When Guan Xia and Pang Le hurriedly arrived at their usual meeting spot, Ji An and Zhong Xiaoyu were already there. One was frowning while sitting on a chair scrolling through his phone, while the other was pacing around the small room as if examining something peculiar.
At the sound of the door opening, Zhong Xiaoyu was the first to turn her head and remark with curiosity, "This setup of yours really looks professional, almost like an office. It's way more put-together than the other meeting spots I’ve been to."
"Have you guys eaten lunch yet?" Pang Le asked casually, placing the snacks and milk tea he’d brought on the conference table.
Zhong Xiaoyu didn’t hesitate to peek at the treats and answered, "We did, but we just grabbed something quick to save time. It was edible, but nothing special—definitely not as good as that healthy hot pot we had last night."
Hearing this, Ji An finally reacted, giving Zhong Xiaoyu a resigned look before saying, "I heard you. Once we’re done here, I’ll take you to try some local specialties. I won’t let you down."
Zhong Xiaoyu picked up a milk tea, stabbed the straw in, and declared matter-of-factly, "Life’s all about eating and drinking. We work hard enough as it is—we deserve to treat ourselves now and then. Right, Pang Le?"
Pang Le nodded in enthusiastic agreement, as if he’d found a kindred spirit. "Absolutely! Life’s meant to be enjoyed. No point wasting these precious moments."
The two then launched into a deep discussion about how to better savor life, while Guan Xia and Ji An ignored them, sitting down side by side. Ji An continued studying messages on his phone, while Guan Xia pulled out her sketchbook. After recalling the surveillance footage they’d reviewed the night before, she began sketching a lifelike portrait of the young woman from the high-definition close-up.
Seeing Guan Xia focus on the task at hand, the chatty duo finally quieted down, gathering around her as they sipped their milk tea and watched intently.
About ten minutes later, Guan Xia set down her pencil but didn’t speak, instead staring thoughtfully at the newly finished sketch. The young woman’s ordinary features gave her an inexplicable sense of unease.
Pang Le and Zhong Xiaoyu exchanged confused glances before Pang Le asked softly, "What’s on your mind? Did you draw something wrong, or is there something off about this person?"
Guan Xia snapped out of her thoughts and handed them the sketch. "My gut tells me I’ve seen her before, but I can’t remember where. And also… maybe it’s just me, but her facial features feel strange—like there’s something unnatural about them."
She racked her brain for a better way to describe it before adding, "That sense of unease… it’s kind of like how I felt when I ran into that serial killer disguised as a maintenance worker in my old apartment hallway before I moved."
Pang Le stiffened. "Are you saying this woman might have had plastic surgery or altered her appearance in some way?"
Guan Xia nodded. "That’s what I suspect, but I can’t spot any obvious flaws."
Zhong Xiaoyu frowned, scrutinizing the sketch. "Just what kind of criminal organization are you investigating? If members are this careful—going undercover for missions—it must be huge. If this is really a disguise, the technique is flawless. She’s probably a senior member."
"Missions?" Guan Xia latched onto Zhong Xiaoyu’s choice of words. "How can you tell?"
Zhong Xiaoyu slurped her milk tea and shrugged. "Why else would she bother with a disguise?"
Guan Xia chuckled at her own silly question, but then another thought struck her. While the middle-aged woman’s presence made sense—perhaps for surveillance—why was this young woman there? Following Zhong Xiaoyu’s logic, if she was on a mission, combined with Guan Xia’s intuition, the answer was clear: she was there to kill someone.
But then more questions surfaced. Based on what Guan Xia knew about the organization, killings always happened late at night. Why was this woman an exception, appearing in broad daylight?
And in all the known cases, the killers had acted alone. Why were there two this time? Unless… maybe it wasn’t a killing yet, but just reconnaissance?
Lost in thought, Guan Xia unconsciously stared at the sketch. After a long moment fixated on the woman’s eyes, her expression suddenly shifted, and she stood up abruptly.
The others noticed immediately. Ji An was the first to ask, "What did you find?"
Guan Xia didn’t answer right away. Instead, she studied the sketch for a few seconds before suddenly covering most of the face with her palm, leaving only the forehead and eyes exposed. "Appearances can be faked, even the shape of the eyes. But the look in them can’t. When I look at the whole face, it feels off. But just these eyes… they’re familiar. I’m sure I’ve seen her before."
She focused intently on those eyes, racking her brain for answers. At first, nothing came to mind, but after about ten seconds, the system interface suddenly popped up.
You are being questioned by the police. You suddenly remember—on June 18th at 10:19 AM, while returning to Yongquan City with a friend after investigating a case, you spotted a wary, suspicious young woman at the airport. Though her facial features differ greatly from the sketch, the look in her eyes is identical. Sensing this was no coincidence, you decide to inform the police.
As the text faded, a short video clip played—just a few seconds long—showing the moment Guan Xia, prompted by Pang Le, noticed the woman and passed her by.
When Guan Xia saw the woman’s bright, striking face, she was surprised but not alarmed. She let out a deep breath, finally feeling a weight lift off her shoulders.
Without pausing to explain her discovery to the others, Guan Xia quickly flipped to a fresh page in her sketchbook and began drawing again, this time referencing the red-outlined close-up from the system video.
Before she could even finish, Pang Le gasped. "It’s her! How did I not realize sooner? If it’s someone connected to that organization that we’ve seen before, who else could it be?"
Ji An added, "I never would’ve guessed someone so young could be a senior member of that group."
Zhong Xiaoyu’s curious voice chimed in immediately. "Who is this? Tell me everything! Where did you see her? And what else do you know about this organization?"
Ji An and Pang Le briefly discussed a few more points before summarizing what they could share with Zhong Xiaoyu.
Guan Xia had finished her sketch. She set down her pencil, cleanly tore off the new drawing, and flipped back to the previous one, placing them side by side for comparison.
Pang Le, with perfect timing, covered the lower halves of both portraits with his hands, leaving only the eyes visible. Even Zhong Xiaoyu remarked, "Just looking at the eyes, it's almost certainly the same person. You have to admit, Guan Xia's sketches perfectly capture the essence of the subject. Even an amateur like me can see the resemblance between these two pairs of eyes. And that woman’s gaze is so distinctive—cold, almost disdainful—completely different from an ordinary person’s."
Pang Le nodded in recollection. "No wonder Guan Xia felt something was off. That kind of gaze on a disguised face isn’t too noticeable at first glance, but when you really look, it feels unnatural. On her real face, though, it fits much better."
As Guan Xia listened to their discussion, another thought struck her. She had seen this young woman before, and if she remembered correctly, her intuition hadn’t given any warning at the time—until Ji An’s questioning triggered the system interface.
At first, she assumed it was because the system hadn’t been upgraded yet. But then she realized—no, that couldn’t be. Before returning, she had worked on a case where her intuition had flagged a suspect’s suspicious behavior.
After a moment of careful reflection, Guan Xia recalled the difference: the earlier system alert had been based on a tangible flaw in the suspect’s actions, while the later one in Daqu County had been a true intuitive warning.
With that settled, Guan Xia stopped overthinking it and accepted that the system hadn’t yet upgraded at that point.
Shaking off the jumble of thoughts, she spoke up. "At this point, everything seems connected. But one thing still puzzles me—what’s so special about Meng Lan that these two women would both appear near her home? If it were just surveillance, they wouldn’t need so many people. I’m inclined to think they were preparing to kill her."
Pang Le quickly added, "I’ve been thinking about something too. Remember the Zhang Weiyan case that led us to this criminal organization? The suspect we identified was Lu Manqing. While he did use some disguise during the crime, his methods were far cruder compared to this young woman. Also, in Zhang Weiyan’s case, it was Zhang himself who scouted the location and facilitated the crime. But with Meng Lan, it was the middle-aged woman—the one who communicated with her during her suicide attempt—who personally did the groundwork. Why such a big difference between the two cases?"
Zhong Xiaoyu hesitated before offering, "Could it be that Zhang Weiyan had an extremely strong desire for revenge, while Meng Lan clearly didn’t? From what she described last night, she wanted nothing to do with that middle-aged woman. But since the woman had her sights set on Meng Lan, she had to take matters into her own hands to drag her in. What do you think?"
After a long silence, Ji An finally spoke. "I agree with Zhong Xiaoyu’s theory. There’s supporting evidence too—after the gas leak that killed Meng Lan’s parents and brother, that middle-aged man, Luo Deye, was forced to stop harassing her. That was clearly the organization’s doing. And from Meng Lan’s account, while they didn’t openly approach her afterward, they didn’t give up either. They might still be planning something."
Guan Xia’s heart raced as she turned the question over in her mind—what made Meng Lan so special that this organization wouldn’t let her go?
The small room fell silent, broken only by the occasional sound of Zhong Xiaoyu sipping her milk tea.
After what felt like an eternity, Zhong Xiaoyu propped her chin on her hand and ventured, "What if they cast a wide net at first, but after observing Meng Lan, they saw her potential? That’s why they’re so persistent."
The other three snapped out of their thoughts. Pang Le turned to her. "How so?"
Zhong Xiaoyu explained, "I don’t know Meng Lan well—most of what I know comes from you guys—but from your descriptions, she’s a bit obsessive and incredibly strong-willed. Hypothetically, if last year’s gas leak really was her playing along and gambling with her life, what traits did she display? For one, she’s a natural actress. Then there’s her decisiveness—honestly, that level of resolve is rare. If I’d known my parents and brother were plotting against me, I’d either have confronted them outright and left to live my own life, or gathered evidence to protect myself and take them down. But Meng Lan?"
She pushed her cup aside and spread her hands. "She chose to play along. From what you’ve pieced together, she gave her parents one last chance to choose, then bet her life on a mutual destruction scenario. Who does that? My guess is the organization was impressed by that. The reason they backed off afterward might be because Meng Lan seemed too resistant, so they switched to covert observation. That would also explain why they later helped her—they were banking on that favor to win her over later. What do you think?"
Pang Le’s eyes lit up as a realization struck him. "If that’s the case, then the woman we met in the mountains who looked like Guan Xia, and the killer from the 0217 massacre—could they be connected to this organization too?"
Guan Xia had nearly forgotten about her biological sister until Pang Le brought it up.
After a moment’s thought, she said, "That does seem possible. But if so, this organization’s reach is terrifying. Didn’t Xu Nian say the 0217 killer constantly moves around the Cuiping Mountain Range? For them to contact—or even command—someone like that… Or maybe the killer is part of their group?"
Pang Le was stunned for a moment before sighing, "I used to think that criminal organization was far from us. But in just a month or two, it feels like we’re practically surrounded by them. They’re everywhere—who knows, there might even be people around us right now who are connected to them but haven’t been uncovered yet."
Zhong Xiaoyu rubbed her fingers together nervously and couldn’t help saying, "The way you put it makes me want to reach out to my old comrades. This ‘everywhere’ talk is giving me a serious case of firepower deficiency anxiety."
