Chapter 2: Police a.s.sault, Lipstick Mark, and Everything Is Bigger
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Regardless of whether he became a superstar, a super author, or a tech tyc.o.o.n, all of them meant that a large number of high-cla.s.s women would rush into his embrace. He no longer needed to worry about the lack of a girlfriend.
In fact, as a winner in life, he wouldn’t even need a girlfriend. Many women would be willing to fool around with him without him even needing to lift a finger.
But… Super Detective System? And the first mission was for him to formally become a police officer?
He was greatly saddened by that.
Why? Because Robert was an officer, the sheriff of the town they lived in.
No, sheriff wasn’t Robert’s last name.
The so-called sheriff referred to a towns.h.i.+p’s law enforcer, or in other words, someone similar to a police chief.
The law enforcement in these towns was somewhat different from the police departments of larger cities. Both were law enforcement agencies, yet sheriffs were in truth paid from the residents’ own pockets, and were in a way private police officers.
As someone who had lived with Robert for more than 10 years, Luke was extremely clear on the amount of money a police officer in a small town made.
Robert only made about USD 54,000 annually, and even that was a pre-tax amount. And he was the chief. For those ranked below him, their annual pay could go as low as USD 32,000.
Even with Robert’s pay, he was barely making enough to support their entire family.
Fortunately, Texas had some of the lowest taxes in the United States, and the cost of living here was rather low too. In addition, Catherine also worked as a teacher. Because of that, Robert’s family didn’t have to live in poverty.
And now, this s.h.i.+tty system was actually telling Luke to become a police officer? Wasn’t that a trap?
Since this was a Super Detective System, why couldn’t he go and become a private detective or something?
As a private detective, it was possible to make millions a year if he did well. With the system’s help, Luke could very well become wealthy as a private detective.
But what sort of future could he have if he became a police officer? Even New York’s police chief didn’t make more than USD 200,000 a year.
Of course, the higher-ranked ones didn’t rely solely on their salary to get rich. After they retired, they could perhaps go and give speeches, write a book, or go into politics, and easily make millions a year. That was legally allowed.
But Luke was only 18 years old this year. How far away was retirement for him?
Furthermore, if he could only get rich after he reached the age of retirement, what was the point of his life?
Even worse, three days ago, Luke nearly got into a quarrel with Robert while talking about jobs.
That was because Robert wanted him to join their police department after graduation and Luke firmly rejected him.
His goal was to become a wealthy person.
He had a system, even if it was a system that would only activate after he became an adult. According to the law in the United States, those who were 21 and above in age were considered adults. After all, they could already start drinking alcohol at that age – how could they not be considered adults then?
Luke had believed he only needed to wait another three years for the system.
Never had he expected that he would only need to wait three days for the system to activate, and after activation, it wanted him to become a police officer.
That was… had he done any evil to deserve this?
Luke started crying silent tears in his heart.
It wasn’t that he was worried about Robert.
Although Robert wasn’t his biological father, he was as good as, given their relations.h.i.+p.
If Luke suddenly changed his mind and agreed to become a police officer, Robert would tease him for a bit at most, and would still help him with it.
Robert was a normal Texan citizen, who had once served in the army and once ran a ranch before ultimately becoming a police officer. He was a coa.r.s.e but straightforward and direct person.
Luke lay on the hospital bed with extremely complicated emotions and started letting his thoughts run wild, and without realizing it, he fell asleep again.
After a long time, a voice sounded by his ear. “Luke, wake up.”
Still half-asleep, Luke mumbled, “No, Claire, let me sleep in. It’s the school holidays.”
And indeed, that voice stopped.
After a short while, a hoa.r.s.e voice rang out. “Robert, Luke should be fine now, but he’s refusing to wake up. I can’t do anything about it. Oh? You’re coming over? Sure, alright. I’m going camping with Sh.e.l.ly and the others, so I’m leaving in an hour regardless of whether or not you get here by then.”
Next, there was ongoing rustling in the room, as if someone was bustling around.
After an hour, a fragrant smell drifted over and warm lips landed on Luke’s cheek. Then, a voice sounded. “Luke, sweet dreams. Robert is coming over, so I’m heading out first.”
Luke mumbled unhappily and turned around before continuing to sleep.
The woman giggled before walking out of the ward.
As for Luke, he was still happily in dreamland.
In his dream, he was holding an RPG in one hand and a Gatling gun in the other. He fired both weapons at once, forcing numerous aliens to flee. After that, he laughed smugly. “I’m a super police! Who else –”
Suddenly, he felt like the entire world was swaying, as if a ma.s.sive earthquake was happening. The buildings around him started collapsing and cras.h.i.+ng down on him.
With a miserable wail, Luke sat up.
Bang!
After a m.u.f.fled noise, Luke collapsed back on the bed with dazed eyes. Robert withdrew his hands from where he had been shaking Luke and expressionlessly rubbed his head, which hurt from the collision, before saying, “Excellent. Looks like you’re in good spirits. a.s.saulting a police officer so early in the morning?”
Luke slowly recovered from his daze, but was still rubbing his head with a grimace on his face. He sneered instinctively. “Robert, I’m not a criminal, nor am I your subordinate. Remember?”
Right after he said those words, he froze.
s.h.i.+t! He was too used to bickering with Robert. What should he do now?
The first mission from the system was to formally become a police officer, and he only had a time limit of one month.
And Robert was the only person who could help him become a police officer in a month. After all, Robert was the sheriff here, and was the sole chief in town.
And if Luke became a police officer, Robert would end up his boss.
But perhaps it was because he was lying in a hospital bed that Robert didn’t argue with him like he would have in the past. Rather, he asked, “How are you feeling?”
Luke replied, “Ignoring what happened earlier, I think I’m fine now. I’m just hungry.”
Robert replied, “I’ll go get some food for you then.” He turned around to leave after saying that.
But Luke quickly stopped him. “No, wait. I’m already fine. Robert, take me home. I miss Catherine’s breakfast.”
Robert turned and said, “Are you sure you’re fine?”
Luke replied, “Neither of us is a doctor. If I want to leave, I’ll need the doctor’s consent.”
Robert gave that some thought and agreed. Thus, he left to look for a doctor.
The doctor arrived and asked some simple questions before saying that Luke was fine and could be discharged from the hospital.
But before he left, the doctor couldn’t help but give Luke a word of advice. “You’re fine physically, apart from a concussion; but you didn’t have one when you were admitted last night.”
Luke covered his face speechlessly. Just earlier, his head had crashed heavily into Robert’s. It was still hurting now.
He could only nod helplessly as he said, “Got it, doctor. Thank you for telling me that.”
Shortly after, Luke and Robert were in the F150 and were on their way back home.
After being on the road for a while, Luke couldn’t hold it in anymore and opened his mouth. “Robert, I have something to discuss with you.”
With his eyes still on the road, Robert answered, “Oh? What is it?”
Luke replied, “Um, after thinking about it for a few days, I find myself agreeing with you.”
“Ah?” Robert glanced at Luke with a blank expression.
Luke continued, “Thus, I’ve decided to stay in town to become a police officer.”
Whoos.h.!.+
Tires squealed on sandstone as the F150 swerved off the road onto a sandy bank.
A few seconds later, the car came to a complete stop.
Fortunately, the area beside the road was flat land, but even if it were slightly uneven, a F150 would have handled it fine. There was never a danger of the car flipping from this.
Robert let go of the brake and stared at Luke in shock. “You… do you still have a fever?”
Luke rolled his eyes. His fever had been due to the synchronization with the system last night. It wasn’t like he had suffered brain damage from it. “Nope. Did you not hear what I said?”
Robert replied, “Otherwise, why would you change your mind? I thought you said that you would rather die than stay here and become a police officer? And you even claimed that by becoming a police officer, you’d be so poor that you’d have to eat dirt in the future.”
Luke replied, “Hehe, those were empty words; don’t take them seriously. I was just reb.u.t.ting because I didn’t believe you when you described being a police officer as a job where I would be making a salary doing nothing.”
Robert opened his eyes wide. “If you go and become a police officer in Knox City, you’ll indeed be busy. And if you become a police officer in an even larger city, you’ll be too tired to do anything else. But in our town, you’ll be working under me. How tiring can the job be?”
Luke shook his head helplessly as he conceded, “Fine, I admit that I was wrong. Robert, you’re the boss. I’m prepared to listen to you from now on.”
Robert stared at Luke for a bit before abruptly roaring with laughter and smacking Luke’s shoulder. “Haha, finally! This is the very first time you’ve ever conceded! Luke, remember this well! You conceded this time!”
Luke replied, “Hehe, whatever you say, as long as it helps you sleep at night.”
Next, the F150 entered the road again. They started to head back home, and on the way, only Robert’s occasional outburst of laughter could be heard.
When they arrived home, Luke couldn’t be bothered to wait for Robert. He directly pushed the door open and entered the house as he said, “Catherine, I’m home!”
A tiny head popped out from the living room and a voice rang out. “Huh? Luke, you’re fine now?”
Luke walked over and patted the tiny head before saying, “Yes, I’m fine now. Joseph, what are you doing? Ohh, you’re dead. You’re playing video games without permission?”
The tiny face curled his lips and said, “Catherine agreed that I can play for an hour. Moreover, you’re not Claire. It’s not like you’ll tell on me.”
Luke shrugged. “Fine, I won’t tell on you. But since you’ve promised Catherine, remember to take a break when time is up.”
Joseph was somewhat indignant but still nodded. “Yeah, sure. You’re getting long-winded.” He then sat back down on the floor and continued staring at the TV as he played his video game.
At that moment, Catherine walked out of the kitchen and looked at Luke with a deeply concerned expression.
Luke stepped forward and gave her a hug before saying, “I’m fine. But I’m starving. Is breakfast ready, Catherine?”
Despite the a.s.surance, Catherine was still worried as she shot a look at Robert, who walked through the door right at that moment.
Robert seemed to read her mind as he replied, “He’s fine. I already checked with the doctor.”
Only then did a smile form on Catherine’s face as she said, “Good, that’s good. Come, come, breakfast is ready.”
She turned and couldn’t resist smiling and pointing at Luke’s face before saying, “But during breakfast, please do tell me which youthful nurse you were flirting with at the hospital.”
Luke was completely clueless about what she was talking about. Only after entering the dining room and looking at the stainless steel tableware did he notice that there was a red mark on his cheek.
He took a better look at it, and when he realized that it was a lipstick mark, he was immediately speechless.
On his way home from the hospital, he had met quite a number of people. Many of them had smiled when they looked at his face.
He hadn’t paid much attention to it previously. In a tiny town like this, people were very friendly with each other. He had a.s.sumed that, coupled with the friendliness of the people here, everyone had smiled at him because he was handsome.
But now he understood why. He had been walking around with a bright red lipstick mark on his cheek early in the morning. What would everyone think when they saw that?
From the way they had looked at him, their thoughts must have been something along the lines of “It sure is nice being young.”
He was in no rush to wipe off the lipstick mark. Rather, he spent some time sizing up the mark before recalling everything from yesterday and today.
Beside him, Robert also looked at him teasingly and said, “Why? Have you recalled which nurse it is?”
Luke’s eyes flickered as he said, “I seem to recall that two days ago, for the senior high graduation prom, Claire went and bought a new lipstick.”
Robert was a police officer, and a chief at that. Therefore, he instantly understood the meaning of those words.
And when he studied that lipstick mark, black lines immediately formed on his face as he said, “That crazy girl!”
Luke shrugged and took out a napkin and wiped the mark away.
At that moment, Catherine arrived with breakfast.
But she was only carrying breakfast for Luke.
Robert had already eaten before going to work. In fact, he had been on the way to work before he took a detour and headed to the hospital for Luke instead. In any case, this was a tiny town, so he could consider it part of his daily patrol.
As for Catherine, she had already eaten with Joseph earlier. A kid needed to eat on time. Thus, Joseph couldn’t wait ’til this late to eat.
Luke took out a gla.s.s of warm milk from the microwave and poured it into the bowl of oatmeal before saying, “Um, may I?”
Catherine smiled and nodded. “Yes, go ahead. So, have you remembered which nurse it is?”
Luke was completely expressionless at the question, but Robert, who was sipping on a can of Dr. Pepper which he had taken from the fridge, choked and spat out a mouthful of the drink.
Fortunately, he was seated at a different corner of the table, and Luke’s breakfast was thus saved from the drink eruption.
Luke continued eating his breakfast unhurriedly, slowly stuffing a ham sandwich into his mouth.
There was a saying that everything was bigger in Texas.
For example, the sandwich he was eating was thicker than an ordinary sandwich. The overall size was also larger, and even the ham inside was thicker than the usual ham. Coupled with two vegetable slices and some homemade pickled cuc.u.mber made by Catherine, the large sandwich oozed with a flavor that encompa.s.sed the taste of bread, meat, sweetness and sourness, and which also contained a certain sense of freshness from the vegetable slices. This was just the kind of taste Luke enjoyed.
Even in his previous life, Luke had enjoyed eating burgers and sandwiches. And unlike many others, he didn’t eat that sort of food to save time. Rather, he truly loved them.
And because of that, he didn’t feel out of place in this new life in Texas.
Moreover, there was quite a number of ethnic Chinese who lived in Texas as well. That was especially true in Houston and Fort Worth. It wasn’t hard to get someone to bring over some Chinese food from those two places every now and then.
In terms of food, Texan food indeed fit his taste palette.
The entire sandwich weighed about one catty, and Luke finished it in a short while. He also finished the warm milk and oatmeal before patting his belly in satisfaction. “That feels great. I was starving before this.”
On the side, Robert had already explained where the lipstick mark had come from to Catherine in a low voice. That caused Catherine to burst out laughing.
When she heard Luke’s words, she said curiously, “Didn’t Robert bring you a burger or something?”
Luke replied, “How can that compare with your food? I’d rather wait to get home before eating.”