Shen Ting waited quietly for a few seconds before widening his eyes in surprise: "You're not still thinking about that case, are you?"
Pulling his slightly sweating hand out from the other's grasp, he picked up his mineral water and took a sip: "Please, we've already called the police. The rest should be left to the police to handle! Besides, today is Saturday. The police might not even be working—".

A faint vibration came from Chu Huainan's jacket pocket. He shot Shen Ting an apologetic look and slid the answer button.

The surround sound in the movie theater drowned out the faint noise from the phone receiver. Shen Ting wished he could hit pause on the melodramatic romantic plot currently playing on the screen. No matter how hard he pricked up his ears and tried to listen, he couldn't hear clearly what was being said on the other end of the line.

Chu Huainan didn't speak from start to finish, only giving a soft "Mm" before hanging up.
Shen Ting blindly guessed that this call was definitely about the case as well, because Chu Huainan had already swiftly put on his jacket, stood up, and pulled him outward. "Sorry, I'll make up the movie to you next time. We'll celebrate Valentine's Day just the same next year."

His mind entirely occupied by that phone call, Shen Ting had no time to question why they would be spending Valentine's Day together next year too.

Being dragged all the way out of the screening hall, it was only then that he protested "Hey hey hey hey hey" and asked, "Where are we going?"
Chu Huainan looked over with a smile; he particularly loved hearing Shen Ting say "we."
This was a special, inclusive word carrying a sense of intimacy.
Frequently using first-person pronouns like "we" or "us" to close the distance and group everyone together was one of the speech techniques used by many orators to persuade an audience.

People like Chu Huainan had a natural vigilance against the outside world and its people. He had always been repulsed by techniques used to curry favor.
Because the flip side of "currying favor" is "taking."
Deep down, he intensely detested the feeling that everyone wanted to extract benefits from him.
But he liked Shen Ting's "we," as if this word tightly bound him together with this secret-filled young man before him.

"We are going to help the police work overtime."
"Ah?"
Waving the phone in his hand, Chu Huainan patiently explained: "According to reliable sources, the suspect has fled in his vehicle. Right now, he's just gotten off the 'Yanhe Elevated Highway.' He'll likely pass right under our noses in about fifteen or sixteen minutes."

Not a criminal, a criminal suspect! Before the court pronounces a verdict, even with irrefutable evidence, a stone-cold killer can only be considered a suspect!
Shen Ting corrected him internally. Reaching out, he rapidly pressed the elevator's down button multiple times. "Are you going to help chase him?"
"Don't you want to go?"

Of course I want to. I was just trying to think of an excuse to trick you into going, but I didn't expect you to deliver yourself to my door.
Shen Ting waited anxiously for the elevator, but on his face, he produced an exaggerated grin: "Go, go, go, let's head out immediately! I'll drive later—a high-speed car chase to catch a thief, just thinking about it is thrilling!"
This time, he didn't deliberately raise the corners of his eyes. His slightly downturned eye corners looked like a sharp sword eager to be unsheathed.

Chu Huainan reached out, using his thumb to gently trace the fine lines crinkling at the corner of the other's eye from his smile.
He guessed that within this smile lay a secret, unspoken passion.

Perhaps this mysterious young man could even fake his smiles, but Chu Huainan believed that the surging, fervent desire to protect something was absolutely genuine.

This fervency, like a warm wind, melted and ruffled the eternally frozen lake of Chu Huainan's heart. A warm current surged from his chest, protected by his ribs, giving rise to an impulse—he wanted to monopolize this person's passion and smiles.

Shen Ting was inexplicably touched up, but he didn't mind at all because the elevator had arrived. He stepped in first, and then, after confirming Chu Huainan had followed him in, immediately pressed the close door button.

Chu Huainan's low-profile colored Bentley was parked steadily at the mall exit. Shen Ting finally understood the benefits of VIP ONLY.
Positionally speaking, this parking spot—directly facing the elevator and the commercial exit—practically monopolized every "locational advantage."

Smiling, Chu Huainan tossed him the car keys. Shen Ting glanced down at the logo on the keys, then looked up to confirm with Chu Huainan: "You have full insurance on this car, right? High-speed car chases are risky. If I crash your car, I'm not paying for it!"
Chu Huainan's smile deepened: "Don't worry, as long as you're safe."

Just as he started the engine, Shen Ting's sharp eyes spotted a police car parked in an ordinary parking spot nearby, bearing a license plate with black characters on a white background.
He shifted the gear back to neutral, turned his head, and asked Chu Huainan: "Do you have a screwdriver or a small knife in this car?"

Like a magic trick, Chu Huainan pulled a mini toolbox out from the passenger side glove compartment. Inside lay a row of nicely crafted, folding pliers, wrenches, and screwdrivers, and even a spare bag of screws and nuts.

Shen Ting picked out a flathead screwdriver that felt comfortable in his hand. Getting out of the car, he headed straight for the police car.
In three or five quick moves, he unscrewed the police car's license plate. Then, he uninstalled Chu Huainan's license plate—which had a long string of zeroes and looked extremely expensive—as well.
With nimble hands and feet, he slapped on the police license plate, got back into the car, and revved the engine so loud it shook the heavens.

A gray Bentley bearing a police license plate sped unhindered, righteously running over a dozen red lights right under the noses of the traffic police.

Two young traffic cops at an intersection looked at each other in dismay.
Recently, there had been a persistent rumor in Jianghu City that the police department was going to import some luxury cars to serve as police vehicles. Everyone had vaguely heard it might be the BMW 5 Series, but no one ever imagined it would actually be a Bentley.

Finally, at the intersection of Dongshan Middle Road and Guangdong Road, Chu Huainan and Shen Ting spotted the rampaging Iveco cold-chain delivery truck. Tailing it were two police motorcycles with flashing red and blue lights.

Chu Huainan narrowed his eyes slightly. After confirming the four large characters [Shangfeng Foods] were indeed written on the body of the truck, he nodded at Shen Ting: "That's the one, don't let him escape!"

They had seen several roadblocks along the way, but they were all scattered haphazardly by the roadside. This truck had likely smashed through several checkpoints set up by the police. The driver was a bona fide, desperate fugitive.

This hour couldn't be considered peak traffic, but in the center of Jianghu City, which had dense traffic twenty-four hours a day, this main arterial road was still packed with private cars.

At this moment, the advantage of a luxury car was fully realized.
Because drivers both in front and behind didn't want to bring trouble upon themselves, they deliberately maintained a half-car distance from this incredibly expensive sports car that hovered impatiently close to the ground, occasionally letting out a low "roar."

Shen Ting forcibly carved a gap through the endless stream of traffic. When they were just one traffic light away from the Iveco, the truck seized the last second of the green light and abruptly made a sharp left turn.
The two police motorcycles trying to box it in attempted to change lanes suddenly. In the moment they aggressively jerked their handlebars, both lost their center of gravity, falling on their sides and skidding over ten meters, shattering their windshields all over the ground.

Following the truck ahead, Shen Ting slammed on the brakes. His fingers gripping the steering wheel tapped anxiously against it. In the left-turn waiting area ahead sat another Skoda waiting for the red light.

And no matter how expensive Chu Huainan's Bentley was, at this moment, it couldn't grow wings and fly over the car in front.
The gray sports car let out an impatient roar in place—Shen Ting frowned, stomping hard on the gas pedal while idling.
"Don't worry, there's another traffic light ahead, it's a guaranteed bottleneck." Chu Huainan comforted him. "The police might have set up a checkpoint there too."
The Bentley's soundproofing was incredibly good, but the commotion outside was simply too loud. Before Chu Huainan even finished his sentence, the piercing wail of police sirens approaching from afar drilled in through the cracks in the door.

Shen Ting didn't reply. In the very first second the red light jumped to green, he shifted into drive and accelerated alongside the Skoda in front.
While turning left, Shen Ting stomped hard on the gas pedal with his toes. The massive drive force caused the drive wheels to spin in place, making the tires lose grip for a split second. Relying on centrifugal force, the car body executed a beautiful drift, leaving that hindering Skoda far behind in the dust.

Between the young driver's tightly knit brows was a swagger of bullying men and oppressing women. Chu Huainan loved this arrogant "I am number one in the world" attitude of his the most. Smiling, he reached out and adjusted the air vent so the AC wouldn't blow directly onto Shen Ting's face.

Shen Ting didn't notice Chu Huainan's consideration; his entire focus was fixed on that small patch of white not far away. —The cold-chain delivery truck was about two or three hundred meters ahead of them, only revealing a tiny sliver of its white rear end from behind the cars separating them.

After the red light, the long queue of cars finally began moving slowly again. Shen Ting drove forward for about a hundred meters before he saw a two-layer barricade set up not far ahead. The yellow and black warning colors were exceptionally conspicuous in front of the traffic flow.

A police car and three or four police motorcycles were parked by the barricade. Three police officers wearing yellow-green reflective vests were verifying the identities of the passing drivers one by one.

Shen Ting narrowed his eyes. Seeing that the other party held glowing traffic wands and only had document pouches and walkie-talkies clipped to their belts, he immediately judged that these three were merely traffic police officers without firearms.
That Iveco with writing on its body was even more conspicuous among the crowd of private sedans than the Bentley. It quickly caught the attention of one of the traffic cops.

A desperate, vicious thug encountering traffic cops without even a baton—Shen Ting's heart burned with anxiety. He honked the horn frantically.
Unfortunately, the distance was too far, and it failed to stop the traffic cop who had spotted the suspect's vehicle from approaching.

The young traffic cop looked suspiciously at the license plate completely covered in mud. Following protocol, he knocked on the window: "Please show your driver's license and vehicle registration—"
Before his voice faded, the truck suddenly accelerated, violently ramming him to the side. It then crashed into the rear of the car ahead, squeezing out through the gap.

The other two traffic cops standing by the barricade couldn't dodge in time and were also sent flying. The barricade fences were warped by the accelerating Iveco, and the red-and-white plastic warning cones scattered chaotically across the ground.

Seeing this sudden turn of events, the criminal investigator inside the police car didn't even have time to open the door. Sticking his gun-wielding hand out the window, he fired a shot—Bang!

Shen Ting's ears twitched slightly. This was the sound of the domestic Type 54 pistol he was very familiar with. This type of pistol had a caliber of 7.62mm and an effective range of only 50 meters. He glanced at the distance between the police car and the Iveco—it was at least 60 meters away. He couldn't help but frown; this shot was definitely going to miss. At most, it would serve as a deterrent.

His judgment was extremely precise. The bullet thudded into the ground in front of the Iveco, kicking up a cloud of helpless dust.

Seeing that the Iveco, having knocked down multiple colleagues, was about to speed away, Shen Ting violently revved the engine twice and said: "Hold on tight!"

Before Chu Huainan had time to react, his body was thrown forward by momentum, and then violently slammed back, his shoulder hitting the protruding seatbelt buckle, which hurt a bit. But he didn't have time to notice this faint pain.

With wide eyes, he watched as Shen Ting used the front and rear of the car to forcefully smash open the two cars sandwiching them. Like a living dragon, the front of the car swerved toward the narrow path violently carved out on the left. Half a tire rolled over the sidewalk, and the Bentley's low chassis scraped against the curb, emitting a massive, teeth-gritting screech.

The crowd of spectating drivers stared dumbfounded as a gray Bentley with a caved-in front bumper miraculously squeezed through the traffic flow with half its body tilted.

Touched up /揩油 (Kāiyóu): Slang meaning someone has taken advantage of you physically in a sneaky or subtle way (like a slight, non-consensual grope or touch).

Bullying men and oppressing women (欺男霸女): An idiom used to describe a swaggering, arrogant, or tyrannical demeanor, typically associated with villains or mob bosses.

Type 54 Pistol: The standard sidearm historically used by the Chinese military and police.

Iron Man (钢铁侠): Used colloquially to mean someone who is exceptionally tough or invincible. Shen Ting realizes that even if Chu Huainan is incredibly capable, he shouldn't be facing off alone against a dangerous criminal.