This person was none other than the protagonist, Ye Chen.
At this moment, he was wearing an ordinary white shirt. His lips were somewhat pale, and his right arm was simply bandaged with gauze. There was a clean knife cut in his clothing, and the blood on it had already coagulated; it seemed he had been injured by someone.
Su Ci keenly caught this. She frowned; something wasn't right.
This plot point wasn't in the novel. Could this be the power of the plot?
She had made Ye Chen lose the chance to gain favorability with Lan Wanting, so the world just directly arranged for another female protagonist to gain favorability, huh!
While Su Ci was grumbling internally, the system's notification sound rang out.
[Ding! Detected that the host has encountered a life milestone. This morning, Ye Chen happened to run into the female protagonist, Qin Shiyao, who was catching a robber. He stepped in to help and gained Qin Shiyao's initial favor. His destiny is about to increase. Triggering life milestone selection.]
[Option 1: Directly ignore him and go find the Director. Reward: Ye Chen's destiny value +3000, host's death probability +7%.]
[Option 2: Verbally humiliate Ye Chen. Ye Chen's favorability -10, Qin Shiyao's favorability -20. Reward: Realm breakthrough to Late Ming Jin Stage.]
[Option 3: Reveal the truth in one word, letting Qin Shiyao see through Ye Chen's true colors. Ye Chen's favorability -15, destiny value -3000, Qin Shiyao's favorability +10. Reward: destiny +3000, Martial Art: Basic "Grappling Technique" (proficiency can be increased via skill upgrade cards).]
At the same time, Qin Shiyao's panel appeared before Su Ci's eyes.
[Name: Qin Shiyao, Beauty: 94, Charm: 96, IQ: 96, Physical Fitness: 8, destiny Color: Red]
Qin Shiyao explained, "A major robbery occurred in the East City two hours ago."
As she spoke, her voice couldn't help but carry a hint of guilt. "The criminal was carrying a controlled knife and had taken a hostage. If Mr. Ye Chen hadn't stepped in to help, the outcome would have been unpredictable.
Unfortunately, Mr. Ye Chen injured his arm while helping. He just got back from the clinic."
Following what Qin Shiyao said, Su Ci recalled the plot; this case seemed to have been mentioned.
If she remembered correctly, even without Ye Chen's help, Qin Shiyao would have used herself as bait to exchange for the hostage and subdued the criminal, though she would have suffered a knife wound on her right hand.
Because of that, she was awarded a third-class merit and promoted to Third-Class Inspector Supervisor.
After all, the criminal was just an ordinary person, not as difficult to subdue as an Ancient Martial Artist.
As for the injury on Ye Chen, it was nothing more than a small trick to gain Qin Shiyao's guilt.
Ye Chen was startled to see the three of them at the entrance of the Patrol Department. Especially seeing Lan Wanting's rosy complexion and her more mature womanly aura, a surge of anger boiled in his chest.
He was a medical student; just by looking at the changes in Lan Wanting, he could guess with his toes that something indescribable had already happened between Lan Wanting and Su Ci.
From the first moment he saw Su Ci yesterday, he had regarded her as his woman, and the same went for Lan Wanting.
And now Lan Wanting and Su Ci were colluding together, giving him a green hat, even if this hat smelled of citrus fragrance.
When Lan Wanting left with Su Ci, he had mentally suggested to himself that nothing would happen between two women, yet he still couldn't bear that Lan Wanting's first time had been taken by someone else.
Fortunately, his reason suppressed his anger. Knowing the occasion, he said modestly, "Captain Qin is too polite. Helping an Inspector handle a case is what I should do."
Shifting his gaze to the three of them, he offered warm greetings. "Wanting, and Miss Su, why are you here?"
This was also what Qin Shiyao wanted to ask.
She knew that last night was Lan Wanting's engagement banquet, but due to the busy affairs of the Patrol Department, she hadn't attended.
Plus, she had been handling cases all night and was out on patrol this morning, so she hadn't had time to pay attention to outside information. She didn't know that Lan Wanting's engagement banquet had been ruined.
However, what surprised her slightly was that Ye Chen actually knew Lan Wanting.
And who was the person beside Lan Wanting?
One could tell from her attire that her status was extraordinary, but she had never seen her before. She asked curiously, "Who are these two?"
"They are here to see the Director, I'm just about to take them in!" an Inspector blurted out.
He was met with a roll of the eyes from Qin Shiyao; she hadn't asked him.
Su Ci extended a hand. "Hello, Captain Qin. I am Su Ci, the President of Changsheng Biotechnology. This is my secretary, Jiang Su."
At the mention of the name Su Ci, Qin Shiyao had some impression of it. Fortunately, she had joined the Patrol Department.
Otherwise, the name Su Ci would have become the "other people's child" her parents compared her to. As for now, it was her younger brother who was suffering the lashings of comparison.
Qin Shiyao reached out and shook hands. "So it's Miss Su. I've heard much about you. Since you're looking for the Director, let me take the three of you there!"
As she spoke, she gestured to two idle Inspectors. "You two take the criminal down for interrogation and record Mr. Ye Chen's statement while you're at it."
"Understood, Captain Qin!"
"Miss Su, this way please."
Under Qin Shiyao's lead, Lan Wanting and the other two stepped into the Patrol Department.
Watching the four backs grow distant, Ye Chen had a faint, ominous premonition.
"Wanting, that old geezer's personal bodyguard for you isn't up to much! He even managed to get injured while subduing a criminal."
Lan Wanting wondered why Su Ci suddenly shifted the topic to Ye Chen.
Qin Shiyao frowned, somewhat displeased. "Miss Su, what do you mean by that?"
After all, Ye Chen had helped her subdue the criminal; he was a model citizen. How could she let others slander him?
However, she hadn't expected that Ye Chen's identity was actually Lan Wanting's bodyguard.
Suddenly, she realized something was wrong. "Wait, you said Ye Chen is Lan Wanting's personal bodyguard. Then why was he at the crime scene?"
"Oh! Him? He's probably been fired by now. After all, the Lan Family severed ties with Lan Wanting yesterday. She's my person now."
Su Ci's single sentence contained too much information. Qin Shiyao was stunned for a good while before she could process the shocking news. Even more shocked, she looked at Lan Wanting in disbelief.
Lan Wanting nodded. "With Ye Chen's arrogant nature, he must have been fired by my father after I left. As for what happened yesterday, Miss Qin can ask your uncle; he should be clear on it."
The two of them conversed.
Su Ci knew everything clearly in her heart. She asked Jiang Su seemingly casually, "Sister Su, if my senses aren't mistaken, this Ye Chen is an Ancient Martial Artist, while that criminal was just an ordinary person, right?"
"Your perception is correct, Miss. Furthermore, Ye Chen is a Late Ming Jin Stage Ancient Martial Artist, and that criminal was indeed an ordinary person," Jiang Su replied.
Hearing this answer, Su Ci showed a bit of disdain. "Tsk! He's really a disgrace to Ancient Martial Artists, not even being able to subdue an ordinary person without getting hurt."