Chapter 207: Midnight Black Shadow

Li Ping'an's premonition was correct. Just as he was repeatedly pondering clues in his office on the third night deep into the night, outside the east wall of the Steel Rolling Mill, at the edge of the wasteland where discarded building materials were piled, a black shadow, under the cover of the heavy night, moved silently like a ghost.

His movements were extremely cautious, each step landing on soft soil, almost making no sound. He avoided the periodic sweeps of the factory's searchlights, stopped at a broken wall base overgrown with weeds, looked left and right, then quickly crouched and, with bare hands, pried open a few loose bricks, revealing a hole just large enough for one person to crawl through. He took out a tightly oilcloth-wrapped slender object from his pocket, swiftly slipped it deep into the hole, restored the bricks to their original state, and erased any trace. The whole process took less than two minutes; after finishing, the shadow swiftly vanished into deeper darkness, disappearing without a trace.

He thought he had done it flawlessly, unaware that his every move had long been observed through the high-powered binoculars of a pair of hawk-like, sharp eyes on a distant abandoned water tower.

"Target appears, east wall outside wasteland, concealment action completed, withdrawn. Position, hole, first turn." Wang Dahu's lowered voice came through the walkie-talkie, tinged with restrained excitement.

Li Ping'an, who had been lying fully clothed in the duty room of the Security Department, instantly sat up, his eyes devoid of sleep, only icy sharpness. "Don't move the hiding spot, follow him closely, see where he goes. Teams Two and Three, set up outer perimeter surveillance, prepare to support the tracking team."

The orders were swiftly carried out. In the night, several agile figures like civet cats silently tailed the black shadow who thought he had succeeded.

Li Ping'an walked to the window, gazing at the deep darkness outside the factory. "To catch a big fish, you must cast a long line." This hiding spot is likely a new intelligence exchange point, or… a bait.

He let up not at all, instead becoming even more vigilant. The opponent's cunning and patience exceeded his expectations.

That night, for most of the residents of the siheyuan, it remained peaceful. Only the lights in the west wing stayed on until the latter half of the night.

Early morning, the sky just lightening. The siheyuan awoke in the hazy dawn, with the sound of trickling water and scattered early-morning chatter beginning at the communal washbasin.

Sha Zhu yawned as he walked out the door, heading to the factory to prepare meals, when he saw Xu Damao also rubbing his eyes as he came out of the backyard, and offhandedly muttered, "Yo, Projectionist Xu, you're up awfully early today!"

Xu Damao clearly hadn't slept well, with dark circles under his eyes, and he snapped back irritably, "What's it to you? I'm up to absorb the essence of heaven and earth, okay?" He had something on his mind; he seemed to have heard some unusual noises last night, but couldn't make sense of them, only feeling vexed and uneasy.

Jia Zhangshi lifted a basin of dirty water and splashed it with a clang in the courtyard, the spray nearly wetting the pant leg of Qin Huairu, who was about to go out. Qin Huairu's face turned pale, she held her waist and silently stepped back a step, saying nothing.

"Sangmen Star! Get out of the way!" Jia Zhangshi snarled angrily, then turned and went back inside.

Yan Bu Gui stood at his own door holding a purple clay pot, squinting at the sky, muttering to himself, probably calculating this month's expenses again. Liu Haizhong, meanwhile, stuck out his belly and paced the courtyard in measured steps, trying to project an air of authority.

Everything was as usual, filled with trivial matters, scheming, and a numb daily routine.

Yet a faint tension, like the morning's thin mist, still silently spread.

Before dawn, Li Ping'an returned to the siheyuan; his complexion was normal, but the depth of his eyes was calmer and sharper than usual. He washed up as usual, ate the breakfast prepared by Lin Xueqing, and exchanged a few words with his sister.

But Lin Xueqing keenly sensed the lingering chill of midnight about him, and beneath his seemingly calm exterior, a taut alertness like a drawn bowstring. She didn't press further, merely saying softly as he left, "Be careful in everything."

Li Ping'an nodded, pushed his bicycle out of the gate. His silhouette in the morning light appeared especially upright and also especially solemn.

Inside the Steel Rolling Mill, everything appeared unchanged on the surface. Machines roared, workers bustled. But the Security Department's internal communications frequency was noticeably encrypted, and the plainclothes personnel's surveillance points had been slightly adjusted. The discovered wall hole remained under tight watch, awaiting whoever might come to retrieve the "goods".

The team tracking the black shadow reported back: the target was extremely cunning, looping several times around the city before finally disappearing into a densely populated, mixed-occupancy shantytown in Nan Cheng. The leads seemed to have temporarily ended.

Li Ping'an was not discouraged. He sat in his office with a brand-new map of Four Nine City spread before him. His finger slowly moved between the hiding spot, the shantytown, and the previous crime scenes, trying to discern some spatial connection.

The opponent is quite clever, knowing how to use the city's complex environment to conceal their movements. But the more frequently they act, the more traces they leave.

"Chief, the Technical Section has made a new discovery regarding the radio and code book seized last night." Wang Dahu pushed the door in, his face showing a hint of excitement, "Although the handwriting differs, the coding rules of this code book are seventy percent similar to the set used by Zhu Yeqing! It very likely comes from the same training system!"

A gleam flashed in Li Ping'an's eyes. "This matches!" Even though the person and method changed, the root remains the same. This enemy spy network has a tight organization and a unified training background.

"Focus the investigation on recent personnel, especially those transferred in from elsewhere or whose behavior patterns have suddenly changed before and after Zhu Yeqing's capture." Li Ping'an immediately issued the new order: "In particular, anyone possibly linked to that shantytown in Nan Cheng."

The scope narrowed bit by bit, the net tightened gradually.

But Li Ping'an well knew the opponent would not sit and wait for defeat. Having lost a hiding spot and severed a contact line, they would surely try to make up for it—or… take more extreme action.

In the afternoon, with pleasant sunshine, inside the siheyuan Jia Zhangshi again loudly scolded over a trivial little matter, while Sha Zhu and Xu Damao nearly came to blows over a faucet usage issue, until Yi Zhonghai, who had rushed over upon hearing the commotion, pulled them apart. Everything seemed chaotic yet full of the warmth of everyday life.

In the west wing, Lin Xueqing was sorting out the sun-dried clothes; sunlight filtered through the leaves of the crabapple tree, casting dappled shadows on her. She would occasionally lift her head, gazing toward the Steel Rolling Mill, her eyes holding a faint, hardly noticeable worry.

Li Ping'an stood at the window of the Security Department, watching the bustling crowd inside the factory. He knew that the unseen enemy was likely hidden among this seemingly ordinary crowd. They might wear work uniforms or wear friendly masks, but deep inside, currents of destruction and destruction surged.

He clenched his fists. No matter how deeply they hid or how well they disguised themselves, he would ferret them out one by one. This was not only to fulfill his mission, but also to protect the curses and laughter of this courtyard, the roar of the factory machines, this seemingly ordinary yet hard-won human warmth.

Nightfall was about to descend again. The struggle hidden in the darkness had entered a more critical moment. Next time, will the fox reveal its tail first, or will the hunter's net capture the true target? The answer lies hidden in the deep, impending night.