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

3:30 a.m., Jiangcheng City Public Security Bureau Criminal Investigation Brigade Office.

The night outside was as dark as ink, but the office was brightly lit. None of the task force members had closed their eyes. They sat around the huge white glass panel, the atmosphere so heavy you could hear a pin drop.

Gu Tingchen stood in the center of the whiteboard, holding a black marker in his hand.

He wasn't wearing a coat, just a black shirt. The cuffs were rolled up to his elbows, revealing his strong, muscular forearms. The pen tip tapped twice on the whiteboard, making a crisp sound.

"Old Li, go over Wang Qiang's confession again," Gu Tingchen said.

Old Li quickly flipped through the interrogation records in his hand.

"Wang Qiang confessed that he took the order through the dark web. The other party's account name was 'Night Owl Messenger,' and the profile picture was a black owl." Old Li read the confession aloud. "The entire process used a self-destructing encrypted channel, and the funds went through a cryptocurrency money laundering network."

Gu Tingchen turned around and wrote two large characters heavily in the center of the whiteboard with a marker in his hand.

Night owl.

These two characters are written with great force and sharp strokes.

Song Qianxia sat in a swivel chair in the corner, holding a cup of milk tea that had gone cold. When she saw the two words on the whiteboard, she abruptly stopped biting her straw.

Night owl.

The name was all too familiar to her. So familiar that she could smell that nauseating stench of blood even in her dreams.

In her past life, when that man smiled gently and pushed her into an abyss of no return, the force behind him was Night Owl. These lunatics, under the guise of reconstructing the underground order, were actually engaged in utterly depraved acts.

Gu Tingchen's marker didn't stop. He quickly drew several branches around "Night Owl".

"Let's all recall a few cases we've handled recently." Gu Tingchen pointed to a branch in the upper left corner with his pen. "The bank robbery last month. The robbers used a rare frequency-hopping encryption technology in their internal communication devices."

Old Zheng chimed in, "That's right. The cyber police investigated for half a month and found that that frequency band was used exclusively by a large overseas criminal organization."

Gu Tingchen nodded and moved the pen tip to the upper right corner.

"In the cruise ship smuggling case that took place two weeks ago, we found an encrypted ledger of financial transactions among the smuggled goods we seized in the lower deck of the cargo hold. After deciphering it, we discovered that the funds ultimately flowed to an overseas foundation called Xinghai Charity."

Zhou Zheng sat down next to him and touched the neck brace on his neck.

"And then there's that cross-provincial child trafficking case from last week," Zhou Zheng began. "The coded messages the buyers used to meet, and the underground banks they used to transfer funds—they're all in cahoots."

Gu Tingchen drew a large circle on the whiteboard, grouping all the cases together.

Finally, the marker tip pressed heavily onto the words "Night Owl".

"The bank case, the cruise ship case, the child case, and tonight's counterfeit money and chip case." Gu Tingchen turned around, his gaze sweeping over everyone present. "These cases seem unrelated, and the methods used are vastly different."

"But if you peel back the layers of the underlying funding and technical support, you'll find that the same shadow is behind it all."

"The owl's appearance in Jiangcheng was not accidental."

Gu Tingchen's tone was extremely cold. "They are constantly testing the limits of the Jiangcheng police. From ordinary robberies to complex smuggling, and now tonight's blatant provocation."

"They are assessing our response speed, technological capabilities, and level of cross-departmental collaboration."

The office was completely silent. Everyone gasped.

A vast criminal empire lurking in the shadows used the entire Jiangcheng City Public Security Bureau as a testing ground. This feeling of being made a fool of behind their backs was incredibly frustrating for every police officer.

Song Qianxia sat in the corner, a strong sense of unease rising in her heart.

Night Owl was testing the Jiangcheng police, which she could understand. These lunatics always liked to investigate first.

But the question is, why would they impersonate Qianmian?

Song Qianxia stared intently at the names on the whiteboard.

Of all the people to impersonate, why use the name "Thousand Faces" to send out a pre-announcement? This is definitely not a coincidence. The core members of Night Owl are all shrewd and calculating. Every action they take is highly purposeful.

Using Qianmian's name suggests that they may know there is some connection between Qianmian and Jiangcheng.

It's even possible that they suspect she's not dead!

Thinking of this, Song Qianxia broke out in a cold sweat.

How is that possible?

Song Qianxia mentally ranted. Her death in her past life was incredibly swift and decisive.

She was the number one legend in the underworld. She evaded Interpol's global manhunt, escaped assassination attempts and poisonings from her enemies, and even managed to escape unscathed from a hail of bullets.

The results of it?

She was choked to death by a single Sichuan peppercorn!

Looking back now, Song Qianxia still feels that this was the biggest humiliation of her career.

This kind of outrageous way of dying could be told as a joke in the underground black market of Cyrillic continent for three hundred years!

Since it was such an accidental death, how could Night Owl know that she had transmigrated to Jiangcheng and become a temporary police officer named Song Qianxia?

Could it be that the original owner of Song Qianxia's identity was problematic from the start? Or is it that there are others in Night Owl who, like her, were reborn with memories of their past lives?

The more Song Qianxia thought about it, the more uneasy she felt. She unconsciously bit the plastic straw in her hand, leaving it pitted and uneven.

"Advisor Song."

Gu Tingchen's voice suddenly rang out, interrupting her reverie.

Song Qianxia was startled and quickly removed the straw from her mouth, sitting up straight. "Present! What are your instructions, Captain Gu?"

Gu Tingchen looked at her, who resembled a frightened rabbit. "What's your opinion on Night Owl impersonating Thousand Faces?"

All eyes in the office turned to her once again.

Song Qianxia coughed twice, her mind racing. She had to muddy the waters; she couldn't let them cast suspicious glances at her.

"As for my opinion, I already said it in the interrogation room." Song Qianxia shrugged, feigning a very disdainful look.

"This Night Owl account is probably just a marketing account trying to ride the wave of popularity."

Song Qianxia started spouting nonsense. "Think about it, how popular is Qianmian in the underworld? He's the top of the top. Night Owl wants to cause trouble in Jiangcheng, but he's afraid his fame isn't big enough to hold his own.

"So they came up with this underhanded trick. They used the name 'Thousand Faces' to swindle and deceive people."

The more she talked about it, the more it made sense to her, and she almost believed it herself.

"What's this called in the entertainment industry? This is called overstepping your bounds to extort money! This is called leeching off others to climb the ladder!" Song Qianxia slapped her thigh, indignant. "This kind of unscrupulous criminal organization is utterly shameless!"

The people in the office looked at each other in bewilderment.

Comparing international criminal organizations to celebrity gossip accounts—this bizarre line of thinking is probably only something Song Qianxia in the entire Jiangcheng could come up with.

Old Zheng shook his head with a wry smile. "Advisor Song, this isn't the entertainment industry. Night Owl has real guns and ammunition."

"So what?" Song Qianxia pouted. "Fake things can't become real. They can't even format a simple announcement properly, what great things can they possibly accomplish?"

Gu Tingchen remained silent. He simply watched Song Qianxia's performance in quiet contemplation.

The man's dark eyes were unfathomable, like a deep pool. He watched her try so hard to distance herself from the situation, watching her use exaggerated words to mask her inner turmoil.

Gu Tingchen threw the marker in his hand onto the table.

"Alright. Everyone's worked hard tonight." Gu Tingchen glanced at the clock on the wall. "That's enough for the case analysis. Everyone, hurry up and get some rest in the lounge. We have a tough battle to fight tomorrow."

Everyone felt as if they had been granted a pardon and got up to pack their things.

Song Qianxia quickly grabbed her canvas bag, ready to slip away. All she wanted to do was get back to her dorm and use her old computer to investigate this "Night Owl Messenger" on the dark web.

Just as she reached the office door.

"Song Qianxia," Gu Tingchen called out to her.

Song Qianxia stopped and turned around.

Gu Tingchen stood in front of the whiteboard, erasing the writing on it with an eraser.

"Come to my office."

Song Qianxia's heart skipped a beat.

Oh no, that living devil must have seen through some flaw again.