“What!”

In the Criminal Investigation Detachment Leader’s office, Ji Chenjiao, Xie Qing, and Wen Zhengchao sat around the coffee table, while Ling Lie leaned against the window alone.

A laptop was on the coffee table. There were four anonymous emails in Wen Zhengchao’s mailbox, each addressed to “Old Cao”.

The first two were sent on January 25th and 26th, with similar content, both saying: Save me.

The third one was sent on the 29th, with no content, only a photo. The photo showed a blurry highway, blocked by glass. Judging from the angle, it should have been taken hurriedly from a speeding car. The highway was a winding mountain road, with mountains and forests outside the guardrail.

The last one was sent at 2 a.m. today (February 1st), also only a photo, showing a small town with few houses.

It was difficult to distinguish where the photos were taken, and Wen Zhengchao had no way to judge where the emails were sent from.

“I don’t log in to this mailbox often. I only opened it last night.” Wen Zhengchao’s eyes gradually turned red, “Captain Ning is asking me for help!”

Ji Chenjiao’s heart beat fast, “Wait a minute, Teacher Wen, how do you know the person sending the emails is Captain Ning?”

“Because only he calls me that.” Wen Zhengchao sighed, “When we first met, he mispronounced my name. It’s Zhao, he pronounced it as Chao, and with a flat tongue sound. I corrected him, but he didn’t listen, and even changed my surname, calling me Old Cao in private.”

Wen Zhengchao wiped the corners of his eyes, “It must be him. Think of a way. Captain Ning has suffered a lot these years. We must rescue him safely!”

Ji Chenjiao couldn’t help but be moved. Xie Qing said that Ning Xiechen and Wen Zhengchao didn’t like each other when they were young, but after Ning Xiechen’s accident, Wen Zhengchao had been secretly helping the Criminal Investigation Detachment and never doubted Ning Xiechen. This leader looked worldly and slick, but at this moment, only worry for his old friend appeared in his eyes.

The laptop was sent to the technical investigation work area, and Xie Qing accompanied Wen Zhengchao to leave. Ling Lie crossed his arms and looked at the code appearing on the screen, letting out a rising “Hmm?”

The possibility that Ning Xiechen sent back a distress message caused concern among the high-level officials of the Xiarong City police. The superiors sent additional technical personnel to Shen Qi, urging them to lock the location of the sender as soon as possible. The anonymous emails used complex springboards, and some paths had disappeared, making tracking extremely difficult.

Ling Lie made a floor bed in the technical investigation work area. While Shen Qi and the others were working late at night, he covered himself with a small blanket and slept soundly listening to the sound of keyboards.

Ji Chenjiao came to call him back to sleep, but he shook his head, “I want to guard here.”

Shen Qi said: “Brother, you don’t understand it anyway.”

Ling Lie: “Can’t I pretend to understand and be busy for the leaders to see?”

Ji Chenjiao: “…”

Ling Lie definitely wasn’t pretending to understand and be busy. Others might do this, but Ling Lie was the least likely. Ji Chenjiao felt that Ling Lie seemed to be thinking about something these two days, rubbed his spiky hair, “Accompany me to mix a cup of coffee.”

Ling Lie draped the small blanket over his shoulders and followed Ji Chenjiao into the lounge groggily. Ji Chenjiao tore open two packs of coffee powder and added a box of milk. The metal spoon clinked against the cup wall. Ling Lie shrank on the sofa watching his hands, a bit fascinated.

Ji Chenjiao stirred and took a sip, handing the cup to Ling Lie.

Ling Lie took it, “For me?”

“Otherwise why would I put so much milk?”

Ling Lie smiled and drank comfortably.

Ji Chenjiao mixed himself a cup of black coffee, “Do you feel something is abnormal?”

Ling Lie just finished the coffee, “The timing is a bit coincidental.”

“Hmm?”

“The time Ning Xiechen sent messages to Wen Zhengchao is too coincidental.” Ling Lie said: “Now is the time when ‘Floating Light’ is developing rapidly. ‘Floating Light’ has basically torn its face with us and stopped pretending. What Bai Lingxue wants is to take root and sprout in our country. And the seriously injured Ning Xiechen happened to send a request for help to his old teammate and old friend.”

Ji Chenjiao said: “So you think the sender is actually not Ning Xiechen, but someone from ‘Floating Light’. Those emails are more like a conspiracy by ‘Floating Light’ to lure us to do something or go somewhere?”

Ling Lie nodded and shrugged, “But unfortunately, even knowing this is a conspiracy, as long as the technical investigation locks the location, we will still go.”

Ling Lie stared at Ji Chenjiao, his tone suddenly sinking, “Especially you, Captain Ji.”

He rarely used the address “Captain Ji”. Ji Chenjiao was stunned, “I…”

Ling Lie said: “Am I wrong? The first one to go must be you. From both public and private perspectives, it’s you. You are the person in charge of the Serious Case Squad and also Ning Xiechen’s apprentice.”

Ji Chenjiao exhaled, “Of course.”

Ling Lie wrapped the small blanket tighter, covering the lower half of his face, not speaking.

Ji Chenjiao suddenly understood, “Is this the reason why you kept guarding in the technical investigation office area?”

Ling Lie smiled, “I want to be the first to know the result, in case you deceive me.”

Ji Chenjiao frowned, “You want to bite the bait for me!”

“Tsk tsk, don’t say it so ugly.” Ling Lie said: “I just don’t want to be kept in the dark after you set off.”

Ji Chenjiao calmed down, “If it’s a conspiracy of ‘Floating Light’, why send emails to Wen Zhengchao? Not many people know the relationship between Wen Zhengchao and Captain Ning, and the email also used the address ‘Old Cao’.”

Ling Lie said: “Doesn’t this look more credible? If sent to you or Captain Xie, you should immediately think something is wrong.”

Ji Chenjiao shook his head, “I’m thinking, could Wen Zhengchao have any connection with ‘Floating Light’?”

Ling Lie thought for a while, “That’s possible. Have you checked Wen Zhengchao?”

Ji Chenjiao said: “I’ll discuss it with Captain Xie tomorrow.”

Learning that he also had to cooperate with the investigation, Wen Zhengchao quickly accepted after a brief incomprehension, smiling bitterly: “Should be, should be. What do you need me to provide?”

Ji Chenjiao handed him a document, which clearly stated that the technical investigation would conduct an investigation of his office and home.

Wen Zhengchao lived in the old family compound of the municipal bureau, not in the same district as Ji Chenjiao. Ning Xiechen also lived there before disappearing. Ji Chenjiao was dazed for a while when passing by.

Wen Zhengchao found all electronic devices, and Shen Qi checked them one by one. Suddenly, Shen Qi’s expression became tense. Ji Chenjiao lowered his voice and asked: “What’s wrong?”

“Brother, this is… the entrance to ‘Floating Light’!”

“Not mistaken?”

“How could I be mistaken? Have you forgotten that I have been dealing with ‘Floating Light’ users recently? Dark web users have such traces on their computers and mobile phones!”

Wen Zhengchao didn’t know what they were talking about, sitting upright at the dining table in the living room.

Ji Chenjiao looked at the living room and called Xie Qing to report the situation. Xie Qing was silent for a moment, “I’ll talk to Teacher Wen.”

When Wen Zhengchao was invited to the inquiry room of the municipal bureau, he understood that something might have happened. Xie Qing closed the door, turned off the monitoring, and put the mobile phone in the evidence bag on the table.

Wen Zhengchao frowned immediately, “This…”

Xie Qing got straight to the point, “Teacher Wen, today is not an inquiry. As a junior, I want to hear your explanation. We found traces of using the ‘Floating Light’ dark web in this mobile phone. Your attitude next may affect our judgment of those four emails.”

Shock and guilt surged in Wen Zhengchao’s eyes, and his fingers trembled slightly when approaching the evidence bag.

“This is… this is my daughter’s spare phone. She, she…”

Xie Qing said: “I remember your daughter is in college?”

Wen Zhengchao nodded, “At the University of Finance and Economics, junior this year. How, how did she also touch this stuff!”

Xie Qing asked: “Does she usually live at home or at school?”

“School. Sometimes comes back on weekends. Busy after junior year, comes back less.”

“I want to see her. Do you mind?”

Wen Zhengchao opened his mouth several times, finally lowered his head, “I have no right to interfere. She really made a mistake. I won’t cover for her.”

When Wen Zhengchao’s daughter was stopped by Xie Qing at school, she looked at him warily.

Xie Qing showed his ID and took her to the car. Wen Zhengchao was sitting in the passenger seat.

Xiao Wen was startled, “Dad, why are you here?”

Wen Zhengchao looked at her in the rearview mirror and said to Xie Qing: “Captain Xie, ask.”

Xiao Wen was baffled, pushed open the car door and wanted to leave.

Xie Qing took out the evidence bag, “Did you use this to log on to ‘Floating Light’?”

Xiao Wen reached out to snatch it, but was held by Wen Zhengchao, “Do you know ‘Floating Light’ is a dark web, it’s a crime!”

Tears burst out of Xiao Wen’s eyes, “So what if I use the dark web! You can’t control me!”

“You!”

Xie Qing had to mediate first. When both calmed down, he asked: “When did you contact ‘Floating Light’?”

Xiao Wen shrank by the car door depressedly, “This semester, but I haven’t traded on it!”

“Who told you about this website?”

“My classmates. They buy papers on it.”

“Then what do you do on it?”

“I, I’m just curious. Can’t I even look?”

Wen Zhengchao shook his head painfully, “It’s me who didn’t teach you well.”

About a dozen teachers and students at Xiarong University of Finance and Economics who used “Floating Light” for transactions have been controlled by the police. Xiao Wen hadn’t traded, wouldn’t be detained, and wouldn’t leave a disgraceful record. But if that mobile phone hadn’t been discovered while investigating Wen Zhengchao, no one would have thought that the child of an excellent police officer was also being eroded by “Floating Light”.

Wen Zhengchao was hit hard, and the emotions of some police officers with children were inevitably affected. Ling Lie felt this matter wasn’t worth causing “emotional internal friction”.

“Are police officers’ children not children? Xiao Wen is an adult. Why still the set of parents paying for children’s behavior? She found the dark web interesting and had access, what’s wrong with looking?”

“Touch your conscience and say, if you were in your early twenties and knew an ‘omnipotent’ dark web, wouldn’t you go up and look? Looking isn’t illegal. Police officers’ children didn’t grow up eating legal articles, and police officers are so busy that they can’t control children that much.”

Objectively, Ji Chenjiao felt Ling Lie was right, but also understood the disappointment of other police officers—devoting themselves to work, eliminating violence and ensuring peace, but their children went astray under their noses. Anyone would feel blocked in their hearts.

Ling Lie was still talking incessantly, “If you ask me, you can’t force these young people not to touch the dark web, not even look at it. After all, such a big temptation is right in front of them. The responsibility for this matter still lies with everyone.”

Ji Chenjiao laughed in his heart. Look, putting on airs of a leader.

“Drive ‘Floating Light’ out, giving it no chance to tempt young people at all.” A light flashed in Ling Lie’s eyes, “By then, police children like Xiao Wen won’t even be able to take a look if they want to.”

Ling Lie’s words sounded a bit like talking without back pain (armchair quarterback), but actually boosted morale. Indeed, reality has various difficulties, and so do police officers. Police officers not managing their children well is an objectively existing situation. Blaming children, blaming police officers, self-blame are all useless. In the current situation, getting rid of “Floating Light” and removing the temptation can guide the lost young people to the right path.

After a few days of tracking and deciphering, Shen Qi narrowed down the email sending range to Guiweng Town. This is a small town near the southern border. The two photos in the email also matched Guiweng Town.

Ning Xiechen might be there.

And the bait of “Floating Light” might also be there.

Xiarong City Bureau and the Special Action Team held an emergency meeting. Currently, the situation in Guiweng Town is unclear. Once a large number of police forces are dispatched, the opportunity to rescue Ning Xiechen and control important figures of “Floating Light” might be lost instead.

Since the email was sent to Xiarong City, this operation should be responsible by Xiarong City at least on the surface, with the Special Action Team assisting in secret. Whether it’s bait or Ning Xiechen really asking for help, the Serious Case Squad must go.

“I’ll state my idea.” Ling Lie raised his hand, “Following the bait line of thought, why must ‘Floating Light’ send these emails? Now the dark web and ‘Snow Child’ are developing steadily within the territory. We can only run around tiredly, led by the nose by them. Why does Bai Lingxue bother to set up bait?”

Xie Qing, Shen Xun and others pondered in silence. Ji Chenjiao looked at Ling Lie.

Ling Lie smiled, “It should be that Bai Lingxue hasn’t given up getting something from me.”

Ji Chenjiao frowned tightly.

Ling Lie added: “So although Captain Ji is the person in charge of this operation, I have to follow, lest Bai Lingxue doesn’t see me then and does something irreparable in a rage.”

After a long while, Xie Qing nodded, “Xiao Ling can go.”

Everyone discussed the actions after arriving in Guiweng Town. The map showed the terrain of Guiweng Town and its surroundings. Guiweng Town is a typical southern mountainous area, with high mountains one after another. Small towns and county towns are embedded in the mountains like scattered pearls, relatively closed, with little communication between each other.

Guiweng Town is a distance from the border, with three villages and one town in between. But even if not directly on the border line, “Floating Light” might be able to leave the country if they want to. So the task of the Special Action Team is to seal off the adjacent border before the Serious Case Squad arrives in Guiweng Town.

No cases have occurred in Guiweng Town in recent years. People there are poor, and many have never walked out of the mountains. But resources in the mountains are abundant, and life is not a big problem. As long as they haven’t seen the prosperity outside and don’t compare themselves with others, living a poor life in the mountains for a lifetime is not impossible.

After the meeting, preparations proceeded intensely. Before departure, Wen Zhengchao found Ji Chenjiao, “Thinking back and forth, since the email was sent to me, I should have something special. I should go.”

Ji Chenjiao hesitated.

Wen Zhengchao added: “I also went to the front line back then. I won’t drag you down.”

Ling Lie said: “Let Teacher Wen come. Among us, isn’t Teacher Wen the one who knows Captain Ning best?”

On February 6th, the team temporarily formed by the Serious Case Squad and the Special Police Detachment split into two batches, arrived at the city closest to Guiweng Town, and successively took cars from the city to Guiweng Town.

Ling Lie and Xi Wan pretended to be merchants selling New Year goods in towns, driving a small truck to do business between various towns. There are too many mountains in this area. Older people find it troublesome to go to the county town to buy things, so there are quite a few merchants like Ling Lie.

On the afternoon of the 7th, while Ling Lie and Xi Wan’s small truck was driving to Guiweng Town, Ling Lie took out the printed photo, “It’s here.”

The place where they parked was on a curve of the winding mountain road. The scenery seen from the car window was similar to the first photo.

Xi Wan looked at the map, “Only thirty kilometers from here to Guiweng Town.”

Almost no cars coming from the opposite direction were encountered on the road. Several cars going to Guiweng Town were encountered. One was a small truck like theirs, and the others were private cars with local license plates, probably young people returning to their hometown for the New Year.

The Spring Festival atmosphere in Guiweng Town was already very strong at this time. Before dark, children started setting off firecrackers. Black dogs on the street barked wildly from being exploded, tucking their tails to avoid.

As soon as the small truck drove into the town, a group of children followed behind. Xi Wan slowly detoured and parked the car at the edge of the market. The children swarmed up, stretching their necks to see if there were firecrackers inside.

Ling Lie knew very well what sold well in these small towns. Naturally, there were firecrackers in the car, and quite a few. Others included electric blankets, small heaters, laundry detergent, down jackets—things that couldn’t be bought in the town but were marked as city people’s things in the eyes of the townspeople.

Three small trucks were already parked in the market. Ling Lie jumped out of the car and started bustling about, introducing his goods in half-baked local dialect.

People came to look at the goods and bargain one after another. Children were the most generous, buying firecrackers without hesitation with the lucky money they just got.

Ling Lie moved out a trolley, smilingly telling the folks that if they bought things from him, even if it was just a bucket of oil, he would be responsible for delivering it to their door.

Business came soon. A big sister bought a heater fan. She originally wanted to call her husband to carry it back. Ling Lie hurriedly patted the trolley and said: “Don’t treat me as an outsider, I’ll deliver it for you!”

The big sister was very happy and led Ling Lie to walk. Ling Lie turned back and instructed Xi Wan to watch the goods. Xi Wan nodded knowingly.

Guiweng Town wasn’t very big. The market was at the west end. Clinics, schools, convenience stores, and a dairy farm were all in the west, separated by a crooked road in the middle—the small truck came in from this road. The southeast corner was the residential area, basically four or five-story low houses, with some small food stalls.

Ling Lie quickly memorized the streets he walked through. Comparing with the places in the photos, none seemed alike.

“Sister.” Ling Lie pointed to the north and said: “Why does that area feel like there’s no one?”