A week later, Jimmy returned to the repair shop with brand-new police lights, having already gained the prior permission of Chief James. Jimmy and Cage's patrol cars were the first to undergo the replacement.

Due to the different structure of the new lights and the lack of pre-existing space for them on the cars, Jimmy and his team had to resort to brute force. They drilled holes at the edges of the engine hoods to mount the brackets and installed 10-centimeter-long bar lights above the headlights, one on each side, with similar installations around the rear lights, but drilling into the sides of the trunk lids instead, then using right-angle brackets to mount the police lights above the rear lights.

Beneath the top-mounted lights were four fixed positions, three aligning horizontally under the lights, with a T-shaped bracket extending from the middle to stabilize them to prevent swaying. After redesigning the setup, they drilled again to secure the brackets.

The center rearview mirror's placement was tricky, so Jimmy opted for a horizontally placed setup on the dashboard, using two suction cups to secure it on the dashboard surface, which, despite the windshield interference, still allowed for sufficient lighting.

As for the power source, modifying the car's existing wiring was too drastic and not worth the effort, so they continued using a separate car battery, secured in the trunk, with wires running to the cockpit.

After completing the modifications, Jimmy and Cage drove their patrol cars back to the police station. Although the workmanship was still roughly industrial, it was much better than the previous versions Jimmy had crafted by hand.

The next day, Jimmy arrived at the police station early. Today marked the first patrol with the new police lights, intended not only to showcase their performance but also to gather public suggestions and feedback.

However, at that moment, Jimmy encountered an awkward situation. His patrol car had been modified, but he was excluded from the authorization to use it because he had designed the lights. It was deemed unfair to let him collect feedback, and so he was stripped of his right to use the patrol car.

Noah happily drove away Jimmy's patrol car, leaving Jimmy no choice but to use Noah's. Since he was constantly worried about the actual performance of the new lights, Jimmy was not in the mood to patrol and essentially slacked off.

When he returned to the station that evening, Cage and Noah had already arrived.

They weren't the only ones; Chief James was also there, standing next to the patrol cars, surrounded by a few "onlookers." There was a reporter interviewing the chief, with a videographer filming nearby.

Considering the setup, the debut of the new police lights had clearly gone well, and Jimmy felt satisfied, realizing his custom-designed lights were likely to sell well.

Jimmy parked the patrol car in the parking lot, entered the station through the back door, returned his gear, and went to the locker room to change clothes.

By the time he came out, the chief's interview had ended, and the chief was casually chatting with the reporter in the office while the videographer idly flipped through a newspaper in the lobby.

Jimmy didn't disturb them and slipped away; there was no need to inquire about the results today as he would naturally be informed when he returned to the station the next day.

The next day, Jimmy learned at the station that the previous day's interview had already aired that evening. As for the footage currently being broadcast, it was too soon, and without results, Jimmy didn't pay attention to it and focused on his regular duties.

Today, his patrol car was back, and he could head out with the new lights, but then he immediately regretted it.

As soon as he hit the highway, nearby cars intentionally or unintentionally followed him for a while or simply drove alongside him for a bit. When he parked his patrol car at the roadside, passing people came over to greet him, a treatment he had never experienced before.

It seemed that last night's promotion by the chief had been effective and that people were very receptive to new things, with some even taking out cameras to photograph the patrol car.

Jimmy couldn't be bothered with them; as long as they didn't stand next to the patrol car, he ignored them. For safety reasons, it was best not to have people standing near the car, given the rampant overspread of firearms in the United States, as no one knew if a lunatic would approach Jimmy at close range.

Just then, the dispatch center called, and Jimmy immediately activated the police lights and sirens and drove off. Being the center of attention always made him uncomfortable; fundamentally, it was a lack of security.

A standard emergency call, a lady had heard noises in her house and locked herself in her second-floor bedroom, calling 911 for the police to check it out.

People calling in after hearing strange noises were quite common: some were false alarms from hallucinations, others were break-ins or robberies, and a significant portion were just stray cats or dogs entering the yard or house, necessitating calls to animal control, which was annoying. Each case taking half an hour to an hour not only delayed other work but was also exceedingly dull.

After Jimmy arrived at the destination, he saw the caller's home, with no cars parked at the entrance. From the front, the door and windows were shut, and there was no damage to the glass on the doors or windows.

Jimmy got out of the patrol car and walked around the house from the neighbor's side, discovering nothing unusual from the outside.

"Adam28 calling the dispatch center, is it possible to contact the caller? I've arrived, but there's no issue outside the house, and nobody else seems to be around."

"Dispatch center received. The caller's phone has been hung up, and there was no answer when we called back just now."

"Adam28 received, I'm going inside to check."

Jimmy drew his revolver and went to the door, activating Heart Eye Observation to check inside the house. There was nothing abnormal on the first floor, a person was lying on the bed on the second floor, likely an incident had occurred, and there were no other human silhouettes detected in the other rooms.

"Plaskey County Police, open up, is anyone there?" Oh, Jimmy still had to follow the protocol. As he peeked through the windows and saw nothing amiss inside, he had no reason to break in.

After calling out several times and receiving no response, Jimmy checked the door, which was locked. He kicked it open and entered, with Heart Eye Observation revealing only vague gray lines—many details were unclear. He surveyed the situation on the first floor, then went directly to the second-floor bedroom.

Indeed, there had been an incident: a woman's corpse lay on the bed, shot in the head, her cellphone by the bed, not yet fallen to the floor, possibly having slid there from her hand. There was a bullet hole in the wall above the headboard. Other parts of the room looked undisturbed; if only this scene were considered, it was undoubtedly a deliberate homicide rather than an accidental killing during a robbery.

Jimmy immediately went back downstairs to his patrol car.

"Adam28 to dispatch, the caller is dead, shot in the head, no one else found in the room. Please send an ambulance and contact the coroner and Sergeant Cage for support."

A homicide case meant Jimmy certainly couldn't handle it alone. He called for Sergeant Cage to come, and with Cage taking responsibility, Jimmy was free to slack off.

The ambulance arrived early but since it was confirmed the victim was dead, they weren't in a rush. They waited outside with Jimmy until Cage arrived to avoid disturbing the crime scene when moving the body.