“You think I’d lie to you? Your principal, Olivia Bennett, was my discipline director back in the day—she gave me a hard time more than once… Things were much stricter back then. Right behind the police academy cafeteria, there was a detention room. If you made a mistake, you’d be locked up there to write a self-criticism. I was locked up more than once… But look at me now, still a good cop, right? By the way, my physical fitness wasn’t even as good as yours. One thing is experience, which you build up slowly in real life, and the other is your mind. You don’t need to be a genius, but you have to be able to think like a criminal—if you can do that, you’ll definitely catch them… Remember that psychopathic serial killer who shocked the whole province three years ago? The suspect had all the police in the provincial capital stumped. When I took over, I didn’t set up any surveillance. Instead, I spent over three months visiting every psychiatric hospital in the province…”

“Why visit psychiatric hospitals?”

“We’re ordinary people, but he was a psychopath. If you don’t get into the mind of a psychopath, you’ll never know when he’ll strike again. Based on extensive analysis from mental health experts, can you guess what we detectives did?”

Paul Carter spoke with dramatic flair, capturing the hearts of all the trainees. Pairs of eager, envious eyes blinked at him, and quite a few people subconsciously asked, “So what did we do?”

“We didn’t set up surveillance. Instead, we identified the suspect directly from the profile and found his home… This method of solving cases by ‘profiling’ the suspect’s behavior patterns—we started later than the West, but we’re not inferior to them. This year, two of our province’s criminal investigation experts were invited to the Interpol headquarters in Lyon, France, for exchange and study. One day, maybe some of you will become such elites.” Paul Carter said, half teasing, talking up the benefits of working in the provincial capital and the honors that could be won, stirring up the fighting spirit of the young trainees. At this point, everyone’s face showed a bit of regret, feeling as if not participating in the selection was a huge mistake, so much so that they were almost despondent.

Mouse was very disappointed, Ethan was even more so, scratching their heads. The two exchanged glances; they’d worked well together at the card table, and now they were on the same wavelength, exchanging looks and gestures. Mouse meant: Judging by the director’s tone, it sounds like there’s a chance to win; Ethan meant: But we didn’t even sign up, what do we do?

Even if you’re a poor student, shouldn’t you have some ambition? Both of them wanted to make up for it, but felt awkward to bring it up, and didn’t know if there was still a chance…

Chapter 06: Digging to the Root

These little gestures didn’t escape Paul Carter’s notice. He chuckled to himself and, putting on an act, asked Ethan, “Your name is Ethan Cooper, right? I’m a bit curious. Your shooting scores are good, and your grades in criminal investigation aren’t bad in the class either. So? You didn’t even dare to try out for the selection?”

“Hey, who says I didn’t want to? Eric Foster wouldn’t let me go.” Ethan Cooper blurted out without thinking.

Paul Carter didn’t give him a chance to think, immediately pressing, “That can’t be, can it? You need someone else to make decisions for your own affairs? If you’re afraid to take on a challenge, don’t blame your classmates.”

“It’s true, he wouldn’t let me go. He said it was a trap, tricking the brothers into risking their lives… Mouse—no, Samuel Reed—even had his application form torn up by him.” Ethan blurted out, trying to clear himself. Seeing Paul Carter’s face change, Mouse kicked Ethan under the table. Ethan suddenly realized he’d said too much and immediately shut up.

“Heh, risking your life? Heh, this is a high-risk profession—you all know that, right?” Paul Carter said bluntly, unconcerned. “Let me tell you a few things: In Shanghai, a suspect stormed into a police station and went on a stabbing spree, injuring six officers—three dead, three wounded. Not far from there, in Dalian, a traffic cop was beaten to death by a mob while handling an accident. In Shuozhou, in our own province, an anti-pickpocketing team member was fatally stabbed while catching a wallet thief. And this year, in Baoji, Henan, our neighboring province, there was a car accident while escorting suspects—three prison guards, two dead and one seriously injured, while all the suspects in the car were fine… Danger is everywhere. Even in modern life—food, car accidents, environmental pollution—crises are everywhere. Do you think there’s any place in the world that’s absolutely safe? The most dangerous place isn’t the front line, it’s the dinner table. What do you think?”

Explaining danger this way actually seemed a bit funny, and several trainees laughed. Seeing the mood lighten, Paul Carter continued, “Danger favors cowards—the more afraid you are of dying, the faster you die… Heh, but you two don’t look like cowards.”

“Of course not! If we were scared, we wouldn’t be training to be detectives.” Ethan patted his chest, not wanting to be looked down on.

“It’s not that we don’t look like it—we’re just not. Every guy in our class is gutsy.” Mouse added.

When it comes to guts, these police academy boys really are different from their peers. As the two spoke, the others chimed in as well. Paul Carter relaxed and said, “That’s right. I graduated from this school too. Any random group from our academy is better than ordinary people… Oh, by the way, this student Eric Foster seems a bit timid. How did he get such a strange name?”