Chapter 990

Evening.

Hot pot gathering.

This time it was a real hot pot—five or six people sharing one pot, placed right on the cafeteria table, steaming hot, instantly turning the large cafeteria into a Cantonese street stall.

The main ingredients were beef; the hot pot shop’s meat slicers stood in a row, chopping with crisp, rhythmic sounds. Cafeteria staff slammed plates onto the table, and officers loudly boasted as they ate.

“Following Team Leader Jiang is comfortable,” Xiao Si stuffed his cheeks full, devouring wildly. He’d had nothing to do these past two days—his stored energy was perfect for eating.

Cui Qi sat across from Xiao Si, his gaze fixed on him like a tether, saying, “Don’t get too relaxed—it’s just halftime.”

“I know Team Leader Jiang’s idea of halftime,” Xiao Si said with a grin, dumping a whole basin of beef into the pot.

The red broth churned, washing the red beef into grayish-white, then dipped into the crimson sauce bowl…

Vrrm—

Jiang Yuan’s phone rang twice; he picked it up.

“Hello,” Jiang Yuan’s voice faded into the distance.

The group eating beef froze, their movements suddenly gentler.

Only Xiao Si leapt to his feet, ignoring chopsticks entirely—he scooped meat straight with a strainer, filling three or four bowls at once, then devoured it furiously.

The detectives in the cafeteria needed only one second to grasp Xiao Si’s logic: Jiang Yuan had taken the call—probability of an assignment skyrocketed. Dinner was about to end. Starvation might follow. What they were eating now might be the best meal they’d have for a week…

Everyone stood up to eat!

Cui Qi sighed deeply, then stood too, scooping beef while glaring at Xiao Si: “I told you you’re a shit-stirrer, and you go stirring everywhere—turning a good meal into this mess.”

“What did I stir?” Xiao Si feigned innocence, jabbing his chopsticks wildly into the pot.

“Shit-stir…” Cui Qi stopped after two words, watching Xiao Si’s motions in the pot—his appetite vanished.

“When Tao Zhi first gave us that nickname, he gave it to all of us,” Xiao Si accepted the epithet but refused to claim it alone.

Cui Qi felt his chopsticks growing hot, as if something unclean had splashed onto his hands.

Others at the table felt nauseated. Li Jiang grabbed beef as fast as he could, mumbling: “Can you two say something appropriate at the dinner table? All day long, stirring, stirring each other—you stir me, I stir you—I can’t wash off the stink even with garlic paste…”

“Li Team, your own speech isn’t any better.”

“That’s just our squad’s style. Next time we get a collective First-Class Merit, we’ll rename the team something with ‘stir’ in it—members will be called ‘Stirrers,’ officially ‘Stirring Squad.’”

“If we actually get a collective First-Class Merit, I’ll teach new recruits to burn incense at your memorial plaques every day.”

The table grew louder and more outrageous, fighting to finish every last piece of meat.

Jiang Yuan returned, holding his phone.

The entire room of full-fed police officers turned to look at him.

Jiang Yuan saw this and couldn’t just sit down casually. He adjusted his already-limited emotional intelligence and said, “New update: the case is showing signs. We’ll start with peripheral work first, then reassess progress.”

He said little and wasn’t specific, but everyone politely murmured, “Oh.”

Tao Lu stepped forward: “Five more minutes to eat. Assemble after a ten-minute break.”

At this moment, the pure discipline of a military unit showed: a synchronized “Yes!” followed by the clatter of bowls and the slurping of final bites.

Fifteen minutes later, Tao Lu began assigning tasks according to a pre-printed list, unit by unit.

As a branch commander, personally assigning tasks at the company level showed extraordinary attention.

After dispatching each team, Tao Lu exhaled and turned to Jiang Yuan: “Wait for news.”

Whether it was the Jianmen Academy case or the current spy cell case, both stemmed from clues decades old—investigations consumed not just time, but immense manpower.

The original witnesses had scattered; just interviewing them would take enormous effort. Qi Changye’s team had always followed a lean, elite approach, relying on police personnel to investigate.

Though time- and labor-intensive, the entire chain moved swiftly.

Domestic transportation had improved drastically—no matter how distant the city, a flight plus a car ride could get you there in hours. But regular officers couldn’t travel that fast, since some units only reimbursed green train tickets; better ones covered high-speed rail second-class seats at most; few even reimbursed economy airfare. Speed naturally suffered.

For Qi Changye’s case, travel expenses weren’t cut. Within a day and night, vast amounts of information poured in.

By noon the next day, Qi Changye found Jiang Yuan, pulled him into a small office, shut the door, and said: “We’ve made a discovery.”

“You don’t need to update me on case progress anymore,” Jiang Yuan said. He was already handling the closing of the Jianmen Academy case.

Qi Changye chuckled twice: “We found some password-related data. The cryptography experts suggest you join in—you’re familiar with the case and have criminal investigation and forensic background. You might bring a different perspective…”

“Fine, I’ll look at the passwords,” Jiang Yuan admitted—he was slightly curious.

His LV5 cryptography skill was useless in daily life. If he ever needed to use it, he’d be better off proving his ability to join a big internet firm, a research institute, or a university. Like image enhancement, encryption and decryption via computers were the mainstream of this era.

Beyond that, espionage was the field closest to the frontlines for cryptography—Jiang Yuan rarely encountered such real-world applications.

Seeing Jiang Yuan agree, Qi Changye stepped out and returned with the three-proof notebook, unfolding it for Jiang Yuan.

The so-called password was nothing but a few sheets of paper covered in random numbers and letters.

Jiang Yuan studied them carefully, then felt disappointed, shaking his head: “Just mnemonic phrases. To decrypt them, you need to find the usage context…”

“You actually recognize them?” Qi Changye’s words surprised him. He knew Jiang Yuan could deduce it, then added: “I don’t doubt you—but the authorities want more evidence.”

“Are you testing me?” Jiang Yuan smirked.

“Yes,” Qi Changye nodded, spreading his hands. “I trust you absolutely, but I can’t control my superiors’ thinking. Still, we’ve caught someone.”

“Caught him?”

Qi Changye: “He’s been detained. The suspect was a cadre in Zhang Xiaoya’s factory, later transferred to the lithograph plant, where he became a mid-level official. Secretly, he took over the disposal of waste paper, gaining intelligence by dumping legitimate printed materials into the scrap bin.”

Qi Changye: “Workers noticed his behavior but assumed he was just trying to earn extra money by inflating scrap quantities. They only muttered privately—no one ever suspected espionage.”

Qi Changye: “When Zhang Xiaoya investigated the lithograph plant, he found its management was lax. This time, Zhang Xiaoya took it seriously. The suspect noticed him copying duty logs and scrap records, claiming he intended to crack down on the factory’s sloppiness. The suspect realized his own actions contradicted the records.”

Jiang Yuan nodded slightly: “Too diligent in a lazy factory?”

“At that time, the lithograph plant’s scrap volume was unusually high—right when a classified meeting was underway,” Qi Changye mused. “The suspect feared that even if he wasn’t caught, he might still be punished—or made an example of and fired. Even if those dangers didn’t materialize, the plant might be shut down or outsourced, all of which would disrupt his intelligence collection.”

Jiang Yuan could easily imagine that decision-making process: “Did he get promoted later?”

“After killing Li Dianzhong, he went dormant, then was reactivated. He had money and U.S. dollars—promotion wasn’t hard.” Qi Changye didn’t elaborate, tucked away the three-proof notebook, and said: “The Jianmen Academy case ends here. I’ve already informed Zhang Xiaoya.”