Is This Echolocation

“All the surveillance footage from the cameras at every bus stop along the route is right here. Have you all gone through it? Are you sure there’s no one appearing in both sets of footage?” Han Fei’s voice had just finished speaking.

Xu Mo and Li Chen responded in unison: “No.”

If only one of them had made a mistake by accident, that might have been understandable. But for both of them to make the same mistake? That was virtually impossible!

“So, does that mean there are two criminals?”

“Not likely. I think it’s the same person,” Xu Mo shook his head. “Making a bomb isn’t something just anyone can do. It’s a skill, and the kind of bomb we’re dealing with here… only a handful of people in the entire city could make something like that. Plus, people who commit crimes of this nature—revenge against society—usually don’t work in pairs. They tend to act alone.”

“That makes sense…” Han Fei muttered.

But he still had a lingering doubt: “If this person didn’t show up at the bus stops twice, how did they manage to plant bombs on two separate buses?”

Han Fei, Xu Mo, and Li Chen all pondered this question.

Suddenly, they looked at each other and said in unison: “The bus depot!”

All the buses, when not in service, are parked at the same place—the bus depot. If you wanted to, you could tamper with every bus here without even needing to go to the bus stops.

Earlier, they had reviewed all the surveillance footage from the 79th bus route stops and found no suspicious individuals. It wasn’t because they weren’t sharp enough to spot the suspect.

It was because the suspect didn’t need to go to those stops at all. They could have tampered with the buses directly at the depot. Compared to waiting at the stops, coming to the depot was a much more efficient option. Here, they could target multiple buses at once.

In fact, if this person wanted to, they could have tampered with every single 79th route bus.

This meant that the 79th route buses with bombs might not be limited to just two. There could be even more!

Realizing this, Han Fei immediately pulled out his phone and called the bus company.

It was only now that Han Fei realized recalling all the 79th route buses wouldn’t stop the criminal from detonating the bombs. The criminal might have already set up timed explosives on the buses!

Whether the buses were on the road or not, the explosions would happen sooner or later, and the only variables would be the timing and the number of casualties.

The priority now was to control the situation and prevent any more casualties.

“Hello, this is Han Fei. Tell all your drivers and staff to stay away from the 79th route buses! Keep as far away as possible! There are bombs on the buses!”

“What!? There are bombs on the 79th route buses? Oh my god, I’m on one right now! Are you serious, Captain Han?” The man on the other end of the line panicked instantly, barely even finishing his sentence before he started running like crazy to get off the bus.

But then… “Boom!” “Boom!”

The clear sound of explosions came through Han Fei’s phone.

Two consecutive explosions meant that two more 79th route buses had just been blown up.

“Captain Han, you weren’t kidding! There really were bombs on this bus! I almost died…” The voice on the other end, still trembling with fear, spoke up immediately after the explosions.

Han Fei: “???”

Xu Mo: “???”

Li Chen: “???”

Was this guy made of steel? Two bombs went off, and he’s fine? Not only that, but he’s still talking!?

“You… weren’t hit by the bombs?” Li Chen asked cautiously.

“No, no, I got lucky. The explosions weren’t on my bus. It was a few buses away. There are a lot of 79th route buses here, and luckily I was far enough away. Otherwise, I’d be dead right now. I’ll leave it at that—I’m getting off this bus and staying far away!”

“Make sure no one gets near the 79th route buses. Better yet, keep everyone away from all the 79th route buses. There could still be more bombs.” Han Fei reminded him.

“Got it! I’ll pass that along.”

“Alright, stay safe. And remember, stay far away. We’ll be there soon.”

…

The bus depot.

Under Han Fei’s lead, several SWAT officers in bomb disposal suits arrived at the scene.

Their first task was to check all the 79th route buses parked there to see if there were any more bombs.

This was a labor-intensive job.

There were still quite a few 79th route buses parked here, and they had to check each one. The biggest challenge was that the officers had no idea where the bombs were located on the buses. Finding them would take some effort.

But they couldn’t afford to be slow. Every second counted, because any delay could result in an explosion.

From the moment they arrived at the depot, Xu Mo had been focusing intently, using his heightened senses to listen for the location of the timed bombs.

His senses had been enhanced, giving him better-than-average hearing. Within a certain range, Xu Mo could hear very subtle sounds, like those made by timed bombs.

After about a minute of listening with his eyes closed and his attention fully focused, Xu Mo identified the locations of several bombs.

“The fourth bus on the left, the seventh, the twelfth, the first bus on the right, the fifth, the ninth…”

Then, Xu Mo added, “The bombs aren’t inside the buses. If I’m not mistaken, they’re all under the chassis. Start by checking there.”

The SWAT officers in bomb disposal suits glanced at each other. Finally, one of them lay down on the ground and looked under the chassis of the first bus on the right.

Just as Xu Mo had said, there was indeed a timed bomb attached to the underside of the chassis. It was visible as soon as you lay down.

“He’s right! The bomb is under the chassis!”

As soon as he said this, the other SWAT officers rushed to the buses Xu Mo had pointed out. Lying on their backs, they slid under the buses one by one, carefully dismantling the timed bombs attached to the chassis.

Han Fei and Li Chen, watching all this unfold, were utterly stunned.

What the hell was this? Hearing the location of bombs just by sound!?