Sense of crisis

She stared at the numbers' combination for a few long moments, imagining Beijing's subway map in her mind.

2-5-10-19…

Huojin eagerly awaited her response, making her scoff. "You figured it out didn't you?"

"Eventually, yes and all thanks to Wu Yue."

She looked back at Mingshen. "And you?"

"Do these numbers mean anything related to the human body?"

"No."

"Then no."

She pointed at the numbers and said after some thoughtful pause, "Wu Yue was found unconscious at Jishuitan. The man, most probably Wang Lei, hit her and fled away immediately which means Jishuitan was the meeting point, so these numbers should point to Jishuitan."

She opened Beijing's subway map on her tab and zoomed in. The image opened was a wide network of differently colored lines interconnecting the entire city. There were different symbols highlighted along the lines and at intervals, signifying if a particular point was an ordinary station, a terminal station, a transfer station, a railway station or a station to the airport.

"This is Beijing's subway system with a total of 23 lines. Each line has their own stations as denoted by the small white circle with thin black border. Some symbols are those of two arrows pointing circularly to each other. Those are transfer stations to change platforms from one line to another. And Jishuitan is a transfer station falling on lines 2 and 19," she pointed at Jishuitan station on the map denoted by the two circular arrows.

She continued. "So 2 and 19 means line 2 and line 19 in the map."

Mingshen pointed at the numbers. "And those extra numbers 10 and 5?"

"It could mean time. So 10 and 5 could mean 10.05 PM. That's why it means that the rendezvous place is a transfer station at the meeting point between Line 2 and Line 19 to meet the contact at 10.05 PM."

He arched his brow with interest. "10 and 5 could also mean lines or time as 05.10."

"I know. It could be a transfer station at any combination. Lines 2-5, 2-10, 2-19, 5-10, 5-19 and 10-19. Some lines do not cross to form any transfer stations. It was easy to figure out this time because we found Wu Yue at Jishuitan which is on lines 2 and 19. So the first and fourth numbers meant subway lines and second and third denoted the time to meet.

Those numbers and their positions are purposely meant to make it confusing even if we got their phones. By just one look from left to right, one could read 2-5-10-19 as - a transfer station at Line 2 and Line 5 and meeting time as 10.19. There are two transfer stations at Line 2 and 5 - Yongheong Lama Temple and Chongwenmen. You see? How confusing they made it. Instead of Jishuitan, somebody else could have read the wrong meeting place.

She looked at the code again. "Also, 5 and 10 cannot be time 05.10 because she left the bureau around 9 PM. She received this message after that, so 05.10 PM had already passed. So the second and third numbers are reversed. It also roughly matches the time she was attacked two hours later. Maybe Wang Lei arrived late.

I think that's also why they wrote the time as 10 and not 22 in a 24 hour format because there is no line 22 in the subway. So it will be easy to tell that 22 means time. They must be using numbers that coincide with the line numbers as well and which will have the maximum transfer stations. Only the ones in the supply chain will know how to read it."

Mingshen clapped hard with praise. "As expected of my Spicy to decode it so brilliantly~"

Jia snorted. "We were in luck because we came to know the subway reference through Wu Yue or those numbers would have been gibberish to us. 2, 5, 10, 19 could be anything. Bus numbers, street numbers, flat or block numbers, numbers in area codes. It would have been hellish to figure out what the numbers were related to."

Huojin pointed out. "With Wu Yue attacked, the dealers would have become very cautious now. They would think that we are onto them if we figured out her drug addiction. They won't come out so easily now."

Mingshen lazily tapped on his phone, smiling evilly to himself. "If they won't come themselves, then I will drag them out~ You play on my turf with my rules. The girl is unconscious here, but Wang Lei or whoever he is, is out in the open. And not for very long."

—

The next day arrived with Wang Lei being on the run since a day before. With Wu Yue's drug addiction threateningly close to being exposed, it was only time that the cops figured out his real identity too.

That bitch! If she hadn't forced me to kill her, I wouldn't have had to escape like this! What nonsense she was blabbering last night about stopping drugs.

And her damn phone! I panicked so bad after hitting her that I forgot to destroy it! The cops would definitely figure out some shady deals by checking that damn phone!

The stress about the drug bust began to increase the anxiety within him exponentially. He tried to act naturally but couldn't stop the sweat from forming on his forehead. He didn't know if it was his imagination, but he heard footsteps behind him that didn't seem to stop following him.

A gulp passed down his throat, and a fearsome tingling feeling made his hair stand straight on the back of his neck. He turned around with a jerk but found nobody behind him. He nervously glanced left and right and slowly heaved a sigh of relief when he didn't catch anybody's presence.

He turned to resume walking but a black bag was instantly forced down his head from nowhere, and he was thrown inside a car. The engine started and the car left the deserted road, leaving no trace of any kidnapping behind at all.

—

"Haaaaaa!"

Wang Lei gasped hard after the much needed relief he attained once the bag covering his face was removed. He inhaled deep breaths to compensate for the suffocating torture he was made to go through.

"Wh-who are you? Why the hell you brought me here!"

An ominous laughter forced a shudder through his spine. "You don't play the game fair. I make or break the rules here. But you invaded my territory by making a supply chain all by yourself. How rude to not include me in this fun activity."

He froze.

"Th-That's nonsense! You have the wrong information! What supply chain? I don't know what you are talking about."

The laughter grew only more sinister. "It feels so pleasant when fentanyl runs in your bloodstream, doesn't it? Pain doesn't seem to exist anymore. That is only if you take the dosage within 2 milligrams. Then it becomes lethal and I am dying to inject those 2 milligrams in your blood right now. Should I? Should I? I promise my needles don't hurt~"

Pure terror shone on his face.

What is this maniac saying!

"My needles won't hurt but then you will suffer some teensy tiny discomfort like respiratory depression, decreased heart rate, loss of consciousness and then lastly death? Yup, just death."

If Wang Lei had the liberty to lose his consciousness, then he would have given up on it a long time ago.

"A-are you a psycho!? Who the fuck are you!"

From the shadows, a figure arrived whose playful smile was enough to ingrain the severity of the situation in him. With his pristine white coat fluttering as he took a breezy step forward, his lips uttered to imbue a sense of crisis within him. "The Devil Doctor."