Both the director and his assistant were startled, but they didn’t move.

Their reaction, in turn, surprised the two armed men.

Something wasn’t right!

Simultaneously, many people sprang out from inside and outside the door, directly tackling the two men to the ground. Their guns were snatched away, and the two men gasped for breath, each pinned down by at least three strong police officers. They couldn’t even lift a finger!

“You’re under arrest!”

…

When You Mingxu and her group arrived at the TV station, the police had already finished their operation, and most of the audience had been evacuated.

Downstairs, a sea of police officers. Police cars with flashing lights surrounded the building.

You Mingxu said, “Looks like everything went smoothly.”

Yin Feng stood beside her: “Doesn’t it feel great to be the one catching both the cicada and the oriole?”

You Mingxu thought to herself that just a few days ago, he had been that dying cicada. For this man, despair seemed to be just a fleeting moment. As soon as he straightened his back, the situation behind him dramatically reversed.

You Mingxu finally murmured: “The net of heaven has large meshes, but it lets nothing through.”

They had been lucky; the arrest operations at both locations had gone smoothly. Otherwise, if the Punishers had managed to infiltrate the studio, who knows what might have happened? There were 200 audience members there! And it was an enclosed space. The Punishers’ original plan had been very thorough.

By now, Ding Xiongwei had already met with the deputy bureau chief who was in charge of the operation. The deputy chief said, “We’ve arrested a total of 12 people, 6 of whom were on the wanted list, 6 with unknown identities. All were carrying weapons. This time, it’s a complete victory!”

Ding Xiongwei immediately turned to ask You Mingxu: “In her black book… how many people were assigned for tonight?”

You Mingxu remembered clearly: “13 people.”

Everyone fell silent.

Yin Feng spoke first: “Is Yin Chen among them?”

The suspects had just been caught, and the deputy bureau chief immediately sent someone to carefully check. The answer came back quickly—

“No Yin Chen!”

Without Yin Feng having to ask again, the deputy bureau chief immediately ordered another search for Yin Chen throughout the entire building.

Yin Feng suddenly turned and walked away. You Mingxu caught up with him and saw his cold expression.

He said, “They won’t catch him!” He gritted his teeth, “He’s always been exceptionally vigilant. Perhaps he ran as soon as the police showed up, or maybe he had other ways to detect the situation at Fan Shuhua’s end.”

You Mingxu also felt somewhat frustrated, but she knew that tonight’s results were already a tremendous success. She grabbed his hand and said, “Stop being angry! The outcome is already very good. There’s just one person left!”

Yin Feng gave a cold laugh, but meeting her gaze, he was finally pacified and said softly, “Cut down the weeds and dig up the roots, or the spring breeze will bring them back to life!”

You Mingxu somehow found herself smiling at his words. She held his hand and said, “I only know that we deal with problems as they come.”

Yin Feng turned and planted a heavy kiss on her forehead, almost like a bite, somewhat fierce. You Mingxu was momentarily stunned, but he had already turned his face away.

That night, the police’s final arrest operation against the Punisher organization came to a close.

The founder and leader of the Punisher organization, renowned criminal psychologist Professor Fan Shuhua, admitted to her crimes without denial. Beyond that, she refused to provide any clues and refused to speak with anyone.

Twelve members of the Punisher organization were arrested. According to Fan Shuhua’s notebook, this was all that remained of the Punishers’ forces.

Yin Chen was confirmed to be on the run. The police issued a nationwide warrant, with intensified search efforts within Xiangcheng, deploying significant police forces to conduct a comprehensive manhunt.

The Punisher organization was declared completely eradicated. The police achieved a great victory, marking a significant achievement in the provincial police force’s history of combating organized crime.

——

Several days later.

The young officers at the police station were given a rare three-day holiday and went out to celebrate with drinks.

Ding Xiongwei declined all dinner and drinking invitations, staying in his office instead. It was late at night, and most people on this floor had already left, leaving the surroundings quiet.

Ding Xiongwei turned on his desk lamp and sat at his desk, facing a thick stack of materials related to the Punisher case.

On his left were photocopies of those black soft-cover notebooks. He flipped through them for a while. In truth, he had already read the case files about these criminals’ methods and knew them by heart. Gradually, he stopped paying attention to the content of the text and instead looked at the handwriting itself. Those familiar, elegant strokes. Yet they recorded the workings of a twisted, evil soul.

Ding Xiongwei lowered his head, lit a cigarette, and smoked quietly.

On his right was a stack of materials that had never been made public. These were confiscated from the Punishers during that night’s operation.

The Punishers had brought a group of actors, planning to perform in the studio—truly the height of madness. However, those actors were unaware of the criminal identities of those who hired them, thinking they had been invited by the TV station. What Ding Xiongwei had obtained was the script the Punishers had given to the actors.

What they wanted to present on stage, in front of the television audience, was a story from many years ago.

In the story, there was an innocent little girl who had been kidnapped.

There was a selfish, cold-hearted father and a weak but kind mother. There were people seeking revenge for years of grievances, and there were seemingly respectable but secretly evil monsters. And so, there was blood, fear, death, and persistence.

The final scene of the story showed the little girl standing in a pool of blood, in front of the bodies of her relatives, wailing in grief. And all evil had been killed.

…

Fan Shuhua refused to explain the purpose of presenting this story to the public. Since the Punishers’ plan had already failed, no one could further investigate the story’s significance.

But Ding Xiongwei had carefully examined the story’s background. He discovered that if that surviving little girl had grown up, her age now would be…

Besides this, according to the contents of the black soft-cover notebook labeled “TV Station,” performing this story was only the first step in the Punishers’ plan. Next, they had planned a series of horrifying criminal actions, using the 200 audience members as hostages, questioning good and evil, torturing souls, with cruel and dark methods… But now, with the downfall of the Punisher organization, those sacrificial performances and crimes would be forever sealed away, never to be known by the world.

For the police, this was the best outcome.

Ding Xiongwei slowly finished his cigarette. Finally, he locked all the materials in the cabinet, humming a sad tune he had heard somewhere, and went downstairs to return home alone.

——

Ding Xiongwei was right: tonight was a rare, thoroughly satisfying celebration and release for these criminal investigators who had been pursuing the Punishers for many days.

They didn’t choose any special location, just an affordable, generous hot pot restaurant not far from the police station. You Mingxu, and Xu Mengshan’s team filled an entire table. They had stacked up 10 plates each of lamb and beef slices. There was no helping it—Ding Xiongwei had said he would pay the bill.