She came up and gave a big slap

After discussing with Li Jiaxin, Xu Mo opened his phone's map.

For fishing, one naturally needs to find a good spot - how could you catch any fish without the right location?

He opened the map mainly to search for suitable places to set their trap.

Since Xu Mo had already investigated the approximate locations of the thirteen kidnapping cases while at the police station, he knew what kinds of places these traffickers preferred to strike.

"These traffickers only operate in the old district, probably because most of the surveillance cameras there are either severely outdated or completely broken. They particularly like to strike in alleys near bars or office buildings where there's minimal surveillance coverage," Xu Mo said while studying the map. "Before we set our trap, we need to select the best spots."

These traffickers only operated in the old district, and Ram City's old district was only so big.

There weren't many places that met their criteria for operations.

As a result, Xu Mo quickly completed his screening and marked fifteen points on the map.

Considering that all thirteen previous kidnapping cases occurred at different locations, he deduced that these traffickers would absolutely not strike at the same location twice.

After all, operating repeatedly in the same place risked police stakeouts.

With this in mind, Xu Mo removed from his map the fifteen marked points that overlapped with the previous thirteen kidnapping locations.

Now, only two markers remained on the map.

Either of these two locations could be where the traffickers might strike tonight.

Xu Mo's task was to choose the "best fishing spot" between these two options.

Before making his selection, he put himself in the mindset of a trafficker.

Considering factors like foot traffic, number of surveillance cameras, and the length of the best escape routes, Xu Mo picked one of the two spots.

In his view, this was the optimal location for their operation.

This spot had much higher foot traffic than the other location, yet fewer surveillance cameras.

Most crucially, once they grabbed someone here, escape would be very convenient - they could directly access the ring road, and it would take less than an hour to reach the intersection of Dayu Road and Xifeng Road, which the police suspected was these traffickers' base of operations.

If these traffickers had carefully surveyed potential strike locations, they would likely make the same choice as Xu Mo.

"This is it, let's take the gamble!"

Xu Mo couldn't guarantee his bet would pay off.

But he had approached the problem by thinking like a criminal.

So the probability of being wrong was quite low.

"Wait for me at home, I'm going to the police station to apply for a service weapon just in case," Xu Mo said after choosing tonight's best spot.

He needed a gun as a precaution.

After all, tonight they would be facing lawless criminals, and he would only be able to protect Li Jiaxin from a distance while staying hidden.

To protect Li Jiaxin from harm while staying concealed, he clearly needed a gun.

Only a firearm would provide long-range deterrence and stopping power.

Xu Mo's marksmanship was top-notch - he had an absolute feel for guns, and could hit his target even shooting from instinct without aiming!

...

At the police station.

After returning, Xu Mo headed straight to Han Fei's office, as he needed to submit an application for the weapon first.

In the office, Han Fei had just finished asking Wang Dachuan about the progress of the investigation.

"Alright, I understand. You may go."

Before Wang Dachuan could leave Han Fei's office, Xu Mo knocked on the door.

"Come in," Han Fei called out.

The next second, Xu Mo walked in.

"Captain Han, I've thought of a method that will likely let us catch these traffickers tonight. I'd like to apply for a service weapon."

Hearing Xu Mo say this, Wang Dachuan, who was about to leave, immediately stopped in his tracks to hear Xu Mo's method.

Xu Mo's words caused Han Fei's furrowed brow to instantly relax.

If anyone else had said this, Han Fei wouldn't have believed it one bit.

But coming from Xu Mo, he believed it!

After all, he knew Xu Mo's capabilities. If Xu Mo said this, it seemed the case might be solved quickly!

This prompted Han Fei to sit up straight and ask,

"What's your method? Tell me."

"A sting operation, it's..." Xu Mo roughly explained his planned method.

However, Han Fei, who had been extremely hopeful about Xu Mo's potential solution just a moment ago, frowned once again and immediately rejected Xu Mo's proposal.

"No, this doesn't follow regulations. If that young woman gets hurt, who's going to take responsibility?"

While Xu Mo's method had a high probability of success,

it wasn't by the book, and the risk factor was too high.

"It won't be a problem. I've asked Li Jiaxin to help, and she's very skilled in combat. Even Chen Ke wasn't her match. Captain Han, don't you remember? She even beat up... Chen Ke during that TV show," Xu Mo explained slowly.

Xu Mo wanted to mention that Li Jiaxin had beaten up all four members of the investigation team, including Chen Ke.

But he couldn't say that... getting the general idea across was enough, why make things awkward!

So he chose a face-saving way to phrase it, only mentioning that Li Jiaxin had beaten Chen Ke, without bringing up the others.

At this point, Han Fei suddenly remembered the scene of getting beaten up during the show, and recalled who Li Jiaxin was...

She really didn't hold back - she'd hit him with a flying kick right off the bat!

He'd never been hit with a flying kick before in his life!

After a pause, Xu Mo continued.

"Plus, I'll be protecting her from hiding. Between the two of us, can't we handle a few traffickers? Besides... that's why I'm here to get a gun, right? Even if we can't beat them in a fight, I still have the gun, and you know how good my marksmanship is, Captain Han."

Although Xu Mo made sense,

Han Fei still felt the operation carried risks.

He rejected Xu Mo again: "No, this still doesn't follow protocol. This operation has risks, and we need to consider even a 0.1% chance of something going wrong."

Han Fei drummed his fingers rhythmically on the desk, appearing to be deep in thought.

Suddenly, he looked up at Xu Mo.

"You said you've guessed where these traffickers will strike tonight?"

Xu Mo nodded.

"Then why don't we just stake out the location in plain clothes? Why involve a civilian in this risky operation?"

"I considered that approach, but these traffickers only strike when there's no one around. If there are too many people, we might scare them off. Plus, they only target women who are alone. If they don't see a lone woman, they won't show themselves at all. A stakeout... probably won't work," Xu Mo expressed his concerns.

As soon as he finished speaking, Wang Dachuan, who had been standing to the side, suddenly spoke up.

"I have a great idea! Let me dress up as a woman and pretend to be alone. I'll be the bait, and you guys can stake out the location. How's that for a plan?"

Upon hearing this, both Han Fei and Xu Mo turned to look at Wang Dachuan with astonished expressions, seemingly at a loss for words.

How could he even suggest something like that? Cross-dressing?

He clearly had no self-awareness!

Brother, any trafficker who saw you dressed as a woman would probably cross the street to avoid you...

Would they even try to kidnap you? They'd end up with damaged goods!