"Our channel's been compromised."
Inspector Huang received the message relayed by Jane Doe and immediately realized there was a mole on their side. He issued countermeasures without hesitation. "Switch to 45-68-55!"
But this was only treating the symptoms, not the root cause. Inspector Huang glanced at Arden—the expert on moles.
"..."
Arden nodded slightly, indicating he understood.
Next, his sharp gaze swept across everyone present. If anyone leaked the new channel to Brother Kun, there was no way they would escape his notice.
On the surface, this looked like a contest between Inspector Huang and Brother Kun. In reality, it was a shadow war between a mole and an undercover agent. Victory hinged on who could first uncover the infiltrator hidden within the organization or the undercover operative.
…
"Phoenix, operation's canceled!"
Amid the stalemate, Inspector Huang made the first move.
Zhu Yuan immediately abandoned the tailing operation—and Brother Kun broke into a smile.
He took out his phone.
"All settled."
While the transaction on Brother Kun's side continued, Inspector Huang received another message from Jane Doe and issued a new order.
"Phoenix, receive the goods at Drum Waves Beach. Move immediately!"
"Roger!"
Zhu Yuan rushed toward Drum Waves Beach at top speed.
…
On Arden's side, he kept a close watch on everyone present to prevent any intelligence leaks. Meanwhile, Zhu Yuan's team was already in position, lying in wait for the boat carrying the contraband to dock so they could move in and make the arrest.
However, just as the operation was about to succeed—
A mass message spread out.
Beep beep~~
Arden's phone chimed with an incoming text. He took it out and glanced at the screen. The seven-character message read—There's a mole. Abort the deal!
"..."
His eyes swept over everyone present. Arden could be certain—it hadn't been sent by any of these people.
There's more than one mole…?
On the other side, Brother Kun received the same message. He immediately ordered his subordinates to destroy the contraband. His expression darkened as he, too, scrutinized everyone in the room.
Finally, Brother Kun's gaze locked onto Jane Doe.
"Brother Kun, I—"
Before Jane Doe could finish, Brother Kun grabbed the basketball in his hand and slammed it hard into the plaster cast on her left hand.
Bang~~ crack crack!
The cast shattered on impact.
"Mm… ngh!"
Jane Doe let out a suppressed cry of pain.
Brother Kun tossed aside the fragments of plaster and inspected Jane Doe again. Other than the broken cast, he found nothing suspicious.
Jane Doe secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Thankfully, she had thrown the transmitter hidden inside the cast out the window beforehand—otherwise, she would have been exposed.
Throne Quarter Public Security Precinct.
Everyone who had participated in the operation—including Inspector Huang, Zhu Yuan, Qingyi, and Arden—had been assigned office space.
However, since the arrest operation had failed, the atmosphere inside was heavy.
Everyone knew the main reason the operation had fallen short at the last moment was the presence of a mole. This had sparked distrust among colleagues, and if it wasn't resolved, future operations would likely suffer the same fate.
As the expert consultant in this area, the pressure naturally fell on Arden.
Arden felt he had to do something.
So, he sought out Zhu Yuan, who was buried in paperwork.
"Team Leader Zhu Yuan."
"Oh, Consultant Xu."
Zhu Yuan looked up from her desk, fatigue evident on her face. "Just call me Zhu Yuan."
"Then—Zhu Yuan. Could you help me with something? It's about the mole."
"Sure."
Zhu Yuan set aside her work and agreed without hesitation.
A short while later—
"Zhu Yuan, please focus here. Relax your mind… keep relaxing…"
Arden held a pink talisman in his hand, gently swaying it rhythmically in front of Zhu Yuan. Zhu Yuan, meanwhile, looked drowsy, spiral-like ripples appearing in her eyes.
The scene looked a bit like a "hypnosis" segment from some dubious material—and Arden was indeed hypnotizing her—but his intentions were entirely proper.
He wasn't aiming for anything sensational or indecent. He simply wanted to test the effectiveness of the hypnosis talisman.
Arden admitted that the Axe Gang's mole within the Public Security Bureau was highly skilled. For the time being, he had no good conventional methods to flush them out.
Since conventional methods weren't working, he decided to try something unconventional.
That's right—he planned to hypnotize suspicious individuals to identify the mole.
"Think about something relaxing… like taking a vacation… hmm?"
At that point, Arden noticed that the half-dazed Zhu Yuan furrowed her brows slightly, as if she couldn't quite imagine what a "vacation" looked like.
"Uh…"
Realizing that Zhu Yuan was a notorious workaholic who probably hadn't taken a vacation in ages, Arden's mouth twitched. He immediately changed his wording.
"Think about finishing all the work at hand, lying down on your bed, and getting ready to sleep."
Under the influence of the hypnosis talisman and Arden's guidance, Zhu Yuan seemed to enter the right state.
It was time for the next—and most critical—step.
"Expose your—"
Before Arden could finish his command, he suddenly felt something hard and cold pressing against his lower back. At the same time, there was a crackle of electricity and a numbing sensation spread through him.
"Consultant Xu, you're not planning to do anything bad, are you?"
Qingyi's voice came from behind him.
"N-no! Of course not! I was just testing the hypnosis effect!"
Arden immediately raised his hands in surrender. He had no desire to be electrocuted by Qingyi's baton.
"Is that so? I hope what Consultant Xu was about to say—'expose what'—was just a joke."
At the same time, Zhu Yuan's handgun was pressed against Arden's forehead. Judging by her clear eyes, there wasn't the slightest sign of her being hypnotized anymore.
Arden gave an awkward laugh and used both hands to gently push away Qingyi's stun baton and Zhu Yuan's handgun. "I really was joking… just joking. No need to take it so seriously, okay?"
This hypnosis talisman doesn't work at all! I'll have to check the manuals again when I get back… or maybe ask Yixuan Shifu?
Just as Arden was muttering to himself—
"Good."
Zhu Yuan withdrew her handgun.
"Using public office for private gain… I hope Consultant Xu never becomes that kind of person."
Qingyi also retracted her stun baton.
Arden reasoned that Zhu Yuan's Ether Aptitude was probably too strong, giving her high resistance to hypnosis. As for Qingyi—being an intelligent Construct—hypnosis wasn't even part of the same system.
So, he decided to continue testing the hypnosis talisman on someone else.
"Who should I pick… Inspector Liu, then."
Arden felt that Inspector Liu, that beautiful officer, would be quite suitable for a hypnosis test.
However, after circling the office area, he couldn't find Inspector Liu anywhere.
"Where did Inspector Liu go?"
"Inspector Liu said something came up at home… so she's not staying late at the precinct."
Qingyi answered, still following Arden closely out of caution.
"Oh."
Arden didn't think much of it at first.
Suddenly, his expression stiffened.
"What's wrong?"
Qingyi immediately noticed the change in him.
"Qingyi—call Zhu Yuan. We're heading out right now. There's an emergency!"
There was no time to explain. Arden grabbed Qingyi, found Zhu Yuan, and pulled both of them toward the exit.
Just moments ago, the talisman he had given Jane Doe had been triggered.
Had something happened?
Seeing how serious Arden looked, Qingyi and Zhu Yuan also became focused and followed him straight to the parking lot.
"Mm…"
Arden sensed the general location of the talisman. "Lumina Square. Approximate location… near Gravity Cinema."
"Which one of you is driving? Get us there as fast as possible. We'll talk details on the way."
"Got it."
Qingyi responded and leapt into the driver's seat with monkey-like agility, starting the car.
Beep beep beep~
"Get in!"
As an automaton driven by a high-level artificial intelligence, Qingyi's driving skills were on par with the highest-grade autonomous driving systems—far beyond ordinary humans.
===BREAK===
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