No one dared to be negligent, and they split up to search. They quickly searched the house inside and out. Ning Zhiheng examined the layout of the entire house, which was basically the same as Fu Cheng's house.
It turned out that these Japanese spies were very cunning. They moved into two adjacent houses in two separate alleys and then knocked down the walls between them, so it was impossible to tell from the outside. The surveillance personnel always thought that Fu Cheng lived alone and had no contact with the outside world.
In reality, he had been in contact with two accomplices, who likely also had their own disguises. Living next to him was for their protection and support of Fu Cheng. What a clever arrangement.
Ning Zhiheng saw that there weren't many places in the house where people could hide. He thought that at least ten minutes had passed since the arrest shots were fired, and the target had enough time to escape. It was unlikely that he was still in the house.
He walked straight to the courtyard gate, pushed it open, and went out. He found that there was an alleyway in front of the gate. He walked along the alleyway for a while, but found that it was a dead end. He turned back and soon arrived at the main road of Beihua Street.
At this moment, they discovered that Shi Hong, along with his team members and some police officers, were blocking the entrance to the alley, setting up roadblocks to prevent passersby from passing through.
Shi Hong spotted Ning Zhiheng emerging from a nearby alley and quickly ran over, asking anxiously, "Zhiheng, what's going on inside? I knew something was wrong as soon as the gunshots rang out. We're short-handed, so we've called in the nearby patrol officers to cordon off this street!"
Ning Zhiheng secretly praised Shi Hong for his exceptional adaptability. He decisively controlled all the exits near the scene in the first instance, minimizing the possibility of the target escaping.
Ning Zhiheng quickly recounted what had happened inside. Upon hearing this, Shi Hong's face immediately fell. Such a huge blunder, such heavy losses, and they hadn't even caught the target—how could they possibly write this report? They simply couldn't explain it away!
"Brother Hong, how long was it between the sound of gunfire and the start of martial law? Did you find any suspicious individuals?" Ning Zhiheng asked.
"It took about five minutes. We were short-handed at first and only managed to block off one alleyway. Fortunately, Nanjing is the capital, so there are many patrol officers. After showing our identities, we gathered nearby officers and managed to barely control the street," Shi Hong said after a moment's recollection. "But it can't last too long, or it will be hard to explain!"
Nanjing is densely populated with numerous buildings, so even with checkpoints and searches, the chances of success are slim if the target is not located within a limited area.
Ning Zhiheng pondered for a moment and said, "Brother Hong, can you help me analyze this? The target, Fu Cheng, definitely didn't notice anything before the arrest, otherwise he would have all run away instead of leaving two accomplices to die. Since he didn't notice anything, he must have been inside the house when the arrest began."
Shi Hong nodded, agreeing with Ning Zhiheng's deduction.
“That also suggests that Fu Cheng’s status within their organization is higher than that of his two accomplices, because the accomplices in the bedroom didn’t run away but stayed behind to provide cover, while he escaped through the secret passage. This was a very short time, and it’s unlikely he could have escaped before you imposed martial law. In other words, he should still be within our capture range.” Ning Zhiheng’s gaze sharpened, and he said, word by word, “He hasn’t escaped yet!”
Shi Hong agreed with this and was secretly surprised. He thought that although Ning Zhiheng was young, he was calm and clear-headed. He had analyzed so many situations in a short time, which was not like a novice who had just graduated from military academy.
He didn't know that Ning Zhiheng had long ago cultivated a calm and cautious approach to situations in his previous life. This was a survival skill developed in the unpredictable and intricately connected world of government agencies, and in terms of meticulousness, he far surpassed them!
"So what do you suggest we do now?" Shi Hong's impression of Ning Zhiheng had changed considerably. He felt that this young partner was not to be underestimated, so he subconsciously asked for his thoughts!
"What else can we do? A stupid solution! Send more people to control the entrances and exits, and then search house to house, dig three feet into the ground to find them!" Ning Zhiheng didn't have any better ideas.
The saying goes, "If one person hides something, a hundred people will search for it!" This means that if one person hides something, it will take a hundred people to find it.
In such a large place, you can find someone to hide in any corner, but finding him requires a lot of effort and a large-scale search. Even so, finding him is considered good luck.
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