Chapter 15 November 9:20 PM

November 15th, 9:20 PM.

Somewhere in City S, in a street-facing shop…

The shop's roller shutter door was already lowered, but the lights inside were still very bright.

At this moment, a slightly overweight, balding man was sitting intently in front of a laptop, examining the many surveillance feeds and flowing information on the screen.

On the table in front of him, there were more than a dozen scattered mobile phones and many strange homemade devices. He wore a tiny Bluetooth headset on his left ear, and his hands were constantly flying across the keyboard…

This man… was named Dongfeng, Dong as in East, Feng as in wind direction.

"Dongfeng" was certainly not the name his parents had given him, but he had stopped using his real name a long time ago. And those who came into contact with him were not interested in his real name… They only recognized "Dongfeng."

Dongfeng's name was imposing, but his appearance could only be described as terrible… At least in the eyes of secular aesthetics, he deserved the word "ugly"...

He was not adorably chubby, nor was he obviously handsome. Although he was only thirty-five years old, most people's first impression of him was that he was over forty.

His receding hairline, greasy skin, heavy dark circles, and bizarre taste in clothing… made this man with a high IQ and assets of over a hundred million look like a stupid, poor, and ugly loser all year round.

Perhaps… it was his personality, or perhaps… it was a disguise.

In short, this man, who looked like he couldn't even take care of himself, was engaged in a planning job comparable to precision science—crime planning.

Dongfeng was very skilled in his business. He possessed a massive intelligence network… This network carried countless people's "secrets" that they didn't want to be known, and these "people with secrets" could become Dongfeng's "chess pieces" when necessary.

To illustrate with the events of this day… Zheng Xian was one of his chess pieces.

Of course, now that was a revealed and discarded piece…

However, there was still someone in the police force who was providing him with information… Until two minutes ago, that person was still sending him real-time intelligence from the investigation site via text message.

"Hmph… so it was just a bluffing, arrogant fool." Dongfeng looked at the time on his computer and glanced at his phone. "More than fifteen minutes have passed, and no text message… In the end, this kid doesn't even have the guts to blindly guess an address and send it over…"

Just as he was muttering, suddenly…

*Ka-pang*—

A clear sound of a metal object being pried open was heard.

In that instant, Dongfeng's expression changed drastically, because he realized in just half a second… that the thing being pried open was the lock on the roller shutter door behind him.

*Chi la la la*—

As Dongfeng turned his head sharply, the roller shutter door was being raised.

Several piercing rays of light shone in from the street outside, accompanied by a chaotic sound of weapons being cocked and a chorus of "Police! Don't move!", Dongfeng's mood plummeted… all the way to the bottom.

…………

Ten minutes later, Dongfeng, wearing handcuffs, was being escorted into a police car.

And the person sitting next to him in the back seat… was Feng Bujue.

As the car started, Dongfeng opened his mouth, his face ashen, "Why did you know it was me?"

"Of course, I knew through analysis." Feng Bujue replied leisurely.

Dongfeng said, "I've been selling breakfast here for more than a month, the shop was rented through legitimate channels, and I haven't shown any abnormalities during this time. How did you see through it?"

It should be explained here that the place where Dongfeng was arrested was only two streets away from the headquarters of Order Studio… a breakfast shop.

It was the place where Gui Xiao had been buying breakfast every morning for the past month…

The section of road where this shop was located was the only way to get from Order's office building to the subway station. This place was not far from the place where Gui Xiao was kidnapped, only three subway stops away. And the place where Gui Xiao was taken after being kidnapped… was not far from the kidnapping site either, because the anesthetic effect of ether has a time limit, if you take people too far, they might wake up in the car.

Therefore, in less than twenty minutes, Feng Bujue and the police officers had arrived here from the location of the hostage…

"The initial point of suspicion was… even though I repeatedly checked the recordings, I still couldn't find 'when', 'where', or 'how' the kidnapper gave Gui Xiao the laxative." Feng Bujue said, "You should also be very clear… the monitoring coverage in City S is very comprehensive now, streets, subway stations, inside the subway… it can be said that, except for the toilets, surveillance footage can be retrieved from most public spaces. Therefore, the entire process from when Gui Xiao left Order's office building until he showed symptoms of abdominal pain on the subway was almost entirely under surveillance… Although it couldn't be seen in great detail, it could still be determined whether he had eaten or drank anything, or whether he had been pricked with a needle or something."

"Just because of this… you suspected me?" Dongfeng asked.

"After excluding all impossible conclusions, suspecting you is only reasonable, right?" Feng Bujue said, "Apart from the breakfast he bought from you, Gui Xiao didn't eat anything else this morning, not even a sip of water. And according to the surveillance footage, the only people who had contact with the food before he completely ate that breakfast were you and him…" He paused, "That breakfast shop is operated by you alone, and the only person who could accurately put the laxative into a specific person's food… is you."

"Could it be that he simply had an upset stomach?" Dongfeng said again.

"Heh… if it were any other day, him eating himself to death might be an accident." Feng Bujue said, "But today… it's one hundred percent the drug."

He crossed his arms in front of his chest and explained slowly, "This morning, your three executors put on the pre-prepared cleaner's uniform inside their outer clothing and followed Gui Xiao onto the subway. Then Gui Xiao had abdominal pain, got off the train, and went to the toilet… The three of them followed him all the way, took off their outer clothing, found a time when there were fewer people in the toilet, hung up a sign for maintenance and cleaning at the door, and guarded the door. This way… it wouldn't be long before Gui Xiao was the only one left in this toilet.

Because there are generally two toilets in subway stations, and everyone is in a hurry in the morning. Many people will choose to endure it and go to the unit to solve it. So… they temporarily blocking one toilet for twenty minutes won't cause too much impact.

In this way… about twenty minutes later, they knocked down Gui Xiao, who came out of the cubicle, and carried him out of the station… and quickly got into a pre-arranged van."

Feng Bujue paused after saying all this in one breath, and then said, "This seemingly simple plan… has two difficulties, one, Gui Xiao is, after all, a young man, and it is difficult to determine what will happen in the process of knocking him down, so the place to do it must be a private place without monitoring and bystanders; second, after successfully knocking down the target, they must take the person to the car as quickly as possible, otherwise… staying in a public place for too long will arouse suspicion."

Hearing this, Dongfeng understood the real point of Jue Ge's words, and couldn't help muttering, "I see…"

"Looks like you've thought of it too…" Feng Bujue knew his psychological change by looking at his expression, and then continued, "That's right, only the person who put the laxative in can solve these two things." He looked at Dongfeng and said, "By controlling the type and dosage of the drug, it can be predicted which stations Gui Xiao will get off at, so that a van can be prepared outside those stations in advance; in addition, it can also ensure that he will definitely go to the toilet and will definitely feel weak after finishing the toilet…"

"Even so… I might just be a 'bribed ordinary merchant'…" Dongfeng said again, "Your top priority should be to rescue the hostage… and people like me can be dealt with after the incident is resolved, right?" He wondered, "But why would you…"

"Indeed, at first, I also thought you were just someone who was bought by the 'planner'." Feng Bujue said, "But I have a deduction addiction, and I like to figure out some trivial clues when investigating a case… Anyway, I can use the resources in the police station at will, so I checked your breakfast shop by the way. As a result, I found that… the opening time of your shop happened to be October 11th, which is the day after the first thirty-six competition days of the Peak Hegemony S2 preliminaries ended."

Feng Bujue paused for two seconds, and then said, "This 'coincidence' in time made me faintly aware of something… I continued to investigate, and sure enough, I found many abnormalities." He gestured towards the car window with his eyes, "This is a business district, mostly office buildings, and the shops opened near here either take the mid-to-high-end brand route or are large shopping malls. That shop of yours has been empty before you rented it, the reason is that the store is too small and the rent is too high… Big business can't be done, and small business will definitely lose money."

"Hmph… you're wrong about that…" Dongfeng snorted coldly, "I've actually made a small profit in the past month or so."

"Then I really have to congratulate you." Feng Bujue laughed, "But that's not the point, the point is… to sum up, this shop of yours, and you… are all very suspicious. After further investigation, I noticed that your identity is simply fake…"

"This… is what I can't understand the most." Dongfeng stared at Jue Ge's face and said, "I'm not afraid to tell you, when I first entered the industry, I specialized in creating fake identities; all the identity documents I'm currently using are extremely difficult to distinguish in any country in the world." He changed the subject, his eyes sharp, "But… you can see that it's fake…"

"Yeah, I looked at your electronic file and saw it when I read the part about junior high school." Feng Bujue said.

"Impossible!" Dongfeng said categorically, "The identity file I compiled has detailed details, even the grades and rewards and punishments records in the school are…"

"It's because it's too detailed that it reveals flaws." Feng Bujue interrupted.

"What?" Dongfeng was surprised and suspicious, his eyes flashing.

"The file says that you won the third prize in the city's junior high school student composition competition in 2035." Jue Ge continued.

"So what?" Dongfeng asked.

Yes, that doesn't explain anything… In the forged identity document, various detailed records are just to add to the authenticity of this identity; this kind of award, which is many years ago and not big or small, is basically untraceable.

"That year, there were three people who won the third prize in the city's junior high school student composition competition, all of them were girls, by the way, they were all team leaders." Feng Bujue replied, "You can't be a transsexual, right?"

"Huh?" Dongfeng was stunned, "How do you know?"

At this time, Dongfeng thought: You little kid was still wearing diapers in 2035, right? You want to scare me?

"I knew you would ask that." Feng Bujue said, took out his mobile phone, opened a webpage, and put it in front of Dongfeng, "Look for yourself."

Dongfeng fixed his eyes and took a look. The mobile phone showed a product purchase page of an electronic shopping mall. The product on it was a physical book, and the title of the book was *Total Tucao of Award-Winning Works in the City's Primary and Secondary School Composition Competitions*.

"This kind of publication actually exists in this world…" Dongfeng couldn't believe his eyes.

"Yes, this kind of publication is written by me." Feng Bujue replied.

Dongfeng almost fainted when he heard this sentence: "Speaking of which… I almost forgot… you are still a novelist."

Dongfeng naturally recognized Jue Ge. As a person who knew something about Thriller Paradise, it was impossible not to know this guy… But when he was on the phone, Dongfeng didn't think that the person on the other end of the phone was Feng Bujue. He didn't realize this until he was arrested just now.

"Yes, this great writer spent a month a few years ago reading all the award-winning compositions since the competition existed, and made comprehensive annotations and tucao… and got the family background and award-winning inside stories of all the winners from my running dogs in the education department. Finally, I wrote that realistic satirical masterpiece." This whole passage of Feng Bujue revealed an extremely shameless aura and a huge amount of dark information, "So, I can be 100% sure that there is no one like you among the winners."

"Let's not talk about how you can remember the name and winning year of every winner in that kind of book…" Dongfeng said again, "It would be too arbitrary to judge that my entire identity is fake just based on one such mistake, right… Maybe I just wrote it blindly in order to make my resume look better?"

"The record of your fake identity after graduating from high school has always been a freelancer, and there is no internship record. Let me ask you this… who are you going to show your resume to after you embellish it for selling breakfast?" Feng Bujue said, "Besides… can this kind of award really make your resume look better? Isn't it more reliable to make up a sports or science honor?"

"I really didn't expect…" Dongfeng's expression was very depressed at this time. He was a very capable person, but Feng Bujue made him feel psychologically frustrated and physiologically painful. At this time, Dongfeng couldn't help but recall… whether there were similar flaws in his other fake identities.

"Okay, the profit and loss of the shop, the exposure of identity… it doesn't make sense to dwell on these things now." Feng Bujue brought the topic back to the right track, "Anyway, you didn't come here to earn money for breakfast from the beginning. Even if you lose 108,000 in this month, plus a few hours of labor every morning… that's okay, isn't it?" He licked his lips and continued, "The real value of this shop lies in… it can provide you with an almost perfect stronghold in a place very close to Order's headquarters. You can move around freely in the rest of the day except for those few hours every morning…"

"Heh…" Jue Ge chuckled at this point, "For someone like you who has professional knowledge and excellent technology, it is not difficult to physically invade all network users in a certain area through the line box in the store, right?"

"Hmph…" Dongfeng immediately snorted again, "It's not as simple as you said…"

This was his default.

"Order's office building is undoubtedly your main target." Feng Bujue continued, "You know very well the value of the Peak Hegemony S2 competition, which has a high degree of social attention, in the outer gambling circle, so you have been laying out here very early, ready to influence the outcome of a certain game at any time." He stretched out a finger, "As long as a deal comes to your door… such as this one today… you can get huge benefits." He spread his hands and smiled, "To put it bluntly, even if you don't receive any related commissions during this period, it's good to hack into the networks of those big companies nearby and get some information; commercial secrets, personal privacy… these things, once in your hands, can not only be turned into money, but also into 'power'."

As Feng Bujue spoke, he took out a mobile phone from his arms. This was not Zheng Xian's mobile phone, but someone else's.

"This 'power' can drive many people to work for you…" Jue Ge smiled, "For example, the owner of this mobile phone…" As he spoke, he took out another mobile phone. This time, it was Zheng Xian's mobile phone, "And… the owner of this mobile phone…"

"I see…" At this moment, thoughts flashed through Dongfeng's mind, and he muttered in a deep voice, "You knew from the beginning that besides Zheng Xian, I have other informants in that police station…"

"That's right." Feng Bujue said, "The moment I learned that Deputy Director Zheng only acted after 'receiving' a call, I had already deduced this point."

"So… that phone call you had with me earlier… was simply a trap…" Dongfeng muttered with some regret, "Tch… I should have thought of it earlier, what 'after finding the target, directly lead people to break in and hold the whole audience with a tear gas grenade before I can give any instructions', this kind of nonsense is a typical inducement…"

"You're quick to react." Feng Bujue smiled, "But compared to me… hehe… you're still half a beat slower."

"You singled out Zheng Xian, but couldn't determine who the other mole was…" Dongfeng said as he thought, "So you pretended not to know and dispatched as many police officers as possible to surround the residential area where the hostage was located. You knew… that in that situation, my informant would definitely follow the large troops and find a chance to pass information to me."

"I'm just catering to your layout." Feng Bujue said, "When you learned that the police had set up a special task force, you could immediately deduce that… once the police launched a comprehensive investigation, they could lock in that the hostage ended up in that residential area just through street surveillance." He touched his chin and continued, "Of course, you chose a good place. It's an unfinished real estate project with many unsold empty houses, and the monitoring inside the residential area has not been fully implemented. Therefore, the police still couldn't know the exact location of the hostage in a short period of time."

Speaking of this, Jue Ge shook Zheng Xian's mobile phone: "So, you immediately used this Zheng Deputy Director as a chess piece." He tilted his head and smiled, "But I didn't expect… soon after, your other informant sent a message saying that Zheng Xian was detained by two agents from an unknown department."

"Detaining Zheng Xian… was also something you deliberately did for me to see?" Dongfeng said.

"Yes." Feng Bujue said, "I knew that your other informant would tell you this situation, and this… laid the groundwork for that 'call' between us."

"How did you know I would definitely make that call?" Dongfeng asked.

"I don't know." Feng Bujue replied in a teasing tone, "So I led the team to surround the residential area to see if you could hold your breath."

"Damn it…" Dongfeng couldn't refute this mockery.

"I was relieved when the phone came." Feng Bujue continued, "Your patience is not as good as I expected." He smiled, "You pretended to be calm and said something about 'playing a game', but you were actually trying to test and induce my actions… to create an opportunity for your 'three chess pieces' to escape from that area."

"So… you used this in reverse and conducted a reverse induction on me…" Dongfeng said in a deep voice, "During those 'fifteen minutes'… you didn't go looking for the 'hostage location' at all, but were looking for that 'informant'."

"Very good, you got the answer right." Feng Bujue snapped his fingers and replied, "The content of that phone call doesn't matter, it doesn't matter whether you bring up the condition of fifteen minutes or not; even if you say five minutes, three minutes, it doesn't matter… as long as I convey 'what I want to say'… I can determine that you will do three things after hanging up the phone." Jue Ge stretched out three fingers and smiled, "First, conceive a good countermeasure for the next step; second, make a call to those three executors and briefly inform them of several action modes; third, contact your informant via text message or phone to let him cooperate with the action."

"And you…" Dongfeng continued, "After hanging up the phone, you immediately controlled the police officers' mobile phones…"

Feng Bujue shrugged and silently responded to this question with a cheap and powerful expression, and then continued, "After that, the police's actions were completely out of your sight, I could do whatever I wanted…" He picked up the mobile phone of the informant again and showed it off triumphantly, "… Just a text message of 'everything is normal' can keep you in the dark and wait to die."

"After getting rid of my surveillance… you rushed over to arrest me at full speed…" Dongfeng muttered, "Didn't you think about it… what if I'm not in the shop, what if you get nothing?"

"I naturally asked someone to watch the surveillance for the whole day today… and came after confirming that you didn't leave the shop (Jue Ge had already arranged this task before the two talked on the phone)." Feng Bujue said, "Of course… I don't rule out the possibility that you dug an emergency escape passage in the shop or something." He curled his lips with disapproval, "So… while I came to catch you, on the hostage's side… I also prepared several countermeasures based on the confession of your informant. The several escape plans you planned… even if they implemented them, the result would be to throw themselves into the net."

Feng Bujue crossed his legs and continued, "Not to mention… you, and all your equipment, have now fallen into our hands. In view of the fact that you use a voice changer to contact your chess pieces every time, it becomes easy to impersonate you and give orders to the executors. Just let someone impersonate you and make a phone call later to let them release the people."

"Okay…" Dongfeng's tone seemed to be relieved, "Good calculation… advancing and changing, retreating with room…" He shook his head, "I am convinced."

"Easy to say, easy to say~" Feng Bujue cupped his fists and bowed, "You are not bad either."

"But…" Dongfeng said, "You should also understand… someone like me, even if I lose a battle today, will not stay in prison for too long… I will soon regain my freedom." At this time, he actually smiled, "The reason is… because I… have that kind of 'power' that you said."

"What? Are you threatening me?" Feng Bujue replied indifferently.

"What do you think?" Dongfeng asked with a smile. Before Jue Ge could respond, he said again, "Feng Bujue, to be honest… I admire your talent, but in the end… you are just an ordinary person. The 'world' I am in is something you can't understand at all. If I want to retaliate against you… it can be said to be as easy as flipping my hand." He looked at Jue Ge confidently, and the look of defeat on his face had disappeared, "To tell you the truth… this incident today caused me huge losses… If you were me, what would you do?"

Dongfeng originally thought that his words would make Feng Bujue afraid, or even soften immediately.

Unexpectedly…

"Hehe… Hahaha…" A kind of evil smile that made Dongfeng's hair stand on end quickly appeared on Feng Bujue's face, "If I were you, facing someone like Feng Bujue… I would be extra careful. I would never easily say the kind of words I just said, because if I made him feel even a trace of threat, he would do something that I would never have thought of."

As Jue Ge spoke, he pointed to the car window, "Speaking of which… I don't know if you noticed, the place you are going to now… is not the police station."

As soon as these words came out, Dongfeng's expression changed drastically.

"The two people driving… are not police officers either." Feng Bujue pointed to the Ninth Division agents and Bao Qing in the driver's seat and co-driver's seat respectively.

At this time, Dongfeng had also discovered that the two people driving were both dressed in black and were not wearing police uniforms.

"You… who are you…" In a few seconds, Dongfeng became the one who was afraid.

"As for the 'world' you mentioned, I also know something about it…" Feng Bujue hadn't finished speaking, "When your informant told me… that people in the underworld call you 'Dongfeng', I thought of it… If I'm not mistaken, you used to be a 'supervisor' at Gambling Emperor Zhai, right?" (Gambling Emperor Zhai - a gambling establishment)

Dongfeng was stunned: "You even know Gambling Emperor Zhai…"

"I know much more than you think." Feng Bujue said, "For example, less than a minute after getting in the car, you had already unlocked the handcuffs, but you pretended to be handcuffed."

Hearing these words, Dongfeng became more and more nervous, and cold sweat rolled down.

"Having been a 'supervisor' means that you should have some skills." Bao Qing, who was sitting in the co-driver's seat, finally spoke at this moment, "But I advise you not to have the idea of violently resisting. I can tell you clearly… even in a one-on-one fight, none of the three people in this car will lose to you."

"You…" Dongfeng began to tremble, trembling involuntarily from fear, "… You are… 'Ninth Division', right?"

"So you know too." Feng Bujue continued, "That saves me a lot of talking."

"I didn't expect…" Dongfeng turned to look at Jue Ge again, "You novelist is actually also a member of the Ninth Division…"

"Hehe… would you believe me if I said the director of the department is my maternal grandma?" Feng Bujue replied casually.

Dongfeng's mouth twitched a few times when he heard this, and he slumped on the seat.

Two seconds later, Dongfeng turned his head and looked out the window with a look of despair: "If I don't die this time… I'll still change my career to sell breakfast in the future…"