That evening ended a bit earlier than the previous night. With more people reviewing the surveillance footage, good news came one after another.
About twenty minutes after Wang Yu discovered footage of Sha Junhao and Yuan Yue entering a narrow alley in sequence, Guan Xia also made a breakthrough. By cross-referencing surveillance footage of Yuan Yue leaving the urban village in a taxi at noon on the day of the incident and the flight departure time Jiang Yingyao provided—confirming Yuan Yue had left Yongquan City on June 11—Guan Xia deduced that Yuan Yue would most likely head straight to the airport. She tirelessly scoured surveillance footage near the airport until her eyes nearly gave out. Finally, at a convenience store two kilometers from the airport, she spotted Yuan Yue in the footage. Though Yuan Yue had changed out of her previous night's outfit, she was still wearing the same clothes from the taxi ride. She walked straight to a trash bin, glanced around cautiously, then removed her hat and mask, tossing them inside—fully revealing her face.
After Guan Xia, it was Jiang Yingyao’s turn to make a discovery. This time, a milk tea shop’s surveillance camera proved invaluable. On a sparsely populated path over two hundred meters from the alley where Guan Xia and Pang Le had once chased a thief, the footage clearly captured Sha Junhao and Yuan Yue walking side by side, their lips moving slightly as if engaged in conversation. If their appearance together on the night of June 6 had been a coincidence, their meeting again on June 7 in a different location made it impossible to dismiss as mere chance.
The moment this footage was found, Guan Xia felt as if a weight had been lifted from her chest, and she relaxed entirely.
Pang Le, squeezing her way out of the crowd gathered around Jiang Yingyao’s desk, immediately grabbed her phone and exclaimed, "Quick, quick! Ji An, we can leave first thing tomorrow—let’s book the tickets now!"
Guan Xia, about to reach for her own phone, heard Ji An say calmly, "Already done. The moment Captain Xu mentioned you’d obtained the suspect’s biological sample today, I booked our flights. We leave at 8 a.m. tomorrow from Terminal 3—don’t be late."
Both Guan Xia and Pang Le were taken aback. After exchanging glances, Pang Le bounded over to Ji An, throwing an arm around her shoulders and squeezing tightly. "Ji An, you’re absolutely the best! We have to stick together forever—what would we do without you?"
Pang Le playfully nuzzled Ji An’s shoulder, wrinkling her blouse. Ji An, who had initially been smiling faintly, couldn’t help but break into a helpless yet radiant grin under Pang Le’s infectious energy.
Guan Xia couldn’t suppress a laugh either. No one could resist Pang Le’s charm—she was effortlessly beautiful and endearing.
By the time they left Pingjiang District’s police station, the sunset had fully dipped below the horizon, and streetlights flickered on one by one, casting the city in a different kind of glow.
Pang Le drove Ji An back to her hotel first, then headed home to pack.
Uncertain how long they’d be staying in Fu’an City, Pang Le packed excessively—over a dozen outfits, practically emptying her closet to stuff her suitcase with everything except dresses.
Guan Xia, assisting her, couldn’t help but remark, "Isn’t this a bit much? We’re just going to hand over the evidence to reopen the cold case, not solve it ourselves. We won’t be there for more than ten days."
"No, you don’t get it," Pang Le replied without looking up, still busy packing. "I have a feeling this trip to Fu’an City won’t go as smoothly as we think. And I’m not just talking about Yuan Yue’s case—something else might come up."
It took Guan Xia only a second to catch her meaning. Amused, she said, "Well, in that case, I should probably pack more clothes too. And an extra pair of comfortable shoes."
Pang Le paused mid-motion, shooting her a triumphant look. "See? You feel it too. Besides Yuan Yue’s case, we might stumble into something else while we’re there."
Guan Xia hadn’t considered it before, but now that Pang Le mentioned it, the intuition settled in. Ever since being bound to the system, it was rare for her to return from a trip without some unexpected event.
Just in case, Guan Xia packed extra clothes too—though unlike Pang Le, hers were all loose and comfortable, so she finished in half an hour.
True to her word, Guan Xia made sour soup dumplings for dinner that night and again for breakfast the next morning, leaving Pang Le thoroughly satisfied.
At the airport, they met up with Ji An, boarded their flight without a hitch, and arrived at their destination three hours later. But the moment they stepped out of the airport, they were hit with a sweltering wave of heat far worse than Yongquan City’s. Guan Xia instantly struggled to breathe, her skin turning sticky in seconds.
"This damn weather," Pang Le muttered, nearly sprinting to the car as she wiped sweat with a tissue. "What’s the temperature in Fu’an City today? How can it be this suffocating?"
Ji An, the last to get in, fastened her seatbelt in the passenger seat and said, "42 degrees. We’ve arrived just in time for the heatwave."
The Didi driver turned up the AC and chimed in, "It’s been brutal these past couple of days, but it won’t last. The news says a typhoon’s moving north—once it hits, we’ll have days of heavy rain. Let’s hope the city doesn’t flood this year."
Neither Guan Xia nor Pang Le had checked the weather before leaving. Stunned, they quickly pulled out their phones to look it up.
Sure enough, headlines warned of a typhoon forming along the coast, already affecting nearby cities. While the predicted path didn’t directly target Guanglin Province, the accompanying storms would engulf nearly half of it—Fu’an City included.
"According to forecasts, it’ll hit in about six days," Pang Le said. "We’d better speed things up. I don’t want to be stuck in a hotel."
"Six days…" Guan Xia mentally reviewed the time it had taken to reopen previous cold cases and hesitated. "That should be enough. We already have some leads before even starting."
Pang Le frowned, calculating briefly before relaxing. "Right. Even the slowest one only took four days, and that was our first time, bumbling through without Ji An’s help."
Ji An, who had been typing on her phone since buckling in, finally looked up at the mention of her name. "Don’t worry. I’ve already coordinated everything. We can go straight to retrieve the evidence. If you’re not too tired, we can start immediately."
Pang Le glanced at Guan Xia, assessing her condition, then grinned. "We’re not tired. Just need to drop off our luggage and freshen up—then we’re ready to work."
Ji An also turned to glance at Guan Xia, noting that she seemed fine—no signs of heatstroke or exhaustion—before nodding and saying, "Alright. Once we’re back at the hotel, you two can freshen up first. I’ll head out for a bit and come back to meet you later."
"Do you want us to go with you?" Pang Le asked.
Ji An’s lips curled slightly. "I’ve been to Fu’an City several times. It’s not unfamiliar territory, so don’t worry."
Back at the hotel, Ji An dropped off her luggage in the room and left in a hurry, her steps noticeably brisk.
Guan Xia and Pang Le watched as Ji An disappeared down the hotel corridor before entering their room.
As she inserted the keycard, Pang Le remarked, "Sister Ji is always racing against the clock. She walks like she’s in a speed-walking competition—I bet she’d win a medal if she ever entered one."
Once the lights were on, Guan Xia immediately turned on the air conditioning before replying, "Well, she used to be a detective. To her, cases always come first."
The room quickly cooled down, and Guan Xia felt like she’d been revived. She moved with renewed energy, swiftly digging out her toiletries and heading for the shower.
Pang Le applied a clay mask, timed it perfectly, rinsed it off, showered, and then slapped on a sheet mask before flopping onto the sofa. Muffled by the mask, she sighed, "Compared to this, Yongquan City’s weather is practically paradise. Thank goodness it’s nestled by the Cuiping Mountains."
Guan Xia couldn’t wait to wrap up the case and return. After getting used to Yongquan City’s climate, this stifling heat was unbearable.
Ji An left in a rush but returned just as quickly. By the time Guan Xia and Pang Le had dried their hair and changed clothes, there was a knock at the door.
Pang Le called out to confirm it was Ji An before opening it. The moment Ji An stepped inside, she announced, "Got what we needed, secured a workspace, and even booked a restaurant—local specialties."
True to form, Sister Ji. Pang Le and Guan Xia exchanged impressed glances and gave her thumbs-up before slipping on their shoes and following her out. After a hearty meal, they hurried to a slightly remote residential complex.
It was clearly a newly built development, full of high-rises with low occupancy. They barely passed anyone on their way in—though that might’ve been due to the scorching weather.
Ji An led them into a unit, up to the 8th floor, and unlocked the door to reveal a spacious apartment. Judging by the closed doors, it had at least three bedrooms. The living room, stripped of normal furniture, was set up like an office: a long conference table, a whiteboard, a projector, and of course, computers and a printer.
Once everyone was inside, Ji An shut the door and explained, "This is our rendezvous point in Fu’an City. A friend’s place. They rarely come by—only for meetings when needed—so we’ve designated it as our base."
Though the space felt a bit empty, it showed signs of regular use. There was no visible dust, and the whiteboard at the end of the table still had faint, hastily scrawled writing. Guan Xia squinted, barely making out the name "Zhuo Xuanya."
Pang Le also scanned the room curiously. "Sister Ji, do you have a lot of friends like this? A rendezvous point in every city?"
Ji An turned on the lights and drew the blackout curtains. "I don’t know the exact number, but among the ones I know, there are at least seven or eight. As long as the cases we’re investigating remain unsolved, these rendezvous points stay active."
Guan Xia understood. "So once Zhuo Xuanya’s case is closed, this place will be disbanded too."
Ji An nodded and started setting up the projector. Guan Xia walked over to the whiteboard to study the writing more closely.
Pang Le joined her, but the scribbles were nearly illegible—like wild cursive. By the time Ji An got the projector running, neither had deciphered much.
Ji An chuckled at their efforts. "That was written by Zhuo Xuanya’s father, Zhuo Mingyan. He was organizing his thoughts, so it’s gibberish to everyone else. Nothing useful for our current investigation."
After getting Ji An’s confirmation, Pang Le grabbed an eraser and wiped the board clean.
Ji An pulled out a chair. "Take a seat. I’ll show you the crime scene photos first."
"They even gave you those?" Pang Le blinked in surprise. "Was Xu Nian’s classmate really that generous? Sharing confidential materials?"
Ji An projected the images onto the screen. "Not Captain Xu’s contact. Zhuo Mingyan provided these. He’s a local university professor, and since the case involves his daughter—plus his connections here—he managed to get us access to things we normally wouldn’t."
"Makes sense," Pang Le muttered, her focus shifting to the screen.
Guan Xia studied the first photo intently: a top-down shot of a girl with a ponytail lying facedown in a pool of blood. The time appeared to be late at night. Dressed in athletic wear, she had a dagger plunged into her back, right where her heart would be.
"The suspect didn’t even take the weapon?" Pang Le sounded puzzled. "But since it wasn’t removed, the bleeding would’ve been slower—though I’m no expert, this looks like a lot of blood. Was her heart pierced clean through?"
Ji An nodded. "The murder weapon was a boning knife—razor-sharp. Zhuo Xuanya was petite, only 43 kg at 1.65 meters tall. The blade went straight through her chest. It happened late at night, near park closing time, on a secluded path far from the main area. By the time a witness found her, she was already gone."
"As for why the weapon was left behind," Ji An added, "we suspect the killer didn’t want to risk bloodstains on their clothes or belongings, so they abandoned it."
"Which means no fingerprints," Guan Xia concluded. "And the killer probably didn’t disguise themselves either. A park in the city center would have surveillance cameras. Zhuo Xuanya died around 10 PM—late enough that fewer people are around, but not completely deserted. If the killer had worn a disguise, the detectives on the case would’ve flagged it immediately."
Ji An agreed. "The original investigative team reviewed the footage and found no suspicious figures—no one wearing hats, masks, or anything conspicuous."
Pang Le understood and said excitedly, "So that means it’ll be easy to spot Sha Junhao in the surveillance footage later—with that strikingly handsome face of his, he’ll stand out in any crowd."
It was only their first day in Fu’an City, and they already had such promising news. Guan Xia felt uplifted.
Ji An added, "If things go smoothly, we might be back in Yongquan City in two days at most."
Guan Xia hadn’t minded staying longer before, but between Fu’an’s sweltering heat and the impending storm, the sooner they could return, the better.
Just as her excitement surged, Guan Xia remembered the flag Pang Le had raised before their trip. Her mood settled again, and she couldn’t help but silently pray—hoping the system would stay quiet this time and not trigger even once before they made it back to Yongquan City.
