The law enforcement team began to search the Zhang family's old residence.
They found nothing of value, as expected. Liu Long knew that those culprits had monitored this house long enough. They were after something. Had they found it? 'If not, who are they waiting for?' thought Liu Long.
No one would come to this house⦠except Li Hao. Liu Long had his hands behind his back, and he walked around observing the place. Li Hao and the others followed behind. Black Panther stuck near to Li Hao as though the dog was scared of getting close to Captain Liu.
Liu Long soon walked into the kitchen. The kitchen door was already open. As they walked in, Li Hao glanced at the chimney. He had replaced the rock and tried his best to restore the chimney to the best of his abilities at that moment. But a part of it had fallen off and he had no way to stick it back.
However, the house was so old that it wasn't unusual for a part of the chimney to fall off. The others didn't look at the chimney yet. They wandered around examining the kitchen.
Liu Long was sharp. With a single glance, he scanned the layout of the kitchen. He did not expect to find anything of significance here. If the culprit had monitored this house for so long, Liu Long doubted he could find anything of value here that they hadn't.
As he was about to leave, his glance stopped at the stone on the floor that Li Hao had tried to replace. Liu Long did not say anything. He turned around and looked at Li Hao.
"Li Hao, did you happen to find anything when you were here?" asked the captain.
"No," said Li Hao, shaking his head. He hesitated. "Nothing of value. But I did notice that everything in the house had been touched. Even the old tree in the courtyard. Someone had dug up the base and tried to put it back as it was."
Liu Long nodded. "Do you think the person responsible might reveal themselves if we demolish the house?" asked Captain Liu suddenly.
"Probably now," said Li Hao honestly. "With the law enforcement team here, they might not really dare to reveal themselves. But it would certainly alert them. I don't think they would directly confront the Silver City law enforcement team."
"Then do you think it is necessary to demolish this place?" asked the captain. "This is the ancestral home of your dear friend, Zhang Yuan, after all."
Li Hao's heart sank. Had the captain discovered something? He wondered if the captain suspected him. It was very likely. The captain might have already assumed that the people who were in league with the red shadow would have already found what they were looking for. If that was the case, Li Hao looked suspicious at the moment.
'He's really difficult to deal with!' lamented Li Hao. He wondered what the captain was doing all these years. If such a person existed in the law enforcement team, how was it that it had always given him an impression of being incompetent at its job?
There were more than one or two unsolved cases in the law-enforcement team. Otherwise, Li Hao wouldn't have considered the organization incompetent.
Li Hao thought of a response. "It would be immensely better if the house could be spare." He hesitated. "However, if demolishing this place helps send a message to whoever killed my friend, then it is not such a waste."
Liu Long nodded briskly. He suddenly struck out and punched a hole in the kitchen wall. Li Hao flinched. The kitchen walls were still made of bricks! That kind of punch would have killed anyone.
The impact caused an entire part of the wall to fall since it was so old. Liu Long looked around. "Since we found nothing, tear down the house!" he ordered. "If you still don't find anything after that, burn it to the ground."
"Yes, sir!" the team members responded.
There was a rumble as the team began dismantling the walls.
Liu Long looked at Li Hao. "Should we take a look around and take back a few items as mementos?"
"No need, sir," said Li Hao. "The only memento I need is the head of the culprit who killed my friend so I can finally place it on his grave as a peace offering."
He did not want to draw unnecessary attention to himself. If he took a few things from this house, he would be monitored by the enemy. They would think he had found the stone. Also, Liu Long might still be testing him. It was better to refuse.Β
Liu Long nodded. "Don't burn everything!" he shouted. "Bring a few things back as evidence."
"Yes, sir!" intoned his team.
Li Hao didn't say anything. But he wondered if Liu Long knew more than he let out. Did he know about the red shadow? Was he trying to lure it out?
Li Hao learnt not to underestimate the captain and the law enforcement team henceforth. He would pay attention to his every word for clues.
"Rest of you! Disperse and look around!" instructed the captain. "Li Hao, you follow me."