We asked you to solve cases, and here you are sharing your criminal experiences?

At 1:30 a.m., the municipal bureau dormitory building was completely silent.

Song Qianxia sat at her desk without even turning on a lamp.

The pale blue light emanating from the computer screen shone on her face, making her young face appear cold and indifferent.

Her hands moved so fast that only afterimages could be seen.

The normal network connection had long been disconnected; she was using a custom-written Onion routing program.

The data packets were frantically redirected through twelve proxy servers in Cyrillic, Freeport, and several unnamed islands.

She needs to catch the "Night Owl Messenger" by the real tail.

She had taken Gu Tingchen's words to heart during the day, but since Night Owl had extended his reach right under her nose, she couldn't just sit idly by.

Although Qianmian is dead, Song Qianxia is still alive.

The code on the screen scrolled by line by line.

The other party is cunning and uses the latest dynamic masquerade protocol, leaving behind a fake decoy IP with each attack.

But in Song Qianxia's eyes, this tactic was nothing more than showing off one's limited skills before an expert.

"Found it."

Song Qianxia curled her lips into a cold smile.

The last data stream did not point overseas, but instead mysteriously turned back to China.

After peeling back the layers, the hidden IP address was found to be located in the high-tech zone of Jiangcheng City!

Just as she was preparing to further hack into the other party's underlying database to see which of Night Owl's dogs was hiding behind it all.

A warm, large hand suddenly reached out from behind.

With a "click".

The laptop screen was closed.

Song Qianxia froze, her hand instantly pressing down on a paper cutter on the corner of the table.

Her heightened vigilance honed in the underworld almost led her to stab him with her own hand.

But the next second, she smelled that familiar scent of laundry soap in the air, mixed with a faint smell of tobacco.

It's Gu Tingchen.

When did this man come in? Why was there not a sound of his footsteps?

Song Qianxia removed her hand from the paper cutter without turning around.

The dormitory was pitch black, with only moonlight filtering in through the window.

Gu Tingchen stood behind her, his tall figure casting her entirely in shadow.

"Song Qianxia".

Gu Tingchen's voice rang out in the quiet room, revealing neither his joy nor anger.

"Going it alone can be addictive, but it's also the easiest way to die."

Song Qianxia's fingers froze on the keyboard.

She knew she'd been caught red-handed, and now she couldn't even use excuses like "watching dramas" or "playing games."

"Captain Gu, trespassing is illegal."

Song Qianxia forced herself to speak, her tone carrying a hint of bluff.

"Even if you're the head of the criminal investigation team, you can't just walk into a female employee's dormitory in the middle of the night without knocking, can you?"

Gu Tingchen ignored her attempt to shift the blame.

He walked around to the side of the desk, pulled out a chair, and sat down.

By the moonlight, Song Qianxia saw that he was holding a file folder in his hand.

"The door wasn't locked."

Gu Tingchen placed the file bag on the table and pushed it in front of her.

"If I were knocking on the door from the outside, you would have already formatted the hard drive and jumped out of the second-floor window."

Song Qianxia remained silent.

Because this was indeed her original contingency plan.

"Open it and take a look." Gu Tingchen pointed to the file bag.

Song Qianxia hesitated for a moment, then reached out and untied the white thread on the file bag, pulling out a stack of papers stamped with a red seal.

The top one is the official employment letter from the Jiangcheng City Public Security Bureau.

Decision on Appointing Comrade Song Qianxia as Senior Technical Advisor to the Major Crimes Task Force of the Municipal Public Security Bureau.

Below is a special authority approval form.

The document clearly states that Song Qianxia is permitted, under the supervision of Gu Tingchen, the head of the special task force, to use unconventional network technology to track and investigate the overseas criminal organization "Night Owl".

All operation records are included in the confidential dossier and are not subject to ordinary cybersecurity regulations.

Song Qianxia stared at the two lines of large characters, completely stunned.

She looked up at Gu Tingchen in disbelief.

"What...what does this mean?"

"Literal meaning."

Gu Tingchen leaned back in his chair, looking directly at her.

"From now on, you will participate in the Night Owl case as a technical advisor for the task force."

"You check, I'll show you the procedures."

Song Qianxia's heart skipped a beat.

In her mind, police officers, hackers, killers, and brokers are always on opposite sides.

She was always wary of Gu Tingchen, fearing that one day she would slip up and be sent to prison by this ruthless captain.

She thought that Gu Tingchen's warning to her during the day was to restrict her freedom and to stop her from using any underhanded methods.

But she didn't expect that this man wasn't trying to block her way at all.

Despite pressure from his superiors, he helped her apply for this special permission.

He was using the "rules" and "procedures" that he valued most to give her abilities a legitimate veneer.

He was paving a path for her so she could walk in the sunlight.

"Captain Gu..."

Song Qianxia opened her mouth, but all her usual eloquence and quick wit were useless at this moment.

"Do you realize how much risk you're taking by doing this?"

"If something happens to me, or if my past... my past troubles are brought up again, your time as captain will be over."

"That's my business."

Gu Tingchen looked at her, his eyes showing no hesitation whatsoever.

"Since I dare to give you this authorization, I dare to bear all the consequences."

He stood up, walked to the window, and looked at the dark night outside.

"I've said it before, as long as you choose to stand on the side of the law, this place will be your support."

"Don't always try to shoulder the burden alone. If Night Owl wants to find Thousand Faces, then let them find him."

"But in Jiangcheng now, there is only Song Qianxia, ​​the technical advisor for the task force."

Gu Tingchen turned around and pointed to the computer on the table.

"What did you find out just now?"

Song Qianxia took a deep breath, suppressing the chaotic emotions in her heart.

She turned the computer back on and pointed to the last identified IP address on the screen.

"The Night Owl Messenger's server is not located overseas, but in Jiangcheng High-tech Zone."

"The specific location is the data center of the Jiangcheng Charity Foundation."

Gu Tingchen glanced at the address, his eyes instantly turning cold.

"It really is related to them."

at the same time.

On the top floor of a brightly lit office building in the high-tech zone, more than ten kilometers away from the municipal bureau.

The huge room was dark, with only an entire wall of electronic screens flashing.

On the screen, countless exchange rate data and capital flow charts scrolled rapidly.

A man in a gray suit stands in front of the screen, holding a glass of red wine.

Behind him, a subordinate wearing a headset was giving a low-pitched report.

"Mr. Cheng, the results of the probe in Jiangcheng are in."

The subordinate handed over a data monitoring report.

"There was just a stealthy data stream attempting to trace the messenger's IP address back through twelve layers of jumpers."

"The decryption method used is 90 percent similar to the code structure that appeared in the Cyrillic Financial Tower six months ago."

The man, referred to as Mr. Cheng, took the report, didn't even glance at it, and threw it directly onto the table.

He gently swirled the red wine in his glass, a warm smile playing on his lips.

"Target anomaly confirmed."

The man spoke softly, as if he were talking about an old friend.

"It seems our old acquaintance really didn't die. Not only is she alive, she's also changed her identity and is hiding right under the noses of the Jiangcheng police."

"Report to your superiors."

The man took a sip of red wine, a dangerous glint flashing in his eyes.

"This is suspected to be highly related to Qianmian. We suggest proceeding to the second phase of testing."

As he finished speaking.

On the huge screen in the very center, all the data was instantly cleared.

A black bird emblem appeared.

That's the sign of the night owl, an owl with its eyes closed.

Accompanied by electronic music, the owl's closed right eye opened a crack.