"Exactly. Just wait here for our good news." Before leaving, Sean Hughes patted Zoe Sawyer's shoulder, telling her not to worry. They had everything handled.
Since they'd said as much, Zoe Sawyer felt it would be awkward to say more. She could only follow their instructions, sitting in the office with her eyes glued to the computer screen.
'If something really goes wrong, I might be able to think of something.'
Just then, the office door swung open.
The acrid, pungent smell of formalin drifted in from the doorway, followed by the sound of leather shoes on the floor.
Zoe Sawyer turned to look. A languid beauty with her hair tied in a high ponytail walked in, a cup of coffee in her hand. She then plopped down right next to Zoe Sawyer.
"So you're the famous Miss Sawyer? The one who stumbled upon three crime scenes in less than half a month? You look fine... how are you so unlucky?
Is this that 'Conan curse' they're all talking about?!" The beauty took a sip of her coffee, asking with a placid expression.
But if you listened closely, you could still hear a trace of shock in her voice.
Zoe Sawyer gave the newcomer a puzzled look. She chose her words carefully before answering, "I doubt there's another schmuck this unlucky. May I ask who you are?"
The beauty tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear, her face breaking into a wide smile. "I'm the medical examiner assigned to these three cases. I just came over to see the culprit responsible for my increased workload."
Hearing this, Zoe Sawyer let out an embarrassed cough.
'It's not like I can control it.'
"Ahem... just think of it as maintaining social order. It's everyone's responsibility to fight crime, you know," Zoe Sawyer said, sheepishly rubbing her nose. She never would have expected things to turn out this way.
Perhaps the guilty look on Zoe Sawyer's face was too obvious, because the beauty looked at her and finally laughed out loud. "I'm just teasing you. It's my job; nothing to complain about.
Hey, tell me what it was like, finding the crime scenes."
With the medical examiner steering the conversation, Zoe Sawyer gradually began to relax and stopped staring at the computer screen.
Meanwhile, Evan Keller and Sean Hughes were leading their respective teams to two different locations: the baozi stand and the spot where the tracker was.
The restaurant across from the mall, their suspected transfer point, was being handled by another team.
Evan Keller waved his hand, and his unit quickly split into two teams, encircling the baozi stand from a distance.
This baozi stand, a case reminiscent of The Zanthia but even more heinous, was already within their grasp.
Evan Keller motioned for his team members to check their gear and confirmed that everything was ready.
"Go! Find an opening and arrest them!"
Evan Keller pointed at the four men busy attracting customers and gave the order to move in.
"Come again soon! If you like them, be sure to come back." Tiger beamed as he handed a plastic bag filled with steamed buns to the old woman in front of him.
His words were welcoming, but his eyes held a deep-seated malice.
"Will do, will do. Will you be setting up your stall here again tomorrow?" the old woman asked as she took the buns.
These buns were delicious, not to mention cheap. And at this time of day, they even had a buy-one-get-one-free special.
For an old woman like her, buying them for dinner was an absolute steal!
A deal like that was impossible for the old woman to resist.
Tiger shook his head and said, "That's not certain. It depends on where the boss decides to set up the stall tomorrow."
"But don't you worry, ma'am. If we're here again tomorrow, I'll definitely save a portion for you on the sly! Same price and everything!"
"Oh, that would be perfect." The old woman nodded in satisfaction and turned to leave.
Suddenly, several figures darted out from the side, pinning Tiger and his men to the ground.
"Don't move! Police!"
Evan Keller and the others whipped out their stun batons, cranked them to the maximum setting, and incapacitated all four men, knocking them unconscious.
Just to be safe, Evan Keller zapped each one again, only stopping after confirming they were all out cold.
They had to go back up Sean Hughes's team afterward, so this needed to be quick and decisive!
The old woman who had just been buying her dinner stood frozen on the spot, awkwardly clutching the bag of buns she had just purchased.
'What's going on?'
'Is it illegal to sell buns now?'
Curious passersby started to gather, instinctively forming a wide circle around the scene and pointing in Evan Keller's direction.
"What'd this bun stand do? Why are there so many cops here all of a sudden?"
"No idea. I was just about to go buy some when a bunch of cops suddenly rushed out and pinned them to the ground."
Seeing Evan Keller and his men stand up, one of the bolder onlookers shouted, "What's all this about?"
Evan Keller put his stun baton back in its pouch. Looking at the wary, watching crowd, he raised his own voice. "We received a tip that the owner of this stand was lacing the buns with an illegal substance. After an initial investigation confirmed the report, we're taking them in for questioning to ensure consumer safety."
This was the cover story they had prepared before the raid, to avoid being unable to answer questions from the public.
They couldn't just tell the truth and say that people were suffering the same fate as some of the patrons of The Zanthia.
That would definitely cause a panic!
So, after thinking it over, they decided to come up with another excuse to fob everyone off.
In any case, the four suspects were already knocked out and couldn't open their mouths to explain anything.
As Evan Keller was explaining, a quick-witted junior officer walked over to the old woman and said gently, "Ma'am, we need to collect these buns and take them back with us as evidence. We'll reimburse you for what you paid."
The words were barely out of his mouth before the old woman was stuffing the bag of buns into his hands. "Here, take them. It's just a couple of buns, nothing to worry about."
After hearing the explanation, the crowd broke into a flurry of discussion.
"No wonder I couldn't stop thinking about their buns after I ate them! So they were lacing them with something!
I thought I was just so greedy I couldn't even resist a simple steamed bun!"
"I'm screwed. I've eaten them every day for the last few days. What do I do, what do I do?! Maybe I should go make an appointment for a check-up."
"Me too, me too."
Seeing the scene was about to get out of hand, Evan Keller quickly spoke up to reassure them. "Everyone, please calm down. Because this is a wide-ranging issue and they've been selling these buns for a long time, we will be requesting a dedicated medical team to perform check-ups.
Please follow our police department's official social media page. We'll post a notice there when it's arranged."
They had only done a rough test so far, and it was still unknown whether the meat filling contained other pathogenic bacteria.
So, for the public's safety, they absolutely had to arrange medical check-ups for anyone who had consumed the buns.
Of course, some people wouldn't be able to wait and would go get checked on their own. They would need to brief the local hospital doctors to make sure everyone was on the same page and to avoid creating a larger panic.
Hearing that the police had a plan in place, the onlookers collectively breathed a sigh of relief.
As long as there was a plan, that was all that mattered.
With the crowd pacified, Evan Keller wasted no more time. He ordered the junior officers to carry the unconscious Tiger and the others to a police car and send them back to the station.
The remaining officers went with him to back up Sean Hughes's team.
When they reached the rendezvous point, Evan Keller found Sean Hughes still staked out, his eyes glued to their target, completely motionless.
"What's the situation?" Evan Keller asked.
Sean Hughes shook his head. "The situation's not great. When we first arrived, we saw them moving a freezer."
"I thought we could catch them red-handed, but before I could make a move, one of them lost his footing. He couldn't keep his grip, and one side of the freezer fell, causing it to pop more than halfway open."
"That's when I saw it was completely empty. There was nothing inside. Trying to get information out of them now would likely lead to the same result: nothing."
But that created another problem: they no longer had a proper excuse to go in!
This was the real source of Sean Hughes's dilemma.
Despite his dilemma, Sean Hughes laid out everything he'd discovered for Evan Keller. "I just took a look. These buildings all seem to belong to the same owner. If we don't have an insider to guide us, we'll likely be spotted by the people inside just a few steps in."
"By the time we find the place where Miss Sawyer dropped the tracker, everything inside will have been moved and scrubbed clean."
Evan Keller ran a hand through his hair in frustration. Sean Hughes's concerns were valid.
But they couldn't wait any longer. Tiger and his three accomplices had already been arrested.
They could delay until tonight at the absolute latest. By then, the other side would definitely know something had gone wrong.
"We have to think of something. We can't wait too long, or they'll notice that something is off," Evan Keller said, his expression pensive as he tried to formulate a plan.
'Should we bring Tiger here to show us the way?'
'No, that's not going to work. From the conversation Zoe Sawyer overheard while he was moving the body, we know Tiger is incredibly vigilant.'
'If we hadn't caught them completely off guard today, arresting him would have been far more difficult.'
'Making him lead the way could be a disaster. He might coordinate with the people inside and create huge trouble for us!'
Just as Evan Keller was wrestling with his decision, a phone call came in, bringing with it a new spark of hope.
"Are you serious?! I'm on my way now!"