Chapter 1264: The Big Fish

To be fair, Zhao Fusheng never expected Chen Shijie to come up with such a miraculous idea.

Yes, miraculous.

Although it seemed somewhat absurd, on second thought, it was probably the best approach.

"Are you sure about this?" Zhao Fusheng asked Chen Shijie in a low voice.

After all, they were about to mobilize the armed police. If the intelligence was wrong, they would be in serious trouble.

Chen Shijie let out a cold laugh. "Based on the fact that nearly twenty women have gone missing from nearby villages in recent years, plus what your people have found, I can be sure there's something wrong with the people in these mountains. As for what exactly, I can't say. This place is too remote—no one knows what's inside, and outsiders can't get in. So we have to feel our way slowly."

He paused and said deliberately, "You know I have no connections or background. I got this section chief position only after five years of undercover work. Director Cao can only do so much for me. If I want to move up, I have to take a gamble."

Zhao Fusheng was taken aback, looking at Chen Shijie in surprise. He hadn't expected to have underestimated this guy.

"Alright, I'll put all my people at your disposal. Over the next few days, they'll protect us covertly while scouting the terrain around the village and the mountains. By the way, Zhang Qian and his team found something a couple of days ago..." Zhao Fusheng then told Chen Shijie what Zhang Qian had discovered, and concluded, "I think Jiang Wen and I can take people around, wandering in several directions, to narrow down their range of activity. Then we can call in the troops for a grid search."

It was a gamble—succeed or die trying. Zhao Fusheng knew Chen Shijie was betting his career.

They say a man looks his best when he draws his gun, and a woman looks her best when she swallows. The same logic could apply here.

Until the final result is revealed, anything is possible.

...

...

As it turned out, sometimes when luck comes, nothing can stop it.

Over the next few days, every time Zhao Fusheng and Jiang Wen took people into the mountains with cameras and camcorders to "scout locations," someone was watching from a distance.

Sometimes it was Scarface with Baldie and Afu, sometimes just Baldie and Afu.

But regardless, after a few days, they had mapped out the approximate range of these people's activities.

"It's here."

On a map, Chen Shijie pointed to a red circle. "Barring any surprises, this group is hiding in this area, about eighty square kilometers. But we still need to pinpoint the exact location."

Zhao Fusheng said nothing—he wasn't an expert in this field.

"That's simple. I'll take people in and find out," Zhang Qian said calmly.

"I think I should go," said the armed police scout who had been with Chen Shijie. "After all, we're professionals."

Clearly, he felt that as regular military scouts, this task shouldn't be left to someone from a security company.

It was a matter of military pride.

Zhao Fusheng sighed helplessly. He knew this would happen—scholars despise each other, warriors never yield.

Zhang Qian said nothing, nor did his men.

Chen Shijie, however, felt awkward. He said to the scout, "Captain Li, let Zhang Qian handle this."

"Section Chief Chen, what do you mean? Are you looking down on us?" Captain Li raised an eyebrow, clearly unhappy with Chen Shijie's fence-sitting attitude.

Chen Shijie smiled bitterly and shook his head. "Captain Li, you misunderstand. You've probably noticed that General Manager Zhang of Future Security is a former military man, and his subordinates were also in the army."

He hesitated, then explained, "I've sparred with him. I'm no match."

Captain Li was startled. He looked at Zhang Qian, then at Chen Shijie, as if in disbelief.

Chen Shijie shrugged and said nothing more.

Zhang Qian chuckled and said to Chen Shijie, "Section Chief Chen, we military men prefer to settle things the military way."

With that, he walked up to Captain Li and extended his hand. "Come, let's shake hands."

Captain Li suddenly laughed. "Alright, win or lose, I'll respect you as a real man!"

Throughout history, people's pursuit of a better life and desire for self-improvement have led them to devise various rules.

The military has its own rules, and they are simple: the strong rule.

If you are strong, you call the shots—that's common in the army.

Although the Sichuan Armed Police were not as extreme as the field army, the same principle applied. So when Zhang Qian stepped forward to shake hands, Captain Li knew this man had military training.

After about ten seconds, he finally understood why Chen Shijie had tried to stop him.

When Captain Li's hand met Zhang Qian's, it felt like gripping a piece of steel. The moment Zhang Qian applied pressure, Captain Li's face turned red.

"I, Li Zhiguo, admit defeat. You're strong!" Captain Li quickly conceded. When Zhang Qian released his hand, he shook it a few times and said sincerely, "No wonder Section Chief Chen said you're formidable. You've got real skill."

People from the military admire the strong—that was beyond doubt.

Zhang Qian smiled faintly and said nothing more.

That was his nature. If it weren't for ensuring the success of this operation, he wouldn't have minded letting Captain Li take the reconnaissance mission. But since they had come this far, Zhang Qian would never allow this arrest to fail. After all, Zhao Fusheng was here. If anything happened to Zhao Fusheng under his protection, Zhang Qian felt he wouldn't have the face to meet his grandfather in the afterlife or the brothers and sisters at the Red Star Welfare Home in Ninghai.

"In that case, General Manager Zhang will select the team and go into the mountains for reconnaissance. This time, we must locate their camp," Chen Shijie declared with a wave of his hand.

From start to finish, Zhao Fusheng had not been involved. For him, his task was done. After telling Zhang Qian to be careful, he pulled Jiang Wen and Yu Feihong aside to discuss whether they should leave that very day.

In the end, Chen Shijie stopped him. The reason was simple: the mole in the village hadn't been found yet, and the police were short-handed. If Zhao Fusheng and his group left abruptly, the mole might tip off the criminals, alerting them.

"No rush. You can leave once they've gathered specific intelligence," Chen Shijie said to Zhao Fusheng.

Zhao Fusheng thought it made sense and agreed.

That night, Zhang Qian, along with four of his old comrades, slipped into the dense forest under cover of darkness.

...

...

The next morning, when Zhao Fusheng woke up, he found Chen Shijie sitting grim-faced in the school classroom, and everyone around was on high alert.

"What's wrong?"

Zhao Fusheng asked worriedly, fearing something had happened to Zhang Qian and his team.

Chen Shijie looked up at Zhao Fusheng and gave a bitter smile. "This time, we've caught a big fish."

"What?" Zhao Fusheng was startled, looking at Chen Shijie in confusion, not understanding what he meant.

"Zhang Qian and his team found their camp last night. Damn it, these people are making drugs in the mountains, and they're also making crude weapons. They even found several women..." Chen Shijie gritted his teeth. "I'm considering whether to launch an assault!"

"Are you crazy!"

Zhao Fusheng grabbed Chen Shijie, looked around, and saw only a few armed police scouts, provincial department scouts, and his own people. He said, "Look at us. Only the police and armed police are armed; the rest are unarmed. If, as you say, there are dozens of people in that camp, even if not all have guns, if more than twenty are armed, how many of us would die if we go in?"

He continued seriously, "I'm telling you, the only thing we can do now is to pretend to retreat. I'll make an excuse to go back and rest, taking my people with me. Once we're back, you contact the armed police and have them raid the mountains directly, catching them off guard."

That was the best plan he could think of. Chen Shijie's approach was sheer recklessness. Even if they succeeded, at least half of the people present would end up in coffins.

It might be glorious, but in Zhao Fusheng's eyes, the lives of those criminals were not worth as much as his own people's.

Chen Shijie was silent for a long time, sitting there breathing heavily.

He wanted to reject Zhao Fusheng's suggestion, to charge ahead with these men and capture the drug dealers. But as Zhao Fusheng had said, if he did that, he would be taking a risk—worse, he would be gambling with their lives for his own future.

"The Chen Shijie I know would sacrifice himself without hesitation to catch that madman Mr. Li, but he would never sacrifice his comrades," Zhao Fusheng said, looking at Chen Shijie, knowing he was torn.

Honestly, Zhao Fusheng believed that in his past life, Chen Shijie had ended up on the wrong path largely because he had suffered too much. When he realized that only by taking shortcuts could he get ahead, he chose the most foolish way.

After all, you only live once. If you gamble it all away, you truly have nothing left.

...