Liu Zhanyu only learned halfway there that Jiang Qiao had already returned safely.

However, Song Shutian also assigned him a task: to assist Song Zhi and his team in capturing Dou Yanhua and the enemy agents with her.

When Jiang Qiao returned, it was almost dawn. Ning Hao was cooking in the kitchen when he saw his wife running over, trembling.

"Qiao'er—"

Seeing Ning Hao in the kitchen, Jiang Qiao wasn't in a hurry to go inside. She quickly pushed open the door and went in to warm up.

"Give me some hot water, I'm freezing to death."

"Don't drink water. I just made some millet porridge. Have some first. I'll make you some milk powder. You can eat your meal right away. You haven't slept all night, have you? After you finish eating, go back to your room and sleep. We can talk about it when you wake up."

Although he also wanted to know what Jiang Qiao had gone through last night?

Just from her clothes, Ning Hao could roughly tell something was wrong. His wife was usually such a capable person, but when she left, she was fine, and when she came back, she was covered in dust and her clothes were all wrinkled.

However, he felt sorry for his wife, so even though he had many doubts, he didn't ask any more questions.

Ning Hao's silence doesn't mean Jiang Qiao won't tell. It's not a big deal. Besides, Ning Hao has worked here before, so it's not a big deal for her to talk to her husband.

"Last night, we were tricked by the special envoys. We originally wanted to find Dou Yanhua, but who knew they would stage a ruse for us. My third uncle and I were kidnapped. Do you know what kind of methods they used? They used sleeping pills. Luckily, I woke up early, otherwise, really, you would have to pay respects to your wife on this day next year."

Ning Hao's eyes widened, his expression one of terror. "What do you mean? They want to kill you?"

Jiang Qiao nodded and, while eating, recounted the whole story to her husband.

Ning Hao was so angry that the cleaver he was using to cut meat sank into the cutting board. "Next time, I'll be with you. If we run into these bastards, we absolutely can't let them get away with it. They've given us face once or twice, and they still want to kill you? They'll have to ask me if I agree."

"Honey, don't worry, I'm here. Next time, I'll stay with you. Have you eaten? Go to sleep now."

Jiang Qiao nodded and wiped her mouth. "Your uncle probably drove the car back. You'll need it to go find him."

Seeing that Jiang Qiao's eyes were dark, Ning Hao quickly urged her to go to sleep, saying, "I'll take care of lunch."

Having someone in the family whom she could rely on and depend on made Jiang Qiao feel very at ease, and she went back to her room and fell asleep immediately.

When Ning Hao went to find Song Zhi, there were cigarette butts all over the office floor. Seeing that Song Zhi's eyes were bloodshot, Ning Hao had to offer some words of advice.

"Third Uncle, you need to take care of your health and stop staying up late. You need to go and rest. Our leader told me to come and assist you. We've already given orders that the militia will fully cooperate with your operation."

I'll handle the rest with the other comrades. Don't let yourself get exhausted before we even catch the enemy. Qiao'er's already asleep at home; you should find a place to rest quickly.

It would be a lie to say he wasn't sleepy; Song Zhi was forcing himself to stay awake. If it weren't for these cigarettes, he wouldn't have been able to hold on.

"Zhao Jian has taken his men out. I've already informed my unit. When you have them come back to rest, have a new team take over."

Ning Hao nodded. "Okay, Third Uncle, you should go to sleep. We can talk about it when you wake up."

Song Zhi gave a few instructions to his men. He really couldn't hold on any longer, so he found a duty room and fell asleep immediately.

After the people transferred from the city arrived, Ning Hao contacted Zhao Jian.

Last night, checkpoints were set up at all intersections, but no one was caught. Zhao Jian suspected that these people must be hiding somewhere.

The search in the mountains had been taken over by others. After Zhao Jian and his team explained the situation, they returned to their unit by the same route to have a meal and rest.

After Ning Hao received the mission, he led his men to search the city. Unfortunately, it started snowing again that day when he was conducting his investigations.

Even in this kind of weather, the comrade next to Ning Hao was sighing.

"What should we do? There are still people on the mountain. If this continues, the traces in the mountain will soon be covered by snow."

Ning Hao gave a wry smile. "What can we do? We still have to investigate. We can't just give up because of the difficulties. Let's search slowly. It's tough for us, but it won't be easy for the enemy either."

If they hadn't moved and had stayed here, they probably wouldn't be doing well either.

Throughout the morning, Ning Hao and his colleagues, accompanied by neighborhood committee aunties, visited many households, but unfortunately, they came up empty-handed.

Moreover, he also discovered a problem: the county town was so big that it couldn't be visited in a day or two. Although they split into several groups, if the enemy agents changed locations during their rest time, wouldn't the visits be a waste of effort?

Having figured this out, Ning Hao told his colleagues to go eat first, then turned to...

He turned around and went to find Chen Fang.

Zhao Jian and Song Zhi had both stayed up all night, and now he felt embarrassed to disturb their rest. It would be best to go to Chen Fang about this.

Chen Fangzheng and Liu Zhanyu were having dinner. Knowing that Jiang Qiao was alright, Liu Zhanyu didn't rush to find her. The two of them had stayed up all night, so it was best not to disturb them at this time.

So, after sleeping all morning at work, Chen Fang woke him up at noon, and the two of them discussed the case while eating.

Ning Hao came over at that moment. "Hey, Haozi, you haven't eaten yet? I'll get you some food. Have a seat—"

Liu Zhanyu waved to Ning Hao, "Sit down, Jiang Qiao, how are you? Are you alright?"

Ning Hao sighed, "She only got back early this morning. After eating, I told her to go back to her room and sleep. I don't know if she's awake yet."

"By the way, I came to discuss something with you. What are your thoughts on this search? Searching everywhere is like looking for a needle in a haystack. It's time-consuming and laborious, and I'm worried the enemy might take advantage of this. We need to discuss this carefully and identify a key area."

Liu Zhanyu sighed, "That's right. Chen Fang and I were just discussing this. They also mobilized last night, but they didn't find anything. They were exhausted. This isn't a good solution. Let's eat first and discuss this later."

Chen Fang brought Ning Hao some food, and upon seeing the meal, even Ning Hao exclaimed, "Not bad!"

Chen Fang smiled and said, "It's not usually this good. Everyone was exhausted last night, so we have to make something delicious to replenish our energy."

"Come on, don't be shy. Although it's not as good as your Qiao'er's cooking, it still tastes pretty good."

The three of them ate quickly because they all had things on their minds and didn't linger. Once they were full, they quickly moved on to the office to discuss what to do next.

Chen Fang took out a map of the county town and said, "Come on, you two, speak freely. I'd like to hear your thoughts."