The man in the photograph wore a proper uniform. His eyes behind the lenses looked somewhat sunken and dim.
It was Yao Weihai.
……
“It’s a trap.”
Jiang Hansheng stood with both hands braced against the table, his face pale and sharp-featured.
Tan Shiming was thoroughly bewildered. “You mean the operation to close in at Jingang Wharf? We received reliable intelligence——”
The situation had reached a critical juncture. Jiang Hansheng kept his tone as measured as he could and explained to Tan Shiming: “The person who died five years ago was not Qi Yan.”
After coming to suspect the existence of a fifth person at the scene, Jiang Hansheng had immediately contacted the forensic examiner who had conducted Qi Yan’s autopsy at the time.
He asked whether there had been any blunt-force trauma wounds on Qi Yan’s skull.
Because the “8·17” case had been so significant, nearly everyone involved retained a vivid impression of it — so even without consulting the autopsy records, the forensic examiner gave a definitive answer: no.
Apart from the gunshot wound at the center of the forehead, there had been no injuries whatsoever on “Qi Yan’s” head.
Yet Jiang Hansheng remembered clearly that in a moment of fury, he had struck Qi Yan and drawn blood.
Beyond that, there was another piece of corroborating evidence — his pocket watch.
After Qi Yan had seen the pocket watch, he had found the method to torment Jiang Hansheng to the point of madness, and had indulged in it without restraint.
In front of Jiang Hansheng, Qi Yan had dangled the watch’s fine chain from between his teeth, pressing obsessive kisses onto the photograph inside it, and “discussed” with Jiang Hansheng the most artistically exquisite way to kill the girl within.
The pocket watch had been Qi Yan’s greatest prize from this entire operation — his sole outlet after a month of being hunted by police. He had kept it on his person at all times.
Yet after Jiang Hansheng shot and killed Qi Yan with his own hand, Yao Weihai had directed the action team to sweep the scene, searching every inch of it — and the pocket watch was never found.
It had not been on Qi Yan.
More precisely — it had not been on the man Jiang Hansheng had killed.
Five food containers. A missing wound. A vanished pocket watch. Three inconsistencies, all pointing to the same conclusion——
The man Jiang Hansheng had killed that day was not Qi Yan. In all likelihood, it had been someone Jiang Hansheng had never seen — a fifth person…
A twin brother? A body double?
But whatever the answer, one thing was certain: classifying the string of killings across Ningyuan, Jingang, and Haizhou as copycat crimes had been a catastrophic error.
“Qi Yan held considerable authority within the ‘8·17’ criminal organization,” Jiang Hansheng said. “If he isn’t dead, then today’s transaction almost certainly involves him.”
If they were dealing only with a drug lord, a gunfight during the operation was something they had anticipated and prepared for. But if the person on the other side was Qi Yan — a man who had masterminded the “8·17” firearm robbery and deliberately killed two special operations officers as a show of defiance against the police — then the calculation changed entirely.
Was this a genuine transaction? Or was it bait, deliberately set out by Qi Yan to lure the police in — a scheme of revenge for the shot that had been fired at him five years ago?
Even Tan Shiming found himself uncertain.
The time was 7:10 in the evening. Twenty minutes remained before the transaction was set to take place.
Tan Shiming’s expression darkened. He had to make a judgment call in a matter of seconds.
He contacted the officer running surveillance first. “Has He Wu set out yet?”
The answer came back: “No. He’s still dining at the Ruixiang Grand Hotel.”
The more Tan Shiming turned it over, the worse it looked. He tightened his grip on his phone, stood up, and pushed open the door.
Zhou Jin was waiting just outside. She fell into step beside him and called out, “Mentor, is this operation connected to ‘8·17’——”
Tan Shiming turned and held out a hand, stopping her where she stood. He said nothing, and turned back toward the temporary command center.
Zhou Jin stood rooted to the spot, as though a bucket of cold water had been poured over her head.
It was just like five years ago. Everyone else had the standing to enter the task force. Only she was shut out — left to watch helplessly, unable to do anything at all.
For the entirety of the operation, the task force had kept every detail sealed — not a breath of information had leaked beyond those directly involved.
After confirming the existence of the fifth person, Jiang Hansheng had gone immediately to find Yao Weihai to report the situation. When he couldn’t locate him, it was Tan Shiming who told him about the operation.
By then, Yao Weihai had already led his team personally to Jingang Wharf.
Inside the temporary command center, Tan Shiming ordered the technician to switch to the right frequency and quickly established contact with Yao Weihai.
Yao Weihai managed a single line in response — before his voice was swallowed up by a burst of jarring, chaotic static.
Tan Shiming’s face went white. “What’s happening?”
The technician ran an urgent diagnostic, visibly shaken. “The signal’s been cut!”