"Okay, okay..."

"I’ll head over right now..."

"See you in a bit."

Hanging up the phone, a hint of surprise appeared on Yang Qi’s face.

He wasn’t surprised that Qian Yu had thought to ask for Xiaojiu’s help, but that Xiaojiu could actually participate in a police operation to crack a major case.

’If he really earns some merit and gets a title like "Merit Police Cat" or "Special Investigator," will the system recognize it? Would it give an extra boost to "Guardian Beast"?’

Yang Qi rubbed his chin, letting his thoughts wander for a moment.

But now wasn’t the time to think about that.

He patted Ta Xue, who was completely engrossed in the TV screen, and instructed, "Be good and watch TV at home. Don’t run around, okay? We’ll be back soon."

"Meow, meow~"

Ta Xue didn’t even lift her head, giving a perfunctory couple of meows, her eyes still glued to the cartoon.

Yang Qi shook his head and turned to call for Xiaojiu.

"Xiaojiu, let’s go. We’re heading out."

"Meow."

At the sound, Xiaojiu leaped gracefully from the sofa, took a few running steps, and jumped onto Yang Qi’s shoulder, settling down securely.

The man and his cat quickly left the house.

Yang Qi started his car, entered the location address sent by Qian Yu into the GPS, and drove off into the night.

The roads were clear at night. About forty minutes later, he arrived at the destination and saw Li Hongqi, Qian Yu, and other police officers.

"Yang Qi, hello. I’m so sorry to trouble you this late at night."

Li Hongqi was the first to approach, extending his right hand and shaking Yang Qi’s firmly.

"Captain Li, you’re too kind. It’s my honor to be able to help the police."

Yang Qi responded modestly before getting straight to the point. "What exactly do you need Xiaojiu to do?"

"Here’s the situation."

Captain Jiang from the tech team stepped forward with a tablet, quickly briefed him on the situation, and concluded, "We’re hoping to have your cat enter the warehouse through a pipe to check the situation inside—for example, how many people there are, their approximate locations, and if there are any unusual items, weapons, and so on."

After he finished, the surrounding officers all stared intently at Yang Qi and the black cat on his shoulder. Their eyes held a mix of hope, doubt, and a hint of desperation.

Qian Yu stood to the side, giving Yang Qi an apologetic look.

"Shouldn’t be a problem."

After listening, Yang Qi nodded. "Just equip Xiaojiu with a miniature camera and a wireless earpiece. I can give him commands through the earpiece; he understands most of them." 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

"Great!"

Seeing how straightforward Yang Qi was, a flash of approval crossed Li Hongqi’s eyes. He looked at Captain Jiang and ordered, "Captain Jiang, do as Xiao Yang says. The equipment needs to be the smallest and lightest possible, so it doesn’t hinder the cat’s movement."

"Understood!"

Captain Jiang wasted no time and immediately assigned personnel.

Qian Yu and two tech officers came running over with a toolbox.

At Yang Qi’s signal, Xiaojiu sat quietly on a wooden crate that had been brought over.

The three of them put on white gloves and gently used a special adhesive patch to carefully secure the pinhole camera under the fur on Xiaojiu’s forehead, between his ears.

They then cleverly fastened the micro-earpiece to the soft fur at the base of Xiaojiu’s left ear using a special fishing line as thin as a strand of hair.

Throughout the process, Xiaojiu only occasionally twitched his ears, flicked his tail, or tilted his head slightly up and down.

His composure and intelligence, far beyond that of an ordinary feline, made the onlooking officers gasp in quiet amazement.

Soon, all the equipment was installed and calibrated.

Yang Qi stepped back a few paces, picked up the dedicated walkie-talkie that had been tuned to the correct channel, and tested it in a low voice.

"Xiaojiu, turn your head to the left..."

"Good, now look to the right..."

"Nod your head slightly... Not bad, very good."

The feed from the camera was also working fine.

Immediately, Yang Qi looked at Li Hongqi.

"Let’s move!"

Li Hongqi waved his hand.

The group quickly moved to the back wall of the warehouse.

An officer was about to fetch a folding ladder when Yang Qi waved his hand. "No need for a ladder. Xiaojiu, see that dark hole on the wall?"

Yang Qi pointed to a round ventilation opening about four meters off the ground.

"Climb in through there. Be careful."

WHOOSH—

Like an arrow loosed from a bow, Xiaojiu shot off the wooden crate!

Before anyone else could react, he used the protruding bricks at the corner and the aging cracks in the wall, scrambling with all four paws. Like a black bolt of lightning, he shot up toward the ventilation opening.

The wire mesh guard on the outermost part of the vent had long since rusted and fallen half-off.

With a light duck, Xiaojiu deftly squeezed into the vent. Then, with almost no pause, he nimbly weaved and twisted through the gaps between the old metal fan blades and disappeared into the dark pipe.

"He’s in!"

Qian Yu cheered in a hushed voice.

The other officers were also stunned.

Xiaojiu’s climbing ability, his execution of commands, his calm demeanor... all of it shattered their understanding of what a "cat" could be.

"Quick, back to the laptop!"

Li Hongqi’s spirits were also lifted, he said in a low voice.

The group jogged back to the temporary command post by the warehouse’s main entrance, huddling around the laptop connected to the camera’s feed.

On the screen, the image from the camera shifted from darkness to light.

The lights were on in the warehouse.

Under the dim yellow glow of old-fashioned incandescent bulbs, the scene inside the warehouse was clearly visible.

Dilapidated wooden crates, rusted machine frames, bulging sacks of unknown contents...

"Have him go down a bit, to ground level. The field of view will be wider, and it’ll be easier to find the targets."

Li Hongqi said, his voice low.

"Xiaojiu, find a safe spot and get down to the ground," Yang Qi relayed the command softly into the walkie-talkie.

The image on the screen immediately began to descend slowly, the perspective changing to a height of about twenty to thirty centimeters from the floor.

"Good, very good!"

Li Hongqi couldn’t help but praise, then spoke again, "Have him slowly walk a lap around the inside."

Yang Qi issued the command as requested.

Using the cover of various corners, Xiaojiu moved silently through the cluttered warehouse, and the camera feed constantly shifted its angle and view.

In just a short while, Xiaojiu had scouted the entire warehouse.

But...

Nothing!

Not a single person!

Never mind people, they didn’t even see a single living creature.

Besides the piles of junk, the warehouse was completely empty.

"This... How is this possible?"

Captain Jiang frowned, his face a mask of disbelief. "Our three external surveillance points clearly recorded Wang Delong and his two accomplices entering the warehouse’s main door. After that, the door closed and never opened again. The infrared scan also showed signs of active heat sources behind the door. How did they just disappear?"

Li Hongqi was silent.

The other officers were also silent.

Yang Qi said nothing.

Just as everyone was shocked and bewildered—

"Li Hongqi, is the money ready or not? Don’t you fucking play games with me! I’ll give you ten more minutes! If I don’t see the money, I’ll chop off one of this bitch’s fingers first!"

An angry shout suddenly erupted from the warehouse without any warning.

The image on the screen suddenly shook and spun violently.

Xiaojiu had clearly been startled.

"Steady, don’t panic. See where that sound came from."

Yang Qi spoke softly, trying to calm him.

The camera steadied, then locked onto a direction.

On a paint-chipped wooden table sat a fairly large, black, high-fidelity speaker connected to a laptop.

Around the table, there was no one.

"Fuck!"

A bearded police officer was the first to react, cursing out loud. "Wang Delong, that bastard! He’s just putting on a show for us, creating a diversion! We’ve been played!!"

"That’s impossible, this... this doesn’t make any sense!"

Captain Jiang was flabbergasted, his voice cracking. "The thermal imaging showed some interference, but it clearly indicated... wait, could it be a timed heating device? Or maybe they were wearing special gear to block their body heat?"

"It’s not interference! And it’s not some bullshit high-tech gear!"

Li Hongqi’s face was grim. He looked up at the constantly closed warehouse door, which seemed to mock their incompetence, and roared in a low voice.

"There’s a tunnel in the warehouse, or a secret room! Wang Delong and his men slipped away right under our noses a long time ago!"

"That bastard left a remote-controlled speaker here to bluff, to toy with us while buying time to escape!"

He spun around abruptly, no longer looking at the infuriating computer screen. Facing all the officers on standby, he commanded, practically bellowing.

"Assault team, breach the door immediately! Force your way in!"

"Search team, the moment that door is down, I want you to find that tunnel entrance!"

"Liaison team, notify all perimeter units to expand the search area!"

"Block all possible access routes in the vicinity—roads, sewers, abandoned pipelines."

"Contact the traffic department and pull all surveillance footage from the surrounding area!"

"Move!!"