Staring at the email subject line, Wendy Lynch felt her heartbeat seem to stop in that instant. It took several long seconds for her to recover her senses. Taking a deep breath to calm her nerves, she glanced left and right to ensure her colleagues were all busy with their work. Only then did she carefully open the email.
Unlike yesterday’s lengthy essay, today’s email was incredibly brief. Skimming the contents at a glance, Wendy ignored the meaningless complaints and exclamations, leaving only a few sentences of useful information:
"Is this terrible luck, or good luck?
"If only I had bought the scooter tomorrow.
"The police are incredibly efficient!
"It only took them two days to help get the scooter back!
"...
"By the way, did you successfully return the new scooter?
"But honestly, the officer who handled the case was super handsome!"
She clicked into the email details again. The sender was herself, and the time was once again midnight, three days in the future. Moreover, Wendy noticed a small detail she had missed last time: the delivery time was exactly midnight today.
Quickly closing the email interface, she fell into deep thought. Although she didn’t understand what this time-traveling mailbox was all about, judging from her experiences last night and this morning, its contents were highly likely to be real. Based on the two emails she had received, she quickly deduced a pattern. The time mailbox appeared every day at midnight, and the sender’s timestamp was midnight three days in the future. The email content would involve certain events happening within those three days.
She wasn’t particularly anxious about her electric scooter being stolen. After all, the email stated that the police would retrieve her newly bought scooter in three days. However, to verify the authenticity of the email’s claims, Wendy decided to go and check the scene herself.
Wasting no time, she immediately opened the chat window with her team leader, Ms. Campbell, and typed furiously.
"Ms. Campbell, I got caught in the rain after work last night, and I think I’m running a fever now. I’d like to take half a day off to see a doctor."
A few seconds after sending the message, Ms. Campbell replied.
"Alright, take care of yourself. Remember to send a sick leave application to my email, or your perfect attendance bonus will be deducted!"
Relieved, Wendy replied with a quick "Received," grabbed her handbag, and sprinted toward the elevators. Since the mall was only two intersections away from the company, she didn’t bother hailing a cab and just walked straight there.
Ten minutes later, Wendy arrived at the Meridian Mall parking lot, staring at the empty space where she had parked.
Her mood at this moment was incredibly subtle. Instead of the frustration and anger of having her scooter stolen, she felt uncontainable excitement. In that instant, she even found herself looking forward to midnight. The sensation of peeking into the secrets of the future was simply too marvelous.
Suppressing her emotions, she immediately took out her phone and dialed the police. As Ramspire was a tier-one city, the police response time was exceptionally fast. Less than ten minutes after she hung up, a police cruiser pulled up at the entrance of the parking lot.
The doors opened, and two officers stepped out. However, upon getting a clear look at their faces, Wendy frowned slightly. Both officers were in their early forties. Although they were over six feet tall, their features were exceedingly plain. They were a far cry from "handsome," let alone "super handsome."
She wondered if her aesthetic tastes could have undergone an earth-shattering change in just three days. Shaking her head gently, Wendy ruled out that absurd possibility. That left only one answer: the timing of her police report was wrong.
Although the mall wasn’t far from the office, it was still a ten-minute walk. Logically, she never would have taken time off in the middle of her shift specifically to fetch her scooter. This meant that under normal circumstances, she would have most likely come to the mall to get her scooter after work that afternoon, discovered it was stolen, and only then called the police.
Normally, calling the emergency line went straight to the dispatch center. Once the operators assessed the situation, they would assign the most suitable available officers based on the nature of the incident. This meant that even if a report was made from the exact same location, a different time would result in different responding officers.
Wendy walked up to the two officers and clearly explained the details of the theft. Upon hearing her account, James Lowell—who had been a bit sluggish from pulling an all-nighter—instantly perked up.
An electric scooter was worth over three thousand, which classified it as a relatively large sum in terms of economic value. This was a bustling downtown area with surveillance cameras at nearly every intersection. A scooter parked last night and stolen today meant a very narrow time window, making it easy to track down the relevant security footage. The difficulty of solving such a case was extremely low.
After listening to Wendy, James Lowell’s eyes lit up, and he made an immediate decision. "Let’s go. We’ll check the mall’s security room first. We might find some clues."
Watching James march briskly inside, Wendy asked in confusion, "Officer Lowell, don’t we need to go back and file a case first?"
She had seen on short-video apps that police investigations often took a long time because they had to follow countless procedures and apply for various permits. A single procedure might not take long, but when there were many of them...
James didn’t break his stride as he smiled and explained.
"I’m the community officer for this area, and Meridian Mall happens to be under my jurisdiction, so I’m very familiar with their security department.
"I’ll take a preliminary look at the general situation first. We can catch up on the necessary paperwork back at the station later without delaying the investigation."
The three of them quickly arrived at the security room on the third floor of the mall. James greeted the on-duty security captain, who immediately welcomed him warmly.
"Officer Lowell, what brings you here today?"
"I’m helping this lady check the surveillance footage," James said. "Her electric scooter, which she parked in the outdoor lot yesterday, has gone missing. It probably happened between last night and this morning." Pointing at Wendy, he added, "It’s a window of less than twelve hours in total. Let’s first pinpoint exactly when it disappeared."
The security captain voiced his compliance and quickly pulled up the corresponding surveillance feed on the computer. Wendy leaned in close to the screen and recognized her scooter at a glance. She hastily reached out to point at the pink vehicle.
"Officer Lowell, that’s my scooter!"
James nodded. "Skip forward an hour at a time and see when it vanishes!"
Following his instructions, the security captain immediately began adjusting the timeline. In the surveillance feed, there was no movement throughout the first half of the night. It wasn’t until the timeline jumped to 3:00 AM that the electric scooter was suddenly gone.
The security captain was clearly experienced. He quickly rewound the timeline until 2:03 AM, when a man in a black hooded windbreaker appeared on the screen.
After confirming no one was around, the man in the windbreaker immediately pulled out his tools. In less than half a minute, the scooter was successfully unlocked. On the screen, the man skillfully threw his leg over the pink electric scooter, twisted the throttle, and drove off toward the North Gate of the parking lot.