The Times Have Changed, Sir

After leaving those words, Xu Mo directly left the police station.

He left behind a bewildered Wang Dachuan, who thought, "What field work now? You're probably just trying to slack off!"

"Why did he leave so suddenly? We're in the middle of investigating..."

But Xu Mo wasn't actually going out to slack off.

He had gotten inspiration from Wang Dachuan's words.

They couldn't just sit around doing nothing, because these traffickers would likely target women walking alone again after nightfall tonight.

Xu Mo figured that since checking surveillance footage wasn't helping them find these criminals, they should try a different approach, like... a sting operation!

Since they liked targeting women walking alone at night...

He would use that as bait to lure them all out and catch them in one sweep!

After leaving the police station, Xu Mo went straight home.

...

In the villa.

Zhou Qiaoqiao had just finished washing up and was curled up on the sofa, pondering what to have for breakfast.

Suddenly, Xu Mo came through the door.

"Hey, do you have the day off?" Zhou Qiaoqiao asked, somewhat surprised to see him.

"No day off," Xu Mo shook his head. "I'm working on a case and came back to get some help. Where's Li Jiaxin, is she not up yet?"

Zhou Qiaoqiao pointed toward the bathroom: "She's awake, washing up. What help do you need from her specifically... what do you need done? Can I help instead?"

"You're not suitable, only she is. I need her to help me catch some big fish," Xu Mo said with a mysterious smile, not explaining further to Zhou Qiaoqiao.

He only wanted Li Jiaxin because her fighting skills were exceptional - so good that even three to five trained fighters couldn't get near her. She could take down a whole van of traffickers single-handedly without getting a scratch... The risk factor was practically zero.

Plus, she was an undeniable beauty, making her perfect bait with a high chance of success.

Of course, he would need to get Li Jiaxin's consent first.

If she wasn't willing, Xu Mo naturally wouldn't push it - he would definitely respect her decision.

After sitting on the sofa checking his phone for a while, Li Jiaxin came out of the bathroom.

She immediately spotted Xu Mo sitting on the sofa.

"Xu Mo? Why are you back so early? Not busy today?"

"Oh, I'm definitely busy, but I had to come back no matter how busy. I came to ask for your help with something," Xu Mo said with a smile.

Li Jiaxin pointed at herself in confusion: "Me? What is it?" She also glanced at Zhou Qiaoqiao.

Zhou Qiaoqiao shrugged, indicating she didn't know.

She had no idea what Xu Mo was planning since he hadn't explained it to her.

Xu Mo patted the sofa: "Come, sit down."

Li Jiaxin nodded and sat down on the sofa next to Xu Mo.

Zhou Qiaoqiao also curiously moved closer, ready to hear exactly what kind of help Xu Mo needed from Li Jiaxin.

After choosing his words carefully, Xu Mo began.

"It's like this - there's been a gang of human traffickers in Ram City these past few days. Every night when it's quiet, they target girls walking alone, kidnapping them. Just in the last three days, we've received thirteen missing persons reports for women. If I'm not mistaken, they're all their victims. It's an extremely serious situation... The police have checked all the surveillance footage and only found one car with fake plates. The trail went cold, but we can't just sit around doing nothing, so I thought of setting up a sting operation..."

As soon as he finished speaking, Zhou Qiaoqiao's face showed anger.

"Traffickers specifically targeting women? Treating human beings like commodities? That's too much! You want to do a sting operation... I agree, I'll help you!"

Just hearing about kidnapping and human trafficking made her angry, especially since these traffickers specifically targeted girls. Being a girl herself, she found this completely intolerable.

She understood Xu Mo's plan - he wanted someone to act as bait to lure out the traffickers.

Zhou Qiaoqiao thought she could help Xu Mo with this, and she was very willing to do so.

Not just to help the police catch and punish these traffickers sooner, but also for other women and herself.

After all, if such lawless traffickers remained at large, wouldn't it be dangerous for girls to even walk around?

Right now they only dared to act late at night, but what if things escalated and they started kidnapping people in broad daylight?

Li Jiaxin's thoughts were exactly the same as Zhou Qiaoqiao's.

So when Xu Mo finished speaking, she was about to agree to help him, but Zhou Qiaoqiao beat her to it.

However, just as she was about to speak again.

Xu Mo quickly rejected Zhou Qiaoqiao: "I understand your anger, but... you're not suitable. Traffickers are usually men, and there's definitely more than one of them. You don't have any self-defense skills, so it would be too risky for you."

Then he turned to Li Jiaxin.

"This might be a bit dangerous. If you think it's too risky and don't want to help, there's no need to feel bad..."

Before he could finish, Li Jiaxin nodded: "It's just a few traffickers, what's so dangerous about those rats? They're lucky they haven't run into me yet, or I'd knock their teeth out... Kidnapping? Is that all? I'll help you!"

Li Jiaxin's decisive response caught Xu Mo off guard.

A sting operation carried certain risks, so he would have found it completely reasonable if Li Jiaxin had refused.

Who knew she would agree so readily...

Worried that Li Jiaxin hadn't realized the severity of the situation and made a wrong decision, Xu Mo reminded her again.

"Think it through carefully. Even with your excellent fighting skills, unexpected situations could still arise during the operation. After all, these people are engaged in criminal activities. Of course, during the operation, I'll be watching from hiding to protect your safety. You won't be in danger."

"I've thought it through. How many of them are there?" Li Jiaxin asked.

Xu Mo shook his head - how would he know that?

"They escape in a van after their crimes, but I don't know exactly how many people are in it."

"A van..." Li Jiaxin heard this and immediately felt relieved: "How many people could fit in there? Don't worry, plus you'll be there too. Can't the two of us handle a van full of people?"

They could definitely handle it in a fight, but there was no need to fight at all. Times have changed! "I can get authorized to carry a gun, we won't even need to fight. Just pulling out the gun will be enough to scare them to death," Xu Mo said.