Meng Lang on this side was busy digesting the spoils of the battle at the orphanage.

On the other side, Wang Zhao Ping's criminal investigation team was setting up a heavy guard outside an old lumber mill at the border of the mountains between Suzhou and Hangzhou...

"This is Archie, are all teams in position? Please respond, sizzle~"

[Huihui Team in position! Sizzle~]

[Mao Mao Team in position! Sizzle~]

[Tiantian Team in position! Sizzle~]

[...]

"Very good, all units please focus on the main entrances and exits. Once the operation begins, no one is to leave. We must not let any suspect escape!"

After speaking into the walkie-talkie, Wang Zhao Ping turned to Qin Xiaoru, somewhat puzzled.

"By the way, I felt something was off just now. Who came up with the code names for this operation? They all sound so odd?"

"Hehe..." Qin Xiaoru responded with a somewhat peculiar smile. "So Captain, you really should spend more time with children."

"What's that got to do with spending time with kids? Besides, with case after case these days, I've been in Shanghai for about ten days to half a month, who has the time for home?

Well... but once this operation is over, it would be nice to finally take a vacation..."

Thinking of his son at home, Wang Zhao Ping couldn't help but feel a bit melancholic.

But moments later, he retracted that slight melancholy, picked up the binoculars, and once again started observing the activity inside the lumber mill.

On the surface, it was just an ordinary lumber mill, with seven or eight workers cutting wood outdoors.

Seeing Wang Zhao Ping looking so serious, Qin Xiaoru couldn't help but lean in and ask.

"Captain Wang, you suddenly put down the Shanghai case and brought us to this godforsaken mill, could it be that the Buddha head we're looking for is hidden here?"

"I don't know."

"You don't know?" Qin Xiaoru was momentarily stunned. "Then why are we here?"

"Sometimes conducting a police investigation is like opening a blind box. Who knows what the truth is before it's solved?"

Mmm... that sort of makes sense.

But who goes into an investigation with the mindset of opening a blind box from the start?

"Then we..."

"Shh! Don't speak!" Wang Zhao Ping suddenly raised his hand to interrupt.

In the binoculars' view, two cars driving along a rural path just entered the mill...

Leading was a black G-Wagon, followed by a semi-trailer loaded with thick logs.

Carefully observing the lead vehicle, hmm... it clearly wasn't cheap, looked like the big fish from the intel!

"All action teams, prepare for action!"

...

"Squeak~" The two cars drove one after the other into a three-story factory building.

As the factory's roller shutter door came down, a pair of shiny crocodile leather shoes hit the ground from the lead G-Wagon, and a portly middle-aged man in his fifties with a cigar stepped out, surrounded by people.

Adorned with gold and silver, the emerald ring on his finger was unusually conspicuous, and the tightly fastened Hermes belt on his waist almost couldn't contain his round belly.

"You guys, stand guard around the area, Ah Bao, unload the stuff from the car,"

"Yes, boss!"

A burly, intimidating bodyguard looked just short of having "I'm from the Black Society" written on his forehead, commanded, and immediately several workers in blue shirts climbed onto the semi-trailer, lifted the tarp, untied the ropes, and began unloading.

"Boom~" Amidst a cloud of dust, several tons of rosewood logs were unloaded using assist pulleys and neatly aligned in the factory.

Then someone took a chainsaw and began carefully cutting the wood along a specific line.

"Crack!" The wood split in half, and only after the group moved it did they find it was hollow inside.

Unveiling the moisture-proof and shockproof waterproof cloth and plastic foam, they revealed old bronzes, ceramics... even various rusty ancient knife coins, and gold and silver jewelry inside...

Then came the second, the third log...

Each artifact was carefully packed into boxes, then carried by workers into a nearby stairway.

However, they didn't go upstairs, instead, they followed the downward stairs to a basement floor, passing through three heavily guarded blast-proof steel doors, revealing a completely different world inside!

Under bright lights, in an underground space spanning thousands of square meters, a dozen masked, gloved personnel were busily working.

Some were cleaning rust from bronzes, some were replicating ancient paintings, some were coloring and aging ceramics...

"Phew~" The fat boss exhaled a smoke ring, smiling with satisfaction at the orderly scene in the basement.

Speaking of this underground space, it was an abandoned air raid shelter leftover from the "Dig deep, store wide" era.

Who would have thought it would be transformed into a secret production base by him...

"Let's go to the warehouse!"

As the behind-the-scenes boss, he rarely showed up here, having long delegated work to his subordinates.

But he would come periodically to check the accounts and take away the earnings to prevent internal theft.

However, just as he sat down in the boss's chair, ready to open the prepared ledger on the desk, a subordinate ran over with a courier box.

"Boss, there's a package for you."

"A package?" The fat man paused for a moment, then frowned.

"What nonsense are you talking about, how could my package be delivered here?"

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