Chapter 3416: Combustion (5)

Ning Shu felt they might have walked right into a trap. There was a good chance they’d been played.

Either the other side had sent out an advance team to test the waters, or they weren’t planning to take this route at all.

They’d been lured away from the real target.

It all depended now on how the other squads were doing with their interceptions.

After all, Song Yi’s unit wasn’t the only special forces squad in the field.

“What’s the squad commander planning to do?” Ning Shu asked Zhu Yi.

Zhu Yi shook his head. “The squad commander has guts, that’s for sure. I’ve got no idea what he’s thinking. My guess is he’s aiming for a big score this time.”

‘A big score’—he sounded just like a bandit saying that.

Squads like theirs carried out missions the country couldn’t afford to make public.

While regular civilians slept through the night, things were often handled quietly, behind the scenes.

When Ning Shu and Zhu Yi arrived at the office, they saw other squad members, who had also already cleaned up, revealing their true faces beneath the grime.

Ning Shu looked over at Song Yi. He had a solid build and sharp, striking features. He exuded a sense of security at first glance.

In front of Song Yi was a sealed vacuum bag. Inside was drugs.

He flicked the bag with his fingers. “This is it?”

“Looks like one and a half kilograms or so,” Song Yi said while rubbing his eyebrows.

Ning Shu asked, “Sir, any updates from the other squads? Were there any successful interceptions?”

Song Yi tapped his fingers on the table. His eyes were narrowed in thought, and his expression was grave.

“No word so far. Probably means they haven’t caught anything yet.” He suddenly slapped the table. “If that’s the case, then this really could’ve been a test run. We might’ve spooked them too early.”

“But, Sir,” one of the squad members chimed in quickly. “The intel we got at the time was accurate. Given the situation, we couldn’t just watch the vehicle drive past us, right?”

Someone was already trying to defend and comfort Song Yi.

Song Yi shook his head and waved his hand. “It’s not that simple. We didn’t just spook them. We might’ve put certain people in danger.”

Ning Shu pressed her lips together. By certain people, he was most likely referring to those undercover within the criminal organization.

If this really had been a probing attempt, then those operatives were in serious danger now.

And it also meant that something big was coming.

There was no denying it—some cancers within society were so deeply rooted that even the state had to tread carefully when moving against them.

“That’s why I want to keep going. The driver exchange point is in Jinzhou City,” Song Yi said.

With the new orders issued, no one under his command raised objections. Everyone was just waiting for him to give the word.

“Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven—you’re coming with me. The rest of you, take care of your injuries, deal with what needs dealing with.”

The numbers were code names used within the unit; they typically referred to each other as ‘Old Three,’ ‘Old Four,’ and so on.

Ning Shu noticed her number wasn’t called and asked, “I’m not going?”

Song Yi shook his head. “No. You’re staying here to monitor the situation. Write up a report on what’s happened so far, and keep an eye on updates from the other squads. Stay in close contact with us.”

Ning Shu nodded. “Understood. I have something to say, but I’m not sure if I should.”

“If you’re not sure, don’t say it,” Song Yi replied flatly.

Ning Shu: …

Why wasn’t he saying what people would normally say?

“Go ahead,” Song Yi said, glancing at her. “If you’ve got something to say, just say it. Don’t be all cryptic.”

All right, maybe she had been a bit cryptic.

“I was just wondering—did anyone thoroughly check the drivers’ bodies? They might have been carrying tracking devices. If the other side picks up that those drivers ended up in the hands of the border military, then we’ve definitely blown our cover.”

Those criminal groups weren’t lacking in high-end gear.

Song Yi shook his head. “No, that won’t happen. We’ve jammed the signal here. Little Nine, go check the drivers’ bodies.”

He was addressing a baby-faced boy named Old Nine, the ninth in their squad ranking, who was a computer expert and a skilled hacker.

“Yes,” Old Nine said, hugging his laptop as he walked off.

Ning Shu turned to Song Yi. “Sir, I can go as well. I can act as a prostitute. There’s nothing suspicious about a few drivers traveling with a prostitute.”

“Yeah, nothing suspicious,” ‘Old Four’, or Zhu Yi, immediately chimed in with a nod.

Ning Shu rolled her eyes. Zhu Yi was competent in every way, but his one and only flaw was his fondness for casual hookups. Every time they completed a mission, he would find a woman to unwind with.

To him, that was just how he relieved stress.

Song Yi had told him countless times: no inappropriate relationships and no violations of military discipline. However, Zhu Yi always did whatever he pleased, just covertly.

Their missions were extremely dangerous. Any one of them could become a martyr at any time. Old Four seemed to live by the motto: ‘Enjoy every day as if it’s your last.’

Everyone had their own way of coping and decompressing, but Zhu Yi was the only one in the squad who was this eccentric about it.

“Hmph. A prostitute brought along during a delivery? Don’t overcomplicate things.” Song Yi flatly rejected Ning Shu’s suggestion.

Ning Shu shrugged.

Little Nine soon returned, holding more than a dozen tiny objects, each the size of a grain of rice. “These should be trackers.”

“They’re that small?” Song Yi frowned as he examined one of them. “These people have some real high-tech stuff.”

The baby-faced Little Nine said, “Drug traffickers have plenty of money. Stuff like this is hard to detect once it’s on the body.”

“Hide it in your body, huh.” Song Yi picked up one of the trackers and pressed it against himself.

“These were all dug out from inside their bodies. Implanted,” Old Nine added.

Song Yi then left with five squad members, driving off in a vehicle. Before he left, he reminded Ning Shu to be careful.

This was a military border zone. Causing trouble was not an option.

Ning Shu nodded, showing she understood.

She watched the three trucks disappear into the distance, then turned on her computer and meticulously filed a report.

After submitting it, she made a call to check on the situation with the other squads.

She hoped the time Song Yi and the others were buying would prove useful.

Old Nine was still nearby, playing on his laptop. Ning Shu leaned in and glanced at the screen. “Whose network are you hacking into this time?”

“No one’s. It’s a hacker war right now—we’re attacking each other,” Old Nine replied casually. His eyes were glued to the screen.

Ning Shu knew a thing or two about computers. With a quick look, she could tell it was a real-time cyber battle.

That was Old Nine’s idea of entertainment. If he wasn’t careful, entire networks could crash. What a way to have fun.

Ning Shu went to see the two detained drivers.

The moment they saw her, they began shouting in a foreign language, pleading for her to let them go.

They were being held in a military detention room. Ning Shu eyed them up and down, scanning them repeatedly with her spiritual consciousness.

The items hidden inside them had already been extracted. Both men were pale, likely from being given laxatives to force the trackers out of their bodies.

Ning Shu asked, “Is there anything else you haven’t confessed?”

“No,” one of them said.

Ning Shu scanned their bodies again, checking for anything they might have missed—especially explosives.

If a bomb went off in a border military unit and the news got out, it would become an international joke.

Their mission was to safeguard and defend the nation.

Nothing suspicious turned up. There didn’t appear to be any unusual with the two men’s bodies.

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