Hearing this, Eric Foster was getting annoyed. He turned around, startling Mouse. Among the three, Eric Foster was the youngest, but also the most cunning. Although they weren’t in the same dorm, ever since Eric Foster had figured out the secret behind Ethan and Mouse’s card skills, the three had become the best of friends. Now, Eric Foster helped Mouse Guy straighten his collar and said, in a mature and practiced tone, “Mouse Guy, even though others call you Mouse, I don’t think you’re short-sighted at all. Do you really think it’s possible?”

“It can’t be. Would a big director like him lie so blatantly?” Samuel Reed was skeptical.

“I’ll tell you a reasoning story too… Back in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States period, there was a small vassal state whose ruler wanted to marry off his daughter. He offered a dowry of over ten thousand gold pieces and wanted to recruit a butcher as his son-in-law. But the butcher firmly refused the princess. Can you reason out why?” Eric Foster asked seriously.

“Why? That sounds like a good deal.” Mouse was a bit confused. He turned to ask Ethan, but Ethan Cooper also felt something was off, though he couldn’t say what. Scratching his head, he said, “Yeah, are you making up stories to trick us again?”

“This is a true story, recorded in the history books. A pair of fools,” said Eric Foster.

“So what’s the problem?” The two stared at Eric Foster, truly not knowing what was wrong.

“Where do you think? There’s no such thing as a free lunch. If someone’s giving you something for nothing, it’s probably not good. Even a butcher could figure it out: I can sell fresh meat at a high price and people will buy it, but even if I discount yesterday’s meat, no one wants it. If someone’s giving away human meat, it’s definitely not good meat… And that’s exactly how it was. After seeing the ruler’s daughter, they found out she was hideously ugly.” Eric Foster said, lecturing the two who were both taller and older than him. Impatiently, he pinched their dumbfounded faces and commented, “Look at you two lumps of meat. Do you really think you’re cut out to stay in the provincial capital? If you were, would they have to throw in a house to keep you? Do you even need to think about it? Even your ass could figure it out.”

Eric Foster teased the two with dramatic flair. Their eyes rolled as they thought about it, and they were convinced. Mouse wanted to ask more, but Eric Foster stopped him, saying, “Winning the lottery isn’t always a good thing. Maybe you’ll end up fishing out severed limbs and other body parts from the sewers every day. At night, you’ll be sent to the morgue, and instead of picking up girls, you’ll only see female ghosts.”

Yikes, Mouse grimaced, clearly frightened. Nervously, he said, “Don’t say that, I’ve never had a taste for that kind of thing.”

Eric Foster pointed at Ethan and scared him too: “You want to try? Do you know the casualty rate for criminal police? Nearly ten percent. With your skills, you can’t run, you can’t fight—what are you going to do? Just add to the organization’s injury statistics?”

Yikes, Ethan got goosebumps all over, shaking his head like a rattle drum, muttering, “Don’t jinx it, you’re making me nervous. I never planned to go.”

“There you go. Go back to the county, go back to town, be a local cop, flirt with girls, hold hands, take a little bribe, have a drink—what a comfortable life. Why are you making things hard for yourselves? Stay in the provincial capital? With all the officials’ and rich families’ kids, plus the police offspring in our class, you think the good stuff will fall to us? Come on, let’s eat before there’s a line.”

Eric Foster said, turning around, and the other two followed, a bit awkwardly, but convinced.

Thinking about it, it was true—there’s no such thing as a free lunch, unless someone’s up to something.

The three of them got there early, and only saw their classmates coming into the cafeteria after they’d finished eating. The day before, they’d won a lot from Michael Bolton the brute, and Eric Foster felt a bit guilty, so he fished out a meal card from Mouse and gave it to Michael Bolton. That guy really seemed to be strapped for cash, wandering around with his tray, looking to mooch a meal. He took the card without even saying thanks. Mouse was a bit disgruntled, grumbling for quite a while.

The cafeteria was lively, everyone discussing the selection process, except for these three, who played cards while eating, enjoying themselves. When the game was over, Ethan and Mouse were laughing so hard they were shaking, but Eric Foster had lost and his face was green. He took the three trays to wash them—that was the bet for losing.

……

At lunchtime, Chief Grant handed the registration forms to Director Paul Carter, along with two lists: one with the names of participants—108 people, 97 of whom had signed up; the other with the names of those who hadn’t—11 people. Director Sullivan gave the usual training DVD records to Mr. Carter, hoping this director from the provincial department could help solve a few more employment spots. But he was still hung up on the type of police work, probing with questions, but Mr. Carter was an old fox, never giving a straight answer.

The meal was a notch above the standard work lunch, with a good bottle of wine added. Principal Bennett personally poured drinks for Mr. Carter and Chief Grant. From the conversation, it sounded like he had once been Paul Carter’s teacher. Although the old man was in the system, he hadn’t had much exposure to police work—at most, he was familiar with the drill manual. After a few drinks, he asked Paul Carter in surprise, “Pingqiu, what kind of people are you really here to recruit this time?”

“Frontline criminal police,” Paul Carter said casually, tasting the food.

“Nonsense. Others might not know you, but I do. The simpler you look, the more complicated things are. Would recruiting frontline criminal police require a deputy director to call me personally and ask for my full cooperation?” Principal Bennett said, a bit disgruntled, as if he felt some things shouldn’t be kept from him.