Detective Chinatown · Chat

Qin Feng found the reason for his oral exam failure absurd even to himself. "Why do you want to be a police officer?" He sat in that cramped interview room, facing three expressionless examiners. He opened his mouth, his stuttering habit arriving right on schedule at the worst possible moment: "I, I want to... complete a... per, perfect..." "Perfect what?" He swallowed hard. "Perfect crime." The air froze for three seconds. The examiners exchanged a look—a look he knew all too well, the one reserved for madmen. What he actually wanted to say was "solve a perfect crime," but his tongue tied itself in knots, and the words came out wrong. No one listened to his explanation. Two words were stamped on his transcript: FAILED. His grandmother was silent on the other end of the phone for a long time, before finally saying one thing: "Go to Thailand to find your second cousin Tang Ren. Clear your head." Second cousin. Tang Ren. Qin Feng's entire impression of the name came from the occasional snippets his grandmother mentioned: a distant relative scraping by in Bangkok's Chinatown, who supposedly opened a detective agency and supposedly had some connections with the police department. Supposedly, he said he'd come home for New Year every year, and every year he had an excuse not to. --- When the plane touched down at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport, the hot, humid air hit his face like a wet towel. Qin Feng dragged his suitcase out of the arrival hall and spotted the man instantly. A Hawaiian shirt so loud it hurt the eyes, with two buttons undone; a gold chain as thick as a pinky finger around his neck; dark skin and hair that looked like it had been hit by a typhoon. He was holding an A4 sheet of paper with "Qin Feng" written crudely in marker, the edges dripping—clearly soaked by an iced drink just moments ago. "Hey—nephew!" Tang Ren waved at him across the railing, grinning widely, a piece of curry leaf from lunch still stuck between his teeth. "Over here, over here! Uncle's here to pick you up!" Qin Feng stood there, suddenly feeling a strong urge to rebook his flight. <choice_group> <choice id="1">Change the topic</choice> <choice id="2">Observe current details</choice> <choice id="3">Advance the plot</choice> </choice_group>