You're a US police officer, what are you thinking about going back to the East for?

Read Chapter 127, "Secret Code," now to begin today's exciting content.

In a small grove of trees on the outskirts of the University of Washington.

The continuous rain that had lasted for several days had stopped, but the small grove of trees on the edge of the campus was still incredibly damp.

The thick layer of fallen leaves absorbed all the moisture, making a sticky "splat" sound when stepped on.

Alex, wearing a dark windbreaker, stumbled along the school's red brick wall, his eyes scanning the weeds and bushes like searchlights.

He has very mixed feelings right now, and feels like a complete lunatic.

Just yesterday, he gritted his teeth and followed Leon's instructions, researched a bunch of tutorials, and with great effort, used the steganography technique that almost burned his brain to insert a small, insignificant piece of code from Old Bill's hard drive into a street scene photo of Seattle on a rainy day, and then posted it on his account's feed.

The caption was very ordinary: "The rain in Seattle has finally stopped; I felt like mushrooms were growing in my bones."

After sending it, he kept staring at his phone, so nervous that he couldn't sleep for half the night.

The number of comments under the post quickly exceeded one hundred, mostly from fans joking that he must have gone to collect corpses again.

Until a long review caught his attention.

He's a long-time fan who's followed him for two or three years, and he uses a two-dimensional anime character avatar as his profile picture.

This person would occasionally leave comments like "Streamer, please be careful" under his videos.

But today, he left a long comment:

"The rain in Seattle is really heavy. I totally agree."

I was studying in Seattle a few years ago. One night, it was raining heavily. I was walking back from outside and reached the school wall when the wind was so strong that it blew my umbrella away, and it flew over the wall and into the woods inside.

It was too dark to look for it, and I never got the umbrella back. Take care and keep warm, bro! [laughing emoji]

A normal person seeing this comment would at most take it as a daily complaint from an unlucky international student, give it a thumbs up and say "I feel sorry for you for a second" and that's it.

But Alex has something to hide now.

He read the passage over and over again, more than a dozen times, and the more he read it, the more something seemed off.

Isn't this the legendary secret code?!

Precise location, clearly defined target.

And so, this scene unfolded.

Alex had been searching along the base of the wall for more than ten minutes.

"Sizzle."

He parted a bush that was half a person tall.

Suddenly, his gaze stopped.

A black object was lodged between a pile of dead branches and rotten mud near the base of the wall.

It was a black folding umbrella, half-open, covered with mud and fallen leaves.

Holy crap, it really exists!

Alex's spirits lifted, and his heart began to pound.

This kind of scene from a Hollywood spy movie actually happened to me!

He glanced around warily to make sure no one was nearby, then rushed over in a few quick steps, crouched down, and carefully parted the wet, rotten leaves as if digging out landmines.

Alex took a deep breath, his hands trembling, and began to examine the umbrella, which might hold some secret.

First, I gripped the umbrella handle and twisted it hard.

Following the typical movie formula, this type of umbrella handle is usually hollow, and there should be a USB flash drive or miniature film reel hidden inside.

It can't be turned; it's solid plastic.

Then, he fully opened the umbrella, brought it close to his eyes, and carefully touched each metal rib to see if there were any micro memory cards taped to them.

No.

He flipped the umbrella over again, staring intently at the black fabric, trying to find some kind of coded message or coordinates left with invisible ink.

Apart from a few small holes scratched by branches and a bit of bird droppings, there was nothing there.

This is just an ordinary, inexpensive folding umbrella that you can buy at a discount supermarket for just ten dollars.

Alex was stunned.

"Isn't it on the umbrella, or under it?"

Undeterred, he threw the broken umbrella aside, knelt down in the mud, and began digging with his bare hands at the patch of mud that the umbrella had just been pressing down on.

He turned over withered leaves, mud, and stones, making a mess of them.

I dug for five minutes.

He unearthed half a bone from some unknown animal, a flattened Pepsi can, and several...