North America Gunman Detective

The next day, Jimmy found Amy to fill out a form, and then he was asked to go back and wait for a notification, which did not at all adhere to the police recruitment process he was familiar with.

After Christmas, Jimmy told Jon about his plans to become a cop. Although Jon couldn't quite understand Jimmy's decision, he said that Jimmy could leave at any time—what a good guy.

On the evening of January 1, 2000, New Year's Day of the Millennium, Jimmy was busy in the restaurant when he suddenly received a call from Amy at the restaurant. She told him to hurry to the police station, so Jimmy asked Jon for leave, called a taxi associated with the restaurant, and rushed to the station.

When Jimmy arrived at the police station, he found the lobby empty, so he walked into Amy's office.

"Amy, what's the rush?"

"Jimmy, go to the detention center and process some paperwork. Someone there will tell you what to do," Amy whispered to Jimmy, looked outside where no one was, and added, "Don't talk to the people inside."

Jimmy was full of question marks—what was this secrecy about? He was familiar with the location of the detention center and went straight there. Inside, a middle-aged man was sitting on a bench, next to which was a black box, about the size of a 24-inch suitcase, and a regular-sized briefcase.

"Jimmy?" the man inside asked. Jimmy nodded.

"Come here to register your information." The man opened the black box, which had a monitor as its lid, and was filled with various devices and sealed bags, with a keyboard in the middle.

"First, we need to capture your fingerprints, all ten fingers." A device on the left seemed to be for fingerprint scanning, with an indentation for this purpose, so Jimmy proceeded to enter the prints of all ten fingers.

"Sign here." The man took out several documents, pointing to places where signatures were required.

"Give me a strand of your hair." The man opened a test tube and plucked a strand of Jimmy's hair to place inside it.

"Stand in front of that white cloth to take a photo, then change into these clothes and take another one." The man picked up a camera and then pulled out a set of blue uniforms from the box.

Jimmy turned and saw that a white cloth had already been prepared on the wall of the detention room. He first took a photo in his regular clothes, then changed into the uniform and took another one, followed by a set of police academy training clothes, and, finally, a headshot in a T-shirt. To differentiate the photos, the man even adjusted Jimmy's hairstyle a few times—it was the same length, but already made him look like a different person.

"Alright, wait by the door and don't leave."

Jimmy turned and left the detention center, waiting with his back to it.

About 10 minutes later, the man inside called him in.

"Take this bag to Amy. Goodbye."

The man, with the briefcase on his back and the black box in hand, walked out of the detention center and left the police station directly. Jimmy, thoroughly confused, took the bag of documents back to Amy's office.

"Amy, this is for you." Jimmy handed the briefcase to Amy.

"Jimmy, give me your driver's license." Amy took Jimmy's driver's license and handed him a card from the briefcase, "From now on, you use this. Come with me."

Amy, holding the briefcase, walked to the chief's office. Chief James was in his office. As soon as Jimmy entered, Amy locked the office door behind them.

"Chief, it's all set," Amy handed the briefcase to the chief.

"Good, Amy, you can go back now. Jimmy, you come with me."

Chief James opened a rear door in his office, which Jimmy was aware of; it led directly to the parking lot behind.

The two walked to an empty spot in the parking lot where no one was around.

"Jimmy, I know you have many questions, but I can't tell you much. Just remember, your information has been updated; you've completed police academy training and have been transferred from the State Police Highway Patrol, East Region, 3rd Patrol Division, to our county police. Now, you can go back and familiarize yourself with your new history."

The chief took a piece of paper from the briefcase, handed it to Jimmy, patted him on the shoulder, and walked back to his office.

By now, Jimmy was somewhat enlightened, yet many mysteries remained. But the most pressing matter wasn't these mysteries—it was that he hadn't yet looked at the driver's license he just received.

While Jimmy was contemplating in the parking lot, a police car drove in, operated by Noah, an acquaintance.

"Hi, Jimmy, what are you doing here? Waiting for a ride home?"

"Yeah, Noah, you know, I haven't bought a car yet."

"Hold on, I'll take you after my shift." Noah took some patrol equipment from the trunk and entered the police station through the rear door. A few minutes later, he came out and drove Jimmy home in his car.

Instead of returning to the restaurant, Jimmy went straight to his rented apartment. Once in his room, he took out the driver's license and the paper to review them.

The driver's license still bore the name Jimmy Yang, but it had changed from a California license to an Arkansas one. The address was his apartment, and the ID number had also changed, along with his date of birth—from 02/07/1980 to 01/18/1976—making him not 20, but now 24 years old. The paper was a resume listing a new identity history from elementary to high school, and then the timing of entering the police academy and joining the state police.

There were no detailed contents, such as classmates or teachers, but with these basic time points, the new identity appeared credible and usable. Presumably, all of its records could be found in the citizen information system.

Lying in bed staring at the ceiling, Jimmy was left with one question: why?

From Chief James on Christmas Eve down to that enigmatic man today, it felt like he had stumbled into a conspiracy. Amy had taken his old driver's license, which would probably be canceled soon, and it seemed he would only be able to use this new identity from now on. But what lingering problems could come with this new identity, like having made enemies?

The man earlier gave him vibes akin to spy movies he'd seen like 'The Bourne Identity' and 'Mission: Impossible'. It all looked very different from what he was used to seeing in the police environment. Why didn't he think of it at the time? What if they were replacing a criminal with him and he ended up thrown into jail? What if he was meant to be a decoy, to be killed outright? The more he thought about it, the more terrifying it became... Scaring people could indeed scare someone to death.

Besides, it seemed like only the chief and Amy knew about this inside the police station; no others were likely aware. So, how should he act in the police station from now on? Would others suspect anything? An AP who gets through Christmas and New Year's Day suddenly becomes a cop—does he think they're all heartless NPCs? Or is it that everyone knows and he's the last to find out?

All of these thoughts tormented Jimmy, keeping him awake for a long time.