My sister broke off her engagement to marry someone richer? My older sister married me and became in

Lu Qingshan rubbed the pencil back and forth in his hand, his eyes fixed on the paper.

Four minutes later, the extremely suppressed voice of the officer in charge finally rang out.

"Reporting to command post, we have secured the target residence. However, no one is inside."

"What did you say?" Wang Jianguo's voice immediately rose.

"Did you search thoroughly? Under the bed, in the wardrobe, did you check everything?"

"We've turned everything upside down, Director Wang. That old bastard never even went home."

From Wang Jianguo's end came the sound of hurried pacing, his leather shoes making a heavy thud on the ground.

He yelled into the walkie-talkie, "Inside the walls? Under the floor? In the ceiling? Take your batons and knock on every single one of them, check for hidden compartments or secret spaces."

The officer replied helplessly, "We just knocked on everything. It's a solid wall, made of solid bricks. There's really nowhere for someone to hide."

Wang Jianguo abruptly turned to the phone and questioned Lu Qingshan: "Qingshan, you've really let him slip this time. He wasn't even home, he ran away. I knew that old bastard was always in the black market, he's smarter than a monkey, he must have gotten wind of this beforehand and slipped away."

Lu Qingshan shook his head, his voice unchanged: "He didn't run away."

"The person is no longer in the house, but they haven't run away? What makes you so sure?"

"Brother Jianguo, don't worry, let's take it one step at a time."

Lu Qingshan slowly posed the question, "The plainclothes officers you arranged went into the provincial capital's train station and long-distance bus station at four o'clock this afternoon, right? They haven't been withdrawn yet, have they?"

"Yes, I've had all the exits from the city blocked."

"Any news from the ticketing department? Have they found any records of Wei Biao buying tickets under his real name, or any records of him buying tickets with those fake IDs?"

Wang Jianguo stopped and thought for a moment before replying, "My subordinates have reported that there was no record of him buying any tickets all day today."

"That's right." Lu Qingshan tapped the table with his pen, making rhythmic sounds.

"There's no record of him leaving the city, and the plainclothes officers haven't seen him show his face, so he's definitely still lurking around in the provincial capital. He just didn't come home to sleep tonight; he didn't run away."

"If he doesn't go home to sleep, what can he do? If we can't catch the ringleader with so many brothers around, then this operation has completely failed."

"Brother Jianguo, he will definitely go back to the warehouse." Lu Qingshan put forward his conclusion, speaking very clearly in plain language.

"Put yourself in his shoes. Wei Biao has been hustling in the black market of this provincial capital for twelve years, doing all sorts of deadly things. Where is all his wealth and life? It's all hidden under that floorboard in the northwest corner of the warehouse on Dongfeng Road."

"The first green train from the provincial capital to Guangzhou departs at 6:10 a.m. every day. Wei Biao has offended a big shot, and now he just wants to flee south for his life."

"He needs to dig up the money before he leaves for Guangzhou. The safest way to do that is in the early morning when it's dark and the roads are deserted. He doesn't know the warehouse has been raided; he must be on his way there right now."

Wang Jianguo fully understood this logic and reacted extremely quickly. He immediately grabbed the walkie-talkie and issued a new order, speaking in a voice so low that he couldn't even breathe.

"Old Meng, take all the brothers in the warehouse team and listen to my orders."

"Switch off all your high-powered flashlights right now. No one is allowed to stay in the open. Spread out and hide behind those shelves. Also, have a few skilled fighters lying in ambush on both sides of the back door."

"If anyone sneaks into the warehouse through the alley behind the back door, no one is allowed to fire a shot or give themselves away."

"Put him in the warehouse, close the door, then swarm him and pin him down. Absolutely do not let him escape along the railway tracks, understand?"

Old Meng replied softly on the other end of the line: "Understood."

Complete silence returned to the phone line.

Lu Qingshan glanced at the clock on the wall of the study; it was 3:40.

At the very bottom of that piece of scrap paper, he wrote a summary of the case: thirty-one people were arrested, and the stolen money and goods amounted to a little over two hundred thousand yuan, along with two pistols and three hundred bullets. It was a great victory.

Only the empty circle in the very center remains unchecked.

The study door hinges clicked softly as Lin Xiulan pushed the door open and entered, carrying an enamel mug.

She didn't go any further into the room, but simply placed a freshly brewed cup of hot tea on the corner of the table next to Lu Qingshan and casually asked a question.

"Have you taken over everything outside? Pretty smoothly, right?"

"We've taken over thirty people, and all the goods have been handed over." Lu Qingshan didn't look up, staring at the paper. "We're still missing the biggest fish that slipped through the net."

"You said he'd go to the warehouse, but what if he suddenly decides not to go?" Lin Xiulan wiped her hands on her apron.

"He has to go, whether he likes it or not; he can't survive without money."

Lu Qingshan picked up the teacup, didn't blow on the steam, and took a big sip directly from the rim.

The scalding hot tea poured down my throat and into my stomach, suppressing most of the pent-up anger that had been building up all night.

Lin Xiulan didn't reply, turned around, and quietly closed the door behind her as she left.

Lu Qingshan leaned back in his chair, his eyes fixed on the old-fashioned black rotary dial telephone.

Time passed extremely slowly, each second feeling like it was being submerged in water.

The second hand of the wall clock ticked away.

The walkie-talkie placed in front of Lu Qingshan suddenly emitted a very faint hissing sound.

Director Meng's voice traveled through the electric current, barely audible, yet clearly audible in the quiet study.

"Director Wang, there's movement. Someone's sneaking in through the back door."

……

4:05 a.m.

In the back alley of the warehouse on Dongfeng Road, a dark shadow slid silently along the wall like a gecko.

Wei Biao was dressed entirely in a black tracksuit and wore soft-soled rubber shoes, so he landed without making a sound.

Instead of going directly to the back door, he first went around to the garbage heap at the entrance of the alley and squatted there for a full minute.

All I could hear was the whistling of the wind through the power lines and a few distant barks of dogs.

Safety.

He then crouched down and crept to the iron gate of the warehouse.

"Click".

A soft, crisp sound.

He didn't go in immediately, but instead pressed himself against the door and listened for another half minute.

The warehouse was deathly silent, with only the muffled sound of the night wind scraping against the corrugated iron roof.

He then slipped inside and gently closed the door behind him.

The warehouse was pitch black, filled with a familiar smell of mountain produce and dust.

Wei Biao took a small flashlight out of his pocket, vaguely shone it on the ground with his palm.

The beam of light was dim, barely enough to see the path beneath my feet.

He carried a shovel that he had prepared beforehand in his right hand, and a sharpened dagger was tucked behind his waist.

I walked straight to the innermost row of shelves.

There, beneath the floorboards, lay all the wealth he had accumulated over the past twelve years.

He walked very slowly and carefully.

He can't afford any more risks...

The entire shelf was completely empty.