My Early Exit Made the Junior Detective Snap

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.