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

Mechanical sounds echoed above the ruins, while the piercing crackling of electricity scraped against everyone's eardrums.

Good evening, officers.

"It must have been tough coming to this desolate place in the middle of the night."

His voice was filled with undisguised mockery.

No sooner had he finished speaking than a loud crash came from above.

A huge black bird-catching net suddenly descended from mid-air, with more than a dozen heavy sandbags hanging on it.

"Take cover!" Zhou Zheng roared, shoving aside the teammate next to him.

The SWAT officers were well-trained and quickly rolled on the spot.

The large net slammed heavily onto the open ground, kicking up a cloud of choking dust. It didn't hit anyone, but it completely broke up the original formation.

But this is just the beginning.

A dozen paintball canisters suddenly shot out from behind the charred ruins of the surrounding walls.

"Bang bang bang—"

Multicolored paint exploded in the night, splattering several SWAT officers. Yellow, green, and red paint made it look like a horrific graffiti scene.

Zhou Zheng was so angry that he jumped up and down, wiping the green paint off his face.

"Is this kid playing paintball?! Come out and fight me one-on-one if you dare!"

The mechanical voice on the radio continued, and the laughter grew even more unrestrained.

"Just a small gift to liven things up. Please don't mind it."

"Now, let's get to the main event of the evening. Let's tell a story. A bedtime story about a coward."

"Did you know that when this place caught fire, there was a self-righteous god who stood on the clouds watching it all?"

"Those people in the underworld all call her Thousand Faces. They say she's the most disciplined in her dealings and never implicates the innocent."

Song Qianxia stood in the middle of the crowd, her brows furrowed.

Several SWAT officers who were unaware of the situation exchanged glances.

Zhou Zheng tightened his grip on the gun. A thousand faces? The overseas assassin with a red notice on her head in the provincial department's files? What's her connection to this orphanage case?

The voice on the radio suddenly lowered, like the whisper of a demon.

"She sneaked into the orphanage. What did she see?"

"She saw seven numbered children in the basement!"

"Locked up in an iron cage like piglets!"

"What fine specimens they are! Clean, intelligent, and some even speak foreign languages!"

The night wind blew through the ruins, and Song Qianxia gritted her teeth, her palms covered in cold sweat.

Images from my past life flashed wildly through my mind like a revolving lantern, refusing to fade away.

That damp, dark basement was filled with the smell of excrement and mold.

The children clung to the bars of the iron cage, looking at her with eyes full of despair and pleading.

What was she thinking at the time?

"Don't involve unrelated people. Don't clash with official agencies. Just anonymously send the list to the police, and the matter will be resolved."

She genuinely believed she had done a perfect job and upheld the bottom line.

The mechanical voice on the radio suddenly rose in pitch, becoming sharp and piercing, almost bursting the eardrums.

"But what did she do? She did nothing! She just walked away!"

"When the fire broke out that night, the flames illuminated half the sky. Where was she?"

Song Qianxia's body began to tremble uncontrollably.

This wasn't fear, it was anger. Extreme anger towards myself, and towards that voice.

"She hides in the gutter, clinging to her ridiculous bottom line and rules!"

"She watched helplessly as several children were burned alive. She watched helplessly as the rest were loaded onto trucks and driven away."

"She's not a legend at all; she's a hypocritical coward!"

"She only dares to kill the weak who have no chance to fight back!"

Every word pierced Song Qianxia's heart, tearing her flesh and blood into a tangled mess.

She suppressed this guilt and self-blame in the deepest part of her heart for a full ten years.

She thought she had forgotten.

But now it has been torn open in public, laid bare and bloody before everyone.

Song Qianxia's eyes reddened.

She pushed aside the special police officers blocking her way and strode toward the center of the main building ruins.

"Song Qianxia! What are you doing!"

Lin Wan was startled and reached out to pull her, but she was pushed away.

Song Qianxia had only one thought in her mind right now.

Find that loudspeaker. Follow the wires and find that madman wearing the cheap mask.

Inch by inch, smash every bone in his body!

"Come out!" Song Qianxia roared into the darkness, her voice hoarse.

"You piece of trash who only dares to hide behind the scenes and play recordings, get out here!"

Her hand was already in her pocket, gripping the special alloy hair clip.

Suddenly, a strong hand grabbed her arm.

The force was so great that it abruptly pulled her to a stop in place.

Song Qianxia turned around abruptly and met Gu Tingchen's unfathomable eyes.

"Let go!" She instinctively tried to break free, and with a backhand, she was about to use a black market bone-dislocating technique to grab Gu Tingchen's wrist.

But Gu Tingchen reacted quickly, pinning her against a section of broken wall.

"Calm down." Gu Tingchen's voice sounded particularly calm in the night wind.

"But he said..." Song Qianxia's mind was buzzing, and her eyes were frighteningly red.

"No matter what he says, it happened ten years ago. If we couldn't save those children, that's our responsibility as police officers."

Gu Tingchen looked directly into her eyes.

"Why are you, an intern consultant, taking all this mess on yourself?"

These words were like a bucket of ice water poured over Song Qianxia's head, which was already on the verge of exploding.

She froze, and her previously tense body gradually softened.

Yes. She's not a woman of a thousand faces anymore; she's Song Qianxia from the Jiangcheng City Public Security Bureau.

Standing next to her was the living devil of the Criminal Investigation Division.

There's a complete set of rules here; she doesn't need to fight them all by herself.

Song Qianxia desperately held back the tears welling up in her eyes and put on her usual nonchalant smile.

"I was so scared! Playing the radio in the middle of the night, I thought a zombie had come back to life!"

Seeing that she had stopped struggling, Gu Tingchen slowly released his grip.

Then he turned around, drew his gun, and raised his arm.

The entire movement was completed in one smooth motion, without the slightest hesitation.

"Bang!"

A deafening gunshot pierced the night sky.

Sparks flew from a load-bearing column dozens of meters away.

The loudspeaker hidden in the crevice of the ruins was shattered by a single shot.

The annoying mechanical noise stopped abruptly, and plastic fragments fell to the ground.

Zhou Zheng stared wide-eyed at the scene, swallowing hard.

"Captain Gu, it's pitch black, aren't you even going to take a look?"

Gu Tingchen put the gun back in its holster and dusted off his hands.

"Search! See if there are any other clues around here."