"Li Rui, tell us, what's the reason this time?"
The middle-aged policeman with a face full of wrinkles sat on the metal bench in the police station corridor, his tone more resigned than anything else.
Beside him sat a young man who looked like a student, probably about eighteen or nineteen. His features were very delicate, somewhat feminine, but for some reason, if you stared at him long enough, you'd feel a certain sharpness in his brows.
"Those things are very dangerous. If not handled properly, they will become deadly weapons."
The teenager named Li Rui spoke calmly.
The policeman nodded unconsciously: "So, like before, this time it was also about eliminating danger in advance?"
"That's right, Uncle Wang. I've always believed that, rather than waiting for bad things to happen, it's better to take action and remove the conditions for them to occur. You know, I have a bad luck condition; I always run into the worst scenarios."
"Even so, you shouldn't sneak into the senior activity center in the middle of the night and take apart all twelve electric fans! Don't talk back; the surveillance footage captured everything clearly!"
Officer Wang held his head in his hand, looking quite troubled, "It's already June, and those old men and women playing mahjong are overheating like crazy."
Li Rui looked a bit embarrassed: "Don't worry, Uncle Wang, next time I'll dismantle the surveillance first."
"That's more like it...pff!"
Officer Wang sighed heavily, speaking earnestly, "Xiaorui, I've watched you grow up, and that so-called bad luck condition of yours, there's absolutely no scientific basis for it."
"Last week when a cement truck suddenly ran a red light and rammed into me?"
"The driver was drunk, he's been caught."
"And the week before last when three billboards fell from above as if targeting me?"
"The facade was loose, that building is over thirty years old, it's normal."
"And the week before that..."
"Enough, enough."
Officer Wang said, "You'll end up talking about how you've never won a free coke before, won't you?"
"Hehe."
Li Rui scratched his head, "That's the truth."
"Alright, I'm telling you once more, if anything happens in the future, come directly to me, don't mess around on your own, it's too dangerous."
"Got it, Uncle Wang."
Li Rui knew nothing could be concluded from this discussion, so he just offered a perfunctory response.
"You still have time; do you have class this afternoon? Hurry back to school."
Officer Wang waved his hand, accustomed to this kind of situation. The neighbors knew he was an orphan, so no matter what trouble he caused, they'd largely just file complaints and then this community policeman would educate him.
Though it was essentially useless.
Over time, Li Rui had 'committed' plenty of 'crimes,' just speaking of last month alone: climbing onto the third floor to remove a neighbor's windows twice; deflating the valve of the community watchman's bicycle once; stealing the flowerpot downstairs with a lasso once, and twice playing pranks on a stray dog named Doubao.
These were just the things people had found out about, to use a figure of speech: just the tip of the iceberg.
The neighbors in the community could only feel both love and hate towards Li Rui because this youngster was usually kind and enthusiastic, witty and charming, with a pleasant appearance. The only issue was his love for pranks, so they couldn't really bring themselves to hate him.
However, regarding these small pranks, everyone overlooked certain details.
When the third-floor neighbor asked someone to reinstall the window the second time, the worker also noticed the deformed track; when the watchman pushed the bicycle to the shop to install a valve core, it was discovered that the brakes were showing signs of failure; the downstairs neighbor repositioned the flowerpot on the balcony floor instead of the window ledge.
The stray dog, Doubao... it couldn't speak, and no one knew what had happened.
Li Rui was quite sure he wasn't lying; he truly did have a kind of bad luck.
If he hadn't dealt with it, the unsound window and the flowerpot placed on the ledge might have likely fallen on his head, and the faulty bicycle might have collided with him, causing a chain reaction. Of course, the neighbors and watchman would also suffer losses.
What allowed him to preemptively handle these issues was that in years of battling with his bad luck condition, he had developed an ability.
A sense of impending harm.
When he saw something potentially threatening, his intuition would warn him in advance.
Whenever this happened, he'd take action until his intuition vanished.
However, his ability had limits; if a cement truck truly came crashing in, even with forewarning, there's no way he could deal with the driver, he could only evade on his own.
"Uncle Wang, I'm off now."
Li Rui stood up, walking familiarly towards the door of the police station.
Officer Wang called out to him: "Wait, what happened to your hand?"
The old policeman grabbed his arm, seeing a straight bruise on the back of his hand.
"I have no idea; it suddenly appeared the day before yesterday, maybe I bumped it playing ball."
Officer Wang looked at him suspiciously, but his eyes only saw sincerity, so he nodded and let it go. He knew this kid might be careless but never got involved in anything like gang fights.
After Li Rui left, a man in a suit came over from the end of the corridor.
Seeing the newcomer, Officer Wang stood up abruptly, appearing somewhat tense: "Sir, please wait a moment, the chief said to invite you for a meal after his meeting."
"No need, I don't want to trouble you."
The suited man was very polite, shook hands with him, then left the police station and went to the street. Facing the bustling road, he closed his eyes, took a deep breath, then suddenly opened them, turning to the right where Li Rui had headed.
He quickly walked over, checking his arm as he rolled up his sleeve, revealing a bruise that formed a clear number.
15.
...
The college coursework was quite relaxed; the afternoon was just an elective course for credits, so after attending the roll call, Li Rui found a chance to slip away, returning to his empty home.
He was used to living alone; life's challenges and his bad luck condition taught him self-reliance early on.
Gurgle gurgle.
The pot of baby bok choy tofu soup bubbled away.
It was his favorite dish, not for the taste, but because it was protein-rich, full of vitamins, and cheap.
As an orphan, his life was not affluent, which is why neighbors and police were so tolerant of him.
Of course, there was no need to play the victim intentionally; with the house and inheritance his parents left, Li Rui had lived healthily up to the age of nineteen. Now in his second semester of freshman year, summer break was soon, he had more than thirty thousand left in savings, and did some part-time jobs; as long as he wasn't extravagant, life's pressures were not too great.
Plonk.
Turning the knob on the gas stove back to its original position, Li Rui directly carried the single-serving little iron pot to the table, scooped out rice from the rice cooker, preparing to feast, when suddenly the doorbell rang.
"Who is it?"
"Open the door, gas meter inspection."
"Okay, coming right up."
Li Rui put down the tableware and went into the kitchen, picking up the bone chopping knife, using the sharpening rod to slide it over the blade edges, humming "Today is a Good Day" as he approached the security door.
The gas company would never check gas meters off-hours.
Besides, there was an ominous aura outside.