Chapter 216 - 152: Unexpected

"Two wanted criminals?"

The voice on the other end gradually grew serious.

The Capital City. A place with as many as twenty thousand billionaires!

And just as many figures at the division-chief level.

If two extremely dangerous wanted criminals had infiltrated the city, the number of people they could affect... would be immense!

Fortunately, Zhang Liang refuted this.

"They’re not wanted criminals."

Zhang Liang paused, then said hesitantly, "It’s two people. But whenever they go out, especially when they do something related to business, something bad always seems to happen in the area."

"Like homicides, for example. But the investigations always show they’re not involved."

"Once or twice could be a coincidence, but it’s happened many, many times..."

’In other words...’

"It’s just pure bad luck?"

the voice on the phone asked again.

The person on the other end paused for a moment, then sighed and said,

"Xiao Liang, I’ve told you before, don’t get too close to the people from the Seventh Bureau. They’re not normal over there."

"A few perfectly fine scientists went over, and within days, they were all acting strange and superstitious."

"You’ve only been with them for a few days. How have you become like this too?"

"Have you forgotten who we are? We solve cases. Since when do we believe in superstitions?"

Zhang Liang fell silent.

He had to admit, the Seventh Bureau really wasn’t normal.

He’d heard they were conducting some kind of sensory deprivation experiment, trying to enhance one of the five senses.

The idea was to deprive subjects of sight, taste, and smell, leaving only their hearing to observe how it changed.

It was a known phenomenon with people who had disabilities; if someone lost their sight, their hearing often became more acute than an average person’s.

The Seventh Bureau was trying to artificially replicate this, hoping to find a way to enhance the brain. But so far, the only result was people acting bizarrely, with no breakthrough in sight.

"But..."

Zhang Liang paused, hesitating before he spoke.

"The recent prison redistricting and investigation, the support mission to Zhaozhou not long ago, and even the Corpse Repository explosions in Jiangsan City and Linlan City..."

"They were present for all of them..."

At these words, both ends of the line fell dead silent.

The Special Fifth Bureau had been absurdly busy in the second half of the year.

It was enough to make the director question his entire existence.

After all, as the general level of public safety improved, their caseload should have been decreasing.

The Special Fifth Bureau was even preparing to go public, transitioning from a clandestine to an overt organization!

But the second half of the year had been one massive headache. And the incidents keeping them busy were exactly the ones Zhang Liang had mentioned. In other words, all these cases were...

"Haha, well, that being said..."

The director of the Special Fifth Bureau let out a laugh.

His tone took a sharp turn as his voice came through the phone.

"Since the Special Seventh Bureau is a project from the higher-ups, there must be a good reason for it."

"Even if we don’t believe in that stuff, we should still show some respect."

"A little respect is better than causing offense."

Zhang Liang thought for a moment, then raised an eyebrow.

"So, what you’re saying is..."

"The Capital City isn’t much fun. It’s crowded, there’s not much to see... not like Modu or those other places..."

A flicker of understanding crossed Zhang Liang’s face. He got it. He ventured,

"Ask them to leave?"

"I’ll leave that to your discretion."

...

...

"My boss wants you to get out."

「December 16th. Morning.」

Wang Chao and Xu Huo, who were in the middle of breakfast, exchanged a look. They stared at Zhang Liang, a question mark forming in their minds.

"It can’t be that bad..."

"Yeah, seriously! It can’t be that bad! We’ve been here for almost ten days and nothing’s happened, right!?" Wang Chao argued forcefully.

Zhang Liang thought for a moment. "Well, do you have any other business here in the Capital City?"

Wang Chao shook his head.

"Do you have anything left to plan?"

Wang Chao shook his head again. He’d left all that to Zhang Niu.

"If you have no business and nothing to plan, then what are you still doing in the Capital City?"

Zhang Liang stated bluntly. "Besides,"

"Advisor Xu said something before that I thought made a lot of sense: dots and lines."

Dots and lines. When a person sees two dots, they will instinctively draw a line to connect them.

Applying that to Xu Huo...

"It means that as long as you two are here, if a case pops up in the Capital City, someone will always look your way."

"Even if you’re living on the west side of town and a case happens on the east side, people will still make the connection!"

"Once they make that connection and combine it with your past history..."

"You don’t want your reputation to get any more tarnished, do you?"

Zhang Liang said.

"Hmm, in your own words... this would be... brand influence? Authority?"

"Right. It’s about the value of your brand."

When a case appears in the Capital City, it’s just a case.

But when Wang Chao appears in the Capital City, even if it’s the same kind of case and it happens dozens of kilometers away, people will still assume it was a case caused by Wang Chao!

That is your brand’s equity!

You’ve maxed out your public trust.

A giant question mark was practically written across Wang Chao’s face.

"Makes sense."

Xu Huo nodded, a smile spreading across his face. "Don’t be so tense. It’s all just a misunderstanding."

"Besides, we’ve already bought our tickets."

As he spoke, Xu Huo gestured for Zhang Liang to look out the window.

"The snow is coming down too hard. The flight will probably be delayed."

Zhang Liang followed his gaze.

Outside the hotel, snow was falling in thick flakes. The sky, which had been gradually clearing up, was once again a sheet of gray.

The corner of Zhang Liang’s eye twitched.

"Haha, see? Even God doesn’t want the two of us to leave," Wang Chao gloated.

"This is the third heavy snowfall, isn’t it?"

Xu Huo, however, didn’t say anything, simply walking to the entrance to look at the sky.

The landscape outside was a vast expanse of white, as if covered by a layer of cotton, and more cotton was still falling endlessly from the sky.

"Three consecutive heavy snowfalls in the Capital City’s location... that’s truly rare."

Xu Huo shook his head. "I’ve canceled the tickets."

"We’ll discuss it again when the snow stops."

Zhang Liang sighed in resignation. There was nothing more he could do.