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"When Captain Pei asked me that, I thought you were with him, Brother Xun." Anxiety crept into Wang Yu's voice too. "I'm sorry, Brother Xun. You're always by the captain's side, so I just assumed it was the same this time. Now the captain's there alone..."

"Where are you now?" Xun Yin interrupted Wang Yu coldly.

"At the station."

"Right. Send me the address, then bring a headset and wait for me at the alley entrance." Xun Yin took a deep breath, steadying his trembling fingers. At least now he knew where Pei Qingyu was. He continued making arrangements calmly.

"Bring new headsets. We still don't know which ones are bugged. Then have Song Ranran look into this place and report back in real time."

"Yes." Wang Yu's voice steadied too. He gave a brief reply and immediately got moving.

Xun Yin hung up and got into the car. Resting his hands against the steering wheel, he slowly bowed his head and let out a silent breath.

When Pei Qingyu arrived, he finally realized where the shock and disgust in Wang Yu's voice had come from.

The alley entrance was dark, but once he rounded a corner, everything abruptly brightened. Bars flashing with neon lights of every kind lined both sides of the small space. Some people leaned against the doorways, grinning vacantly with glazed eyes, while others slumped on street corners, their condition unknown.

Pei Qingyu surveyed the area unobtrusively. His gaze lingered for a few seconds on the bar Wang Yu had told him about, but he turned and walked toward another bar a few doors away.

"Hello. Who are you looking for?"

As expected, Pei Qingyu was stopped right at the bar's entrance. He stared at the hand blocking his way for two seconds, then looked up with a faint smile.

"I'm looking for Zhuo Wumian."

The man at the door visibly froze, then stepped back half a pace and studied Pei Qingyu carefully. Pei Qingyu had long since taken off his police uniform and changed into suit trousers and a white shirt, with a long, solid-black coat draped over his shoulders. Holding the coat closed with one hand, he stood there with the hint of a smile and let the man look him over.

The coat belonged to Xun Yin. Its fabric felt silky smooth and looked expensive at a glance-yet Xun Yin had specifically left it in the car for him to use as a blanket, worried he would get cold.

Even now, Pei Qingyu remembered how Xun Yin had taken his hand with an utterly serious expression and made him feel the coat's texture. "Look, Captain. This is good fabric. It's warm and comfortable as a blanket."

Xun Yin was a little taller than him, so the coat looked particularly large on Pei Qingyu. After half a second's thought, he had brought it along anyway, draping it over his shoulders instead of wearing it.

The dazzling lights at the bar's entrance shone on Pei Qingyu's face, making his skin look even paler. His medium-length hair fell to his eyes, giving him a sickly beauty.

After studying him for a long while without figuring anything out, the man finally stepped back and turned sideways, clearing the way inside.

The corners of Pei Qingyu's lips lifted, and he walked past without looking aside. A staircase at the entrance led straight down. Pei Qingyu rounded one flight, glanced at the person behind him, then quickly caught hold of the window ledge above the landing. With a heave, he vaulted back up to ground level.

He pressed lightly against his chest, then silently circled around two rows of buildings toward the place Wang Yu had mentioned.

The differences in quality between the bars' facades were obvious at a glance, but their backs, just a wall away, were equally dilapidated. Pei Qingyu quickly counted the units, pinpointed his destination before anyone noticed, then hooked his hands over another window ledge and swiftly dropped below.

By the time Xun Yin reached the alley, Wang Yu was already waiting anxiously with the headsets. The moment Xun Yin got out of the car, Wang Yu hurried over.

"Brother Xun, something's wrong," Wang Yu said quickly, keeping his voice low. "It's not how it was inside when I... left."

Xun Yin's heart lurched. Frowning, he took the headset and headed inside, gesturing for Wang Yu to continue.

"When I came earlier, it was really lively inside, with all sorts of people. But just now, while I was watching the alley entrance, I couldn't hear a thing. I couldn't help going a little farther in, only to find it pitch-black. All those people and storefronts were gone."

As they spoke, they had already reached the inside of the alley. Xun Yin stopped, and the rest of Wang Yu's words fit the scene before them perfectly. "It was as if a curfew had suddenly started."

"It was closing time."

Xun Yin replied and started forward again, carefully observing their surroundings. In the darkness, he could only vaguely make out the shapes of old roller shutters, with bags of rubbish piled outside. In daylight, this would look like nothing more than an ordinary abandoned dead-end alley. No wonder the Narcotics Team had failed to discover it all these years.

"Zhuo Wumian went in here earlier... Huh, Brother Xun?" Wang Yu stopped at a roller shutter and turned back, only to find Xun Yin heading straight toward the very end of the alley. He called out in confusion and hurried after him.

"Brother Xun, it's not here..."

"There's light."

Xun Yin tipped his head to indicate it, then reached out and gently lifted the roller shutter in front of him. "Light means someone's definitely here. If the captain really is here, this is the likeliest place to find him."

He withdrew his hand, stood up, and looked around. Suddenly, he reached up and caught the eaves, then pushed off the wall beside him and vaulted straight onto the roof.

"Brother Xun, I can't get up there."

Wang Yu felt like crying but had no tears. His height was only average in the Special Case Team. Once he jumped and caught the eaves, he couldn't reach the wall beside him with his feet no matter what he did.

"I'll go. Stay here and back me up." Xun Yin went over to the back of the building, his voice drifting faintly over. "Contact the Narcotics Team again. No need to alert anyone. Just have their leader come over."

"Why...?" Wang Yu asked, puzzled.

"Just tell him his younger brother is misbehaving again."

Beneath the building was a spacious hall.

The moment Xun Yin landed, the smoke filling the air stung his face. He narrowed his eyes and looked around. A circular platform stood in the middle of the hall, with round tables scattered all around it.

The bartender wiping glasses inside the central platform raised his eyes and glanced toward Xun Yin. He seemed unsurprised that someone could still get down here after closing and merely said mechanically, "The additional player has arrived. Please choose a seat. The game is about to begin."