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

Inspectorate Office.

The crusher is still running.

Click click click.

Several pieces of silver metal got stuck on the edge of the knife, and scraps of paper were scattered all over the table.

Lu Yike stood at the door, her dark suit cuffs buttoned tightly, her hair neatly tied up, looking like a knife sheathed.

The deputy director was pinned against the wall by two police officers. His face was ashen, and his lips moved a few times, but he couldn't utter a complete sentence.

Lin Huahua squatted down and glanced at the shredder, then looked up and said, "Director Lu, the blades are stuck; there's a hard object inside."

"Power off, shut down the machine."

"clear."

The technician immediately unplugged the power. When the inspectors tried to move forward, the police officer raised his hand to stop them.

The deputy director swallowed hard. "Director Lu, I can explain."

Lu Yike looked at him.

"Leave the explanation to where audio and video recording is possible."

"I'm not feeling well, I need to go to the hospital first."

"Go to the Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection."

The deputy director looked up, his eyes darting around in confusion. "The Discipline Inspection Commission?"

Lu Yike folded the authorization paper in her hand and put it into a folder. "Director Qi instructed that since it involves personnel on the supervisory line within the department, ordinary hospitals are not safe. The special care isolation room of the Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection has doctors, equipment, and discipline."

Lin Huahua chimed in from the side, "There aren't any maintenance nodes from your inspection department yet."

The deputy director's lips twitched slightly.

The footsteps in the corridor were hurried.

Two armed police officers escorted the man out, and the deputy director's legs went weak as soon as he stepped out of the office.

Lu Yike did not help him up.

"If they can walk, they can walk; if they can't walk, they'll be carried."

"Lu Yike, you're exaggerating this."

Lu Yike stopped and turned to look at him.

"When you were stuffing things into the shredder, why didn't you think about scaling it up?"

The deputy director shut his mouth.

Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection.

The special care isolation room is located in the inner courtyard.

There are two guard posts at the entrance, the windows are fitted with fine steel mesh, and the surveillance lights in the corners are lit up with red dots.

The electromagnetic expert from the Discipline Inspection Commission was surnamed Shao. He was in his early fifties, with short hair, wearing a white coat over an anti-static vest, and carrying a black toolbox.

After entering the room, he first looked at the people, then at the report.

Where is the metal plate located?

The forensic doctor handed over the initial examination images: "Under the skin of the left upper arm, near the old needle mark, it looks like a foreign object residue."

Expert Shao put on his glasses and looked down for two seconds.

"This thing shouldn't be inside the human body."

The deputy director lay on the treatment bed, his forehead covered in sweat. "I don't know, I really don't know."

Lin Huahua crossed her arms. "There are a lot of things you don't know, and they're all part of you."

Dr. Shao raised his hand, "Don't stimulate him too much, or his blood pressure will rise and it will be difficult to remove."

Lu Yike nodded, "Follow the medical procedures."

The lights in the treatment room were blindingly bright.

Local anesthesia.

disinfect.

Minimally invasive incision.

Expert Shao's hands were very steady. When the tweezers were inserted, the deputy director bit the gauze and made a low, muffled sound in his throat.

Ding.

A metal piece the size of a grain of rice fell into the tray.

It is thin, with indentations at the edges and a fine ring of lines in the middle, which at first glance looks like some kind of broken mark.

Lin Huahua leaned closer to take a look. "This is it?"

Expert Shao did not answer.

He used tweezers to pick up the metal sheet, put it into the shielded box, and closed the transparent lid.

The green light on the box turned on.

drop.

drip.

The previously stable detection screen suddenly displayed a series of short waveforms.

Everyone in the room stopped.

The casual look on Expert Shao's face disappeared, and he tapped a few times on the control panel.

"Try it again."

drop.

The waveform popped up again.

Lu Yike looked at him, "What was the result?"

Expert Shao took off his glasses, wiped them with a cloth, and put them back on.

"The words 'ordinary sign' can be crossed out."

Lin Huahua frowned. "A locator?"

"It's more troublesome than a regular locator."

Expert Shao turned the screen towards them, "It doesn't usually have a regular signal, it doesn't connect to base stations, it doesn't connect to satellites, and it doesn't communicate with any civilian frequency bands."

"So how do you use it?"

"Powered by the wearer's body temperature, it maintains minimal activity. When the wearer enters a specific high-frequency security gate area, the chip is activated and emits a short pulse."

He knocked on the shielding box.

"Just like that."

Lin Huahua felt a chill run down her spine upon hearing this, "Check-in?"

"Yes, automatic check-in."

Expert Shao magnified the waveform, "Who entered, what time they entered, what their number is. It doesn't need to speak; just a cough is enough for the person on the other side to know they've arrived."

Lu Yike stared at the screen. "Disposable?"

"The number of triggers is limited. The person who designed it is very good at evading detection. Checking the phone is useless, checking the car is useless, and checking who he has seen is not necessarily useful."

The deputy director lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling, his face even worse than before.

Lu Yike walked to the bedside.

"Someone will know which building you enter each time."

The deputy director's lips moved slightly. "I really don't know what this is."

"Then we'll check where you've been."

Lu Yike turned around and said, "Hua Hua, activate the Skynet system. For three months, track all the locations across the province, focusing on fixed time periods, fixed buildings, and non-official destinations."

Lin Huahua immediately pulled out an encrypted terminal. "Permissions?"

"Authorized by Director Qi, filed quarterly, and witnessed on-site by the Discipline Inspection Commission."

Expert Shao raised his hand, "I can sign it. I also want to know where this thing made that sound today."

Half an hour later.

In the small meeting room outside the isolation room, a screen was covered with densely packed trajectory lines.

License plate.

Human face.

Access control.

High-speed checkpoint.

Hotel registration.

All the data was filtered out layer by layer.

Lin Huahua typed rapidly on the keyboard, reading aloud, "Official trips eliminated, home addresses eliminated, hospitals, schools, and supermarkets eliminated, leaving seven duplicate locations."

Lu Yike stood behind her, "Screen by the week."

"Two on Monday, none on Tuesday, Wednesday..."

Lin Huahua paused for a moment.

A row of neat records appeared on the screen.

Every Wednesday.

Between 3:40 PM and 4:20 PM.

Provincial Party Committee Retired Cadres Activity Center.

Not once missed.

The discipline inspection staff also came over, saying, "This place is usually frequented by retired cadres, so the security check at the entrance is indeed higher than that of ordinary units."

Lin Huahua looked up. "Director Lu, twelve times in three months, all on Wednesday afternoons."

Lu Yike stared at the record for a long time without moving.

The doubt has now taken shape.

The chip on the deputy director's body, the cache clearing command of the maintenance node in the hall, the metal fragments in the shredder, and this fixed location every Wednesday afternoon are all connected by an invisible wire.

"Open an encrypted channel."

"Connecting to wards, connecting to the north line?"

"Receive simultaneously."

Ward of a military hospital.

Qi Tongwei leaned against the headboard, his left arm in a sling, a dark coat draped over his hospital gown.

The nurse stood beside her, holding a timer and keeping a close eye on her.

"Chief Qi, ten minutes."

Qi Tongwei glanced at the screen. "Five minutes."

The nurse remained expressionless. "It was five minutes last time too."

"This time it really is."

When Lu Yike's image came in, Qi Tongwei rested his right hand on the bedside table.

"speak."

Lu Yike didn't waste any words.

"A metal piece was removed from the skin of the deputy director of the inspection department. After testing by electromagnetic experts from the Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection, it was confirmed to be a disposable short-pulse positioning chip powered by body temperature."

Qi Tongwei's fingers stopped.

Lu Yike continued, "The chip normally has no regular signal, but it triggers the clock-in process when it enters the range of a specific high-frequency security gate. We've been tracking its movements on Skynet for three months, and a fixed pattern has emerged."

Lin Huahua sent the picture over.

"Every Wednesday afternoon, at the Provincial Party Committee's Retired Cadres Activity Center."

The ward was silent for two seconds.

Qi Tongwei tapped the bedside table with his knuckles.

笃.

"The deputy director of the inspection department going to the veteran cadre center is definitely not there to play chess with retired old men."

The nurse glanced at him and couldn't help but say, "Maybe it was a good treatment."

Qi Tongwei looked up.

The nurse waved the timer in front of him.

Qi Tongwei looked away. "He doesn't have the time or the qualifications."

Lu Yike nodded. "I judge that there is a cyber-physical junction in that building."

Qi Tongwei looked at the screen. "Don't move the building. Seal off the data first, keep an eye on the people. The veteran cadre center involves too many people. Whoever gets alerted first will have to help clean up the other side's place."

"clear."

"Put the regularity in a heavy and consistent manner."

"Connected."

Northern Command Center.

Shen Zhong sat in front of the offline terminal, his military uniform buttoned up to the top, the epaulets pressing down on the light.

The cigarette on the table was still unlit, held between his fingers.

Zhou Weiguo stood behind him, holding a freshly sealed list of materials.

After the screen connected, Lu Yike's voice came through.

"Chief Shen, the deputy director of the provincial department's inspection team, regularly enters the provincial party committee's veteran cadre activity center every Wednesday afternoon. The chip's trigger logic is a short pulse from a specific high-frequency security gate to clock in."

Shen Zhong stared at the screen, not speaking immediately.

He put the cigarette back in the cigarette case.

"Zhou Weiguo".

"arrive."

"A fake interrogation command serves as a springboard, revealing the physical address."

Zhou Weiguo immediately sat down at the terminal next to him, inserted the card, verified his identity, and opened the previously intercepted records.

Lines of addresses popped up one by one.

In the name of the Frontline Coordination Group.

Northern Route Coordination Letter.

Launch ramp.

Multi-level forwarding.

End-point physical node.

Zhou Weiguo zoomed in on the last layer of positioning, his expression turning grim.

"Sir, the final address is in the Hantong Provincial Party Committee area."

"Detailed breakdown".

"Being further subdivided"

The map on the screen was zoomed in.

The Provincial Party Committee compound.

Annex building.

Activity area for retired cadres.

Finally, a red coordinate was placed on an inconspicuous little building.

Provincial Party Committee Retired Cadres Activity Center.