Chapter 1 The Anti-Pickpocket Expert

When William Walker woke up, he was on a bus. The compartment was stuffy and hot, yet he had actually fallen asleep—and slept soundly.

But just a few seconds after opening his eyes, Officer Walker was stunned by everything he saw before him.

As a veteran police officer with twenty years of service—especially as an experienced detective—Officer Walker had seen plenty of big scenes. It wasn’t easy to scare him with ordinary situations. Besides, everything on the bus seemed perfectly normal to others, nothing unusual at all.

Only William Walker felt something was off.

This bus was too old.

In such hot weather, there wasn’t even air conditioning. It wasn’t that the AC was off—there simply wasn’t any onboard air conditioning.

In William Walker’s memory, buses without air conditioning had been phased out in Border City for at least ten years. In recent years, Border City’s economy had developed rapidly.

Moreover, Officer Walker clearly remembered that he wasn’t sitting on a bus, but in a police car, heading to the countryside for a case. Because he hadn’t rested well for several days, William Walker had fallen asleep in the police car.

But no matter what, even if he fell asleep in the police car, he shouldn’t have woken up on a bus.

This made no sense.

Looking at the passengers around him, William Walker also felt something was strange—they looked so outdated!

Their clothing and style were exactly like twenty years ago, almost comically old-fashioned.

Not only were the older people dressed plainly, even the young and pretty girls were just as unfashionable.

William Walker searched around intently, trying to find a clue.

He felt completely out of place with everything around him.

As an old detective who valued order and logic, William Walker was naturally sensitive to anything unreasonable—it made him very uncomfortable.

But then, William Walker was startled by a building outside the window.

The building wasn’t tall, only six stories, and looked old, but the shiny sign above the entrance was extremely eye-catching—Yundu City No. 1 Department Store!

William Walker’s eyes nearly popped out.

What kind of nonsense was this?

He was extremely familiar with Yundu City No. 1 Department Store. More than twenty years ago, when he was studying at Tiannan Provincial Police Academy, he often visited this place, which was known as the largest department store in the entire province.

But wait!

Aren’t I working in Border City?

How did I suddenly end up in Yundu City?

Besides, Yundu City No. 1 Department Store had long since been demolished. Although William Walker couldn’t recall the exact year, it had definitely been gone for at least ten years.

After graduating from Tiannan Police Academy, William Walker was assigned back to his hometown in Border City. Over the past twenty years, he often traveled to the provincial capital for work and was very familiar with the changes in Yundu City’s landmarks.

While William Walker was still in a daze, the bus wobbled to a stop, and a crowd of people surged onboard, filling the compartment with the Yundu dialect.

That’s right, the Yundu dialect!

A white-haired old lady, who looked to be in her sixties, was squeezed next to William Walker by the crowd. She gripped the handrail tightly and looked at William Walker kindly. The conductor squeezed over and casually said to William Walker, “Young man, could you please give your seat to this elderly lady…”

“Young man?”

Officer Walker almost spat out a mouthful of blood.

The conductor’s age was hard to tell, but William Walker was one hundred percent sure she wasn’t over thirty. After twenty years as a cop, William Walker had a sharp eye!

But this young woman actually called him “young man.”

William Walker was born in 1974 and was already forty-two years old this year.

Yet, no one around seemed to find this odd.

Had everyone gone crazy?

William Walker whipped his head around, and a young, sharply contoured face appeared in the glass before him.

William Walker barely managed to keep from screaming!

It was him!

William Walker might forget anyone else’s face, but he would never mistake his own. But how could he look so young?

Twenty years old?

Eighteen?

Officer Walker stood up, dazed, and gave his seat to the old lady. Holding onto the hand strap, he stared hard at his reflection in the glass, his mind racing.

With his detective’s logical thinking, he quickly reviewed the entire sequence of events and immediately reached a shocking conclusion—he might have been reborn!

When the words “reborn” flashed through his mind, William Walker was startled, then went over everything again, only to find that this most absurd answer might be the only correct one!

Otherwise, there was simply no way to explain what was happening.

He held his arm up for a closer look, and William Walker became even more certain—his arm was smooth, elastic, and full of strength!

A forty-two-year-old man could never have an arm like this.