High-level martial arts: Long spear with black flames to suppress demons.

Having dealt with Zhang Cuihua under the overpass, Shen Chang'an drove straight to the antique shop on East Street, preparing to arrest his last target—Wang Hai.

However, when Shen Chang'an stopped in the quaint alley of East Street, he found that the antique shop called "Hai Na Bai Chuan" was closed, with an old wooden sign hanging on the door that read "Owner is having a happy occasion, closed for a few days".

Shen Chang'an frowned, walked to the shop next door that sold calligraphy and paintings, and knocked on the counter.

"Boss, why is the antique shop next door closed? When did it close?"

The owner of the calligraphy and painting shop looked up, adjusted his reading glasses, and recalled for a moment before saying, "Oh, young man, you've come at a bad time. Old Wang's shop next door has been closed for several days. Probably last Friday or Saturday? Anyway, I haven't seen him open it for days. I guess he went back to his hometown for a wedding."

"It closed down a few days ago?"

Shen Chang'an narrowed his eyes slightly, sensing that something was amiss.

Li Sinan and Sun Dapao have been operating normally these past two days, but why did Wang Hai close down and run away early? Is it a coincidence, or did he sense something was going on?

Shen Chang'an immediately took out his phone and dialed Xie He's internal line.

"Xiao Xie, immediately check the whereabouts of Wang Hai, the owner of the 'Hai Na Bai Chuan' antique shop on East Street. Also, locate the phone number he has registered in the system!"

"Okay, Captain Shen, please wait a moment."

Less than two minutes later, Xie He's somewhat grave voice came through the earpiece: "Captain Shen, Wang Hai's cell phone signal cannot be located. The system shows that the number has been switched off for five days, or the SIM card has been physically damaged and removed. In addition, I just retrieved the surveillance footage from the system around East Street and sent it to your phone."

Shen Chang'an opened the surveillance video he received on his phone.

The footage shows that five days ago, late one night, Wang Hai walked out of the antique shop alone, pulled down the roller shutter, and hurriedly disappeared into a blind spot of the surveillance cameras, carrying a black travel bag. He has not been seen on this street since then.

"Is it possible to piece together his escape route using surveillance footage from other areas?"

Shen Chang'an asked.

"It's difficult."

Xie He answered.

"The surveillance cameras in the old town area already have many blind spots, and he deliberately avoided the cameras late at night. It will take a lot of time to compare and stitch together the massive amount of data."

"Investigate as soon as possible."

Shen Chang'an hung up the phone.

Since the person has already been on the run for five days, there's no point in wandering the streets anymore. Shen Chang'an decided to go back to the branch office first and meet Zhang Cuihua in person to see if he could pry anything useful out of her.

……

Qingzhou District Branch, Interrogation Area.

This place is perpetually shrouded in darkness, and the air is filled with a cold and desolate atmosphere.

As soon as Shen Chang'an entered the monitoring room of the interrogation area, a logistics assistant in charge of interrogation respectfully came up to him and handed him two thick confession documents.

"Captain Shen, these are the final statements from Li Sinan and Sun Dapao. They couldn't withstand the torture and have confessed everything. The statements have been tested with both a lie detector and a truth serum, and it can be basically confirmed that they did not lie."

Shen Chang'an quickly flipped through the documents. The two testimonies were highly consistent; all the dirty and tiring work and the final instructions pointed to the old woman named Zhang Cuihua.

"Um."

Shen Chang'an closed the file and threw it on the table. "Take me to interrogation room number three."

Interrogation Room No. 3 is specifically used to detain high-ranking dangerous individuals.

Behind the thick, explosion-proof glass.

Zhang Cuihua looked miserable and disheveled. She was tightly bound to a specially made alloy interrogation chair.

The Night Guard has a strict and cruel control process for dealing with this level of evil cultivator—not only are her limbs locked with shackles engraved with sealing runes, but even each finger is forcibly fixed to prevent her from forming hand seals and casting spells.

A special gag with a breathing hole was stuffed into her mouth. Before she was brought in, the medical team had thoroughly examined her oral cavity to ensure that she did not have any poison or pills hidden between her teeth to commit suicide.

Shen Chang'an's black flames left large, shocking charred burns on her right arm and shoulder. Although the medical team gave her simple hemostasis treatment to ensure she wouldn't die, the excruciating pain that burned her soul was still tormenting her, making her look ten years older and weaker than before.

Shen Chang'an pushed open the door to the interrogation room, pulled out a chair, and sat down opposite Zhang Cuihua.

The assistant stepped forward and removed the gag from Zhang Cuihua's mouth.

"Cough cough cough..."

Zhang Cuihua coughed violently, her triangular eyes filled with resentment as she stared at Shen Chang'an.

"I'm in a hurry, so I'll only ask you three questions."

Shen Chang'an ignored her gaze and simply raised a finger.

"First, where did Wang Hai go? What's your relationship with him?"

Zhang Cuihua gasped for breath, her voice hoarse like sandpaper scraping: "Wang Hai... he's an extremely cautious fox. He's also one of the organization's informants, and... he's the person in this area with the closest ties to the higher-ups! Half a year ago, he was the one who contacted me first, promising a lot of resources, and got me to come from another province to Qingzhou District to help him keep things under control!"

"As for where he went... I don't know! I haven't been able to contact him for five days! That bastard probably got wind of something and packed up and ran away beforehand, using us as pawns to distract you!"

When Wang Hai was mentioned, Zhang Cuihua was full of resentment, and her words also lit up with a green light when tested by a lie detector.

Shen Chang'an frowned slightly. It seemed that Wang Hai was the key figure in this line of work.

"The second question."

Shen Chang'an raised his second finger.

"Who were those demons and humans you selected ultimately sold to? Who were the trading partners?"

This question made Zhang Cuihua's eyes dart away, but under the threat of another wisp of black flame emerging from Shen Chang'an's fingertips, she still gave in.

"I've never actually seen the boss behind the scenes... For every transaction, they always send someone to make contact."

Zhang Cuihua shrank her neck as she explained.

"However... once during a cargo handover, the contact person accidentally revealed a tattoo on his collar... I took a closer look, and it was an emblem of 'three mountains' stacked together."

Upon hearing the phrase "three mountains," the assistant immediately began frantically searching on his tablet.

In less than ten seconds, the assistant handed the screen to Shen Chang'an and whispered, "Captain Shen, we've found it. 'Sanshan Group.' This is a behemoth multinational corporation based in Beijiang City, with businesses spanning real estate, pharmaceuticals, and import/export trade. Our Qingzhou District is just the location of a small branch of theirs."

"Sanshan Group?"

Shen Chang'an secretly memorized the name. A business tycoon from the secular world buying up demons? The waters behind this are probably very deep.