Chapter 81: Confiscation of Property and Escape

These days, dealing with garbage is simple and direct. Every police station has a department for sanitation and disease prevention, and each morning, workers from that department pull their carts through the streets, collecting rubbish. The gathered waste is taken to processing stations scattered across each district. Every few months, when the garbage accumulates in great heaps, it is hauled out to the incineration plants in the wilderness and burned.

It was precisely because the waste was only processed every few months that Li Wencheng had a chance to retrieve his documents. Had the disposal been more frequent, unless he possessed some supernatural abilities, he would never have been able to recover them. The long intervals between processing meant that the waste piled up like mountains in the stations, exuding a pungent stench.

Upon arriving, Li Wencheng immediately instructed the workers at the processing station to fetch him a mask. Only after securing it did he dare to breathe. His body, enhanced by the system, had a sense of smell several times more sensitive than that of ordinary people. The stench from the garbage made him nauseous, and without a mask, it was utterly unbearable.

At the station, half the garbage heaps were being searched by members of the Anti-Detection Section. Li Wencheng walked a few steps further in and found Shi Xiaozhen and the others at the base of one of the heaps.

“How’s it going?” Li Wencheng approached and asked.

“We’re still searching, Chief. Rest assured, at this rate, we’ll have turned over all the rubbish within three days. We’re certain to find it.”

Li Wencheng neither praised nor criticized, instead fixing his gaze on Old Niu, who was rummaging through the pile ahead.

“Old Niu, come here.”

Old Niu, reeking of filth, hurried over. “Chief, what are your orders?”

“Take a team and raid Ren Zuhong’s residence. Sell everything that can be sold as quickly as possible, convert it into gold and US dollars. By the morning after tomorrow, I want Ren Zuhong’s assets laid out on my desk.”

Everyone was stunned—raiding Ren Zuhong’s home, arresting him, and all that!

“Yes, Chief, I’ll get right on it,” Old Niu replied, snapping out of his shock.

“Hey, Little San, Fatty, you lot, come with me.” Old Niu called over a dozen people and left. Only then did Li Wencheng resume the earlier conversation with Shi Xiaozhen.

“Work day and night without rest. By the morning after tomorrow, I want to see those documents.”

“Yes, sir.” As she answered, Shi Xiaozhen suddenly realized that Li Wencheng had mentioned the morning after tomorrow twice. Her heart trembled, and waves surged within her mind.

“Right, get moving. Have you raided the homes of those in the Yan Gui Group yet?”

Seeing Shi Xiaozhen distracted and silent, Li Wencheng asked, “What are you thinking about?”

Shi Xiaozhen snapped back to attention. “Nothing, Chief, nothing at all. We haven’t raided their homes yet.”

“Find the documents, then take people and raid their homes. Tell the team: if they turn up the documents before the morning after tomorrow, all the assets seized from the Yan Gui Group will be divided among them.”

“Yes, sir. I’ll pass it down shortly.”

“Good, don’t waste time. The higher-ups are pressing for those documents.”

With those words, Li Wencheng prepared to leave, but seeing Shi Xiaozhen’s hesitant and troubled expression, he couldn’t help but ask, “What is it? Is there something you need?”

Shi Xiaozhen glanced around and whispered, “Chief, could we talk somewhere else?”

“Alright.”

They moved to a secluded spot, a dozen meters from anyone else. Li Wencheng asked curiously, “Speak, what is it?”

“Chief, are you planning to leave on official business the morning after tomorrow?”

Li Wencheng’s pupils contracted slightly. After a moment’s silence, he nodded to the solemn Shi Xiaozhen and turned to depart.

Leaving the garbage station, he drove to the Secret Service headquarters, wandered around for a while, did nothing, and then left. Afterwards, he ate a simple dinner at a roadside stall and returned home to pack.

In the Mountain City, life had been comfortable. Old Dai, the Central Department, treated him with the utmost courtesy. During his time here, he could have anything he wanted, do anything he wished.

But alas, what was destined to come had come.

At noon, Chen Wenqi had approached him about marriage. He’d replied that even if he didn’t marry, his uncle wouldn’t do anything to him. That was true, but he was also certain that if he refused, his uncle would place even more people by his side. Eventually, it was likely that the entire Anti-Detection Section would be composed of his uncle’s men.

With time, bonds inevitably formed between people. He hadn’t lied to Shi Xiaozhen earlier precisely because they had grown close; he didn’t want to deceive her. If more people were planted around him, their presence would eventually become a cage, restricting him. He could only retrieve the documents, submit his report, and then flee.

After packing, Li Wencheng showered and went to bed.

That night, the moon hung high, casting the Mountain City in a glow as bright as daylight. Past ten o’clock, when the streets were nearly deserted, Li Wencheng donned a black suit and hat and slipped out of his house.

He drove to the vicinity of the Secret Service headquarters, circled the area, and finally parked his car in an alley outside the right courtyard of the headquarters. Getting out, Li Wencheng, nimble as a monkey, vaulted over the courtyard wall in a single bound.

The courtyard was small, with only a single-story building. Li Wencheng leapt onto the roof and dashed toward the opposite side. The wall on this side of the courtyard was separated from the headquarters’ perimeter by a narrow alley, barely two meters wide. The Secret Service wall was more than a meter higher than the usual courtyard wall, making it impossible for ordinary people to scale. Moreover, nobody expected anyone would dare infiltrate the headquarters, so there were no guards posted.

With another leap, Li Wencheng grabbed the wall, climbed up, and slipped into the headquarters compound, all without being detected.

Past ten, the compound was deserted, but the main buildings were brightly lit.

Li Wencheng crouched in the shadow by the wall, scanning the area like a phantom, then crept along the wall toward the rear. The rear wall and the back of the main building were only a few meters apart, separated by an open space filled with wild grass and several septic tanks, a place rarely visited.

Li Wencheng made his way behind the central building, glanced upward, and chose a water pipe running along the wall. He began to climb.

Under the moonlight, he moved like a cat, leaping up the drainpipe and ascending several meters at a time. In the blink of an eye, he reached the fourth floor.

He had chosen this particular pipe because directly above it was the restroom attached to the archives.

In truth, the archives hardly needed a restroom. There were few staff, and they usually gathered in the small anteroom at the entrance, chatting idly. Only when someone needed to consult records or new files were added did they enter the archives, which was rare.

The Secret Service had eight branches in Mountain City; all local affairs were handled by these branches. The headquarters merely compiled reports from the branches and stations nationwide, and issued tasks to them.

Only the communications and general affairs departments had regular work. The rest were often idle, especially the archives, which were extremely leisurely. Staff only became busy when new personnel joined or when the annual training camp graduates were assigned, as their files needed sorting and classification.

The Secret Service had recently been upgraded and recruited outsiders, but their records weren’t eligible for inclusion in the headquarters’ archives. Even when the archive staff were busy, it lasted only a day or two.

Only important files were kept at headquarters; routine records were stored at each branch’s archive. Stations in enemy-occupied areas had nothing significant to report, and their telegrams were stored in the communications department. Those in government-occupied areas had their own archives and kept any important telegrams in the communications department.

Consulting the headquarters archives was rare; only the eight branches in Mountain City would do so, and only for important matters or figures. Since the upgrade from the Restoration Society to the Secret Service, there had been only one such consultation: when Li Wencheng had instructed Scholar and Gunman to access Ren Zuhong’s file.

The headquarters archives were like a library of crucial texts—important, yet tranquil. Few people consulted them, even fewer added files, and the limited staff had no need for a lavish restroom.

But after the Restoration Society was elevated to the Secret Service, funding increased. The headquarters was now the face of the organization. Old Dai, determined to maintain appearances, spared no expense, ensuring the renovations were impeccable. He would not let anyone think the Secret Service was short on funds.

As a result, even the archives—and the interrogation cells—were fitted with restrooms. The archives’ restroom was immaculate, spacious, and bright, resembling those of the twenty-first century.

Moreover, the restroom window was a stylish sliding design, trendy for the era. Since the renovations, the window had always been left open, making Li Wencheng’s task easier—he didn’t need to move sideways to reach another window.