Chapter 304: All Parties Head to Lingling Circus, a True Race Against Time

The trail leading to Priest had gone cold.

After he committed suicide by poison, there was no way to dig any deeper.

It was a pity, no doubt, but there was nothing they could do.

After all, Priest was a seasoned mercenary. Just as expected, he had countless ways to end his own life. In fact, during mercenary training, there was often an entire lesson dedicated to teaching various suicide techniques—meant to prevent capture and the unbearable torture that might follow.

Mercenaries, unprotected by any treaty or law, were always prepared to take their own lives. Especially someone as experienced as Priest.

To put it bluntly, Priest taking his own life was the expected outcome. If he had somehow survived, that would have been a true stroke of luck, and a massive boost to the investigation.

But there was no such luck. His death didn’t make the case any easier to crack.

Still, while the Priest lead had reached a dead end, the trail of Ghost remained full of potential.

Judging from the current situation, Ghost was still in Jiahe City, still on the run. He had even used Priest as bait in an attempt to buy himself more time to escape.

That alone made one thing very clear…

Ghost hadn’t committed suicide. At least for now, he didn’t have the courage to do so. He still believed he had a chance to get away.

Which meant…

With the facial data from the human-skin mask provided by Qiang Wei, there was a real shot at tracking down the fugitive Ghost.

…

At that moment.

Inside the tech division of the Yangliu Criminal Investigation Brigade.

Su Ming, Lin Tian, and the others were waiting for the latest updates on Ghost.

Although they had the facial data from the human-skin mask Ghost was currently using, finding him in a city of several million like Jiahe was going to take time.

Not to mention, with Ghost’s high-level criminal intelligence, he would undoubtedly be doing everything he could to avoid Sky Eye Surveillance and minimize exposure.

Chen Sheng, head of the Yangliu Criminal Investigation Brigade, was clearly growing anxious, pacing back and forth.

Ghost was the most crucial, and possibly final, breakthrough in the case. But they still hadn’t managed to catch him.

The frustration, the pressure, and the buried hope were all making Chen Sheng increasingly restless.

After all, Ghost wasn’t just a key figure who knew the inner workings of the drug trafficking organization. He was also the prime suspect in the murder of Lan Cai’er—the very case Chen Sheng had been chasing all this time.

The Hotel Female Corpse Case involving Lan Cai’er had remained Jiahe City’s only unsolved mystery in the past decade. Now it was tied to this massive drug trafficking ring, and Ghost was the final lead.

How could Chen Sheng not be anxious? How could he not be desperate for good news?

After pacing a few more times, Chen Sheng walked up behind one of the tech officers and tapped the back of his chair.

“Xiao Li, what’s the situation?”

“Any sign of Ghost yet?”

Hearing the familiar question, Xiao Li, still typing furiously at the keyboard and drenched in sweat, turned around and answered.

“Chief Chen.”

“We’re still going through the data. No sign of Ghost yet.”

“What’s going on?” Chen Sheng frowned deeply, his concern growing. He crossed his arms and clicked his tongue in frustration.

“Didn’t we already get the facial data from Qiang Wei? Why is it taking so long to find him?”

“Priest made quite a scene just now. Ghost probably already caught wind of it. If we don’t move fast, I’m afraid something else might go wrong.”

“Isn’t your Criminal Investigation Technology Section usually top-notch? Why is it that when it really counts, you guys can’t deliver?”

Those words made Xiao Li break out in even more sweat.

But he understood. Chen Sheng wasn’t targeting him personally—things were just that urgent.

Every minute they delayed in finding Ghost was another minute the truth about the drug trafficking organization might slip further out of reach.

From that perspective, the tech division really wasn’t performing well enough. Gritting his teeth, Xiao Li forced himself to explain.

“Chief Chen, the delay is due to a couple of factors…”

“First, there are blind spots in the Sky Eye Surveillance system. Second, the area we’re covering is huge. A full sweep takes time.”

“But we’re almost there. With help from the other teams’ tech units, I’d say we’ll have Ghost’s exact location within half an hour.”

As soon as he finished speaking…

Standing beside him, Lin Tian patted Chen Sheng on the shoulder, shook his head, and sighed.

“Don’t stress yourself, Chief Chen.”

“Ghost is a slippery one. No point getting anxious here. We still have to wait for the tech team to dig up his whereabouts.”

“As long as we make sure he doesn’t escape Jiahe City, with Priest having committed suicide out of guilt and K running out of usable men, and since Ghost doesn’t have the guts to kill himself, even if we wait another half hour, I doubt anything unexpected will happen.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Su Ming, who had also been waiting for Ghost’s location, chimed in at just the right moment.

“We still need to act fast.”

“There was quite a commotion when we ambushed Priest earlier. That voyeur K definitely knows the operation failed.”

“So, to prevent Ghost from leaking any critical intel, K will surely send someone else to silence him. They could already be on their way.”

Just a second after he spoke, Xiao Li from the Criminal Investigation Technology Section—who had been sweating bullets earlier—suddenly turned around with a face full of excitement and urgency.

“Chief Chen, everyone, we’ve found him!”

“The Criminal Investigation Technology Section from another district just sent in the latest update. Using Sky Eye Surveillance, we’ve confirmed Ghost’s current location.”

“If nothing goes wrong, he’s hiding in Lingling Circus.”

“Here’s the Sky Eye Surveillance video. You can clearly see Ghost wearing a human-skin mask entering Lingling Circus!”

Knowing that no amount of words could compare to the impact of visual proof, Xiao Li immediately played the extracted Sky Eye Surveillance video. He shifted slightly to the side so that Chen Sheng, Lin Tian, and the others behind him could clearly see the footage.

The Sky Eye Surveillance video began to play slowly.

When the man marked with a red circle appeared in the frame, there was no hesitation at all.

Everyone present immediately began comparing the facial details in the video with the image provided by Gao Chao.

It took only three seconds.

They could clearly confirm that the man in the footage was indeed wearing the human-skin mask crafted by Qiang Wei. Even the smallest details matched perfectly.

At that moment, there was no need to wait for Chen Sheng to issue an order. Lin Tian, equally driven by urgency, spoke with absolute resolve.

“Let’s move.”

“Head to Lingling Circus immediately, and have the nearby patrol officers and SWAT team go in first.”

“This time, we must capture Ghost!”