This chapter opens with a flashback to the previous chapter, in which the narrator explains that he did not want to go to the meeting of the quadratic elements development committee because he was too busy with his own affairs. He then tells the story of how he had gone to the police station the day before to see zhen xi, but when he arrived, he found that the first floor window had been broken and that the floor was stained with blood. The police officer asks the narrator if he has any evidence, and the narrator tells him that he is the top suspect in the case. He also tells the police officer that his identity cannot be revealed like that of other ordinary people, and that he works hard to serve the country. The officer asks why the narrator is so excited, and he replies that he demeaned himself to join the meeting. He tells the officer to be clear on the public and individual benefit, and to put the community's benefit ahead of the individual's. He says that he has received a letter of invitation from zhen, but he has nothing to say about it. The narrator is captivated by the story and bribes the assistant to read about it on the phone.