At 1:20 a.m., Chu Qiao closed the bathroom door and walked to the sink to wash her hands.
The cell block was deathly silent, without a single sound. This was the time of day when people were at their most exhausted and drowsy. Even highly trained special forces soldiers would experience a slight decline in alertness and physical stamina. Chu Qiao’s expression remained calm. After washing her hands, she picked up a towel from the rack, carefully dried them, and listened to the sound of the flushing toilet. Her fingers rested on her wrist as she silently counted down.
Ten, nine, eight… five, four…
Time’s up. Chu Qiao turned around calmly and walked toward the bed.
A muffled thud suddenly erupted. A huge spray of water burst forth, and faint sparks shot out from the sewer pipe. Chu Qiao’s body was struck squarely by the water blast, sending her flying backward before she slumped limply to the floor.
The guards outside were instantly alarmed. Seeing the burst pipe in the cell and the inmate struck by the explosion, her condition unknown, they panicked. Two guards quickly entered the security code, one hand gripping a submachine gun and the other holding a walkie-talkie, and rushed inside. However, the brief pipe explosion disrupted the signal transmission. For five seconds, only static and unintelligible signals could be heard from the control center.
Seizing the fleeting opportunity, just as the two guards ran to the bathroom to investigate the cause of the explosion, the woman who had appeared unconscious suddenly opened her sharp, gleaming eyes. Her body moved like a wildcat as she darted out of the cell door. The two guards were stunned, but before they could even cry out, the cell door slammed shut with a heavy thud.
Without so much as a glance at the furious pair inside, Chu Qiao hurried toward the monitoring room. She quickly extracted the footage from an hour earlier, transferred it to a small DV, made brief edits and deletions, then dragged a chair to climb up to the pinhole camera outside the cell. She positioned the DV playback to face the camera, then returned to the monitoring room and cut off the walkie-talkie signal transmission.
The timing was perfect. Just as five seconds passed, the simple sulfur-based explosive device began its self-repair process after detonation, and the leak in the pipe was swiftly sealed. In the fully enclosed cell, the angry shouts of the two guards were as faint as the buzzing of mosquitoes, unable to penetrate the sealed prison. The monitors returned to normal, displaying the footage from an hour earlier—the female inmate sitting quietly on her bed, with two guards patrolling outside. Everything appeared peaceful and calm.
Chu Qiao’s eyes were sharp as she scanned her surroundings. All clear.
Returning to the monitoring room, she opened the guards’ supply locker, changed out of her wet clothes, and put on a Fourth Prison guard uniform. After adjusting her cap, she picked up an HK pistol from the armory, attached a silencer, and tucked it into her waistband before turning to leave.
The two guards had dared to open the cell door—not out of reckless impulsiveness.The Fourth Prison, adjacent to the capital, was located in a remote and concealed area. It housed prisoners awaiting trial by the high-level military court—individuals of significant importance, as was self-evident. The defense and security measures of each cell block had reached an almost nitpicking level of rigor. Each cell was independent, equipped with advanced weaponry, under intensive surveillance, and staffed with well-deployed personnel. Every cell block was guarded by three national special forces soldiers, with two gates—inner and outer. In Chu Qiao’s previous cell, for instance, the inner door could be opened with an access code, but the outer prison gate required the fingerprint of the last person who locked it.
The three guards worked in shifts. At that moment, two were already inside the cell block. Chu Qiao pressed the pre-prepared fingerprint film against the scanner, and soon, a crisp click echoed. Dressed in a standard military uniform, she strode out of the prison gate under the furious glares of the two national soldiers.
Outside the door was a long corridor. She was currently on the fourth underground level of the prison. To achieve her objective, she still had a considerable distance to cover. The surveillance footage loop lasted only an hour, so she had to move quickly.
The fourth level held high-ranking national military officers and secret agents awaiting military tribunal verdicts. The third level housed major criminals. The first level served as the office area for Fourth Prison officials, while the second level was designated for receiving external guests—and that was precisely Chu Qiao’s destination.
After walking for about two minutes, she left the cell block area. At the end of the outer corridor stood forty heavily armed elite soldiers carrying heavy submachine guns. The Fourth Prison had no air conditioning ducts, no empty sewer pipes—aside from this single corridor, the only escape route would be to tunnel through concrete. The chances of escaping unscathed were virtually zero.
Spotting Chu Qiao’s unfamiliar face, the guards immediately grew tense. The leading soldier raised his dark gun barrel and shouted, “Halt! Identify yourself! Password!”
Chu Qiao walked straight ahead without glancing sideways, her back ramrod straight, clutching a thick stack of documents. As she advanced, she replied sternly, “I am Colonel Liu Siwei from the Military Legal Affairs Department. Under Order 12658, I am here to investigate an arms smuggling case in the Fourth Prison. Please connect me immediately to Lieutenant Colonel Tan Zongming—I have important documents to relay to him.”
The soldier paused, then frowned skeptically. “Reporting, sir, Lieutenant Colonel Tan Zongming is not on duty tonight. His line is a private, secure connection. Please present your credentials.”
“The Military Legal Affairs Department has never needed to show credentials in the Fourth Prison. I was invited by Warden Li of the Fourth Prison to assist with the case. I was escorted into the detention center three days ago by Colonel Lü Fang himself. Are you unaware of this?” Chu Qiao narrowed her eyes, scrutinizing the guard up and down, and demanded sternly, “Which unit are you from? Have you thoroughly studied the military code? Provide me with your serial number and unit code.”The soldier was startled upon hearing this. Military hierarchy was strictly defined, and this person spoke with remarkable poise, casually mentioning Colonel Tan and Warden Li with such familiarity. A sense of awe instantly arose within him. He replied in a low voice, "Reporting, sir! My serial number is 0475. I belong to the Special Task Force of the 571st Brigade, 309th Corps, Southern Eighth Army. We are not part of the regular army. Our unit was just transferred here two days ago, so I was unaware that you were personally escorted to the cell by Colonel Lü Fanghao."
Chu Qiao's brows relaxed slightly upon hearing this. She nodded and said, "You're from the Southern Eighth Army? How is your Deputy Army Commander Liu? He brought you in, didn't he? Since you're in the capital on official business, I assume you'll be staying for a while?"
The soldier immediately grew more respectful, thinking to himself that the Military Law Department was indeed extraordinary. He replied, "Reporting, sir! Army Commander Liu is doing well. Our team has been reassigned to the Fourth Prison and will not be returning south with the army commander."
"Oh," Chu Qiao nodded. "I also served in the Southern Eighth Army, previously in the Intelligence Inspection Brigade. In a way, we're comrades. When you see your army commander, send him my regards. Alright, I have urgent matters to attend to. Go to the transmission station and fax this document in duplicate. Notify Chief of Staff Zhang's office and Secretary's Office of Commander Hua. Inform them that Colonel Liu Siwei from the Military Law Department will be visiting tomorrow at six in the morning."
With that, she turned and walked away.
The soldier stood frozen in place, holding a stack of documents marked "Top Secret," his hands trembling slightly.
Chief of Staff Zhang... Commander Hua...
By the time Chu Qiao exited the fourth-floor cell block, the back of her shirt was soaked with sweat. She leaned against the wall, breathing slowly, then glanced at her watch. Ten minutes had already passed—time was running out. She took a deep breath, straightened up, and continued forward.
After passing through fingerprint decoders, infrared scanners, and retinal recognition mainframes, navigating layers of security checks and surveillance, she finally reached the second-floor VIP room. Seeing the room marked with the Military Law Department plaque, a faint smile tugged at the corner of Chu Qiao's lips.
Good. Every debt has its debtor. She had finally found the right person.
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