From that day onward, Meng Lan also began staying at Guan Xia's home.
The two-bedroom apartment wasn’t particularly spacious, and with four people, it felt a bit cramped. However, since they were all women, it wasn’t too inconvenient. Besides, it was only temporary, and everyone’s attention was focused on the criminal organization, so they got along quite harmoniously.
Xu Nian was very busy, and Guan Xia wasn’t idle either, often holed up in the study all day. Amidst this hectic routine, five days passed in the blink of an eye.
It wasn’t until one afternoon when Xu Nian showed up at the door with Qi Bai that Guan Xia realized the rest of the team had returned from Shangshuang City.
After a week apart, Qi Bai’s dark circles had deepened, making him look almost like a panda at first glance. Strangely, though, he hadn’t lost weight—if anything, he seemed a bit sturdier. Carrying a mountain of items, he squeezed out from behind Xu Nian and cheerfully announced, "Guan Xia, these are all gifts from our colleagues in Shangshuang City. There was actually way more, but Brother Jiang and the others split the luggage allowance, and we couldn’t fit everything. The rest will be shipped over. I forgot your address in the moment, so I gave them Xu Nian’s instead. He’ll pick up the packages and bring them over for you."
Guan Xia stared at him, torn between surprise and exasperation. "You remembered Xu Nian’s address but not mine? I literally live across from him."
Qi Bai scratched his head sheepishly and chuckled. "Blame it on sleep deprivation frying my brain. It only hit me when we were going through security. Wang Yu even called me an idiot a few times."
As soon as he finished speaking, Wang Yu walked in, also laden with bags, and retorted, "Don’t twist my words. I never called you that. You’re not ruining my image in front of Guan Xia."
Guan Xia barely had time to say anything before the two launched into another round of bickering, like a pair of squabbling roosters.
Xu Nian, clearly used to this, took the bags from Wang Yu and asked Guan Xia, "Where should we put these? Just pile them in the living room for now?"
Guan Xia glanced at Jiang Yingyao, who was bringing in yet more items, and sighed. "There’s so much—I’ll never finish it all. Let’s split it among everyone, or the apartment will be overflowing. Pang Le and the others won’t even have space to sleep."
Though she’d only skimmed the contents, she noticed they were mostly local specialties—durable, yes, but overwhelming in quantity. She was worried they’d go bad before she could eat them, wasting everyone’s thoughtful gestures.
To her surprise, even the usually easygoing Jiang Yingyao refused her suggestion with a smile. "No way. We’ve all got our own piles at home—trust me, they’re just as bad. If you don’t believe me, check the cars downstairs. There’s still more in the trunks. We had to bring three cars just to haul all this."
Guan Xia had never experienced anything like this and was at a loss. Finally, Xu Nian stepped in. "You helped crack a major case in Shangshuang City. If we hadn’t left in such a hurry, they would’ve insisted on hosting you properly once the case wrapped up. These gifts are just a small token of their gratitude. Just accept them. If it’s too much, share with Pang Le and your other friends. You’ll manage."
Guan Xia glanced at Pang Le, remembering she had family and plenty of fellow martial arts students. The idea clicked, and she relented. "Alright."
With Qi Bai and the others back, the apartment instantly felt livelier. After unloading all the gifts and exchanging pleasantries, they quickly got down to business, holding an impromptu briefing.
For convenience, the meeting took place at Xu Nian’s place. Meng Lan didn’t join, staying behind at Guan Xia’s to work remotely. When the group left, Meng Lan was typing furiously, her fingers a blur over the keyboard, her expression stern.
Once settled in Xu Nian’s living room, Qi Bai efficiently rounded up every available chair while Xu Nian fetched water. They gathered around the coffee table, and Guan Xia wasted no time asking Jiang Yingyao, "Brother Jiang, after we left Shangshuang City, were there any new leads in the case? Especially regarding Wu Xingxian’s murder—any progress?"
Jiang Yingyao set down his barely touched cup. "For the Kangjian Medical Center case, most of the follow-up was just filling in gaps—nothing groundbreaking. But there are two things you’ll want to hear."
Never one for suspense, he continued without prompting. "First, the imposter Wu Yingze. After you left, thanks to the task force, we got to interrogate him and pieced together the backstory. The real Wu Yingze died in his second year abroad—the same year he was kidnapped. After being discharged from the hospital and sent back overseas, he was replaced. His body was dumped in a river, and with crocodiles in foreign waters... well, let’s just say there wasn’t much left to find. The imposter had a similar build and underwent plastic surgery to resemble him. There were slight differences, but since the real Wu Yingze had also undergone reconstructive surgery after the kidnapping, no one noticed the switch. Not even after all these years."
Guan Xia frowned. "Wu Xingxian didn’t realize?"
Jiang Yingyao shook his head. "According to the imposter’s confession, Wu Xingxian never seemed suspicious. Based on what we uncovered, Wu Xingxian and Wu Yingze were close before moving to Shangshuang City. But afterward, something changed. Wu Xingxian became so busy he barely saw his son, even skipping out when the kidnapping happened. So it’s not shocking he didn’t notice."
Guan Xia pressed further. "What about the ex-girlfriend? The legal representative of Kangjian Medical Center—what happened to her?"
Jiang Yingyao’s expression darkened. "Also killed. Silenced. Not sure how State Security got the confession, but the imposter admitted she was eliminated."
Though she’d expected it, Guan Xia still felt a pang of sorrow. Such a young woman—what a waste.
"How did they target her? And why her specifically? Wouldn’t it have been safer to pick someone with no ties to Wu Yingze?"
"Money," Jiang Yingyao explained. "The imposter took Wu Yingze’s identity to facilitate organ trafficking. He needed Wu Xingxian’s investment, but setting up a medical center that large required extreme caution, even for a doting father. So the imposter dragged her in as an accomplice. But his identity couldn’t be exposed, and she couldn’t withstand scrutiny. She was forced to flee abroad, then killed. To this day, her family thinks she’s alive. Someone overseas impersonates her, sending regular messages to avoid raising suspicion that might lead back to the imposter."
Guan Xia was stunned, though after a moment, it made sense. Whether it was organ trafficking or identity theft, exposure meant death.
After collecting herself, Jiang Yingyao moved on to the second update.
Jiang Yingyao looked at Guan Xia and asked, "I wonder if you still remember the names Lin Cheng and Xu Hongliang."
Hearing these vaguely familiar yet distant names, Guan Xia took a moment to recall before replying, "Aren't those the two perpetrators involved in the murder case of Wang Huiqin's parents and younger brother? I remember the information you uncovered at the time indicated both were shot dead while resisting arrest."
Jiang Yingyao nodded. "Yes, that's them. When we were wrapping up the case at Kangjian Medical Center, we later interviewed some peripheral members similar to Geng Jing. But unlike Geng Jing, these individuals had deeper roots—they’d been working as enforcers for much longer. Most importantly, they were all locals who had never left Shangshuang City, spending their youth engaged in petty crimes like theft, kidnapping, and extortion."
Guan Xia’s eyes lit up as she grasped his meaning. "You asked them about Lin Cheng, Xu Hongliang, and other gang members?"
Jiang Yingyao nodded again. "Exactly. We didn’t hold much hope, but surprisingly, one of them actually knew something. He’d even met one of them. He said it was around the end of 2011, just before the New Year. He’d just been released from prison when someone introduced him to a man whose name he didn’t know, but who bore some resemblance to the person in the photo we showed him. The man talked about 'doing something big' together, calling it a 'meritorious deed.' At first, he thought it might involve robbing corrupt officials and was excited to join—until he realized it was about murder. Since there was no money involved, he refused. He was mocked for it, and when he snapped back, he got beaten up. That left a lasting impression; even after over a decade, he still remembers that man."
Guan Xia straightened in her seat, deep in thought. "The end of 2011, a 'big' murder, a 'meritorious deed,' and the location being Shangshuang City..." She quickly pieced it together, her spirits lifting. "Given these clues, those four must indeed be connected to that criminal organization—but with clear differences. They were likely sent by Wu Xingxian as an advance team to Shangshuang. Going further back, it’s possible Wu Xingxian and Wu Yang had already clashed or even split by 2009 or 2010."
Jiang Yingyao agreed. "That’s our speculation too. That’s why we returned as soon as we got this lead—Wu Xingxian’s case isn’t over yet."
No wonder they’d returned earlier than Guan Xia expected. They’d uncovered something significant.
After a pause, she asked, "Apart from this lead, were there any other findings in Wu Xingxian’s murder case?"
Jiang Yingyao shook his head. "The killers were meticulous. As of our return, the task force hadn’t made any progress."
Guan Xia sighed inwardly. Compared to Wu Xingxian’s crime syndicate, the other faction was far more low-key and professional. Whether it was Lu Manqing’s assassination or Wu Xingxian’s, the cleanup was flawless. With such abrupt, well-executed strikes, tracking them down was understandably difficult.
Thinking of Lu Manqing, Guan Xia turned to Xu Nian. "Was your application approved after you returned? Can we now access the follow-up investigation details from the leads we previously uncovered?"
Xu Nian replied, "It was approved. I’ve been reviewing the case files and meeting with Director Ren these past few days. But the case is too complex—the leads are scattered and numerous. I haven’t been able to piece anything together yet."
Guan Xia perked up. "Then tell us—what were the subsequent leads?"
Xu Nian frowned, thinking for a moment. "Let’s take it step by step, starting with Lu Manqing’s murder."
What followed was nearly two hours of discussion. Guan Xia drank several cups of water before finally grasping a general understanding of the task force’s findings so far.
The task force had actually been established before Lu Manqing’s murder, though at the time, their knowledge of the criminal organization was only preliminary. Coordination between the provincial department, municipal bureau, and district experts also limited the team’s size. It wasn’t until the night of Lu Manqing’s assassination—when provincial leaders were outraged and prioritized the case—that the team expanded overnight.
With so many resources poured into the investigation, progress should have been swift. Yet the results were disappointing. The seven assailants who ambushed the police convoy to kill Lu Manqing had split into two vehicles—five in one targeting Lu Manqing’s transport, and two in another attacking Xu Nian’s trailing car. After the attack, they fled in opposite directions.
Both vehicles had fake plates. The killers were clearly familiar with the area’s terrain and surveillance blind spots, slipping into unmonitored roads before the manhunt even began. They vanished without a trace.
A search team of over a thousand officers scoured parking lots, repair shops, junkyards, and even nearby villages—but found nothing. The task force suspected the killers might have escaped via rural backroads to another city or disposed of the vehicles in lakes, rivers, or remote cliffs.
Neither the vehicles nor the assailants yielded leads. The seven were fully masked—hoods, gloves, high-collared clothing—leaving only rough estimates of age, gender, build, and possible professions from surveillance footage. Without even a visible mole, identifying them in a city of millions was like finding a needle in a haystack. To this day, no suspects matching the profile have been found.
The guns were another dead end. Initially, the task force feared the organization would use them in another crime, but half a year passed without a single incident. Their motive for stealing the weapons remains unclear.
As for the website Xu Nian’s team traced through Zhang Weiyan, it was taken down the day after cyber police began investigating. Tracing led only to foreign servers, with no meaningful progress since.
At this point, Guan Xia interjected, "What about the URL on the note Meng Lan received? Could it be accessed?" She’d been curious but refrained from checking personally, handing it directly to the task force for safety.
Xu Nian’s answer: The URL had long been deactivated. Cyber police attempted to trace it immediately, but again, it led to foreign servers with no breakthroughs.
Guan Xia wasn’t surprised. An organization of this scale would naturally be extremely cautious.
The specific leads yielded no results, but some discoveries were made in other areas, particularly regarding Lu Manqing, Feng Xingping, and Yao Qingyan.
The task force thoroughly investigated their entire life histories, uncovering numerous suspicious points and several commonalities. For instance, Feng Xingping had been sexually assaulted by his stepfather, but when he was 19, his stepfather was murdered—stabbed in the heart from behind. At the time of the crime, there was an eyewitness: a 13-year-old child. However, the child was so traumatized that they suffered temporary memory loss. The perpetrator was never identified—until the task force, drawing parallels with Zhang Weiyan’s case, connected the two incidents.
The task force reopened the old case and, by retracing known clues and making educated guesses, successfully identified the suspect from surveillance footage. Unfortunately, they were a step too late—the suspect had died by suicide a week before their confirmation.
Through this deceased suspect, the task force also solved several cold cases, all strikingly similar to Feng Xingping’s stepfather’s murder: victims stabbed cleanly through the heart, dying instantly.
When Xu Nian mentioned this, Guan Xia couldn’t help but wonder inwardly: Did this criminal organization have a training center? How could all its members kill in such a uniform manner?
