I'm Caleb Jennings. When I announce my early retirement, everyone in the city cheers. Only Nathan Sloan, my junior from the police academy, who claims to be able to see things from the criminal's perspective, panics at the news.

During the party organized in his honor, he openly states his intention to find me.

"I owe my success to the guidance Caleb Jennings has provided me all along. I hope everyone can help me find him and bring him back into the police force."

Scoffing, I choose to ignore that.

…

In my previous life, I was the celebrated captain of a criminal investigation team. Yet, whenever I uncovered a clue, Nathan, a rookie in the city police department, would announce it first, beating me to it.

After multiple incidents like this, everyone started saying that I was past my prime.

To prove myself, I worked myself to the bone for three months before finally locating the hideout of a human trafficking ring. However, when I arrived on the scene with my team, Nathan had already swept through the place.

He was launched into stardom, becoming the rising star detective that everyone adored.

As for me, the public mercilessly tore me apart, labeling me as incompetent and shaming me.

Due to the pressure from work and the negative public opinion directed at me, my mind was distracted. I ended up getting killed while hunting down the remnants of the trafficking ring.

When I open my eyes again, I find that I'd gone back in time—to the day we launch a raid on the human traffickers' hideout.

"Everything is ready, sir. We can move out as soon as you give the order."

Hearing that familiar voice jolted me out of my daze, and to my shock, I realized I'd actually been reborn.

"We've been on this case for three whole months! Once it's over, we must go for drinks."

My teammates, who were beside me, were buzzing with excitement, their expressions marked with exhaustion and eager anticipation.

However, my throat tightened. I didn't know how to respond to their enthusiasm. I knew that we weren't going to be the heroes in this case.

However, regardless of that, I quickly checked my watch. It was ten minutes before our scheduled departure.

"Move out now. We'll take the side path on the west and try to get there as fast as possible!" I commanded.

Everyone stared at me in confusion, but I couldn't explain things to them. All I could do was watch the time with growing anxiety.

When we reached our target location, my heart sank.

Nathan Sloan had already led a team of city police officers straight into the human traffickers' hideout. We were still a step too late.

The surveillance officer from my team froze for a moment before immediately setting up the monitoring equipment. Once he saw the feed, he flew into a panic.

"Why are the officers from the city police charging in like that? There are traps all over the left wing that we planted beforehand!"

Upon hearing that, everyone's faces turned pale. They immediately scrambled to get out of the van and help out.

However, I stopped them and kept my eyes fixed on the monitors.

On screen, Nathan was barreling forward with his team, but he was able to perfectly avoid every trap we'd laid out as well as every spot we'd marked where the traffickers might launch an ambush.

Everyone around me exchanged looks.

I immediately switched to the feed from the drone. The parents of the kidnapped children were already halfway up the mountain.

Taking a deep breath, I stopped my colleagues, who were still preparing to get out of the vehicle.

"Let's pull out."

The same thing had happened in my previous life. It took my team and me three months to find the hideout, but Nathan discovered it in three days. He even rushed in before us to rescue the kidnapped children.

Once the parents arrived and tearfully reunited with their children, they started venting all their fear and rage from this period of time on my colleagues and me.

"The state police were assigned to this case because it's a major one! Why weren't you guys able to find this place even after three months, but the city police managed to locate it in three days after helping out with the investigation?"

"Are you all idiots? What a bunch of useless police officers!"

"If it weren't for you guys, our children wouldn't have had to suffer for so long! How are you going to make up for that?"

Once the ball started rolling, it didn't stop.

All of the parents surrounded us, hurling abuse at us. Some of the more emotional ones even grabbed stones off the ground and threw them at us, drawing blood.

As the captain of the team, I came forward to publicly reveal the work and effort we'd put into solving the case in the past three months—but Nathan beat me to it.

He called a press conference, during which he claimed he had the ability to see things from the criminal's perspective. Then, as if speaking out of righteous indignation, he added, "It's normal that Caleb Jennings, my senior back at the police academy, couldn't solve the case as quickly since he doesn't have the unique ability I have.

"But the last time I dropped by the state police headquarters, I saw Caleb and his colleagues playing cards on top of the pile of folders regarding the case. That doesn't seem quite appropriate either."

As soon as he said that, the crowd broke into an uproar.

Stupefied, I wanted to go up the stage to set the record straight, but Samuel Lowry, the instructor at the police academy who taught Nathan and me, stopped me.

Wagging his finger at me, he fumed with a heartbroken expression, "Now that you've made a name for yourself, you've forgotten all about why you became a police officer in the first place! I'm so disappointed in you!"

There was nothing I could say to defend myself. The public started calling me a useless and corrupt police officer.

Even until the day I died, I couldn't figure out how Nathan always managed to uncover the same clues and locate the culprit just a single step before I did.

As I recalled everything that happened in my previous life, my head pounded.

Now that I had the chance to start over, I was going to get to the bottom of things and prevent the tragedy from happening again.

The whole ride back, everyone's faces were grim. No one said anything.

Once we were back at the headquarters, I heard their frustrated voices coming out from the restroom as I passed by.

"So we spent three months working our butts off to solve the case, only for the city police to be the ones who ended up with all the credit?"

"Isn't Captain Jennings supposed to be a genius detective? Why hasn't he solved a single case since I got transferred to the state police department?"

"It's very strange that Captain Jennings told us to pull out just now. Could it be that what they're saying is true? That his heart isn't in the right place anymore?"

More and more doubtful questions reached my ears.

Clenching my jaw, I went back to my office and sat there thinking for quite some time.

Nathan and I were mentored by the same person. It was understandable for us to share similar trains of thought and investigation methods, but how could every single one be exactly the same?

And what about the way Mr. Lowry leveled those accusations at me out of nowhere in my previous life…

With this in mind, I tightened my fists and called up a friend in the city police department. Claiming to want to learn from them, I asked for the notes from their case analysis.

The moment I saw the first picture, a chill ran down my spine. It was a picture of the case outline that Nathan had drawn up on the whiteboard, and it included information for an innocent passerby whom I'd looked into briefly.

How could it be? Did Nathan suspect the same passerby, too?

However, that passerby was someone I'd run into by coincidence during a solo investigation. I'd only taken note of him out of caution. Even my teammates didn't know about him.

Feeling quite incredulous, I started flipping through the rest of the notes. Then, with trembling hands, I unlocked my drawer and pulled out the notebook I used to record my case notes.

Page by page, I compared it to the notes sent over from the city police. By the time I was done with that, I slumped against my chair in shock.

Everything from the investigation process to the profiles of the offenders, and even the sketches of the crime scene, was identical!

How was that possible?

Forcing myself to stay calm, I tried to sift through my memories and see if there'd been any detail I might've missed.

All of a sudden, my superior, Chief Hudson, came barging into my office, disrupting my thoughts.

"Caleb, the culprit behind the 715 serial murder case has struck again! Head to the crime scene with your team now!"

Since a life was at stake, I immediately cast aside all my thoughts and rushed over with my team.

Once we arrived, I crouched down beside the deceased victim. I was busy looking for clues when I noticed that Tina Anderson, who was supposed to be analyzing the blood splatters, was secretly glancing around instead.

When she noticed my puzzled expression, she shyly scratched her head, saying, "I just wanted to see if the team from the city police came over yet…"

Even though she didn't say anything else, I figured out what she meant.

Ever since Nathan joined the city police department, we hadn't solved a single case independently for months. Everyone had been under a great deal of pressure.

However, even after we'd wrapped things up at the crime scene and left, there was no sign of Nathan anywhere. I couldn't help but exhale in relief as well. At least we were a step ahead of him this time.

After work, I declined my colleagues' offer to head home together. Instead, I stayed at the office and spread all the files for the serial murder case across my desk.

Before getting started, I instinctively reached for my usual notebook. But I paused in thought before putting it away again.

Although I still didn't know how Nathan did it, I dared not use that notebook anymore.

I grabbed a few sheets of scrap paper from a colleague's desk and scribbled my thoughts on them. I worked through the entire night, much to my colleagues' shock when they came back to work the next day.

Despite my exhaustion from a sleepless night, my eyes were unusually bright. "I found an incriminating piece of evidence that the murderer left behind yesterday!"

Everyone was excited. To save time, I started leading them straight to the suspect's house, explaining, "The crux of this case is the murderer's use of the knife this time…"

However, the moment I stepped outside the headquarters, my phone started vibrating.

I pulled it out and took a look. Immediately, the latest headlines burned a hole in my eyes.

"Rising Star Detective, Nathan Sloan, Cracks Another Unsolved Case—Nabbing the Culprit Behind the 715 Serial Murder Case!"

In the attached photo, Nathan was looking at the camera while holding up an evidence bag. Inside it was the same serrated knife I'd marked as the crucial piece of evidence just this morning!

I could hardly believe my eyes. Hands trembling, I clicked on the link to Nathan's interview.

During the interview, Nathan faced the reporters' pressing questions with a calm smile, openly stating that he had a special ability to see things from the murderer's perspective.

Using that ability, he was able to identify the unique serrated knife and used that to lock down the culprit.

The reporters had a field day.

"He can actually see things from the murderer's perspective! No wonder Officer Sloan always solves cases first."

"The criminals in our city better watch out now. No one can escape Officer Sloan's eyes!"

While the other reporters were buzzing over the news, one of them stood up and asked keenly, "Since you entered the police force, Captain Jennings, who had a solid reputation before, hasn't solved a single case. What's your take on that?"

My team, who'd noticed my sudden pause, leaned in to see the interview as well, just in time to hear Nathan's response to that question.

"It's normal that Caleb is slower than I am when it comes to solving cases. After all, he doesn't have my special ability. Nevertheless, he has always guided me in the pursuit of this profession.

"Even before I graduated, he would often bring me tricky cases to discuss, and it's because of him that I've been able to improve my skills a lot."

His response caused an immediate uproar.

The comment section for the interview was flooded with outrage from the people.

"Stop thanking him, you silly guy. Caleb Jennings has been using you!"

"Poor Nate. He's been using his abilities to solve so many cases, only for someone else to steal all the credit. I pity him so much."

There was also all sorts of vitriol thrown at me.

"Do you have no shame? How can you step on others to rise up the ranks, huh?"

"I suggest conducting a full audit on this so-called genius detective's cases. Maybe he was just plagiarizing other people's work all along!"

"I've already submitted a report. How can someone like him be a police captain?"

I couldn't tear my eyes off the insults hurled my way. Even when I returned to my desk, my body was shaking, and my head was dizzy.

I forced myself to calm down, but when I looked up, I saw suspicious looks on everyone's faces.

"Is everything Nathan said true, Captain Jennings?"

My nails dug into my palms.

"Do you guys not believe me either?"

They all exchanged looks before looking away in silence.

Behind me, Tina grabbed the sheets of scrap paper I'd used to make my notes on the case last night.

"Look at this! Everything Captain Jennings wrote here is the same as what Nathan said at the interview today!"

The papers were passed around the office. Even more looks of doubt, shock, and disgust came my way.

I was just about to defend myself when a thunderous roar shook the office.

"That's enough! What's the point of arguing here, huh? Do you think things aren't bad enough as it is?"

Chief Hudson stormed up to me and yanked me toward the door by force.

"You're going to head over to Nathan's interview right now and explain things to everyone. Otherwise, not only will our department be affected, but your career will be ruined as well!"