Chapter 465: State Security Is Following His Lead

Her brows furrowed slightly as she continued:

"They were all armed, covering that person's retreat."

"During the firefight, I was hit in the right arm by a bullet, and my thigh was grazed by a stray round, but I took three of theirs down."

By the time she finished, her voice had grown quieter, and she looked a little dejected.

Clearly she had wanted to take all of the enemies down, but failed to do so, and ended up getting hurt herself instead.

But Yu Dazhang's attention wasn't on her last sentence.

After thinking for a moment, he looked up at Ye Lin and asked:

"After you got the alert, about how long did it take you to reach the grove?"

"Well…" Ye Lin thought for a moment, then answered:

"About five minutes."

Something's off… At that moment, a picture had already formed in Yu Dazhang's mind.

When that person was spotted, he was already in the grove.

That meant he had been lingering in the grove for some time already.

After being spotted, that person stayed for another five minutes.

If he was bait meant to draw our side in, once the State Security people arrived, the ones ambushed at the foot of the mountain shouldn't have come out to cover his retreat.

To cover him, the other side even sacrificed three lives.

Since he wasn't bait.

Why did that person linger in the grove so long?

Or rather, what did he do in the grove?

"When you arrived, what was that person doing in the grove?" Yu Dazhang asked.

The other side had a whole team covertly covering him, which meant what he was doing in the grove was important.

But exactly what he was doing wasn't something he could just conjure out of thin air.

Even deduction needs some basis to stand on.

"Nothing at all." Ye Lin answered directly:

"When I saw him, he was walking out of the grove."

Then he'd already finished the job… Yu Dazhang could only assume that for now.

What can one person do in a grove?

Plant a timed bomb?

Very possible.

If an explosion went off in the grove, it would certainly draw everyone's attention.

When that happened, the other side would have a chance to slip into the test area amid the chaos.

"Did you check that grove afterwards?"

Yu Dazhang considered this very important.

The other side wouldn't send someone to the grove for no reason; they must have had some scheme in mind.

"I don't know." Ye Lin shook her head:

"You saw it yourself, I was wounded. After that I stayed here to recover and didn't take part in the follow-up work."

"But…"

She paused, a thoughtful look on her face, and only continued after a moment:

"If you ask me, they probably wouldn't keep checking that area."

"Because right after the firefight, the scene was sealed off, and anywhere a gun was fired would definitely get a forensic sweep."

"You're a criminal cop, you should know that better than I do."

Yu Dazhang nodded after hearing that.

Indeed.

Normally, the police would do a detailed sweep of a firefight scene to gather more leads and evidence.

State Security was no exception; they were even more thorough than the police.

But the problem was, neither the police nor State Security would easily sweep underground.

After much deliberation, Yu Dazhang still decided to report this situation to Li Mingzhao.

Leaving the ward, he found a liaison officer in another building and asked him to help get in touch.

Here, cell phones had become nothing but ornaments; the only two features still useful were the flashlight and the clock.

Soon, the liaison officer came back with a satellite phone.

After Yu Dazhang took the phone, he held it to his ear and asked quickly:

"Leader, after your firefight with the other side in the grove, did you check underground?"

"Check underground for what?" Li Mingzhao was a little surprised by the question.

Their special operations team often got into firefights on missions, but they really had never checked underground after a firefight.

No need to.

If something happened on the surface, why check underground?

Just as he expected—Yu Dazhang could tell from Li Mingzhao's tone that they hadn't done any follow-up check.

He then laid out his own idea.

To save time, he kept it as simple and clear as possible. After hearing Yu Dazhang's report, Li Mingzhao on the other end of the line immediately replied:

"I'll arrange for people to do an underground sweep right away."

This kind of matter leaves no room for the slightest carelessness.

Even if there's only a one-in-ten-thousand possibility, the National Security side must nip it in the bud.

The next day.

Yu Dazhang had just arrived at the cafeteria when he saw Li Mingzhao walk in from outside.

"Leader, you look like you didn't sleep well."

He noticed Li Mingzhao's eyes were bloodshot and he looked haggard, as if he had just been in deep sleep and then woken up by someone.

"I'll be fine in a bit."

Li Mingzhao rubbed his temples:

"I was busy until the wee hours last night, only got four hours of sleep."

National Security really is exhausting… Yu Dazhang deeply sympathized.

An ordinary person can't recover their mental state on four hours of sleep, let alone Li Mingzhao, a National Security leader constantly under enormous pressure.

"When you have missions, is your schedule always like this?" Yu Dazhang asked curiously.

If it really were like this, it would shorten his lifespan terribly.

The damage long-term overwork does to the body is irreversible.

That's why more and more people are dropping dead in the workplace.

"Normally it's fine, but isn't it because you've come."

Li Mingzhao looked at Yu Dazhang helplessly, yet his eyes held a hint of admiration:

"You've only been here one day, and you've already caught people and set traps, then in the evening you assigned me new work—I can't rest even if I want to."

He had initially thought that after Yu Dazhang arrived, he'd need to adapt to the work rhythm here first, and it would take at least a week before he got into the groove.

But on just the first day, this fatty had already demonstrated extraordinary work ability.

Before anyone realized it, the entire Special Action Group had already started following his rhythm.

Even he, the team leader, had to admit that in certain respects, he really was no match for Yu Dazhang.

This fatty's eyes not only had excellent vision, but his way of looking at problems was especially sharp—he could always spot something different.

"Leader, don't say that—how would I dare assign you work."

Yu Dazhang knew he was joking, but still explained:

"Of course I'd report any problems to you right away."

Then he went and got two breakfasts, and while eating, continued the previous topic.

"Leader, was there any discovery at the woods last night?"

That was what he cared about most.

If dangerous items like bombs had really been found there, it would confirm his earlier inference was correct.

"Nothing."

Li Mingzhao took a sip of porridge, set the bowl down, and waved his hand:

"We used detectors and police dogs, found nothing. Later we organized people to clear the entire ground of the woods—no signs of turned soil."

Wrong inference? Hearing this, Yu Dazhang couldn't help feeling a bit dazed.

Of course he trusted National Security's ability to handle things; a scene they'd inspected surely wouldn't have any oversights.

That really is bizarre.

Neither the ground nor underground had any problems.

Could the time that person lingered in the woods really have been only to draw our attention?

No!

They must have some scheme… Yu Dazhang firmly believed his judgment couldn't be wrong.

Since no traces left by the other party were found, then start from other angles.

"Leader, I'd like to see Wang Ze."

Yu Dazhang asked in a consultative tone:

"I wonder if it's convenient?"

He wasn't sure whether Wang Ze was still alive.

A mercenary with systematic training and real combat experience couldn't last even an hour—shows National Security's methods.

So he now suspected Wang Ze might already be mentally deranged.

"No problem."

Contrary to Yu Dazhang's expectation, Li Mingzhao agreed very readily:

"After breakfast I'll take you there."

(End of chapter)