"Inspector, this is the hidden passage leading underground. The location is extremely well concealed, and the entrance has been carefully disguised, just like the passages we uncovered before."
In a corner of a shop near the site of the assassination, Wang Yan stood with his hands behind his back, looking down at the brick-lined opening in the floor.
Just as the captain had said, this was not the first entrance to the so-called Carefree Cave beneath the city that Wang Yan and his men had discovered. After sweeping through all the medium-sized organized gangs in Bianjing, they had found quite a few such openings.
But the tunnels below truly extended in all directions, and dealing with these underground rats was not especially urgent. Their manpower was limited, so no major operation had been launched. Whenever they found an entrance, their usual practice was to set a fire, have strong men stand at the opening and fan with all their might, then post lookouts high above to watch for smoke. Wherever smoke emerged, that was where they moved in.
It had worked quite well at first, and they had indeed caught many people. But later, the people underground grew wiser. They began moving along with the constables. The moment constables appeared near a tunnel entrance, those hiding outside would use their own channels to send word below. Once the underground people received the message, they would swiftly seal off the tunnels. Naturally, the smoke-based method of locating them stopped working.
Take the tunnel before them, for example. Flooding it was useless, and fire was useless too. The rats below had been deeply involved in Wang Yan's assassination attempt. How could they possibly fail to watch the movements of the enraged Inspector Wang? There was no need to think further; the passage