Ye Jinchen lowered his gaze, his brow bone slightly raised as his eyes landed on her fair face. He asked slowly and deliberately, “What is it?”

At this moment, he had withdrawn the intimidating presence he exuded in uniform. Bathed in the warm yellow light, his entire aura seemed much gentler.

Sang Tong felt a sudden heat rush to her ears and quickly retracted her somewhat bold gaze. Chaotic images flickered through her mind like a slideshow. She closed her eyes to suppress the mess of thoughts swirling inside her.

“I’ve finished my self-reflection. Would you like to take a look?” Sang Tong said.

Her trembling eyelashes betrayed her guilty conscience, and it felt like sweat was forming on her back. Ye Jinchen, however, assumed she was simply nervous and didn’t pay much attention.

He took the papers she handed over and glanced at them, three neatly written pages.

Unlike her usual delicate appearance, her handwriting had an air of strength—beautiful and neat, clearly practiced.

“Your handwriting’s good, the writing itself isn’t bad either, but there’s a bit too much nonsense.” After skimming through it, Ye Jinchen gave an honest assessment.

Sang Tong: …

It hadn’t been easy for her to reach ten thousand words. Her attitude was definitely sincere! She just added some filler a little, and he still saw through it! (ᗒᗣᗕ)՞

Ye Jinchen casually glanced at the girl’s slightly nervous expression. His thin lips pressed together. “Anything else?”

“Ah?” Sang Tong looked confused.

The captain had already said that, she was mentally prepared to be told to rewrite it from scratch. She didn’t expect Ye Jinchen to ask that suddenly.

“N-no, that’s all. Goodnight, Captain,” Sang Tong shook her head obediently.

“Alright. Get some rest,” Ye Jinchen replied. Then he watched as Sang Tong, as if granted amnesty, disappeared in the blink of an eye. The sound of the door closing followed.

Ye Jinchen retracted his gaze and glanced at the reflection papers in his hand. A few seconds later, a trace of warmth and amusement rose faintly in his otherwise expressionless eyes.

Like a little bunny, running off so fast…

Back in her room, Sang Tong rubbed her face to calm down a bit. Embarrassment? No way. She absolutely didn’t have any inappropriate thoughts!

Not at all!

̶̶̶̶ «̶ ̶̶̶ ̶ «̶ ̶̶̶ ̶ ̶ ̶»̶ ̶̶̶ ̶ »̶ ̶̶̶

“This man is named Xiang Tiancheng, 34 years old. He was previously arrested for theft and released last August. According to the investigation, he now lives on Yongfeng Street…”

Because a clear shot of his face was captured at the rental car agency, they quickly matched him in the database and found the information they needed.

“We got word from Ding Jianxiu this morning, they confirmed he’s at home today,” Xu Ran reported to Ye Jinchen.

“All members of Team Eight, assemble at the parking lot in five minutes,” Ye Jinchen ordered.

“Yes!” the team responded in unison.

Yongfeng Street was on the outskirts of the old city—high building density, mixed population, mostly 7-8 story buildings, and multiple households per floor. This made arrests difficult, so Ye Jinchen had already laid out the capture plan in the car.

“You’ll go with Old Zhang,” Ye Jinchen told Sang Tong.

“Okay!” Sang Tong nodded. She was always clear-headed when it came to important matters.

Sang Tong, Old Zhang, and Le Qiwen were assigned to block the stairway. Ye Jinchen took the rest of the team up via elevator.

“Be careful. Report if anything happens,” Zhang Weimin reminded them.

Le Qiwen guarded the ground floor exit, while Sang Tong and Old Zhang covered the fourth-floor exit. If the target didn’t take the elevator, this would be his only escape route.

Originally, Old Zhang had wanted Sang Tong and Le Qiwen to guard the first floor together, but considering Le Qiwen’s unreliable nature, he decided to keep Sang Tong with him instead.

This type of old building had voice-activated lights. Not long after they crouched into position, the lights went out. A moment later, they lit up again. Sang Tong looked down the stairwell, then looked up.

“Brother Zhang, I’ll go check upstairs,” Sang Tong said.

Zhang Weimin looked at her. Two people working together was better, but he needed to hold the exit. After a few seconds of thought, he nodded.

Sang Tong moved quietly as she ascended. One floor up—nothing unusual. Just as she was about to go back down, she heard a door open above. She looked up—no one came down.

She quickened her pace, climbing another half-story.

Still no movement. The stairwell was eerily silent, but Sang Tong sensed something was off.

She moved faster, climbed another floor, and saw the door to the rooftop was ajar. Sunlight poured in, lighting the hallway, but no one was in sight.

She stepped through the iron door. The rooftop stretched out before her, no sign of anyone. She frowned.

Suddenly, a sound from behind. Sang Tong turned. A missed punch smashed into the wall behind her with a loud thud.

She had dodged in time and put distance between them. When she got a good look at his face—wasn’t it Xiang Tiancheng, the man they were looking for?

Her mind raced. She couldn’t match his strength, but she was more agile.

The man hadn’t expected the person following him to be a young woman. He was about to ignore her, but Sang Tong had already guessed his plan. The buildings were close together, he was going to cross over a plank connecting to the next rooftop.

Sang Tong didn’t waste time. She sprinted forward, glanced quickly at the alley below—no one was there, then kicked the plank down with force, sending it crashing below.

“You bitch, are you looking to die?!” the man roared, stunned by her quick action. His eyes flared red with rage as he turned to her.

Sang Tong’s entire body tensed. Every second stretched painfully long, though only a minute or two had passed.

Xiang Tiancheng lunged with a punch. Sang Tong crossed her arms to block it, wincing from the impact. But she retaliated with a sharp kick that landed squarely—he grunted in pain, clearly not expecting such force from someone so delicate-looking.

Meanwhile, Ye Jinchen, who had broken into an empty apartment, heard the sound of something falling. He looked out the window, it had fallen from above. His expression darkened.

Sang Tong’s kick had thoroughly enraged the man. She lacked his strength, and though her kick stalled him, he recovered quickly and charged again. This punch—she couldn’t block it…

But out of the corner of her eye, she saw a figure rushing in—delivering a fierce kick to Xiang Tiancheng. The burly man was knocked to the ground.

He struggled to get up, only to be slammed down again and restrained. He couldn’t move, only curse in impotent fury.

With just two punches, the man was left dizzy and collapsed on the ground, unable to get up. This wasn’t the first time Sang Tong had seen Ye Jinchen take action.

Back at the train station, he was the same—taking down the opponent in just two moves. If it hadn’t been for that, she wouldn’t have taken that stab for nothing.

Under the harsh sunlight, Ye Jinchen directly cuffed the man. Xiang Tiancheng was pulled up from the ground by Ding Jianxiu and escorted away.

“Are you hurt?” came a deep voice. Sang Tong looked up and met Ye Jinchen’s gaze.

“No.” She shook her head.

“Take Old Zhang’s car when you go back,” Ye Jinchen said indifferently before walking off. He still needed to go check downstairs.

Sang Tong responded with a soft “Okay.”

She didn’t know why, but she felt a little uneasy under Ye Jinchen’s gaze just now, as if she’d be held accountable later.

Actually, Zhang Weimin had climbed up the moment he sensed something wrong. He even had his gun drawn, but someone had moved faster than him.

“Well, this time, you and I are both going to have to write self-reflections,” Zhang Weimin said to Sang Tong with a bitter smile.

“Sorry for dragging you into this.” Acting without permission was bound to get them scolded.

“Come on, let’s head back.” Zhang Weimin knew he’d hesitated. He stayed guarding the fourth floor and didn’t dare leave, which almost let the guy escape.

Most people would run downstairs in a crisis, but Xiang Tiancheng went the other way—straight to the rooftop! And it was Zhang’s fault for not checking the other exits.

This guy Xiang Tiancheng had some anti-surveillance awareness. He usually left home through the rooftop and exited via the neighboring building. When Ding Jianxiu was watching him that morning, he stayed a bit far away to avoid detection, and didn’t see which building he went into.

Their luck was bad, Xiang Tiancheng had been heading out just as they arrived downstairs. The moment they entered, he had just stepped outside. But then he forgot something and turned back—only to run straight into Sang Tong.

They had already taken him back and were letting him sit in the interrogation room. They’d start once Ye Jinchen returned.

About twenty minutes later, Ye Jinchen’s team returned as well, bringing back a few barrels.

“Take these to the next lab and get the fingerprints lifted,” Ye Jinchen told Xu Ran as he handed them over. Xu Ran immediately got to work.

“The guy’s in Interrogation Room 3. Been locked in there for a while now.”

“Sang Tong, come with me to the interrogation room,” Ye Jinchen said at the door. Sang Tong immediately responded.

Ye Jinchen walked fast. Sang Tong had to take quick little steps to keep up. For some reason, she felt his current aura was overwhelming—almost intimidating.

Inside the interrogation room, the man with a body of solid muscle was surprisingly calm. Unlike the fierce struggle when he was first caught, now he was unusually quiet.

“Are you going to confess yourself, or should I ask one question at a time?” Ye Jinchen said as he pushed open the door, not even sitting down before speaking.

“You son of a b*tch… Confess? My ass…” the man spat out, already showing his lack of manners.

“The barrels in your house—good size,” Ye Jinchen said as he poured himself a glass of water, placing it in front of him without offering the man any. His tone was slow and unhurried, showing no urgency.

“What’s wrong? Who doesn’t have a few oil barrels lying around? Is buying oil barrels a crime now?” the man sneered.

“Is the BMW nice to drive? You’ve been making quite a bit of money lately, haven’t you? Why are you still renting cars? Wouldn’t it be better to just buy one?” Sang Tong suddenly cut in.

“Whether I have money or not is none of your damn—” he started to snap back, but when he met Sang Tong’s calm expression and glanced at Ye Jinchen’s cold face, Xiang Tiancheng suddenly fell silent.

The two interrogators didn’t rush him, just quietly waited. Sang Tong lightly tapped her pen on the paper, silently waiting for him to speak. She knew Ye Jinchen had definitely hit a nerve, something Xiang Tiancheng cared about.

After a moment of silence, it was suddenly broken.

“I killed her,” Xiang Tiancheng said.