A madman in France? How come he's always at crime scenes!

The screen lights up. Caller ID: Meng Jiang.

Wu Liang answered the call.

"Attorney Wu," Meng Jiang said in a low voice. There was the crackling sound of a radio in the background. "Where are you now?"

"Law firm".

"Is someone nearby?"

Wu Liang glanced at Zhang Jiajing, who was tutoring Ni Xiang with her homework. The Ni Dayong case was temporarily adjourned, and the next hearing was scheduled for three days later.

"My assistant. What's wrong?"

"There's new information about Feishui. If you're free tonight, come over. There's a high chance we'll catch someone. I hope you can participate in the interrogation."

Upon hearing this, Wu Liang was greatly encouraged.

"The hospital security department checked the surgical building's surveillance footage today, and a man appeared repeatedly in the seventh-floor corridor."

Wu Liang's mind flashed back to the fleeting figure at the supermarket entrance: "Physical characteristics?"

"Around 1.75 meters tall. On the thin side. There's only one frame of his face captured by the surveillance camera, but the security guards noticed a detail. Every time he exits the elevator, his right shoulder makes a very short downward pull."

Upon hearing this, Wu Liang's pupils contracted slightly.

"Is he checking the holster?"

"Yes." Meng Jiang's voice lowered another notch. "For right-handed people, the holster under their arm tends to ride up when walking. Before getting out of the elevator, they subconsciously pull it down—that's muscle memory."

"Understood, I'll be there in a bit. Hopefully we can catch the killer tonight."

Wu Liang hung up the phone.

Zhang Jiajing and Ni Xiang looked up: "Boss, something happened again?"

"It's nothing." Wu Liang squatted down to change his shoes. "I'm going to wade through Feishui."

"Now? It's almost seven o'clock."

"Just in time for a late-night snack."

……

The temporary command center of Feishui City Bureau was set up in a small conference room on the third floor of the hospital's administrative building. The windows were covered with blackout cloth, a floor plan of the surgical building was spread on the table, and several ashtrays were piled with cigarette butts.

Meng Jiang stood in front of the floor plan and drew a circle at the end of the seventh-floor corridor with a marker.

"The seventh floor of the surgical building. The ICU ward is located at the very end of the corridor, accessible only by one elevator and one fire escape, which is good news."

"But the bad news is that there is a nurses' station, two doctors' duty rooms, and an equipment storage room on the seventh floor. Although there aren't many inpatients, their safety could be endangered in the event of a gunfight."

Li Mu stood next to him, her short hair tucked behind her ears, and pointed at the floor plan.

"I suggest placing a set of thermal imaging cameras at each end of the seventh-floor corridor to cover all entry and exit routes. The fire escape routes from the first to the eighth floor should be completely blocked, leaving only the seventh-floor entrance as an ambush point. The elevator doesn't stop at the seventh floor; his target is upstairs, so he has to take the stairs."

"We'll make specific arrangements once he's in the ward. Once he's in the ward, he'll be trapped."

Meng Jiang nodded and began to make arrangements.

Wu Liang sat silently in the corner, carefully examining the hospital floor plan in his hand, lost in thought.

My gaze swept down from the seventh floor, past the labels on each floor.

Wards, canteen, pharmacy, equipment room, underground parking.

Then stop.

Two underground floors.

"This area," Wu Liang suddenly spoke, drawing everyone's attention. His finger landed on the lower left corner of the floor plan. "The medical records room, have you implemented surveillance coverage on it?"

Li Mu frowned: "The archives? It's on the second basement level, not on the same route as the ICU—"

She was suddenly stunned, and then immediately realized it.

The archives contain relevant information about Shen Xuejun's admission to the hospital.

Meng Jiang had already picked up the walkie-talkie: "Wang Wei, take someone to the archives room on the second basement level, quick!"

A voice answered over the walkie-talkie.

wait.

Within just two minutes, an anxious shout came from the walkie-talkie:

"Captain Meng! The clerk on duty in the archives has been knocked unconscious!"

"Hold!"

Meng Jiang cursed angrily.

Wu Liang clenched his fists upon hearing this voice.

"The assassin is familiar with the internal structure of the surgical building," Wu Liang quickly said. "He knows the location of the independent archives and the police force's arrangements."

"This isn't a last-minute site visit!"

Everyone in the conference room looked at each other in surprise, and a collective gasp escaped their lips.

Before Meng Jiang could put down his walkie-talkie, Wang Wei's voice cut in again.

"The duty officer has a blunt force trauma to the back of his head, with minimal bleeding, likely caused by being struck with the butt of a gun. His breathing is normal; he needs to be taken to the emergency room immediately!"

Meng Jiang released the call button, turned to look at Li Mu, and said, "Pull up the surveillance footage from the archives."

Li Mu was already typing on the keyboard. The surveillance footage of the surgical building on the screen was divided into a 16-grid layout, and she quickly flipped through the timeline of the past two hours on the second basement level.

Then, his eyes widened in surprise.

"That's all."

"What's gone?"

"The security camera at the entrance to the archives room has been turned off."

Li Mu turned the screen around, and the image was set to 8:12, showing the corridor as normal. The next second, it jumped to 8:29, and the duty officer was already lying on the ground.

Wu Liang leaned over and took a look.

It's not signal interference. Signal interference would leave snow-like spots, but the picture is very clean.

The video file was deliberately cut out.

"He went into the monitoring room." Wu Liang straightened up. "Or someone in the monitoring room helped him delete the records."

Upon hearing this, several investigators in the conference room took their hands off the table.

Meng Jiang stared at the screen for a few seconds, then put the walkie-talkie on the table.

"Tonight's operation plan: From this moment forward, no one is allowed to use their cell phones, and no one is allowed to act alone. Work in pairs and keep watch on each other!"

Li Mu quickly retrieved the medical records from the archive.

The electronic records system shows that someone with administrator privileges accessed all documents related to Shen Xuejun this afternoon.

"Damn it, don't let me catch him!"

Meng Jiang slammed his fist on the table, his gaze quickly sweeping over everyone present, scrutinizing the look in each person's eyes.

Wu Liang quickly pieced together the puzzle in his mind.

The shift schedule of the archives staff, the acquisition of administrator privileges, and the precise deletion of surveillance footage...

All of this cannot be accomplished by one person alone. Even if that person is extremely familiar with the hospital, they cannot do it.

Someone needs to be inside to provide support.

Moreover, the person who was supposed to be there to meet them is very likely in this conference room right now.

Meng Jiang clearly considered the same logic.

But the most important thing right now is not to find the mole, but to arrest him.

"Li Mu".

"arrive."

"Notify the security department on the third floor to close all exits of the surgical building, leaving only the main entrance open. Plainclothes officers will be stationed at the main entrance. The monitoring room will now be under the control of the task force; anyone entering the monitoring room will be immediately apprehended."

Li Mu closed his laptop, got up, and left.

Meng Jiang turned to another detective: "Old Zhang, divide your men into two groups. One group guards the fire exits, and the other group searches from the seventh floor down. Don't search the wards, only the public areas and utility shafts. Be quiet, don't alert anyone."

Deputy Captain Zhang Ze acted swiftly, immediately taking out his walkie-talkie and heading towards the door.

"Attorney Wu," Meng Jiang said, turning to him one last time, "you stay here. We'll need your assistance during the interrogation once we catch the person."

Wu Liang nodded.

Meng Jiang turned and walked out. He stopped at the door.

"Everyone. Be careful."

People filed out of the conference room, their footsteps fading into the distance down the corridor.

In the large conference room, Wu Liang sat alone at the conference table.

The situation changed so suddenly that Wu Liang was now quite overwhelmed.

After calming down, some things that I had just ignored came to mind.

He picked up the surgical building floor plan again.

The ICU is on the seventh floor, and the archives are on the second basement floor; the two lines do not intersect.

If the killer's only goal was to destroy the medical records, he could have simply left after succeeding in the records room.

He could choose any of the three exits: the main entrance of the surgical building, the emergency passage on the east side, or the logistics passage on the west side. Even if the police had set up a checkpoint, he could most likely slip away by simply keeping his head down and blending into the flow of people changing shifts.

But he didn't leave.

Surveillance footage showed him repeatedly appearing in the seventh-floor corridor.

If he knew Shen Xuejun was dead, why would he come back?

unless--

Wu Liang was suddenly taken aback.

His target was never Shen Xuejun!

Wu Liang jumped up from his chair and grabbed the landline phone on the table, but there was no dial tone coming from the receiver!

When I took out my phone again, the signal bars in the upper right corner of the screen showed full bars, but the carrier name that should have been there had disappeared.

Instead, a line of small print reads: "Emergency calls only."

My heart sank half an inch.

Shielding device.

He strode to the door and opened the conference room door.

The corridor was deserted.

But then, the sound of footsteps came.

The dull thud of rubber-soled shoes stepping on a terrazzo floor.

The rhythm was neither hurried nor slow, coming from the direction of the elevator at the east end of the corridor, getting closer and closer...

bad!

Wu Liang cursed under his breath, stepped back to the inside of the door frame, reached for the switch by the door, and quickly turned off the lights in the conference room.

The room was plunged into darkness, with only the faint glow of the distant streetlights outside the window casting blurry spots of light on the floor.

He didn't close the door, leaving it half-open, and stood behind it against the wall.

The footsteps grew closer.

Wu Liang held his breath; he could even hear the rustling sound of the work pants fabric rubbing against each other.

A dark figure passed by the door.

There was no pause.

Wu Liang peeked out through the crack in the door.

The man was wearing a dark blue maintenance worker's uniform with the four large characters "Feiyi Logistics" printed on the back.

He walked over.

Wu Liang silently counted to three in his mind, then poked half his head out.

The "repairman" stopped at the west end of the corridor. In front of him was a door, and Wu Liang could see a metal sign protruding from it: Cold Storage for Medicines.

What is he doing?

Wu Liang squinted.

The person didn't open the door; they just stood in front of it, looking up at the top of the door frame.

Wu Liang's gaze moved upwards, where there was a louvered vent for ventilation.

Then, the man took a screwdriver out of his toolbox and began to unscrew the blinds. His movements were unhurried; after each screw was removed, he would even turn it in his hand to make sure the threads weren't stripped before putting it into the pocket on his chest.

Wu Liang turned his head back, quickly and quietly retrieved the map from before, and then began to observe it using the light coming from the corridor.

The medicine cold storage room is very small on the floor plan, sandwiched between the operating room corridor and the logistics corridor.

Its ventilation ducts can connect directly to the wards across the street without going through the elevator lobby!

Wu Liang suddenly realized the man's intention.

He wasn't looking for the ICU at all. His goal for tonight was another ward!

But just as Wu Liang had confirmed everything and was preparing to report the information to the police as soon as the person entered the ventilation duct,

A sudden chill ran down my back.

Because of the footsteps, they were walking towards him!