Chapter 1

In early May in Dongcheng, the climate was mild. The bustling streets and towering buildings did not block the sea breeze from sweeping through the entire city.

May was the most refreshing season in Dongcheng.

However, the season was not the main factor affecting people's moods. For example, Zhang Tian was completely unaffected.

At the square in the fourth district of Dongcheng, Zhang Tian, in his forties, wore a sun hat and a pair of thick glasses, the thickness of which matched the fat on his chin. Zhang Tian was very fat and prone to sweating, even in May in Dongcheng. He held a black large suitcase in one hand while checking his watch, and with the other hand, he wiped the sweat that kept seeping out of his forehead with a small towel. Sitting on a bench, his left foot tapped an unnatural rhythm, and even passersby could see his anxiety at a glance.

About thirty meters away from Zhang Tian, a couple was eating ice cream and leaning on the railing, watching the children play with决明子 in the small playground. They occasionally glanced at Zhang Tian, who was not far away, while chatting.

Directly opposite Zhang Tian, on the second floor of the mall, was a coffee shop. The large floor-to-ceiling windows allowed the people in the coffee shop to clearly see the square. At a window seat, a 28-year-old man sat, dressed in a well-tailored suit, with a short, neat haircut and a well-maintained face, his features sharp and his body strong. With him was a beautiful woman, who was not an ordinary woman; she held a microphone, indicating she was a journalist.

The female journalist looked at Zhang Tian and asked, "Officer Zhao, it seems this man is our suspect?"

"Haha, Miss Dong is very smart, even you can see it," Officer Zhao, named Zhao Ang, said with ease. "Please forgive me, please forgive me. Nowadays, the intelligence of criminals is getting lower and lower, and we are also very helpless. Of course, we are strategically contemptuous of the enemy, but tactically we still take them very seriously. Although the suspect has no experience, we have still dispatched four teams to monitor the area from the east, south, west, and north. At the same time, we can contact the patrol cars for support in the first instance. It will take only five minutes, even if he were Usain Bolt, it would take only five minutes to catch him." He was very confident.

Reporter Dong asked, "Is it too much to underestimate him?"

"No," Zhao Ang smiled and shook his head. "Humans are not as strong as lions, but why are humans the rulers? Lions can only be in the zoo cages? Because of the brain. Look at how many mistakes he has made. The first mistake is standing directly in the sun, which will obstruct his vision and prevent him from judging the situation around him. The second mistake is checking his watch every ten seconds, which will not make time go faster but will only make him more anxious and uneasy. The third mistake is that his left hand is tightly gripping the suitcase, wasting a lot of energy. The fourth mistake is that he met me, and I am very sorry about that."

Zhao Ang posed, and the camera adjusted its angle. Zhao Ang was very satisfied and said, "Of course, physical strength is also very important, but he is not a violent person. In my personal view, this arrest will not involve any physical conflict. As soon as we reveal our identities, he will immediately surrender."

Reporter Dong asked, "Officer Zhao, I remember you seemed to be demoted due to overconfidence and improper command, so..."

Zhao Ang said seriously, "Miss Dong, every position is important. I do not deny that in the eyes of many citizens, drug smuggling and pharmaceutical smuggling have a slight difference. But what is the difference? There is none. Drugs are a kind of medicine..."

"Boss," the walkie-talkie said, "fifteen minutes left."

Zhao Ang pressed the earpiece, "Understood... Miss Dong, everyone may think that a cleaner is not important, at least his contribution is not as significant as that of the mayor. But that's not true. The mayor and the cleaner are just jobs. Just like me, as a senior drug enforcement officer and now a pharmaceutical smuggling officer, both are jobs that need to be done. Take the phone on the square, for example. It exists because someone needs it, and it has value. The value does not lie in its level but in its existence."

The phone Zhao Ang referred to was a plastic human model dressed in a phone costume, distributing flyers on the square to attract potential customers to accept the discounts on the flyers and buy phones at the designated phone sales office.

The phone distributed flyers all the way to Zhang Tian, handing him a flyer. Zhang Tian only noticed someone approaching when the flyer was already on his suitcase. The person in the phone costume whispered, "Read carefully."

Zhang Tian was stunned for a second, then looked down at the flyer. A small earpiece was attached to the flyer. Zhang Tian pretended not to care, took the flyer, and quietly inserted the earpiece into his left ear, watching the phone person leave.

Soon, a voice came from his ear: "Mr. Zhang, I am 911 Escort. You only listen, do not speak, and do not move. Wipe your sweat with your left hand to indicate you do not understand, and with your right hand to indicate you understand. The situation is as follows: you have been betrayed, and there are about three teams of anti-smuggling police near you. You are a small fish; their target is your buyer. Do you understand, or not?"

Zhang Tian took a deep breath and wiped his sweat with the right towel.

"Next, you need to remember the steps. Leave the square, cross the street, go to the eighth floor of the opposite commercial building, exit the elevator on the eighth floor, turn left, walk straight for one hundred meters, and there will be a clothing and department store. Take any set of clothes and enter the seventh fitting room." The voice asked, "Do you understand, or not?"

Zhang Tian thought for a while and wiped his sweat with the right towel.

The voice said, "Don't rush, wait for my command."

"Oops!" A mischievous child was pulled and fell towards the couple monitoring Zhang Tian. The girl couldn't avoid it, and the ice cream landed on the child's collar.

At this moment, the voice said, "Go, don't look around, as it will expose your intentions. Just look at your destination to buy more time."

...

Zhao Ang was still chatting with Reporter Dong, but the cameraman reminded him, "Officer Zhao, the person has left."

"Boss, he's heading to the commercial building," the woman in the couple noticed.

Zhao Ang moved quickly, stood up, and leaned to the window, looking at Zhang Tian approaching the commercial building. His pace was neither fast nor slow, natural and relaxed. Zhao Ang said, "He shows no signs of escape or alertness." Why did he suddenly go to the commercial building? Zhao Ang said, "Team Two, follow him."

"Team Two, understood." A man returned the newspaper to the kiosk and walked towards the mall entrance.

Reporter Dong asked, "Officer Zhao, is there anything wrong?"

"A bit strange," Zhao Ang frowned. Something was off. Although Zhang Tian was a small case, he had spent two days understanding Zhang Tian. His behavior on the square was normal, completely as expected, but seeing him walk these dozen meters, his steps were steady and confident, which did not match the profile he had made of him.

The man from Team Two looked at the elevator and reported, "Boss, he went to the eighth floor."

"Eight floor?" Zhao Ang immediately asked the coffee shop waiter, "What does the eighth floor of the mall sell?"

The waiter replied, "Clothing."

"Golden Cicada Shedding its Shell!" Zhao Ang picked up the walkie-talkie, "The prey is about to escape, take action, quickly, quickly, quickly." Damn, yes, he was overconfident, but he should have been confident after knowing the enemy and himself. God, please don't let anything go wrong. He had already been demoted four times in two years, and his forehead was black to the point of being terrifying.

Zhao Ang no longer paid attention to Reporter Dong and the camera, sprinting towards the second-floor elevator.

PS: The story of this book does not take place on Earth, and the non-civil institutions involved are purely fictional.

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