Chapter 2: Within the Rules

Can the suspect just run?

By the bedroom window, the other five exchanged looks.

The rules never said a suspect could run, but they also never said a suspect could not. In any case, the blue team in the other groups... no one chose to flee. The moment the evidence was slapped in their faces, they admitted defeat on the spot.

"What in the world is Han Ling doing? Does this even mean anything? Just to drag things out for two hours and win by default?" Zhang Yunhang was a little annoyed, and without hesitation took out his phone to contact the command center.

In his view, Han Ling was simply wasting everyone's time, a blatant attempt to exploit a loophole and cheat.

The moment the killer was identified, the exercise should have ended. At the very least, he should not have been allowed to run.

The call connected quickly, and Zhang Yunhang explained the situation.

Apparently, the leaders had not expected a blue-team member to choose escape either, so they asked Zhang Yunhang to wait a moment.

After some discussion, the instruction came back: the exercise would continue.

"Continue?" Zhang Yunhang did not understand. "But... we've already confirmed that he's the killer."

The other side asked in return, "What is the standard for ending a criminal investigation exercise?"

Zhang Yunhang answered at once, "To solve the case and catch the suspect."

"Have you caught him?"

Zhang Yunhang was speechless. "Uh..."

The call ended.

Helpless, Zhang Yunhang informed his teammates of the leadership's instruction, then prepared to go find Han Ling. Do as the leaders said, and ask fewer questions.

During the exercise, the film base was sealed off. The area was only so large, and given the objective limits, there were not many places Han Ling could go. Finding one person was not difficult.

"We have to find him as soon as possible."

Zhang Yunhang was starting to feel anxious. It seemed that what Peng Yao had said earlier did have some truth to it.

...

Outside the film base, at the command center.

This year, Qingchang City set another record for police recruitment, reaching 710 new officers, covering more than a hundred towns and townships across three districts and eight counties. The positions included criminal police, SWAT, patrol officers, traffic police, public security police, forensic examiners, and more. The scale was enormous.

To rank first overall in such a fiercely competitive exam, Zhang Yunhang's excellence was obvious.

Qingchang City was a coastal city with a population of 13 million. For years, its crime rate had remained stubbornly high, so the authorities had always placed great importance on the cultivation of the public security force. The selection, assessment, and training of new officers had always been one of the year's key tasks.

That was why the new-officer police exercise had been organized, with the aim of cultivating group command, information transfer, on-the-spot decision-making, and psychological resilience. It allowed newly recruited police officers to expose their weaknesses in a controlled environment and improve where they fell short.

There were many training scenarios as well, such as indoor hostage situations, violent resistance to law enforcement on the street, and the handling of certain mass incidents, with targeted drills and evaluations for different police specialties.

For this reason, many extra actors had been hired to cooperate without a script, in pursuit of the most realistic possible training environment.

For this police exercise, leaders from the municipal bureau, various branch bureaus, and some police stations had all come to observe. They, too, wanted to see how this year’s new officers would perform, and whether any promising talent would emerge.

Among the more eye-catching ones, Zhang Yunhang was one. He had applied to the city bureau's criminal investigation detachment.

The other police specialties were also fine. There were outstanding ones, there were excellent ones, and the majority were middling. One could not expect too much from newly graduated students; theory and practice were still quite different.

"This Han Ling has some ideas. He found the loophole; the rules really do not specify that a suspect cannot run." Someone in the police tent spoke up while checking the materials. "He applied to... Wanglou Police Station. From his scores, he's decent."

No leaders from Wanglou Police Station were present.

Another person said, "Catching a murderer is also one of the essential skills of a police officer. Since the blue team has run, the exercise continues. Let's see whether Zhang Yunhang can catch him.

Without a key, Han Ling has limited places he can go.

If Han Ling tries to leave the film base and is stopped, he will be judged to have lost, and the exercise will end directly."

Each blue-team member had only the key to their temporary lodging. This was an understanding reached after discussion between the municipal bureau and the person in charge of the film base. There was no way they would allow people to run around the entire site unchecked and cause unnecessary damage.

So Han Ling's range of movement was not as large as one might imagine. This indirectly reduced the difficulty for the red team in "catching the killer" and increased the difficulty for the blue team in "running away."

If he wanted to leave the film base, that would amount to cheating. There would be no need to continue, and Han Ling would inevitably face criticism and correction afterward.

To prevent unrelated people from approaching, police were stationed all around the film base. Officers were posted at the gate, and there was a post every twenty steps outside the fence. Once someone left, they would definitely be seen.

The other leaders puffed on cigarettes and drank tea without saying anything. To them, this was merely a trivial interlude in the exercise.

...

On the other side, Han Ling, who had left, casually found a relatively safe alleyway, half-crouched against the wall, and wore a thoughtful expression.

He had not expected to have a chance to play a police officer. It sounded not bad at all, and at least he was still alive.

"The total area of the film base is about the size of two soccer fields. Not large, with many buildings. Although most of the places I can move around in are locked, Zhang Yunhang and the others won't be able to find me within two hours."

"Still, hiding and dodging for two hours, even if I win, I'll probably be mocked by bored people and labeled as someone who refuses to admit defeat and cheats shamelessly."

Given Han Ling's restless nature, at the starting point of his new life he wanted to do something different.

The rules did not mention that the blue team could run, nor did they mention that it could not. The blue teams in the other groups all chose to submit without resistance, effectively assuming that the blue team could not run. After Zhang Yunhang discovered that he had run, he was probably stunned and speechless.

Even the command center probably had not expected the blue team to run. That was not part of the scheduled exercise.

New officers were usually rather obedient; no one dared to do anything outside the rules.

Zhang Yunhang was very likely to contact the command center.

Thinking of this, Han Ling rose slightly against the wall and peeked out with half his face.

In the distance, Zhang Yunhang and the others had already come out. From their movements and posture, they were preparing to search for someone. It seemed the command center had issued the order to continue the exercise.

"Finding the killer is what ends it. Zhang Yunhang doesn't understand that."

If, just now, Zhang Yunhang had not shouted outside the door but had used a more subtle way to knock, lowering Han Ling's guard, then at the very moment he woke up, he might have opened the door.

"Maybe the command center is thinking the same thing, waiting to see how long it takes Zhang Yunhang to find me, treating this as an added killer-capture drill."

"Also, the moment I try to leave the film base, that counts as cheating. If discovered, I will be judged to have lost directly and the exercise will end. That's certain."

"But... what if I'm not discovered?"

Compared to tangling with Zhang Yunhang and the other five in such a confined environment, he would rather simply leave the film base.

Leaving the film base without being discovered sounded very difficult.

There were police at the gate, and a guard every twenty steps outside the fence. If he were truly a criminal, he would already be a turtle in a jar, and no matter how clever he was, it would be hard to find a breakthrough.

However, this was an exercise.

An exercise had no real danger. If one artificially created a small but realistic crisis, such as a fake fire, and caused a certain amount of confusion to draw away the attention of the gate guards, there might be a chance to slip through as an extra.

After all, it was only an exercise, not a real suspect roundup. The police guarding the gate would not be on such high alert.

This was the only viable method, and it was worth a try.

Extras.

A fake fire.

Using black smoke to disguise his appearance.

Three key points.

Some of the drill segments did not require a uniform, and this one was no exception, which lowered the difficulty of disguise.

Thinking of this, Han Ling touched the lighter in his pocket. The original owner's habit of smoking meant he carried one on him, which made things much easier.

There was another problem.

From the moment the fire started to the moment it was extinguished, and then until the police arrived and he left the film base, it would take time. The place was too small, and he had to avoid drawing Zhang Yunhang and the others over.

The officers at the gate did not know him well enough, but Zhang Yunhang and the six others were very likely to recognize him. He could not gamble on that.

"We need to trap them somewhere, restrict their movement, and keep them as far from the gate as possible. Ten minutes will be enough to buy the time to leave."

"What's the best way to do that?"