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

Outside the women's restroom on the third floor of the Jiangcheng City Public Security Bureau.

Lin Wan held a stopwatch in her hand, her eyes fixed on the numbers flashing on the screen.

"Song Qianxia, ​​you've been inside for four minutes and thirty seconds! Were you playing on your phone in there?"

The sound of a toilet flushing came from the bathroom.

Song Qianxia swaggered out, shaking the water droplets off her hands.

"Officer Lin, paid bathroom breaks are a basic right of working people. It's really weird for you to be waiting outside with a stopwatch on your phone!"

Lin Wan put the stopwatch into her pocket.

"You're under close surveillance now; you can't be out of sight for even a minute."

Song Qianxia sighed and leaned against the wall in the corridor, feeling utterly hopeless.

Ever since she signed that damned commitment yesterday, she's become an inseparable part of the entire Major Crimes Unit.

When you eat, someone brings you a plate; when you get water, someone hands you a cup.

Even when she was playing Minesweeper on her computer at her workstation, Lao Zheng would stand behind her with a thermos cup and watch for a long time.

I can't live like this anymore.

Song Qianxia had just filled half a glass with water when she looked up and met Old Zheng's kind yet wary eyes, which startled her so much that her hand trembled.

"I'm just getting a glass of warm water, you don't need to stare at me like that, do you?"

Old Zheng smiled and said, "You're now protecting elephants—no, I mean, you're a key target for investigation. If you're out of sight for even a minute, our whole team will have to write a self-criticism."

Song Qianxia returned to her seat with her water glass. As soon as she sat down, the chair opposite her was pulled out.

Zhou Zheng, the captain of the special police brigade, sat down with a swagger, his two thick arms crossed over his chest, his bull-like eyes staring straight at her.

"Captain Zhou, isn't your SWAT team training today?"

Song Qianxia felt uneasy under his gaze, and her fingers froze as she typed.

Zhou Zheng snorted, his loud voice making the pen holder on the table shake: "I'm done practicing. The bureau stipulates that you'll be under cross-monitoring, I'm just doing my duty!"

"This isn't fulfilling your duties, it's practically torture!" Song Qianxia was utterly desperate. She turned to Gu Tingchen through the glass door and protested loudly, "Captain Gu! You need to control them! This inhumane surveillance is severely impacting my work efficiency!"

The glass door was pushed open.

Gu Tingchen held a few pages of printing paper in his hand. He was wearing a black windbreaker today, which made him look even more neat and tidy.

"Since you insist on continuing with the case, here's some work for you."

Gu Tingchen threw the documents on Song Qianxia's desk.

Song Qianxia immediately perked up. Being able to go out and run around the scene was better than being stared at like a giant panda by this group of people.

"The Municipal People's Hospital reported it?" Song Qianxia looked at the record. "A theft? Shouldn't this kind of case be under the jurisdiction of the local police station? Why was it reported directly to the Major Crimes Unit?"

"Because the stolen items are a bit unusual." Gu Tingchen turned to look at Lao Zheng and Zhou Zheng. "Pack your gear and head to the scene."

Two police cars sped out of the municipal police station compound and headed straight for Jiangcheng People's Hospital.

Along the way, Song Qianxia was sandwiched between Lin Wan and Zhou Zheng, without even a space to stretch.

Behind the hospital's outpatient building is a relatively old pharmaceutical laboratory building, where police have cordoned off the area.

The pharmacy manager, surnamed Zhang, was a chubby middle-aged man who was sweating profusely and holding an inventory list as he negotiated with the local police officer.

Gu Tingchen showed his identification and led the people from the Major Crimes Unit inside.

"Captain Gu, you've finally arrived!" Director Zhang greeted him, wiping his sweat. "We checked the warehouse this morning and found that something was missing."

"What's missing?" Old Zheng took out his notebook to write it down.

Director Zhang's face turned a little pale: "It's five boxes of controlled neurological reagents. The normal dosage of this is extremely small, but the Municipal Bureau has regulations that this kind of prescription drug must be strictly controlled, and the inventory must be checked every day."

Song Qianxia leaned closer and glanced at the names of the medicines on the list.

A long list of complicated chemical names.

Others might not understand it, but Song Qianxia, ​​who had been in the underworld for many years, was very familiar with it.

My heart skipped a beat.

If these five reagents are extracted and concentrated, and a specific catalyst is added, a dangerous and potent paralyzing agent can be synthesized.

Lin Wan asked from the side, "Director Zhang, could losing this medicine cause someone's death?"

"No, not at all." Director Zhang waved his hands repeatedly. "This is not poison. It's a nerve blocker. If an ordinary person accidentally ingests it, at most they'll experience muscle soreness and sleep for a day and a night. If the dose is larger, it could cause temporary total paralysis, making it impossible to move even a finger."

Zhou Zheng scratched his buzz cut: "Not fatal? Then why would the thief go to all that trouble to steal it? To cure his insomnia?"

Song Qianxia didn't say anything and walked straight to the pharmacy's security door.

This is the most crucial issue.

This potent paralyzing agent has only one purpose: to capture the victim alive. It renders the victim incapable of resistance, leaving them helpless and at the mercy of others, while maintaining their conscious awareness.

Does the Night Owl think that the Pandora Key needs to be captured alive to open it?

Song Qianxia squatted in front of the security door and took out a flashlight to carefully check the door lock.

The door lock was intact, with no signs of forced entry or damage from a crowbar.

Xiao Zhang from the technical department came over carrying a survey kit, scanned the area with his instruments, and reported, "Team Leader Gu, the door lock wasn't pried open. It's an electronic access control system; someone opened it with a card last night."

Song Qianxia leaned closer to the access control sensor area and squinted at it for a while.

"Xiao Zhang, can you lend me a magnifying glass?" Song Qianxia held out her hand.

After getting the magnifying glass, Song Qianxia pointed to the edge of the sensor panel, where there was a scratch that was even finer than a strand of hair.

"Captain Gu, look here," Song Qianxia called to Gu Tingchen.

Gu Tingchen bent down to look.

"This wasn't opened with the original card; it was forcibly cracked using a cloned card," Song Qianxia explained confidently, pointing to the scratch. "Key pharmacies like city hospitals usually have access control systems with RFID technology to prevent cloning. Ordinary cards simply won't work. To open it, you need an extremely small metal hacking terminal."

"This scratch was left when the other party was plugging and unplugging the hacking terminal, and the metal connector scraped against the plastic panel."

Zhou Zheng was stunned: "To steal a few boxes of worthless medicine, they'd even use this kind of high-tech hacking equipment?"

Song Qianxia dusted off her hands, stood up, and patted Zhou Zheng on the shoulder.

"Captain Zhou, this is what you call high-IQ, precise crime. They weren't after money at all; they only wanted the special purpose of these few boxes of medicine."

Old Zheng, listening nearby, grinned and said, "What's gotten into Jiangcheng lately? How come even a medicine thief is so knowledgeable?"

Gu Tingchen's gaze lingered on Song Qianxia's face for two seconds. He noticed that as soon as this woman entered a crime scene, her usual carefree demeanor would instantly vanish, replaced by an extremely keen intuition for criminal methods.

"Lin Wan." Gu Tingchen turned around and gave the order, "Go to the monitoring room. Retrieve all the access control card swipe records and corridor surveillance footage from the past three days, especially during the early morning hours."

"Received!" Lin Wan immediately ran outside.

Gu Tingchen looked at Song Qianxia and suddenly asked, "Why do you think they want to synthesize a paralyzing drug?"

Song Qianxia shrugged: "Maybe he wants to go to the zoo to catch an elephant."

Gu Tingchen ignored her nonsense and strode towards the security department.