Someone fell into the river.

With a wary look in his eyes, he demanded, "Who are you people?"

At that very moment, it suddenly dawned on them that these men in plainclothes did not look like police officers handling a case.

Rather, they looked like people from the military district.

The instant they laid eyes on these men, alarm bells had already started ringing in their hearts, and stark terror was mirrored in each other's eyes.

"Who are we?"

Sheng Ting curved her lips into a smile.

Then she raised a hand and pulled out the identification badge concealed at the nape of her neck.

"Sheng Ting, Head of District Seven."

She raised an eyebrow as she swept her gaze over the people present.

"Well then, would you like us to show you the evidence of your crimes that we have in our hands?"

And standing right at the forefront of it all was the Deputy Chief of the First District's Intelligence Bureau.

Shen Zhaoxi walked in.

Draped in a black coat, with her cold, aloof eyes and slender frame that should have looked fragile and easily bullied, she instead appeared stern and resolute at this moment.

She was injured, and her complexion lacked vitality and blood circulation, but that did not mean the cold-blooded tenacity deep in her bones had vanished.

It was precisely these people right before her eyes who, driven by greed and the pursuit of fame and fortune, had betrayed state secrets. Their betrayal had caused the Yunzhou Empire's Operation Falcon in Dongzhou three years ago to end in failure.

So many people had died.

They would have to pay with their lives!

"Since when can District Seven make arbitrary decisions, arresting high-ranking officials of the First District without applying for an official operation warrant from above?"

Although the man had guessed they were here to make arrests, he had held his position for many years, and his imposing dignity remained intact.

Therefore, with furious eyes, he slammed his hand on the table and stood up, glaring coldly at the people surrounding the banquet.

At that instant, Shen Zhaoxi stepped forward, casting a chilling glance at the man.

"District Seven requires an arrest warrant. Then tell me, does the First Military District need one?"

With death staring them in the face, they still remained unrepentant—how hateful could they be?

"What?"

The man was shocked for a moment. Could it be that they were from the First Military District?

"Are you people—?"

"Hah,"

A trace of icy disdain overflowed from Shen Zhaoxi's eyes.

"Take them away!"

Shen Zhaoxi commanded coldly, directly giving the order to slap handcuffs on them and drag them away.

A vehicle was parked directly at the entrance of the hotel, and the surrounding area had been secured when they were arrested.

Therefore, very few people witnessed the scene.

In truth, what the man had said was not wrong.

Although District Seven stood above all departments as the highest supervisory body, they were still not permitted to act on their own authority and arrest high-ranking officials simply because they had gathered evidence of criminal activity.

Such actions required official operational clearance from the higher-ups.

Because there was always the possibility of running into a peer-level department.

However, the First Military District possessed absolute operational privilege.

Precisely because of this, these people had been given no opportunity to receive any advance warning from above.

They were caught completely off guard.

No one knew that after nightfall by the riverside, the four or five cars parked outside the resort hotel, accompanied by dozens of men in black suits and plainclothes, belonged to the military.

In the desolate darkness of the night, Shen Zhaoxi walked out of the hotel entrance and watched as these individuals were escorted into the vehicles.

Moments later, the car doors closed.

Sheng Ting walked over to her side, lowering her voice as her gaze followed the direction of the closed car doors.

"Being able to capture him makes all the busyness of these past few days worth it."

Because they had previously uncovered records of their past transactions at the Emperor's Vista Club, they had been able to track their whereabouts.

Starting from tonight—no, strictly speaking, from the early hours of this morning—they had already been tracking and laying out their deployment.

And by nightfall, they had successfully apprehended them.

Shen Zhaoxi and her team had actually enforced a news blackout over this entire area.

Consequently, no outsiders could interfere or leak any information.

These people had been taken away while completely in the dark.

"But capturing them—what does it even change?"

Standing in the dark wrapped in her coat, Shen Zhaoxi lowered her long eyelashes, veiling the thoughts swirling deep within her eyes.

"The people who died are never coming back."

Operation Falcon in Dongzhou had failed, leaving so many innocent lives tragically cut short there. How could these worthless lives ever repay that debt?

Shen Zhaoxi had never believed that these filthy, greedy individuals could ever equal the heroic souls who had died a wretched death in the line of duty.

It was because she had failed to maintain her guard that these gutter-dwelling rats had found their opportunity.

They had leaked the operation's intelligence to the criminal syndicate in Dongzhou.

That was what had given birth to the tragedy of three years ago.

That was why Operation Falcon in Dongzhou had ultimately ended in failure.

And the failure of that mission had resulted in Zhou Xu's sacrifice. It all felt as though a lifetime had passed.

And yet, it felt as if it had happened only yesterday.

"Stop letting your mind wander so much."

Sheng Ting frowned slightly. Reaching out with a fair arm, she gently patted Shen Zhaoxi's shoulder, looking straight into her eyes as she spoke.

"The fault for what happened three years ago does not lie with you."

Besides, Shen Zhaoxi had used her concrete actions to try and make amends.

Those three years in Dongzhou were also Shen Zhaoxi's three years.

Had it not been for that mission failure back then, so much more could have been accomplished during these past three years.

Pulling her thoughts back from the depths of the past, she gave a faint smile.

"You certainly know how to comfort me."

Hearing Sheng Ting's words, Shen Zhaoxi turned around, her cold, clear eyes resting on her.

"About you and Feng Chenxin..."

Her voice trailed off as she observed Sheng Ting.

She had seen the claw marks on Feng Chenxin's neck earlier today.

Those must have been bitten by Sheng Ting, right?

Because she knew that Sheng Ting had also been there at the time.

Yet, the moment Sheng Ting heard the name Feng Chenxin, she subconsciously cut Shen Zhaoxi off.

"What could possibly be going on between him and me?"

Sheng Ting laughed, looking at Shen Zhaoxi as she swiftly changed the subject.

"Since today's business is finally over, how about your buddy treats you to a drink?"

"Let's go."

With that, Sheng Ting curved her red lips, draped a fair arm over Shen Zhaoxi's coat-clad shoulder, and tugged her along toward the riverside of the resort.

The resort was built right along the edge of the river.

The wind by the river was strong.

Consequently, the breeze during the night felt biting and desolate.

"This is bad, someone fell into the river!"

That evening, after Shen Zhaoxi had gone to the restroom and failed to return for half an hour, Lu Yunzhou grew faintly uneasy.

He had gone out to look for her.

Yet, when he ran into the resort staff, they all claimed they had not seen her.

Even after checking the surveillance footage, there was no sign that Shen Zhaoxi had ever gone to the restroom at the end of the corridor.

Lu Yunzhou panicked.

Watching as more than an hour slipped by, he searched the entire resort along with any other nearby locations she might have visited.

Just as he reached the riverside and had searched for ages without finding a trace of Shen Zhaoxi, a commotion suddenly erupted in the distance, followed by cries of alarm.

"What's going on?"

Frowning deeply, Lu Yunzhou reached out and grabbed a random passerby to ask.

However, the passerby spoke in a hurried, panicked tone, only shouting that someone had fallen into the river.

Without even waiting for the person to finish the rest of their sentence, Lu Yunzhou bolted toward the scene of the accident.

The South River was the second-largest river in the capital.

Its riverbanks were wide, and the water ran deep.

Therefore, it posed a distinct and serious danger.