Our ancestors, adept at summarizing everything, left behind countless insightful sayings, such as—the mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind!
This night, when Ping An discovered the "colossal" drone, although surprised, everything was still under control; when he found the Spider-Man scaling the building walls in an unconventional manner, although unexpected, he wasn't overly fearful; only when he inadvertently saw a fleeting red light on the opposite building did a faint feeling of—fear, well up within him.
Unconsciously, midnight had passed. At two in the morning, almost every household had gone to bed. In the parking lot filled with cars, silence reigned. The two police officers who should have been patrolling were found lying on the ground, their whereabouts unknown.
"Hey, wake up!" Ping An, emerging from the elevator, was the first to discover the two police officers. After a brief examination, he found that they had merely fainted.
"Teacher Ping An!" The two police officers slowly woke up, one clutching the back of his head, the other his neck.
"What happened?" Ping An asked urgently.
"Don't know, my head suddenly hurt, and then I fainted..." One of the officers shook his head with effort.
"Me too, my neck felt like someone grabbed it, and before I could even turn my head, I passed out," the other officer said.
"Ruthless methods!" Ping An helped the two officers up and pointed to the motor room behind him, saying, "Follow me, let's go take a look ahead."
The motor room, in any building, is the most crucial area. Yet, the motor room, which should have been locked, was wide open.
Ping An pushed open the motor room door, surveyed the surroundings, and finding no issues, asked the two officers to think hard about what had just happened.
"After we received the order from Director Liu, we immediately searched the parking lot. I noticed the motor room door seemed to have been opened, so I went to check. But as soon as I opened the door, my head hurt, my vision went black, and I knew nothing more," one of the officers recalled.
"And you, why did you faint?" Ping An asked.
"I was watching him open the door, and then, then there was a sharp pain at the back of my neck. I was about to call him for help, and then I don't know," this officer said.
"What are your names?" Ping An looked at the two unlucky officers and asked after a moment of thought.
"My name is Ji Xing, and his is Feng Zhen," said the officer who had been hit on the head. "We are police academy cadets, doing our internship here."
"Alright, from now on, you two must not leave each other's side. Follow the surveillance cameras and check from south to north," Ping An said, looking at the two young intern police officers with a helpless shake of his head.
It was their first time following the director on a mission, only to be knocked unconscious. This was a huge blow to the two intern officers. Now, facing the experienced Ping An, they seemed to have found their anchor and followed his instructions obediently.
After instructing the two intern officers, Ping An walked towards the north. But after only a few steps, he suddenly heard the voice of the police officer named Ji Xing.
"Teacher Ping An, were there two—suspects—in the parking lot who attacked us—" Ji Xing asked loudly.
"It's not impossible that there were two, be careful," Ping An replied after a moment of silence, with a sigh.
"Teacher Ping An, wait a moment!" Ji Xing suddenly said with a hint of nervousness in his tone.
"Hmm?" Ping An turned around to look.
He saw Ji Xing, who had somehow produced his police baton, holding it in a defensive posture towards Feng Zhen.
"What are you doing?" Feng Zhen asked, completely bewildered.
"Teacher Ping An, I suggest we take Feng Zhen upstairs and detain him first," Ji Xing said nervously.
"Young man, don't be impulsive!" Ping An sighed softly and said, "What if it's not what you think?"
"What do you mean?" Feng Zhen was frantic.
"Teacher Ping An, you knew it all along, didn't you? What do you plan to do?" Ji Xing said somewhat flustered. "If there was only one suspect in the parking lot and he attacked me head-on, I would have fallen first. How could you not have known? If there were two suspects, the person attacking you from behind would need to be very close. Why didn't you, who were supposed to be covering the rear, notice?"
"What are you talking about?" Feng Zhen looked at Ji Xing nervously.
As it turned out, Ping An had discovered the problem from the moment he heard their accounts, and he naturally had the same questions. However, at this moment, he couldn't make an effective judgment, so he let the two "watch" each other and move under the cameras. Compared to the person hiding in the shadows, these two police officers, with their names, identities, and backgrounds, were easier to investigate. Whether they would be questioned later or released to act as bait could be decided based on the situation.
And now, Ji Xing, who had also noticed the problem from the interrogation, couldn't wait to step forward. This indeed gave Ping An a headache.
Ji Xing had to step forward. He had been so scared he almost wet himself all night. If he had been hit first and accepted his misfortune, that would have been one thing. But the logical loopholes in the attack process left him somewhat dazed. It wasn't until Ping An instructed them to stay "inseparable" that the meticulous Ji Xing finally discovered the problem. It was at this moment that he suddenly turned to look at Feng Zhen, his roommate for the past three months—and found him "sneering." Instantly, a chill ran down his spine. Instinctively, he drew his baton and called out to Ping An.
How could one person attack two people simultaneously? If he was attacked first, why didn't Feng Zhen notice? How did the wound on the back of his neck appear? Was there a second person? How could there be a second person? How could the second person have teleported from the empty space behind Feng Zhen? The parking lot was so quiet that you could hear a needle drop. Why didn't Feng Zhen notice? Perhaps...
Facing the "terrifying" attack, Ji Xing was confronting the most difficult standoff of his life. Fortunately, Ping An was right in front of him. Although he didn't know him, he had heard of him and knew that as long as he was there, they could control the situation, unless, unless—
Ping An remained silent, glanced at Ji Xing, who looked like he was about to wet himself, and then suddenly ran towards the north without looking back.
He ran? What the hell, he ran?
Ji Xing was stunned. Watching Ping An run farther and farther away, he slowly uttered a curse from his pursed lips.
Ping An, naturally, wouldn't play detective games with two young police officers at such a critical moment. Just as Ji Xing was launching into his exaggerated "revelation," Ping An's keen ears caught a low cough from the north side of the parking lot.
Therefore, he ran north without a word of explanation.
Back on the ground, Gao Xiaofei poked half of his body out of his window, holding a clothes rack, pointing at the Spider-Man who had already climbed to another floor, and loudly directed Hei Dou and the others below.
Liu Kedu, who had arrived on the ground, remained indifferent to Ji Xing's pig-like roar through the intercom. Annoyed, he turned off the intercom, took the large spotlight handed to him by the security guard, and aimed it directly at the Spider-Man crawling on the building.
"Are you still sleeping?" A gruff man from a unit in building 2 opened his balcony window angrily, shouting curses at the people below. Suddenly, he spotted the Spider-Man clinging to the balcony window of the neighboring unit, let out a yell, and then promptly fainted.
The search operation in the residential compound intensified. Many residents of building B were awakened. More and more people opened their windows to watch the commotion. With Gao Xiaofei threatening from above with his clothes rack, Liu Kedu shining his spotlight from below, and confused residents intermittently yelling obscenities from their windows, the Spider-Man finally prepared to surrender.
"Don't hit me, I'll come down myself!" In desperation, the Spider-Man shouted to Liu Kedu below.
To their surprise, the voice belonged to a young boy.
"Be careful, take your time, don't rush, no one will hurt you!" Liu Kedu said cautiously, and at the same time, instructed Xiao Qiao behind him to prepare handcuffs for the arrest.
At this moment, the Spider-Man was clinging between the 12th and 13th floors. Liu Kedu wanted him to crawl into a nearby resident's home to descend safely, but he was worried that the suspect might take hostages, so he let him descend carefully.
Fortunately, the Spider-Man was skilled in lightness techniques. With the help of a rope, he slowly lowered himself down along the balcony window. Liu Kedu, worried about him falling or attempting a "flying escape" again, kept his spotlight steady, never letting his guard down.
Down in the parking lot, Ping An ran quickly towards the north. With his athlete-like physique, he couldn't guarantee catching up, but he was sure he could see the person.
Indeed, upon returning to the C building parking area, Ping An spotted a dark figure squatting on the ground, doing something unknown.
"Don't move!" Ping An shouted and chased after him.
The shadowy figure was startled by Ping An's shout. In his haste to escape, he stumbled, and in falling, he presented Ping An with the perfect opportunity.
"Whoosh!" A dagger suddenly flew towards Ping An's face. Without time to see the attacker, he instinctively dodged to the side.
Before his dodging feet could steady, the dagger pierced the air again, lunging towards Ping An's heart.
"Bang!" Ping An swiftly kicked out his left leg, a "whip kick" knocking away the flying dagger. He then followed up with his other foot, delivering a powerful kick towards the attacker.
The kick landed squarely on the attacker's stomach. The shadowy figure grunted, collapsing to the ground, the dagger falling to the side.
Having struck a blow, Ping An dared not relax. He lunged at the shadowy figure like a black tiger pouncing, but the figure rolled to the left, evading the pounce. As Ping An landed, the figure quickly scrambled up and rushed into the stairwell connecting the underground parking lot of building C to the plaza outside.
Below building B, the Spider-Man had descended to the sixth floor. The rope he used for descent had already landed on the ground. Liu Kedu still held the spotlight, while Xiao Qiao and the three security guards behind him intently watched the figure above, ready to apprehend him.
Just then, a dark figure suddenly emerged from behind Xiao Qiao. With lightning speed, he grabbed the rope lying on the ground and continued to run forward while pulling it forcefully.
"Stop that guy!" Ping An's voice suddenly came from behind Liu Kedu. He instinctively turned to look, but then heard the sound of a heavy object falling.
It turned out that while the Spider-Man was descending, the rope was suddenly pulled with great force. This unexpected tug caught him off guard, and he lost his balance, falling from the building.
When Liu Kedu turned back, the Spider-Man had already fallen to the ground. Before he could even shout, he saw Ping An quickly run past him, and the words "Quick, chase!" echoed in the air.
Having witnessed so much tonight, Liu Kedu glanced at the Spider-Man lying on the ground, his life or death uncertain, and a surge of "Damn it" rose within him.
"Save him!" Liu Kedu roared at Xiao Qiao, and then followed Ping An.
The figure in black ran closely along building B, with Ping An panting behind him, and Liu Kedu, cursing, following at the rear.
Circling building B, the shadowy figure ran along the side and disappeared into the shadows behind the building. Because the back of the building had fewer streetlights, Ping An suddenly lost sight of the figure once he entered the shadows.
"Who!"
"Stop!"
"Ouch!"
From within the shadows, sounds suddenly erupted.
Ping An took out his flashlight and slowed his pace. He walked a few steps inside and suddenly saw Shui Gang lying on the ground.
"Captain Shui? Are you alright?" Ping An stepped forward to help Shui Gang up.
"Quick, chase him! That bastard is ahead!" Shui Gang pointed towards the depths of the shadows.
Just then, the sound of breaking glass suddenly rang out.
Ping An put Shui Gang down and, with Liu Kedu, moved forward to investigate. They found that the glass of the first-floor stairwell of unit 2 in building B had been smashed. It was clear that the shadowy figure had entered the building again.
The stairwell window was about two meters from the ground. With the glass broken, to prevent his hands from getting cut, Ping An wrapped his hands with a handkerchief and jumped to grab the window frame. After considerable effort, he managed to climb inside.
"Hey, this window glass is broken so neatly, not even a shard left on the window!" After entering the stairwell, Ping An looked at his hands, then at the window, raised his flashlight to shine upwards, and found no movement.
After Liu Kedu also entered the stairwell, the two, unwilling to give up, climbed from the first floor to the top floor. Finding nothing, they descended to the underground parking lot and, after questioning Ji Xing and Feng Zhen, who were still in a standoff, found that no one had entered the parking lot. Liu Kedu grabbed one of them and followed Ping An back to the ground.
"He's probably a resident of this unit, otherwise, he could fly?" Liu Kedu said, looking at the approaching police cars, and speaking to Ping An, who was lying on the grass catching his breath. "The people guarding the entrances of the units in building B didn't see anyone come out. Where do you think the person we were chasing could have gone?"
"Wherever he wants to go. I need to find a place to rest. What time is it? Oh, it's almost three in the morning! I'm leaving the scene to you. I'm going to rest in the RV!" Ping An painfully got up and walked towards the RV.
"Reporter Ping An, are you alright?" Shui Gang, who was being questioned by the police nearby, asked politely as he saw Ping An approach.
"I'm fine. How are you?" Ping An asked.
"I couldn't defend myself, got kicked. Luckily, it's nothing serious," Shui Gang said.
"Why are you out so late at night?" Ping An asked.
"I took a job from Boss Hua tonight, helping him weld some tools. I was returning late and came in through the side gate of the complex. The security guard told me you were on an operation, and I didn't pay much attention. I was walking in from outside in the dark when I ran into someone. Without a word, he kicked me." The security guard behind Shui Gang said with great alarm.
"Indeed, when you entered the main gate, you were carrying that large pile of things on your shoulder. If you hadn't greeted me, I almost wouldn't have recognized you. I told you to be careful, but you still took the shortcut behind the building to save trouble, and almost lost your life!"
After hearing Shui Gang's words, Ping An couldn't help himself. Stumbling, he walked towards the RV and accidentally bumped into Shui Ping.
"You're here too?" Ping An asked curiously.
"Such a big event, I arrived long ago. Reporter Ping An, are you alright?" Shui Ping asked with concern.
"I'm fine!" Ping An smiled and continued walking towards the RV.
"What do you mean? Are you saying the small supermarket in this complex was robbed? Who reported it? What? The automatic alarm at the back door of the supermarket? Were there footprints? How big were the feet? Then it must be a child's footprints! Maybe the kids were just playing! What? You suspect they climbed over the back wall and escaped? There are footprints on the wall too? Bullshit! Jumping from that spot would put them directly within the surveillance range of the side gate, which the doorman would have seen... Let's not worry about that for now, the supermarket didn't lose anything, did it? Well, it's really chaotic tonight, everything is happening at once..."
As he got into the RV, Liu Kedu's shouting could still be heard.
Inside the RV, Gao Xiaofei was looking at his phone, Hei Dou was waiting in the driver's seat for Ping An's orders, and Su Tang, participating in her first arrest operation, had her eyes drooping from sleep but was still persevering.
Ping An took a blanket from under the bed and pulled Su Tang over, telling her to go to bed quickly. He then pulled the curtains and sat on the sofa with a sigh.
"Tossed around all night, one dead, one escaped. Not bad results!" Gao Xiaofei quipped.
"Alright! Can you let me rest for a while? If you want to kill me, wait until I've rested!" Ping An gestured outside the car and said, "The rest is up to you guys. I'm not planning to run. I'll rest for a bit and then you can wake me up when it's dawn. Hei Dou, you should get some sleep too!"
Gao Xiaofei put his phone in his pocket, gestured towards Ping An, sighed, and got out of the car. Ping An ignored the cigarette Hei Dou offered and lay down on the sofa. Within seconds, his snores filled the air.
The serial cases in the Fengdian Residential Complex finally had new developments.
Many residents, especially those in building B, after experiencing this night, were greatly exaggerating the events in various chat groups—"Murderer possesses peerless lightness techniques," "Giant flying object lands in the complex, suspected alien visit?"...
In the early morning, Zhan Dou, holding a cup of coffee and eating breakfast, almost burst into laughter at these exaggerated messages.
However, the police still defined the night's operation as "successful, necessary, effective, and with significant progress."
"The Spider-Man is named Han Xiao, 18 years old, a university student, residing in Unit 4, Apartment 901, Building C. His parents are both employees of the Fengdian Company, very ordinary people, and he's their only child. Sigh!" At nine in the morning, Ping An, sitting outside the RV, drank the juice freshly squeezed by Su Tang while listening to Liu Kedu's report.
"We found a matching telescope in Han Xiao's bedroom, as well as the type of walkie-talkie desktop charger you mentioned. Of course, the walkie-talkie is missing. In addition, there are several printed—photos of Wang Huian being spied upon. Preliminary classification suggests it's a voyeuristic gang." Liu Kedu said.
"He was so agile behind, it must have been him who took the earphones from Hu Yi's body!" Ping An looked at Gao Xiaofei, who was sitting on the other side.
"The deceased had a pair of that type of earphones on him, it's highly likely it was him!" Gao Xiaofei said.
An eighteen-year-old kid, unexpectedly the most deeply hidden. His parents refused to believe it. The police are interrogating him, and new information is expected soon.
"What about the drone? Any news?" Ping An asked.
"The technical department is conducting an assessment. Those claws are very useful; let's see if they can find anything," Gao Xiaofei said.
"What about the guy who escaped?" Ping An continued to ask.
"The entire unit is being searched house by house. More than half have been checked, and there are no issues so far," Gao Xiaofei said. "Do you want to go to the bureau with me? Someone else died, and your stepfather is furious!"
"Get lost! I'm not going. I need to think carefully about what the black shadow who ran away was doing," Ping An said. "I always thought the voyeuristic gang had four people. But if the deceased Han Xiao was the fourth, then who was the black shadow person observing everything on the rooftop last night? Was he also part of the voyeuristic gang? If I hadn't noticed him, he would have continued to hide silently."
Ping An's reasoning was not without merit. Based on the walkie-talkie charger and the telescope, two crucial pieces of evidence—Han Xiao, along with the previously deceased Hu Yi, Wang Shun, and Zhang Ziteng, were likely part of the same voyeuristic gang. The people who snatched the phone and called the police were also four. This was apparent—these four were voyeurs and rapists, but in a more critical situation, such as witnessing Wang Huian being murdered, they still chose to call the police. This indicates that they were at most "crimes of passion," and we can assume they had no other premeditated intentions. However, why did all four of them die unnaturally? Zhang Ziteng was murdered, Wang Shun was thrown to his death, Hu Yi died by suicide under unclear circumstances, and Han Xiao fell to his death accidentally. Wait, Han Xiao was hidden so well, why did he appear? He climbed the building where Wang Huian lived, which was also the building where Jiaozi resided. Could he have been going to Wang Huian's home to clean up some evidence? Or was he going to Jiaozi's home—to play ghosts? To be honest, with his skills, it would have been too easy for him to enter and exit Jiaozi's home under the cover of darkness! But what was Han Xiao's relationship with Jiaozi? What was the voyeuristic gang's relationship with Jiaozi? Why was Jiaozi targeted? Seeing Han Xiao captured, was the black shadow person unintentionally or intentionally responsible for Han Xiao's death? What was the relationship between the black shadow person and the voyeuristic gang? And that damned drone, why was it also targeting Jiaozi? Was Jiaozi some kind of treasure? Wang Huian was the first to be killed! Was Wang Huian's death also related to Jiaozi?
The complex case plunged Ping An into deep thought. Seemingly simple crimes couldn't withstand scrutiny. Some inexplicable characters and events always connected in unbelievable ways.
"Jiaozi is the key!" Ping An lit a cigarette and slowly uttered this sentence.
"Uncle Ping An, why am I the key?" At some unknown time, Jiaozi, accompanied by Su Tang, suddenly appeared before Ping An.
"How did you come down?" Ping An asked Jiaozi in surprise.
"The police were thoroughly searching Jiaozi's home, so I brought her down," Su Tang explained.
"Uncle Ping An, was last night very tough?" Jiaozi said. "Thank you for protecting me. I slept soundly. I haven't slept so comfortably in a long time."
"Jiaozi, would you be interested in attending a summer camp?" Ping An said, looking at Jiaozi with a smile.
"Okay, but my parents probably won't let me go," Jiaozi said.
"No problem, as long as you want to go. I'll take you and Su Tang to the suburbs to go fishing and stargaze!" Ping An made up his mind and took out his phone to call Jiaozi's mother.
The large-scale search of the Fengdian Residential Complex continued until the afternoon. After more than half an hour of phone calls, Ping An finally managed to persuade Liao Yuan. After instructing Jiaozi to go upstairs and pack her luggage, he looked at the elation of Jiaozi, who jumped three feet high, and revealed a foxy smile.
"Reporter Ping An, Director Xiang is waiting for you!" Liu Kedu timidly found Ping An.
"Who has the time to see him? I plan to take the kids out for three days!" Ping An stretched his arms and said, "What about those two unlucky kids? Still haven't figured it out?"
"No, they're both silent, it's driving me crazy!" Liu Kedu said. "My dear reporter, why don't you say something? Did they really encounter a second person at the scene?"
"Tell Ji Xing to count the intervals of the sound-activated lights in the underground parking lot!" Ping An said. "If they still can't figure it out, they should go back to the academy for retraining!"