Tracking the Smoke

"Follow me."

Huang Hui followed the smoke and called for everyone behind him to come along.

The tracking had begun. No one spoke as they silently followed Huang Hui and the smoke. Team Leader Zhao had some people stay behind while he led several others after it.

Zhou Yaning and the others followed as well. The group chased the smoke onto another street.

The smoke drifted ahead of them, dissipating a little with every passing second. No one dared stop. The Major Crimes Unit members prayed that it would not vanish too quickly.

They chased it several hundred meters before the smoke floated through the entrance of a hotel.

"Go in and check!"

They rushed into the hotel and saw the white smoke drifting upstairs. Without pausing for even a moment, they chased after it.

"Hey, who are you people? What are you doing?"

The hotel receptionist was frightened speechless when she saw a group of people storm in. Seeing that they were about to run upstairs, she gathered her courage and stepped out to stop them.

"We're the police!"

The people behind her ignored the receptionist's attempts to stop them, shouted that, and kept running upstairs.

Hearing that they were police officers, the receptionist froze. When she saw them disappear into the stairwell, she realized something was wrong and hurriedly called the manager over.

Lu Chengchuan ran with them to the third floor, stopping in front of a room.

The white smoke floated down to the floor and slipped through the crack beneath the door. Everyone looked at one another, unsure what to do.

"Break the door down!"

In the end, Team Leader Zhao gave the order. The white smoke was about to dissipate, and they had no time to find someone to open the door. They could only force it open. As for compensation, the Public Security Bureau could afford to pay for a door.

With his order, a Major Crimes Unit member stepped forward and kicked the door open. Everyone surged inside. The white smoke had just drifted to the window. After flying out, it went straight down and finally vanished several meters away.

"They came down from here. Which way did they go...?"

Everyone looked down. The smoke had flown in this direction. Team Leader Zhao thought for a moment, then turned to the person beside him. "Xiao Li, find someone from the hotel and ask who rented this room."

Now that they had found a lead, whoever rented this room was a suspect.

Xiao Li turned to head downstairs. At that moment, the receptionist from earlier came up with several people. Seeing that they had broken open the room door and that a group of people was crowded inside, the hotel staff looked somewhat bewildered.

What was going on? Had criminals entered the hotel? Were these police officers making an arrest?

"Who are you?"

Seeing someone turn around and question them, the hotel manager hurriedly stepped forward. "Officers, I'm the manager here. Could I see your identification?"

Though anxious, the manager still needed to verify their credentials and make sure they were not deceiving him.

They could not expect people to believe they were police officers based on their words alone. Even police officers had to follow rules and the law when handling matters; they could not simply do whatever they wanted with a few words.

"Show them your IDs."

Xiao Li stepped forward and took out his credentials for the hotel manager to inspect. The others looked around, utterly unconcerned.

"Officers, is there anything we can help with?"

With the credentials right before him, the hotel manager immediately adjusted his attitude and quietly asked whether they needed assistance.

Of course they did. Xiao Li went over and explained the situation clearly. The manager immediately said he would check the records to see who had rented the room.

"Team Leader Zhao, do we still have hair?"

While they investigated who had rented the room, Huang Hui came over to ask whether they should continue tracking.

"Yes. We still have several strands. Leave two for testing, and use the rest for tracking."

Of course they had to keep tracking. They needed to arrest the person who rented the room, and they also needed to keep searching for leads. The two tasks could be handled at the same time; they did not have to abandon either one.

"You two stay here and work the case with Xiao Li. The moment you find out who rented the room, arrest him. Send more people, bring weapons, and don't let anything go wrong."

Several people remained at the hotel while the rest ran downstairs. Huang Xuan picked up a strand of hair and activated his ability, summoning white smoke to continue the pursuit.

Huang Hui had used seven strands of hair in total. The group chased the trail for several kilometers, and passersby thought some kind of competition was taking place.

"Team Leader Zhao, there's no hair left." Without a medium, Huang Hui's ability could not be used.

They had chased the trail onto a scenic bridge. Ahead was the central part of West City. The Mayor's Daughter had most likely been taken there, and the kidnappers were very likely hiding inside.

"Team Leader, Xiao Li has news. They found the person who rented the room and are making the arrest."

"Good. Tell them to catch him as quickly as possible. Send word to the bureau and mobilize people to investigate West City. Keep it covert. Don't alert them or expose our movements."

After running five or six kilometers in one go, even the Major Crimes Unit detectives were struggling.

They found a place to rest and prepared to call a car.

"Captain Zhou, you're all Espers. Can you assist us in investigating inside?"

While resting, Team Leader Zhao went to speak with Zhou Yaning.

Zhou Yaning agreed. "Of course. We have a mission too. As long as we can find Miss Li, we'll go wherever necessary."

"Come back to the bureau with us first. Once we catch the person, we'll interrogate him. You can listen in as well."

Less than an hour later, while they were riding back to the police station, Zhao Lei's phone rang.

"What? You caught him? Good, keep a close watch on him. I'll be back soon."

After running around all day, they had finally received some good news. Zhao Lei told the driver to speed up. He wanted to get back to the police station as quickly as possible and interrogate that brazen man.

Upon returning to the police station, Zhao Lei immediately arranged the interrogation. Thanks to Zhou Yaning, Lu Chengchuan was able to get a seat as an observer.

Zhao Lei straightened his clothes and opened the door to the interrogation room.

A middle-aged man sat inside. He was slightly overweight and balding, and looked rather disheveled. Handcuffed to the interrogation chair, he wore a nervous expression.

When he saw Zhao Lei enter, the man spoke before Zhao Lei could say anything. "Hey, what are you doing? Why did you arrest me? I'm telling you, I'm a law-abiding citizen! I've even donated money to the police department—a lot of money!"

"Chen Dun, a native of Anyang City, a real estate developer. His company is medium-sized."

Inside the monitoring room, a detective introduced the arrested man's identity to everyone.

Since this man was a business owner, though not a major one, he could still be considered successful, especially since he had donated money to the police department.

Under normal circumstances, the police would have to consider the impact of arresting someone like him. They would need to be absolutely certain.

But things were different now. The Mayor's Daughter had been kidnapped. Anyone connected to the matter had to be brought in for questioning. Better to arrest a hundred by mistake than let a single one slip away.

"Of course we arrested you for a reason! Tell me honestly what you did! If you confess voluntarily, your punishment can be reduced. If you keep resisting, no one will be able to save you!"

"What are you talking about? I want to see your superior, I want to see your boss! This is slander! Slander!"

"Shut up!"

Zhao Lei raised his hand and slammed it onto the table. The tremendous bang frightened Chen Dun into silence. Looking at the fierce-faced officer, sweat began to stream down his face.