Chapter 370: The Gains Brought by a Cup of Hot Water

"Cut the network?"

Qi Fang was caught off guard and didn't understand what Yu Dazhang meant.

To prevent any mistake in the mission, he still asked:

"Only cut the network, not block the signal?"

Yu Dazhang thought for a moment, then nodded and said:

"Good reminder. Whether wired or wireless, all signals must be cut."

Seeing Qi Fang staring at him with clear, questioning eyes, he explained further:

"This loophole is too obvious. I suspect it's a trap deliberately set by the other side."

He had grounds for saying so.

From what they could see so far, only Zheng Ting knew the address where Zhang Chao and his wife were living.

Given the other side's caution and vigilance, they wouldn't have left such an obvious slip.

Put it this way — Yu Dazhang figured Zhang Chao's mother didn't even know exactly where the couple lived, let alone ever visit.

Then the question arose.

Why would they specifically bring Zheng Ting to the house?

Yu Dazhang could think of only one possibility: it was for exactly the situation they faced today.

Whether Wang Hao had been caught could be confirmed by sending Zheng Ting to secretly observe the situation.

And what about Zheng Ting herself?

How would they confirm whether she had already been caught?

There was a simple and Effective method: keep an eye on the home surveillance cameras.

Apart from the couple themselves, only Zheng Ting knew their exact address.

If the police suddenly kicked the door in for a search, then undoubtedly Zheng Ting had already been arrested and had given up the couple's hiding place.

This was Yu Dazhang's inference, reached by putting himself in the other side's shoes.

In his view, this was their usual trick.

Earlier they had used phone location tracking and the vehicle to probe Wang Hao's true situation.

Now they could likewise use the residence to lure the police into a trap.

"Can they?"

Qi Fang didn't think the other side would have set up such an elaborate trap in advance. He asked in confusion:

"Even if they'd linked the home surveillance to their network, they can't just stare at the monitors all day and do nothing else, can they?"

In Yu Dazhang's view, this was no difficult problem at all — in fact, it was easy to solve.

He answered directly:

"No need to watch it themselves. They're not short on people. Just station two guards in the underground prison to take turns monitoring it."

Seeing that Qi Fang was about to ask more, Yu Dazhang waved his hand:

"This is only my guess. Better safe than sorry. Go arrange it now."

"Got it. I'll lead the team there myself." With that, Qi Fang turned and left quickly.

Yu Dazhang didn't stop him either.

Jianning was only 25 kilometers from Lian City — a little over half an hour by car — so this trip hardly counted as a long journey.

Besides, there was nothing going on here in Jianning for the moment.

Back in the interrogation room, Yu Dazhang placed the paper cup on the shelf of the interrogation chair.

"Have some hot water."

Drinking water not only replenishes fluids, it also helps a person relax a little.

Earlier he had noticed Zheng Ting unconsciously making swallowing motions — an instinctive reaction when one's mouth is dry.

When a person feels overly tense and anxious about their surroundings, dry mouth and a racing heart will appear.

Of course, his main reason for stepping out to get water was to issue orders, with letting Zheng Ting sip some hot water and ease her emotions as a side benefit.

"Thank you."

After taking a small sip, Zheng Ting set the cup on the table; a little color had returned to her face.

"Do you know where they brought the people from?"

Yu Dazhang didn't mention the underground prison directly, but rephrased the question.

"I don't know." Zheng Ting didn't even think about it before answering directly:

"Sister Yang and the others never told me anything about that, and I never asked."

As expected, she didn't know… This was within Yu Dazhang's expectations.

And it fit that organization's style of doing things — if they didn't want people to know, they wouldn't let a single word slip.

"Aren't you even a little curious where the people were brought from?" Yu Dazhang was still a little unwilling to give up.

If Zheng Ting couldn't provide any information at all, the lead to the underground prison would be as good as cut off.

"Curiosity doesn't help." Zheng Ting shook her head:

"I've known Sister Yang the longest. In my impression, anything she doesn't want to say, she won't let a single word slip."

Hearing her say that, Yu Dazhang fell silent involuntarily, unable to think of another way in for the moment.

Trying to use Wang Hao and Zheng Ting to arrest Yang Chao — at least for now, it didn't look workable.

Yang Chao and his people had long been guarding against these two, and had already designed countermeasures.

"It's not that I know absolutely nothing…"

Zheng Ting's voice was slightly low.

Then her gaze fell on the partition in front of her, where a paper cup sat, the hot water inside curling up in wisps of steam.

She reached out and gently touched the cup's wall, feeling that warmth transmit through her fingertips.

After a moment of silence, she clenched her jaw tightly, then drew a deep breath and went on:

"Once when I met Sister Yang, she took a call in the middle of our conversation. She didn't try to hide it from me — she answered it right in front of me."

"I couldn't hear what the other side was saying, but the content of Sister Yang's words really surprised me."

Zheng Ting stopped there; judging by her expression, she was reliving the scene.

Yu Dazhang didn't make a sound, afraid of disrupting her train of thought.

"She said, if you keep being so careless and reckless, next time we go out to sea I'll throw you in the ocean, and also…"

Zheng Ting paused, her brow furrowing — she seemed to be struggling to recall something.

She was filtering… Yu Dazhang understood her current mental state.

When a person recalls a certain scene from the past, they unconsciously filter out the irrelevant content.

So what Zheng Ting was truly recalling was the part she considered related to the case.

After about a minute, she continued:

"She also said, don't trust the people on the mountain too much — every now and then you need to swap out some blood."

After saying this, Zheng Ting stopped again; her eyes lost their focus, as if what she'd just said had been her talking to herself.

Yu Dazhang still didn't speak, just waited quietly.

Right now Zheng Ting had all her attention focused on remembering — that kind of state was most afraid of outside interruption.

This time the pause was even longer; about three minutes passed before she came back to herself.

"That's all." She shook her head helplessly:

"Only these two sentences struck me as off; the rest was just normal conversation, and the call wasn't long either."

"Because I couldn't hear what the other side was saying, Sister Yang's words didn't sound connected at the time."

Yu Dazhang nodded after hearing this, showing he understood.

Listening to one side of a phone call makes it hard to remember everything the other person said — precisely because it's not connected.

That Zheng Ting could recall two sentences she considered key was already a good memory.

"Do you know who that call was from?" Yu Dazhang asked.

Since this call had caught Zheng Ting's attention, she must have guessed the identity of the person on the other end.

"Sister Yang didn't say, but I figure it was probably Zhang Chao."

Zheng Ting then explained:

"Sister Yang was smiling when she spoke to the other side. I can't think of anyone else who could make her smile like that without realizing it."

"And I've only seen Sister Yang smile that way when the two of them were together."

(End of chapter)