Chapter 490: The Back Door Isn

The bar's front entrance.

Li Mingzhao ignored the server's greeting and strode inside.

The server was about to intervene when one of the operatives directly reached out to stop him:

"We're looking for someone."

Without seeing the operative exert any noticeable force, the server was shoved aside and leaned against the bar.

Inside the bar, Li Mingzhao scanned the room.

It was a music bar featuring live performances; a band had already taken the stage and appeared ready to perform.

The audience below was packed, every seat filled.

Each table was surrounded by a variety of patrons, some drinking heartily, others laughing and chatting.

Most of them had their attention fixed on the stage, clearly here for the show.

After a brief pause, Li Mingzhao checked his phone, then identified a direction and walked straight toward the inner area.

As he reached a corner, another group of three slowly approached them.

But the two groups did not merge.

The three operatives stopped a short distance behind Li Mingzhao's group, watching warily the patrons drinking and chatting below the stage.

Li Mingzhao did not slow his pace; he stopped at the door of a private room.

A young man standing by the door frowned at the three strangers and said:

"This private room is occupied."

Though dressed in civilian clothes, his posture and manner revealed he had received military training.

The moment he finished speaking, a hand reached out from the opposite side.

Before he could react, the hand landed on his face, shoving him backward.

"Thud!"

The young man's skull slammed into the wall; he didn't even groan before passing out.

As Li Mingzhao released his grip, Ye Lin immediately stepped forward, felt the young man's neck, then raised her hand and delivered another strike to his throat.

At that moment, Xiao Yi and the other two approached from the opposite side and joined them.

Seeing this, Li Mingzhao stepped back and gestured toward the door with his hand, signaling "attack."

The operatives understood; as Xiao Yi kicked the door open, they rushed in, guns raised.

"Don't move!"

A roar rang out, followed by a rapid volley of gunfire.

The "Bang-bang-bang!" drowned out the music, piercingly loud inside the bar.

At the same time, gunfire erupted in the center of the bar.

Several patrons who had been drinking and chatting suddenly collapsed, shot; each one, without exception, clutched a gun in their hand.

"Ahh!!"

A sharp female scream pierced the air; the bar erupted into chaos.

Some people dropped to the ground, others fled in all directions, while some ran toward the bar's entrance.

But as they reached the bar counter, several armored vehicles marked "Special Police" suddenly pulled up, completely blocking the bar's front door.

The gunfire lasted a full minute before gradually ceasing.

At this moment, Li Mingzhao stood inside the private room, scanning around.

"Where's Ying Xuelian?" he asked Xiao Yi and the others.

"We didn't see her," one operative answered immediately:

"She wasn't here when we came in."

The other operatives also shook their heads, indicating they had not seen Ying Xuelian.

"Impossible—the signal clearly came from inside this room," Li Mingzhao scanned the room again.

After confirming Ying Xuelian was truly absent, he pulled out his phone, performed a few operations, stared at the screen, then moved to a sofa. He set the phone down and reached into the gaps between the cushions.

Moments later, he pinched out a tiny locator device, no larger than a fingernail.

Ying Xuelian was exposed!

Li Mingzhao's face darkened; his brows knotted into a tight knot.

He and Ying Xuelian had agreed: the moment they spotted the Wild Fox and Blood Dog agents, they were to immediately send a signal, and the State Security Bureau would launch an arrest operation without delay.

The signal had been received—this meant Ying Xuelian was exposed after encountering those two agents.

It went without saying that those two agents carried devices capable of detecting the signal.

They had removed the locator from Ying Xuelian, secretly placed it in the sofa's crevice, then taken her away.

Li Mingzhao stared at the sprawled corpses in the private room, his face grim, a heavy murderous intent flashing in his eyes.

Clearly, the people in this room knew nothing about the locator.

They had unknowingly become patsies for those two agents.

The gunfire here would have bought them just enough time to escape.

Wait—

Something felt off.

Li Mingzhao suddenly looked up at Xiao Yi:

"You came through the back door?"

"Yes," Xiao Yi nodded.

"From the back door all the way here, the path was clear—we didn't see a single soul."

He knew what Section Chief Li wanted to know — nothing more than whether they'd run into any suspicious people on the way — so he made a point of stressing that.

"They didn't escape through the back door?"

Li Mingzhao frowned slightly, then looked toward another group of people:

"Have the SWAT team at the front gate arrived?"

"They've arrived," a team member answered:

"The main entrance has already been sealed off by the SWAT team. No one is allowed in or out."

They had called the SWAT team over for two reasons: first, to keep order; second, to prevent anyone from slipping in among the customers and escaping through the front door.

By comparison, the back door wouldn't have that problem.

Because the customers who came to the bar had no idea where the back door was, and on top of that, his side still had one group of people specifically tasked with coming around from the back door to cut off the escape route.

"Not through the front door either?" Li Mingzhao couldn't help muttering to himself.

Even if they had the ability to break through the SWAT team's cordon, it would certainly have triggered a gunfight — there was no way it could have happened without a sound.

The team members present were clearly aware of this too, and one after another showed puzzled expressions.

Could they still be inside this bar?

This bar had only one floor, and all the windows around it had been sealed shut, so there was no possibility of escaping by jumping out a window.

"Bring over one of the bar's staff, quick!" Li Mingzhao ordered.

Soon, a man who looked like a headwaiter was brought over.

Li Mingzhao walked to the door of the private room, looked at him, and asked:

"How many exits does this bar have?"

"Two," the man replied, then added as an afterthought:

"But the back door isn't open to foot traffic."

Hearing this, Li Mingzhao immediately pressed:

"Why isn't it open?"

This headwaiter-looking man clearly liked to talk, and he spoke with great clarity. Hearing the question, he immediately explained:

"Our manager said that once the dragon qi enters the venue, it needs to circulate and exit through another opening. It's called 'draining the water.'"

"Otherwise, sha qi tends to accumulate inside the venue and affects the bar's feng shui and fortune. So that back door is there specifically to let the sha qi drain out."

What a load of nonsense… Li Mingzhao naturally didn't believe that kind of ghost story.

"Where's your manager?"

The man glanced behind Li Mingzhao and answered:

"Right in the private room behind you."

(End of chapter)