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

At four in the morning, Song Qianxia stood by the window of the dormitory building and stretched out a big yawn.

Old Zheng should have received the report from the "helpful citizen" in his email by now. As long as Gu Tingchen sends someone to the hospital subway station to open that locker, the ticket to the Deep Sea Auction will be in his hands.

As for herself, all she needs to do is find an excuse to sneak into the evidence room, retrieve the invitation and biochip, and then make a high-quality replica mask that's indistinguishable from the real thing. Then she can swagger off to that so-called deep-sea auction and watch the show.

Simply perfect!

Song Qianxia rushed back to bed, rolled up the covers, and went back to sleep.

Meanwhile, on the ring road overpass, the escort convoy was speeding along.

Inside the carriage, Yin Que sat in a specially made stainless steel seat, handcuffed, with two fully armed special police officers watching her from the left and right.

Gu Tingchen was sitting in the passenger seat, talking to Lao Zheng from the bureau via walkie-talkie.

"Captain Gu, we just received an anonymous email in the public mailbox. The sending IP is overseas. It says that the item we are looking for is in locker number 204 at Exit C of the hospital subway station."

Gu Tingchen's eyes darkened: "Send Zhou Zheng with men to retrieve it. Be careful, it might be a trap. Bring bomb-proof equipment."

"clear."

The communication ended. Gu Tingchen glanced at the rearview mirror; Yin Que was resting with her eyes closed, a smile still lingering on her lips.

Suddenly, the driver of the car in front shouted urgently over the walkie-talkie: "There's something up ahead!"

The car braked suddenly.

Gu Tingchen leaned forward and grabbed the handle on the roof of the car to steady himself.

A black, unlicensed SUV had somehow blocked the way at the ramp ahead.

"Reverse!" Gu Tingchen immediately ordered.

"No! There's another one behind us!" shouted the SWAT officer in the car behind.

Two unlicensed SUVs, one in front of the other, formed a standard tactical pincer movement.

"All hands on alert! Load your weapons!" Gu Tingchen drew his sidearm, pushed open the passenger door, and used it as cover, aiming his gun at the SUV in front of him.

Seven or eight special police officers jumped out of the vehicle, deployed in tactical formation, and locked their dark gun barrels onto the two suspicious vehicles in front and behind.

Time passed second by second.

The unlicensed SUV didn't even have its hazard lights on, and no one stuck their head out to shout a warning.

Just as the SWAT team was preparing to launch a forceful assault, the rear door of the SUV in front opened.

A woman stepped down.

Wearing a very ordinary beige trench coat, with her long hair pulled back and a pair of thin-rimmed glasses perched on her nose, she looked like an office worker who had just finished overtime and was about to go home.

The woman walked at a steady pace, facing a dozen or so loaded automatic rifles.

"Stop! Hands over your head! If you take another step, we'll shoot!" a SWAT officer shouted a stern warning.

The woman ignored him, her gaze passing over Gu Tingchen and landing directly on the bulletproof window of the middle escort vehicle.

That gait, that look in his eyes, gave Gu Tingchen a strange sense of crisis.

This person didn't exude any murderous aura, but possessed an absolute indifference that was even more chilling than any murderous aura.

"Final warning! Stop approaching immediately!" Gu Tingchen released the safety on his sidearm.

The woman finally stopped, standing less than three meters from the escort vehicle, and took out a blank card from her trench coat pocket.

Raising his hand, the blank card flew gently onto the bulletproof glass of the escort vehicle, directly facing Silver Sparrow's face inside.

After making this move, the woman turned around, not even glancing at the SWAT officers around her who looked like they were facing a formidable enemy, and walked straight back to the unlicensed SUV.

The car doors closed. Both SUVs started simultaneously and drove off the ramp against traffic, disappearing into the night.

The whole process took less than a minute.

"Captain Gu, should we give chase or not?" came the request from the SWAT officer over the walkie-talkie.

"Check the surveillance footage along the route; the license plate is definitely fake. Be wary of their counter-surveillance tactics."

Gu Tingchen holstered his service pistol, turned and walked towards the escort vehicle, opened the door, and was about to ask questions.

But they found that Yinque, who was sitting in the carriage, no longer had the same fearless demeanor as before.

She stared at the white card on the glass, her facial muscles twitching uncontrollably, her eyes filled with undisguised fear.

"Do you know that person?" Gu Tingchen keenly sensed that something was wrong.

Silver Sparrow turned his head abruptly, his lips trembling as he squeezed out a few words.

"Archives... Cleaners..."

Before she could finish speaking, Silver Sparrow's eyes rolled back and she fainted in her seat.

Seven o'clock in the morning. Meeting room of the special task force of the Municipal Public Security Bureau.

Song Qianxia sat obediently in the corner of the conference table, holding a cup of soy milk.

At this moment, she felt worse than if she had swallowed a fly.

Gu Tingchen stood in front of the whiteboard, holding a transparent evidence bag containing the blank card that had been taken from the car window.

"Forensic experts and trace evidence specialists have examined it. The material is a special synthetic paper, and there are no fingerprints, skin flakes, or hair residue on it. It's spotless, as if it was transferred directly from the factory to the car window."

Lin Wan, who was taking notes, looked up and asked, "Who exactly is that woman? She can scare Yinque into fainting just by sticking a piece of white paper on her?"

"Before Yinque fainted, she said three words." Gu Tingchen glanced around the conference room: "Archives."

Upon hearing those three words, Song Qianxia bit her tongue.

White crows! White crows again!

Old Zheng took a sip of strong tea, his face grave. "The archives? When I was working in the economic crime investigation department, I handled a few cases involving underground banks, and the suspects mentioned this name. They say it's a money-driven murder organization; as long as the money is right, there's no one they won't take care of. But these are just rumors; there's never been any concrete evidence."

"This is not a rumor." Zhou Hui pushed open the door and walked in, holding a newly printed document in her hand.

"I just contacted the provincial intelligence center. News of Yin Que's arrest had already spread on several leading dark web forums by 4:10 a.m.

Zhou Hui threw the documents on the table.

"The poster is an account named Black Heron. The post contains only one line: Silver Sparrow, location: Jiangcheng, status: pending cleanup."

The meeting room fell silent immediately.

Song Qianxia was completely devastated.

The archivist, Hei Lu, who only uses paper and not electricity, actually posted a notice on the dark web!

This indicates that the Silver Sparrow has been deemed to have crossed the boundary by the archives and has no value for survival.

Gu Tingchen tapped his fingers on the table: "Director Zhou, do you mean that the woman who stopped the car came to issue a challenge?"

Zhou Hui's expression was cold and stern. "They are telling us that Silver Sparrow is their prey. No matter where the police hide him, they will take action."

Song Qianxia mentally ranted. These people, can't they just let someone work at a sewing machine in prison?!

What devastated her even more was that since the whole internet knew about Yinque's affair, her perfect plan to take her place had completely failed.

If she were to take Silver Sparrow's invitation now and attend that deep-sea auction...

I reckon I'd be riddled with bullets by the Night Owls and the archives staff before I even got to the door.

The whole world knows that Yinque is in jail, and then someone comes out with her biochip. Isn't that just blatantly telling everyone, "I'm an imposter"?

Song Qianxia scratched her hair in frustration.

The ticket she'd finally found had become a useless card. How was she supposed to sneak into the auction?

Without biometric verification, even a top-tier hacker couldn't hack into that kind of physically isolated access control system.

Gu Tingchen caught Song Qianxia's frantic actions.

"Consultant Song, is your scalp itchy this early in the morning?"

Song Qianxia immediately stood up straight, looking very serious.

"Reporting to Captain Gu, I'm outraged by this! The criminals have absolutely no regard for the law!"

Gu Tingchen withdrew his gaze and began assigning tasks.

"The deep-sea auction is in three days, and we must find out the truth as soon as possible. But Yinque is still in a coma. The doctor said she has suffered great mental trauma, and it will be difficult to conduct an effective interrogation in a short period of time."

Gu Tingchen looked at Lao Zheng: "Did Zhou Zheng bring back what he picked up from the hospital?"

"We got it back." Old Zheng nodded. "It was a very ordinary cosmetic box, with a black card tucked inside. The technical department is doing chip stripping analysis to see if they can extract specific information about the auction."

"Okay." Gu Tingchen picked up his coat. "Old Zheng, you keep a close eye on the hospital. Lin Wan, you and Xiao Song come with me."

Song Qianxia was taken aback: "Captain Gu, where are we going? To arrest that person from the archives? I request to stay at the bureau to do logistical support!"

"What are you arresting?" Gu Tingchen glanced at her coldly. "Go to the Jiangcheng Museum."