"Dear God… he actually did it."
Captain Erin's voice trembled with awe.
Beside her, Vice Captain Andrew swallowed hard. "I've worked here for twenty-five years... and I've never seen anything like this."
It wasn't just admiration. It was fear.
Ryan Li had flipped through a pile of cold case files—and cracked every single one. All twenty-three of them. In less than a day.
Who the hell does that?
Now, the entire detective division was buzzing.
"He's not a man—he's a phenomenon."
"The feds must be kicking themselves for not recruiting him first."
"Hell, if we knew he was this good, we would've bribed, begged, or blackmailed him into our squad!"
Gang task forces, narcotics, major crimes—they all wanted a piece of Ryan.
But it was too late.
Ryan was already LAPD Intelligence Division, Fifth Cell, Lead Detective.
And his legend was growing by the hour.
—
Meanwhile, at the LAPD downtown building, Jonathan—Director of Internal Investigations—picked up a call.
"Jonathan, you need to hear this."
"What is it?" he grunted.
"The rookie. Ryan Li. He just cleared twenty-three backlogged murder investigations."
"...What?"
"All cold cases. Gone. Solved."
Jonathan dropped his pen.
"Jesus. You're serious?"
"Yes, sir. Every team is now fighting over him. Even the Feds are sniffing around."
Jonathan stared blankly at his office wall.
With a brain like that… they wouldn't be able to keep him hidden much longer.
Elsewhere, across the Pacific, in the gilded halls of the Daidai Empire…
Tachibana Jun kneeled before the throne.
"I failed," she said flatly.
The Daidai king narrowed his eyes. "So? Did you at least retrieve a genetic sample?"
Jun didn't flinch. "He refused to be sullied by your greed."
The king gritted his teeth.
"You mean… you didn't even touch his DNA?"
"No."
"You couldn't sneak into his room? Offer him wine? Wait with an umbrella or something?!"
Jun's voice turned icy. "He's not the type to be seduced by insects."
The king clenched his fists, but Jun wasn't done.
"I didn't return empty-handed. I learned his weakness."
That caught his attention.
"Go on."
Jun's tone lowered. "He has a curiosity for… mythical creatures."
The king's eyes gleamed.
"You're saying… if we offered him a living myth, he might come to us willingly?"
"Exactly."
The king began to pace.
"Prepare the base. Wake the specimens. The girl with the snow-blood gene. The Orochi skin graft. The galaxy-head experiment…"
"We'll use one of them to bait the hook."
Jun nodded.
"But if that fails…" the king added darkly, "we go with Plan B."
—
Back in Los Angeles, Ryan was halfway through a celebratory dinner with his team at Victory Grove Restaurant when he received a message.
From: UnknownSubject: 天垫子基地 (Heaven's Cushion Research Site)"We'd like to trade a mythical specimen… for your genes."
Ryan blinked.
Then laughed.
"They want me to knock up a Daidai princess in exchange for a monster corpse? Bold."
He opened a browser, typing: [富唐公主名单] — "Futang Princess Roster"
A few clicks later, Ryan groaned.
"The eldest one looks like someone microwaved a painting. The youngest just turned 18—and she looks like she hasn't turned a corner since 12."
He shut the tab.
"No thanks."
Meanwhile, in Daidai…
"Jelly Mei," the king said, gesturing to the screen, "you are our empire's most beautiful actress. You will seduce the foreign god."
Jelly Mei bowed, expression unreadable. "Yes, Your Grace."
But her eyes burned with a private fury.
She wasn't just going to act for the empire.
She was going to conquer Ryan Li.
One way or another.