The third option

"203, 302, YES or NO..." Li Wei read out loud slowly, a cold arc forming at the corner of his mouth.

"This isn't luring the tiger away from the mountain; this is giving us a multiple-choice question. A devil's multiple-choice question."

"They know the two of us are together, so they gave us two targets. Seaview No. 1 is my weakness. The First Municipal Hospital is your weakness. YES or NO means they want us to pick one. Choose YES to save one. Choose NO to abandon the other."

"This is a psychological game." Li Wei's voice was as cold as sewage in a sewer.

"They want to divide us, make us argue, and make us fight each other. They want to see how we make our choice—whether we choose our own loved ones or someone else's. They want to see one of us suffer for the rest of our life because we made the wrong choice!"

"If we split up now and each go to one place, that might be exactly what they want! We would only be picked off one by one! The final result would be that we couldn't save either side!"

Qin Bing's face was already as pale as that slip of paper. She finally understood the other party's sinister intentions.

This was no longer just a simple crime; it was a carefully designed hunt targeting human nature. The hunter was hiding in the shadows, enjoying the ugly sight of the prey struggling in despair.

As a police officer, her duty was to protect the life and property of all the people. In her world, Yang Yun, Yang Weiwei, and her sister Qin Xue should all be objects of protection, without distinction.

But now, this balance had been forcibly broken. On one side was her own sister, whom she had warned Li Wei more than once to stay away from. If anything happened to her sister, she would never forgive herself. On the other side were two innocent lives.

If she chose to save her sister and abandoned them, would she still deserve to wear this police uniform? Would she still be worthy of the oath she took when she joined the force? This question was like a knife, stabbing into her heart and twisting back and forth.

"I..." She opened her mouth, but found that her throat felt like it was stuffed with cotton; she couldn't say a single word.

Time was slipping away, second by second. The surrounding air seemed to become viscous, pressing down on people until they couldn't breathe.

Li Wei watched her painful struggle and sighed inwardly. He knew how cruel this choice was for Qin Bing.

He reached out, took the slip of paper from Qin Bing's hand, and, under her puzzled gaze, slowly tore it in half.

"Who said we have to play by their rules?" A flash of madness and determination crossed Li Wei's eyes.

"Since it's a multiple-choice question, I'll give them a third answer." He looked at Qin Bing and said, enunciating every word.

"We won't choose either place." "We're going to catch the person who set the question!"

"Are you crazy?!" Qin Bing shouted almost subconsciously.

Qin Bing was purely shocked; she couldn't understand Li Wei's train of thought at all. The hostages were still in the hands of the other party; instead of saving them first, he wanted to go catch the "question setter" whose shadow they hadn't even seen? Wasn't this putting the cart before the horse?

But soon she snapped out of her shock, carrying a hint of indescribable, complex emotion. She had to admit, the moment she heard Li Wei say those words, her heart, which had been torn to the point of exploding, had strangely heaved a sigh of relief.

Finally, there was no need to choose. This man, in the most overbearing, unreasonable way, had overturned that damned gambling table for her.

"I'm not crazy." Li Wei's expression was calmer than ever before.

"Qin Bing, think carefully. The other party went to such great lengths to set up this trap—leaving notes, jamming signals—is it really just to kill people?" He shook his head.

"I think that possibility is very small. If they really wanted to kill, they wouldn't need to go to such trouble. They could just act directly, and we wouldn't even have time to react. Their true purpose is to torture us, to see us collapse from guilt and self-reproach, or they have some other motive. This is a psychological war; the more flustered we are, the more pleased they will be."

"So, we must not let them have their way. The calmer we are, and the more we make moves that are unexpected to them, the more flustered they will become. A flustered hunter cannot catch its prey."

Qin Bing's breathing gradually calmed down, and she forced herself to think along the lines of Li Wei's reasoning. "But how do we find them? We don't even know who they are or where they are." She asked the most crucial question.

"I think I might know." Li Wei's answer left Qin Bing and Wang Hao stunned again. "Do you remember?" Li Wei looked at Qin Bing. "In the sewer, we analyzed the physical characteristics of that fake driver. About 1.7 meters tall, 70 kilograms, received professional training."

"And just now, Officer Wang said the victim was discovered fifteen minutes ago. How long has it been since we came out of the sewer?" Qin Bing reacted immediately. "About twenty minutes. That means, when we were in the sewer, they might have just come out of it."

"Exactly!" Li Wei snapped his fingers. "They came out of the manhole, and during that time the criminal suspect also assaulted an innocent passerby—no matter how short, it must have taken a few minutes—then they left the note, and finally left calmly. Accounting for everything, it's at most ten minutes or so. How far could they have gone in those ten minutes?"

"With Lin Tianhao injured, they definitely wouldn't dare take a vehicle because the whole city is under surveillance. They can only travel on foot, and must avoid main roads and surveillance cameras. So, with this place as the center, where is the safest, most hidden place they could reach on foot in ten-plus minutes, that also allows them to simultaneously monitor movements in both the directions of Seaview No. 1 and the First Municipal Hospital?"

Li Wei took out his phone; although it was a bit muddy, it still worked. He quickly opened the map and set his current location as the center. His fingers swiped rapidly across the map, and finally, he tapped heavily on one spot. "West of the city, the unfinished building complex, Blue Harbor."

Qin Bing leaned over to look, and her pupils suddenly constricted. This unfinished building complex was just about a fifteen to twenty-minute walk from their current location. It was located in a remote area, lacking surveillance. It was surrounded by old urban areas waiting to be demolished, with few people around. Most importantly, its geographical location was extremely unique. It happened to be roughly at the midpoint between Seaview No. 1 and the First Municipal Hospital. By climbing to the roof and using high-powered binoculars, one could clearly see this place and the situation on the main roads around the two target locations. It was simply the perfect observation post and command post!

"Let's go!" Qin Bing no longer hesitated in the slightest. She turned and went up to Wang Hao, who was still a bit dazed, and issued an order. "Officer Wang, report to the Command Center immediately. Say we've discovered new clues. But remember, only report our movements; don't mention the note for now. Just say we're following traces from the scene. Also, we're commandeering your police car for now."

"Understood!" Although Wang Hao still didn't fully understand, obeying orders was a police officer's duty. Qin Bing looked at Li Wei again, her gaze complex. "Get in." She pointed to the police car Wang Hao had driven. This was the first time she had actively invited Li Wei to fight side-by-side with her.

The police car roared into the night. Li Wei sat in the passenger seat, and Qin Bing floored the accelerator. The streetscape outside the car window receded rapidly, and the city's neon lights cast flickering shadows on both their faces.

"Aren't you afraid that your judgment is a gamble, and that it's wrong?" Qin Bing looked straight ahead and asked abruptly. "What if they really do act at Seaview No. 1 or the First Municipal Hospital? Can you bear the responsibility for that?"

"I can't." Li Wei's answer was very direct. "But my intuition tells me they won't. And I feel that if we don't even have the courage to take a gamble, then what we lose isn't just courage, but the dignity to keep living."

Qin Bing fell silent. Her hands on the steering wheel tightened.