West Coast of Los Angeles, Catch SX restaurant.
At a square table deep in the restaurant, Luo An, Mona, and Michelle leisurely enjoyed their gourmet food.
Reesi, on the other hand, acted as if she was reincarnated from a starving ghost, frantically stuffing food into her mouth.
Tonight, Luo An ordered two meals for two, and before all the dishes were served, Reesi took a napkin to wipe her mouth:
Seeing this, Luo An swallowed his food and prepared to speak, but Reesi picked up her wine glass, drank it in one gulp, and said with a slight smile:
"By the way, if anyone's still hungry later, you can continue.
There's a promotion at the restaurant today, our table's bill is already taken care of."
Seeing Reesi standing with her hands on her hips, a proud look on her face, Michelle, experiencing Reesi's influence for the first time, didn't know what to say. Mona rolled her eyes and continued eating, and Luo An, at a loss for words, then raised his hand to summon a waiter:
"Hi, that seafood barbecue set on the menu, please bring me two more."
Watching the waiter turn and leave, Mona gave Luo An a sideways glance, Michelle looked around, still unsure of what to say, and just lowered his head to continue enjoying the food.
Reesi twitched the corner of her mouth at Luo An's action, but she wasn't worried; she had already promised to take care of Luo An's dinner that evening and naturally wouldn't go back on her word.
Reesi tilted her head towards the beautiful restaurant manager not far from the hall. Seeing the manager look her way, Reesi raised her eyebrows and turned to Luo An and the others:
"I'll be going first, call me if you need anything."
Without waiting for a response, Reesi quickly got up from her chair and left.
Not long after, the manager's figure lingering in the hall also disappeared.
With Reesi gone, Michelle became even quieter, so Luo An tried to strike up a conversation while eating.
"Michelle, when I last visited your place, I saw many notes on your desk. Are those musings and reflections you've had while reading?"
"Only a small part of them."
Michelle swallowed the crab meat in her mouth and explained:
"Actually, most of those notes are just interesting things I jot down while reading. They're quite random and cover a variety of topics."
"Could you give an example?"
"Sure, do you know who was Napoleon's favorite woman..."
When the conversation turned to books, Michelle began to speak more and more.
During this time, Luo An and Mona also discovered that Michelle was essentially a humanoid knowledge base.
Michelle was most interested in stories that had happened in the world, liked to understand the reasons behind the stories and the thoughts of the characters in them, as well as the origins of the items, so she knew a lot of peculiar, obscure knowledge.
As the conversation went on and Luo An and Mona looked at her intently, Michelle's voice gradually softened:
"Did I do something wrong?"
Reesi quickly shook her head in response:
"We're just a bit surprised."
Luo An nodded in agreement with Mona's words. He could see that Michelle was an absolute genius, clearly understanding the relationship between choices and compromises.
She had her hobbies (reading) and personal goals (reading a million books before death and building her own library) while also recognizing the importance of money in achieving her goals. Therefore, she would suppress her inner discontents, go out to work and earn money to enrich her hobbies.
Taking the red wine procured by Reesi, Luo An poured it into the glasses of the three people at the table, then smiled and said:
"Michelle, although it's a bit late, welcome to the Special Investigation Team.
Here, you will have the opportunity to achieve your life's ambitions."
Michelle, with a beaming smile, raised her glass and clinked it with Luo An and Mona:
"Thank you, I have no doubt about it.
The new seafood barbecue set was brought to the table not long after, and with their small appetites, Mona and Michelle only sampled a tiny bit. The rest was gobbled down by Luo An, drawing frequent sideways glances from many others.
Since Reesi had run off somewhere, Luo An and Mona drove Michelle back to her rental house first before returning to their own place.
Upon opening the door of the rental, Mona kicked off her high heels to one side and asked while walking:
"Luo An, you ate too much tonight. Do you want something to help with digestion?"
Luo An shut the door, quickly walked up behind Mona, hoisted her over his shoulder, and headed towards the bedroom, grinning:
"Eating something takes too long to digest, exercise is much more effective!"
"Hey! My bedroom isn't tidied up yet!"
"Then let's not go to the bedroom. The living room is nice too!"
In the following week, the Special Investigation Team didn't take on any new cases; they were still dealing with the Hollywood tycoon shooting case and that crime website.
The tycoon case was straightforward; two assassins were locked up awaiting trial, Michelle, Reesi, and Mona were writing up the case report and records, while Luo An sat in the team leader's office, reviewing the expenditure of their Special Investigation Team.
Firearms and ammunition, as well as the occasional maintenance costs for two SUVs, were the main expenditures in the case budget; there weren't many other expenses.
Unlike other investigative teams, they didn't have monthly expenses for informants, undercover operations, or compensation for public property damage.
After calculating the previous month's expenditures for the Special Investigation Team and compiling the report, with nothing else to do, Luo An kicked back, put his legs up on the desk, and took out his phone to play a block game.
In 2005, there were plenty of mobile games available in the federal system, including puzzle fighters and other genres, but Luo An had no interest in them. He preferred simple games like blocks that didn't require much thinking.
Just then, Mona knocked on the office door a few times and then walked in.
Without looking up, Luo An said:
"No, it's for supper."
Seeing the sun that hadn't been long in the sky outside the window, Mona handed over the folder to Luo An with speechlessness:
"This is a document from New York. Team supervisor Vireness sent it to me, with strict instructions to keep it confidential and to hand it to you directly."
"A document sent by Vireness?"
Hearing Mona's words, Luo An immediately put down his legs from the desk, tossed his phone aside, and began to examine the folder seriously.
Just like Luo An had expected, the contents of the folder included the basic information of the other nine Special Investigation Teams, which he had asked Vireness for help in finding.
This included their personnel makeup, team leader identities, work histories, cases processed during this period, and investigation procedures. The details weren't exhaustive, but all the necessary main structures were included.
Mona had taken a brief look at the document upon receiving it too, and seeing the serious look on Luo An's face, she asked in a heavy tone:
"Luo An, is there some particularly big case requiring us to collaborate with other Special Investigation Teams?"
Luo An was initially taken aback, then shook his head and explained about what team supervisor Potante Byrne had mentioned before, that he needed to go to the Washington Headquarters on the Monday two weeks from now.
Hearing Luo An's explanation, Mona's eyes lit up gradually:
"Does your trip to Washington mean you might have the chance to be promoted to the leader of our Special Investigation Team?"
Luo An replied indifferently; with Vireness and Mr. Clement there, he was in no rush.
Just at that moment, the team leader's office door was knocked on again, and Reesi poked her head in:
"Luo An, someone is looking for you."