Are You Zhe Wang?

Jiang Xia's back went cold.

When had Wu Suo walked over?

Had he seen what she just did?

Jiang Xia had no idea. Instinct told her Wu Suo's eyes were off — she absolutely could not meet them.

No time to think. Jiang Xia immediately looked back down like nothing happened and kept digging through the pickpocket's pockets.

Several dozen paper bills, ration tickets, over ten coins, and two razor blades — she pulled them all out and laid them neatly on the ground.

At the sight of that, the pickpocket who'd been struggling gave up completely. He lay face-down on the ground, eyes blank, face ashen.

It was over. All the money had been found. Caught red-handed — no way out now.

Hu Wei let go with his hands and just used his knee to pin the guy down. He looked at everything on the ground and couldn't help but praise her: 'Damn, Jiang Xia, you're something else — you actually found all of it!'

A gaze — faint but real — seemed to be resting on her. Jiang Xia's scalp prickled. She said flatly, 'Experience. All stuff they taught us at school.'

'School sounds great,' Hu Wei sighed. 'If I'd known, I wouldn't have enlisted back then — police academy would've been way better.' 'Both have their perks,' Jiang Xia said, brushing him off. She knew she couldn't keep playing blind. Bracing herself, she looked up at Wu Suo. 'Sifu, what do we do with this pickpocket?'

Wu Suo gave Jiang Xia a long, deep look.

Gone was the usual warmth. What replaced it was pure scrutiny.

At first, Wu Suo hadn't quite registered it. A second or two passed before he realized something was wrong.

What cop returns a wallet — and slips it back into someone's pocket?

And the move was way too smooth. When the wallet went back in, the hem of the coat didn't even twitch.

That looked like something drilled tens of thousands of times.

Wu Suo didn't want to suspect her. He tried to convince himself it was a fluke — sometimes people just nail something on instinct, like that kid from downstairs he'd seen years ago who'd never touched a basketball, walked up to the court, tossed one in from outside, and it went straight through the hoop.

But Jiang Xia had shown zero surprise, zero delight. She'd just frozen for a beat — and then her reaction was to pretend she hadn't done it.

That meant Wu Suo really couldn't pretend he hadn't seen it either.

Other doubts he'd pushed aside started floating back up.

Her ease with lockpicking. Her fondness for it. And how she'd tracked down He Tuzi in the first place...

Thoughts tangled, Wu Suo didn't ask anything yet. He answered normally first: 'Take him to the park security post — let them keep an eye on him for now.' It was over. Sifu had definitely gotten suspicious.

One look at those eyes and Jiang Xia knew she was done lying to herself.

She let out a silent wail inside.

You just had to show off, didn't you — and now look, you've gone and shown yourself out.

'Good call — I was just worried we were short-handed.'

Hu Wei hadn't noticed a thing. He was still riding the high of catching a pickpocket. Hearing Wu Suo's answer, he stood straight up, hauled the pickpocket to his feet, and shoved him forward.

'Move it — to the security room!'

'Xiao Hu, take him over yourself. Come back and meet up with your sifu after.' Wu Suo said it slow and easy. 'We two won't go.'

Hu Wei called back loud: 'Got it!'

'Alright, I'll be heading off too — thanks so much, officers.'

The pedestrian who'd been robbed thanked them again, still shaken, and left.

Now it was just Jiang Xia and Wu Suo. Perfect setup for a private conversation — or an interrogation.

Jiang Xia's heart climbed into her throat.

Over, over, over — when Sifu starts asking, what is she even supposed to say?

Think, brain, think!

Just as cold sweat was breaking out on Jiang Xia's back, Wu Suo said casually, 'Come on, let's go find Lao Wang.' Huh?

Why wasn't he asking?

That felt even worse.

After all these days, Jiang Xia had figured out a lot of Sifu's interrogation habits. His favorite move was to wait until someone relaxed and dropped their guard — then hit them with a sharp question out of nowhere.

'Sure.'

Jiang Xia fell into step beside him. She regulated her breathing, but her mind didn't relax at all — it was spinning fast. She asked, 'Are we heading back to catch the other three pickpockets?'

'Yeah.' Wu Suo's tone was easy as he spoke. 'Oh, by the way, Xiao Xia — why is your sister out running a stall? Is the family having money trouble?'

There it was. The interrogation had begun.

'Not really,' Jiang Xia said steadily. 'My sister works at the textile factory — she's a head cook, fifty-six yuan a month, way more than me. The stall is for my cousin. He came back from the countryside and still hasn't found work. He's got two good hands — can't just eat and drink at home for free forever, right?' 'Ah.' Wu Suo seemed to mull that over. 'So you and your cousin's family are pretty close.' 'Very,' Jiang Xia nodded. 'When I was little, my mom was always busy — my aunt and cousin basically raised us. They quietly helped us out a lot during those years.' 'No wonder you're helping with the stall now.'

Wu Suo's tone stayed light, then the topic pivoted without warning: 'That move you pulled just now was pretty slick, huh — slipped the wallet right back into someone's pocket.'

So that's where he'd been waiting.

Jiang Xia opened her mouth to answer — and froze.

She'd already blocked every exit herself.

Say it was a fluke — then why hadn't she looked surprised?

Say it wasn't a fluke — that opened up an even bigger can of worms.

Jiang Xia's head throbbed.

System, you piece of junk — why isn't there any counter-investigation or anti-interrogation experience in the theft skills?

Out of better options, Jiang Xia steeled herself and just said it: 'I thought it was pretty lucky too.' Wu Suo glanced at her, expression hovering somewhere between a smile and not: 'Oh, really?' Jiang Xia pushed through: 'I... think so.'

Wu Suo gave Jiang Xia a long, meaningful look and didn't ask anything more.

Jiang Xia's scalp prickled harder.

What was Sifu even playing at?

They reached the fountain.

Wang Xuguang had been waiting right there, a cigarette between his fingers. When he saw them coming, he asked, 'How'd it go — did you get him?' 'Got him.'

Wu Suo said, 'Once Xiao Hu gets back, we keep going.'

Jiang Xia's composure was starting to crack.

This checkpoint was almost certainly not going to go her way. She went full send — stopped pretending, and started using her talent to spot pickpockets, rooting out every single one in the park.

Whatever happened next could wait. First, you all go down.

Hu Wei got more and more fired up with each catch. Even Wang Xuguang jumped in.

Jiang Xia's mood, though, stayed pretty grim the whole time.

All the way through the arrests, Wu Suo still hadn't asked her a single thing.

That afternoon, the four of them marched back to the station with over ten pickpockets in tow.

Jiang Xia was on edge the entire walk back.

She didn't know what Sifu was cooking up, but she was certain — he was saving something big.

Sure enough, the moment they got back to the station, Wu Suo went straight to the holding room, then hauled He Tuzi off to the interrogation room.

Jiang Xia watched him walk away and felt her heart turn to ash.

Well. This time it was really over.

*

The officers at the station were buzzing when they saw the dozen-plus pickpockets brought in.

'How'd you catch this many? It's not New Year's!' 'That's all thanks to Xiao Jiang — sharp eyes, never misses!'

Wang Xuguang was clearly in a better mood than usual, the corners of his mouth pulled up: 'Next month's quota is halfway done right now!' 'Wow, Xiao Jiang's basically the station's MVP!'

Xu Deputy Chief waved them over: 'Looks like you're all wiped out — go inside and rest!' Jiang Xia nodded and drifted over to her desk in a daze.

Staring down the barrel of her fate, she'd somehow gone calm.

So what if Wu Suo found out she was good at picking pockets — it wasn't like she'd done anything illegal. What was there to be scared of?

The real problem was explaining how she'd gotten so good.

She steadied herself and started seriously thinking through her cover story.

She couldn't mention the System. And she couldn't spin some tale about a mysterious old master teaching her as a kid — Sifu would investigate and it'd blow up in her face.

That left exactly one plausible explanation.

Self-taught prodigy.

She was just interested, and insanely talented — a little practice and she nailed it.

Jiang Xia looked down at her own hands.

Top-tier pickpockets, like top-tier magicians, need extreme control over their hand muscles and lightning-fast neural responses.

That's not something you build by drilling thousands of reps. It's raw physical talent — the real deal.

Like the top-tier gaming gods who, after just a few tries, can time a move to within a fraction of a millisecond and keep chaining infinite combos — while the average player grinds tens of thousands of matches and still fumbles their ult the moment a real game starts.

So the top-tier theft skills the System had given her — beyond the surface-level muscle memory and experience — had also upgraded her muscle control and neural response. To an extremely high level.

Simply put: if she switched careers to metalworking right now and stuck with it, she might not hit the top grade, but she'd at least land a solid high rank.

She was the real deal. A genuine prodigy.

Jiang Xia made up her mind.

That was the story she'd use.

Prodigies have their quirks — wasn't that totally normal?

*

Interrogation room.

Wu Suo sat down. He faced He Tuzi, knocked on the table, and skipped the small talk — went straight for the bluff: 'We just brought in a new batch of thieves. Talk. Did a young woman come to your place in the last couple of days to buy bedsheets and pillowcases?'

Caught already?

He Tuzi sat on the tiger bench and swallowed hard.

Sis, it's not that big bro won't cover for you — it's that you're already burned. Big bro genuinely can't hold out here.

He answered without hesitation: 'Yeah. Pretty young — around twenty or so. Sounded like she was from up north. Wore a black jacket washed so many times it'd gone white. Said her name was Xiao Liu. But the skill — unreal. Full-on seasoned pro. I still don't know how it happened, but the key from my pocket just ended up in her hand.'

Even though Wu Suo had already suspected it, hearing it out loud still hit like a wave crashing through him.

Damn — his own apprentice had that kind of skill? He couldn't help but confirm: 'This was the morning of the twenty-sixth?' 'Yeah, morning of the twenty-sixth — around ten or so,' He Tuzi answered. 'That's when I eat breakfast.'

Alright. That confirmed it — this was Jiang Xia.

Wu Suo felt his heart beating a little too fast.

His good apprentice. Top graduate of the police academy. And she actually had a real talent for picking pockets and cracking locks?

Verified by He Tuzi himself — not worse than a seasoned pro?

This was absolutely wild.

'Heh.'

Wu Suo let out a strange little laugh.

No wonder he'd kept feeling like something was off. That little rascal was just not normal — she'd definitely been putting on a show when she opened that warehouse lock.

Wu Suo pressed his fingers against his throbbing temple.

That said — where had the little rascal learned all this? Was there something else she was hiding from him?

The image of those smooth, practiced hands flashed through his mind again. Wu Suo suddenly remembered what Lao Chengan had said when he came by, and paused.

No way — the thieves looking for Zhe Wang... that wasn't Jiang Xia, was it?

Surely not... right?!

*

Jiang Xia had gotten her head straight.

She picked up a pencil and started spinning it across her knuckles.

Then, out of nowhere, that familiar System chime rang in her ear.

[Ding — Reputation +1]

Reputation went up again?

Jiang Xia's attention snapped to it.

Since getting off the train, she'd been hearing the reputation increase chime every day. If she remembered right, yesterday it had already hit 99 — add one more and that meant...

Jiang Xia immediately opened the System.

'Boom —!'

A burst of festive fireworks sounded, and even the System's stiff mechanical voice carried a hint of cheer.

[Congratulations, Host — Reputation has reached max value!]

[Skill reward drawing in progress...]

[Congratulations, Host — you have drawn: Counterfeit Currency Manufacturing!]

...

Huh? Wait —

Before Jiang Xia could even think about refusing, a flood of counterfeiting knowledge poured into her mind all at once.

Paper production, pattern replication, copper plate engraving, ink mixing...

How to hand-build an intaglio press from whatever tools were on hand. How to add anti-counterfeit marks and embossed textures. How to use a steel ruler and a paper knife to cleanly cut paper to the exact same size as a banknote in four strokes. Or how to mix water and vinegar in the right ratio, spray it on, and rub it in to fake aging...

In what felt like a single blink, Jiang Xia had mastered the entire counterfeiting workflow.

All that stood between her and being a millionaire was one practice run.

This was way too criminal — like, actually cuffable.

Jiang Xia slapped a hand to her forehead.

Fine. At least now she knew what reputation points actually did — they unlocked skills. Not bad. Broadens the experience base, she supposed.

Even the most useless junk can be burned for electricity. Counterfeiting skills had to have some use. If nothing else, she could now spot a fake note on sight, every single time — Mom never has to worry about me getting scammed at the market again.

Jiang Xia took a serious look at her new skill set.

The anti-counterfeit texture stuff she couldn't use right now — but the pattern replication part? That was actually kind of related to what she already knew.

Jiang Xia's fingers itched.

Wu Suo and Xu Deputy Chief were both out of sight. Everyone else was busy. Jiang Xia pulled out a two-yuan note.

She tore a sheet from the notebook Wu Suo had given her.

Ruler and paper knife in hand, Jiang Xia cut a clean piece of white paper to the same size.

She started drawing.

The moment the pencil touched paper, Jiang Xia felt the difference.

More precise.

She'd always been able to draw freehand, but it had never been perfectly accurate — she'd feel the lines drift slightly as she drew, and the final result just looked close enough that no one could tell.

But now, Jiang Xia felt like her hand had become a precision instrument. Every stroke, every glide, matched the banknote exactly.

Her eye-hand coordination and muscle control had gotten sharper.

Jiang Xia blinked — and suddenly remembered something. She opened the System and checked. Sure enough, her pickpocketing skill had also gained over twenty experience points.

Okay, the System actually had some integrity after all.

Jiang Xia happily drew for the entire afternoon.

Not gonna lie — slacking off at work really does hit different.

'Quitting time, quitting time!'

Fifteen minutes before the end of shift, Lü Fusheng had already capped his ink bottle. He closed his file, stood up, and said, 'Got stuff at home — heading out first.' That voice worked like a timer. Everyone else started packing up without a word.

Jiang Xia set down her notebook and reached for her bag — then looked up and saw Wu Suo standing in the doorway.

'Xiao Jiang, stay behind.'

Wu Suo's face was serious. 'I have some things to ask you.'

Well. What had to come had finally come.

Jiang Xia put her bag down and sat there, calm, waiting.

The officers filed out one by one.

Wu Suo refilled his ceramic mug with tea, set it down on the desk with a thud, then dragged a chair over and sat across from Jiang Xia.

His voice was grave: 'Tell me. How did you become Zhe Wang?'

What?!

The question hit Jiang Xia like a brick.

How did she become Zhe Wang — wait, that cover identity had been blown too?!