Los Angeles Legendary Sleuth

Half an hour later, Reid arrived at the scene with his team and comforted both Daisy and Luke.

Luke carefully described what had happened.

After he finished, Reid sent them both back to rest.

Luke didn't head back to the police station in his Mercedes but had Daisy drive him back to the community in a Ford Explorer.

When they reached the community square, Luke saw some kebab vendors and felt his stomach rumble.

"Park the car, I'll treat you to Chinese kebabs."

Daisy parked the car and looked curious, "How are Chinese kebabs different from Los Angeles grilled meat?"

"Chinese kebabs mainly use mutton."

Daisy shrugged, "Los Angeles barbecue also has grilled lamb chops."

"No, it's completely different. Los Angeles barbecue mainly has a black pepper flavor, while Chinese barbecue emphasizes cumin and chili, and it also has a greater variety of meats," Luke unconsciously swallowed his saliva,

"My favorite is kidney kebabs, grilled just slightly crispy, chewy, and endlessly tasty, sheer delight.

Remember, it needs to be eaten while it's hot."

"Wow, that sounds good." Daisy also swallowed, "Next time, I'll definitely take you up on your offer, but not today, okay?"

"Why?" Luke was somewhat surprised.

"Pari just contacted me," Daisy glanced at his watch, "Around this time, she might already be at my place. Buddy, it's not that I prioritize love over friendship, but she asked me first."

"Okay, see you the day after tomorrow." Luke planned to take a day off tomorrow.

As Luke got out of the car, Daisy called out, "Hey, buddy, next time I definitely won't refuse, I want to try that kidney kebabs too."

"There won't be a next time." After saying that, Luke headed for the barbecue stand.

Having been involved in a shooting and having killed a suspect, he definitely needed to vent.

People shouldn't over disguise themselves, cry if needed, laugh when wanted, rest when tired, that's normal.

Don't be fooled by feel-good aphorisms into armoring yourself too strongly.

It's undeniable that a few gifted individuals grow stronger through adversity, possessing exceptional physical strength and perseverance, but most people don't have those qualities.

Like in sports, talents differ. Invisible and intangible they may be, but the gap exists objectively and isn't subject to subjective changes.

Don't think that if someone else can do it, you can too.

This is a big misconception, people are different.

You are you, don't push yourself too hard.

Treat yourself kindly.

Of course, this doesn't mean don't try hard. Life still requires effort, but it's all about balance.

Too much is as bad as too little.

Daisy meeting Pari is also a good way to moderate emotions.

Luke also wanted to invite Daisy, but they had video-chatted the day before, and Daisy had to work overtime tonight, no time available, so they planned to dine together tomorrow.

The two are currently friends with benefits, and Luke didn't want to demand too much from her.

If he had to choose between work and hooking up, even if Daisy chose Luke once or twice, their relationship likely wouldn't last long if the demands persisted.

So, Luke decided to vent by eating meat and drinking.

Grilled mutton skewers, kidney, tendon, roasted peanuts and edamame, oysters, golden mushrooms, eggplants, grilled buns, everything available back home was also here, and Luke ordered a little of each, but not much.

Finally, he had a pint of draft beer, which felt refreshingly cool with a sip.

Drinking beer, eating skewers, Luke remembered the scenes of the gunfight.

Was he tense?

He was.

Did he feel guilty?

There was no need, as it was either him or the criminal.

Was it thrilling?

Quite thrilling.

But there were issues afterward.

The main one was that the suspect had died, potentially breaking that line of inquiry.

This was why Luke seldom emptied his magazine previously.

In Los Angeles, when officers encounter danger, they typically empty their magazines, unlike in other countries where apprehension is the primary goal.

That was fine for patrol officers, but it posed a problem for detectives:

If you kill the suspect, you can't get a confession, and the lead goes cold.

If given a choice, Luke would...

Still empty his magazine.

Solving cases is important.

But life is more important.

Luke had a Bullet-Proof Card, but Daisy didn't.

If something happened to Daisy, Luke would be guilt-ridden for life.

Of course, there were also solutions. If Luke improved his shooting skills in the future and could ensure he incapacitated the suspect's hands, disallowing them any opportunity to strike back, he might opt for apprehension.

Otherwise, for his and his partner's safety, emptying the magazine remained the prime technique.

In essence, each to their own means in adversity.

Luke downed a pint of beer and felt thoroughly revitalized, a voice inside his head announced, "Congratulations, host, for killing an armed felon, you are rewarded with 10 lottery chances."

Just ten chances, Luke wasn't too impressed and chose not to take them.

He checked his system stats.

He found his reserve funds still amounted to a huge $566,000.

This was somewhat unexpected.

Or rather, a pleasant surprise!

He had always assumed the $500,000 from the MGM Group for the Las Vegas shooting incident would be a liquid asset.

But it turned out not to be.

This was good news for him.

Luke began to study the patterns of realizations.

The first realization was buying scratch-offs, the second was buying an abandoned warehouse.

Luke had also bought scratch-offs and lottery tickets afterward, but hadn't won any more prizes.

Both realizations involved some luck, but such things couldn't happen too frequently, otherwise,

it would become too obvious.

The Las Vegas shooting incident had some coincidences initially, but Luke had subdued the culprits through his own efforts later on.