CH 243

Shen Ping had just finished a program broadcast. He held the TV station’s microphone and wiped the sweat off his forehead, tiptoeing to look around. At this moment, he was excited but also a bit annoyed.

He absolutely loved the current grand scene—after all, the density of the crowd represented the explosiveness of the news. However, it would be even better if there were no flashing lights around and he could have the headline all to himself.

On the large screen opposite, displaying the Ansheng International Mall, the minute hand had moved halfway, making Shen Ping even more restless. When he turned his head, he saw a convenience store in the corner of the square, filled with cunning reporters who were enjoying the cool breeze from the air conditioning. What was even more infuriating was the bald reporter from a rival TV station, holding a microphone and interviewing the store employee.

Shen Ping secretly blamed himself for not being quick-witted enough and became even more annoyed. He took out his phone in frustration. In the WeChat group for his interview team, someone was posting emojis, which made him even angrier. He pressed the button on the microphone and shouted, “Give me some news, any news! Just something!”

At the moment he released the button, an unexpected screeching sound of emergency brakes rang out on the road in front of the square.

Shen Ping shivered, quickly retracted his phone, and felt the atmosphere of a big news story approaching. He desperately stood on tiptoe, but the entire small square in front of the skyscraper was crowded with journalists and onlookers, and all he could see were heads moving about.

Shen Ping looked around, and the surrounding crowd was squeezing towards the road where the braking sound came from. He made a bold decision, turned around, and ran away from the crowd, rushing up the steps at the entrance of the office building. Dozens of companies, including Zhourui Pharmaceutical, shared the entire skyscraper, and people were constantly coming and going at the entrance, leaving hardly any space to stand.

However, when Shen Ping turned around to look at the origin of the commotion again, the scene before him made him feel as if he was witnessing a scene from a police action film.

Five pure black SUVs were lined up in a row on the road; their bodies shining with a cold gleam under the sunlight. Behind them were law enforcement vehicles from the Drug Administration, the Safety Supervision Bureau, and other departments, followed by official vehicles with the logo of the Environmental Protection Bureau. Heaven knew why they had also joined in the excitement.

After setting up this formation, the door of the driver’s cabin of the leading pure black SUV was forcefully pushed open, and a pair of black leather boots stepped on the ground.

From bottom to top, the trousers were impeccably straight, the gloves were so white they reflected light, and the uniform had not a single wrinkle. Going up further, a silver star shone on the shoulder epaulet, and the visitor’s face was mostly covered by pitch-black sunglasses. That face showed no emotion; only tension and seriousness could be sensed from the tightly pursed thin lips.

Shen Ping took a deep breath, wanting the photographer to quickly capture the scene, but he found that he and the other person had already been dispersed by the crowd.

With the sound of the door slamming as the person arrived, all the vehicles following them seemed to have received instructions. At once, the doors of dozens of official cars swung wide open, and dozens of officials wearing uniforms from various departments stepped out of the cars one after another. Some of them carried briefcases, some began driving away the onlooking journalists, and others unfurled banners directly at the entrance of the office building…

The flashes erupted once again, filling the small square with excitement. Which journalist wouldn’t love such a grand scene?

Shen Ping wiped the sweat off his face again, gritted his teeth, and prepared to find his damn cameraman. But at this very moment, he caught a glimpse from the corner of his eye of someone walking out of the Zhourui Building. It was clearly the head of the security department at Zhourui Pharmaceutical.

The security guard was dressed in a suit, with muscles bulging all over his body. Such a figure was a waste to be concealed under a suit. At the same time, the officials on the square were clearing a path. The police officer, who was obviously the commander of this operation, was slowly climbing the steps, stopping in front of the security guard. The angle was perfect, and Shen Ping couldn’t help but secretly take out his phone and start recording. In the era of new media, all fresh, explosive, and timely news would be accepted, and no one cared too much about quality.

To Shen Ping’s surprise, the first one to speak turned out to be the captain of the security team at Zhourui Pharmaceutical.

“This is a private area. It’s not convenient to invite the police inside,” the powerful security guard said, sounding extremely arrogant.

After that, Shen Ping heard a sneer.

It was a genuine, mocking laugh.

Huang Ze didn’t say a word, didn’t take off his sunglasses, or remove his gloves. It was as if the person in front of him wasn’t qualified to have a face-to-face conversation with him. He raised his right hand and made a simple gesture, and someone behind him handed him a piece of white paper, which unfolded with a swish.

From Shen Ping’s perspective, it was very clear that it was a search warrant issued by the court with a bright red stamp on it. After Zhourui Pharmaceutical made a move against the police, the police retaliated, and they did so with such pomp and disregard for public opinion! This was definitely big news! Shen Ping’s blood was boiling.

At this moment, Shen Ping’s phone vibrated. He lowered his head and saw a reply on the screen: [Boss, my friend at the Traffic Bureau said things aren’t that simple. It seems like the police are arranging something…]

…

“Have the police gone mad? How dare they be so arrogant toward our company!”

In the top-level office of Zhourui Pharmaceuticals, the vice chairman’s office. The infuriated man slammed his hand heavily on the mahogany desk in front of him, and the managers looked at each other, thinking that it was the police, the power of the state, and they could do anything without being excessive. But when facing their immediate superior, they could only echo their indignation.

“How is the finance department doing?”

“The audit team has arrived and is conducting an investigation.” The CFO reported.

The vice chairman slammed the desk again, causing the crystal glass on the desk to tremble violently. “I’m asking about the accounts! Will any problems be uncovered?”

The CFO cowered and said, “It… it shouldn’t…”

This statement seemed to console the vice chairman a little, and he calmed down a bit, muttering, “Drug inspection, safety supervision, auditing, health… everyone who can come has come.” He sneered. “I wonder if the fire department will also come to inspect whether our fire facilities are up to code?”

At this moment, the logistics department supervisor in the corner raised his hand silently. “Chair… Chairman… The fire department—have arrived.”

……

Not only the on-site journalists and the top management of Zhourui Pharmaceutical were shocked by Huang Ze’s sudden appearance, but also the people who were watching the scene through various channels.

“Boss, you actually let Huang Ze steal the limelight in such a good opportunity. I really don’t know what to say!”

Wang Chao sat in the laboratory, with three computers in front of him. One of them displayed the surveillance footage in front of the Zhourui Building, freezing at the moment when Huang Ze made a beckoning gesture. The angle wasn’t particularly good, but the image quality was sufficient.

Comrade Xiao Wang wasn’t watching the surveillance with the posture of watching a soap opera; instead, he took a quick glance in the midst of his busy work to confirm that the data was smooth, then continued to focus on his tasks.

On the computer screen directly in front of him, the traffic map of the entire city of Hongjing was displayed. The blue and white background was densely covered with red and green lines like blood vessels. This was the basic work that had already been completed, so he only needed to observe it briefly. What he was really doing was the task assigned to him by the man on the other end of the earpiece.

“What about the building’s structural diagram? Is it confirmed?”

The man’s voice was extremely cold.

Wang Chao trembled all over and stopped daydreaming, quickly inspecting the three-dimensional model of the building in front of him and comparing it with the actual pictures. Finally, he swiftly compiled the two sets of documents and pressed the Enter key.

……

One colorful image after another quickly appeared in the dim space of the underground parking lot. The quiet compartments were filled only with the faint sound of electronic devices, and the smell of smoke was heavy in the air.

Xing Conglian sat in the command vehicle, silently swiping the screen. Beside him were half of the high-level members of the operation team, waiting quietly.

Flat, three-dimensional, black and white, color… countless lines intertwined with each other, gradually forming a complete three-dimensional model of the entire building.

Zhourui’s headquarters was a skyscraper that integrated a commercial center and office building. It covered an area of about 10,000 square meters, with a total construction area of 180,000 square meters, a structural height of about 188 meters, and a total height of 282 meters, spanning 43 floors. Zhourui Pharmaceutical occupied the 20th to 43rd floors, while the floors below the 20th were separately rented office spaces.

A chaotic noise came from the communication device—footsteps, shouting. Xing Conglian could almost imagine the commotion caused by Huang Ze right above his head.

“Captain Xing, everyone is inside.”

The deputy team leader held his earpiece and reported to him.

Xing Conglian nodded and handed over the tablet. The three-dimensional model of the Zhourui building was still rotating.

The person on the other side glanced at it and said, “The floors are too high. It’s difficult for us to set up actual surveillance at every staircase entrance.”

“We don’t need to,” Xing Conglian just responded.

The deputy team leader hesitated for a moment. “But if we don’t guard the key entrances and exits, it will be difficult for us to monitor the movements of every person inside the building.”

Xing Conglian didn’t answer immediately. He just leaned back in his seat, cigarette in hand, with an indifferent expression.

“Should we still assign personnel to all the key entrances and exits of the building?” the deputy team leader said, pointing to several safety exits on the ground floor of the building, and added, “We also need to monitor the entrances and exits of the parking lot.”

“I have encountered Shen Lian.”

Finally, Xing Conglian spoke. He looked at each person in the vehicle and believed that his voice would be transmitted to all the operatives through the radio communication devices. After a few seconds of silence, he calmly said, “But I failed to apprehend her, and an officer lost his life during the operation.”

The deputy team leader called out, “Captain,” and then hesitated to say something comforting, but felt it was inappropriate.

“I’m telling all of you this so that you understand. First, Shen Lian is a desperate criminal. When facing her, never take it lightly. It’s never too cautious. Second, what I have planned next may seem very risky to you, but please trust my judgment.”

After he finished speaking, there was a few seconds of silence on the communication channel.

Then, the repeated voices of “Understood” came through the earpieces.

Subsequently, Xing Conglian straightened his body and said seriously, “My plan is that no personnel will be assigned to the entrances and exits of the entire building. No surveillance will be conducted. All personnel will guard one specific location…”

His calloused fingertips drew a circle on the map.

……

Shen Ping touched his phone, trying to disguise himself as an employee of another company to enter the building.

To his surprise, the passing police officers paid no attention to him, treating him like an ordinary employee and not stopping him.

Shen Ping opened his phone again and found a quiet corner of a men’s restroom, crouching down to view the traffic information sent by his subordinates.

To be honest, he wasn’t an expert in traffic matters. Even after so many years in Hongjing, he sometimes relied on navigation when traveling. But even for him, looking at the real-time map now, he realized how strange the traffic in Hongjing had become.

There were several road sections where the police had set up temporary barriers, requiring all passersby to stop for inspections. As a result, the surrounding traffic wasn’t smooth at all. Shen Ping silently observed those key areas and had a feeling that there might be something wrong there. It seemed like the police were conducting surveillance or arranging something in those areas. They were treated as high-priority monitoring zones, as if something big was about to happen.

Shen Ping regretted not obtaining the traffic map earlier. If he had, maybe he could have chosen a different location and tried his luck to get a big exclusive scoop. But now, as Shen Ping looked around, no matter what, this place was filled with police officers. Would the fugitive really come here and walk into their trap?

……

“Why?”

Inside the speeding car, Li Nuo asked Lin Chen this question.

The car radio was broadcasting the news of the police raid on Zhourui Pharmaceutical, and the host’s tone seemed to hope that the police and the giant Zhourui Pharmaceutical would clash. Li Nuo felt annoyed and lowered the volume, looking at Lin Chen.

Lin Chen cleared his throat, his face not looking too good. “Shen Lian is a lunatic. How do you catch a lunatic?”

“I don’t know!” Li Nuo abruptly turned the steering wheel to avoid a car that was aggressively trying to cut in due to the chaotic traffic in the city.

“It’s simple. You have to be crazier than her.”

Thinking about the experiences he had gone through with Lin Chen, Li Nuo couldn’t help but shout, “We’re already crazy enough!” He waved his hand towards the congested elevated bridge, where all the vehicles had their red tail lights flashing, clearly stuck in traffic. “The entire city’s traffic is like this just to trap Shen Lian.”

“It’s not enough,” Lin Chen said. “We use the police communication system to make Shen Lian think that our surveillance locations are outside of Zhourui Pharmaceutical. We use the traffic to create convenience for her. But that’s not enough because the most crucial part is the trap itself.”

“But if we don’t have any surveillance or controls at the entrances and exits, what if Shen Lian successfully enters the building?”

“Even if Shen Lian arrives at Zhourui Pharmaceutical according to our plan, any detail could make her change her plans, like a government official who appears to be sealing off Zhourui Pharmaceutical but is closely observing pedestrians passing by. What if she opens the medication right then and there and we can’t stop her in time? What then?” Lin Chen countered.

Li Nuo was instantly at a loss for an answer. As if to match Lin Chen’s words, the radio inside the car started playing a chaotic live broadcast.

Just from the radio broadcast, one could sense the terrifying crowd inside and outside the building. The host spoke rapidly, “According to our on-site reporter, a large number of electronic devices related to Zhourui Pharmaceutical have been seized by the police, and many materials are being removed from the building. The scene is in chaos.”

Li Nuo suddenly woke up. “On one hand, we use the investigating officers involved in apprehending Shen Lian to enter the building, but on the other hand, we also use them as bait to lure Shen Lian. But… but… what if we can’t control Shen Lian and she succeeds? What about all the people in the building?”

“It won’t happen.”

“What do you mean it won’t happen?”

“She won’t succeed.”

“Why?” Li Nuo anxiously asked. “You’re too confident. There are too many uncontrollable factors in a live arrest operation.”

“I know…” Lin Chen interrupted Li Nuo and looked out the window at the building that was getting closer to them. “But I believe in him.”

Lin Chen spoke calmly.

……

An Xu wasn’t the person Lin Chen trusted, but right now, he was the one entrusted with an important task by “that person”.

He was a sniper, but at this moment, he had become a member of the building’s property management team, slowly and covertly making his way to the upper floors of Zhourui Pharmaceutical.

Thanks to the commotion caused by Inspector Huang, their entire team encountered no obstacles as they dispersed and made their way up. They appeared just like ordinary company employees, busy at their respective positions, maintaining order amidst the chaos throughout the entire building.

The icy elevator doors opened with a swoosh, revealing a cold corridor. This was the central hub of Zhourui Pharmaceutical.

Normally, personnel like him wouldn’t be able to take the elevator to this location, but that was the advantage of a modern, intelligent building. He walked past a surveillance camera, nodding to the person monitoring it, and the camera responded with a slight up and down movement.

An Xu walked calmly, pushing open two doors, scanning his fingerprint, and then entering a completely different area from the beautifully decorated building.

This area was unfinished, with the raw structure of steel and concrete still exposed.

Just then, he heard a faint conversation up ahead.

In an instant, An Xu stopped in his tracks and quickly hid behind a wall.

He took a deep breath, and the scene before him made his heart race uncontrollably. In the area designated for him by Xing Conglian, two janitorial staff members were chatting casually. Around them, plastic bottles were piled up densely.

What had not been reported in any of the surveillance images was that the critical area where he was supposed to snipe Shen Lian had been treated by the janitorial staff as a storage area for empty water bottles.

An Xu took a step back, returning to the empty corridor, and reported back to Xing Conglian through his earpiece, “Captain Xing, this is Fox. There’s a problem in the target area… Should we change the sniper position?”

He briefly described what he had just seen, and there was a tense exchange of questions and answers on the other end of the earpiece.

Finally, a definite command came through the earpiece.

But that voice furrowed An Xu’s brow.

“Captain Xing… The linear distance from the Jin Sui Building to the designated target location exceeds 1,000 meters, and it’s very difficult to calculate the wind speed at such a high altitude.”

The person on the other end said a couple more things.

“Okay, I understand, but…” After pondering for a moment, An Xu decided to give a direct response, “With my abilities, I cannot guarantee the completion of this sniper mission. I request consideration for a replacement sniper.”

There was a slight noise in the earpiece, and then a very certain answer followed.

An Xu suddenly looked up, but in the end, he could only respond in the calmest tone, “Understood.”

That was what he said.

……

Some time later, on the same floor.

“Inspector Huang… The personnel from the drug inspection team have all entered the laboratories of Zhourui Pharmaceutical.”

Huang Ze sat in the office of the Chairman of Zhourui Pharmaceutical with his legs crossed as the voice of his subordinates’ reports came through his earpiece.

“How’s the situation?” Huang Ze asked.

“The investigators have smoothly entered the premises without encountering any obstacles,” the subordinate replied.

“Nephew.” The middle-aged man across from him spoke up.

Huang Ze tried to maintain his composure, but in the presence of the man before him, he couldn’t help but curse Xing Conglian and his entire family in his mind. Yes, indeed. After he had very amicably inquired what he could do to help Xing Conglian, the other party mercilessly sent him to lead the team to investigate the secrets of Zhourui Pharmaceutical.

“Nephew, isn’t it a little inappropriate for you to show no mercy?” The vice chairman of Zhourui Pharmaceutical, to be precise, the father-in-law of a distant cousin, said so.

The middle-aged man’s face was filled with fake smiles and sincere threats, and Huang Ze once again grew tired of the intricate web of alliances between large families.

“When have you seen me show mercy?” Huang Ze retorted.

After he said these words, a distant chime rang out in the square.

Ding… Ding…

Huang Ze shivered suddenly, thinking it was an illusion. Although the sound was faint and the soundproofing of the building wasn’t too bad, Huang Ze couldn’t help but feel that each distant chime struck his heart.

Ding… Ding…

It was the end-of-work chime, and it seemed like a sign of something else.

Unconsciously, he looked out the window, completely shutting out the incessant voice of the person who could barely be considered his uncle behind him.

Sitting in his seat, he lowered his head and could just see Ansheng International Mall across the street. Several months ago, a serious public security incident had occurred in that mall, and ironically, it was Lin Chen who had saved him at that time, and then Xing Conglian had told him to scram. But now, Huang Ze told himself that it wasn’t the best time to reminisce about the past.

Ding… Ding…

But the more he thought about it, the stranger the memories became. He saw the musical fountain in the square opposite the mall spring to life. He suddenly remembered a family meeting where, it seemed, he had made a proposal that all the family’s shopping malls should have iconic musical fountains in front of them. He didn’t know why he had made such an arrangement at the time, perhaps for artistic purposes or maybe because he had a problem with his mind when he was young.

But as he watched the fountain in the square shoot water high and low, clear and transparent, Huang Ze’s expression grew solemn, overwhelmed by a strong sense of foreboding.

Because the instruments playing for the musical fountain in the square were from Johann Strauss Jr.1, and the piece was called <The Blue Danube>2. And there was not a single piece of music by Johann Strauss Jr. played inside or outside Ansheng International Mall, because he detested the Vienna waltzes that were so sticky.

1Was an Austrian composer of light music, particularly dance music and operettas as well as a violinist. He composed over 500 waltzes, polkas, quadrilles, and other types of dance music, as well as several operettas and a ballet. In his lifetime, he was known as “The Waltz King”, and was largely responsible for the popularity of the waltz in Vienna during the 19th century.

2A waltz by the Austrian composer Johann Strauss II, composed in 1866. It has been one of the most consistently popular pieces of music in the classical repertoire.

Huang Ze stood up and walked slowly to the floor-to-ceiling window. His hand involuntarily tapped lightly on the handrail in front of the window as the musical fountain sprayed a mist of water into the air under the sunlight.

At the same time, a pair of white canvas shoes with gray footprints stepped onto the final step in front of Zhourui Pharmaceutical Building.

Huang Ze looked around and saw the insignificance of humanity beneath his feet, like ants.

In that instant, the diverse expressions on the entire square transformed into pure, flat lines. The expressions dissolved into circular shapes of varying sizes for the eyes and lips, making the world appear very singular, yet the edges were exceptionally vivid and sharp.

The waltz music was light and cheerful, as if dancing to a joyful rhythm. Employees who were finishing work on time stepped out of the elevator and happily rushed towards the vast world outside the building.

Huang Ze’s gaze wandered over the heads of the small figures on the square.

Cleaners emptied various garbage from trash bins, sorting plastic bottles and cardboard together. Janitors wearing masks drove garbage trucks out of the underground parking lot. Secretaries in high heels continued to shuttle back and forth between the inside and outside of the building, holding documents in their hands.

Some people were answering phone calls on the square, others were chatting with friends nearby, and someone angrily threw what they were holding to the ground, venting their anger at the government officials in front of them.

But inside the building, more people remained busy, forced to stay at their posts.

Huang Ze took a deep breath, pressed his earpiece, and uttered the most chilling words to everyone on the channel.

“She’s here.”

……

An Xu stood in the descending elevator, and those words were transmitted through his earpiece.

His heart trembled, and as he looked around, he felt the entire lobby fall silent, without a single sound.

The elevator in which he stood was completely transparent, swiftly descending, and he scanned the floors from top to bottom.

In his eyes, all the images converged into the calmest and clearest lines and data.

As far as the eye could see, there were countless offices and company employees who hadn’t yet left work. On the higher floors, all the government officials inspecting Zhourui Pharmaceutical were busy. The situation on the lower floors of the companies varied, with some people looking at their watches, others turning off the lights and leaving, and some seemingly still immersed in their work…

Looking through the floor-to-ceiling windows of the companies with different logos, the myriad appearances of people made one’s throat tighten. But An Xu was certain that among all the people he had scanned, none of them were Shen Lian.

The numbers on the LCD display in the elevator, indicating the floor, continued to decrease. An Xu steadied his breath. Suddenly, the elevator stopped, and the ding sound rang again as the doors opened.

Another wave of girls in vibrant skirts entered the elevator. The girls had radiant smiles, as if spring had returned and the ice had melted. They stood in front of him, and he caught a whiff of their perfume.

The glass doors closed again, and the floor indicator continued to descend.

One of the girls in the elevator let out a low exclamation.

The male employees in the elevator turned their heads to look at the sky, with smiles on their faces.

An Xu also followed their gaze, and through the transparent elevator and glass curtain wall, he saw the building where he had told Xing Conglian that he couldn’t complete the sniper mission there.

In the distance, the sunset glowed like fire, as if burning above their heads.

In the moment when the descending elevator crossed paths with the ascending elevator, a pair of black high heels flashed past in his field of view.

‘Hope everything goes well,’ An Xu silently thought in his heart.

……

The elevator continuously stopped and then started again. After numerous dings, the elevator finally stopped on the first floor.

Dressed in the building’s property uniform, An Xu followed the girls out of the elevator.

Just as they were walking out of the elevator, he felt someone brush past him, causing him to involuntarily stop in his tracks.

Although he tried his best not to turn around, he couldn’t help but lower his head and reluctantly look back.

He saw a pair of white canvas shoes, and the owner of those shoes, following various types of leather footwear, calmly stepped into the elevator.

The elevator doors closed, and the elevator went up.

An Xu took a few steps forward and, once he reached a safe distance, couldn’t help but turn around to look.

In the ascending elevator that he had just stepped out of, the police consultant lowered his cap. His face was serene as he squeezed among the crowd of various people and nodded at him.

……

An Xu walked out of the building, following Xing Conglian’s previous instructions. He sat down on the second bench on the left side of the square.

Through his earpiece, he heard the quiet breathing of the entire action team. No one was assigning tasks or reporting positions. He seemed to have entered the quietest moment of radio silence.

He took a deep breath of the fresh air outside the building, and everything was silent on the communication channel. However, he had a feeling of escaping and ascending to the heavens.

He unscrewed the mineral water in his hand, took a sip, and then heard the sound of the elevator doors opening again.

Someone was walking out of the elevator, moving slowly in the quiet corridor.

The person walking was the consultant who had brushed past him earlier.

An Xu silently counted the footsteps he heard through the earpiece, calculating the number of steps to infer the person’s approximate location in the building. But this tranquility lasted for a very brief moment. With the accompaniment of light music, he suddenly heard someone on the team’s shared channel just answer a phone call.

Before anyone had a chance to scold the person who dared to answer a call during the operation, a very anxious female voice came through the entire channel. The woman’s voice choked up, sounding somewhat gentle yet filled with suppressed sadness.

“Chenchen, Lao Su… He just went to the hospital, and his condition isn’t good. What happened all of a sudden?”

An Xu held his breath, and there was silence on the channel. The woman’s voice seemed to have plunged into complete darkness, unable to stir any ripples.

An Xu unexpectedly felt a lump in his throat and couldn’t find any words to say because he suddenly realized who had answered the phone call.

There was still no one speaking on the channel, only a soft click, like a pebble falling into a dark world, silently ending the call.