I slept with my sister's classmate, and she turned out to be my boss.

When Zhou Yiming received the message from Zhao Yike, he was organizing the materials for the day.

He saw the line of text—

"Director Zhou, I have some personal matters that require me to go abroad. My return date is uncertain. I'll contact you again once I've settled down."

He thought the wording was polite after reading it the first time.

After watching it a second time, I felt something was off.

She didn't say which country she went to, when she would return, or anything like "wait for me to come back and we'll cooperate." She only said, "I'll contact you again once things have settled down."

That's too broad a statement.

It's so wide that it can be postponed indefinitely.

Without hesitation, he immediately called back.

The phone rang once and was then disconnected.

Dial again to go directly to voicemail.

He put down his phone, sat for a few seconds, and then dialed the number of the embassy's contact person.

The phone rang three times before the other party answered.

He cut to the chase and asked, "Has Zhao Yike left the country? Help me check."

The other party responded with a "Okay".

After waiting for almost an hour, my phone rang.

The other party told him—

Zhao Yike had already departed from Sydney International Airport and was flying to Singapore. She did not go through customs, and then transferred to another flight to Vancouver.

Zhou Yiming held his phone, remained silent for a moment, and then said:

"understood."

He hung up the phone, opened his computer, and wrote down all the flight information, time points, and directions to Vancouver in a report. He also attached a screenshot of Zhao Yike's text message and the time of the call.

He sent the report to the task force's public email address.

Then he picked up his phone and sent a message to Chen Yuanda, Hu Yuheng, and Chen Dapeng respectively:

"Zhao Yike has left. Destination: Vancouver. Report sent to email."

Chen Dapeng was reviewing materials when he received the message.

After reading the message Zhou Yiming sent, he didn't reply immediately. Instead, he opened his email and read the complete report from beginning to end.

He was thinking about something—

Zhao Yike did not clear customs in Singapore, indicating that she did not intend to stay in Singapore.

Her destination was Canada from the very beginning.

That route wasn't chosen on the spur of the moment; it was decided long ago.

He recalled the scene in Zhao Yike's office that afternoon.

She flipped through the materials very slowly.

I spent a considerable amount of time looking at each page, but paused for about three to four seconds when I turned to one of them.

The finger remained pressed on the paper.

At the time, he didn't think anything was special, assuming she was just looking at specific data.

But when he recalled that pause, it was exactly the page on the financial chain where her husband Peng Yuan's associated account first appeared.

She didn't ask any questions, didn't look up at him, and didn't show any unusual behavior.

I only looked at it for a few seconds, then turned the page.

He thought it was a normal reading pace at the time.

Zhao Yike has now left the country with her husband and son.

That pause then took on a completely different meaning—

She was confirming that her husband's name was linked to the money chain.

Once she confirmed it, she knew there was no turning back.

He picked up his phone and replied to Zhou Yiming with two words: "Received."

……

That evening.

Chen Yuanda received an email from Zhou Yiming in the country. After reading it, he sent a message to Hu Yuheng:

"The Australian route has been cut off. Notify Chen Dapeng to withdraw and bring all materials back."

After seeing the message, Hu Yuheng replied with a single word: "Okay".

She glanced at the time—it was late at night in China, but early morning in Australia.

But she still dialed Chen Dapeng's number.

The phone rang a few times before being answered.

Chen Dapeng's voice was slightly hoarse.

Hu Yuheng did not exchange pleasantries:

"Director Chen has suspended the Australia route. Bring the materials back and book the next available flight directly back to the provincial capital."

Chen Dapeng sat up: "Okay."

After hanging up the phone, he didn't lie back down. He put his phone on the bedside table, sat for a few seconds, then lifted the covers and got out of bed.

He walked to the table, checked the materials, and confirmed that nothing was missing.

I closed the bag, zipped it up, and placed it by the door. Then I dragged the suitcase out from the corner, made sure my passport and documents were in the hidden compartment, closed the lid, and stood it against the wall.

After doing all that, he sat down on the edge of the bed, picked up his phone, and browsed the ticket booking app.

There is a connecting flight that afternoon, and the timing is convenient.

He selected his seat, confirmed the ticket issuance, and then sent a screenshot of the flight information to Hu Yuheng, along with a message:

"Leaving this afternoon, arriving in the provincial capital tomorrow."

Hu Yuheng replied with one word:

"it is good."

Chen Dapeng put down his phone and sat back on the headboard for a while.

Then, he stood up, folded the last few loose pieces of clothing, and stuffed them into the box.

……

The next morning.

The plane landed in the provincial capital.

Chen Dapeng dragged his suitcase out of the arrival hall, hailed a taxi, and gave the driver the address of the Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection compound.

Forty minutes later.

The car stopped at the gate of the compound.

He paid the fare, opened the car door, and dragged his suitcase across the yard.

Go upstairs and push open the door to the task force's office.

He leaned his suitcase against the wall, placed his briefcase on his desk, and then pulled out a chair and sat down.

Footsteps came from the other end of the corridor.

Hu Yuheng stopped at the office door and glanced at him.

She didn't come in, but simply said, "Dapeng, bring the materials over."

Chen Dapeng stood up, picked up his briefcase, and followed her into the office at the end of the corridor.

Hu Yuheng had already sat down and pointed to the chair opposite the table:

"sit."

Chen Dapeng sat down opposite her and placed his briefcase on the table.

Hu Yuheng reached out and unzipped the document, taking it out one by one and checking it against the cover number.

She paused when she reached the middle stack, pulled out a few copies and set them aside, then continued flipping through the stacks.

After finishing everything, she closed her briefcase:

"Everything is there. Nothing is missing."

She pushed the stack of materials that had been pulled out separately forward:

"Did you annotate these pages separately?"

Chen Dapeng took it and flipped through it—

It was the core record of Zhao Yike's financial chain that he had compiled before setting off, with several marks made in pencil, which were the parts he felt needed to follow up on at the time.

Why did you mark those specific locations?

"Her husband's name appears for the first time on the money chain, on these pages."

Chen Dapeng flipped the document to the marked section and pointed it out to her.

"When I met her in Australia later, she scrolled to this point and paused for a few seconds. I didn't think much of it at the time, but now it seems she was probably confirming this."

Hu Yuheng looked down at those pages for a while, then closed them and placed them on the corner of the table.

"Tell Director Chen that you're back and the materials have been handed over."

Chen Dapeng stood up:

"it is good."

He turned and took two steps away, and Hu Yuheng spoke again behind him:

"Place the locations you marked on the side and archive them separately. Don't let them be included in the main file."

Chen Dapeng turned around and responded:

"it is good."

He walked back to the task force office, squatted down in front of the filing cabinet, opened the cabinet door, put most of the materials back into the main file box according to their numbers, and took out the few pages of core records that were marked separately and put them into a side folder.

He paused a moment longer as he closed the cabinet door—those few pages of paper stood alone in the side folder.

Zhao Yike's husband's name appeared on the financial chain.

She saw it, confirmed it, and then left.

He stood up, walked back to the chair, and sat down.

He opened the drawer and glanced inside; there were some scattered materials, which were clues about China that he had compiled before he left.

He casually flipped through a few pages, then closed the drawer and locked it.

Then I took out my phone, scrolled to He Ying's chat window, typed a message, and sent it:

"Sister Ying, I'm back in the provincial capital. Zhao Yike ran away to Canada."