The wedding was livestreamed by the sister, revealing his identity as a Taoist priest.

"The 'Dark Raven' Mercenary Group"

Criminal Investigation Detachment Captain Song Tieshan stood in front of the projector, his voice deep and heavy, like the weight of iron on his back. In Qingcheng, at the Municipal Public Security Bureau, the third-floor command center was brightly lit.

The conference room was full of people.

The team consisted of the head of the Municipal Public Security Bureau's Criminal Investigation Detachment, the head of the Anti-Terrorism Brigade, and a technical backbone member of the Cyber ​​Security Detachment, along with two commanders temporarily dispatched by the Provincial Public Security Department.

Each person had a thick stack of files spread out in front of them.

On the projection screen, a face flashed by one after another.

"A frequent member of Interpol's Red Notice list, with nine core members and twenty to thirty mercenaries on the periphery."

He pressed a button on the remote control.

Screen switching.

A world map is marked with red dots.

"Over the past five years, this gang has been involved in eleven transnational art theft cases, including those at the Louvre branch, the Cairo Museum in Egypt, and the Tokyo National Museum..."

He went to one point.

"Every strike is precise, and the perpetrators leave the country within 48 hours of the successful operation. They have never failed."

The air in the meeting room froze.

Fang Zhiguo, the captain of the anti-terrorism squad, frowned and tapped his rough fingers on the table.

"Old Song, are you sure they're in Qingcheng right now?"

"Sure."

Song Tieshan cuts to the next page.

"Three days ago, Interpol sent a notice for assistance in the investigation. Zhao Tiezhu, the leader of 'Dark Raven', whose real name is Zhao Chongjun, is a retired non-commissioned officer from a foreign legion. He entered Myanmar from northern Myanmar two weeks ago and traveled north, passing through four cities along the way."

He pointed to a red dotted line on the map.

"Based on surveillance and intelligence analysis along the route, their final destination was Qingcheng."

Song Tieshan pressed the remote control.

A screenshot of intercepted communication records pops up on the screen.

"This afternoon, the technical team intercepted an encrypted communication, which, after decryption, contained only one sentence."

He read it out.

"The goods are ready. Eagle's Nest, 6 a.m. tomorrow."

"'Eagle's Nest' is their code word, referring to a border rendezvous point in northern Myanmar."

Song Tieshan glanced at the entire room.

"That means they will leave the country with the goods before dawn tomorrow."

He slammed the remote control back onto the table.

Tonight is the last chance.

Silence fell over the meeting room.

Fang Zhiguo rubbed his hands together, his heavy breathing unusually clear in the quiet room.

"All nine core members are either retired special forces soldiers or former mercenaries."

His voice was deep and muffled.

"The number of people on the perimeter is unknown, as are their weapons and their location."

"Can we catch them?"

No one answered.

Song Tieshan looked at the files on the table, his lips pressed into a thin line.

To be honest, he wasn't sure either.

These people are not ordinary criminals.

They have received professional military training and possess extremely strong counter-surveillance capabilities.

Last time, Interpol set up three lines of defense in Southeast Asia, but they passed through them as easily as if they were wearing tofu.

"and."

Xiao Lin from the cyber security team adjusted his glasses and added.

"Their communication encryption level is military-grade. We intercepted that message purely by luck. Their electronic countermeasures capabilities far exceed those of ordinary criminal gangs."

Fang Zhiguo clenched his fists.

"So we just wait and let them get away?"

"Bang!"

The conference room door was kicked open from the outside.

Everyone turned their heads sharply.

There was a person standing at the door.

He was over 1.85 meters tall, wearing a black combat uniform, and had a scratch on his face that hadn't fully healed.

His eyes were bloodshot, and veins were throbbing in his temples.

That look in his eyes wasn't one of weariness, it was one of anger.

It's the kind of anger you feel when someone slaps you in public and you don't even have a chance to retaliate.

"Armed Police Special Forces..."

Fang Zhiguo stood up.

"Qin... Captain Qin?"

Qinling.

Captain of the Special Operations Brigade of the Provincial Armed Police Corps.

Code name: "Ling".

Three days ago, they set up a trap in Jincheng, a city in the neighboring province, with intelligence accurate to the minute.

As a result, the members of "Dark Raven" seemed to have X-ray vision, bypassing all the ambush points and disappearing right under their noses.

"damn it."

Qinling walked in, his military boots making a heavy, urgent sound on the floor.

"They tricked Jincheng."

He slammed his hand on the conference table, making the water glass on it bounce.

"I drove six hours straight from Jincheng, without closing my eyes for a single second."

He scanned the entire room, his gaze like two knives.

"This time, they can't escape."

Song Tieshan quickly went to meet him.

"Captain Qin, the current problem is that we haven't been able to pinpoint their exact location in Qingcheng. The intercepted communications don't contain any address information, and the surveillance cameras haven't been able to capture their faces."

Qinling gritted his teeth.

"Where's your technology? Where's your cybersecurity?"

"exist."

Kobayashi raised his hand.

"But the other side used multiple layers of intermediaries and military-grade encryption, making it impossible to track using conventional methods..."

"If conventional methods can't catch them, then unconventional methods will do."

Qin Ling grabbed a chair next to him and sat down, his voice like grinding stones.

"The National Security Bureau gave me a contact number."

He took out his phone and dialed a number.

The phone rang twice before it connected.

"Old Qiu, has the person arrived yet?"

The sound of keyboard typing came from the other end of the phone.

"Arrived, connecting to the system."

Less than thirty seconds after he finished speaking, the conference room door was pushed open again.

Three people walked in.

Two men and one woman.

young.

The oldest one looks to be only in his early thirties.

The man in the lead had a buzz cut and was carrying a black backpack with a "404" sticker on the side.

He glanced at the people in the conference room, nodded, found a seat, and opened his laptop.

The speed at which his fingers landed on the keyboard was as fast as playing the piano.

"Engineer Qiu."

Song Tieshan walked over.

"They are..."

"People from the National Cybersecurity Emergency Response Center."

Qinling answered for him.

"Specifically designed to counter this type of military-grade encrypted communication."

Qiu Yuanzhi didn't even raise his head, but uttered a few words.

"Give me the signal characteristics of the target communication device."

Kobayashi immediately transmitted the intercepted communication data.

Qiu Yuanzhi's three devices lit up their screens simultaneously.

The code flows down like a waterfall.

The female technician next to her set up another device and connected it to the city's surveillance system.

"Run a cross-localization test."

Qiu Yuanzhi's fingers never stopped.

"No matter how much encryption they use, there will always be electromagnetic leakage in the hardware. As long as the equipment has been used in this city, there will be traces."

Everyone in the conference room was staring at those screens.

No one spoke.

The only sounds were the clicking of the keyboard and the hum of the fan.

One minute.

Two minutes.

five minutes.

Qiu Yuanzhi's brows furrowed more and more tightly.

"There are more encryption layers than expected..."

He gritted his teeth.

"It's okay, I'll go around it."

Three more minutes passed.

"It's in."

He looked up sharply.

"A weak communication pulse has been detected. Triangulation is in progress..."

On the screen, the three green circles began to shrink.

Getting smaller and smaller.

"Locked up!"

The female technician's voice suddenly rose in pitch.

Everyone stood up at the same time.

Qiu Yuanzhi turned the screen around, and a red dot was flashing on an electronic map of the city.

The red dot is moving.

"They've set off."

Qiu Yuanzhi stared at the screen.

"Three vehicles are heading southeast."

Qinling stood up abruptly and placed his hands on the table.

"Direction! What direction!"

Qiu Yuanzhi drew an extended line on the map with his finger.

The trajectory of the red dot extends forward.

The finish line is in one location.

Everyone looked at that coordinate at the same time.

"West of the city..."

Song Tieshan narrowed his eyes.

"This location is..."

Qiu Yuanzhi zoomed in on the map.

The satellite image clearly shows a huge, arched building.

"Qingcheng International Convention and Exhibition Center".

The meeting room was silent for two seconds.

"Convention and exhibition center?"

Fang Zhiguo looked completely bewildered.

"What are they doing at the convention center in the middle of the night? It's not like it's a vault."

"wrong!"

Kobayashi suddenly jumped up from his seat, his fingers frantically swiping across the tablet.

"Wait a minute! That exhibition today... the antique lantern exhibition!"

He turned the tablet around, and the screen showed today's trending topics on Weibo.

[#Second Dowry: Seven-Star Lamp#] Explosive

[#The First of the Four Sacred Artifacts of Taoism Was Used as a Dowry#] Explosion

[#Fang Shouye's counterfeit products after 30 years are less than one-tenth the quality of genuine products#] Explosive

Xiaolin's voice grew increasingly urgent.

"This afternoon, Shen Nianqing of the Shen Group received a betrothal gift in this exhibition hall, which was a... lamp."

He pulled up the news report, which clearly stated...

"The Seven Star Lamp, the foremost of the four sacred artifacts of Taoism, was authenticated as genuine by Fang Shouye, a national-level expert. Its value is beyond estimate, but industry insiders conservatively estimate that its black market price exceeds ten figures."

Ten digits.

The temperature in the conference room plummeted.

Qinling's pupils contracted sharply.

Song Tieshan's voice was squeezed out from between his teeth.

"Their target... is that lamp."

Everyone's expression changed at the same instant.

Fang Zhiguo grabbed the walkie-talkie.

"Not good! All units move out! Destination: Qingcheng International Convention and Exhibition Center!"

Qinling had already rushed to the door.

"Gather! Everyone! Follow me!"

He glanced back at the moving red dot on the screen.

The red dot is less than three kilometers away from the convention center.

"quick!"