On the way back to the border defense station, Lu Huaizheng discussed the upcoming evacuation matters with Sun Kai.

“I’ve had Chen Rui secure the area around the hall. At eight o’clock, you’ll lead the evacuation, and I’ll prepare the vehicle.”

Sun Kai asked again: “Are the people along the route ready?”

During a pause in their conversation, Yu Hao took out a whole steamed bun from the bag and offered it to him, but Lu Huaizheng turned his head to look at the half-eaten one in her hand, and casually bent down to take another bite, saying: “I’m about to go back and discuss with the leadership. We need to mobilize personnel from other troops, which is very troublesome.”

Yu Hao’s face reddened.

Can’t you eat your own?

Sun Kai nodded and said, “Why don’t I have He Lang set up men along the route later? They can come up from the mountain. I’m afraid we might not recognize him when the time comes, and if he escapes, it would be a real problem.”

Lu Huaizheng stared at Yu Hao’s flushed face for a while.

Slowly nodding, he said, “That would be best.”

That gaze, so deep it made her feel he was talking about her. What did he mean by “best”?

This man could truly make one’s thoughts wander even during a work conversation.

…

After getting out of the car, Lu Huaizheng went directly to report the situation to Li Hongwen. The rest was preparing for the evacuation. At seven o’clock, he entered the isolation room again to conduct final negotiations with the suspect.

The other party expressed no objections to the current arrangements.

Everything seemed to be proceeding a bit too smoothly.

At seven-thirty, Lu Huaizheng requested a car from Old Tang, dismantled all the systems in the vehicle and reinstalled them himself. Yu Hao knew he had always been good with his hands, but seeing him tinker with these positioning systems years later, she found she could no longer keep up with his thought process. He always seemed to hide many surprises.

He was particularly focused when working, not easily disturbed.

Yu Hao was also afraid of interrupting his train of thought, so she obediently leaned against the rear door, watching him bend half his body into the car. After the Qingming Festival, the weather had turned hot, and the light behind him shone on his neck, causing sweat to seep out.

For no reason, she thought of the scene in the car when they were kissing as she was leaving that day.

That day was truly intense.

Kissing like that, she had once thought, was he not coming back?

Her face heated up again.

Lu Huaizheng emerged from the car.

With a screw still in his hand, he was about to close the car door when he saw Yu Hao leaning against the rear door with a flushed face.

Smiling, he leisurely closed the door, leaned over, and couldn’t resist teasing her: “Your face is red all day long. I didn’t realize you were so easily embarrassed before.”

Then, with one hand braced on the car door, he bent slightly, lowering his head to meet her gaze.

Finding that she wouldn’t look at him,

Lu Huaizheng moved to her ear, though his eyes looked elsewhere, and his words were even more outrageous:

“We’ve tried it in the car, want to try how it feels outside the car?”

Absolutely outrageous.

Yu Hao was both angry and flustered at that moment.

Angry because, in such a situation, she actually hoped he would kiss her.

But Lu Huaizheng was clearly just teasing her.

As soon as he finished speaking, they heard Director Tang calling him from behind.

He looked down at Yu Hao, acknowledged with a sound saying he’d be there in a moment.

Lu Huaizheng saw her face flushed red and gently pinched her cheek, coaxing in a low voice: “Alright, don’t be angry. I won’t tease you anymore. We’ve already kissed, and I’ll take responsibility for it, don’t you agree?”

“We’re both adults. Kissing isn’t against the law.” Yu Hao found his words awkward and couldn’t help but contradict him.

Lu Huaizheng smiled.

“You and Senior Zhao stay in the military zone and don’t wander around. After tonight, I’ll find you to talk.”

…

At eight o’clock, Sun Kai directed everyone to evacuate the remaining townspeople into the grand hall of Hushui Elementary School. Apart from some elderly and children who had been previously taken away by helicopter, there remained some young men and women working in the town. Seeing these border defense soldiers fully armed with guns and knives, they felt extremely anxious, like having seventy or eighty buckets of water hanging over their hearts. They refused to go in, blocking the entrance and surrounding Junior Squad Leader Chen Rui and others, insisting on getting an answer.

Among them, a man with a full beard shouted at Chen Rui: “Are we going to war? You want to occupy our land and turn us into homeless refugees, don’t you?!” The man’s veins bulged prominently, and then he waved his steel-rod-like fist, gritting his teeth as he began to incite the crowd: “We cannot compromise! You’re occupying our homes, we demand compensation!!!!”

The town’s population wasn’t large, at most about a thousand households. Besides migrant workers, almost everyone knew each other. This man was a notorious local hoodlum who, when not taking his gang to seek pleasure in the “Red Street,” would idle away time playing cards at the bridge. When his temper flared, he would vent by beating his wife and mother.

Such a group of strong but lazy men was, ironically, the backbone of this town.

The power of ignorant women and children being incited is most terrifying.

The encircled crowd suddenly began to stir, starting to push and shove the armed soldiers. Someone pointed a gun back, and the bearded leader grabbed the rifle, gritting his teeth and pressing the black muzzle against his own chest, like a madman with bulging veins as he roared: “Come on! You have the guts to shoot me!”

The people behind him surged forward as if they had been injected with adrenaline, and the scene lost control.

Zaza huddled in a corner, woodenly watching everything unfold before him. The instigator who had just stirred up the townspeople’s emotions was his father, always a troublemaker who feared nothing but peace. He particularly hated these soldiers, always believing that the government and the state wanted to harm him.

Zaza didn’t even know why his father thought and acted this way. He had always felt that the men in this town were somewhat pathological.

Zaza even had some dark thoughts.

Go ahead and riot, the more chaotic the better. Best if they all died! Then no one would beat him and his mother anymore.

Better yet if they killed each other, with brains splattering and blood spraying. Perhaps an eyeball might even pop out and roll to his feet, where he could crush it viciously.

Just thinking about crushing that sinister eyeball made all of Zaza’s muscles tense involuntarily, and he couldn’t suppress a smile on his face.

As he was smiling, he realized his mother had disappeared, somehow pushed by the crowd to his father’s side, pitifully clinging to his father’s leg, just like when she begged him not to beat her, crying and pleading for him to stop causing trouble.

The man was fighting so fervently, his face flushed, and couldn’t hear anything. He viciously kicked her in the chest, directly knocking her to the ground, where she was trampled several times by a few men behind, leaving her face covered in blood. Only then did Zaza come to his senses, immediately standing up from his corner to try and squeeze through to help his mother up, but found his strength was no match for theirs. No matter how he tried, he couldn’t get through. He cried for help, tears streaming down his face.

But everyone was caught in the crescendo of the armed conflict, and no one noticed his small corner.

At this moment, a hand suddenly extended from the side.

It was slender, like a woman’s hand. Zaza abruptly looked up to see a beautiful face with clean eyes, possessing a clarity that women in this town lacked. He felt it was somewhat familiar, and quickly recalled that it was the sister who had come to eat breakfast with Brother Lu that day.

Lu Huaizheng was even quicker than Yu Hao in helping Zaza’s breakfast shop owner mother up from the ground.

Shao Feng followed right behind.

Lu Huaizheng handed her to Shao Feng and asked, “Where’s Zaza?”

The shop owner pointed behind her.

Zaza stood at the back of the crowd, squeezed between several indignant men. Lu Huaizheng went around to the back door of the grand hall, brought Zaza over from behind, and handed both of them to Shao Feng, saying, “Take them to get medical treatment.”

The situation was tense, and Shao Feng had no heart for jokes. With a solemn expression, he nodded and said to the mother and son, “Come with me.”

Behind them, people had lost their rationality like wild beasts broken free from restraints. The first team was at the front, and junior squad leaders Chen Rui, Wu Heping, and others were red-faced with anger. Having handled so many emergencies, they had never seen such shameless people demanding money at such a critical moment.

They had been clearing mines day and night for these ungrateful “wastes”!

But the leaders had said not to tell them, as it would likely cause even more chaos.

Just as the wave of “money demands” was about to blow the roof off the hall.

“Bang—”

A loud sound toward the sky.

A gunshot.

Chen Rui and Wu Heping turned around to see Sun Kai, extremely impatient, firing a shot into the air before tucking the gun back into his waist, roaring: “What are you doing!”

Just then, the grand hall first quieted with rustling sounds, but then someone shouted, “The soldiers are going to kill people!”

The crowd inexplicably began to stir again, with men clamoring to break through the human wall formed by Chen Rui and others who were blocking them with guns. Some even took the opportunity to kick and hit Chen Rui and his men. Wu Heping’s face had been scratched.

Yet they remained absolutely motionless, firmly blocking the entrance to the hall, allowing punches and kicks to land on their faces, standing as immovable as mountains.

Because their captain had said, as long as these people were Chinese, they could not strike back.

Despite feeling bitter and resentful, they still upheld their sacred sword in their hearts—never to raise a hand against their own people, even amidst the abuse, roars, and unbearable scenes as the situation intensified and fell into chaos.

When the gunshot rang out, Lu Huaizheng instinctively covered Yu Hao’s ears, turning sideways to shield all those ferocious faces behind him.

Yu Hao only felt a palm on her ear, with four fingers pressing against the back of her head. That hand tightened slightly, and the voice by her ear was deep but restrained: “Didn’t I tell you to stay at the base? Why did you come out?”

If she hadn’t come out, she would never have known what situation they were facing today.

She would never have known that Chen Rui and the others were using their bodies to shield these people who were heading to their deaths.

If these people knew the truth in the future.

Would they awaken and repent?

No, they wouldn’t.

So were Lu Huaizheng, Chen Rui, and the others worth it?

Yu Hao’s eyes grew hot as she struggled to hold back tears, looking up at Lu Huaizheng and saying: “I have new leads.”

He nodded, “Wait for me.”

Then he drew his gun, directly pushing aside Chen Rui and Wu Heping in front, pressing the black muzzle against Zaza’s father’s head, and pulled the trigger. Yu Hao covered her mouth in terror, so frightened that the hot tears that had been welling in her eyes rolled down.

Then she heard Lu Huaizheng say to the man: “You and your people calm down now. After nine o’clock, we will explain the reasons for this matter. If there really was a war, could your little broken town withstand a few bombs? I am the person in charge of this whole situation. After it’s over, you can complain about me to the highest military district, but if you continue to make trouble, I won’t hesitate to take extreme measures.”

Simply put, these lazy, good-for-nothing men were counting on Chen Rui, Wu Heping, and the others not to fight back.

Zaza’s father, with the gun against his head, glared hard at Lu Huaizheng, turning up his eyelids.

Lu Huaizheng held the gun, raising his hand to check the time on his watch.

“There are ten minutes until nine o’clock. I don’t have time to waste with you. If you still want to cause trouble, then I’ll take extreme measures.”

“After this incident is over, I will complain about you to the highest military district. You just wait!”

The man let out a reluctant growl through gritted teeth.

The hall finally quieted down.

Lu Huaizheng put away his gun, instructed Sun Kai to have the second team come in to replace Chen Rui and the others, then turned to find Yu Hao.

The girl was obviously frightened.

He took her to the grass outside the hall, lowered his head, and softly called her name, “Yu Hao.”

Yu Hao came back to her senses and quickly rubbed her eyes.

“I’m fine, just a little…”

Nervous.

Lu Huaizheng smiled, suddenly remembering her lecture content at the Air Therapy Institute last time, saying that when people are nervous, they will gently rub the back of their neck to increase the blood flow in the cervical spine to release pressure.

He imitated this.

When his hand touched the back of Yu Hao’s neck, the girl shrank back.

Then he heard her say: “That man is a local.”

Lu Huaizheng was stunned.

“Are you sure?”

Yu Hao nodded firmly.

“I’m certain he is a local. He probably lived in this town since childhood but left when he was about five years old due to unavoidable reasons.”

“How did you discover this?”

“I thought about it many times after going back. I always felt there was something suspicious. Why would he choose an unfamiliar town? When I was interrogating him that day, I overlooked a detail. When I said he wasn’t a local, he showed a smug expression. I thought it was just his usual demeanor, but I felt something was off, just like the body paint and beard on him—they were all fake.”

After Lu Huaizheng left.

Yu Hao inadvertently discussed a case from long ago with Senior Zhao in the dormitory, about a criminal who, to evade suspicion, lived with a mindset opposite to his usual one for a long period.

At that instant, she suddenly understood where her earlier feeling of something being off had come from.

So she closed her eyes and mentally reviewed the interrogation scene from yesterday. She suddenly recalled the one detail she had missed: when she confidently stated he wasn’t a local, the deliberate smug feeling he showed by wiggling his toes was intentionally displayed for her to see.

And she realized she had overlooked a very important point during yesterday’s interrogation.

All psychological evaluations, including the EAC model, must be based on the subject’s habitual responses. Generally, for more accurate results, there would be a scene construction phase requiring a ten-minute construction time with the subject.

In Yu Hao’s previous cases, there were those who did not cooperate with scene construction. This required her to use her experience to judge if they were lying based on their microexpressions and small movements.

Yesterday’s situation clearly didn’t allow for construction time, so she used her usual approach for patients, judging their state from microexpressions.

So that awkward feeling had persisted in her mind.

If that was the case.

When Yu Hao used reverse thinking in the dormitory, she arrived at a frightening conclusion.

He wasn’t sexually deviant.

He might be sexually indifferent, even averse to sex.

Yet he used actions like taking off his pants and other extreme methods to make Yu Hao believe he was a sexual deviant.

“People in this town all know each other well. Why couldn’t you find any information about him? It must be because he left this town before he became an adult, possibly even younger, so people don’t remember him. But this town is very small. I just had Director Tang bring all the population migration data for this town over the past twenty years.”

Yu Hao said: “We found someone who, at the age of five, was driven out of this town with his mother.”

However, at that moment, Lu Huaizheng’s radio crackled.

It was He Lang, positioned down the mountain.

“Captain Lu, the subject hasn’t come down the mountain. The car’s location tracker shows he’s still in town!”