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

The elevator doors slid open completely in front of me.

Gu Tingchen, gun in hand, stepped silently out of the elevator car in his tactical boots.

Three special police officers, holding riot shields, quickly followed and formed a fan shape to block off the blind spots in the corridor.

The air on the third basement level was filled with a strong, pungent odor.

Song Qianxia had barely poked half her head out when she immediately covered her mouth and nose with her hand.

High-concentration industrial ether.

Those bastards really went all out; all four security SWAT officers were instantly knocked unconscious, without even a chance to sound the alarm.

Gu Tingchen gave a tactical hand signal, and the team moved quickly along the wall toward the open blast-proof isolation door.

Song Qianxia followed at the very back of the group.

She looked at the thick, 30-centimeter-thick steel partition door.

The panel of the combination lock was completely melted by a high-temperature plasma welding gun.

This isn't the kind of equipment street thugs would have.

This is a violent demolition tool used only by mercenaries and high-level underground organizations.

Gu Tingchen pressed himself against the door and peeked inside.

The motion-sensor lights in the evidence storage room flickered on and off.

The hundreds of evidence shelves that were originally neatly arranged were now in disarray.

Several people dressed in full black night clothes were gathered in front of a safe at the innermost part of the room.

One of them was loading something into a specially made shielded box.

"Police! Put down what you're holding!" Gu Tingchen shouted sternly.

The men in black paused, but showed no sign of panic.

The leader of the men in black didn't even turn his head; he simply made a very brief gesture.

The other two men in black pulled out high-powered flashlights from their waists, pointed them at the door, and pressed the strobe mode.

The blinding white light instantly blinded the three SWAT officers in front of them.

Because Song Qianxia was hiding at the back and instinctively turned her head, her view was not obstructed.

Through the gaps between the special police officers, she could see what those people were packing.

It wasn't high-value smuggled gold at all, nor was it drugs.

Those are all old case evidence that have been piling up for many years!

There were even a few yellowed sheets of file paper.

Night Owl is erasing all traces of their past in Jiangcheng!

The leader, dressed in black, carrying a shielded box, turned and was about to run towards the ventilation duct behind the evidence storage.

The fighting spirit in Song Qianxia's eyes was instantly ignited.

Stealing from her territory is no different from slapping her in the face.

She pushed off the ground with her toes, the tactical baton slid into her palm, and she was about to shoot out like an arrow.

The moment she took her first step.

A large hand, like an iron clamp, grabbed the back of her collar and forcefully pulled her back.

Gu Tingchen pulled her behind him.

"Stay in the back and don't move!" Gu Tingchen's voice was extremely cold, carrying an irresistible sense of oppression.

The next second, Gu Tingchen rushed out on his own.

He did not fire.

The underground evidence vault contains a large number of flammable and explosive chemical evidence; firing a gun would be tantamount to suicide.

Gu Tingchen's speed was astonishing.

He closed in on the man in black carrying the suitcase in just a few leaps.

The man in black reacted quickly, turning around and delivering a vicious whip kick straight at Gu Tingchen's head.

Gu Tingchen raised his forearm to block the blow, producing a dull thud.

Immediately afterwards, Gu Tingchen transformed his palm into a claw, directly locking the other person's ankle and pulling him backward sharply.

The man in black lost his balance, but he fell to the ground and kicked Gu Tingchen's knee hard with his other foot.

Every move is deadly; all are military combat techniques designed to kill with a single strike.

Song Qianxia hid behind the door, watching the two fight, secretly surprised.

This living Yama usually looks cold and aloof, but he's surprisingly fierce when he gets going.

She was all too familiar with the black-clad man's moves; they were the most popular killing techniques in the underground boxing scene in Cyrillic.

Gu Tingchen was able to fight back and forth with his opponent, and even subtly gained the upper hand.

Seeing their leader entangled, the other two men in black immediately drew their military knives and rushed forward.

Gu Tingchen fought against three opponents single-handedly, showing no sign of backing down.

He delivered a powerful elbow strike to one of the men's chin, sending the man staggering back several steps and knocking over two evidence shelves.

The leader of the men in black glanced at the tactical watch on his wrist.

There's not enough time.

He pulled a black cylinder from his pocket and slammed it hard on the ground.

"Bang!"

The intense tear gas instantly filled the small evidence storage room.

White smoke obscured all visibility.

Gu Tingchen was forced to step back, covering his mouth and nose.

With the sound of the ventilation duct being violently kicked open, the men in black quickly fled the scene amidst the smoke.

Wait for the ventilation system to remove the smoke.

The vast evidence storage room was now completely empty.

All that remained was a mess on the floor and the old, completely emptied safe.

Gu Tingchen stood there, his black windbreaker covered in dust.

He stared at the dark vent, his face so gloomy it could drip water.

"Captain Gu, are you alright?" The three special police officers finally recovered and rushed forward.

"I'm fine. Immediately notify the control room to seal off all sewers and exhaust pipe outlets around the city bureau," Gu Tingchen ordered coldly.

Although he knew that since these people had devised such a meticulous plan, it was absolutely impossible for them to be easily blocked from the outside.

Song Qianxia strolled in slowly from outside the gate.

She looked around at the scattered evidence on the ground.

"Captain Gu, these people are picky eaters." Song Qianxia kicked a bag of uncut diamonds on the ground with her toe.

"Why would you want to steal those few broken cardboard boxes when you could get something so valuable?"

Gu Tingchen turned to look at her.

"Those are the original case files and supporting evidence from a transnational smuggling case thirteen years ago," Gu Tingchen said in a somber tone.

Song Qianxia's heart skipped a beat.

Thirteen years ago.

That was the moment when she first made her mark in the underworld.

Night Owl went to great lengths, even resorting to a direct intrusion into the Jiangcheng City Police Department.

Was it to destroy old files related to Qianmian?

Just then, Song Qianxia's gaze was drawn to a small object next to the safe.

It was a tiny black metal disc.

It's only about half the size of my little finger.

Song Qianxia squatted down, took out an evidence bag from her pocket, and carefully put the metal plate into it.

"Captain Gu. Those guys ran pretty fast, but it seems they left something behind." Song Qianxia picked up the evidence bag and shook it.

Gu Tingchen walked over quickly and looked at the miniature memory.

He didn't take it immediately.

The Night Owl's style of doing things is always meticulous and watertight.

In an operation of this caliber, it's absolutely impossible for such a basic mistake as losing equipment to occur.

"They left this on purpose," Gu Tingchen concluded.

Twenty minutes later.

In the main server room of the technical department.

The entire municipal bureau's network has been cut off from external connections.

Xiao Wang stared at the screen, sweating profusely, his hands flying across the keyboard.

Director Qin stood to the side, directing several technicians to build an independent sandbox system.

The black USB drive was plugged into a computer that was completely physically isolated from the intranet.

Gu Tingchen and Song Qianxia stood at the back.

"Captain Gu, there are no Trojan viruses or self-destruct programs on this USB drive." Xiao Wang breathed a sigh of relief.

There is only one document file inside.

"Open it," Gu Tingchen commanded.

Xiao Wang moved the mouse and double-clicked the unnamed text document.

A white window pops up on the screen.

In the very center of the window, there is only one line of black text.

The line of text was short, but it was like a bomb, exploding directly in Song Qianxia's mind.

"Thousand Faces is dead, but her shadow remains."

The office was deathly silent.

Xiao Wang scratched his head, looking puzzled.

"Thousand Faces? Is that a person's name or a code name? What kind of trick are these people playing?"

Zhao Ming just rushed in from outside, holding a walkie-talkie in his hand.

"Captain Gu, all the false alarms at the four locations outside have been dealt with! Those bastards ran faster than dogs!"

Zhao Ming looked up at the screen.

"What does this mean? A thousand-faced shadow?"

Gu Tingchen remained silent.

His gaze was fixed on the line of text on the screen, then he slowly turned his head away.

Their gazes naturally fell on Song Qianxia.

Song Qianxia felt a chill run down her spine.

She tried her best to maintain that bewildered and ignorant expression on her face.

"Why are you looking at me?" Song Qianxia chuckled dryly. "This must be their leader's online name, right? It sounds pretty unconventional."

But a storm raged within her.

That man in the bird-beak mask caused such a commotion tonight, and it wasn't just to destroy the files.

Thousand Faces is clearly dead in Cyrillic Continent.

Is the owl's statement, "The shadow is still there," a test, or has it confirmed something?

Gu Tingchen withdrew his gaze, his voice cold.

"Seal this USB drive and classify it as a top-secret piece of evidence."

"Everyone who sees this message tonight, sign a confidentiality agreement. Anyone who leaks even a single word of it will be fired!"

Everyone shivered and nodded repeatedly.

Gu Tingchen turned and walked out, but stopped at the door.

"Song Qianxia, ​​come out with me."