Chapter 76: Surveillance

"Target locked, all on‑site personnel, move out!"

Qin Zhixia's voice rang out in the temporary command center.

She turned her head toward Youling, "Youling, stay at the rear and provide technical support."

No wasted words.

In the next second, she spun around and strode out, her high ponytail whipping a sharp arc through the air.

Su Chang and Youling exchanged a glance, each seeing unwillingness in the other's eyes.

But in the end, Su Chang still rose and followed.

A few minutes later, several all‑black, unmarked business vans, like predators in the dark, silently drove out of the City Bureau courtyard and merged into Dong Lin City's traffic.

Five hundred meters from the office building where Wang Ni was.

Inside the modified extended business van, the space was packed with various precision instruments flashing indicator lights, filled with the characteristic hum of electronic gear.

Qin Zhixia sat before the main monitoring screen, her expression focused.

Beside her, Su Chang crossed his arms over his chest, his hulking frame nearly bursting the seat.

Behind them, the petite female agent, like an Invisible Person, was extremely quiet, never uttering a word from start to finish.

"Youling, status?" Qin Zhixia asked coldly into her earpiece.

"Don't rush, infiltration in progress......"

From the headset came Youling's trademark, half‑asleep lazy voice.

"Alright."

"'Mosquito' is in position, video signal linked."

As the words finished, the main monitor flickered, switching to the camera view of a micro‑drone disguised as a flying mosquito.

The lens peered through a partially closed louver, spying on a luxuriously appointed office.

The air was thick with cigar smoke and a nauseating, rank stench mingling money and power.

A bald, burly man in a floral shirt, his face covered in flabby flesh, stood with one foot on a middle‑aged man's back, grinning as he pressed the man's face into the carpet and rubbed it.

"Chief Wang, stop wasting words with him; that old thing is just a rolling‑knife piece, no money!"

Behind the desk, a brown‑skinned man with a big gold chain and a greasy face—Wang Ni—was idly filing his nails.

He exhaled a smoke ring without lifting his head.

"No money?"

"I heard he has a daughter, just started university this year, quite delicate looking?"

The man being stepped on trembled violently, emitting a whimpering plea.

"Chief Wang, please, spare my daughter! She's still a child!"

Wang Ni finally looked up, a mocking smile on his face.

"A child? Once in university, she's no longer a child."

He toyed with a lighter, speaking slowly, "So, bring your daughter here, let her 'attend class' with my brothers, and that 300,000 account of yours will be erased in one stroke. How's that, good enough?"

"You... you're forcing me to die!"

"Death?" Wang Ni laughed, showing teeth yellowed by smoke, "Even if you die, I still have to find your daughter. Don't give face and then take it away."

Inside the command vehicle, the atmosphere was oppressive.

A trailing SWAT officer couldn't help muttering under his breath, "A bunch of scum."

Qin Zhixia remained silent, but her Crimson Phoenix Eyes were colder than the night outside the car window.

After a while.

In the surveillance feed, Wang Ni finished the "business," left the company satisfied.

"Follow him," Qin Zhixia ordered.

The micro‑drone disguised as a flying insect silently adhered to the window of Wang Ni's luxury car.

The vehicle sped along, eventually entering a brilliantly lit affluent villa district.

He got out and entered his own mansion.

He changed shoes, took off his coat, opened a door on the side of the First Floor escalator, and walked in.

The insect‑drone was blocked outside the door.

But that didn't defeat it.

Guided by Youling's control, the drone easily located a ventilation duct entrance by the door and traveled down the duct.

When the drone emerged from the ventilation duct, the view on the screen made everyone in the command vehicle hold their breath.

It was a sunless underground chamber.

In a dark, damp corner, two barely clothed girls were shackled at the ankles with thick iron chains, curled together.

Their gazes were hollow and numb, like two soulless dolls, their bodies covered in bruises and purplish marks.

Wang Ni hummed a tune as he descended the stairs.

He opened a bottle of red wine and examined the two girls as if appraising a work of art.

"Today, whose turn is it?"

He casually pointed at one of them, and the girl's body immediately convulsed uncontrollably.

"Ha ha, you it is," Wang Ni laughed.

What followed was a scene filled with unspeakable wickedness.

Inside the command vehicle, Qin Zhixia's fists clenched with a crackling sound, her knuckles turning a stark white from overexertion.

An instinctive sense of justice made her impulsively want to storm in and kill the scumbag on the spot, more than once.

But she couldn't.

Acting prematurely will only stir up the grass and scare the snakes, affecting the containment plan.

Qin Zhixia suppresses her fury; even though she is tormented, she still restrains herself and constantly reminds herself of her duties.

And beside her, Su Chang watches the screen showing a girl being violated; not only does he feel no anger, but a sickly excitement flickers in his eyes.

He licks his slightly chapped lips.

It's been a long time... I haven't played with such fresh, tender goods.

He recalls the time at the Ninth Division, when, taking advantage of his special status, he also toyed with several girls in this way.

Afterwards, the disappearances of those girls were treated as unsolved cases and left hanging.

No one would hold the Ninth Division accountable for a few lowly ants of society.

Now that it's the Investigation Bureau, the Regulation should be about the same.

When this mission ends, I'll need to find a chance to "relax" as well.

Anyway, for an elite like him with unparalleled abilities, even if he kills someone on the street, the state will suppress the incident to keep its sharp blade.

Thinking of that, Su Chang feels a surge of heat in his chest.

The basement atrocities finally end.

Wang Ni returns to the living room satisfied, lights a cigar, leans comfortably on the sofa, and inhales clouds of smoke.

It's as if the violent demon just now has nothing to do with him.

The atmosphere inside the command vehicle is so oppressive it's almost solidifying.

Qin Zhixia steadies her emotions, but suddenly feels something is off.

From the second time the target saw the image until now, almost two hours have passed.

"Ghost."

She speaks into the ear mic, breaking the silence.

"Analyzing past cases, from the moment victims first see a Smiling Dummy photo to the suspected attack by a Smiling Dummy leading to disappearance, on average how long does it take?"

From the other end of the ear mic, the sound of Ghost tapping the keyboard comes through.

"Building the data model... hold on, it will be analyzed shortly."

Ghost hasn't finished speaking.

Ding‑dong—!

A crisp, abrupt doorbell rings, captured by the drone's microphone, and sounds clearly inside the command vehicle.

Everyone in the vehicle, including Su Chang, who has been drifting far away, jolts sharply!

On the main monitoring screen.

Wang Ni on the sofa furrows his brows, looking toward the door with puzzlement.