Meanwhile.

Yin Feng and his subordinates stood outside Room 1801, Building 5.

The door was tightly closed, with no decorations at the entrance, showing no sign of anything unusual.

Before coming up, Chen Feng had found a way to gather information from the property management office. Because the occupancy rate of the residential complex was already low, the apartments above, below, and to the sides of this unit had either been sold or not yet sold, but all were vacant, with no one living in them. So if this was Yin Chen’s hideout, it would only make it more convenient for him to carry out his plans.

Yin Feng: “Xiao Yan.”

Xiao Yan stepped forward like a nimble rabbit, her body pressed tightly against the door, listening carefully for a while before saying, “No sound.”

“Open it.”

Xiao Yan took out her tools and, with a few moves, unlocked it with a “click.” She didn’t immediately push the door open, but listened carefully again, turned her head, and nodded to Yin Feng.

Xiao Yan was the first to push the door open, with Yin Feng and the others following closely behind.

What greeted them was a dark, almost entirely gray apartment.

Gray ceiling, gray walls, gray floor. It was still unfinished, uninhabited. Looking around, the apartment was completely empty, with nothing inside. The only thing was a rough electrical wire hanging down from above the entrance hallway, with a bare light bulb attached.

As Xiao Yan’s hand reached for the light switch on the wall, Yin Feng shouted, “Don’t touch it!”

Xiao Yan jerked her hand back as if pricked by a needle, suddenly understanding and feeling somewhat scared in hindsight.

The group turned on their flashlights and slowly walked into the apartment.

The living room was empty, with nothing unusual.

Chen Feng was about to walk toward the bathroom and kitchen to check, but was stopped by Yin Feng: “Don’t separate. Stay together.” His solemnity made everyone’s hearts tighten. Chen Feng and Champion exchanged a glance, and with Yin Feng at the center, the three provided flank protection, keeping him in the middle as the four slowly moved toward the two bedrooms.

The night was growing darker, and outside the window, it was pitch black.

Yin Feng walked step by step toward one of the bedrooms. The door was closed. He listened carefully, and there was still no movement inside.

Yin Feng’s brow furrowed tightly. Somehow, a feeling of unease rose in his heart. The various circumstances of the day began to surface in his mind.

The first thing he thought of was You Mingxu’s reasoning and her confident tone. Objectively speaking, her reasoning was entirely logical; if it had been him, he would have reached the same conclusion. That meant You Mingxu’s reasoning couldn’t be wrong. So why had he reached a completely different direction? This was also a situation that had never happened before.

This was the first irregularity.

Secondly, he recalled the few memories from his childhood. Yin Chen hardly ever mentioned his birth mother, and when he saw Yin Feng’s parents, his gaze showed only indifference. He remembered Yin Chen’s cold, gloomy tone when mentioning the grievance of Xing Jifu stealing his wife; he also thought of the previous neighborhood they had just left, where the abandoned building remained, but everything else had changed.

Although Yin Chen had eaten a bowl of home-cooked food at Xu Mengshan’s house, and although he had stayed at Yin Feng’s parents’ home for over an hour—it was these details that made Yin Feng believe that the place before him now was the home Yin Chen cherished most, surpassing even You Ruixue, which was why he had come directly here.

But Yin Chen’s stare at You Ruixue’s photo had been truly unforgettable.

Yin Feng’s heart trembled violently—Yin Chen’s behavior was contradictory; this was the second irregularity.

Could there be… other reasons that both he and You Mingxu had overlooked?

Yin Feng’s gaze returned to the door in front of him.

Perhaps opening this door would reveal the answer.

Yin Feng’s hand gripped the doorknob.

Behind him, Chen Feng, Champion, and Xiao Yan all unconsciously held their breath.

Twenty minutes later, approaching 8 PM, Fangzhu Yayuan, this newly built residential area, was quiet with very few people around. On the night sky that had just fallen, faint stars began to twinkle. Occasionally, a few people walked through the complex below.

Like thunder on a clear day, a tremendous “boom” resounded throughout the residential area. Many residents peered out from their windows; some saw what happened, while others were confused.

On the ground, some pedestrians around the complex looked up and were all shocked—

They saw that on the 18th floor of one of the buildings, thick smoke was billowing out from the windows of an apartment, with black and red flames almost engulfing the entire unit. Everyone around panicked, some calling the fire department, others calling the police. The security guards were terrified, hurrying to evacuate residents from the surrounding apartments to prevent the fire from spreading.

—

Twenty minutes earlier.

As soon as You Mingxu entered the small building, she felt a wave of heat rushing toward her; the temperature inside was remarkably high. But she had no time to dwell on that.

Everyone looked with astonishment. It turned out that upon entering the small building, there was a flight of stairs leading down. The building had been excavated to create an underground space wider than the structure above ground. Now, the row of exhaust fans near the ground had stopped rotating. On one side of the wall, a very thick iron water pipe was steadily gushing water into the room. And on the opposite wall of the basement, weren’t those five people tied up there, Xu Mengshan’s parents, Xing Jifu, and Yin Feng’s parents?

They were all awake now, with the swaying water already reaching their mouths. The five were struggling in vain to breathe, their faces deathly pale. Upon seeing the police who had burst in, they couldn’t even call for help, only struggling more intensely in that instant.

One could imagine that if they had arrived just a few minutes later, what awaited them would have been five corpses, drowned alive.

With a “splash,” a figure jumped into the water, swimming forcefully toward the bound elderly people—who else but Xu Mengshan?

“Splash,” “splash”… several more police officers jumped in one after another. You Mingxu removed her bulletproof vest, threw away her weapon, and was about to jump down when she was stopped.

Tu Ya, who had been silently following this group of police officers all the way, was sweating profusely as soon as he entered the building. He quickly tore off his bulletproof vest and said, “I’ll go in your place!” Before You Mingxu could speak, he had already jumped in.

There were already enough police officers in the large pool before them. Xu Mengshan, at the forefront, had already swum to his parents and was untying their ropes. You Mingxu thought briefly and didn’t insist on jumping in. Her gaze lingered on Xing Jifu’s face. If one didn’t look carefully, he would have been unrecognizable. In the few months since she’d last seen him, he had become frighteningly thin. The contours of his face were still there, but he was nothing but skin and bones. Just on his exposed neck and arms, there were wounds everywhere. A police officer had already swum to his side and was untying his bonds.

Perhaps over these few months, Xing Jifu had endured inhuman torture, and even though he was now being rescued, what awaited him was still punishment for the rest of his life.

She then looked toward Yin Feng’s parents. They, too, had been tortured beyond recognition; all she could see were two skeletal old people covered in wounds, unrecognizable from their original appearance. You Mingxu sighed inwardly.

By this time, police officers had found the water valve and shut off the inflow pipe. You Mingxu arranged for several more officers to search the building thoroughly, inside and out, to ensure there were no other traps or dangers.

The people were rescued!

In just a few minutes, the officers quickly extracted the five hostages from the “water prison.” Perhaps due to excessive shock and exhaustion, all five lost consciousness after being rescued.

You Mingxu walked out of the small building and only then felt the sweat on her forehead and the dryness in her mouth. She had also noticed that several heaters above the small building were blowing hot air inside. For the moment, You Mingxu couldn’t deduce Yin Chen’s true intention with this arrangement. Was he planning to place the bodies in a high-temperature environment after drowning them? That would alter the speed and appearance of decomposition. She could only ask Yin Feng later about such bizarre thinking; perhaps he could explain from a deviant’s perspective.

Tu Ya also ran out, soaking wet but unharmed, still meticulously following her, not half a step away. Although he had just been soaked in water, his face was reddened by the hot air, giving him a somewhat foolishly hot-tempered appearance.

Seeing him drenched in sweat, You Mingxu smiled: “You don’t have to keep following me so closely. Do you want to go to the car and rest for a bit?”

Tu Ya shook his head: “He told me to watch over you every step of the way.”

You Mingxu felt a warmth in her heart and said nothing more.

Ambulances and more reinforcements were on their way. Several police officers were supporting and watching over the victims. Xu Mengshan, a grown man, finally had tears all over his face as he stayed by his parents’ side.

Another team of officers was conducting a final search around the chicken coops.

The people had been rescued, but they hadn’t found any trace of Yin Chen.

They had just spoken with Ding Xiongwei, who had given clear orders: everyone was to stay put, protect the hostages, immediately begin a detailed investigation of the scene, and search for traces of Yin Chen with every second counting, while waiting for reinforcements.

However, where had Yin Chen gone?

A bright light seemed to cleave through You Mingxu’s mind.

Yin Feng wasn’t wrong, and neither was she.

The hostages were here, but Yin Chen wasn’t.

He had taken their families captive and then returned to his own home.

She had to immediately inform Yin Feng of their discovery!

You Mingxu took out her phone and dialed.

“Beep—beep—beep—beep—” Short dial tones, but the call couldn’t connect.

You Mingxu, holding her phone, suddenly broke out in a cold sweat. She looked at Tu Ya beside her and shouted, “I’ll call Chen Feng, you call Champion and Xiao Yan! Quickly!”

Tu Ya was stunned for a moment, then immediately pulled out his phone and did as she said.

“Beep—beep—beep—beep—”

“Hello, the number you have dialed is temporarily unavailable.”

…

The phones of all four people couldn’t be reached simultaneously.

Tu Ya’s eyes widened, his entire body tensing up like an agitated tiger.

You Mingxu lowered her phone. Despite the heat still radiating from her body, her heart felt as if it had fallen into an ice cellar, each inch painfully cold.