Provincial Public Security Department.

The conference room had a very serious atmosphere, with only about 20 people present. Besides Ding Xiongwei, who brought Jing Ping, You Mingxu, and Xu Mengshan from their local station, the others were top experts from various specialized fields within the provincial department.

The series of cases codenamed “10,” due to their severe nature and the number of criminals involved, had been officially transferred to provincial leadership.

An experienced senior criminal investigation expert presented the latest conclusions and discoveries from the podium:

First, the criminals’ identities were confirmed.

All six suspects killed in the parking lot explosion have been identified. Four of them, like Gu Tiancheng, were fugitives wanted for murder cases from various provinces and cities. The full extent of their crimes committed while on the run still needed further investigation.

Among the six was a police officer from a certain precinct, holding a relatively high rank. This revelation shocked all attendees. According to his personnel file, he had performed exceptionally well in his duties, catching many criminals. But there were blemishes—he had once beaten a suspect, though the incident was smoothed over. He also had a close partner who was severely injured by criminals and forced to leave the force. He had fallen into depression for a time afterward, then recovered but developed a harsher approach to cases.

The apartment had been rented under this officer’s name. This explained how they had remained hidden from police searches for so long.

How this officer came to associate with criminals was worth pondering.

It could be deduced that many internal police documents had been leaked to the organization through this officer, allowing them to operate freely from the shadows.

Besides these six, forensics had discovered four other sets of fingerprints in the apartment. Through database comparison, two were identified as wanted criminals, one belonged to an ordinary company employee, and one set was too fragmentary to identify. Police immediately began searching likely locations for the three identified individuals, but they had already vanished.

This meant the criminal group had at least 10 members. Six were dead, four were at large. It was unclear if there were others.

“Second,” the criminal investigation expert continued, “based on the stack of photographs found at the scene, we made a shocking discovery. There were 12 people total, all of whom were wanted fugitives or key suspects in unsolved cases from previous years.”

The projector screen showed 12 photographs, each marked with a large red X.

“After verification, six of these individuals are deceased, their bodies previously discovered by police. The death scenes all appeared to be suicides or accidents. Since they were key suspects or wanted fugitives, the cases were closed without arousing suspicion from investigators at the time.

I had people re-examine all materials related to these six deaths and compare them with data on the ‘No. 10’ organization members. At three crime scenes, we found footprints matching organization members; surveillance footage near three scenes showed organization members present before and after the incidents.”

A buzz of discussion arose from the audience.

Though the criminal expert hadn’t tracked the organization like You Mingxu’s team had, his ability to conduct such cross-referencing impressed her. The investigation results were within her expectations.

In other words, Gu Tiancheng’s group had likely used information from their police insider to hunt down other fugitives one by one, staging the deaths as suicides or accidents for police to close the cases.

All good is dead, and all evil prevails.

The expert continued: “Four individuals have been missing for some time. Two more key suspects are still alive.”

Another wave of discussion swept the room.

You Mingxu suspected the four missing persons were likely dead. The two living suspects were probably on the hunting list but hadn’t been targeted yet.

The expert’s face showed traces of emotion—after all, such criminal organizations were unheard of in most detectives’ careers. He solemnly said, “This case was initially pursued by Yuelu Precinct. I’ve discussed it thoroughly with Ding Xiongwei and consulted relevant criminal psychology experts…”

You Mingxu lifted her head slightly.

A certain criminal psychologist wasn’t present at the meeting today, hadn’t contacted her, and hadn’t been mentioned by anyone so far.

“We unanimously believe we can make a bold speculation and characterization of this organization:

This is a ‘Punisher’ organization, composed of serious criminals who view themselves as righteous. They are organized, disciplined, live communally, and share the same twisted values. They must have underlying mechanisms for identifying and cultivating members and targeting victims. They plan meticulously, act swiftly, possess strong individual combat capabilities, excel at counter-surveillance, and operate efficiently. They are illegal ‘law enforcers.’

Such an organization cannot be tolerated in a society of law. Their dark, twisted values must be eradicated. I believe Yuelu Precinct’s recent strike dealt them a heavy blow—very successful. We must pursue this advantage. We’ve discovered one den housing three criminals, meaning they must have at least two more such locations. The province will supervise this case as a priority, deploying substantial police forces for intensive strikes and pursuit, striving to arrest all fugitive members and prevent similar ‘vigilante justice’ cases from occurring again!”

After the provincial meeting disbanded and they returned to Yuelu Precinct, Ding Xiongwei held a private meeting with You Mingxu’s trio. He explained that the deputy provincial bureau chief had kept him for a confidential talk. The case was being transferred to a provincial special task force. Their work had been excellent and was concluding.

But their job wasn’t finished.

The “Punisher” organization’s connections to Luo Yu and Kaiyang Group remained unresolved mysteries. Kaiyang Group was suspected of drug trafficking involvement but without evidence. They couldn’t openly discuss Jing Ping’s drug investigation mission for fear of alerting suspects and leaking information. So it hadn’t been mentioned at the provincial meeting—their three-person team would continue investigating this lead secretly. While pursuing drug trafficking, they were to immediately report any discoveries related to the “Punisher” organization.

This was within the trio’s expectations. The important evidence lost with Guo Xing hadn’t been found. The dual suspicions surrounding Luo Yu remained unclear.

For this purpose, Ding Xiongwei had specifically assigned them a small room as their office, telling them to move in immediately.

So that afternoon, the three found themselves moving their belongings into a remote little dark room in a hallway corner. Anyone unaware might have thought these three accomplished officers had been banished by their superior.