The night was heavy, and the lights in the police station building seemed especially quiet. Lu Chenzhou sat in the information analysis room, his expression solemn, his gaze fixed on the constantly changing key records on the computer screen. This was the tenth consecutive day he had been reviewing internal scheduling records, knowing that someone was leaking intelligence to the "Mirror" organization from within—and this person was closer to them than anyone could imagine.
A week ago, during the operation to counter the "Migratory Birds Plan," the police's deployment location was mysteriously exposed in advance, causing the planned ambush to fail completely. Initially, they thought the technology had been eavesdropped on or the network system had been hacked. It wasn't until Lu Chenzhou cross-referenced some logs by accident that he discovered a police officer account labeled "G-214" had accessed the "Confidential D Files" system during an unauthorized time slot. This file contained the monitoring deployment map for the "Migratory Birds Plan."
"G-214"—a temporary duty account, originally intended for external document review, had no permission to access core investigative data.
"The account access was performed by 'Zhang Wei.'" A system prompt flashed briefly.
Zhang Wei, an experienced officer from the criminal investigation team, had been in the force for ten years, with a clean family background and a stable record. He had been involved in numerous drug enforcement operations, the typical "upstanding officer." It was precisely because he appeared so "normal" that people overlooked any potential issues with him.
But the more normal he seemed, the more suspicious it became.
Lu Chenzhou did not rush to act. He privately contacted the technology division at the substation and requested Zhang Wei's work trajectory, account usage records, surveillance footage comparison, and even his personal bank transaction and communication records. Everything appeared normal—until a detail emerged.
On his way back to the police station after a mission, Zhang Wei's walkie-talkie, which should have been turned off, briefly connected to an unregistered Bluetooth signal. The connection lasted only 37 seconds, which happened to coincide with the few minutes after the internal upload of the "M3" mastermind of the "Mirror" organization's classified analysis.
"This was the window period when the information was being quickly extracted," Lu Chenzhou was certain.
He called Su Wanqing to share this discovery.
"We need to set a trap," Su Wanqing said. "Draw him out."
They fabricated a false intelligence report: the police had intercepted a recording of a high-ranking "Mirror" organization member's conversation, and it would be submitted in three days as an encrypted report to higher authorities. They quietly uploaded this false report into the internal network and set up a special permission monitoring label. As soon as someone accessed it, the system would immediately log the IP and access time.
Two days later, they got a response.
At 1:47 AM, the G-214 account was activated again and accessed the false intelligence page. The download record lasted less than a minute, and the IP traced back to the fourth floor of the police station.
Zhang Wei's office.
The next morning, Lu Chenzhou led a special task force and quietly set up an ambush. Zhang Wei arrived on time, as usual, with his thermos, his eyes calm, his steps steady—nothing out of the ordinary. He entered his office, only to be quietly subdued by the special forces.
However, things were even more dangerous than they had anticipated.
At the moment he was restrained, Zhang Wei suddenly bit down on a titanium alloy thin sheet hidden under his tongue and forcibly activated a micro-burning device concealed in the palm of his hand, attempting to destroy his U-disk and SIM card.
Lu Chenzhou acted swiftly, snatching the device, but only half of the data was saved. The rest was reduced to a pile of burned electronic fragments.
Zhang Wei, too, fell unconscious during the arrest, his lips showing traces of what appeared to be poison. Hospital tests revealed that he had ingested a mixed neurotoxin, carefully dosed—enough to avoid death, but causing temporary aphasia and muscle paralysis.
"It seems he wasn't just prepared to be caught; he had even planned for all the consequences," Lu Chenzhou said in a low voice.
Su Wanqing walked into the forensic center lab, bringing with her the microscopic materials left on Zhang Wei's hands when he was subdued.
She focused on extracting a gray-black substance from under Zhang Wei's fingernails. Under the microscope, she found it contained a high-sensitivity coating powder. This coating was typically used for insulating the surface of extremely small chips and was widely used in advanced surveillance equipment or classified storage devices.
"If we can find DNA traces from encrypted storage devices he's handled, we can prove he's the key person passing information," she said.
Extraction, comparison, freeze concentration, and particle separation... After nearly 20 hours of intense identification, she discovered a foreign DNA fragment on one of the small chips. It matched the DNA found on a suspicious envelope at the "Shadow Trade" scene.
"Exactly the same." She looked up, her eyes firm.
This evidence was classified as a primary forensic finding, strong enough to convict.
A few days later, the prosecution officially arrested Zhang Wei and issued a collaborative investigation notice, requesting a nationwide check on police personnel who had been involved in national security cases over the past five years to identify potential information leak risks.
Zhang Wei's arrest also revealed a key recipient within the "Mirror" organization—codenamed "XJ-0," a senior contact whose identity had not yet been disclosed.
Lu Chenzhou looked at the arrest report, softly murmuring, "There's someone deeper still."
Su Wanqing stood behind him, her gaze unwavering. "At least, we've finally severed one line from within."
He turned to look at her, his expression gentle but resolute. "But the road ahead will be even more difficult."
Outside the window, the night was as dark as ink, and the police station building remained brightly lit in the midst of the night. They knew this battle had only just entered the deepest darkness.