Jimmy didn't have to wait long; two days later, he received a call from the law school, informing him to make a trip there.

Jimmy was still on patrol and short on time, so he called Sergeant Cage and took a two-hour leave, driving directly to the University of Arkansas at Little Rock campus in his patrol car.

In the dean's office of the law school, Jimmy met with Dean Linton again, but this time, there was a middle-aged woman in the office as well.

"Mr. Yang, this is Professor Careen Morgan from our law school. Professor Morgan will follow up on your project from here," Linton introduced.

Jimmy shook hands and greeted Professor Morgan, then sat down. This time it was Careen Morgan who inquired about the situation.

"Mr. Yang, Dean Linton has already told me about your situation and your project. I need to clarify once more, aside from purchasing raw materials, did you complete the rest of the work on your own?"

"I was the sole person responsible for purchasing and testing installations, but I did pay someone else to develop a microcontroller program with very simple functionality. I'm not knowledgeable about microcontroller programming myself."

"Did you sign any development commission agreement with that person?"

"No, but I can have him draft a commission agreement. Additionally, I already registered a technology company, so I can handle it using the company's name."

"OK, I understand the general situation. I will select two students in the next couple of days to work on your project, one focused on a patent and the other on a trademark. Please prepare your product prototype and trademark as soon as possible."

After discussing briefly with Professor Careen Morgan, Jimmy said his goodbyes and left, called Cage to check back in, and then continued with his patrol duties.

Over the following period, Jimmy frequently traveled between the law school and the police station, and under the guidance of the professors and students, he repackaged and improved his product. He finally organized the necessary documents for the patent and submitted them to the USPTO, completing the pre-application process and receiving an official acceptance notice from the USPTO.

Subsequently, it entered the substantive examination phase at the USPTO, which could take 12 to 18 months. The law school would continue to monitor the progress during this phase.

For Jimmy, he had done all he could and now just waited for the USPTO expert team to review the results. If approved, he would receive an authorization notice from them, then proceed with patent formalities and payments. If not, he would be notified to defend his patent to meet the experts' review requirements.

From Professor Morgan, he learned that based on their search in the USPTO, there were no patents filed for LED light source-based police and civilian warning lights. It looked promising; all that was required was patience, and if the USPTO efficiency improved, the patent might be granted ahead of schedule.

After saying goodbye to the law school's influential figures, Jimmy returned to his patrol duties at the police station more at ease, using his rest time to buy more materials to refine the police lights.

Jimmy planned to modify his police car as a demonstration. Of course, he first needed to get the approval of Chief James. For now, not daring to directly modify his patrol car, Jimmy was perfecting the long bar police light while creating a small prototype suction top light for his personal car as a backup since he was still a patrol officer and not authorized to patrol in his personal car.

Jimmy was now on a night shift; it was April, and the weather was warming up. For Arkansas, temperatures in April were quite pleasant—above 20 degrees during the day and above 10 degrees at night. Such weather only required a light jacket to stay warm at night, but it was slightly inconvenient for policemen since they still had to wear soft bullet-proof vests.

During his breaks on night patrols, Jimmy would find a secluded spot, undo his bullet-proof vest to make himself more comfortable. The vests were tight-fitting and not breathable, which was fine for warming during the winter but started to cause headaches from spring onwards. By the end of his patrol, the undershirt beneath his vest would be soaked with sweat.

As Jimmy aired out and smoked, he suddenly heard a muffled gunshot. Having been in the United States for over half a year, he no longer mistook gunshots for the sound of fireworks. He quickly put on his bullet-proof vest, dove into his car, grabbed the radio to report his situation and location, then pulled out his handgun and moved towards the direction of the gunfire.

Judging from the sound of the gunfire, he could tell it wasn't far because of the woods in the area—if it were farther away, the trees' sound-muffling properties would have blocked the noise. What was uncertain now was what type of gun had been fired, as the sound was too muffled, suggesting it was inside a house or a somewhat enclosed space.

Jimmy turned on his flashlight, holding the flashlight in his left hand and his gun in his right, pointing forward as he started to search left and right.

Jimmy's resting place was next to a small grove, on a small path by the edge. The gunfire had come from the direction of the grove. Given the normal range of a gunshot, the shooting location was no more than 100 meters from him—a comparably close distance.

The grove was not very dense, and Jimmy walked into the grove. After about 20 meters or so, a small cabin appeared in his field of vision.

The cabin appeared quite old. The corners illuminated by the flashlight were covered in moss. Jimmy circled the cabin without sighting anyone. It was too dark; aside from the areas lit by his flashlight, he couldn't see anything else. He leaned against the cabin wall, closed his eyes, and began to construct an image of his surroundings.

Jimmy turned his head, sensing all around him. No one was there; he looked directly through the cabin walls to check inside. There was a human-shaped shadow on the floor, no one else, and some straight lines around, likely furniture.

Jimmy approached the cabin door, put on gloves, and pulled at it. The door was unlocked, so he pulled it open directly.

There was a body on the floor, a middle-aged woman, died from a gunshot wound to the back of the head. Her hands and feet weren't bound, which likely ruled out an execution-style shooting, potentially a familiar person shooting her from behind.

Jimmy exited the cabin, closed the door, returned to his patrol car to report the situation, then began the long wait.

A murder case was not something that a couple of people could handle. Sergeant Cage, Officer Noah, and part-time coroner Dr. Kevin Smith from the county coroner's office came, accompanied by two assistants.

Jimmy led them to the grove and the cabin, then waited outside. It was too dark, and with the grove around, it was impossible to inspect any footprints until daylight. The coroner and Cage inspected inside; after about half an hour, the two assistants carried the body out on a stretcher to the ambulance parked outside.

Dr. Smith took off his gloves and told Cage, "It's too late today, come to the coroner's office for the report tomorrow," then he followed the ambulance as it left.