At Wen Hao's command, everyone immediately sprang into action!
The attack team immediately rushed to the entrance of Jiqing Lane. The agents hidden in the shadows immediately appeared and took control of the pedestrians on the street. All the street entrances were surrounded by wooden fences, and no one was allowed to enter or leave!
But when Wen Hao saw the attack team rushing into Jiqing Lane without any hindrance, and there was no alarm or unusual situation around, he immediately felt that something was wrong!
This was different from what he had initially expected. Based on his past experience, the underground party's guards should at least fire warning shots and then begin to engage in combat to buy time for their comrades to evacuate. But the current situation was beyond his expectations!
Seeing that the attack team had already rushed in, Duan Xingzhou and Guo Ming quickly drew their pistols and waved their hands, "Charge in! Arrest everyone in the alley! If anyone resists, execute them on the spot!"
After saying that, he took the lead and rushed in, followed closely by his teammates.
Wen Hao watched as his men began to act according to the planned steps. Although he had some doubts, he waited quietly for the results.
Soon, Guo Ming, the deputy captain of the action team, ran out of the alley and went straight to Wen Hao. He reported, "Team leader, something seems wrong. We rushed in and there was no resistance. All the residents in the alley have been brought under control, but three houses are missing. Everything inside is in a mess, as if they just moved out!"
Upon hearing Guo Ming's report, Wen Hao's heart sank. It was clear that he had come up empty-handed. He hurried to the alley entrance, but just as he was about to enter, he suddenly turned around and stopped.
Wen Hao carefully observed the nearby buildings, then looked up and pointed at the second-floor balcony of the house that was directly in front of him, ordering, "Immediately detain the surrounding residents as well, and thoroughly search their homes, especially this house. Arrest everyone inside!"
Upon receiving the order, Guo Ming and his team surged forward and quickly rushed into the residential building across the street.
Wen Hao strode into Jiqing Alley. This alley was not long and had only about twenty households. All the residents were escorted out of their houses by the action team members, and they hid behind the wall with their hands behind their backs.
At that moment, Duan Xingzhou rushed over and said urgently to Wen Hao, "Team leader, we've found an underground passage!"
Upon hearing this, Wen Hao quickly asked, "Go in and see if you've found anything!"
"We've already sent people down, and we'll have results soon!" Duan Xingzhou said hurriedly.
Wen Hao followed Duan Xingzhou to the door of a house in the alley. Duan Xingzhou pointed to the gate and said, "These three houses are all empty, and the people have all run away!"
Wen Hao's face grew increasingly grim. He stepped through the courtyard gate. The courtyard was cluttered with miscellaneous items, but he didn't linger and went back into the room.
The room was in a mess, all the furniture and bookshelves were empty. Wen Hao turned through another door, and this room was just like that. There were still a lot of ashes from burning paper in the two iron basins on the floor. He squatted down, reached out and took out a handful of the ashes. He felt that they were still a little warm, and a surge of anger welled up in his heart.
He threw the ashes in his hand to the ground and cursed under his breath, "This is a planned evacuation; they knew we were coming!"
Duan Xingzhou, standing behind Wen Hao, dared not reply when he saw Wen Hao's ashen face. Wen Hao then hurried to the homes of two other residents, where the situation was similar. The houses were in complete disarray, and no valuable items were found. Everything with paper on it had been burned, and the house had been thoroughly cleaned up.
Wen Hao finally couldn't bear to look anymore and said to Duan Xingzhou, "Where is the underground passage? Take me to see it!"
Duan Xingzhou quickly led him to the courtyard of a family. In the courtyard, there was a storage room where several action team members were standing, staring intently at a dilapidated stove.
The items on the side of the stove had been removed, revealing a large underground opening. Soon, an action team member emerged from it.
He stood up and reported to Duan Xingzhou, "Captain, the space inside is very large, and there are two basements. The other end leads to a street outside, which is just like here—empty, with nothing left."
Upon hearing this, Duan Xingzhou looked helplessly at Wen Hao in front of him. Wen Hao waved his hand and said, "Send more people down; I'll go and take a look myself!"
After the search was completed, Wen Hao appeared at another exit through the underground passage. Standing on the street, looking at the surrounding scenery, he finally gave up!
Today's operation was a complete failure. The underground party had clearly heard the news and had completely withdrawn from Jiqing Lane just a few hours ago. They even had time to clean up all traces before leaving, which shows that they were well-prepared.
"There's a mole!" Wen Hao muttered through gritted teeth. The timing of the underground party's evacuation was inexplicable, and there was only one conclusion: the operation had been leaked!
However, Shen Le only notified him of this operation a little over ten hours ago, and he didn't tell anyone. At most, he communicated with a few operation team leaders and asked them to mobilize personnel to prepare for the operation.
If these action team leaders are at fault, they don't even know the specific attack location. All operations are only announced to their subordinate action team leaders after the arrangements are completed in the morning.
If someone were to tip them off at this time, the underground party wouldn't have time to react and wouldn't be able to remain as calm and composed as they were on the ground.
Despite such careful planning, the news still leaked. Wen Hao really didn't know where to begin his investigation. Did the underground party members have the ability to foresee the future?
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