"Name?"
"Jiang Shu."
"Age?"
"23."
"Do you know how you got here?"
"You arrested me."
"..." Wolf, the Police Chief, paused in his speech, eyeing the young man before him.
His bright eyes and sparse brows gave him a fresh, handsome appearance—someone instantly relatable.
Wolf opened the dossier extracted from the information database, containing only a piece of paper with a few words—
Jiang Shu, age unknown, unawakened Character Card.
"You don't have a Character Card?" Wolf asked, somewhat surprised, giving Jiang Shu a few more glances.
In Lonely City, Character Cards were everything—they granted each individual occupational abilities, directed everyone's life path, and maintained the stable operation of the city.
It was rumored that minimal Mystical forces exist in the world, which were also displayed on the Character Cards; a Mysterious Coefficient over 1.0 indicated that occupational abilities were related to Mysticism or Extraordinary Power.
Common rumors suggested that professions like Tarot Masters that really had a Mysterious Coefficient greater than one did exist, but that was merely legend.
Essentially conflated with superstitions, the tales were hearsay, with no one having actually witnessed them.
Overall, Lonely City was purely a technological civilization with no space for the mystical aspect to survive.
However, to prove that Deception was unrelated to Mysticism, the Deception Group would show their Character Cards displaying only the Mysterious Coefficient after performances.
Thus, having no Character Card also fundamentally dismissed Jiang Shu's suspicion, at least proving that he was not a core member of the Deception Group.
"Well, because I'm actually 17 years old," Jiang Shu said calmly.
"But you just said you were 23," Wolf's forehead vein throbbed.
"A slip of the tongue."
"Hospitals can determine age through bones."
"My bones have overgrown," Jiang Shu stated flatly, expression unchanged.
"..." Wolf darkened his face and resisted the urge to shout.
He adjusted his mood, frowned, and asked coldly, "Where were you, and what were you doing at 6 p.m. on the 19th of July?"
"At home, cooking," Jiang Shu responded without hesitation.
"Why so sure? Are you particularly sensitive to that time?" Wolf narrowed his eyes slightly.
"It's dinner time," Jiang Shu maintained his composure, "I live in Zone A1, house number 85, with surrounding surveillance; you can check it. I didn't leave that day."
Wolf nodded, remaining silent, already aware that the situation was as Jiang Shu described.
But this didn't mean the heist had nothing to do with him, as only people from the Deception Group performed in that manner.
"So, can you tell me what happened at that time?" Jiang Shu asked curiously, reminded of a movie about a magical heist group from his past life.
"Yes," Wolf replied, glancing at him deeply, then briefly summarized, "At six in the afternoon that day, outside Huang Kong's seventh bank, a core member of the Deception Group, Fox, performed a street deception—Fire-roasted Chestnut. Fox ignited a bonfire, randomly selected a spectator, and instructed the spectator to retrieve approximately ten million Feather Coins in cash from the bonfire, then distributed around five million on site and disappeared amidst the chaos. Half an hour later, when the bank counted the cash, ten million was missing."
This information had been mentioned in the news and didn't involve police confidentiality.
"So, you're saying you don't have a complete chain of evidence proving it was Fox?" Jiang Shu pondered the whole process.
"Right," Wolf's gaze grew complex, "we just need to catch him."
The case wasn't about the truth, just catching the culprit?
"That has nothing to do with me, right?" Jiang Shu cautiously probed, "Can I leave now?"
"Bang—" At that moment, the door was pushed open, and a man with a hooked nose and blond hair walked in, and addressed Wolf, "Police Chief Wolf, the interrogation is over, you can hand the suspect over to me now."
"He isn't Fox," Wolf kicked the leg of the table, tilted his chair, and looked up at the man, his expression cold.
The hooked nose man gave a slight smile, "Even if he isn't Fox, he's a member of the Deception Group. Just hand him over to our preliminary examination department. With all due respect, Police Chief Wolf, your interrogation skills are not outstanding."
"I told you, he's not Fox," Wolf repeated, his tone slightly heavier.
"The Police Chief seems not to understand the situation. Huang Kong Group requires the case to be solved in three days, and the pressure from above is immense," the man with the hooked nose stood firm.
"I know, still five hours left, I'll take responsibility for all consequences," Wolf motioned with his hand, not wanting to continue the altercation with this guy, his eyes narrowing dangerously, "Tell your superiors, the preliminary examination department just needs to mind their business."
"Since that's the case, we won't bother you further." The hooked-nose man didn't say anymore, and left with two officers.
It seemed...
he almost became a scapegoat?
Jiang Shu watched Wolf, deep in thought across the table, contemplative.
The room then quieted down again.
After a while, Wolf finally asked, "How much do you know about Deception?"
"If you mean my performance, quite proficient," Jiang Shu said, "Can I see Fox's performance scene? I should be able to help."
If it were a magic show, he might be able to discern something, given the circumstances, he had to get involved.
"Okay," Wolf nodded, "As a reward, I can sort out your Character Card issue."
One thing at a time, he was clear about that.