Chapter 493: Chaos and Confusion

Everyone's expressions grew complex.

Everyone understood that the chemical plant explosion was something no side could tolerate.

Similar production accidents were already unbearable, let alone this criminal case.

Immense pressure bore down on them; even Jiang Yuan, with all his skills, could not easily shrug it off.

"Once, I didn't go home for three months. When my wife called, I saw her number and my heart just panicked—it was beating just like it is now, really," Yu Yu Wenshu suddenly laughed, telling a joke that wasn't funny.

Everyone forced a smile in return.

"Pull the front-line team back, leave two people, install all the surveillance, and get the snipers in position," Yu Yu Wenshu continued issuing orders, then added: "Check past records—see what's stored in their warehouse."

Several people immediately moved into action.

Yu Yu Wenshu went on: "Ask Yuan Yuan Jiansheng what he's trying to pull—see if his demands are crazier than my wife's. You guys…"

He waved over three more men and gave them quiet instructions.

Seeing Yu Yu Wenshu's calm, methodical demeanor, the group's fear gradually receded.

Whether they trusted Yu Yu Wenshu or not, there was no doubt he was the most experienced here in handling such incidents.

As for the others, seeing a big man taking charge, they all bowed their heads and got to work.

Working under pressure was a cop's mandatory skill—even the most routine patrol officers could be cursed like dogs by old men, cursed like dogs by middle-aged women, toyed with like dogs by young couples, or chased and bitten by dogs…

Handling a major drug trafficking case always came with preparation for danger and pressure. But no one expected Jianyuan's scene to deteriorate so suddenly.

The special task force's planned "horseback-stab-the-pig" strategy had succeeded—the pig looked like it was bleeding out—but no one anticipated the pig would suddenly pull out explosives and aim to take down the task force's big villa with it.

From this angle alone, the question was beyond the syllabus!

Yu Yu Wenshu turned back and called Jiang Yuan and Liu Liu Jinghui over, without consultation, asking: "Yuan Yuan Jiansheng has only one person with him—where are his family? And the gang members—you two find them."

Normally, Yu Yu Wenshu treated Liu Liu Jinghui and Jiang Yuan with courtesy, but today, in his urgency, he dropped the formalities.

Liu Liu Jinghui nodded, then retreated with Jiang Yuan, letting out a bitter laugh: "The core mission hasn't changed—only the deadline's gotten tighter."

Mu Mu Zhiyang had been following Jiang Yuan all along and had just been listening behind them; now he ventured cautiously: "Chief Yu didn't set a time limit."

"Yuan Yuan Jiansheng himself is the deadline—if he gets tired, exhausted, and can't hold out, will he press the button? Or did they agree on a time?"

"This…" Mu Mu Zhiyang wanted to say such a deadline was impossible to work with.

But the logic held—crime wasn't about fairness, and Yuan Yuan Jiansheng wouldn't act like some noble thief telling stories.

He might just press the button without even smiling when he reached his threshold.

Liu Liu Jinghui rubbed his chin, ignoring Mu Mu Zhiyang, slipping into rapid thought, muttering: "I wonder how large the blast radius is—if it's big, there's still hope."

Mu Mu Zhiyang stared in shock: "A large radius means hope?"

"First, Yuan Yuan Jiansheng didn't set off the explosion just to vent anger—if he only wanted to vent, he'd have blown it already," Liu Liu Jinghui reasoned. "Therefore, with the explosives in hand, he either wants to negotiate, or he's covering someone's escape. Either way, if the blast radius covers half of Jianyuan's plant—or even most of it—doesn't that mean the person he's protecting is already outside the blast zone?"

Mu Mu Zhiyang froze: "Now that you say it—"

"There are many assumptions," Jiang Yuan, having handled so many cases, knew not to trust appearances, that stacking probabilities alone meant nothing, that the most probable scenario wasn't necessarily the truth—crime was built from layers of unlikely events.

Despite this, Liu Liu Jinghui's reasoning was highly coherent—useful, indeed.

Liu Liu Jinghui didn't stop there: "The assumptions can be verified—Chief Yu is already checking the explosives. If the blast radius is small, fine. If it's large enough, many possibilities vanish."

"Even if the explosives' radius is small, I'd still treat it as large for elimination purposes—it's a chemical plant. Who can say for sure how far the blast will reach?"

Actually, even if the blast radius is small, I think we should still rule out a large area—it's a chemical plant; no one can say for sure how far the explosion's effects reached.

Indeed, the environment during an explosion could trigger reactions that normally wouldn't occur—even a chemical expert couldn't accurately predict the impact range of a chemical plant blast.

Indeed, the environment during the explosion can trigger reactions that normally wouldn't occur, so even if we brought in a chemical expert, he wouldn't be able to accurately judge the extent of the blast's impact.

Yuan Yuan Jiansheng likely thought the same.

"So first, we can rule out that Yuan Uncle Yu Shan and others are still inside the plant," Liu Liu Jinghui emphasized. "With so many people, I doubt they could disguise themselves and slip out with the workers."

He paused, then continued: "If they've already left, all vehicles exiting since yesterday have been stopped—so now, it's either up in the air or down underground."

He looked up at the sky, then down at the ground.

In the distance, the horizon was lined with Jianyuan's massive pipelines—not just crawling along the ground, but elevated to second- and third-story heights, some with diameters of one or two meters, strikingly visible…

"Above-ground pipes, underground sewers—no need to dig tunnels," Liu Liu Jinghui pointed forward, signaling his deduction was complete.

Stories of fugitives escaping through underground tunnels weren't new to cops. When petty thieves were more common, many had become experts at it; some even cursed China's urban infrastructure for being backward after watching Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

But now, underground networks were all under surveillance—unsuitable as daily escape routes for thieves, yet perfectly viable for Jianyuan's people to use occasionally.

"It's definitely possible," Jiang Yuan didn't deny it, then added: "I'll check Yuan Yuan Jiansheng and Yuan Uncle Yu Shan's offices—maybe we'll find clues."

"Good. I'll check on interrogation status," Liu Liu Jinghui said, thinking how to gather intel, then turned: "Have the police dogs arrived? See if they can track anyone."

"Alright, I'll check on the interrogation room." Liu Liu Jinghui thought about how to gather intelligence, then turned and added, "Has the police dog arrived? See if it can find anyone."

Jiang Yuan called for Mu Mu Zhiyang and Lu Lu Tongda, then thought better of it and added two more members of the Strike Team.

The office building was already full of officers—two escorts were plenty safe. But since this was still a drug gang's office, Jiang Yuan brought two extra.

After all, another possibility was that Yuan Uncle Yu Shan and others hadn't left at all—they were hiding in some secure room inside the building, waiting to slip out later.

But that approach was too passive. Logically, if such a secure room existed, someone else would know about it.

Even further—if the room was so secure that only Yuan Yuan Jiansheng knew of it, then he wouldn't bother with the explosion at all—he'd just move in and stay.

Jiang Yuan treated Yuan Yuan Jiansheng's office as a crime scene and re-searched it.

Outside, chaos reigned.

Jiang Yuan could only suppress his impatience and inspect—the old man would hold out a while longer. The police had reaction speed; since Yuan Yuan Jiansheng hadn't detonated yet, he still had intentions.

After finishing the search of Yuan Yuan Jiansheng's office, Jiang Yuan moved to Yuan Uncle Yu Shan's.

As soon as he stepped inside, Jiang Yuan's lips curled into a smile.

Jiang Yuan stepped into this office, glanced around a few times, and a smile curled at the corner of his mouth.