The noble district.
The district administration building.
The monitoring room on the top floor.
The walls were covered with display screens.
Every surveillance feed in Zone 108 could be accessed from here.
Besides a few staff members, there were two other people in the monitoring room.
A man in a black coat sat in a chair, listening to a subordinate in a black uniform report to him.
"I sent out two hundred spirit bees to conduct a comprehensive search of Zone 108, but they didn't find a single clue. I think they've already left the zone."
"I think they're still in the zone."
The middle-aged man codenamed Black Crow offered his analysis.
He suspected that Qin Xun, at least, might still be in the zone.
The reason was simple.
When Lone Wolf and White Flower were killed at Qin Xun's home the night before last, Qin Xun hadn't been there. He had been stealing from the Killing Arena's office building.
By the time Qin Xun came out after stealing from the office building, every passage out of the zone had already been sealed off.
All the hidden gaps that could be used to get through the high wall had been blocked!
That meant the most those Psionic Power users could have done was get Qin Xun's sister out before the entire zone was sealed off.
Now, there were three possibilities.
The first was that, after killing Lone Wolf and White Flower last night, the Psionic Power users had split into two groups. The first group had taken Qin Ling away.
The second group had stayed behind to look for Qin Xun, and they had found him, but were now trapped in the zone!
The second possibility was that none of the Psionic Power users had left the zone, and neither had Qin Xun's sister. After finding Qin Xun, they had found a place to hide.
The third was that all of them had already escaped!
Of the three possibilities, he leaned more toward the first.
The young man shook his head. "That's unlikely. If they hadn't left the zone, there's no way they wouldn't have left a single clue. None of the patrols or the Guard Team in Zone 108 have found anything unusual, and not a single Guard Team member or patrol officer has come to harm so far. Even my spirit bees can't find the slightest trace of them."
"Don't forget, there are several Psionic Power users among them. Your spirit bees can detect things, but they might have some way of evading detection!" The middle-aged man pointed at his head. "Sometimes, you can put yourself in their shoes. Think about it. If we were them, what would we do in this situation?"
The young man lowered his head in thought. "If I were them, and I still hadn't left the zone, I'd have two options."
"The first would be to find a way out of the zone as quickly as possible!"
"The second would be to find an absolutely safe place to hide, wait a few days for security to loosen, and then find a way out of the zone!"
Black Crow said, "Is there an absolutely safe place for them in Zone 108 right now?"
"Fifty demon hounds will be transferred here early tomorrow morning. By then, even if they're hiding underground, we'll be able to dig them out!"
"Wait! Underground?" The young man paused, then hurriedly said, "Could they have dug a tunnel and escaped?"
"Dug their way out? Do you know how much work that would take? Zone 108's high wall extends thirty meters underground. Where would they put all the dirt they dug up?"
"Besides, the Guard Team and patrols are everywhere. If it were you, could you make sure you didn't make a sound while digging and avoid being discovered?"
"Digging a tunnel would be extremely stupid. If they had any brains at all, they wouldn't choose that way to escape!"
The young man thought about it and had to agree. Digging a tunnel really was impractical.
Besides, if there were an underground passage, they should have found it long ago after searching for so long.
"Then could they have climbed over or flown out?"
"That's possible too, but the chances are extremely slim. The city wall is covered with an electrified grid, so climbing it is impossible. Our people have also been guarding the places where the grid is damaged!"
"As for jumping straight over... Zone 108's wall is fifty meters high, and there's a twenty-meter-high electric wall built on top of it. I don't think any of those Psionic Power users can jump that high."
"Flying out is unlikely too. Leaving aside whether any of those Psionic Power users can fly, there are detectors on Zone 108's high wall to keep large monsters from the Misty Forest from flying in. As soon as anything of a certain size flies over the wall, the alarm sounds immediately! But so far, the alarm still hasn't gone off!"
"I still think Qin Xun hasn't left the zone!"
"He must still be in the zone, hiding somewhere we haven't found yet. They're unlikely to stay hidden forever, either. Right now, they're probably trying to find a way out."
"If it were me, I wouldn't sit around waiting to die either. Staying in the zone means certain death!"
Black Crow tapped lightly on the table. "Of course, we can't rule out the possibility that they really have left the zone. We need to intensify the search outside it too!"
"All right, I'll go back out and search. I'll try to send our spirit bees through every corner of Zone 108!"
The young man turned to leave, but just as he opened the monitoring room door, a man in a suit walked in. He was in his fifties, with frost-gray hair at his temples.
"We have a lead."
The newcomer was Zhong Tianshou, Zone 108's second District Chief.
The first District Chief had been his father.
Black Crow's eyes lit up, and he stood. "What lead?"
Zhong Tianshou told him about the phone call he had received from He Laowu a minute ago.
"First suspicious point: He Laowu has only ever dared to call himself Xiaowu in front of me, but just now he actually called himself Laowu!"
"Second suspicious point: He Laowu never goes out this late. Outside the zone at night is more than ten times as dangerous as it is during the day. He's terrified of dying, so no matter what it was, he would never choose to leave the city at night!"
"Third suspicious point: Before hanging up, he told me he wanted to give me a young woman, but he knows I stopped being interested in that sort of thing long ago!"
"I deduced that those people have taken He Laowu hostage and made him find a way to get them out of the zone!"
"That's a good way to do it. If I were them, I'd do the same." Black Crow was delighted, relieved that his deduction had been right. Qin Xun and the others were still in the zone!
"There are twenty-four minutes until one o'clock!" The young man glanced at his watch. "We have to hurry and get everyone we can mobilize to the city gate as fast as possible!"
District Chief Zhong Tianshou said, "I already called the Guard Team. Aside from a small number staying behind to guard the other passages out of the zone, everyone else is heading toward the city gate! We'll trap them like turtles in a jar!"
"No!" Black Crow shook his head. "Have the Guard Team stay where they are and continue the search. Just send a small group of elites over."
"Otherwise, a large number of Guard Team members rushing toward the city gate could easily make them suspicious."
"Never treat your opponents like fools!"
"Also, we can't pull too many people away from guarding the other exits."
"At a time like this, we absolutely can't leave any exit too weakly guarded. Otherwise, it might backfire."
When Black Crow finished, he looked at the young man. "Notify Group One. Have them get to the city gate as quickly as possible, and make sure they do it discreetly. They absolutely must not be discovered!"