Ke-style law enforcement officers

Chapter 181 Lamplighter

"Have you caught any unscrupulous merchants disrupting market rules this time?"

Milo found Yan looking distracted in the lobby of the law enforcement office on the first floor.

“This time it’s really serious, I’m not kidding you.”

Yan was still wearing the uniform of the city guards on duty. Unlike usual, this time he didn't have a smile on his face and looked somewhat unnatural.

Knowing Yan as he did, Milo could tell at a glance that something was wrong with Yan.

"Go upstairs first."

Milo didn't inquire about the situation in the lobby, but led Yan back to his office upstairs.

He knew Yan's character all too well. Although his lifestyle was somewhat... well, extremely unscrupulous, he loved to play tricks, was irresponsible and unambitious, and indulged in smoking, drinking, and all sorts of contraband, and had a somewhat competitive and rebellious streak, aside from these flaws, Yan was still a good person. In his own words, he was a righteous person, but not entirely righteous.

Getting into trouble is a part of Yan's life.

However, most minor troubles can be resolved by his elders in his family. After all, some minor street fights are handled by the city guards. Don't forget that his brother-in-law is the manager of the city guard department in that area.

However, ever since Milo became a member of the Black Coat group, his brother-in-law's status in Yan's heart has plummeted.

Although Milo's promised trip to the pleasure house had not yet materialized, Yan knew that haste makes waste, so he kept eating other things to satisfy his cravings.

But it seems there's something wrong with the tofu today.

And it should be a big problem.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have needed to go to the law enforcement office to find Milo.

Seeing his absent-minded appearance, Milo could roughly guess that the trouble Yan had gotten himself into was probably beyond the capabilities of the city's guard department.

When he led Yan into the office, the room was empty. A notebook that was spinning around on the desk fell to the floor with a thud.

Milo glanced at the ADHD-stricken bone without leaving a trace, too lazy to explain anything to Yan, pulled over a stool to gesture for him to sit down, and began the questioning.

So, what exactly happened?

Milo looked down and rummaged through the drawer for a long time but couldn't find his pen. When he turned his head, he found that the pen had floated to his side, with the shadow of four-eyed Henry behind it.

"I'll tell you the truth, but promise me, don't rush after I tell you." Yan rubbed his hands together and asked, "Can I have a cigarette?"

"The ashtray is on the table behind you, help yourself."

Milo pulled a relatively clean and intact sheet of white paper from a pile of scraps of paper, spread it out on the table, and prepared to take a simple note. He then asked:

Why did I get anxious after listening to it?

“Because, strictly speaking, I may have done something that would warrant going to jail.” Yan lit a cigarette, took a deep drag, and that drag burned almost a quarter of the cigarette’s length.

“Uh… I think you might be making a mistake, so let’s stop talking nonsense and get straight to the point.” Milo gently shook the pen in his hand to make sure there was ink inside, then added, “Even if it’s really serious, I need to figure out the situation before I can try to get you out of trouble, right?” As soon as Milo finished speaking, he saw the junior officer Eric on the wall making a “Seriously?” gesture towards him.

Milo chose to ignore this.

"Okay father!"

Yan was very excited. He was about to put a cigarette in Milo's mouth when he spoke, but he quickly realized that Milo had already quit smoking, so he sat back down and slowly began to explain the purpose of his visit:

"First of all, you know I haven't been doing very well lately. My family used my own savings to pay the bail and made it clear that they would no longer cover any other expenses for me. I'm currently in a completely negative financial situation."

“No way, I have kids at home.” Milo squinted.

“Of course I know how much Finn can eat, so I racked my brains and came up with a new idea.” Yan said, a cigarette dangling from his lips, “I want to make a connection and get some… well, some merchants inside and outside the city to cooperate.”

"Trader? What do you sell?" Milo sensed the problem from Yan's pause, and a wicked smile appeared on his face. "Smuggled goods? Stolen goods? Weapons?"

“I prefer to call it ‘the magic leaf’,” Yan said somewhat awkwardly.

"You know your job is to guard the city, right?" Milo scratched his head with the tip of his pen and asked with a pained expression, "Also, the D Unit is right next to this office."

"No, no, no, let me finish first, let me finish first. Oh, I told you not to rush, let me finish first." Yan kept shaking his head and explained quickly, "First of all, the connection hasn't been made yet. This is just a contingency plan. The magical leaves haven't entered the city. I don't even know if they've entered the Nanwei coastline. In short, this is just an idea. Before I told you, only two people knew about this."

"You, and who else?" Milo gripped his pen, ready to take notes, waiting for Yan to give the name.

“Aya, Aya Ferguson.” Yan honestly explained, “She… well, her identity is rather complicated. Most of the time, her job is—the lamplighter, you know what I mean.”

“I understand what you mean, but I’m a little surprised, since there are very few women in this line of work.” Milo tilted his head.

Before the invention of kerosene lamps, the city streets were pitch black at night. During that "dark period," wealthy people would hire boys to walk in front of them, carrying sticks made of burning rags and tar to light their way. Usually, these boys were criminals themselves, and they would lead their employers into dark alleys to rob them.

After kerosene lamps were introduced to the streets, thousands of lamps needed to be lit in Nanwei City. A profession called lamplighter emerged, who carried ladders, wick cutters, and cans of whale oil to the city streets, extinguishing the lamps at sunrise and lighting them at sunset.

These special workers, who frequent the two most tiring times of the day in the city, are the group most likely to encounter criminals. Of course, just like the young boys who used to carry torches, lamplighters can also become robbers when the time is right, since they decide which streets are lit and which are dark.

To put it bluntly, this is a gray area profession.

They were even less popular than the city guards.

……

"So, you two hit it off immediately?" Milo was familiar with Yan's style.

"That's roughly the idea." Yan nodded honestly, then put his hands in front of his chest as a gesture, saying, "It's about this big."

The seven shadows in the office nodded in approval after seeing it.

(End of this chapter)