Not long after, Captain Luo answered. The conversation was short-lived. There was new information, that required immediate action. Before he hung up, Luo Jian assured them, he would contact them immediately after the mission. It wouldn't take long. 

The night was still young. There was plenty of time. Nevertheless, Wenjie was on pins and needles. Minutes turned into hours and time seemed to stretch into infinity. 

Zhijian had fallen asleep on the sofa. Xiao Dao was dozing in an armchair.

"Try to get some sleep too. I'll wake you up as soon as he answers", his father said.

Wenjie glanced at the clock. It showed midnight. An unpleasant feeling spread through his stomach. "I have a bad feeling. He said it wouldn't take long. Now it's over two hours."

"Maybe they caught the thief and are interrogating him." 

That didn't reassure him. "Then, he would have written me a quick SmS." No, that wasn't like Captain Luo. "Something's not right." He thought about the position of the stones on the Weiqi board and the clock Luo Jian had talked about. Maybe they were getting way too hung up on the question of a secret code. The clock and the Weiqi board could also have symbolic significance. In that case, they might not have been referring to a specific point in time. 

Xu Zhengqing had used the Weiqi board to let them know, he was alive. The clock symbolized time. He reached for a blanket and wrapped himself in it. Memories of his imprisonment came flooding back to him. 

"I will kill anyone, who tries to take you away from me."

Wenjie swallowed at the thought of Xu Zhengqing's threat. He reached for his cell phone, which was lying on the living room table. There were no new messages. 

"If he's in the middle of a mission, he won't be able to use the phone," Yaobai said. "Let's play a game of weiqi. It'll take your mind off things. We mustn't let ourselves go crazy." He got up and left the room. 

That was easier said than done. Wenjie scrolled through his contact list until he reached Captain Luo. Suddenly, heard the vibration of another cell phone. It was coming from the direction of Xiao Dao, who was immediately wide awake again.

His friend sat up straight and pulled his phone out of his jacket pocket. Shortly afterwards, his face lost all color. Wenjie swallowed. He immediately suspected, that the kidnappers had contacted him with bad news.

Wordlessly, Ding Wei handed him the cell phone.

The display showed two new messages. A video and an SmS. The start screen of the video was black. Wenjie read the SmS first. "You still have time to correct your decisions. Give back what you have stolen ... " What did that mean? Without knowing the context, it sounded as if Xiao Dao had commited a crime. At least that's what the second sentence suggested, and the fact that it was obviously not a message from the kidnappers. Because they hadn't suppressed their phone number yet. But what was the point of the three dots at the end? Wenjie had the unpleasant suspicion, the message was not about theft in the narrow meaning.

Judging by the look on Ding Wei's face, it was not so much the sentence as the content of the video that had horrified him. Wenjie pressed play. The video showed a room in a hospital. The camera zoomed in on the only bed in the room. Wenjie held his breath. His fingers were trembling. He found it difficult to hold the cell phone. 

Hooked up to machines, with an oxygen mask on his face, Captain Luo lay there on the bed. Wenjie gasped for breath. In the back of his mind, he heard Xu Zhengqing utter his threat. He felt sick. The SmS and the video were from Monsieur. If Ding Wei didn't do as he asked, he would have an accident like Captain Luo. The video was to show them how serious Xu Zhengqing was.

Lin Zhiyue's abduction. That had been a diversionary tactic. He had wanted to confuse them with the whole action so that they were no longer focused on the matter. He had probably guessed Captain Luo would talk to him. If they had all been in the best mental state, he would have considered the possibility that Xu Zhengqing would try to kill the policeman during his conversation with Luo Jian. As it was, he had only thought about his girlfriend's safety and completely overlooked this move. 

Just a moment. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

Ding Wei was still pale when Wenjie had regained half his composure.

"He pulled the rug out from under us," Xiao Dao muttered. 

Wenjie shook her head. "Do you remember how Xu Zhengqing used fake news to make me believe that Captain Luo was dead?"

Xiao Dao gasped. "You mean?"

Wenjie nodded. "This could be a fake video. Deep Fake might be able to pull something off like that." He hoped Zhijian could figure it out for them. He hoped even more, that it really was Deep Fake, even though it looked pretty real. Plus, it matched the timing and his lousy gut feeling. 

Even though he wasn't supposed to contact Captain Luo while on duty, he tried now. The bell rang, but no one answered. That didn't make the situation any better. Damn. Resigned, he hung up.

His father came back with the Weiqi board. He stopped at the table. There was worry in his eyes. "What happened? News from the kidnappers, or Cpatain Luo?"

Wenjie placed the cell phone on the table. "Xu Zhengqing has made his move."

Yaobai put the Weiqi board on the other end of the table and reached for the phone. A deep furrow formed between his eyebrows as he looked at the video and the message. 

"We hope it's a fake video," Ding Wei blurted out. 

"Mmmm ... Are you watching a movie without me?" Zhijian yawned and lolled over. A little disoriented, he looked around. Then the memories of the past few hours seemed to wash over him like a tidal wave. "How long was I asleep? Why didn't you wake me up? We have to save Zhiyue."

"I was about to, but you woke up on your own. Are you familiar with Deep Fake?"

to be continued ...