"Secret Room!?" Upon hearing Han Fei's words, Chen Ke almost immediately perked up.
Han Fei not only spoke but also gestured, making his words very easy to understand.
They had already checked rooms 2010, 2011, and 2012.
Following Han Fei's train of thought, everyone realized that it might indeed be the case.
Perhaps, as Han Fei suggested, there really was a secret room in room 2011!
If that were true, then the secret room must be where the two fugitives were hiding.
"I'll go get the locksmith back!" one of the officers volunteered.
With that, he dashed off.
...
Ten minutes later, the officer returned with the locksmith.
Before coming up, the officer had already explained the reason for summoning the locksmith.
So the locksmith didn't ask any questions.
Upon arrival, he immediately took out his tools and started picking the lock.
In no time, he opened the door to room 2011.
Then he looked at Han Fei.
"Officer, should I stay a bit longer? In case you need to open another lock later, it would save you the trouble of calling me back up."
Han Fei smiled and shook his head.
"No need, sir. Thank you very much for your cooperation. You can go about your business."
"Alright then..." The locksmith left, somewhat suspiciously.
Under Han Fei's lead, the officers re-entered room 2011.
This time, their goal was clear: find the secret room!
Having seen the layout of the neighboring rooms, they knew the secret room was on the east wall.
Of course, knowing the location wasn't enough.
They still needed to find the door and then break it down.
After all, they couldn't expect the fugitives hiding in the secret room to open the door for them.
Unless the fugitives were out of their minds, they wouldn't open the door for the officers who were there to arrest them.
Finding the door was a technical task.
Since it was a secret room, the door was surely well-hidden.
If it were a door that could be spotted at a glance, it wouldn't be worthy of being called a secret room.
"Let's all look carefully. The door to the secret room must be on this wall!" Chen Ke said.
Han Fei waved his hand. "No need for that trouble."
He then took out a pack of cigarettes he had on him.
He planned to use the air flow to locate the secret room's door.
After all, even if the door was well-hidden and hard to find, it couldn't be as airtight as the wall. There had to be some gaps.
Where there were gaps, there was airflow, and airflow could affect the direction of smoke. They could use this to find the door.
Han Fei explained his method to the group.
But as soon as he finished speaking, he realized something was off.
Chen Ke also sensed something was amiss.
They had noticed a faint smell of smoke when they first entered the room.
At the time, they thought it was from the two fugitives.
Now it seemed...
The situation might not be as they thought!
The smoke might have nothing to do with the two fugitives hiding in the secret room.
If they were hiding in the secret room, they could have smoked inside.
Why would they risk being caught by smoking outside?
So it was likely that someone had been here before them.
And that person had also used Han Fei's method to find the secret room's door.
Thinking of this, Han Fei and Chen Ke exchanged a glance.
Without a word, they both uttered a name.
"Xu Mo!"
Han Fei's expression was as bad as if he had swallowed a fly.
"Can it be that Xu Mo has beaten us to it again?" Chen Ke said, dumbfounded.
"Not necessarily," Shen Manyi shook her head. "Following Xu Mo's style, if he had caught the fugitives, he would have tied them up and left them in the living room for us to arrest. He would also try to notify us in some way, guiding us to pick up the easy catch, or even just dumped the tied-up fugitives next to a police car."
She paused and continued.
"This time, he didn't notify us, so I guess, either he didn't come here at all, or he hasn't had the chance to act yet. In either case, the two fugitives should still be in the secret room."
Hearing Shen Manyi's words, Han Fei stroked his chin, pondering.
It made sense.
If Xu Mo had caught the fugitives before them, he would have found a way to let them know.
The first time, he pretended to be a client and called to lure the police to a hotel.
The second time, he simply left the fugitives next to a police car.
As for the third time, Xu Mo didn't bother to notify them because it wasn't necessary.
Xu Mo had deliberately chosen to hang the two fugitives in an alley where people threw trash. Even if he hadn't notified the police, someone going to throw trash would have seen the hanging figures and called the police.
According to Shen Manyi's analysis, the two fugitives must still be in the secret room!
Realizing this, Han Fei's expression eased up a bit.
At least this time, they were ahead of Xu Mo.
Han Fei lit a few cigarettes and placed them vertically against the wall to observe.
Using this method, they quickly identified the location of the door.
Next, they needed to break it down.
Once they knew where the door was, breaking it was relatively simple.
With so many of them, they could kick it down together.
Chen Ke knocked on the door a few times.
"Don't hide inside anymore, come out. Or we'll have to take forceful measures."
After waiting for about ten seconds, there was no response.
Chen Ke decided to take forceful measures.
He had already been polite; now it was time for action.
The fugitives still didn't show any intention of coming out on their own, so he had no choice.
Chen Ke lifted his foot and started kicking the door of the secret room.
The design of this secret room clearly took some effort.
To hide the door as much as possible, the entire wall was covered with tiles, including the door.
The narrow gaps between the tiles perfectly concealed the door's seams.
If it weren't for Han Fei realizing the unusual layout of the room, they might not have even noticed that there was a secret room in room 2011.
But a door is still a door, and it can't compare to a wall. It couldn't withstand the kicks.
After Chen Ke, a seasoned martial artist, kicked it about ten times with all his might, the door finally gave way.
After kicking the door open, Chen Ke walked in.
He looked around but didn't see the two fugitives.
However, Chen Ke noticed a half-eaten self-heating hot pot on the table.
"What are you still hiding for? There's a self-heating hot pot on the table. Do you really think I'm blind!?" Chen Ke said, exasperated.
As soon as he finished speaking,
the two fugitives crawled out from under the bed.
Their mouths were still smeared with oil.
Looking at the officers in front of them, they awkwardly scratched their heads.
"Take them away!" Chen Ke waved to the officers.
But at that moment, Han Fei looked at the two fugitives and asked,
"Did you come out of the secret room just now? Did you smoke in the living room?"
Both fugitives shook their heads.
"No, the secret room has a ventilation system. We can smoke inside."
Hearing this, Han Fei turned to the officers and said,
"Xu Mo was the one smoking. He definitely came here. Come on, follow me downstairs. Seal off the entire building."
If nothing went wrong, Xu Mo was still in this building. This was a good chance to catch him!