Watching the man in black disappear from the surveillance footage, Liu Jianming slapped the desk, his tone resolute.
“Alright, both the direction and time are clear now.”
“Heading out from the north gate leads right to Minsheng Road, which is full of Sky Net surveillance cameras. This guy won’t get away.”
He turned to look at Lin Wanwan:
“Follow me back to the station to write a statement and open a case. Just leave the rest to us.”
Lin Wanwan nodded repeatedly, following Liu Jianming toward the police station.
At the police station, making the statement went very smoothly as well; she had photos of the receipt and purchase information right on her phone.
From reporting the case to obtaining the case filing receipt, it took little more than two hours in total.
Lin Wanwan was quite satisfied with this level of speed.
Seeing that it wasn’t even 12 o’clock yet, she even took the time to grab a quick fast-food meal before returning to the company.
Just as she sat back down at her workstation, Lin Wanwan opened QQ Mail almost out of habit.
Sure enough, just like yesterday, the email from “Time Mailbox” from this morning had vanished without a trace.
This also confirmed her previous conjecture: as long as the future was changed, the corresponding email would disappear along with it.
At four in the afternoon, Lin Wanwan got up to go to the pantry to get some water.
Just as she reached the entrance, she heard the lowered voices of her colleagues gossiping inside.
“Have you guys heard? That old lady who fell on Junma Road today was sent straight to the ICU!”
“Really? Doesn’t the ICU cost tens of thousands a day?”
“I heard she was already in shock when sent to the hospital. The doctor said she missed the optimal rescue window.”
“Her family is currently causing a scene at the hospital!”
“No way, what does this have to do with the hospital?”
“Who knows, they probably think the hospital is a soft persimmon easy to squeeze! I actually feel they knew they couldn’t squeeze any money out of the sanitation worker, so they turned to target the hospital instead!”
Lin Wanwan walked into the pantry with her empty water glass, her expression blank.
Hearing that the elderly person was sent to the ICU, she didn’t feel half a shred of guilt in her heart.
On the contrary, hearing that the family went to the hospital to cause a scene made her release a sigh of relief inexplicably.
Although that email had already disappeared, she had not forgotten the regret and anger written between its lines.
If not for the email’s warning, she might currently be surrounded and cursed at by the family at the company gate, perhaps even losing the job she had just gotten.
The education she received since childhood taught her that one could be kind and enjoy helping others.
However, kindness had never been without bottom lines; things like having a bite taken out of her back and her job ruined as described in the email were things she could never accept.
She was willing to help within her capacity, but returning good for evil was something she couldn’t do, nor did she want to do.
As for the resulting consequences, what did that have to do with her?
Holding the steaming coffee, Lin Wanwan turned and walked out of the pantry.
She wasn’t a foolishly good person, nor did she want to be one. Even if given the choice 10,000 more times, she would still make the exact same choice.
Since she didn’t have to work overtime today, Lin Wanwan arrived home very early.
After simply cooking a bowl of tomato and egg noodles, she ate her noodles while turning on her computer to binge-watch TV dramas she had accumulated over the past few days.
The wall clock ticked away, and the hour and minute hands finally overlapped at midnight 12:00.
Lin Wanwan immediately refreshed her email page. The next second, a familiar title popped up.
[Time Mailbox: You have a letter from September 17, 2025]
It came!
Taking a deep breath, her mouse cursor hovered over the email title, and she clicked down gently.
Ignoring a few sentences of senseless sentimentalism, Lin Wanwan’s gaze landed on the useful pieces of information!
“Officer Liu’s efficiency in solving cases is way too awesome!”
“It only took one day to retrieve the electric scooter!”
…
“Sister Li’s luck is so good, she actually won 20,000 yuan in the lottery!”
“Sister Li is truly generous, buying afternoon tea for the entire group!”
“I’ve decided, starting today I’m buying lottery tickets together with her!”
“If the you from one year later wins a huge jackpot, definitely remember to thank the me of today!”
…
After reading through it twice to confirm nothing was missed, Lin Wanwan began sorting out today’s email content.
A total of two things were mentioned in the email:
First, her lost electric scooter had been retrieved smoothly.
Second, two days later, Sister Li would use the 20,000 yuan won from the lottery to treat everyone in the group to afternoon tea.
That the electric scooter could be retrieved didn’t surprise Lin Wanwan; what surprised her was the timing of the recovery.
This time, the time of retrieving the electric scooter was one day earlier than mentioned in the first email.
With a moment’s thought, she figured out the reason behind it:
First, her reporting time was moved forward by half a day; second, the officer handling the case had changed from that previous young police officer to Liu Jianming.
Liu Jianming, in his 40s, was originally the community police officer for Wanning Mall, possessing seasoned experience in handling cases.
Coupled with not needing to go through normal procedures to directly pull up the mall’s surveillance, this point alone saved a lot of time.
This once again verified Lin Wanwan’s previous guess: the future could be changed.
Any inadvertent small action could very likely lead to changes in the future.
Compared to the electric scooter being retrieved, Lin Wanwan cared more about the second matter: Sister Li winning the lottery.
There were a total of 23 people in her group, and the only person who could be called “Sister Li” by her was Liu Xiaoli alone.
Liu Xiaoli had joined the company a year earlier than her, having job-hopped over from another firm; she was amiable and took extra care of a fresh graduate like her.
When she messed up file data last week, it was Liu Xiaoli who stayed behind to work overtime with her and another colleague to organize it.
Looking repeatedly at the information regarding the lottery in the email, Lin Wanwan’s brows slowly knitted together.
This matter left her somewhat conflicted.
If she urgently needed money, or if the person winning the jackpot were someone else, or if the prize money were 200,000 instead of 20,000, she would definitely find a way to get her hands on this money.
Just as the little angel and little devil above Lin Wanwan’s head were strangling each other’s necks and rolling on the ground…
Lin Wanwan slapped her forehead, realizing that she had fallen into a logical trap just now.
Right now, the thing that should be figured out most wasn’t whether to compete for this money, but rather what kind of lottery ticket Liu Xiaoli had actually won.
If it was a one-time scratch-off ticket, then she could peacefully wait to enjoy the afternoon tea treated by Liu Xiaoli three days later.
However, if it was a lottery like the Union Lotto where multiple people could purchase the same numbers, she could completely buy along with her.
After all, the Union Lotto allowed duplicate purchases; buying an extra copy herself wouldn’t affect Liu Xiaoli’s jackpot win either.
Having figured this out, both little figures above Lin Wanwan’s head let go at the same time, and the conflict between her brows swept away entirely.
Early the next morning, Lin Wanwan deliberately arrived at the company 10 minutes early.
Taking advantage of the time before work officially started, she stealthily made her way over to Liu Xiaoli’s workstation.
“Sister Li, I happened to want to drink Luckin today, and I remembered you like their Raw Coconut Latte, so I bought a cup for you along the way.”
As she spoke, Lin Wanwan placed a cup of Raw Coconut Latte that was still emitting cold mist onto Liu Xiaoli’s workstation.
Liu Xiaoli didn’t decline either, accepting the Raw Coconut Latte with a chuckle:
“Oh, iced raw coconut!! Thanks, Wanwan!”
“I just mentioned it casually last time, I didn’t expect you to actually remember it. How thoughtful of you!”