast, he started learning the lock opening skill.

After searching online, he couldn't find any lock picking techniques with real technical content.

Upon reflection, it made sense, as this kind of skill is usually passed on through word of mouth, requiring more hands-on practice, and wouldn't likely be available online.

Luke didn't bother with it anymore, thinking he might as well ask Little Black for a lesson another day. Why not use a ready-made mentor?

Luke then began to learn another skill—lip reading.

Lip reading is quite a special skill; it seems unimportant in everyday life, but once used, it can be a surprising move.

Luke found plenty of lip reading tutorials online, both text and video. With the help of the Lip Reading Card, he learned quickly and with twice the result for half the effort.

As his duties increased, Luke wanted to learn more skills to enhance his own capabilities.

He entered a state of intense focus while studying, missing lunch altogether as he used up both Lip Reading Cards.

By four in the afternoon, he had basically mastered the lip reading technique.

Luke turned on the TV and found a news program, muted it, and watched the speaker's mouth movements; he could basically understand entire sentences.

Later, he turned the TV volume back on and played it again, finding that his understanding was generally accurate.

Being able to learn to this extent in one day, Luke was quite satisfied.

"Grumble."

His stomach growled—he was famished.

In the evening, he had made dinner plans with Daisy.

He prepared to visit the supermarket to buy some ingredients for the night.

A new supermarket nearby was having a promotion, so he planned to shop there, hoping to save some money.

The supermarket is not far from the Reed community, just a few minutes' drive away. It's convenient to drive there for shopping.

Of course, compared to China, shopping in the United States is a bit more 'troublesome.'

In China, an average-sized residential complex may have thousands of households and tens of thousands of residents.

With such dense populations, shops are also dense, making shopping more convenient.

In the United States, people generally drive to supermarkets and shop for a week's worth of food at one go.

Luke parked his car and entered the supermarket.

The supermarket was sizable, divided into several areas. He pushed his cart and navigated through the store.

First, Luke selected tonight's ingredients: a rack of lamb, a beef steak, ten oysters, a half-prepared frozen pizza, and some vegetables.

Daisy liked beef steak, while Luke preferred lamb.

As for Chinese food, Daisy could handle it occasionally, but eating it every day was not her cup of tea.

As Luke pushed his cart through the supermarket, he felt like someone was watching him.

He didn't spot anyone suspicious; it was just his years of police intuition.

Luke didn't show any sign of this feeling, simply paid for his purchases and left.

"Whew..."

As Luke left the supermarket, a white man hidden behind the shelves let out a sigh.

It was as if he was relieved, yet somewhat disappointed.

A black man in a supervisor's uniform approached and chastised him, "Val, what are you doing slacking off here again? With your work attitude and efficiency, there's no way you'll make it past the probation period."

The white man hurriedly explained, "Sorry, I wasn't slacking off. I just saw a... a familiar face."

The black supervisor frowned even more, visibly annoyed. "What do you mean?

Why hide when you see someone you know?

Are you ashamed of your job?

You're laboring with your own two hands, what's there to be ashamed of?

Do you think working at a supermarket is something to be embarrassed about?

If that's your attitude, you might as well leave right now."

Val looked embarrassed and shook his head. "No, that's not what I meant. It's just that... I haven't quite adjusted to this yet."

The black supervisor pointed at his chest. "Val, you were the one who begged me, telling me how much you needed this job and promising you would do well.

I gave you this opportunity with the hope that you wouldn't let me down."

"Don't worry, I won't," Val pursed his lips and began to rearrange the goods with a cart nearby.