But how did Chen Jiahe end up here?
Hidden deep within the trenches, both Ji Xun and Huo Ranyin were utterly bewildered. Almost instantly, however, a realization struck Ji Xun. He turned his head slightly backward. Because they were pressed so close together, he could feel Huo Ranyin’s hair brushing softly against his cheek, and he found himself looking straight into the other man’s eyes.
In the dead of night, Huo Ranyin’s eyes gleamed faintly, much like a cat’s.
Without exchanging a single word, Ji Xun knew they were thinking the exact same thing:
Chen Jiahe came here for this smuggling route. He wants to use this line to flee the country!
“…They’re investigating my brother’s case. Why did they suddenly show up here? Did they find out I was hiding in this village?”
Voices drifted over from outside once more. Chen Jiahe was speaking to his companion.
Chen Jiahe’s companion was an old man in his fifties or sixties, with a hunched back and salt-and-pepper hair. A heavy cluster of keys hung at his waist, clinking loudly with every step he took.
Compared to Chen Jiahe, the old man’s age gave him a far more composed demeanor:
“Young Boss Chen, put your heart at ease. Yanyan said the cops only came to raid the gambling den. It should be nothing more than a coincidence.”
“Why would criminal investigators bother with a gambling den?” Chen Jiahe questioned. But soon, he added, “Then again, maybe. The first time I ever ran into them was in a casino. Maybe they really do handle gambling cases.”
“…”
Concealed just a stone’s throw away, the two detectives felt a wave of irony wash over them.
The truth was, they really didn’t care about gambling dens. Yet for some inexplicable reason, on the rare couple of occasions they crossed paths with it, they happened to stumble upon Chen Jiahe every single time.
If this counted as their good fortune, it was undoubtedly Chen Jiahe’s ultimate misfortune.
“In any case, just rest easy here, Young Boss Chen. Once the boat arrives, just board it and leave,” the old man comforted him. “The village is incredibly safe. There are no surveillance cameras, and the villagers stand united. We all remember Boss Chen’s kindness; this is our own people’s turf.”
“I hope so,” Chen Jiahe muttered back. “When will that thing get here?”
That thing?
What were they talking about?
Ji Xun and Huo Ranyin held their positions, hoping Chen Jiahe would unwittingly expose more information.
“It should be arriving any minute now,” the old man said, checking his watch.
“You guys make things so unnecessarily complicated,” Chen Jiahe grumbled under his breath.
“It’s all for the sake of security. Caution keeps the ship afloat. Surely Young Boss Chen doesn’t want to board the wrong vessel when it’s time to leave, or worse, get flagged by the police.” The old man sighed, a touch of nostalgia creeping into his voice. “These were the rules established back when Boss Chen was still around. So many years have passed in a flash. Boss Chen was such a meticulous, wonderful person. Who could have foreseen…”
Ji Xun felt a slight tingle against his spine.
Huo Ranyin was tracing characters onto his back: ‘Chen Jiashu’s route.’
Exactly. The old man’s words left no room for doubt—this smuggling route was secretly masterminded by Chen Jiashu. Considering Chen Jiashu owned a pharmaceutical factory, they were highly likely smuggling illicit or unapproved medications.
Just as the thought crossed his mind, Ji Xun’s back tingled again. This time, Huo Ranyin traced out: ‘Up.’
Up?
Sensing something, Ji Xun looked up toward the sky.
Beneath the pitch-black canopy of night, a tiny glint of light flashed in the distance, drawing closer and closer. It looked as though one of the sparse stars in the sky had broken free, plunging down toward the earth.
No, that was no star.
Ji Xun soon caught the low, buzzing drone of a motor.
As the distance closed, a dark silhouette materialized behind the glinting light, taking shape against the night.
It was a drone flying through the sky!
Dammit. Drones were equipped with aerial photography capabilities. Once it hovered directly over Chen Jiahe’s position, the operator would easily spot the two of them hiding inside the foundation trench via the camera feed!
If worst came to worst, they would just have to make an arrest right now.
Ji Xun swept a swift glance at Chen Jiahe before scanning his immediate surroundings, trying to find anything that could serve as a cover—ideally a large tarp or lid that could obscure the entire trench.
Naturally, no convenient lid was lying around.
However, as his gaze completed a full sweep, he spotted a substantial sheet of green waterproof plastic sheeting lying flat on the ground just behind the foundation.
He locked eyes with Huo Ranyin.
Huo Ranyin gave him a subtle nod, simultaneously flashing a hand signal.
The meaning was clear: “You go first, I’ll cover the rear.”
Ji Xun cast one more glance at Chen Jiahe and the old man. They had also noticed the blinking light flying in from the distance and showed zero intention of looking behind them.
This was their window.
Exerting force through both hands, Ji Xun propelled his body upward, vaulting out of the trench like a nimble cat and rolling directly toward the plastic sheeting.
He executed this sequence of movements flawlessly and soundlessly, moving like a phantom in the dark of night.
But when it came to lifting the plastic sheeting, no matter how light his touch, it was bound to create a faint rustling sound.
Ji Xun chose to place his absolute trust in Huo Ranyin.
The man at his back was his most unshakeable anchor.
The exact moment he lifted the plastic sheeting—not a fraction of a second too fast, nor a fraction too slow—the loud, sharp barking of a dog suddenly shattered the silence nearby.
“Woof! Woof-woof-woof—Woof!”
A dog?
In a flash of lightning-fast realization, Ji Xun understood:
No, it’s not a dog. It’s a phone!
Huo Ranyin had slid his phone out along the ground, perfectly timing it to play a pre-recorded dog bark to draw Chen Jiahe and the old man’s attention, successfully masking the rustle of the plastic.
Ji Xun slipped beneath the sheet, and a few seconds later, Huo Ranyin slid in right beside him.
Just as the lifted sheet settled back into place, Chen Jiahe’s voice cut through: “Where did that stray dog come from!”
But since a good number of villagers raised dogs, the moment the barking on their end ceased, a chorus of distant and nearby barks rippled across the village in response, as if answering a call.
“The little drone is here!” the old man suddenly announced.
“Oh,” Chen Jiahe muttered, falling silent.
They were safe.
Ji Xun immediately pulled out his phone, lifting a tiny corner of the plastic sheeting to aim his camera lens forward.
The drone overhead didn’t seem to have detected anything amiss. It flew straight down, hovering roughly two to three meters above the duo outside, before flashing its high-beams four times.
Following the four flashes, the drone didn’t fly away. Instead, it continued its descent, landing right toward Chen Jiahe. As it drew closer, Ji Xun could see through his phone screen that a mechanical rack was attached to the belly of the drone, holding a dark, slender object.
The night was far too dark, and the drone’s high-beams had already been cut.
Everything was a blurry silhouette, making it impossible to discern exactly what the item was.
All he could see was Chen Jiahe stepping forward to retrieve the object. This time, via the camera screen, Ji Xun caught sight of it—it was a long strip of paper. Chen Jiahe read aloud: “B.”
The drone began its ascent, its tiny blinking light retreating back into the curtain of night, blending seamlessly in as just another star.
“Alright, Young Boss Chen, let’s head back,” the old man spoke up.
“Mm.”
Following a brief rustle of shoe soles grinding against the dirt, absolute silence reclaimed the area outside.
Chen Jiahe and the old man had departed.
Concealed within the trench, Ji Xun and Huo Ranyin didn’t rush to leave. They waited for another ten minutes to ensure nobody would double back before finally tossing aside the plastic sheet and standing up.
“We wear out our iron shoes hunting for a lead, only to find it without any effort at all,” Ji Xun murmured thoughtfully to himself. “Chen Jiahe… how should I put it? It’s been a long time since I’ve met a guy as cooperative as him.”
This excursion had yielded a massive breakthrough.
The two didn’t linger in the village a moment longer. They departed swiftly, driving straight back to the police bureau to locate Bureau Chief Zhou.
It was already the dead of night, and Bureau Chief Zhou had already gone home to rest. However, a single phone call from Huo Ranyin brought him rushing back to the station in a hurry. Following a night of intense, brightly-lit consultations and debates, by the time dawn broke, a comprehensive surveillance and combat plan had been mapped out and distributed.
Both criminal investigation units were naturally assigned tasks. The primary objective was a pre-emptive lockdown of the village, followed by a coordinated strike and assault the moment the smuggling vessel arrived.
In addition, the anti-smuggling maritime unit authorized ships and personnel to conduct surveillance and provide tactical support at sea.
Furthermore, ordinary police officers were deployed to monitor and track the root of the operations: Chen Jiashu’s immediate family and the core employees of his pharmaceutical factory.
For this mission, surveillance was secondary; the primary focus was tactical engagement.
However, this hadn’t been Bureau Chief Zhou’s original intention. It was Ji Xun who had ultimately persuaded him.
On the night they returned from the village, the two had recounted everything they witnessed to Bureau Chief Zhou. The Chief had listened while reviewing the recorded video footage in his hands. He raised no objections to anything else, save for one specific detail that sparked a question.
“From beginning to end, the suspects didn’t mention a single word regarding time. Why are you so certain that the smuggling ship is coming to pick up Chen Jiahe on April 2nd at 4:00 AM sharp?”
“What do you mean ‘why’? Chen Jiahe clearly laid it all out perfectly for us. He’s practically acting like an undercover mole planted by our side…”
Bureau Chief Zhou glared at Ji Xun, his eyes widening to the size of copper bells.
Left with no choice, Ji Xun broke down the deduction step-by-step: “You heard their conversation yourself, Chief. Chen Jiahe only had one purpose in coming to that village—to board a smuggling vessel and flee the country. Since the boarding location has been verified, the only missing piece of the puzzle was the time. Restricting the riddle to this specific framework, our known clues consist of the drone flashing its lights four times, and the letter ‘B’ that Chen Jiahe read aloud. As a side note, after Chen Jiahe left, I cross-referenced the size of the paper paper in the video and realized that what he held was likely a 1-yuan banknote. The letter he read was the serial prefix of the note. Serial prefixes span from A to Z, which perfectly covers almost every day of a month. Under this line of reasoning, it naturally follows that the letter corresponds to the date, while the flashes correspond to the hour—”
“In short,” Ji Xun concluded smoothly, his tone laced with a lack of enthusiasm, “it’s incredibly simple. There’s really no room for alternative interpretations.”
“…”
Following a prolonged silence, Bureau Chief Zhou stared at Ji Xun’s thoroughly punchable face, squeezing out two words:
“Very good.”
Following a few days of intense, airtight preparations, during the early hours of April 2nd, the police monitoring the core employees of Chen Jiashu’s pharmaceutical factory were the first to report movement from their targets. Next, the anti-smuggling units staking out the sea reported a suspicious vessel moving toward the coordinate destination. By this time, Ji Xun had long since infiltrated the village alongside the Second Unit, lying in ambush within the skeleton structures of the seaside construction site.
This rugged, uneven abandoned site resembled a massive, wrinkled sack, effortlessly cloaking the police personnel within the dark shadows.
The Second Unit held the inside, while the First Unit secured the perimeter.
Now, all they had to do was wait for the fish to swim into the trap, allowing them to strike from both sides and sweep them all up in one go!
As the time edged closer to 4:00 AM, around 3:40 AM.
Far out on the horizon, a tiny dark speck materialized on the surface of the sea.
Shortly after, the low rumble of a ship’s engine rolled across the silent coastline, and a small cargo vessel entered their line of sight.
The ship was coming! The arrival time aligned flawlessly with Ji Xun’s analysis!
