In the courtyard of the Criminal Police Division—
Xiao Yang crouched down, studying the clearly restored footprint markers on the ground.
Three distinct sets of prints.
Stride length, gait, direction—all labeled in detail.
Two size 41s, one size 43.
From footprints alone, one could infer a suspect's height, weight, and gender.
This was textbook material from the Forensic Science course back at the police academy.
> "Three suspects. Two taller than 1.7 meters, one over 1.8.
Normal build. All male.
Judging by the stride and gait... suspected to be trained in some way, but we can't tell what field—they're not like anything we've encountered."
An old police inspector said this gravely to Xiao Yang.
If even the police couldn't identify them, then they definitely weren't ordinary people.
A person's walk could reveal a lot:
Whether they were a child, youth, middle-aged, elderly, or what profession they might come from.
For example—soldiers.
Years of military drills affect stride length and gait.
Same goes for professional athletes, models, and more.
Xiao Yang's expression turned cold.
He had a very bad feeling.
At that moment, Chu Dongchan also squatted down beside him, examining the prints.
Xiao Yang was shocked.
> Wait, do soldiers know forensics too?!
No, of course not.
But certain "special soldiers" do.
Those trained in intelligence gathering and recon.
These "special forces" needed to be skilled in:
Camouflage, stealth, wiretapping, capture, interrogation—
Anything needed for gathering intel behind enemy lines.
Overseas, they're called agents.
In this country, the insiders call them Special Operatives.
Xiao Yang suddenly wanted to slap himself.
He'd inherited "Warfare King Techniques" from Chu Dongchan,
which included recon and intelligence gathering—
And he'd forgotten to use them?!
Activating those skills, he reexamined the prints.
His face changed instantly.
Oh no.
At the exact same moment—
Chu Dongchan's expression also turned icy, her eyes flashing with lethal intent.
They both looked up.
Their gazes met.
They spoke in unison:
> "Special agents!"
Wait, what?
Chu Dongchan stared at him, eyes filled with surprise and suspicion.
MDZZ! Xiao Yang screamed internally.
> Am I crazy? I've never even met a special agent! How did I recognize this from footprints?
What if someone asks? How the hell do I explain this?!
Luckily, Chu Dongchan only gave him a cold glance—no follow-up questions.
She didn't ask because she knew his background was clean.
He was born into a family of "red roots and pure blood."
His grandfather and parents were all high-ranking officers.
Everyone in his family was part of law enforcement.
His father worked in national security.
So knowing what an agent is? Not strange at all.
Xiao Yang breathed a sigh of relief.
He stared at those three sets of prints.
Three special ops?
To be precise—three suspected foreign intelligence agents.
This was big.
Meanwhile, the interrogation of the "terrorists" yielded results.
Turns out—
They weren't terrorists at all, but a bunch of cultists who'd been brainwashed for years.
As for why they staged a bombing?
They were manipulated by someone higher up in their cult.
Xiao Yang played out the scenario in his mind.
Someone approached the cult, offered incentives—
Used them as tools to create chaos and distract the police.
The real masterminds…
He looked again at the three sets of footprints in front of him.
Clever. Very clever.
If these really were foreign agents—
Then whatever they were after must be terrifying.
But why would something like that appear in a police division?
Xiao Yang's mind felt a strong jolt of dissonance.
This doesn't fit the script. At all.
Still—none of this had anything to do with him.
Xiao Yang stood up and followed the tracks into the police building.
From the footprints alone, he could see how the three suspects subdued the on-duty personnel.
The entire process was lightning-fast—
So fast that the officers had no time to resist.
Without firearms, they were essentially just civilians facing elite combatants.
Once the agents controlled the three officers,
they split up: one kept watch while the other two searched the premises.
They checked many rooms—
Storage, interview rooms, interrogation rooms, offices—even the evidence room.
They rifled through multiple items.
Even if they wore gloves, the disturbance was visible.
Police wear gloves and shoe covers during crime scene work—
But that doesn't mean they leave no trace.
As mentioned before, air carries dust and micro-particles.
Unless sealed in airtight containers, all surfaces collect residue.
Gloves can still lift particles, altering the dust composition.
So even if gloved—
They still left marks.
Judging by the scene, nothing was stolen.
No missing items.
The whole thing lasted maybe twenty minutes.
Then—they left.
> "This is really strange…"
Chu Dongchan frowned after hearing Xiao Yang's summary.
> "If you noticed it—and you're not even a professional—
Then it's definitely strange,"
Xiao Yang said coldly.
The forensic team laughed darkly too.
If these guys really were agents—
Why would they leave such clear signs?
Wouldn't they know that trained professionals could spot their trail instantly?
If they were really that dumb—
They weren't qualified to be in intelligence.
There was only one explanation.
> The traces were left on purpose.
But why?
> "Here's a thought—"
Xiao Yang narrowed his eyes.
> "What if… they don't even know what they're looking for?
They just know that something important is here, in this division."
> "Maybe someone brought it here.
And after that person left, they searched them and found nothing.
So they assumed the item was stashed somewhere inside."
> "But they don't even know what form the item takes—
Maybe it's hidden inside something else.
So even if they searched the whole building… they still couldn't identify it."
> "And if they don't know what it is—
Yet still orchestrated a bombing and a full-scale fake assault—
That only means one thing…"
Chu Dongchan's eyes lit up—like stars in the night.
The senior detectives' eyes gleamed too.
Xiao Yang didn't need to spell it out further.
The message was clear.
> **Someone staged this entire charade—
Not just to retrieve the item…
But to use the police to help find it.**