Chapter 8: A Good Man According to the System

Han Fei thought Li Xue was a suspect like himself so he opened up to her but turns out the woman was a police officer. However, standing at the cell door, watching Li Xue walk away, Han Fei did not feel as despaired as before for at least now one officer was willing to listen to his side of the story. 

“Hey! Don’t be fooled by her looks. If you’re innocent, with us, you’ll at most stay here for a while but if you fall into her grasp, you’d wish that you had ended up in jail.” Zhang Xiaotian signaled for Han Fei to follow him to another room. Inside the small room, a middle-aged officer was holding the phone angrily. This was probably the man who lectured Li Xue earlier. He looked imposing and had an intense presence but somehow, he failed to get Li Xue to abide by his orders. 

“Captain Wang, calm down. At the end of the day, she’s an inspector who has been given multiple awards. She’s here basically to experience life of the locals. There’s no need to get serious with her.” Zhao Ming poured a glass of water and placed it on the table. 

“So what if she is an inspector with multiple awards? It is meaningless when she does not act like one! If she refuses to follow the rules, then tell her to stop reporting to work tomorrow!” The middle-aged officer said angrily.

“Sir, if you really fire her, her parents will most likely come to thank you in person. I heard she comes from a rich family, and her parents have been protesting her choice of profession.” After this comment, Zhao Ming realized it only got his superior angrier so he quickly changed the subject, “Captain Wang, by the way, this is Han Fei.”

Hearing the name Han Fei, Captain Wang finally calmed down and tuned into work mode. “Kid, so sorry for letting you wait so long. We just have some questions to ask you, hopefully you won’t hide anything from us.” 

This was the first time Han Fei was summoned to the police station in his life so he was inadvertently a little bit nervous, “Of course, I will cooperate as much as I can.” As technology advanced, police work also became far simpler than before. Every citizen had their own personal information model, the computer could even predict the criminal potential within an individual based on their everyday conduct. Other than that, most officers had a lie-detector app and a case analytics app within their personal phone. With the aid of computers, the chance of unjust trial had been lowered to the bare minimum. 

They chatted for an hour before the police allowed Han Fei to leave. Be it the computer analysis, or the probability derived from his database personality modeling, Han Fei was revealed to possess no criminal suspicion. The system’s hazard assessment on Han Fei was an extremely rare 0. In other words, Han Fei would not commit crime under any circumstance, he was objectively speaking, a fine, law-abiding citizen. Or at least that was what the computer thought. 

“Captain Wang, we’re letting him go just like that?”

“We can’t do anything about it, the police station has no right to detain suspects without evidence.” Captain Wang studied Han Fei’s citizenry information and his brows pleated together. “Our district has been selected as the safest district within Xin Lu City for the past 5 years but this arson case will change everything. Even until now, the Evidence Department is unable to find out the cause of the fire. This is one hell of a difficult case.”

“Do you want Zhang Xiaotan and me to go and tail this fella?” Zhao Ming could read his superior’s mind after years of working together. 

“Okay but be careful you’re not spotted by him.” Captain Wang put all the info about Han Fei away. “This is the first time in my working life I’ve encountered an adult with 0 score in hazard assessment. My former superior once told me there are only two kinds of people who will have such extraordinary scores. The first is the kind who is born a saint and has a naïve view of the world, but even such individuals would rarely maintain a 0 score throughout their lives.”

“Then what is the other kind?” Zhang Xiaotian and Zhao Ming leaned over. 

“They are super-criminals who are extremely dangerous and cunning. They possess incredibly high IQ, and are either extremely familiar with hacking technology or know the human mind so well that they can self-hypnotize themselves, to trick the computer system.” Captain Wang took a deep breath. “In any case, these people are experts at manipulating human psychology. They will do anything to suppress their criminal personality. They look harmless on the surface but internally they’re the most twisted individual humanity has to offer.”

“And you think this Han Fei is someone like that?”

“I’m not sure but it’s best that we be careful.”

…

Standing outside the police station, ‘super-criminal’ Han Fei held the bread he just bought from the auto-vending machine. “Police officers don’t need to eat these days?” It was almost 11 am but there was still no reply from Li Xue. Han Fei decided to head home then but he only took a few steps when his phone vibrated. When he saw the caller Id, he was quite surprised. 

“Director Jiang, how can I help you?”

“I need you to come to the old city’s Northern Street at 1 pm today. I am shooting a new movie, you should try out for it.” Han Fei was about to reject it on account of the problems he was currently embroiled in but before he could say anything, the man already hung up.

“Hello, Director Jiang?” Han Fei pressed his dry lips listening to the dial tone. 

‘I’m not going to be a good comedy actor if I’m in no mood to even entertain myself…’ That was what Han Fei believed but he eventually convinced himself otherwise. Director Jiang was kind enough to extend him an olive branch when no one would so it’d be rude to reject him. Therefore, Han Fei went home to take a quick shower, change and rush towards Northern Street. 

Xin Lu was an international metropolis and its land mass was huge. The core of the metropolis was modelled into a high-tech intelligent city, replete with skyscrapers and tech companies. It also housed top talents from all over the globe. In comparison, the older part of the city appeared more decrepit. The place still retained its appearance from years ago. 

“I’m sorry but is Director Jiang Yi around?” When Han Fei arrived, he was surprised to find two film crews on set. One of them was shooting a modern comedy romance, while the other had a criminal, thriller theme. Han Fei’s previous works were all related to comedy so he naturally wandered towards the former. 

“Han Fei?” The worker who was checking the actor’s list spotted Han Fei. “Haven’t you been fired from the agency? Why are you here?”

“This is our agency’s film?” Han Fei was confused too. “It was Director Jiang Yi who told me to come.”

“Huh? But the director for this drama, Secret Urban Romance is not Jiang Yi. Have you come to the wrong place?” The worker was just a small-time worker at the agency. He pitied Han Fei’s condition so he explained the situation to him patiently. 

“The director is not Jiang Yi?” Han Fei was certain he was at the right place. Since the director of this modern romance was not Jiang Yi, then the latter could only be responsible for the other set. 

Slowly turning around, Han Fei stopped to study the eerie apartment building on the opposite side of the street. The closed apartment door had a poster pasted on it. It had the following written in blood red ink—Flower of Sin. 

“Wait… He wants me to act in a horror movie?”