Chapter 53

The distance between Zone 7 and Zone 3 was nearly two kilometers. In the pitch-black rainy night, Xu Zhangying couldn’t remember when he had let go of Xia Qing’s hand. The howling wind and torrential rain lashed against his face, and the hood of his raincoat had long been blown back by the gale. Yet no matter how fast he ran, a beam of light dogged him, illuminating the ground beneath his feet.

Only when he saw the emergency spotlight from the crane ahead did Xu Zhangying come to his senses and abruptly halt. His face was drenched with rainwater as he turned and seized Xia Qing, who had been following closely behind him.

They were still separated from the spotlight by three or four container walls. Under the glow of Xia Qing’s flashlight, Xu Zhangying’s face was pale. He gripped Xia Qing’s shoulders tightly and pushed him into a corner between the containers. "Wait here for me."

Nearly ten minutes of frantic running had left Xu Zhangying’s lungs burning. The moment he heard the words "Qi Feng" and "gunfight," his mind had gone blank, nearly dragging the unarmed Xia Qing straight into the crossfire.

A flash of emotion passed through Xia Qing’s rain-soaked expression before he spoke calmly, "Alright. Be careful."

Xia Qing then shoved the flashlight into Xu Zhangying’s hand, but Xu Zhangying didn’t take it. Instead, he turned it off, plunging them into darkness. Unable to see Xia Qing’s face, Xu Zhangying fumbled to pull Xia Qing’s raincoat hood back up.

His fingers inevitably brushed against Xia Qing’s cold cheeks as he tightened the hood on either side and muttered, "Stay right here. It’ll be over soon. Only come out when you hear the all-clear on the comms. Don’t make a sound if anyone passes by."

Xu Zhangying didn’t hear a verbal response, but he felt Xia Qing nod slightly. Though he knew leaving Xia Qing here wasn’t entirely safe, his desperation left him no other choice. For a brief moment, he even regretted bringing Xia Qing to the port at all.

Then, he felt a pair of hands cover his own. "Go. I’ll wait for you here," Xia Qing’s voice, soft as a breeze, cut through the clamor of the rain in the darkness.

Xu Zhangying said nothing more. He released his grip and dashed back into the storm.

On his way, Shao Qiaoqiao had quickly relayed two messages over the comms: there were two suspects, and one had fled toward the loading area.

But after that, neither Shao Qiaoqiao nor Qi Feng spoke again. Xu Zhangying guessed they were using the darkness to stay hidden. Tan Song, in the nearest Zone 4, had swiftly activated the crane’s spotlight, while Fang Puxin had already called in backup.

Before stepping into the spotlight’s range, Xu Zhangying ducked behind a blue container and whispered into the comms, "Has anyone seen Qi Feng or Shao Qiaoqiao?"

Song Yuli responded, "Nothing on the northeast side."

Yu Mei’s voice was grave. "Nothing northwest either."

Zone 3 and Zone 7 were on opposite ends, close to the container loading area. Despite the heavy rain, the summer port hummed with activity, so Xu Zhangying could hear the distant rumble of machinery and even the faint sound of waves.

All exits had been sealed. Unless the suspects jumped into the sea, they had nowhere to run. And since they had encountered Qi Feng and Shao Qiaoqiao, it meant the contraband hadn’t been moved yet—perhaps still hidden in a container or some corner.

At 21:08, a deep blast of a ship's horn echoed from the direction of the sea. Xu Zhangying suddenly realized something was wrong. "The ship’s leaving! They might still be here, but the cargo could already be on board!"

If they could capture the suspects quickly, even if the ship departed, they could recall it via coast guard. But if the criminals slipped away now, they’d have no grounds to demand the return of the foreign vessel.

Yan Jianbai’s commanding voice came through the comms. "Everyone, spread out and search for Shao Qiaoqiao and Qi Feng nearby. Stay alert—engage on sight if you encounter the suspects!"

Xu Zhangying immediately began circling the outer edges of the spotlight’s illumination in the dark. Tan Song’s spotlight had cut off a large path between the suspects and the loading area leading to the ship, meaning "they" were holed up in the dark, waiting for a chance to escape.

Alphas and omegas typically had sharper senses than betas, but in this stormy night, everyone was equally disadvantaged—except perhaps for an alpha of Xia Qing’s caliber. Controlling his breathing, Xu Zhangying moved swiftly along the containers.

Less than two minutes into his westward advance, Xu Zhangying detected something other than rain—an iron tang of blood. He froze, unsure whether to be grateful that his former alpha physiology had left his nose sensitive beyond just detecting pheromones.

It was blood.

And it was very close.

In the oppressive darkness, Xu Zhangying pressed against the back of a container, hit with sudden certainty: someone was hiding on the other side of this very container—and they were injured.

He just didn’t know if it was Qi Feng and her partner or a member of the organization.

The relentless drumming of rain against the metal made it impossible to hear the person’s breathing, so Xu Zhangying held perfectly still. Soon, his trigger hand grew numb from the cold.

"Xu Zhangying, Qi Feng and Shao Qiaoqiao’s trackers are 15 meters southwest of you."

In the endless darkness, a clear voice came through the earpiece, like a beam of light cutting through the fog before Xu Zhangying's eyes. It was Xia Qing, his tone still as composed as ever.

The next second, everyone heard him say firmly, "So the person you're facing now is the criminal. Shoot immediately."

Strangely, Xu Zhangying felt his heart tremble slightly. This man had deduced the dilemma he faced simply through earpiece positioning—his sudden halt—and had accurately, calmly cut through the rain and darkness to deliver the answer. But could an ordinary person really make such a judgment?

Xu Zhangying tapped his earpiece lightly twice, acknowledging with an almost imperceptible *thump-thump*. At that moment, Xia Qing precisely reported Xu Zhun's location, and those farther away, like Fang Puxin and Song Yuli, immediately murmured in the channel that they were on their way.

In the heavy rain, Xu Zhangying silently unfastened the watch on his wrist. Responding to the motion, the watch face lit up with a faint green glow. Knowing he couldn’t wait any longer, he flung the watch toward the side of a container ahead—amid the clamor of the rain, the metallic clink erupted about ten meters away, completely seizing the attention of the person hiding by the container.

Almost the instant the watch struck the container, Xu Zhangying lunged forward, dropping into a knee slide across the rain-soaked ground. In the darkness, where human eyes could barely adjust, he decisively lowered his gun and fired.

In the fleeting muzzle flash, Xu Zhangying saw a man in full gear, only his eyes visible—eyes wide with disbelief and terror.

Xu Zhangying had accurately shot the dominant criminal in the knee. The gunshot and the man’s scream rang out simultaneously. By then, Xu Zhun had already glimpsed the tactical pistol in the man’s hand by the muzzle flash and spun, driving a brutal kick to his chin.

All of this unfolded in pitch-black darkness. Even a seasoned mercenary wouldn’t have been able to withstand Xu Zhangying’s ruthless assault, instantly rendered powerless. Just then, a beam of light suddenly illuminated the ground beneath Xu Zhangying’s feet.

Without turning around, Xu Zhangying stomped down hard on the masked man’s gun-wielding wrist. The bone-crunching sound made Shao Qiaoqiao, who was holding the flashlight behind him, shudder uncontrollably.

In the harsh glare of Shao Qiaoqiao’s flashlight, Xu Zhangying stood with his back to her in the rain, like something out of a nightmare. But Qi Feng reacted faster, lunging forward to flip the disarmed criminal onto his stomach and cuffing him swiftly.

Xu Zhangying bent down, picked up the man’s pistol, and handed it to Shao Qiaoqiao before pulling Qi Feng to her feet. His face was icy as he scanned her up and down, lips pressed tight. "Neither of you hurt?"

Qi Feng shook her head quickly. She had pushed back her raincoat hood, her eyes bright with cocky pride. "No, I saw the container door open from a distance and drew my gun immediately. These two weren’t as fast—I hit his shoulder. His accomplice escaped on a motorcycle toward the loading area."

Xu Zhangying took the flashlight from Shao Qiaoqiao and crouched, shining it on the unconscious man now sprawled limp on the ground. He yanked off the mask, revealing a face with obvious Caucasian features, now gruesome—blood gushing from his nose and mouth, the man completely unconscious.

Within a minute or two, flashlight beams converged from all directions. By the time Yan Jianbai, Fang Puxin, and the others arrived, Xu Zhangying was already peeling back the clothes of the unconscious assailant.

"Just as I thought," Xu Zhangying said coldly. "A wetsuit. They didn’t come or leave by land."

As if in response, the distant ship let out another deep horn blast, distorted like distant thunder in the rainy night. Fang Puxin patted Xu Zhangying’s shoulder gently. "Now that we’ve caught this criminal and have evidence of the stolen exhibit, we can immediately request maritime police intervention for the cargo ship."

Xu Zhangying stood up, surrounded by the beams of flashlights. The rain, illuminated, fell like strings of pearls around him. Suddenly, he turned his head to the side—Xia Qing was running toward him from the darkness.

Xia Qing spared only a glance at the bloodied man at Xu Zhangying’s feet before fixing his gaze on Xu Zhangying himself.

"Are you okay?"

The moment Xia Qing spoke, Xu Zhangying caught the hand reaching for his shoulder and gave his trademark faint smile. "I’m fine. This guy was a pushover. Too bad his partner got away."

Shao Qiaoqiao, standing closest to Xu Zhangying, inexplicably felt as though something about the agent had vanished in an instant—an invisible mask shattering, revealing the warm, approachable young man beneath.

As more people arrived—Li Jiali and Benjamin splashing through the rain—Xu Zhangying glanced at the crowd before turning to Shao Qiaoqiao. "Qiaoqiao, where’s the container you found?"

Swamped in her oversized raincoat and standing beside Qi Feng, Shao Qiaoqiao looked almost like a schoolgirl as she pointed at the container behind Xu Zhun. "This one. Xiao Feng and I were about five meters away when we noticed it was already open. Then two figures lunged out from the side. After Xiao Feng shot this guy, we had to dodge him in the dark."

The group hurried toward the front of the container. Yu Mei and Zhang Qi stayed behind to watch the unconscious man—mainly to ensure he didn’t go into shock and die.

Xu Zhangying and Xia Qing stood at the forefront. When Xia Qing’s flashlight beam swept inside the wide-open container, it revealed nothing but neatly stacked sacks of corn—completely empty.

Song Yuli cursed under his breath. "They really moved it. We need to contact the maritime police now!"

Tian Chengyi, more composed, said, "They can run, but they can’t hide."

Xu Zhangying stared into the dark void of the container, silent. Xia Qing turned to him. "What’s wrong?"

Instinctively, Xu Zhangying pressed a hand to his chest and shook his head. "Nothing. I just... can’t shake this bad feeling."

As he spoke, he instinctively raised his wrist to check his watch, only to remember he had just thrown it away. But suddenly, he seemed to notice something and froze.

"Xia Qing," Xu Zhangying suddenly spoke, his voice low, "angle your flashlight down more."

Yan Jianbai was on the phone nearby, alerting SWAT and other units, while Fang Puxin was quietly discussing the coordination with the coast guard with veteran officer Tian Chengyi. At that moment, everyone abruptly heard Xu Zhangying's abrupt command and instinctively turned to look at him.

Amid the white curtain of rain refracted by the light, Xu Zhangying crouched down and, under the beam of Xia Qing's flashlight, wiped his hand across the floor of the container.

Not even Yan Jianbai understood the meaning behind Xu Zhangying's action, and Qi Feng blurted out in confusion, "Ying, what's wrong?"

"The floor of the container is dry," Xu Zhangying turned back, his face turned ghostly pale. "The rain hasn't let up for four hours, so no one has entered this container—let alone moved any exhibits out of it."

Qi Feng's brain short-circuited, and in an instant, everyone's faces turned chalk-white. Tan Song said in disbelief, "These two never went inside? Wait, does that mean the exhibits aren't in this container? Then why were they stationed here—"

The same horrifying realization struck everyone simultaneously. Li Jiali tightened her grip on her phone and was the first to speak in the rain, "It's a diversion tactic. The exhibits aren't in Zone 3."

Fang Puxin jerked his head up and looked at everyone. "Which areas haven't we searched yet? We need to fan out and move now!"

"Wait," Xu Zhangying, who had been crouching at the container's entrance, suddenly spoke again. Everyone turned to him once more, watching as he slowly stood up, his expression darkening, his gaze sweeping over the crowd—or perhaps into the darkness beyond.

"Are we missing someone right now?" Xu Zhangying asked.

Qi Feng suddenly realized something. She whirled around and shouted sharply, "Zhao Yang? Where is Zhao Yang?"

In the pouring rain, over a dozen flashlight beams swung toward one another, illuminating rain-soaked, exhausted faces beneath black raincoats—but none belonged to Zhao Yang.

Shao Qiaoqiao immediately pulled out her phone from a transparent waterproof bag and opened the earpiece tracking interface that Xia Qing had also used earlier. Her fingers flew across the screen as Fang Puxin hurried over. "Where is he?"

Shao Qiaoqiao looked up, her face twisted in fear. "Brother Yang... his earpiece has lost signal. We can't locate him."

Fang Puxin recoiled as if struck. For the first time, panic flashed across his face. He instinctively pulled up his sleeve—the waterproof, luminous watch face clearly displayed the time: 21:21.

"It's too late."