At nine o’clock in the evening, San Jiang Kou Public Security Bureau Director Qi Zhenxing hurriedly returned to the unit, called Director Zhao into his office, and immediately asked: “Zhang Yi’ang captured Mei Dong?”

“Yes, he personally caught him. Everyone’s saying that when the Criminal Investigation Team was arresting Mei Dong, he slipped away, but ended up being intercepted by Zhang Yi’ang alone. He wasn’t carrying weapons at the time either. Mei Dong had a dagger on him. Zhang Yi’ang just bare-handedly fought with him, subdued the person, and locked him in a garbage container.” Even as Director Zhao said this, he couldn’t help but find Zhang Yi’ang’s ability incredible.

Qi Zhenxing clicked his tongue slightly: “How so fast? Yesterday he just said he’d use Yang Wei to lure Mei Dong. Just one day, and the person is caught.”

“Apparently Mei Dong was already in the country. After Yang Wei contacted him last night, he rushed to San Jiang Kou today.”

Qi Zhenxing nodded: “Catching Mei Dong is a big deal. This person not only runs casinos domestically and abroad but is also involved in large-scale cross-border money laundering. Higher authorities have mentioned him multiple times and even sent people to work with Macau police to catch him, but there’s been no progress all along. This time he finally fell into our San Jiang Kou hands.”

Director Zhao closed the door, furrowed his brow, and sighed quietly: “Director Qi, you can’t put it that way. Yesterday you bore tremendous pressure, explaining to higher authorities and the government the plan to release Yang Wei. And now? Zhang Yi’ang didn’t even report to you before catching the person. By rights, such an important arrest operation should have been commanded by you and executed by him. But now? Everyone knows he single-handedly captured Mei Dong, but who knows the efforts you made behind the scenes?” Director Zhao slapped the back of his hand against his palm, feeling distressed for Qi Zhenxing.

Qi Zhenxing’s brow twitched. For such a high-level arrest operation by the Criminal Investigation Team to completely bypass him—of course he was very unhappy inside.

In government units, the top leader being sidelined wasn’t uncommon, but it generally happened to parachuted-in leaders. Qi Zhenxing was originally the director, and Zhang Yi’ang was the one who parachuted in. But in just over a month, the Criminal Investigation Brigade, which originally reported to him on matters both big and small, now only looked to Zhang Yi’ang for leadership.

He sighed deeply, only able to console himself: “Mei Dong’s arrival in San Jiang Kou happened suddenly. Probably they didn’t have time to tell me.”

“Catching someone isn’t a one-second affair. Can’t they squeeze out the time for one phone call? This clearly shows they wanted to bypass you and monopolize the credit. If you hadn’t explained to the government about releasing Yang Wei to catch the big fish, would the government have agreed to release him? Wouldn’t they be even more suspicious that the Public Security Bureau is Yang Wei’s protective umbrella? Zhang Yi’ang didn’t notify you before catching the person but immediately notified the Provincial Public Security Department after catching him. This fundamentally shows he doesn’t put you in his eyes!”

“He notified the Provincial Department first?”

“Yes! Even reporting merit to superiors should go through you. When is it his turn?”

Qi Zhenxing forcibly explained: “Zhang Yi’ang is different from others. His personnel relations are still at the provincial level, and Deputy Director Gao is his old leader. It’s not strange for him to directly notify the Provincial Department.”

“No matter where his personnel relations are, he works in San Jiang Kou, and you’re the top leader. It should be you, the director, first reporting success to the superior Municipal Public Security Bureau, then the superior city reports to the Provincial Department! Last time catching Li Feng, it happened suddenly, so that’s understandable. But this time catching Mei Dong—clearly it’s the entire unit’s achievement—yet he bypassed you again. Why!” Director Zhao said fiercely, “If this continues, Director, you won’t be able to command the entire Criminal Investigation Team.”

Qi Zhenxing gritted his teeth, puffing out his cheeks, remaining silent.

Locally, the Criminal Investigation Team had always been the most powerful department in Public Security. If he couldn’t command the detectives, Qi Zhenxing’s directorship would be greatly devalued.

Qi Zhenxing secretly resolved in his heart—if he didn’t teach Zhang Yi’ang a lesson, he would really become completely arrogant!

Tonight the Criminal Investigation Team successfully captured Mei Dong. The atmosphere throughout the entire Public Security Bureau was as lively as a festival. Just now, the director of the superior Municipal Public Security Bureau had personally made an open video call to verbally commend the Criminal Investigation Team, especially affirming the key role that chief commander Zhang Yi’ang played before and after the entire operation.

Throughout the entire unit, whether detectives or staff of other police departments, when they looked at Director Zhang, only worship remained in their eyes. Because when the police dragged Mei Dong out of the garbage truck, he was still clutching his personal dagger, so among the rumors spreading through the unit, everyone acted as if they had seen it with their own eyes, recalling how Mei Dong escaped the encirclement and entered the underground parking garage alone, encountered the unprepared Director Zhang, Mei Dong pulled out a dagger to attack, Director Zhang dodged aside then used a set of capture techniques to subdue him, afterward like Qiao Feng, grabbed his large vertebrae acupoint with one hand and threw him into the garbage container and locked him up.

After this battle concluded, Zhang Yi’ang returned to his office, calmed his emotions, calculated in his heart—now three difficult problems remained in the work. First was the Ye Jian case, which remained confusing to this day. Second was Liu Bei’s whereabouts unknown. Third was the two criminals who killed Lin Kai and committed the bombing terror case were still at large.

None of these three cases were easy. They needed some breakthrough points.

Speaking of breakthrough points—the breakthrough arrived. Wang Ruijun and Song Xing, still busy with interrogating Mei Dong, both ran into the office together, reporting good news—they had discovered Liu Bei’s whereabouts!

Ever since Zheng Yongbing decided to cooperate with the police, his determination to establish merit was strong. He not only arranged for Xiao Mi, a driver from Zhou Rong’s company, to become a police informant but also mobilized his various connections to help find Liu Bei. Liu Bei had nearly stabbed him to death. If he wasn’t caught for one day, Zheng Yongbing would feel uneasy.

Around five o’clock this afternoon, one of Zheng Yongbing’s little brothers recognized Liu Bei, saw him walk into an urban village undergoing demolition in the east of the city, and immediately told him. Zheng Yongbing called Wang Ruijun without a word, but couldn’t get through. He called Song Xing’s phone—still couldn’t get through. It turned out the two were deploying to catch Mei Dong at that time and had turned off their phones during the operation. After catching Mei Dong and returning to the unit, the two turned on their phones, saw multiple missed calls from Zheng Yongbing, called back, and learned of Liu Bei’s whereabouts.

Zhang Yi’ang discussed with them for a while, analyzing that Liu Bei entering the demolition area most likely meant spending the night there. Because Liu Bei was wanted citywide, he didn’t dare stay at hotels. This demolition area’s residents had long been relocated, but most houses were still there—very suitable for him to spend the night hiding.

Time was of the essence. Zhang Yi’ang had the two urgently recall officers who had just returned home to rest, and also arranged for SWAT teams, police stations, and other police reinforcements. Everyone would bring weapons, seal off the entire urban village, and execute the arrest plan. This time they were determined to capture this desperado!

The three were striding out the door with heads held high. Just as they reached the entrance, a huge human-shaped object crashed into Zhang Yi’ang’s chest. All three were startled. Looking carefully, it was Li Qian. Her hair was disheveled, her expression panicked, as if she had been assaulted.

This late at night, what was she running to the unit for?

The next second, Zhang Yi’ang raised his hand to block, and before she could speak, said: “This matter of catching Mei Dong happened suddenly, and it was already after work hours, so—I didn’t have time to notify you. Rest assured, there will be plenty of training opportunities in the future. We have matters now, so we’ll leave first. If you’re hungry, I’ll have someone order you takeout. See you tomorrow!”

Zhang Yi’ang led the two quickly around Li Qian. This time catching Liu Bei, they couldn’t bring her along again.

“Zhou Rong was robbed, and a USB drive recording his bribery ledger was stolen!”

“What USB drive?” Hearing Zhou Rong was robbed, Zhang Yi’ang stopped in his tracks. His cervical spine directly rotated one hundred eighty degrees looking at her.

The situation was urgent. Li Qian stopped being evasive and quickly explained everything about how she had followed Zhou Rong, made contact with Zhou Rong at the 4S store, and successfully entered his home tonight. In her description, she didn’t mention at all that she had nearly encountered danger, only saying that originally she could have obtained the USB drive containing evidence, but just when she was about to win by self-draw in the next round, she was intercepted by two robbers.

These unexpected developments shocked all three.

“You!” Zhang Yi’ang drew in a cold breath. “You single-handedly broke into Zhou Rong’s home!”

“I…”

Zhang Yi’ang raised his hand to check the time. Arresting Liu Bei was imminent, so he called Wang Ruijun and Song Xing to arrange things first while he dealt with Li Qian’s matter in the office first.

After the two left, Zhang Yi’ang’s attitude suddenly became as soft as sachima. He closed the door, moved close to her, and asked in a low voice: “That bastard Zhou Rong, did he… did he do anything to you?”

“No.” Li Qian noticed the direction of the director’s gaze wasn’t right. She covered her chest with one hand and instinctively took a step back.

Zhang Yi’ang drew back his body, hesitating slightly: “Really no loss at all?”

“What loss?”

“That kind of loss.”

“No!” Li Qian explained that before going to the appointment, she had cleverly brought a large dose of powerful laxative that would definitely make someone have diarrhea until they were too weak to get out of bed. At that time, Zhou Rong was beaten by those two people until he defecated. Furthermore, she had also prepared a folding knife hidden in the back of her jeans just in case. It was precisely because of this knife that after being tied up by the two robbers, she felt for the knife and cut the rope, successfully leaving the villa. The security guard at the villa’s main entrance, seeing her disheveled hair, thought she had slept with the boss. When she left, he respectfully asked if she needed a car.

“Good that there wasn’t, good that there wasn’t.” Zhang Yi’ang repeatedly patted his chest, secretly breathing a sigh of relief. If Li Qian had really had an incident this time, regardless of how Zhou Rong would ultimately be dealt with, first of all he would have to pack up and leave. He earnestly implored from the bottom of his heart: “Li Qian, you must never do this again in the future. Just now I thought something happened to you, I… do you know how anxious I was!”

Li Qian looked at him. The other party was so worried and frightened for her. Her heart was greatly moved and she felt very sorry. Her face reddened. She walked to the window and spoke in a low voice: “Director, I know I was reckless this time. I won’t do it again in the future. You know what? Just now seeing your expression reminded me of someone. The reason I became a police officer is because of my father. Mom said since I was little, my personality was like Dad’s. Dad was a detective, often busy traveling, leaving early and returning late. When I was very small, although he spent the least time playing with me, Mom said I was always closest to Dad, always playing with his peaked cap. Later when I went to school, he was also constantly away day and night investigating cases. When he came home, I was already asleep. By morning when I saw him still snoring, I couldn’t wake him up. Although we communicated little, in my heart he was always a great hero. Dad had many scars on his body. Once his back was slashed with a big gash. I asked him, and he said it didn’t hurt at all. When I grew up, I realized it must have hurt a lot. When I was ten years old, he and Uncle Guo went together to carry out a mission, encountered an ambush by criminals. He was slashed many times by the criminals. When they rescued him, he was already beyond saving. Later when I filled out college applications, because I wanted to be like Dad, despite my family’s opposition, I applied to the police academy. When assigned after graduation, I said I wanted to be a detective. My family and Uncle Guo all opposed it, but I felt that Dad’s blood flows in my bones. If he were here, he would definitely support me being a detective. After going through this, I’ve experienced how hard and dangerous detective work is, but I don’t regret it one bit. Seeing you worry about me, I thought of Dad. If he had heard what I just said, he would definitely have the same expression as you. Hehehe, what do you think?”

Li Qian shyly turned her head back, but saw Zhang Yi’ang sitting in his seat frowning in thought. Hearing the inquiry, Zhang Yi’ang looked at her blankly: “Think what? Why are you telling me so much about your dad? I don’t even know your dad.”

Li Qian froze, disappointedly snorted, stamped her foot in anger, and was about to run outside.

“Hey, why are you running? I still have questions to ask you!”

She had no choice but to turn back around, looking at Zhang Yi’ang with an impatient expression.

“The USB drive you said Zhou Rong had stolen—are you sure it contained his bribery records?”

Li Qian took a breath, temporarily putting aside her girlish sentiments, and answered the main point: “Yes, that’s what the criminals said, and Zhou Rong’s reaction was also very strong.”

Zhang Yi’ang thought for a moment and nodded: “This way, we can change our approach to breaking through Zhou Rong’s gang. We’ve never been able to find Zhou Rong’s evidence. Now the evidence has appeared. As long as we catch these two robbers, the USB drive will fall into our hands, and we’ll also catch Zhou Rong’s direct evidence!”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Describe the specific characteristics of the two robbers carefully.”

Li Qian described the two robbers’ characteristics in detail. One was medium height, the other slightly taller. Both wore masks. Their figures looked agile, but there were no other specific characteristics.

Zhang Yi’ang pondered for a moment. There probably weren’t many home invasion robbers who dared to rob Zhou Rong, and right now in San Jiang Kou there happened to be two such candidates.

“Could it be the two who killed Lin Kai?”

With his reminder, Li Qian suddenly understood. The two quickly pulled out the computer and compared the video footage previously captured of these two suspects. Li Qian identified them for a while. Although faces couldn’t be seen in the video, through body shape and gait characteristics, she was very certain—the ones who robbed Zhou Rong tonight were these two!

Zhang Yi’ang pondered for a moment and immediately decided to split forces into two routes. Although catching Liu Bei was urgent and couldn’t be delayed, catching these two robbers was equally extremely urgent.

What a thrilling yet exciting long night this was!