Just in an instant.

The wild antics after drinking last night flashed through Gu Ji’s mind like a fast-forwarded movie, "Ah... damn, I’m screwed, what the hell did I do!"

"That was Chen Zhiyu, the girl who grew up playing with you since you were kids!"

He threw off the blanket and saw his bare body, but was relieved to find he was still wearing a pair of blue shorts. Thankfully, nothing too extreme had happened.

But when he thought of Chen Zhiyu, he didn’t know how to face her.

How is he supposed to look her in the eye after this?

"However, judging by Chen Zhiyu’s tone on the phone just now, does she not remember, or is she pretending not to know?"

Gu Ji quickly dismissed the former.

Chen Zhiyu had woken up before him and was the first to witness the "scene of the crime". Just by looking at their clothes, she could roughly guess what happened last night. After all, she’s a national security intelligence officer; if she didn’t have at least that level of analytical skill, she would’ve been fired long ago.

"She’s probably doing this to avoid awkwardness. Sigh, Gu Ji, you’re such an idiot!!"

Even though he said this, when Gu Ji looked at the black lace bow in his hand, he couldn’t help but feel a bit of a thrill, especially that burning sensation.

He swallowed dryly.

He turned around, opened the secret compartment beneath the nightstand, and carefully placed the bow inside, closing it with a "click".

"Click, click, click..."

Chen Zhiyu walked down the street in a daze, and plopped down on a bench in the corner, "Agh... I’m going crazy!"

Even though she acted completely normal a moment ago, she was actually forcing herself.

In reality, she remembered every detail of last night clearly.

"What do I do, Chen Zhiyu, you crazy woman, why’d you drink so much for no reason..." Embarrassed, her cheeks flushed as she stomped her foot, "So annoying!"

"But I think I pulled it off just fine. Judging by his confused tone, Gu Ji probably doesn’t know what happened last night, so let’s pretend nothing happened!"

She muttered to herself, but she didn’t know why.

Every time she thought of last night, her heart would start racing...

In the morning, after a cold shower and sobering up, Gu Ji tidied up the inside and outside of the house, then made a video call to his mom and talked about going to Jinbang for special training.

Dong Ying in the video looked visibly healthier than the last time he went back to Jingzhou.

Perhaps as time passed, she was slowly coming to terms with the incident involving his dad.

"Gu Ji, it’s much colder in Jinbang during winter than in Ningzhou. Remember to stay warm and don’t catch a cold, because with a cold and altitude sickness, training could easily lead to problems!"

"Don’t worry, Mom. This training is arranged jointly by the provincial departments of the seven provinces and one city in Xia Dong. They’ll have all the necessary clothes, bedding, heating prepared, so you don’t need to worry about me."

Gu Ji grinned wide, displaying a sunny, silly smile, "Oh, and I won’t be back for New Year, so I’ll have Chen Zhiyu keep you company."

"How is Xiaoyu doing lately?"

"Ahem, she... she’s doing well. She’s been busy with cases lately, and we just had dinner last night."

"That’s good. Although Xiaoyu is independent by nature, she’s still a girl. You should look after her more often and by no means bully her, got it? Or else you’ll be in big trouble with me!"

"Yes, yes, yes, oh Mom, I have another call coming in, I’ll call you back tonight!"

After hastily ending the video call, Gu Ji finally breathed a sigh of relief.

He feared that if the conversation continued in this direction, he might slip up. If his mom found out, given her tigress-like nature, she might not hesitate to fly to Jinbang and give him a good thrashing.

After lunch, in the afternoon Gao Bo sent a WeChat message saying that Wu Kang was asking them to go training at the police training base.

The three chatted with one another.

Unexpectedly, Wu Kang was also interviewed by the prosecutor’s office, and they even discussed the Dragon and Tiger Assault Team.

"So you’re attending the Jinbang training too?"

"Yeah," Wu Kang looked at their expressions, "I told you, how could something like this not involve you two? That’s actually why I called you this afternoon—to discuss how to handle it. I feel like this training is much more challenging than the police training or the Xiangzhou exchange seminar."

Gao Bo briefly recapped their chat from the office yesterday afternoon to the other two.

"High-cold, high-altitude training, this sounds like a course from an Army mountain division, do we, as special police, even need this?"

Wu Kang felt a little apprehensive inside.

Unlike Gu Ji and Gao Bo, he was born and raised in Ningzhou and had never experienced the winter heavy snowfall and piercing wind like those two, who were northerners accustomed to high-cold winter life.

"The main goal is to further enhance our endurance, to adapt our bodies to the oxygen-deficient environment of the plateau, improve respiratory and cardiovascular system functions, and increase aerobic metabolic capacity."

Speaking, Gu Ji inserted the training magazine into the tactical vest.

"The Dragon and Tiger Assault Team is one of the ’Top Ten National Counter-Terrorism Special Police Teams’ selected by the National Anti-Terrorism Office and the Ministry of Public Security. The missions they undertake are extremely difficult, and the criminals they face are ruthless and vicious. To better handle this, naturally, our weapons and protective gear need to be upgraded, and the weight each individual carries will increase, so boosting endurance is imperative."

"Also, as seen in the last Xiangzhou exchange seminar, the SDU Flying Tiger Team’s gear changed from black to camouflage, possibly to accommodate mountain counter-terrorism and transitioning towards militarized special forces. This actually represents the future direction of counter-terrorism."