Chapter 358

"Everyone, feel free to speak your mind."

Yu Dazhang turned to the other officers in the room:

"If you have questions, raise them now."

He waited a while, but no one spoke.

What's going on? Why is everyone so quiet… Yu Dazhang noticed everyone was staring at him expectantly, as if waiting for him to speak first.

What he didn't know was that these provincial bureau officers had never encountered a case this big.

In their eyes, rescuing over three hundred people at once was already an unprecedented breakthrough—a first in N Province's criminal history.

But when they saw Yu Dazhang interrogating Wang Hao, they were stunned.

The previous joint operation was just an appetizer.

Jianning had that many cheap laborers!

And that was a conservative estimate.

If you break it down, N Province has thirteen prefecture-level cities and nineteen county-level cities, totaling thirty-two cities.

Even if other cities aren't as large as Jianning, they won't be much smaller—after all, this organization has been operating in this business for eleven years.

They felt a case of this scale should be handled by personnel from headquarters.

The only reason they're still investigating is because this fat guy keeps uncovering new leads every day.

"Since no one has questions, I'll assign tasks directly."

Yu Dazhang didn't mince words—he spoke in a commanding tone:

"Captain Hua, you know the local personnel best—you handle the operation coordination."

After speaking, he added a reminder:

"This isn't like Yancheng. Jianning's industrial zones are not only massive but widely scattered; the ten zones are far apart, making synchronized operations extremely difficult."

"And there's the manpower issue…"

He paused, unsure how to proceed.

After all, Yu Dazhang had no experience in this—he'd never in two lifetimes faced a rescue operation on this scale.

Even combined, a single city's special police and armed police total fewer than two thousand.

So organizing an operation this large would require reinforcements from other cities.

"You're more experienced in this—figure it out yourself."

Yu Dazhang simply washed his hands of it, but he added one final instruction:

"We must finalize the operation timing together—still can't set it yet."

After the arrest in Yancheng succeeded, they'd already withdrawn their personnel.

The organization will quickly learn that the Yancheng industrial zone has been raided.

But for them, this isn't enough to make them flee—just a loss of some cheap laborers and a few 'feet.'

Besides, Yancheng isn't their main base; cutting ties quickly is enough.

But if Jianning gets raided, even if they don't flee, they'll definitely go into hiding.

So the operation must be delayed—wait until Yu Dazhang's side has attempted at least one arrest before moving forward.

After the meeting, Yu Dazhang went to the interrogation room.

He also brought Wang Hao's phone with him.

"They'll contact you once they hear about the Yancheng industrial zone being raided."

Yu Dazhang looked at Wang Hao and asked:

"Have you figured out how to respond to them?"

He was certain Zhang Chao would call Wang Hao.

Among these 'feet,' only Wang Hao and Zhang Chao had direct contact.

So if Wang Hao got caught, it would definitely cause trouble for him.

For this reason, Zhang Chao would need to pass the news to Wang Hao quickly so he could act immediately and avoid potential risks.

"Don't try to plan what to say."

Wang Hao looked relaxed:

"I just need to react normally—if I hear the Yancheng industrial zone was raided, I'll run immediately."

"One of the three 'feet' in Yancheng is my junior high classmate—he knows me well, so I have to disappear."

At this, Wang Hao's expression grew slightly Heavy, solemn:

"In fact, I really did get caught by him."

That's right—in this situation, no preparation was needed… Yu Dazhang nodded in agreement after listening.

The more you prepare, the more forced and unnatural your conversation sounds.

Yu Dazhang suddenly remembered a short video he'd seen online in his past life.

Back then, the school introduced after-school extended services—students weren't allowed to leave after class, their time on campus was extended.

A reporter was invited to interview students at the school about this policy.

The elementary student interviewed answered with perfect, polished diction—more standard than a news broadcast:

"The after-school extended service? I'm very satisfied, because doing homework at school lets me write neatly and quickly; at home, I procrastinate."

That answer was clearly memorized by rote.

It sounded stiff, unnatural—as if a knife were pressed to the child's back.

So the more you prepare, the more fake it sounds—better to improvise, say whatever comes to mind.

At that moment, a phone rang suddenly—Yu Dazhang immediately looked at Wang Hao's phone on the table.

The caller ID on the screen showed only a single character: "Chao."

He picked up the phone, stood, walked quickly over to Wang Hao, and held the screen out to him:

"Is it Zhang Chao?"

"Yes." Wang Hao answered immediately.

"Take it." Yu Dazhang handed the phone over:

"Just like you said — just perform normally."

Wang Hao took a deep breath. The earlier ease had long since vanished, replaced by a wave of heaviness, and he slowly accepted the phone.

After letting his emotions settle for a moment, he pressed answer:

"Hello?"

His voice carried a hint of confusion, as if he had just woken up, with a slight nasal tone.

Even Yu Dazhang had to admire the acting.

That groggy-just-woken-up state was the most disarming, and it neatly explained why it had taken so long to pick up.

Completely natural.

"Haozi, damn it, what the hell are you doing, taking forever to answer a damn phone!"

The voice on the other end sounded very irritated; from the tone alone one could picture a crude, rude fellow.

"No idea what's going on lately, I get sleepy right after meals." Wang Hao replied quite casually:

"You almost never call me in the middle of the day."

He clearly knew the other party's temperament, so hearing the foul language, he didn't show the slightest hint of distaste.

At the same time he didn't take the initiative to ask Zhang Chao what he wanted — that would further lower the other's guard.

"Something happened over in Yancheng." Zhang Chao said quickly:

"If I'm not mistaken, one of the guys over there is a classmate of yours, right?"

"Yeah, middle school classmate." Wang Hao answered, then asked in surprise:

"What happened over there?!"

Yu Dazhang could clearly hear the voice coming through the phone's earpiece.

At the same time he marveled at Wang Hao's reaction — clearly a very smart person.

Every response was so natural.

When he had just asked "what happened," he had also caught a note of panic in Wang Hao's words.

"The industrial district got raided by the cops!"

Zhang Chao's volume rose several notches without his realizing it:

"Goddamn it — must be some factory boss out there shooting his mouth off like an idiot, that's what brought the cops down on us."

Filthy mouth… Yu Dazhang frowned slightly, then made a gesture to Wang Hao and mouthed three words:

Stall him.

(End of chapter)