Nominal: Hou Liangping blocking the door? He was slapped away!

Provincial government building, 9:20 a.m.

The monitoring room was dimly lit. Lin Huahua sat in the corner with her computer in her arms. There was a half-cup of cold coffee on the table and two opened packets of biscuits next to her.

She was staring at the outer room of the executive deputy director's office.

On the screen, the secretary's desk, printer, water dispenser, and the corner of the corridor in the outer room were all cut into four small windows.

The technician sat next to her, his eyelids drooping.

"Director Lin, you've been keeping watch all morning, and he only went to the restroom and poured himself two glasses of water."

Lin Huahua did not look up.

"Repeat what you said all morning."

The technician paused for a moment, then quickly flipped through the records.

"Entered the office at 8:57, went to the restroom at 9:13, and returned at 9:29. Went to get water at 9:45 and spilled half a cup on the table. Went to the restroom again at 10:06 and returned at 10:18. Went to the restroom for the third time at 10:42."

"Does a normal person go to the bathroom three times in the morning?"

The technician coughed.

"Maybe it's a kidney problem."

Lin Huahua glanced at him sideways.

The technician immediately sat up straight. "I was just talking nonsense."

On the screen, the confidential clerk had just returned from the restroom.

The man was in his thirties, his white shirt buttoned up to the collar and his tie neatly fastened, but he looked like a piece of paper soaked in rain, and he even knocked over a pen holder when he sat down.

Splash!

Several pens rolled onto the ground.

He bent down to pick it up, and it took him two tries to grasp the pen cap.

Lin Huahua picked up the intercom headset, "Position four, move closer to the desk in the outer room."

Zoom in on the image.

The clerk wiped the water stains on the table again and again, crumpled the tissues into a small ball, stuffed them into the drawer, and then opened the drawer to take a look.

He did this action four times in fifteen minutes.

The technician lowered his voice, "Director Lin, this man can't hold on any longer."

"It's better if you can't handle it."

"Shall we arrest them now?"

Lin Huahua didn't answer, but directly opened the ward connection.

A few seconds later, Qi Tongwei appeared on the screen.

The fluorescent lights were still on in the ward of the military hospital. He leaned against the headboard, his left arm in a sling, holding a pen in his right hand. On the bedside table was a medicine tray that the nurse had just changed.

The nurse was watching him from the side.

"Director Qi, the confidential staff in the outer room is acting strangely." Lin Huahua switched the camera to him. "He went to the bathroom three times this morning, his hands were shaking when he poured water, and he kept checking the drawers. He probably knows he missed something with the printer's cache line."

Qi Tongwei watched for half a minute.

"Arrest them?"

Lin Huahua blurted out, "I suggest we take immediate control. Once someone leaves the provincial government, there are too many variables outside."

At the other end of the hospital bed, Qi Tongwei put down his pen.

"Let him continue to be afraid."

Lin Huahua frowned. "If he keeps being afraid, he might destroy things."

"Even if you destroy things, you still need to contact your superiors." Qi Tongwei's voice was very flat. "The more afraid he is, the more he will look for someone who can save him. If you reach out now, you can only grab a clerk who can cry."

The technician shrank back upon hearing this.

Lin Huahua looked at the screen, "He could easily get out via text message, phone call, or note."

"Keep an eye on the restrooms, stairwells, takeout lockers, and parking lots. Especially watch for anything that suddenly appears on him."

"clear."

The nurse tapped on the bed railing at the edge of the screen.

"Chief Qi, five minutes."

Qi Tongwei turned his head away. "I'm talking about work."

The nurse said expressionlessly, "Director Lu said that if it takes more than five minutes, I will unplug the internet cable."

Lin Huahua lowered her head and suppressed a laugh.

Qi Tongwei looked back at the screen. "Keep him going. Don't touch him."

The connection was disconnected.

The monitoring room was silent for a few seconds.

The technician muttered under his breath, "The ward in Director Qi's office is more strictly managed than an interrogation room."

Lin Huahua pushed the coffee away. "Stop talking nonsense. Keep an eye on it."

11:03.

The confidential staff member got up for the fourth time.

This time, instead of going to the bathroom, he went to the water dispenser to fill his cup. He placed the cup under the machine, and even after it was full, he hadn't moved it.

Hot water overflowed and flowed down the side of the cup into the tray.

His secretary reminded him, and he hurriedly turned off the switch.

Lin Huahua sat up straight.

"Look at his right trouser pocket."

In the footage, when the clerk turns around, a small square bulge appears in his trouser pocket.

The technician immediately switched to another camera, "which wasn't captured during the security check at the entrance this morning."

"I took it from downstairs."

The confidential staff member returned to his seat with his water cup but didn't drink it.

Three minutes later, he got up and went to the bathroom again.

This time, we went into the room at the end of the corridor.

Lin Huahua grabbed the headset. "Number three, stand guard outside the restroom. Don't go in, don't panic."

The technician's fingers flew across the keyboard: "External frequency band monitoring is on, and sampling of surrounding base stations is also on."

Half a minute later, a gray notification popped up in the lower right corner of the screen.

Unregistered devices connected.

Duration: seven seconds.

The technician's face tightened. "I've got it. An anonymous cell phone, an old-fashioned one, with a very short signal."

Lin Huahua leaned closer to the screen. "Can I screenshot the content?"

"It's using a text message channel. The external equipment has captured half of the packet and is currently piecing it together."

A dozen seconds later, the incomplete text appeared.

The target didn't take the bait; please clean up the traces.

No one made a sound in the monitoring room.

Lin Huahua read the line of text twice, then reached out and picked up the evidence number sticker on the table.

"Sealed up".

The technician immediately split the sampling package, base station time, and equipment identification code into three mirrors.

"Director Lin, should we follow up on the number?"

"Don't delve too deeply; preserve the original records first."

She dialed the ward connection again.

The connection was made very quickly this time.

Qi Tongwei leaned against the headboard, his complexion worse than before, with unfinished porridge beside him.

"explain."

"The fish moved." Lin Huahua sent a text message: "Unregistered device, seven seconds, message: Target not hooked, request to clear traces."

After reading it, Qi Tongwei raised his hand and rubbed his temples.

"Don't grab me."

Lin Huahua's lips twitched. "You only know these two words today?"

"As long as it works, that's fine."

"He has already been contacted online."

"Then we'll wait for their reply when they go online."

The technician felt a chill run down his spine.

Qi Tongwei pushed the bowl of porridge aside. "The interception record is sealed. Don't extend the chain, lest we alert the people behind us."

"What about Director Lu?"

Tell her the net is finished, and we'll collect it on a good day.

Lin Huahua nodded. "What about the confidential staff?"

"Make him sit back down and continue wiping his table."

These words were spoken calmly, yet they made several people in the monitoring room raise their eyes.

On the screen, the confidential clerk had just come out of the restroom, his face ashen, and a small wet patch on his collar.

He returned to the table, sat down, opened the drawer, and then closed it again.

Click.

Click.

The sound came through the monitor microphone, like someone was tapping his back.

Lin Huahua pressed the sealed bag tightly shut.

"Director Qi, sometimes I think you're quite sarcastic."

Qi Tongwei glanced at her.

"I learned it from Shen Zhong."

The nurse reached into the frame and pushed the bowl of porridge back.

"Chief Qi, let's eat."

Qi Tongwei paused for two seconds, then picked up the spoon.

Lin Huahua wisely hung up.