All that running around looking for clues hadn’t been for nothing.

Rong Qian had asked Shen Yi to take her into the school, where she had gone to Chen Shiyi’s dormitory. There, she had found a notepad — and noticed impressions left from writing on a previous page. She had rubbed a pencil lightly across the surface and revealed a single line of text: an address.

Chen Shiyi had written it down when she was on a call, pressing down hard enough to leave the impression on the sheet beneath. She had already torn out the page with the address on it.

Now, Rong Qian was driving toward that very address.

Before they got out of the car, Rong Qian laid out the plan. “Shen Yi and I will knock on the door. The moment someone opens it, the rest of you rush straight in. Bedrooms and storage rooms — start there. Move fast.”

Everyone gave a tense nod.

They moved as planned. Rong Qian and Shen Yi went to knock. A domestic servant came to the door almost immediately. “May I ask who you’re looking—”

She didn’t get to finish. Lin Feng, Lu Xuan, and Jessie shoved past her and charged inside.

The servant screamed in panic. The commotion brought the house’s occupant out — a middle-aged white man with gold-rimmed glasses. Jessie took one look and immediately shouted at the top of his lungs, “That’s him! That’s the one!”

Rong Qian raised a hand toward Jessie, signaling him to go search the rooms first.

“Who are you people? Nobody move — I’m calling the police!” Leon Lev issued his warning, his face darkening with fury. The servant grabbed a broom and planted herself protectively in front of him.

Rong Qian didn’t waste time with pleasantries. She cut straight to the point. “Where is Chen Shiyi? Where have you hidden that young Chinese woman?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about! Get your people out of here right now, or I will call the police!” Leon Lev picked up the phone receiver — but made no move to dial. He was all bluster.

Rong Qian gave a cold laugh. “Go ahead, then. What’s stopping you?”

“You think I won’t dare? A bunch of foreigners, barging into someone else’s country to make trouble — I’ll have every one of you thrown in jail!” Leon Lev seemed to find his footing with that and actually began to dial.

But before the call could go through, the receiver was snatched away.

Leon Lev looked up — straight into a young man’s clear, sharp eyes.

“Rong Qian! We’ve checked everything — she’s not here!”

Lin Feng came running out in a panic. Behind him, Lu Xuan and Jessie both shook their heads. Nothing.

“You’re all finished. I’m telling you right now — not one of you is leaving today. I will personally see you all locked up!” Leon Lev craned his neck and ordered his servant to go lock the front door immediately so no one could run.

The servant raised her broom and started for the door — but Rong Qian stepped in front of her. Not a flicker of alarm crossed Rong Qian’s face. She smiled and said, “What’s the rush? Of course the door should be locked. But you won’t need to do it.”

She caught Lin Feng’s eye and gave a small nod toward the exit. “You all head outside. Close the door behind you, and wait right there.”

“Rong Qian, are you sure about this? What if we’ve got the wrong person?” Lin Feng was terrified. If they had the wrong man, they’d all end up at the police station with nowhere to run.

Rong Qian gave him three words: “Trust me.”

Trust me. Those two words seemed to carry some kind of power. The moment Lin Feng and the others heard them, it was as if they had swallowed a reassurance pill — calm settled over them at once, and they did exactly as Rong Qian said.

“Shen Yi, you go too.” Rong Qian also looked toward Shen Yi, who had been restraining Leon Lev.

Shen Yi hesitated for three seconds — then chose to trust her and stepped out as well.

The door closed. The room held only Rong Qian, alone against the two of them.

Leon Lev saw that all the men had left, leaving only one slender woman. His confidence surged. What was there to be afraid of from a single woman?

He reached for the phone again to call the police — and then something hard and rigid was pressed against his forehead.

Leon Lev froze completely. He turned his head upward, wide-eyed with terror.

A gun.

Rong Qian tossed a pair of handcuffs onto the table. The gun barrel remained leveled at his forehead. She smiled and said, “No need to call anyone. I am the police. Don’t think that moving the person elsewhere puts you in the clear.”

Her expression hardened, and her voice dropped to something sharp and cold. “So I suggest you tell me, right now — where have they taken her?”

Outside, Lin Feng and the others were pacing anxiously in front of the door.

At some point, Lin Feng looked up and noticed that Shen Yi was simply leaning against the doorframe with his eyes closed, standing perfectly still. “Shen Yi, aren’t you worried at all? Setting aside whether she’ll be okay in there alone — what if we’ve got the wrong person?”

Shen Yi kept his eyes closed and said nothing.

Lin Feng assumed he genuinely wasn’t worried. Then the door opened, and Shen Yi’s eyes snapped open instantly. The moment he saw Rong Qian walk out, he moved toward her immediately. “How did it go?”

Look at that — all that frantic worry he’d been hiding behind his stillness.

“No time to explain. I’ll tell you in the car.”

Rong Qian’s expression was grave. She gave no one a chance to ask more questions, and they were all back in the car and moving within moments.

As Shen Yi turned to leave, he glanced once into the room — and saw Leon Lev, crumpled to the floor in a state of shock, face drained of color, not yet fully recovered from his terror.

Shen Yi’s eyes narrowed slightly, a look of quiet contemplation crossing his face.

Leon Lev had a brother named Jack Lev — a convicted criminal who had been released from prison a year ago.

After his release, he had not reformed. This time, he had set his sights on human trafficking, targeting foreign students in particular — from countries like Japan and South Korea.

Leon Lev was no company owner, and he certainly didn’t have a Chinese wife. He was an accomplice — his role was to maintain the facade of a respectable businessman in order to gain the trust of college students.

Jack Lev occupied the lowest rung of this trafficking operation. His job was simply to transport the abducted victims to the people above him in exchange for payment — paid per head.

From Leon Lev, Rong Qian had learned that Chen Shiyi had already been transferred away — one hour ago.

If they were lucky and caught the traffickers resting for a meal at a transit point, there was still a chance. But if there had been no stop, then once Chen Shiyi was handed off to the next group up the chain, she would be gone forever.

There was no time to waste. Rong Qian floored the accelerator and tore toward the transit location.

Fortunately, Chen Shiyi had not yet been moved on.

The traffickers were inside the transit point drinking beer and celebrating early — and this transit point was, of all things, a dingy and run-down bar.

Rong Qian kept her foot on the gas and drove straight through the door.

Seven or eight men grabbed whatever was within reach and charged at them. Lin Feng and Jessie were first out of the car, each seizing a chair and swinging it with full force.

One man came at the car door. Shen Yi’s face was ice cold. He drove his foot into the door — it slammed into the man’s face, and blood from his nose immediately splattered everywhere.

Rong Qian brought the car to a stop, unclipped her seatbelt, shoved open the door, and was moving the instant her feet hit the ground — a continuous, ruthless sequence of action, not a trace of hesitation or delay.

Within moments, everyone was locked in a brawl. Only Lu Xuan stood frozen after getting out of the car.

Rong Qian called out to him: “Stop standing there! Go find Chen Shiyi — now!”

“Right!” Lu Xuan rushed off to search.

Rong Qian squared off against a monstrous hulk of a man with a face twisted in savage brutality. This was Jack Lev — knife in hand, and with the vicious, unpredictable movements of a man who had killed before. He came at her without mercy.

Unfortunately for him, his opponent was Rong Qian. She had dealt with criminals exactly like him more times than she could count.

In short order, she kicked the knife clean from his grip, executed a restraining hold that pinned him to the ground, and delivered a brutal kick to his jaw — knocking it sideways and leaving his mouth full of blood.

The tide had clearly turned. This group was no match for them.

Victory was within reach — when, from somewhere, a man with a gun burst out. And of all the people he could have aimed at, he chose Shen Yi.

Then — a gunshot rang out. Someone fell.