Chapter 35

She pictured herself picking up a handgun in her mind and pressing it to her forehead.

The conference room sat right next to the institute director’s office, exuding an innate air of solemnity.

Every operative who stepped inside felt their knuckles stiffen and their minds snap to high alert.

The stringent notification level dictated the heavy atmosphere in the room. Although Level II wasn’t the highest, it was enough to make everyone hold their breath, their chests tight as they stared ahead.

At the head of the conference table sat the institute director and vice director. He De and Yesuiying rarely appeared together due to their different departmental responsibilities, so seeing both elders assembled today was a rare sight.

Seated below them in order were the heads of various divisions and offices: General Affairs Office Director Te Rui, Intelligence Collection Division Chief Jia Hua, Intelligence Division Chief Kemi, Blue Training Department Chief Kang Baili, Information Room Director Wen Du, and the section chiefs from both the Intelligence Collection and Intelligence Divisions.

The all-important Special Action Department wasn’t at the round table today. Instead, its members sat in the observer seats at the back. As for Division Chief Ji Tingxi, she occupied the seat beside He De, her eyes sweeping the room as she quietly observed everyone’s expressions.

At one thirty, Ruo Xing counted heads and confirmed there were no unauthorized electronic devices in the conference room. He then reported to the institute director and Ji Tingxi.

No one dared arrive late to such a meeting; everyone showed up five minutes early. As soon as the minute hand ticked past the six, He De spoke right on cue. “This week, the Special Action Department made a major discovery. Division Chief Ji will brief everyone from here on.”

With that, Ji Tingxi rose from her seat at the table and walked to the front of the conference room.

The chairs weren’t low, but she was tall and striking. From the others’ perspectives, she stood like a flagpole at the desk. She wasn’t trying to look down on them, but a single downward glance from her eyes carried a smooth, effortless pressure.

Wen Du turned her face slightly, her gaze settling on her.

Compared to her usual self, Ji Tingxi seemed distant and inscrutable up there on the “stage.”

Though the two had never truly opened up to each other in their daily interactions—just going through the motions of civility—it had still fostered some semblance of rapport. Especially from Ji Tingxi, whose every word brimmed with warmth, as if she and Wen Du shared an uncommon bond. It would be a betrayal of that mountain-deep, sea-wide affection not to act more intimate.

Ji Tingxi had only been on the job for a little over a month, yet under the scrutiny of all these senior leaders, she carried herself like someone who’d held high office for years. Organizing meetings was routine for her, and speaking in public came as naturally as breathing.

“Thank you all for making time in your busy schedules to attend,” she began. “I’ll keep this brief and get to the key points of our discovery.”

The faces around the table showed faint puzzlement; no one had a clue what was about to be revealed.

As for the Special Action Department, they only knew that Ji Tingxi had been thrust into the media spotlight over the Swan Palace incident, sparking controversy and drawing criticism. They’d assumed she’d keep a low profile and fade into the background. Instead, not even a week later, Division Chief Ji stood at the center of the conference room, once again the institute’s focal point.

Even her words rang out with conviction.

“On the Wednesday of last week, the West City Police Bureau reported a missing Sern person named Luo Zi. Because this Sern was connected to an important scholar, I got directly involved, working with the police to search for her. Our investigation revealed that Luo Zi had been abducted, and the suspect vehicle was last seen heading toward the western suburbs.

“The police bureau contacted the West City precinct and dispatched additional patrol officers to scour the area. Hoof Town in the suburbs is a key stop for tour buses. That afternoon, after a tour bus departed, a patrol cop was found drowned in a remote spot at Hoof Lake. He had marks from blunt force trauma beforehand, and his valuables were missing.

“There were no cameras around Hoof Lake, no witnesses. The case stalled. The police bureau suspected robbers had slipped into town amid the tourist crowds for a theft, then ran into the patrol cop by the lake and killed him during a robbery.”

So much for keeping it brief—the backstory alone had filled two pages. But no one in the room made a sound; they listened attentively, waiting for her to continue her so-called “brief” account.

“By rights, the Hoof Lake case would fall entirely under the Patrol Police Team’s purview, with no connection to the Special Action Department. But I spotted several suspicious elements.

“First, the timing of the incident lined up perfectly right after Luo Zi’s disappearance, and the location was exactly at a tour bus stop.

“Second, surveillance caught the kidnappers’ vehicle near the western suburbs, at a fork five kilometers from Hoof Town. Cameras went dark after that—no trace of the car.

“The killer at Hoof Lake left no traces either; the scene was wiped clean. Both crimes showed strong anti-detection skills and meticulous planning.

“The cases seemed coincidental at first glance, but a closer look suggested a hidden link. So I made a bold hypothesis: What if the patrol cop’s killer was the same person—or the same group—as Luo Zi’s kidnappers?”

After dropping that bombshell, Ji Tingxi paused tactfully, giving everyone time to mull it over.

She’d used another two pages on the case’s inconsistencies, but this time no one minded. They’d been drawn in step by step, zeroing in on the crux of the issue—Division Chief Ji truly was keeping it brief, not a word wasted.

“Under this hypothesis, how do we explain it? If the killer was part of the kidnapping crew, why kill the patrol cop if not for robbery?

“That day, the patrol cop was in plain clothes and an unmarked car, not showing he was police. If the kidnappers spotted him, the most likely reason was that he’d found a trace of Luo Zi and tried to retrieve her. But he ran into trouble, clashed with the kidnappers or their group, and got silenced.

“Surveillance showed the patrol cop inspecting the tour bus’s luggage compartment at first. Then he veered toward the back of the restrooms and kept going, out of camera range. Along that path, a woman’s figure appeared consistently, but she wore a wide-brimmed sun hat that hid her face.

“If he was tailing her to Hoof Lake, we can conclude that woman was Luo Zi. Her freedom of movement suggests she might be working with the kidnappers—perhaps staging an escape.”

The hypothesis was wildly bold, overturning all prior conclusions and elevating the case from a simple abduction to a major one requiring special pursuit.

He De and Yesuiying had already heard Ji Tingxi’s briefing beforehand and formed their opinions. They didn’t interrupt but glanced at the others, signaling that questions were welcome.

Intelligence Collection Division Chief Jia Hua was always meticulous— even measuring milk for her coffee with a scale, never deviating by a gram. At this wildly off-script hypothesis, she raised her hand promptly.

“Division Chief Ji, I follow your point. Linking the events does make them suspicious. But it’s just a hypothesis. Do you have concrete evidence proving the connection?”

Ji Tingxi had fielded that very question at lunch, when He De had grilled her. She’d defended her case so passionately that she skipped a proper meal, wolfing down two wraps before facing her colleagues’ “cross-examination.”

“Excellent point from Chief Jia. To classify this properly, we do need hard evidence. Unfortunately, both the ‘kidnapping’ and ‘murder’ trails went cold—no way to dig deeper. That’s regrettable. But luckily, I found a breakthrough in a lake in Hoof Town.

“I started this job in March and worried about my lack of experience, so I not only pored over the archives left by former Division Chief Ling but also pulled Sern files from the Sern Affairs Management Bureau for study.

“One file on Sern deaths mentioned Hoof Town. A Sern named Te Wa Li supposedly killed himself there in November two years ago—left a suicide note and jumped into the lake. His employer and the police didn’t even dredge for him; he stayed at the bottom.”

A cup of water sat before each person at the long table, perfectly temperate to soothe a dry throat from long speeches or ease stiffness from prolonged sitting.

Wen Du hadn’t spoken a word, yet her throat felt like it’d just endured moxibustion therapy—scorching dryness after the mugwort burned out, laced with a heavy bitterness. She needed plain water to moisten it.

Ji Tingxi’s gaze happened to glide over her face. This time, there was no smile, no warmth—just a routine scan as she pressed on eloquently.

“I’ve looked into it: The remote Hoof Lake behind Hoof Town is a closed basin with no outflow. Water quality tests are normal, so Te Wa Li’s remains should still be at the bottom—undrifted, not fully decayed.

“When they dredged for the patrol cop earlier, they only found his body, no other suspicious objects. On May 2, the police dredging team and our Special Action operatives scoured the lakebed completely but confirmed no corpse.”

Ji Tingxi’s voice was strong and clear, taking root in the conference room and burrowing into everyone’s ears.

She paused briefly for two seconds, then clarified further in case it wasn’t clear.

“Per the coroner, decay in water is half the rate on land. For bones to fully rot in Hoof Lake’s conditions, it’d take at least two hundred years. Less than two years since the suicide—impossible for the skeleton to vanish entirely. By logic, the body should still be there.”

He De had been shocked at lunch hearing this. The police bureau had botched procedures two years back, and now the Wei Investigation Institute uncovered it. He wasn’t sure whether to thank his police contacts for delivering this lead—two years late.

“No body in the lake means Te Wa Li didn’t die. If he didn’t die, where did he go? Same as our missing Luo Zi—no trace. Where did she go?

“Now, we hypothesize further: They didn’t suicide or get kidnapped. They were relocated—to somewhere beyond our control!”

Ji Tingxi paced a couple steps to the observer seats, exchanging looks with her capable subordinates. Their hard work formed her strongest backing now.

“Following that thread, our department this week pulled and verified all past Sern death and disappearance files from archives and agencies. We uncovered something fascinating—

“In North County City, Sern abductions crop up periodically, but two-thirds go cold due to broken trails.

“Plus, Sern Affairs Management Bureau files show hundreds of Sern ‘suicides’ in the city with no bodies recovered—off cliffs, into rivers, leaving blanks in the records.”

“Once or twice? Coincidence. A string of them? That’s the answer staring us in the face—”

With the background laid out, inconsistencies analyzed, hypotheses reasoned, and evidence chained, Ji Tingxi returned to the front of the table. She shifted from storyteller to announcer, raising her volume and firming her tone.

“We have reasonable suspicion of a covert organization inside North County City systematically relocating Serns. They’re planned, premeditated, with a full structure and transfer expertise to evade police surveillance.”

She held back the rest: not just police, but the Wei Investigation Institute too—for quite some time. They’d lurked deeply hidden.

She spared former Division Chief Ling Tuofu the embarrassment. In his three years, he’d seen no anomalies, assuming Sern flight and record-low crime meant stable security.

But flight and crime never stopped—they’d just gone underground, more mysterious and organized, slipping free under iron rule.

He De spoke up promptly, backing her publicly. “Division Chief Ji, wherever you need help, say it now.”

Finally, the real business: Notification wasn’t the goal; action was. Ji Tingxi kept a polite face, scanning the veteran leaders as she issued her “orders.”

“The mystery group will be the Special Action Department’s top priority. We’ll need everyone’s help. Blue Training Chief Kang, our staffing and scheduling may shift a lot—please bear with us.”

Kang Baili had honed a thick skin and slick tact under the two directors’ watch. He took it in stride. “No issue. Just say the word; I’ll get back to you ASAP.”

Next, the heavy hitters: Intelligence Collection and Intelligence Divisions.

“Chief Jia, we’ll rely on you to monitor suspicious info in North County City—plus exchanges with surrounding areas, especially Kangman Industrial City. Filter trade, tourism, everything.”

Jia Hua’s rigid logic was fully engaged; she nodded crisply. “Understood.”

Then Ji Tingxi turned to the ever-attentive Kemi. “Chief Kemi, please track keywords in suspicious intel: relocation, transit, disguise, etc. The group likely has its own codes to slip our filters. I’m no expert—your expertise will be invaluable!”

Kemi, as always, wore exquisite makeup—a flower amid the conference room. She smiled dazzlingly. “No trouble at all, Division Chief Ji. Just doing my job!”

In a lull in the talk, Wen Du finally lifted her water cup and gulped some down, thawing her frozen throat.

Until Ji Tingxi uttered “covert organization,” Wen Du had clung to faint hope: Luo Zi’s exposure, Te Wa Li’s—even a few more—left room to retreat.

As long as the group hid in shadow, no one knew; outsiders couldn’t touch it.

But Ji Tingxi had sealed every exit, her words striking vital points. Wen Du almost wanted to applaud: With your venomous wits and methods, the city’s tens of thousands of Serns wouldn’t rest in peace without dubbing you the “Sern Butcher”!

“Division Chief Ji, how can our Information Room assist?”

Ji Tingxi was already set to task Wen Du but paused at her preemptive bid, then smiled, softening her prior gravity.

“Of course. Translating their communications is huge—they likely base it on the Sern language. As a Sern language expert, Director Wen, you’ll be pivotal!”

Wen Du mirrored her smile, lips curving evenly—sincere yet professionally composed.

“I’ll certainly bring my full expertise to bear and lend you a hand, Division Chief Ji!”

The conference room fell quiet for a moment.

Across several seats, Wen Du and Ji Tingxi locked eyes from afar, charged with unspoken emotions only they could sense.

And in that gaze, Wen Du pictured a P938 handgun in her mind, slamming in the magazine, racking the slide, and aiming dead center at her forehead.