Reborn: The Rookie Detective

Natasha clearly noticed that Jack was a novice, clumsily even packing up the climbing ropes, so she enthusiastically shared a few tips. Just as the two were chatting happily, Natasha's sister successfully summited and curiously joined their conversation.

Compared to Natasha, who looked to be in her early twenties, Talia looked no more than 18, with a few freckles on her face and a more innocent personality. The two were about the same height and build, wearing tight-fitting sports vests, one red and one yellow, showcasing their long legs and slender waists.

As the sun gradually set, Jack finished packing up, said goodbye to the two Russian girls, and returned to the campsite, where many tents had already been set up.

He stuffed his backpack into his Firebird sports car, put on his shirt, took out a tent, and began studying the instructions.

This was the drawback of never having participated in Boy Scouts; he had absolutely no camping experience. Fortunately, this was a tourist destination with good internet, so he directly video-called Hannah for help.

Finally, before dark, Jack had settled on a place to sleep for the night. He used a folding shovel to make a shallow trench around the tent and sprinkled sulfur powder, a snake and insect repellent, into it.

He could remain unfazed by highly decomposed corpses in the morgue, but the thought of Hannah's scare tactics — that someone camping in the wilderness could wake up to find a large, cold, slippery snake sleeping in their sleeping bag — sent a chill down his spine.

As the sun set and the desert temperature began to drop, Jack lit the alcohol stove, took out two chilled steaks from the cooler, and started preparing dinner.

Although he wasn't picky about other things, he was increasingly adopting Chris's taste when it came to this. These Angus steaks from Texas, after being aged and carefully marinated, tasted exceptionally good.

"Privet, it's nice to see you again, Jack."

Two Russian girls greeted him from beside him. Jack, sitting cross-legged on a tarpaulin, intently grilling steaks, had already noticed someone approaching. Hearing their greeting, he turned and flashed a professional smile.

The western sky was ablaze with the glow of the setting sun. From Jack's perspective, the two beautiful Russian girls' incredibly long, smooth legs, bathed in the sunset's glow, were a feast for the eyes.

"Where are your companions?" Jack looked at the burgundy GMC Sierra pickup truck behind them. Its imposing appearance, combined with the two long-legged beauties and the sunset behind them, made them look like they were filming a car commercial.

Talia, somewhat annoyed, cursed in Russian, "They tried to…"

"Shut up, Talia, don't swear!" Her sister, Natasha, interrupted her, turning to Jack in a gentler tone.

"There was a small scuffle. We chased them away."

Jack had noticed the other three men in the climbing team were a bit mixed up when they first met — two of one ethnicity and one of another. So when Natasha came over to chat, she sensed the unfriendly looks from the three men behind her and they intentionally revealed their identities to her.

"How did you end up with these kinds of people?" Jack asked, seemingly unintentionally.

The seemingly innocent Talia complained indignantly. The gist of it was that the three men were from the same climbing club as them and often fawned over them.

This time, the two sisters had come to the famous Hidden Valley to climb after their exams. Worried about the safety of two single women camping in the wild, they agreed to let the three men come along, but they didn't expect to attract three troublemakers instead.

Jack was speechless. Only Russian girls are so carefree.

He pointed to his Firebird sports car. "That's my car. Move your pickup truck over here. You can pitch the tent here tonight; it won't be a problem."

Natasha nodded and went to move the car. Talia circled Jack's Firebird, her eyes filled with envy.

"Are all LA police this rich?" she asked Jack a barrage of questions about his modified car. Jack was somewhat surprised that this young Russian girl knew so much about cars. But looking at their $100,000-plus vehicle, they certainly seemed like wealthy and leisurely rich kids.

Jack handed Talia a stainless steel plate and gave her a piece of steak to try. The young Russian girl took it without hesitation and took a bite, then squinted her eyes happily.

Seeing that she finished the steak in a few bites, he figured she was quite hungry, so he took two more pieces from the cooler. They would be passing through Phoenix tomorrow anyway, so they could replenish their supplies then.

After parking the car, Natasha called her sister to help set up the tent. Jack felt he couldn't be of much help with that, so he simply told them to come over and eat when they were done.

It was clear the sisters were quite skilled at this; he finished cooking the steak on one side, and the tent was already set up on the other.

Trouble ensued. While the two sisters enjoyed their meal and the three chatted casually, Jack noticed something amiss. He straightened up and turned to look at the three men in the distance, carrying baseball bats and crowbars, approaching menacingly.

Some campers nearby also turned to look; clearly, people enjoy watching the spectacle regardless of location. Two beautiful Russian women were already attracting attention, and Jack's Firebird and their burgundy GMC Sierra pickup truck were also conspicuous, drawing curious glances from passersby.

Seeing Jack suddenly stand up, Natasha looked up in confusion, following his gaze. Her expression changed, and she put down her plate, calling to her sister, "Talia!"

Just as Jack was about to greet them, the two Russian women ran to the pickup truck, took a gun case from the back seat, and opened it to reveal a pink rifle.

Jack's eye twitched slightly.

The three men approaching aggressively, their view blocked by the pickup truck due to the angle, didn't see this and assumed the two girls were scared and trying to hide in the car.

Typical Russian girls, incredibly fierce.

Jack quickly stopped the two Russian girls from loading their magazines. "Leave it to me. You'll get into big trouble like this."

The sisters exchanged a hesitant glance. Although they had heard him claim to be an LAPD officer and had seen his well-defined muscles, without the dark blue uniform, Jack's smile, making him look like Clark Kent from the old American TV series with glasses — appearing easy to bully.