I achieved mastery of martial arts during the Republic of China era.

Chapter 55 Target Locked, Location Located!

For two consecutive days, the sky over Cangzhou City was overcast, with low-hanging clouds and a damp atmosphere, but no rain fell.

Aside from the necessary roll call and street patrols at the police station, Zhou Tong spent almost all his remaining time in that shantytown called "Loach Alley".

On the first day, he disguised himself as a secondhand collector, with a dusty gray satchel slung over his shoulder and a small copper gong in his hand, slowly walking through the streets and alleys.

The next day, he disguised himself as an itinerant doctor, carrying a faded medicine box and wearing two fake mustaches, and would go to crowded places to recite prescriptions for "dispelling dampness and cold" and "relaxing muscles and tendons".

With each change of outfit, his facial features would change slightly, and even his walking posture and accent would be completely different.

The "Record of Disguise" given by Manager Hu contains some techniques for disguise. When used in conjunction with a mask, although the face is still sallow, adding a mole and embellishing the eyebrows and eyes makes it seem like a completely different person, and most people would not be able to tell the difference.

During the day, Mudloch Lane is like a chaotic beehive.

Unfamiliar faces are not noticeable here. Every day, some people can't stand it and leave, while others sneak in from who-knows-where to make a living.

Zhou Tong blended in among them, like a drop of water in the ocean, completely inconspicuous.

However, after two days of busy work, having explored every nook and cranny of Mudfish Alley, the Shadow Insect in his arms remained silent.

Zhou Tong was very patient.

It was clearly written in Manager Hu's booklet that although the shadow insects were intelligent, they were limited by the "freshness" and "purity" of their aura.

Diao Laoqi's aura was already quite mixed and chaotic. After being touched by many people, moved around, and parked, the fact that it could point to the large area of ​​Mud Loach Alley already showed that this little thing was quite capable.

To find the target by relying on the mixed "human touch" recorded by Yingchong, one must get closer to the people who had contact with Diao Laoqi that day, or even have a face-to-face meeting, before Yingchong can be sure.

This can't be rushed; it takes time and patience, and also a bit of luck.

Before we knew it, it was the third day, and dusk was approaching.

Zhou Tong was dressed as a dockworker today.

He wore a faded, patched indigo coarse cloth short jacket, which was open, revealing a sweat-soaked, yellowish undershirt underneath.

He wore matching trousers rolled up to his calves, and on his feet were a pair of worn-out straw sandals, almost worn through, covered in dried mud.

His face was sallow, and deep lines of fatigue were etched around his eyes and brows; he looked exactly like a laborer whose back was bent under the weight of life's burdens.

He squatted down next to a tea stall at the entrance of a side alley.

The so-called tea stall was nothing more than a low table propped up by two broken wooden planks by a lame old man, with several rough porcelain bowls and a large, dark teapot steaming hot on it.

The tea in the bowl was dark brown, with a few indistinct tea dregs floating on top.

Those who come here to spend a copper coin for a bowl of wine are all poor folks dressed similarly to Zhou Tong at this moment.

Zhou Tong held the bowl, sipping the bland and astringent coarse tea. His gaze seemed to be scattered across the figures coming and going in the alley, but in reality, he was keeping a close eye on everything around him.

The laborers, returning from work in twos and threes, grumbled about the foreman's harshness and complained about the soaring grain prices.

A woman came out carrying a wooden basin to pour water, splashing it in the middle of the alley, which raised a few specks of mud.

Several teenagers were chasing and playing, nearly knocking over the tea stall, which drew a weak scolding from the lame old man.

After watching for a while, Zhou Tong turned his gaze away from the crowd, put down his teacup, got up, and prepared to move to a more crowded alleyway to continue his stakeout.

But just then!

The shadow insect inside his robe suddenly emitted a low buzzing sound.

Zhou Tong remained calm, his face showing no sign of distress, but a cold lightning bolt seemed to strike his heart!

He maintained a tired and numb expression, as if he had been squatting for a long time and was stretching his body, his eyes quickly scanning the newly appearing figures around him.

He quickly identified his goal.

A man who looked to be in his early thirties was walking out from the depths of the alley.

The man was of medium build, wearing a slightly worn gray vest. His exposed arms were muscular and his skin was tanned to a bronze color with several light-colored old scars. He certainly looked like someone who did manual labor.

He walked with his head slightly lowered, his pace neither hurried nor slow, looking no different from other laborers and unremarkable.

Zhou Tong's mind stirred slightly, and he masked it with the sound of patting dust, letting out two barely audible short groans from his throat.

A slender, iron-gray shadow suddenly and silently darted out from inside the robe, concealed by the faint smoke drifting in the alley, like a speck of ash blown by the wind, and glided lightly toward the man.

The shadow insect circled the man in a very small circle, then turned back and swiftly returned to Zhou Tong's side.

The whole process happened in the blink of an eye, and no one in the alley noticed.

Sure enough it was him!

Zhou Tong felt much more at ease.

This person must have had contact with Diao Laoqi. His aura remained on Diao Laoqi, which is why the Shadow Insects reacted.

This smell, mixed with the smell of sweat, smoke, and the smoky aromas of everyday life, is difficult for the human nose to distinguish, but it cannot escape the perception of strange insects like the Shadow Insect.

Zhou Tong did not immediately follow.

Following them rashly could easily arouse their suspicion.

He squatted down again, took two more sips of tea, until the man turned alone onto another, narrower fork in the road.

Zhou Tong stretched and followed.

He didn't walk fast; his steps were even somewhat dragging, like a laborer who had worked hard all day and just wanted to get back to his shack to rest.

Soon, he saw the back of the man in front of him.

The two were about seven or eight zhang apart.

The side streets were even narrower, with the shacks on both sides almost crammed together. Some houses even had built overpasses overhead, where tattered clothes were hung to dry, blocking out the already dwindling sunlight. The alley was as dark as if night had fallen early.

Zhou Tong quickened his pace slightly, shortening the distance.

Just as the two were about to reach another fork in the road, a drunkard staggered towards them from the opposite direction.

Zhou Tong seized the opportunity. In the narrow space where the three were about to pass each other, he seemed to trip over some debris on the ground, stumbled, and crashed into the man in the gray vest.

"Oh dear! I'm so sorry, so sorry!"

As Zhou Tong spoke, he hurriedly reached out, seemingly to steady himself, and firmly supported the man's bare right arm with his palm.

The moment their skin touched, he could feel the other person's arm muscles tense up instinctively, and a sense of vigilance emanated from them.

He's a trained fighter... Zhou Tong knew it.

"Can't you watch where you're going?"

The man frowned, shook his arm, and glared at Zhou Tong.

"I tripped a little, please don't be offended, brother." Zhou Tong nodded and bowed, smiling apologetically, and stepped aside.

The man ignored him and turned into the left fork in the road.

Zhou Tong's eyes flickered slightly. He stopped in place, let out two low chirps, and the shadow insects crawled over, firmly capturing and remembering the fresh scent on the man's skin.

Previously, Yingchong remembered the human scent on Diao Laoqi that he had come into contact with, but it was not fresh enough and was mixed up, which is why Yingchong could not trace him based on that human scent.

Now that we've seized the opportunity, let the shadow insects remember this fresh scent so we can pinpoint the person's location later.

Zhou Tong wandered around the alley for a while before issuing a tracking command to the Shadow Bug.

The shadow insect took flight, hovered briefly in the air, and then sped off in that direction without hesitation.

Zhou Tong followed along until they finally arrived at the entrance of an inconspicuous, dilapidated courtyard.

This courtyard is located in a relatively secluded corner deep in Mudfish Alley. The courtyard wall is slightly higher than the other sheds, and it is also made of yellow mud with withered grass growing on top.

The two wooden doors were peeling and tightly closed, with low lintels.

Zhou Tong walked past the door without looking to the side, silently memorizing the location. Without pausing for a moment, he continued forward, turned a corner, and left.

……

The next day, the police station.

"Take leave? Ten days?"

Qin Lie looked up from the case file, glanced at Zhou Tong standing in front of the table, and asked with concern, "Is something wrong at home?"

"I have some personal matters to attend to."

Zhou Tong said calmly, "The streets have been relatively peaceful lately, and Chen Yan and the others are familiar with the team's affairs. A few days' delay should be fine. Please grant me leave, Captain."

Qin Lie nodded slightly. He was too preoccupied with his own problems to ask any more questions. He simply picked up his pen and signed the leave slip.

"Thank you, Captain." Zhou Tong accepted it with both hands.

After leaving the police station, he didn't go home, but went straight to Mudfish Alley.

This time, he changed his identity, pretending to be a stranger who came to Cangzhou City to visit relatives but failed to find them, and who had fallen ill and urgently needed to find a cheap place to stay.

Across from the target courtyard, he rented a small house at an extremely low price.

After renting the house, Zhou Tong was like a true outsider in dire straits.

Every day, he would go out to find work during the day, and when he came back in the evening, he would cook some thin porridge or vegetable noodle soup on the coal stove by the door. At night, he would huddle behind the only small window.

The window paper was torn, so he patched it up with old newspapers, leaving a barely noticeable gap.

From here, you can see the gate of the target courtyard.

Time becomes viscous and slow while waiting.

The shed was stuffy and humid, filled with a musty smell, and buzzed with mosquitoes.

For a young master like Zhou Tong, this was the first time he had ever experienced such a life.

However, he was happy to do it.

Not only because he urgently needs to make meritorious contributions and prove his abilities, so that cases involving controlled substances that are rewarded after bone forging can fall into his hands.

Furthermore, the faces of Liu Zhenshan and Ma Biao defending opium would occasionally flash through his mind, making him more determined to investigate the case whenever he thought of it.

On the first day, the man in the gray vest went out early in the morning and returned at dusk.

Zhou Tong had Yingchong follow him to guide him. He watched from a distance and discovered that the man had gone to work at the dock.

There were too many people and too much attention there, and it was daytime, so there was simply no space to do dirty things.

Zhou Tong then focused his attention on nighttime surveillance.

Several days passed in a row.

The man was as disciplined as a real laborer, working from sunrise to sunset.

Occasionally, I would exchange a few words with my neighbors at the door, my voice hoarse, the conversation revolving around wages and the weather.

Zhou Tong remained unhurried.

He knew that the more important the mole, the more flawless the mole had to appear on a daily basis.

He was waiting, waiting for a moment to break this pattern, waiting for evidence that would confirm something for him.

Time flew by, and it was already the seventh day.

That evening, the sky was terribly overcast, with layers of dark clouds piled up, and muffled thunder rolled in the distance, but there was no wind, and the air was so stuffy that it was hard to breathe.

Mudfish Alley fell into darkness earlier than usual.

The man in the gray vest returned a little earlier than usual.

He entered the courtyard, and soon the gate quietly opened and closed several times, and several men dressed as dockworkers slipped in silently.

Zhou Tong was greatly encouraged.

Persistence pays off; he knew the moment had come when this guy would slip up!

He had seen these people appear in the vicinity during his observations over the past few days, and their gathering at this moment was by no means accidental.

About half an hour later, the courtyard gate opened again.

Four men, each carrying a carrying pole on their shoulders, with heavy baskets or wooden boxes wrapped tightly in oilcloth and straw mats at both ends.

The carrying poles were bent slightly under the weight, but the men walked steadily, clearly people who often carried heavy loads.

The man in the gray vest walked at the front empty-handed, glancing around warily from time to time.

After leaving Mudfish Alley, the group did not head towards the bustling streets, but instead chose to wander through secluded and dimly lit alleys.

By this time, the sky was completely dark, with rumbling thunder. Occasionally, a flash of lightning would tear through the sky, momentarily illuminating the mottled walls on both sides of the alley and the messy sewage on the ground, before plunging the alley into even deeper darkness.

Zhou Tong still let the Shadow Insect follow in front, like an invisible scout, to guide him, while he followed far behind.

At this crucial moment, Zhou Tong was on tenterhooks, fearing that he might be discovered or that something might go wrong. Fortunately, nothing happened along the way.

After an unknown amount of time, the group finally arrived at their destination, a warehouse.

The warehouse occupied a considerable area, with towering brick and stone walls and a tightly closed black gate. The plaque above the gate that read "Yongfeng Warehouse" gleamed coldly in the occasional flashes of lightning.

The man in the gray vest walked to a small side door on the side of the warehouse and knocked rhythmically a few times.

The door opened silently a crack, letting in a dim, yellow light.

The man in the gray vest spoke a few words in hushed tones to the people inside, and then four men carrying loads filed in.

The side gate was then closed, isolating the inside from the outside.

Outside, Zhou Tong lay on the eaves of a shop that had long since closed, opposite the warehouse, squinting and carefully observing everything under the cover of night.

Inside was a side courtyard filled with miscellaneous items.

A man dressed in silk robes, who looked like a manager, was directing people to unload the loads.

Someone used a dagger to cut open the tarpaulin and straw mat, and pried open the wooden box.

Even from a distance, Zhou Tong could still see clearly by the light of the lanterns inside.

What emerged from the wooden box were square, dark, paste-like substances wrapped in oiled paper!

Someone picked up a piece, held it up to the light to examine it, then pinched off a small piece with their fingers, sniffed it, and nodded to the steward.

Opium! And it's boxed boxes of opium!

Zhou Tong's expression was cold and his face was as hard as iron.

Captain Qin Lie was right, this was indeed a deal done by the case!

Judging from their proficiency in unloading and inspecting goods, Yongfeng Warehouse is clearly not handling this for the first time!

He didn't look at it any further.

With the target confirmed and the location known, the objective has been achieved.

Staying here for even a moment longer increases the risk.

The warehouse was surrounded by high walls, with guards at the side gates, and an unknown number of people inside.

He was alone and secretly investigating; this was not the time to act recklessly.

Zhou Tong slid down from the eaves like a raccoon dog, landing silently and quickly disappearing into the dark alleyway.

He circled around a few times to make sure no one was following him before hurrying off towards Qin Lie's house.

The rumbling thunder in the night sky grew louder and louder, and lightning tore through the clouds.

A long-awaited downpour is finally coming.