Dawn break, at the police station.
There was a loud siren ringing in the air. Because of the heavy rain that still raged on, puddles of water covered the ground. An ambulance was parked on the side and many people in raincoats hurried about.
With the help of the heavy rain, the fire was put out as soon as it was noticed by people and did not spread much on the upper floors of the police station.
However, the underground prison and the doc.u.mented files in the underground were all lost in the fire.
When the fire was first sighted and reported a few hours earlier, some of the small-time reporters picked up on this news immediately and ran in the wee hours of the morning to the police station despite the storm in order to make it as a piece of morning news.
A few sneaky reporters who had arrived early overheard the rescuers and the police officers talking about an investigation around a burned body. They needed to conduct a preliminary investigation on site before they could retrieve the body for forensic study.
Soon, this information circulated amongst the reporters.
It was initially said that there was no casualty in the police station. The fire did not seem to spread much. So whose body did that belong to?
Because of this incident, it was hard for the police to hide the existence of the underground prison anymore from the public. The police station had no choice but to come clean and announce to the public that they lost the underground prison as well as the detained suspect hidden underground to the fire.
Reporters: Oooh! This is big news!
This mediocre police station actually had a secret underground prison for confidential prisoners!
Unfortunately, no matter how much the reporters pestered them, the police station kept the burned man's identity a secret.
Not far away from the police station, a car stopped. It could not go any nearer to the police station due to the heavy traffic that the barricade ahead caused. The national investigation department was not allowing the public to enter the premises.
The car door opened and Xiong Zhi came out. Her expression was tight.
Without a care for the pattering rain, she strode towards the police station.
The other side of the door opened and Linfeng came out.
"Zhi'er! Wait!" The man ran after Xiong Zhi.
But Xiong Zhi did not look back as she hurried forward. Her face was getting uglier as she came nearer to the police station.
Earlier, she woke up from Linfeng's bed and found the man on the phone. She gathered from Linfeng's own words that the police station where Gunan was being detained had caught fire.
When Linfeng was about to leave, despite her sore body, Xiong Zhi insisted on coming.
On the way, as they listened to the breaking news and heard the words, 'a hidden underground prison caught fire', 'a suspect's body allegedly being recovered', the two had a bad premonition.
Could it be possible that the 'burned body' in the news was Gunan?
Was this a scheme by the enemy to have Gunan escape and deceive the public that he was dead?
Xiong Zhi was furious. Her phoenix eyes were dangerously dark.
Did Gunan really escape from the prison? Was it Lu Jin who helped him?
"Zhi'er!" Linfeng immediately caught up. He took off his coat and placed it over Xiong Zhi's shoulders. Then he opened the umbrella he was holding and held it over her head.
His face was also grave. "According to my men's report, the fire started from underground. It appears that a spy from the opponent's side managed to infiltrate the national investigation team and caused all this."
Xiong Zhi came to a stop and stood behind the yellow line. She could not go further anymore without permission from the enforcers. She had to wait for the body to be recovered from underground.
Her eyes narrowed.
"How could they infiltrate the national investigation department? It will take them ten years of background investigation before they can even get in."
"But now it turns out that they are crazy and patient enough to endure that long. Do not forget, Zhi'er. Since our enemies are capable of replacing Guan Gao Huan for their plan fifteen years later, then ten years is just a mere thing for them."
Linfeng could not help but feel alarmed at the enemy's tenacity.
That side obviously prepared this card a long time ago. And now they were harvesting the fruit of their hard work and endurance.
There was suddenly a commotion ahead of them.
The preliminary on-site investigation was over. The body was now being retrieved.
The firefighters and rescuers came out with a stretcher. It was covered by a black waterproof sheet.
Someone shouted from the horde of reporters.
"A body! They really found a body!"
"Who is it? Whose body is it?"
"Is it a criminal or an official?"
However, Xiong Zhi's eyes did not tear away from the covered body. Her heart thumped hard.
Was it really Gunan?
No. She could not believe it.
This was surely another scheme by someone else to rescue Gunan and make everyone assume that he was dead. Gunan was not easy to die, and she also would not let him escape like that so easily.
He had to pay for his sins!
Linfeng looked around, observing the surroundings for anything or anyone suspicious. His eyes momentarily stayed on one spot before moving away. Then his eyes settled on the body on the stretcher.
The height, the size, those body dimensions...
Xiong Zhi continued to mutter as she stared at the stretcher. "Where is Gunan then? I do not believe that's him. This might be Lu Jin's strategy. Or perhaps, is it Ming Zhi Yi?"
Linfeng kept silent. His eyes narrowed and seemed to bore a hole through the black sheet cover.
For some reason, there was something here that was not right. His instincts were strangely telling him that that body was Gunan's.
His people were guarding this place, 24/7. The only thing that could escape from their eyes was the people staying inside the police station. They could not see what was happening inside, but they knew that no one could leave their eyes unknowingly.
If someone left with Gunan, Linfeng would know. His people barricaded all exits since today was the supposed day of trial. Anyone else leaving the doors aside from the police officers would have alarmed their attention.
So if Gunan did not leave, and there were no signs of rescue happening to Gunan, then whose body did this belong to? They could not have possibly brought in a replacement body, because Linfeng's men would have noticed if they did. The number of police officers did not decrease, so none of them could have possibly been used as a scapegoat.
If Gunan did not leave during the fire, then there was a big possibility that he was that burned body lying on the stretcher.
And the culprit was one of the officers.
Linfeng bit his lips.
Who would want Gunan's life then?
It was impossible that it was Lu Jin.
Firstly, that man did not have any people inside the national investigation department, or else why would he come to them and ask them about Gunan's whereabouts?
Then the answer left was… Ming Zhi Yi.