"Don't be nervous, we're here now. We'll just go and see for ourselves. I suspect those guys are asleep," Gongsun Jiayi said with some annoyance.
"How could that be? Are they that tired? They've only been working through the night for a few nights!"
"That's why I have to teach them a good lesson. Since they're taking such high salaries, they must handle their work properly for me..." As he spoke, Gongsun Jiayi entered the laboratory. By then, several of us had already hidden ourselves. Gongsun Jiayi looked around and cursed, "Where have you all gone? Come out for me!" I thought he was calling us at first, but Gongsun Jiayi immediately added, "Come out this instant, aren't you working seriously? Don't you want this job anymore?"
At that moment, He Xiaoyu suddenly made her move. With astonishing speed, she appeared behind Gongsun Jiayi, drawing her sword and holding it to his neck. "Shut up!"
"What are you doing? Who are you? Young lady, please calm down!" Gongsun Jiayi, realizing something was wrong, didn't show much fear. Instead, he remained quite calm.
"You don't need to know who I am. Tell me, why can't the signals be sent out from here?"
"Why should I tell you? This is my place!"
"You won't tell me?" He Xiaoyu threatened.
"What do you want?"
"I won't let you go. If I move my sword now, you're finished!"
Yin Chushuang took a few steps back, casually picked up an iron stool nearby, and smashed it down hard on He Xiaoyu's back. However, He Xiaoyu was completely unharmed and retaliated with an elbow strike. Yin Chushuang let out a scream and fell to the ground.
It was evident that this couple was frail and sickly, easily defeated by a simple attack. Seeing that there was no longer any threat, Liu Yuning and I also came out. I had already removed my disguise, reverting to my male form.
Upon seeing me, Gongsun Jiayi exclaimed in surprise, "So you're a man? I feel like I've seen you somewhere before. Who exactly are you?"
"I'm just an ordinary person, you don't need to remember me. I'm here to arrest you anyway. Gongsun Jiayi, you're quite clever, using the K21 subway line to mislead the police. If we hadn't come here, we probably wouldn't have found your criminal evidence. You've been subdued now. Stop your futile resistance and come back with us obediently!"
"Hmph, you think you can deal with me just like this?" Gongsun Jiayi let out a cold laugh and added, "Do you know why I'm standing in this spot?"
The next second, Gongsun Jiayi stepped on something, and the floor suddenly split open. Before He Xiaoyu could react, he plummeted down!
We peered down from the edge of a dark opening. Gongsun Jiayi had already disappeared, and the floor quickly closed behind him.
"Damn it, we were so close. This manor is probably full of traps. We need to be careful," I said. The woman on the ground slowly stood up, fearfully sitting on the floor and then retreating.
He Xiaoyu walked over, holding her sword to her. "If you don't want to die, tell me where Gongsun Jiayi is right now!"
"I don't know! Who are you people?"
"We are the police! Do you understand? We infiltrated here deliberately. Did you really think we were all fooled?" He Xiaoyu pointed at Yin Chushuang, but she remained stubborn and unwilling to speak.
She just looked at us fearfully. He Xiaoyu was about to act again but was stopped. "Don't be rash. Let's handcuff her first!"
I took out handcuffs and secured Yin Chushuang, tying her to a pillar. Only then did she start shouting frantically, "You'll never find him. This manor is full of mazes and traps. If he intends to hide from you, you'll never find him in your lifetime! Don't waste your time."
"Heh, no matter what you say, we will look. Don't think you can scare us with this," Liu Yuning said, striking the woman's arm with her palm. She immediately fainted.
"What are you doing?" I asked.
"If she's fainted, she won't be shouting anymore. Let's go! Let's find Gongsun Jiayi! I refuse to believe we won't find him."
"We should contact the outside world first. Fortunately, Yin Chushuang reminded me. It will be difficult for just a few of us to find Mr. Gongsun."
Liu Yuning seemed to have an idea when she heard me. She fumbled through Yin Chushuang's clothes and found a mobile phone. I immediately understood her intention.
As expected, Yin Chushuang's phone was different from ours. It had a signal here, likely tampered with. Liu Yuning confidently opened the phone but found it required fingerprint unlocking. She tried Yin Chushuang's thumb, but it didn't work. She then tried other fingers sequentially until she tried Yin Chushuang's left index finger, and the phone was unlocked.
Opening the phone, she immediately dialed the police station and sent the manor's location to the technical police, telling them they had to come quickly. The technical police agreed and hung up. We didn't leave the laboratory, planning to wait for reinforcements. Along the way, several people in white coats approached, but He Xiaoyu subdued them. She dragged all of them to the center of the laboratory and tied them up with ropes. One rope was also placed around Yin Chushuang.
After we had been guarding there for about 30 minutes, we heard police sirens outside. I knew our reinforcements had arrived. The officers immediately surrounded the entire manor, and we walked out at the same time.
Gao Mingqiang and the others were still groggy. He Xiaoyu administered a detoxifying pill to each of them. The other girls didn't have as many, so they had to be sent back for treatment at the hospital first.
The police rescued everyone in the manor and then began the search for Gongsun's location. Yin Chushuang and the researchers were taken away first.
As she got into the police car, Yin Chushuang kept looking back and cursing, "You'll never find him, don't waste your time!"
Xiao Yuande pushed her hard and cursed, "The more you say that, the faster we'll find him. Get in the car!"
Hmph! Yin Chushuang sneered and got into the car. She and the researchers were soon sent away.
Li Fan led the special forces team to investigate the surroundings, searching every inch of the manor but truly failing to find Gongsun Jiayi. When they emerged, I walked up and asked, "Still haven't found him?"
"We've searched everywhere, and we've reviewed the surveillance here. Didn't he fall in the laboratory earlier? There's no other mechanism to descend from that spot. The switch is likely in Gongsun Jiayi's possession."