"A department that prioritizes the safety of citizens and responds to various requests?!"

Lloyd's surprised voice came from the chief's office.

After an afternoon of exploring the underground space, Sergei first briefed several people on the significance of the Special Mission Support Section.

Yes, a very similar course of action to the guerrillas. It is not an exaggeration to say that this department is modeled after the guerrillas. Lloyd slightly understood why everyone at headquarters was not very optimistic about the new department.

Chief Sergei nodded heavily and said in agreement, "Yes." This is the course of action of the Special Mission Support Section. In order to be closer to the lives of citizens, a department building has been prepared in this downtown area. Hmph, that's reasonable, right? ”

Although the price is also in the range of consideration. Sergei added in his heart.

"But, but, this ......" Lloyd wanted to say that it was an imitation of a guerrilla, but it was always not good to poke it in front of him...... But Ellie made up what Lloyd didn't finish: "It seems to be a complete imitation of the Guerrilla Association, right?" ”

"To put it bluntly, it's plagiarism at all, right?" Theo's words were as sharp as ever.

"That's rude...... Lloyd reminded them in a whisper. Sergei raised his eyebrows and coughed, and continued indifferently: "You also know that the status and evaluation of the Guerrilla Association in Crossbell today is extraordinary. In addition to the A-rank guerrilla Arios Marklein, known as the Sword of the Wind Saint, there are many capable people who are stationed in the Crossbell branch. Do you understand what this means for the top brass of the police department? ”

"Police stations are compared and evaluated against associations and are criticized for organizational problems...... Finally, the criticism will be directed at the autonomous state government. That's right. Ellie's voice was uninaudible, and she tried her best to tell the truth in her own way.

"I see." Randy understood at once. "That's why we need to steal the limelight from the guerrillas to gain popularity, right?"

"It's really explicit." Theo did not deny Randy's claims.

Sergei smiled and admitted: "Well, as you say. However, the basic philosophy of the police is to maintain law and order and to abide by the laws of the autonomous region...... Serving the public is in second place. Therefore, there are also many people within the police department who oppose it. 'Miscellaneous office', 'fake guerrilla', 'acting monkey' or something. In short, I've heard all kinds of bad things countless times. ”

Lloyd was dumbfounded, these were the realities of the police department of the autonomous prefecture that he did not understand.

"Ahh Randy raised an eyebrow, openly expressing his displeasure. He had heard that this was an idle job before he came to mix wages. Although he didn't mind going to work, it was clearly not to his liking.

"It was unexpected." Theo still has a face that no one else can approach. The main reason she came here was the assignment of the consortium, and she did not expect this kind of guerrilla-like working environment.

"Okay, don't worry." Sergei, who had long expected the reaction of the four, still had an inexplicable smile on his face. "As you may have heard, it's okay to quit this position if you want to. Once you have been officially assigned, you will have to do all kinds of work. Among them, there is also the work of cleaning up Warcraft like today, and there will be odd jobs such as finding lost items and helping the headquarters with chores. ――I don't think anyone who is interested in it will not be able to do it. So, give you an evening to think about it. ”

Sergei said, snuffing out the cigarette butt that had been smoked and lighting another one for himself. Stood up and walked to the window, not looking at the four. The languid voice continued: "If you resign from this position, you will be assigned to another department. If you resign now, there is no negative impact. It's up to you. Alright, go back. ”

The four of them didn't know how to continue the conversation, and stood silent for a while, before Randy took the lead and walked out with an axe and gun. Ellie and Theo also left. Lloyd looked at Sergei's languid back and pondered what was happening today. However, his mind is now in a mess. After his companions left, Lloyd returned to his room on the second floor with a heavy face.

The room is not large, but it is large enough for a person's normal movement space. As the name suggests, the first floor is the common living room, kitchen, and bathroom, and the section chief's office is also located on the first floor. The floors above the first floor are the rooms of each resident. Not counting the bathrooms on each floor, there are three rooms on each floor, a total of nine, which was quite a good condition at the time.

The whole building is a masonry structure, and the walls and floor are uniformly cement gray, which has a somewhat dull taste. Presumably to add some bright colors, the windows of the residents' rooms are uniformly white curtains. The furnishings of the room are very simple, with a large wardrobe standing in the corner, a single wooden bed next to the wall, and a square table and a chair placed in the direction of the head of the bed, just filling the space from the head of the bed to the wall. The furniture is concentrated near the wall on the right-hand side of the entrance. On the left-hand side of the entrance is a low display case. It is specially used to store some small items.

The unopened cardboard boxes were placed in all corners of the room, leaving only the road from the door to the bed.

Lloyd walked into the room, slammed the door casually, and slapped the whole person directly on the bed.

Don't care about the loud bang behind you, don't care about how these luggage are arranged. Lloyd just wants to take a break right now.

The mattress is also prepared in the department building, although the color is a little dull, but it is very clean. My nose, which was a little uncomfortable because of the oppression, clearly smelled the turbid air and the smell of cheap laundry detergent due to lack of circulation.

The somewhat childish venting action did not last long, Lloyd pulled out a picture from his jacket pocket, kept his stomach and raised his head, his eyes received the light of the guide lamp, and his vision became clear.

Gradually, I could clearly see the person in the photo. The colors had long since become indistinguishable, with the gate of the police station as a background, three people, two men and one woman, standing together. On the left is a woman in a stand-up collar sweater, with wavy curly hair and a gentle happy smile on her face. He wears a beautiful necklace around his neck. On the right is a man who is a head taller than her, with a proud smile on his face, and his hair is basically short, but it can be seen that it hasn't been cut for a while, and the hair on the back has begun to curl disobediently. However, there is no raunchy feeling like Sergei, but a sense of unrestrained chic, and the black and white sports jacket is wide open, revealing the red shirt inside.

In the middle of the two, a boy in a white shirt put his hands in his pockets and an excited smile on his face. My hair is just starting to grow long, and I basically maintain a short hair style. The height is just around the female on the left, and it is shorter. If it's compared to the tall man on the right, it's just up to his chest.

After staring at his former self for a while, Lloyd's gaze shifted to the tall and free man on the far right.

"Big brother...... I seem to have been assigned to a strange place......" Lloyd's throat was still pressed, and his voice was a little muffled.

"Imitation of guerrillas...... I didn't become a police officer for this kind of thing......"

His expression darkened. It's nice to be able to help others, but that's not Lloyd's goal.

Remember that the department that the eldest brother belonged to back then was a search department, right? Lloyd recalled. He is confident that he is not mistaken about this kind of detail.

Search a section, an elite gathering of Crossbell's police community. Single-handedly handle major and important cases, as well as political and international cases. In this place, the best of Cross Bell are gathered. Lloyd's eldest brother, Guy Bannings, was one of them.

My goal...... It's to become a good investigator like a big brother...... Sure enough, it's still far away......

Should I ...... Why don't you stay here......

The more I think about it, the more confusing it becomes.

That's what Lloyd was like.

A man who is hesitant and indecisive. And those calm and capable performances are actually "cheating".

Because Lloyd had a very good older brother.

As long as you fall into a situation of confusion, you only need to ask in your heart, "What would you do if it was the eldest brother?" Thinking carefully about the big brother's mode of action, the way the big brother speaks, then, Lloyd can make the right choice.

Not this time...... Because, if the man Guy Bannings had to choose, he would have stayed here without a doubt. However, this choice conflicts with Lloyd's intentions......

Utter confusion of thinking.

Lloyd buried his head in the sheet again.

Others...... What's the plan? Those three people don't seem to have gone to the police academy, and they all have their own secrets...... Why don't you ask them what they mean?

If you can't make up your mind, check out the opinions of others.

It's such a simple action. With his hands on his back, Lloyd jumped out of bed and tidied up his clothes.

Hopefully, I can get a reference.

For convenience, the men's room is located on the second floor and the women's room is located on the third floor. The chief's room is the innermost 204, and Lloyd is 202. In room 201 next to it, there was the red-haired reliable man.

Knocked on the door, no response.

"Huh? Randy...... Isn't it? Lloyd was a little surprised, thinking that someone of Randy's personality must be bored in the room reading adult magazines.

Forget it, let's go to the third floor first. The distribution of the third and second floors is consistent. Ellie's room is 301 and Theo's room is 302. Lloyd slowly walked to the door of room 301, thought for a while, and adjusted his thoughts by the way, Lloyd knocked lightly on the door.

Soon, Ellie's voice came from inside. "Who?"

"It's me, Lloyd. Is it convenient to bother now? ”

"Yes, yes. The door is unlocked, come in. ”

Lloyd, who had received permission, interrupted and pushed the door open.

The residents' rooms were all the same size, but Ellie's room was basically tidy up. In addition to the basic furniture, Lloyd noticed that there was also a round table in the middle of her room, covered with a light red tablecloth, which was supposed to be a small table for afternoon tea. And, more than Lloyd's room, there was a bookcase. In this way, her room was much smaller than Lloyd's, but because of its neat distribution, it looked more open than Lloyd's room with random cardboard boxes. Under the square table, the cardboard boxes were flattened and neatly stacked.

The owner of the room, Ellie McDowell, was adjusting the angle of the guide lamp in front of her desk.

Seeing Lloyd come in, Ellie casually fixed the lamp first and turned to greet him.

Ellie noticed at a glance that something was wrong with Lloyd, but it was a bit too intimate to ask directly. Ellie chose what she thought was the most appropriate. Let's talk about something casually first, let him broadcast it, and then in a relaxed atmosphere, enlighten his colleagues.

"It's finally cleaned up. You sit down first, I'll make black tea. ”

"Ah, don't bother." Lloyd understood her thoughts, but didn't say anything. Lloyd glanced at the room and said, "Looking at the room, Ellie has already come to a conclusion, right?" ”

Sure enough, it was a matter of resignation. Ellie's guess was accurate, and the young and promising investigator was now confused. That's why he wanted to ask his colleagues for their opinions.

"I hesitated before, but I decided to stay here."

"Really......"

"You seem to be still confused. However, it is no wonder that this new department ...... To be honest, it was indeed too reluctant. Ellie thought about her future career prospects, and her mood was a little sluggish.

"Reluctantly...... "......Lloyd was also silent.

"From what you know, it seems that this is a department that was formed in the midst of various obstacles and calculations, right?" Ellie analyzed, not knowing if it was for Lloyd or for herself. "It lacks legitimacy as an organization, and its purpose is not clear enough. If we can't produce results, I'm afraid that it will really be forcibly disbanded because of budget problems, right? ”

"According to common sense, that's true." Lloyd couldn't react but sigh......

"But why did Ellie decide to stay if she analyzed it so clearly?"

Do you want to refer to me? Ellie carefully organized her language.

"Because, this is a good place to observe all kinds of distorted phenomena."

"Huh?"

"Hehe, just kidding. I probably won't be working in the police system all the time. In this sense, even if I deviate from the track of my career plan, it doesn't matter much to me. ”

"That's right...... I remember, Ellie doesn't seem to have gone to police school, right? How did you get into working in the police department? ”

"Hmm...... To put it simply, it can be regarded as a social practice. By the way, the test items for joining the company were notes and shooting, and I got perfect marks for both of them, so it seems that the police headquarters can't refuse. ”

Ellie couldn't help but smile when she thought about the situation.

Lloyd also laughed: "The more I hear the moon, the more I feel that I am not a person of the same level as you......"

"Aren't you also very powerful, and it's rare to get the qualification of a search officer as a newcomer, right? Thereinto...... What's the secret, right? ”

Ellie tried to knock sideways.

"This ......" Lloyd hesitated a little.

Yes, Lloyd's ability to be a searcher is also "cheating". Although this is Lloyd's ability in the eyes of outsiders, Lloyd himself knows very well that if he does not work hard from the perspective of "Guy Bannings" but "Lloyd Bannings", he will not be able to pass the investigator examination.

Seeing his somewhat distressed look, Ellie smiled and immediately stopped the topic. "It seems that it is better to ask for more details after officially becoming a colleague."

"Yes...... Sorry to bother you. ”

"Where, where. However, in my opinion, I would prefer you to stay. ”

"Huh?"

"That said, even though we are all newcomers, there are still a lot to be desired...... However, as you did today, in the face of an unfamiliar emergency, you did a great job of being the captain. The instructions are clear, so I can provide support with peace of mind. ”

We need you. You're amazing. Ellie cryptically conveyed these two words to Lloyd.

"Haha, if you can say that, I'm really relieved. Thank you for talking to me like that. Now, let me think about it for myself. ”

"Well, that's right. Good night, Lloyd. ”

"Good night, Ellie."

Somewhat relaxed, Lloyd walked out of Ellie's room.

This time...... Theo should be asleep. Lloyd subconsciously considered Theo's actions according to the child's schedule. I'd better not bother.

Lloyd thought back to the conversation he had just had with Ellie, and he always felt as if he had untied something, and it seemed that nothing had been untied. A feeling of inexplicability.

"I remember...... There's an open-air balcony, right? Go blow the wind......"

Lloyd muttered to himself and continued to walk up the steps.