Stealth Walker Episode 21 Recap
> Stealth Walker Recap
Cheng Jingsong took Lin Qiang to the hospital for a check-up, and she was cleared of any serious injury, only a mild concussion. She was then brought back to the task force where Captain Cao joined them. Lin Qiang informed Captain Cao that during the car crash, she heard Ma Hongtao's name and believed he had staged the accident. Captain Cao confirmed that Interpol had verified Ma Hongtao's return to China, noting he had lost control of his drug cartel.
Lin Qiang questioned why Ma Hongtao would stage a crash, suspecting it might be related to Zhang Xianhe, as Ma Hongtao might need help to regain power by remaining hidden and waiting for the right moment. Captain Cao explained that Ma Hongtao returned to target Liu Bing and reclaim Fang Lin to restore his authority, confirming that Liu Bing had conspired with other senior members to seize control.
Captain Cao also revealed that Ma Hongtao's face was severely burned years ago in a conflict with other drug dealers and that Hongwa police reported he had recently gone to the States for medical treatment. Lin Qiang made a bold deduction that Ma Hongtao might have undergone plastic surgery.
Captain Cao agreed with this speculation, instructing Lin Qiang to contact Zhang Xianhe, as he would be the closest person to Ma Hongtao if the accident was indeed staged by Ma Hongtao to save his son. Zhang Xianhe woke up in the hospital, finding Coco missing. A nurse informed him that he was brought in by a kind stranger and that he was alone. Disregarding his injuries, Zhang Xianhe immediately left the hospital.
Shortly after, Ma Hongtao called him, confirming he was alive and ready to "get rid of Liu Bing" together. Ma Hongtao warned that if Zhang Xianhe followed his instructions, Coco would remain safe. Ma Hongtao suspected that either Cheng Jingsong or Lin Qiang was a police informant and ordered Zhang Xianhe to investigate who it was. Cheng Jingsong dropped Lin Qiang off near Zhang Xianhe's home, instructing her to monitor any suspicious individuals approaching him.
His own mission was to obtain data from Long Sheng Pharmaceutical, which was believed to be in Huang Ziliang’s office and would require Wu Yufei's assistance. Lin Qiang, leveraging Wu Yufei's suspicion about her fiancé cheating, knew she could persuade her to help. Inside Zhang Xianhe's apartment, he confessed that Ma Hongtao had taken Coco to coerce him into finding a police mole.
He believed Ma Hongtao was too old to have orchestrated the car crash alone and mentioned hearing someone call "Boss Ma" after the accident. Lin Qiang, recalling Cheng Jingsong’s earlier mention of Luo Kun visiting the children’s hospital, suspected that Luo Kun might be secretly working for Ma Hongtao and was involved in the crash. Zhang Xianhe felt helpless, trapped by Ma Hongtao as long as Coco was held captive.
Lin Qiang comforted him with a hug, a scene observed by Cheng Jingsong from a surveillance point, making him visibly uncomfortable. Lin Qiang promptly reported Zhang Xianhe's revelations to Captain Cao, urging him to dispatch officers to rescue Coco and apprehend Ma Hongtao. However, Captain Cao emphasized that police investigations require evidence and logic, not emotional responses, reiterating that focusing on Liu Bing was the key to eventually exposing Ma Hongtao.
He instructed Lin Qiang to continue with her current work, no matter how insignificant it seemed. Lin Qiang, with Wu Yufei's help, successfully entered Huang Ziliang's office and retrieved crucial data from Long Sheng Pharmaceutical. This data significantly advanced the police investigation, revealing that Chenhua Pharmaceutical had sold seven tons of Xunma grass to Long Sheng, but Long Sheng only needed three tons for its legitimate products, falsifying their records.
Captain Cao ordered intensified surveillance on Chenhua's deliveries and instructed Li Yan to closely monitor Long Sheng to confirm if the remaining Xunma grass were being diverted to a drug manufacturing facility. Meanwhile, Lin Qiang learned from Hong, via a listening device she had planted, that Hong had found a new buyer, "K." She discovered that K used his private ships at Jiangbei Dock, normally for transporting coal, to smuggle drugs, and obtained his contact number.
Separately, Li Yan uncovered suspicious activity involving Long Sheng. He found that Long Sheng had been using its popular "Bird's Nest Drink" as payment for Xunma grass from Chenhua Pharmaceutical. Further investigation revealed that these drinks would loop back to Chenhua, then be resold to a distributor called Kangleduo Pharmaceutical to generate cash flow.
However, Li Yan discovered that Kangleduo Pharmaceutical was a shell company with non-existent or defunct retail outlets, implying the sales records were fake and the drinks were being hoarded. Suspecting the drinks themselves contained illegal substances, Li Yan sought Cheng Jingsong's help to acquire a sample from Chenhua's heavily guarded Warehouse 3, managed directly by Luo Kun. Cheng Jingsong, while engaging Luo Kun in conversation, created an opportunity for De to secretly take a sample.
Lab results confirmed Li Yan's suspicions: the "Bird's Nest Drink" contained no bird's nest but was entirely made from Xunma grass extracts. Captain Cao recognized this elaborate scheme, where raw Xunma grass was processed into liquid form at Long Sheng and then returned to Chenhua as a cover-up for drug manufacturing. He ordered continuous surveillance on Chenhua's Warehouse 3, certain that any outgoing shipment would lead them directly to Liu Bing's drug factory.
Zhang Xianhe attempted to track Luo Kun but was discovered. To Zhang Xianhe's surprise, Luo Kun did not harm him, leading Zhang Xianhe to deduce that Luo Kun was, in fact, Ma Hongtao's mole within Liu Bing's organization. Luo Kun confirmed this, admitting that Ma Hongtao was past his prime and no match for Liu Bing and Li Guohua.
To reclaim power, Ma Hongtao intended to use the police to eliminate Liu Bing first, which was the real reason he ordered Zhang Xianhe to find the police mole. Luo Kun then tossed Coco's hair tie at Zhang Xianhe, a stark reminder of his leverage over him. Soon after, the "Bird's Nest Drink" shipment from Chenhua Pharmaceutical began moving.
As Cheng Jingsong and Lin Qiang prepared to follow the truck, Hong suddenly appeared, forced her way into their car, and ordered them to chase the Chenhua truck immediately. Lin Qiang tried to engage Hong in conversation, but Hong remained guarded, keeping her gun pointed at them. Following the truck driven by Sun, they observed him receiving a phone call and then meeting another man.
Hong immediately exited their car, pointed a gun at the man, and aggressively demanded Liu Bing's factory location. Under duress, the man divulged the address: "No. 33, Taisheng Road." Hong then confiscated Lin Qiang and Cheng Jingsong's phones, forced them into the back of the drug truck with her men, and sped off toward the factory. Li Yan, who was coordinating the backup, witnessed this unfolding situation and quickly reported it to Captain Cao before continuing his pursuit.
However, when the truck turned onto Village Road C22, the lack of cover forced Li Yan to abandon the direct chase to avoid detection, further hampered by a passing train. Captain Cao, receiving the update about the lost signal and the new location, ordered his technical team to perform an immediate analysis of the C22 village road area. Hong and her armed group stormed the factory, quickly neutralizing the drug manufacturing personnel and initiating a search for the drugs.
Lin Qiang and Cheng Jingsong, meanwhile, discreetly sought out a communication device to alert Captain Cao. Lin Qiang successfully obtained a mobile phone from a factory worker and immediately called Captain Cao, relaying their precise location at "No. 33, Taisheng Road," and describing the dangerous situation with Hong's armed men and numerous workers. Captain Cao promptly dispatched the nearest SWAT team for backup.
While Cheng Jingsong searched for a phone, he was discovered by one of Hong's men, leading to a scuffle. The noise from the fight attracted Liu Bing, who burst into the factory with his own heavily armed men and brutally killed Hong and her entire crew. Cheng Jingsong narrowly escaped the shootout and seized the opportunity to take Liu Bing hostage. In another part of the factory, Lin Qiang witnessed driver Sun secretly meeting Fang Lin.
Fang Lin handed Sun a disc, demanding that he uphold his promise to help him and Ding Ding escape the country. Lin Qiang, overhearing their conversation, was stunned to realize that "Sun" was none other than Ma Hongtao, who had undergone plastic surgery. After receiving the disc, Ma Hongtao then killed Fang Lin and took the disc.
