Chapter 272: Uncovering K’s True Motive—To Silence Ghost Forever

This time,

They had thought they could finally corner Ghost in this rented room.

From the choice of hiding place to the fact that the room had been rented days in advance, all signs pointed to one conclusion:

Ghost had likely planned to lie low in this urban village for a few days, waiting for the heat to die down before resurfacing.

But in the end…

Ghost had already slipped away. The operation once again came up empty-handed.

It was, without doubt, a frustrating outcome.

…

Inside the small room of the rental house,

Su Ming stood silently, eyes moving from the disguise tools laid out on the bed to the instant noodles on the desk.

He stepped forward, examining the remnants inside the noodle cup, then glanced at the two boxes of instant noodles on the floor. Narrowing his eyes, he spoke slowly.

“Chief Chen.”

“The one who slipped away like an eel wasn’t Ghost—it was probably K.”

“If I’m not mistaken, K told Ghost to leave, which let him narrowly escape our operation.”

“Judging by the two boxes of instant noodles under the desk, Ghost had clearly prepared to stay in this urban village hideout for the long haul. Otherwise, there’d be no reason to stockpile so much emergency food.”

At that,

Chen Sheng and Xu Changsheng both turned their eyes to the space beneath the desk.

A box of pickled mustard beef noodles and braised beef noodles came into view, along with a bag of ready-to-eat sausages and marinated eggs.

From these supplies alone, it was easy to tell… Ghost had intended to stay for quite some time.

If he hadn’t planned on hiding out long-term, there would’ve been no need to buy so many rations. Just like the time at the Saisi Hotel—

He stayed less than a day before relocating that very night.

Buying this much food would’ve been unnecessary and only increased the risk of exposure.

More importantly…

As Chen Sheng had pointed out earlier, if there was any place in Jiahe City where someone could hide from the police for an extended period, it would be an urban village.

Or rather,

Not just Jiahe City—urban villages in every major city were ideal hideouts for those on the run.

Take the infamous female serial killer, Lao Mouzhi, for example. She had hidden in the urban village of Ludao, working as a hostess without even needing an ID.

Despite relentless pursuit by the police, the urban village had provided excellent cover.

It wasn’t until years later, through facial recognition technology, that she was finally captured. Just a few days ago, her death sentence was carried out, delivering long-overdue justice to the victims’ families.

But Su Ming wasn’t finished. He pointed at the instant noodle cup on the desk and continued.

“Besides the stash of food under the desk,”

“From the congealed state of the noodle residue, we can clearly tell… Ghost left not long ago.”

“From the time he arrived here around 8 p.m. last night to when he fled a few hours ago, nearly a full day passed.”

“With that much time, even if Ghost wasn’t skilled at disguise, he would’ve had enough time to put on a decent face to avoid police detection.”

“But now… all of his makeup tools were simply left on the bed, untouched. And the noodles were eaten not long ago.”

“That can only mean one thing—Ghost received a sudden message, telling him to drop everything and flee this urban village hideout immediately.”

“And from the fact that none of the disguise tools were packed up, we can easily infer one possibility.”

“K must’ve told Ghost not to waste time on makeup. With the Skin Mask that Qiang Wei gave him, there’d be no risk of exposure.”

“That’s why Ghost didn’t bother gathering his disguise gear and bolted right away.”

At this point,

Xu Changsheng frowned and picked up the thread.

“That’s definitely possible.”

“When we were closing in on Qiang Wei, K even called to taunt us.”

“That suggests he likely knew Qiang Wei, who was knocked unconscious by Bomber before we could bring him to the station, hadn’t revealed anything about the Skin Mask.”

“But now a new question arises.”

“How did K know we were about to come to the urban village to capture Ghost?”

“Logically, after several setbacks, K should’ve lost his usual sources—his ‘eyes and ears.’”

“We hadn’t even dispatched officers yet, so he couldn’t have picked up anything from public posts or photos.”

“So how did he know? How could K seem to predict the future and warn Ghost in time to escape?”

This question wasn’t just on Xu Changsheng’s mind—it was gnawing at Chen Sheng as well.

They had long known K liked to spy from rooftops, so all internal police platforms and the Sky Eye Surveillance system were now under constant watch.

That should’ve completely cut off K’s access to police intel.

Moreover,

Since they hadn’t officially mobilized, even through other channels, there should have been no way for K to know they were targeting Ghost in the urban village.

At that moment,

Su Ming narrowed his eyes, thinking deeply for a few seconds before speaking gravely.

“No.”

“K didn’t make Ghost leave because he knew about our operation or guessed we were closing in.”

“Judging by the state of the leftover noodles, Ghost left this place at least two to three hours ago.”

“But during that time, we hadn’t even tracked down this specific location, let alone discovered that Ghost had stopped at the Saisi Hotel before coming here.”

“So if we go by the timeline, even if K still had some way of accessing our latest updates, it wouldn’t make sense for him to order such a hasty retreat.”

“In fact, he would’ve had plenty of time to issue a warning. There was no need for Ghost to flee so urgently, not even bothering to pack his disguise tools.”

“That kind of rush and panic shows Ghost left in a hurry, without preparation.”

“This tells us something important—K wasn’t acting from a place of control. If he had everything under wraps, things wouldn’t have looked this messy. He likely had no idea about our movements.”

“When you put all this together, I don’t think K was trying to save Ghost from capture.”

“On the contrary…”

Su Ming paused for two seconds, glancing at the somber Chen Sheng and Xu Changsheng beside him. His eyes narrowed.

“He was looking for a chance to make Ghost disappear for good.”

“That’s the only way to ensure that the critical piece of evidence Lan Cai’er knows… never sees the light of day.”