The person who messaged him was a senior student who shared the same tutor and was five years ahead of him. His name was Cao Kun, and he was currently a regular criminal police officer in the Criminal Investigation Division of the Shanghai Public Security Bureau, the kind who was on field duty.

Speaking of Cao Kun, Gao Ang also admires him a bit. Many of his classmates either became senior lawyers in law firms, judges in courts, or prosecutors in procuratorates after graduation. But he did the opposite and became a criminal police officer, a front-line criminal police officer at that.

Moreover, it wasn't in Kyoto; he went to Shanghai, far from his alma mater, to become a criminal police officer. In other words, he abandoned most of his teacher-student relationships and started from scratch.

It's been almost ten years since I graduated, and I'm still just an ordinary criminal police officer. My rank is a bit higher, though, I've managed to get a section chief position, and I'm making a salary of around ten thousand yuan. I don't know what I'm after.

Of course, this doesn't mean Gao Ang questions Cao Kun's choice, but rather that he feels it's a bit of a pity. However, everyone's choices and preferences are different; perhaps Cao Kun has his own needs and unspoken difficulties.

"Hello, senior brother! Long time no see. What's up?"

"Let's not talk on the phone, see you at the usual place!"

Upon hearing that his senior brother had invited him to meet, Gao Ang immediately ran to the bathroom to take a shower, changed into new clothes, and even sprayed on a little perfume.

Well, he only remembered he had this perfume while doing experiments these past two days. He figured he might as well use it, and after using it, he felt it was pretty good. At least among all the scents he smelled, this one was the only one that smelled somewhat pleasant.

After opening his phone's navigation and setting his destination, Gao Ang drove his beat-up little car out of the apartment complex.

Cao Kunding's restaurant was a small eatery called "Jiang Gan Ren Jia". The food was pretty good, quite spicy, which suited his identity as a native of Sichuan.

Upon entering the private room, we saw Cao Kun holding a menu and writing something, with a waiter standing next to him.

"I thought we had already ordered all the dishes." Muttering to himself, Gao Ang picked up the teapot and poured himself a glass of water.

"What about mine?" Seeing that he didn't get any, Cao Kun glared at him unhappily. "You have no respect for your elder brother at all."

"Respect? How could I dare not respect you?"

Cao Kun glared at him again before handing the completed order to the waiter. "Hurry up and bring it in. Knock on the door when you come in."

Although the waiter didn't know Cao Kun's identity, the two of them were frequent customers, and the owner seemed to treat the man with the buzz cut particularly well, occasionally bringing him cold dishes. So when the waiter heard Cao Kun's instructions, he obediently said "uh-huh" and went to serve the dishes, closing the door behind him.

"What's up?" Gao asked impatiently, lowering his voice and furtively leaning over the table.

Instead of answering his question directly, Cao Kun gave him a disgruntled look. "What are you doing? It's like we're doing something shameful." He then lightly tapped the table.

"I remember you lived in Vanke Apartments, right?"

"Yes, that's right, room K on the seventh floor of building number eight. Didn't I take you there before?"

"Who lives in room J next to yours?" Cao Kun took a sip of water and asked casually, pretending to be nonchalant.

It seemed like a casual question, but Gao Ang felt that his words had a strong purpose, because although Cao Kun's gaze did not look directly at him while drinking water, it would shift back to him after 1.3 seconds.

"It should be a young woman and her boyfriend." At this point, Gao Ang recalled the hormonal smell he had detected during the olfactory sensitivity test earlier that day, and immediately lost his appetite.

"Are we familiar? Can we strike up a conversation?" A series of questions confirmed Gao Ang's suspicions once again: Cao Kun's reason for seeking him out was this young woman or her lover.

The fact that a criminal police officer would ask him to act as an intermediary suggests that this young woman has committed a serious offense.

"She has a gun?"

Gao Ang's sudden question caught Cao Kun off guard.

He had heard his mentor say before that Gao Ang was a rare talent, with excellent logical analysis and on-the-spot reaction abilities. Now that he saw it, he was right.

They even told him to take good care of this junior apprentice, and that once he'd had his fill of livestreaming, he should quickly return to his old ways, adding that the justice of the law still needs elites like him to uphold it...

He was certain that his previous conversation with Gao Feng hadn't revealed a single detail about the case. This female fugitive was a murderer from Xijiang twenty years ago, who, along with her boyfriend, had shot and killed seven adult men. Given her fairly attractive appearance, the methods she used were self-evident.

Twenty years ago, investigative techniques were relatively underdeveloped. Coupled with her partner's cleverness and exceptional petty thievery, it's unclear how they obtained false identities and managed to remain on the run for nearly twenty years. Cao Kun only recently received a tip from the public about someone illegally possessing firearms, which led him to focus his attention on her.

Upon investigation, it was discovered that her identity information could not be identified in the system. Further investigation revealed that she was a fugitive, and not just any fugitive, but a high-profile one.

"What nonsense are you talking about? I was just asking casually. Where do so many guns come from in peacetime?" Cao Kun picked up his water glass and quickly took a sip to calm his nerves. The nature of his work forced him to keep his mouth shut, even when it was about his junior brother whom his mentor highly regarded.

"I understand. It's my fault. I shouldn't have asked so directly. Tell me, what should I do?" Ang Gao also wanted to tease this senior brother. He had long been fed up with the way the senior brother always lectured him. He wasn't going to let go of this opportunity to make him lose face.

Cao Kun glared at him speechlessly, then gestured to a small object on his collar, grinned, and continued, "I didn't ask you to do anything. I was just worried about how you were doing, so I invited you to dinner. I also wanted to chat about the lady next door. If things go well, I might even be able to set you two up."

Matchmaking my foot! The women you're eyeing, let alone beautiful young married women, I wouldn't even bother to glance at a stunningly beautiful virgin.

After mentally grumbling a few times, Gao Ang smiled and said, "That woman next door isn't my type. She seems carefree, but I think she has some secrets." As he spoke, Gao Ang recalled the way the woman looked at him that morning, with a hint of scrutiny in her eyes.

No wonder she silently interrupted me as I was testing my sense of smell; she had been observing the outside world the whole time. Only then did Gao Feng realize this; he had thought it was all a coincidence.

"Anything else?"

"That's all. I'm always streaming from inside the house, I don't have time to go out and flirt!"

Just then, there was a knock on the door. Gao Ang got up and opened it. There were five dishes and a soup for the two of them, which was quite a feast.

"What is her daily routine? When does she go out? Is there anyone else in the house?" Since Gao Ang had understood what he meant, Cao Kun didn't beat around the bush anymore.

"Senior brother, the food looks like it's all served. Why don't we start eating?"

In the past few days, Gao Ang has hardly ordered any takeout in order to test his mutation ability. He has almost forgotten the taste of human food. His mouth started to drool involuntarily from the moment the waiter entered the door.

"So you only found out about this woman by chance?" Gao Feng asked vaguely, picking up a piece of braised pork with his chopsticks.

Cao Kun returned a look that could be considered tacit approval; this small action shouldn't be considered a violation of discipline.

“I don’t know any of what you’re saying, but the apartment management must have records. I reckon your colleagues have already done their investigation. You don’t need to beat around the bush anymore. Let me tell you this: this woman is definitely suspicious.”

"Her hands weren't as delicate as an ordinary woman's. Although they looked normal, there were obvious calluses and old wounds on the base of her thumbs, and these calluses had been treated. Also... I smelled gunpowder on her." Ang Gao was describing his brief observation of the young woman next door that morning. He hadn't paid much attention at the time, but now that Cao Kun asked him, he quickly recalled the scene.

As for why Gao Yang could smell those odors, it's thanks to the elective courses he took in college. "Criminal Psychology" studies the psychology of criminals and naturally includes information about the weapons used by criminals.

Criminals with different psychological types will use different weapons, and guns and explosives are certainly among them.

The type of wound on the young woman's hand next door looked like it had been caused by the recoil of a pistol slide, which led him to suspect that the woman was carrying a weapon.

He told Cao Kun everything he knew, and Cao Kun's reaction was exactly what he expected. He didn't show any surprise; if he was surprised, it was probably because he was amazed that Cao Kun could guess so much.

"Did you deduce these?"

"Hmm, isn't that simple? This morning I was looking for something in the hallway, and this woman was quite vigilant. At the time, I didn't think there was anything wrong with her, but if we infer from her status as a suspect, it makes sense."

Gao Ang was right; most people don't pay much attention to external noises, though a few might be very vigilant. But this woman wasn't just vigilant; she ran out and even approached Gao Ang.

Gao Ang had made some mental assumptions. If it were him, he would at most glance through the peephole, or if he went a little further, he would open the door and peer through the doorframe. But for this woman to walk out of the house and get so close to a stranger... there could only be two reasons: 1. She is a bad person, or even the kind of bad person who is not afraid of ordinary bad people; 2. She is a good person, the kind of good person who is not afraid of bad people.

She exuded hormones early in the morning, even smelling of gunpowder, and had some very distinctive scars on her hands, making her identity self-evident.

Cao Kun didn't say anything more. He greeted Gao Ang and found a quiet private room to report on his work.

His original intention was just to get some information from Gao Ang. It seems that he can bring this kid in. As for exposing the inside story of the case or even leaking secrets, he is still very confident in Gao Ang's character.

Not long after, Cao Kun walked in again. "I've spoken to the leader, and he can give you some details about the case, but..." Seeing the excited little face, Cao Kun immediately added a "but," not wanting him to get too excited and cause any accidents in the subsequent operations.

"But you must follow orders completely, you can't be a hero, and you can't act on your own. Most importantly, your personal safety comes first!"

Gao Ang nodded firmly, and made a decision in his heart: the next time he saw his mentor, he would say a good word for his senior brother and see if he could get his mentor to find him more connections and resources.

Next, Cao Kun explained the situation of the woman and her accomplices to Gao Feng.