Translator: Dj22031
Editor: Dj22031
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“Quick, after him!”
Sikong Xing gave chase, followed closely by Bai Yue.
Once inside the dense forest, the dark figure vanished.
The trees blocked out the glaring sunlight.
The ground was fertile soil. There were no footprints, but several branches nearby showed signs of breakage.
Sikong Xing approached, picked up a branch to examine it, and exclaimed, “Was that a monkey? It always runs up the trees.”
Bai Yue seemed thoughtful.
If it was indeed the group he knew, they certainly enjoyed climbing high places.
The two followed the broken branches, and soon came to a patch of tangled grass.
Footprints suddenly appeared out of nowhere, and there was more than one person. It looked like they had left them in a panic, not even bothering to cover their tracks.
Bai Yue compared the footprints. The figures varied in height, mostly between 175 and 185 cm.
He took out his phone, snapped a picture, and continued following the footprints.
Not long after, several faint sobs came from not far away. The two followed the sound and found several people sitting in a circle in front of a thick tree trunk.
The people all wore plain white masks and were tightly bound. Upon seeing them, the sobs intensified.
“Wow.” Sikong Xing raised an eyebrow, “This is quite a gift.”
Bai Yue looked around.
The leaves rustled in the wind. Apart from that, there was no other movement.
Sikong Xing walked up to the people first and removed the mask from one of them.
Underneath was an ordinary face. A gag was stuffed in his mouth, which was why he couldn’t speak.
Sikong Xing asked with a smile, “So, you’re the ones who stabbed my senior?”
Hearing this, the man was stunned, then struggled even more violently, as if trying to say something.
“Forgot about this.” Sikong Xing tore off the gag.
The inside was already wet with saliva. He stuffed it back into the man’s pocket with a hint of disgust.
“We don’t know anything!”
The man seemed terrified.
“We were walking on the street when we were suddenly kidnapped. They even put these weird masks on us.”
He looked utterly dejected. “We were just here to watch the game, how could this happen?”
Bai Yue approached. The men were all dressed in civilian clothes, making it impossible to tell which military academy they attended.
“Which military academy are you from?”
“Southern Naval Academy,” the man replied.
The same school as Lu Ke.
Bai Yue seemed thoughtful.
The man cried out urgently, “Can you untie us? We’ve been tied up here for ages!”
Sikong Xing smiled and asked, “How long?”
“Ten minutes? Ah, no, twenty minutes.”
The man was confused. “We’ve been tied up like this, so I’m not sure of the exact time.”
“Oh.” Sikong Xing understood. “So, you stabbed someone about half an hour ago. You were caught while trying to escape, and then you’ve been here for twenty minutes?”
“We didn’t hurt anyone!”
Sikong Xing nodded. “Quite quick.”
He stood up and asked Bai Yue, “What do you think?”
Bai Yue glanced at Sikong Xing, then his gaze returned to the men.
The shadowy figure he’d spotted at the shooting range. If it was that man’s skill, he should be able to move through the forest without leaving a trace.
But the broken branches and the footprints that suddenly appeared along the way seemed to have been deliberately luring him here.
He thought for a moment and said, “Can I ask you a few questions?”
A few minutes later, Bai Yue learned a new clue from the man.
These men had been blindfolded when they were tied up, so they didn’t know the route. Before being blindfolded, they had seen the killer’s face.
“Several people were wearing the same white mask, just like the ones they put on us,” the man recalled with lingering fear.
The reason those guys did this remained a mystery.
Bai Yue reviewed the footage. Twenty minutes ago, there hadn’t been much commotion. Unless they had completely avoided the surveillance cameras, it was impossible for so many people to be kidnapped without any impact.
And how they got in was something these people couldn’t explain.
“One last question,” Bai Yue smiled, “Did you see anyone else before we arrived?”
The man paused, then shook his head: “No, only the two of you came.”
These people hadn’t seen the shadowy figure.
Either they were lying, or the shadowy figure had deliberately avoided their notice.
Sikong Xing: “How is it?”
Bai Yue took out his phone, contacted the deputy captain, and briefly explained the situation.
After hanging up, he saw Sikong Xing looking at him with a half-smile: “You really are a stickler for the rules. Do you think that deputy captain will listen to you?”
Bai Yue looked at the men on the ground.
“The deputy captain just finished listening to my report. I think she’s probably re-investigating the surveillance footage.”
He chuckled, “Let’s wait and see.”
Sikong Xing remained noncommittal.
Not long after, footsteps echoed through the woods.
Bai Yue looked up and saw Mu Sihan and Xu Chengdong entering.
Xu Chengdong was startled to see a group of people sitting around a tree, their faces completely covered by masks.
“Holy crap!? Team leader, you’re so amazing, you caught them all by yourself?”
After saying that, he noticed Sikong Xing’s presence and corrected himself, “Two, two people?”
Who were these people?
Sikong Xing raised an eyebrow at Mu Sihan and went to greet him.
“You’re also a member of the disciplinary team? Are all the members of your disciplinary team this good-looking?”
Mu Sihan looked at him, his eyes icy.
Sikong Xing, with his unusually long face, rarely saw an omega look at him like that. He chuckled, “Interesting.”
Mu Sihan ignored him and turned to Bai Yue, asking, “Is this the group?”
“They’re from the South China Sea Naval Academy; they shouldn’t be connected to the Masked Organization.”
Bai Yue asked, “I just reported to the vice-captain. Is it just the two of you?”
Xu Chengdong replied, “No, we saw the message you posted in the group and came on our own initiative. To catch the culprit as quickly as possible!”
“But team leader,” he said, somewhat puzzled, “since they’re not from the Masked Organization, why didn’t you release them?”
“Something seems suspicious,” Bai Yue said. “Let’s wait for the deputy captain to arrive before making a judgment.”
Mu Sihan asked, “Have you searched other places?”
Bai Yue shook his head. “I found them as soon as I came in. They’ve been staying here.”
Hearing this, Mu Sihan didn’t say anything more and turned to walk deeper into the woods. He suddenly stopped halfway and turned his head to say, “I’ll go inside to investigate.”
Was he reporting to him?
Bai Yue recalled the time he went on missions with Mu Sihan before.
The other man often didn’t say a word and just did whatever came to mind. Several times he suddenly couldn’t find him.
Now he remembered to inform him, was that progress?
After Mu Sihan left, Xu Chengdong felt that he couldn’t help much, so he stayed where he was.
He walked up to the group and squatted down, rubbing his chin. “This knot looks so familiar.”
As soon as he finished speaking, he heard the man in front of him shout, “Release us! We don’t know anything!”
Xu Chengdong was startled and almost fell to the ground.
These people… are really energetic.
After a while, the other members of the patrol team also arrived at the scene.
Upon seeing the several bound figures in front of the tree, everyone was taken aback.
Except for one person whose mask had been removed, the others all wore familiar white masks.
The woman with the ponytail looked at Bai Yue with a complex expression.
She had later reviewed the surveillance footage and found that the area was indeed suspicious. She had given the wrong instructions earlier.
Orders from superiors must be obeyed unconditionally.
She had always firmly believed this. Because it also meant that all responsibility should fall on the superior.
But what if she was wrong?
If it weren’t for Bai Yue, she might have missed the clue to capture the Masked Organization.
She harbored resentment towards these people for a long time and wanted to bring them to justice immediately. Perhaps because of this… she had been a little too hasty.
The team members removed the students’ masks one by one.
The woman with the ponytail coughed lightly: “Well done. Now tell me in detail how you discovered them.”
Bai Yue briefly recounted the events.
Hearing the last part, the girl with the ponytail frowned: “It was those guys again?”
She waved her hand: “Untie them quickly!”
Bai Yue was stunned: “Vice Captain, what I just said…”
“I understand what you mean.” The girl with the ponytail looked at the people.
“However, all the members of the Masked Organization are students of our Imperial First School. Although I don’t know if those guys are trying to take advantage of the situation, these people who were kidnapped are from other schools, so they can’t be their people.”
Bai Yue certainly didn’t think these guys were members of the Masked Organization either.
He changed his words: “The one who stabbed that student earlier might be an imposter.”
“An imposter?” The girl with the ponytail frowned, “What’s your basis for saying that?”
There were three suspicious points.
First, these people appeared out of nowhere in the area where the “Masked Members” disappeared; second, they couldn’t explain how they got there; and third…
“Their numbers match the surveillance footage.”
In the initial surveillance video, there were four people around the Dark Flag student when he was stabbed. And the number of people from the South China Sea Naval Academy was also exactly four.
Although it couldn’t be used as conclusive evidence, Bai Yue still felt it was necessary to investigate carefully.
The girl with the ponytail listened to his words. After a moment of silence, she said, “You don’t mean to say that these are the people who just stabbed Dark Flag and disguised themselves as members of the Masked Organization?”
That was indeed what Bai Yue meant.
The woman with the ponytail didn’t reply immediately, squinting at Bai Yue. After a short while, she asked, “Are you one of them?”
Bai Yue was taken aback.
“Otherwise, how can you be so sure?”
Since leaving Lia Star last time, the woman with the ponytail had become wary of Bai Yue. He had interacted with the Masked Organization members during the selection process.
Part of the reason she appointed him as team leader was to observe him closely.
Although nothing unusual had happened so far, his behavior today was truly strange.
Seeing the atmosphere was tense, Xu Chengdong quickly interjected to ease the tension: “Vice Captain, you’re overthinking it. The team leader is with us every day; how could he possibly be one of those weirdos!”
Sikong Xing, listening nearby, wore a knowing smile.
He was about to speak when Bai Yue spoke first, “Vice Captain.”
“Preconceived notions are dangerous,” Bai Yue said calmly, his hands behind his back. “Even if you have doubts about me, you shouldn’t overlook the suspicious points that have already appeared.”
“Otherwise, when the truth comes out, someone might say that the Vice Captain personally let the murderer go.”
Hearing this, the woman with the ponytail suddenly turned to look at him.
She prided herself on her sense of justice; how could she possibly “personally let the murderer go”?
Her brows furrowed deeper and deeper.
At this moment, a question came from behind: “Vice Captain, what about these people?”
The students from the South China Sea Naval Academy had probably been bound for a long time. When the ropes were untied, bruises had appeared on their wrists.
The woman with the ponytail ordered, “Take them to the infirmary.”
Hearing this, the South China Sea Naval Academy students showed expressions of joy. Before the smiles could fully spread, the girl added, “If they’re not seriously injured, begin the interrogation.”
“!”
The group exclaimed, “This is treatment reserved for criminals! Why are we being treated like this?”
“Exactly! We were just waiting to watch the competition!”
The girl with the ponytail said with a stern face, “Don’t worry, it’s just normal questioning. If you’re indeed innocent, we’ll let you go immediately.”
She then ignored their protests and waved her hand, signalling her team to leave with the others.
Although they had found a lead, the disciplinary team’s mission wasn’t over.
They needed to search the entire area to ensure no one escaped.
The group dispersed.
Sikong Xing, who had originally intended to follow, was bombarded with calls from his coach.
“Where did you go chatting?! The competition has already started, come back right now!”
The coach’s voice was so loud that almost everyone around could hear it.
Bai Yue said, “Go back, I’ll continue the competition after this.”
Sikong Xing hung up the phone: “The coach said that Imperial First and Dark Flag were drawn together in the mid-qualification round.”
He turned around and laughed, “Don’t you think this is fate? We’re destined to fight!”
Bai Yue smiled.
“The coach seems to be preparing to send me out, so I have to go now. However, I won’t end the match until you come back.”
Sikong Xing put his hands in his pockets, laughing arrogantly, “You have to step into the ring and fight me.”
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