Zhao Yunlan knocked on his chief's office door before slowly opening it.

"Officer Zhao, come in."

He walked in and closed the door. The old chief was sitting at his desk. He was a bald, sturdy-looking man, probably close to being sixty years old, but he still looked like he could take them all down by himself, if he wanted to.

Zhao was a young policeman with a burning ambition. He wanted to make a career and wanted it fast.

The chief kept his eyes on the paper in front of him.
"I heard that you wanted to apply for a position as detective, is that right? Don't you think you're far too young for that?"

"I'm 23 sir, but I think I'm ready."

The Chief eyed him carefully but Zhao kept his face expressionless. He wanted to prove that he was as tough as the toughest cop out there, but his resolution shivered a little when he saw that the Chief was still looking at him with a weird look on his face.

"Is everything alright?" Yunlan said at last, a bit uncomfortable under that gaze.

The Chief didn't reply to his question. Instead he said, "I wonder, how would you look in a skirt?"

Zhao felt allowed to show a bit of surprise here, and said, "You mean a 'shirt'? Am I to be promoted and wear normal clothes instead of the uniform?"

Zhao really doubted he would be promoted so early, but there was nothing wrong with putting a little suggestion out there, right?

The Chief smirked. "I'm not sure you'd consider it 'normal', but I am indeed thinking of giving you a chance."

Zhao remained silent, waiting for more.
The Chief sat back in his chair and started explaining.

"There's been a series of 'little accidents', you might call them, concerning members of the Dragon City University staff. Nothing too serious, mind you, nothing actually happened. A car didn't stop at the red signal but luckily avoided a collision just in time; the Dean had quite a scare when his car's breaks didn't work; a professor slipped on a pen and fell down the stairs, luckily he only broke his arm and not his neck. Nothing that would require an actual investigation, you see."

"But you think there's something more in it, right?" Zhao asked. It was a safe enough assumption, why would the chief tell him all that if he didn't think there was something to investigate on?

The Chief looked at him silently for a few seconds and Zhao held his gaze firmly.

Finally the chief spoke. "A good cop must trust his own gut, Zhao. I always did and it made me a chief."

"I understand, sir. Do you want me to look into it?"

"You see, Zhao, I shouldn't waste time with this, as the higher-ups gently put it. So I can't start an actual investigation and I definitely can't take any of my detectives away from their own 'approved' cases, but you... don't take it the wrong way, Zhao, but you are a nobody, you aren't a detective yet and no case would be affected if you weren't here."

Zhao didn't take it badly, actually he was quite pleased by that 'yet'. It meant that there was a chance his wish for a quick career might be fulfilled after all.

"I'd like you to go there and keep your eyes open. You're quite young so you could pass for one of the students. You can ask Lin Jin to help you with the papers."

Zhao was excited, this was his chance. If he did good he might make detective before he expected it.

"You must understand that you'll be alone in this, completely on your own. Lin Jin is the only one who knows about this and he can help you with the technical stuff, but other than that you can't count on anyone but yourself."

"I understand sir, that's not a problem. I can take care of myself," Zhao said sounding quite full of himself. In his line of work that wasn't a bad thing provided he could back it up with facts, so the chief nodded approvingly. That was a very good thing in his book.

"Good, then it's settled. You will start next Monday and stay there until you're satisfied that there's nothing more to discover. Do well and we'll talk about that detective position when you get back."

"Thank you sir, I'll do my best."

"You'll find Lin Jin in the tech room, be ready for Monday."

Zhao hesitated. "We have a tech room?"

The chief sighed. "Yes, we have a tech room. It's downstairs, open the door to the archives and keep walking until... just follow the noise, Zhao Yunlan. Lin Jin is supposed to digitalise all the old case files but he's probably playing videogames thinking that I don't know about it."

Zhao smirked. "How do you know about it then?"

"You'll see for yourself as soon as you get there."

Zhao was now really curious to meet this Lin Jin, and also to start getting ready for his 'mission'. His life was finally on the right track and he couldn't wait.

He had already opened the door when he heard the chief's voice speaking far too casually.

"Oh Zhao, one last thing. I didn't get where I am by saying one thing for another. If I want to say shirt I say shirt. Now off you go, I have work to do."

Zhao was left puzzled but the chief wasn't looking at him anymore. He had been dismissed and had no other choice but to close the door behind himself and go meet this Lin Jin.