The pure black McLaren GLS turned into the open space in front of the apartment building, parking perfectly against the line before killing the engine. Yuan Hang, who had arrived a step ahead to wait, watched as both car doors popped open simultaneously. His old classmate got out of the driver's seat, his figure tall and straight, his expression cold and severe. His rimless silver-framed glasses were as clear and sharp as thin ice. As he strode over, the hem of his dark gray overcoat fluttered in the biting cold wind. For a moment, Yuan Hang thought he had finally abandoned the light for the darkness, switching careers from a programmer to the mafia.

The man behind Shen Zhengning was half a head taller, wrapped in a black cape coat that was incredibly demanding on one's figure. His complexion was coldly pale, and his features were astonishingly handsome, like a vampire duke from a shoujo manga. This handsome man, on a whole other level, further heightened the scene's sense of unreality, making one involuntarily suspect that a group of burly men holding cameras would soon surround them.

Shen Zhengning concisely introduced the two to each other: "This is Officer Yuan Hang, the lead officer on Ye Tongsheng's case. This is Zhuang Mingqi, he's a friend of Ye Tongsheng's."

The "vampire", who looked arrogant, cold, and extremely difficult to deal with at a glance, gave him a slight nod. "Hello."

"Hello, hello," Yuan Hang responded enthusiastically for his old classmate's sake and proactively extended his hand as a friendly gesture, only to have it gently pushed down by Shen Zhengning beside him. "How do we get in? Have you contacted the landlord?"

Yuan Hang looked left and right, let out a "well now," and pulled an evidence bag from his pocket, swinging it twice. He defiantly raised his hand and extended it to Shen Zhengning again. "Where's that postcard you mentioned? Give it to me first. You've both touched it, right? After this is over, come back to the station with me to get your fingerprints taken."

Shen Zhengning plucked the postcard box out of his overcoat pocket with two fingers and dropped it into the evidence bag. Yuan Hang shot him a dark look, the meaning was probably something like, 'You punk, you think I can't handle you?' and 'You just wait.' He led the way to the apartment building, pulling out gloves and tossing them to the two. "We've already done an on-site investigation of Ye Tongsheng's home. After the case was closed, his family came and took his personal belongings. The apartment is currently empty and not rented out, so it's not too much trouble. I spoke with the landlady, and she agreed to come and help us open the door."

Ye Tongsheng had rented apartment 503, Unit 1, Building 3 of Jinwo Community. A lady with curly hair, wearing a dusty pink base layer and a down vest, was waiting at the door. The moment they met, her words came out like machine-gun fire, strafing them from all directions. "Officer, what are you investigating this time? The guy's been gone for two months, and his things have all been moved out. Back then, the police, the agent, the family, and us, all four parties watched as his things were packed up. There's really nothing left behind. Hey, you'll be done after this search, right? You won't be coming back again, will you? I still have to rent this place out. The new tenant is moving in a few days. If you guys show up for a surprise raid every other day, and if they get superstitious and decide not to rent from us, I'll have to come to you for compensation..."

"Ma'am, please rest assured. We're here to solve a case, not to collect the water bill. We won't keep bothering you." Yuan Hang said quickly. "Thank you for supporting our work. Please let us in. The sooner we look, the sooner we can leave, and we won't take up too much of your time."

The landlady clicked her tongue, not quite satisfied, but she finally stepped aside to let them in. Shen Zhengning took the lead and went straight to the bedroom. Yuan Hang wandered around the living room. Only Zhuang Mingqi seemed out of place, surveying the entire room with a blank expression, looking just like an overbearing CEO inspecting a construction site slated for demolition.

He was the one with the least proactive work attitude, but because he was just so good-looking, the landlady didn't find any fault with him at all. Instead, she looked him up and down with curiosity and clucked in admiration like a chirping bird. "Are the requirements for joining the police force so high these days? Look at this young man, so tall and proper, and so handsome! Are you a local? How old are you? Do you have a girlfriend? With your looks, you should be a big star. Why did you become a police officer?"

Zhuang Mingqi: “...”

Yuan Hang, whose "talent" was being poached by the masses right in front of him, stared intently at the space under the sofa, opting for a hands-off approach, making no attempt to stop the landlady from prying into the man's personal details or to help him out.

His detective's intuition had been maxed out the moment he saw Zhuang Mingqi. Yuan Hang strongly suspected this person was the root cause of Shen Zhengning's obsession with Ye Tongsheng's case—he still cringed just thinking about that conversation. It was one thing for this kid to be leagues ahead in the looks department, but he could even make someone as low-key as Shen Zhengning reveal his edge again. What level of bewitching consort was this?

'Thank you, ma'am, for speaking up for me!'

Yuan Hang, who had smoothly placed himself in the "bride's family" camp without any mental block, quietly perked up his ears.

To be fair, the landlady meant no harm; she was even striking up a conversation with Zhuang Mingqi out of admiration. But not everyone was suited for such familiarity, and Zhuang Mingqi was that one-in-a-million landmine.

His brow furrowed slightly, and he lowered his eyelids with weariness, thinking he might as well just leave, when Shen Zhengning suddenly called out from the bedroom. "Mingqi, come in and lend a hand."

Like a refrigerator whose door had been opened halfway and then shut again, Zhuang Mingqi silently retracted his cold aura, made a 'please excuse me' gesture to the landlady, and walked quickly into the bedroom. "Coming!"

Yuan Hang: ...My apologies. I thought he was a femme fatale like Bao Si or Da Ji, but it turns out he's the Princess and the Pea.

The apartment had a one-bedroom, one-living room layout. The bedroom was fairly spacious and had a small balcony. As the sun set in the west, its slanting rays illuminated the empty mattress and desk. A few wire hangers hung in the closet. There were almost no traces of the original owner left.

The room had a liver-red wooden floor. The double bed in the center was flush with the floor on all four sides, meaning the space under the bed was sealed. It was certainly concealed enough, but moving it would be a major undertaking.

"Find anything?" Zhuang Mingqi crouched down beside Shen Zhengning, his hands on his knees in a posture somewhat like a cat's sit. He copied Shen Zhengning and tapped on the floor. "It's a rental, after all. He wouldn't really pry up the landlord's floorboards to hide something, would he? If the landlord pulled a 'lantern inspection', he'd have to pay a fortune."

Shen Zhengning gave him a teasing smile. "You even know about 'lantern inspections'? I told you, you can learn things on Xiaohongshu."

"Focus on solving your case, great detective," Zhuang Mingqi said with a straight face. "If you keep bullying people, I'm going to call the police in to arrest you."

"I've searched everywhere. It's not under the bed, in the closet, or in the desk drawers, and it's unlikely to be in the floor. It seems the solution isn't in the bedroom," Shen Zhengning said, pushing himself up from the floor. "Come on, let's go check the kitchen and the bathroom."

The apartment wasn't very big. The most logical division of labor would have been for each to check the kitchen and bathroom separately. But since Shen Zhengning used "we," being an accessory was no longer Zhuang Mingqi's own initiative, but his invitation.

The bathroom was so small it was hard to even turn around. After finding nothing, they dove into the kitchen. It had only one small window, so the lighting was already poor, and it was long and narrow, so they could barely see anything inside. Zhuang Mingqi casually flipped the light switch, but there was no reaction. He asked in confusion, "Is the power out?"

"The breaker must have been switched off." Shen Zhengning leaned against the doorframe and poked his head out. "Ma'am, could you help turn the power on?"

Then he turned his head and saw Yuan Hang, who had appeared nearby at some point without a sound, glaring at him with a look of reproach, as if disappointed in someone who fails to live up to expectations. Clearly at the end of his rope, he scolded in a low voice, "Don't trouble the masses! Is his phone a brick from the 90s? Can't he even turn on the flashlight?"

Obviously, his unreasonable tantrum had no effect on Shen Zhengning whatsoever. Shen Zhengning said, "Perfect. Give us your phone. We need a flashlight."

The landlady was still quite taken with Shen Zhengning's refined, elite type. She said quickly, "It's no trouble, I'll turn it on for you. It'll just take a second."

She opened the electrical box above the shoe cabinet by the door and pushed the breaker switch up. With a "beep—" and a hum, the cold, gray light of the incandescent bulb descended like a gauze curtain.

Shen Zhengning watched her action, and for a moment, he had a strange, subtle feeling: a gossamer thread named "clue" was floating in the air around him. Although he couldn't grasp the transparent end of the thread, it had already faintly stirred his intuition.

Designing a puzzle, much like writing a novel, painting, or making a movie, is essentially a creative act. When Ye Tongsheng wrote this puzzle himself, he must have repeatedly deliberated over every clue, ensuring they were all interconnected and flowed logically. Therefore, the final link leading to the ultimate solution must also closely echo the central theme running throughout, The Naval Treaty.

It was a hidden hint, a clever and powerful conclusion, a... "small but dramatic device."

Speaking of which, Ye Tongsheng didn't have a TV at home, so where was that thing?

Seeing him suddenly freeze for two seconds and then pull out his phone, Yuan Hang couldn't help but ask curiously, "What are you looking for?"

This time, it was Zhuang Mingqi who raised a hand to stop him. Yuan Hang turned to see him standing silently at the kitchen doorway, his gaze fixed on Shen Zhengning's figure without blinking. His expression was like a jeweler gazing at a dazzling, rare diamond, or like a person on the ground looking up at Sirius in the night sky.

For a moment, Yuan Hang found it hard to discern what that complex emotion was, but he knew that no one would look at their "ordinary friend" that way.

Shen Zhengning, completely focused, walked back and forth along the living room wall. Everyone watched his movements, holding their breath. Then, with a dull "creak—," Shen Zhengning forcefully pushed aside the shoe cabinet by the door, revealing a silver-gray metal box embedded in the wall behind it.

—The fiber optic home box.

The cabinet door wasn't locked; it opened with a push of the latch. Inside was a wireless router that had rebooted after the power was turned on. Shen Zhengning took it out, network cable still attached, and flipped it over, revealing a sticky note taped to the bottom of the router. On it were two handwritten lines: an email address and a password.

Shen Zhengning let out a long breath.

"Found it," he said.

Yuan Hang quickly rushed over with his phone to take a picture. The landlady, who had watched the whole thing from the side, asked in confusion, "Isn't that just the Wi-Fi account and password? So you were rummaging around all this time just to find this?"

Shen Zhengning let out a low laugh, but his expression had nothing to do with "pleasantness." Behind his lenses, his eyes were as serene as a deep pool, while a silent, heavy rain fell in his heart.

"Yes, this is what we were looking for."