Chapter 14

Xu Chang treated me exceptionally well—so well that no one had ever seen him like this with anyone else.
Yet all my means of communication remained severed, my world confined to the small apartment.
I’d asked him for a phone. His only response was to lean down and kiss me.
When I asked why he was keeping me locked up, he would just hold me, stroke my waist, rest his chin on my shoulder, and smile.
As expected, he was still lucid.
All that talk about not believing I was undercover? He knew perfectly well I wasn’t on his side.
That night, he returned home at two in the morning.
He just stood there in the entryway, watching me.
His figure blended into the thick darkness, head tilted, asking why I wasn’t asleep.
I told him I couldn’t sleep.
I hadn’t been sleeping well for a long time.
Every time I closed my eyes, I saw my hands covered in blood, the ghosts of those men.
He walked over and held me, but the acrid smell of gunpowder still filled my nostrils—a scent I knew from crime scenes.
The smell of gunfire and explosives.
He held me for a long time, then reached up and ruffled my hair.
“Qingqing, it’s over now.”
“Everything has ended.”
“…”
The next morning, I saw it on the news.
A fire had broken out at a pharmaceutical factory in the city last night. Four people were pronounced dead after rescue efforts failed.
Among them was the factory’s legal representative, a Mr. Gong. The victims had multiple bullet wounds; the fire was deliberately set. The incident is under investigation.
That Gong… he was Er Mang, the man who’d kidnapped me…
I lowered my gaze, staring at the television screen.
Xu Chang had lost his mind.
But I was being driven to madness too.
Countless times, I’d thought of taking this devil down with me.
But my mission wasn’t just to see Xu Chang die.
I had to deliver him to the highest court. Only by capturing him, by putting him on trial, could we uproot the entire criminal empire behind him.
My master’s dying wish was to restore a clear sky to Qubei City.
Xu Chang didn’t know that the first person I ever shot and killed was my master.
A man over fifty, still fighting on the front lines, who liked to buy me lollipops on his days off.
He’d placed my hand on the gun, guiding my finger to pull the trigger, sending the bullet into his own forehead.
Because he knew, to keep me from being exposed, that was the only way.
Because he knew, it was either him or me.
He said, let this old man go first.
It was only after Xu Chang saw me kill a police officer that he slowly let his guard down around me.
And it was from that day on,
I knew I had to survive. I must survive. I had to live to see Xu Chang walk into the execution ground.
Otherwise, even in hell, I would know no peace.

Chapter 15

One day in early spring, after winter had passed, Xu Chang came home unusually early.
He said he wanted to take me somewhere.
Unusually, he brought no bodyguards. Before, every time he got into a car, he’d have it swept for listening devices.
Especially now, when he was truly a man with blood on his hands.
But he just took me and got into a car.
“Qingqing, do you know?”
“Today seems to be my birthday.”
The car sped down an endless highway. I had no idea where he was taking me.
“It’s the birthday on my ID card. Honestly, I don’t even know if it’s real.”
“I just made it up on the spot when I was in juvenile detention.”
The journey seemed long. I watched the sun sink behind the vast mountains, birds streaking across the layered clouds.
“My childhood was spent in juvenile detention because I killed someone when I was eleven.”
“I killed my own father.”
“Because he crushed my mother’s eyeball.”
“…”
The car maintained a steady speed. His tone remained unnervingly calm.
“Strange, absurd, isn’t it?”
“Before I turned eleven, I never stopped wanting to kill that beast of a father. My mother was a college student from the city. She… was bought by my father.”
“My mother was trafficked into these mountains.”
“The night I turned eleven, my father came home drunk. He pinned my mother, already blind in one eye, to the wall and beat her.”
“So I grabbed the axe on the wall and struck his back nineteen times. He died. I went to juvenile detention.”
Night seemed to fall. Xu Chang turned on the headlights, still speaking unhurriedly.
“After I got out, I had no family, no connections. Only the underworld would take me in.”
“Only the dirty things would accept me.”
“It was then I realized I probably inherited… my father’s demonic bloodline.”
“Someone once gave me a psychological evaluation. Said I was a sociopath.”
“I had all those records destroyed.”
The car finally arrived at its destination: an abandoned amusement park.
…As far as I remembered, it had been abandoned for a long time.
But for some reason, the neon signs flickered on now, transforming it into a bustling, neon-lit city.
…Only, there was no one.
“I bought this place and renovated it.”
The man leaned on the steering wheel, turning his head to look at me with a faint smile.
“I’ve never been to an amusement park before.”
“Play with me for a while, Qingqing.”

Chapter 16

The vast amusement park was lit up. Every ride was available to use.
But there was no one.
The atmosphere was undeniably eerie.
Yet his enthusiasm was clearly higher than mine.
Even on the carousel, he insisted we share one horse.
He held me in his arms, nuzzling my neck.
“Qingqing, do you know? In all these years, you’re the first person who ever told me they liked me.”
“…”
“Everyone hates me. Even the mother I protected hates me.”
“Only you ever said… you liked me.”
“The day I found out you liked me too, my heart nearly broke.”
“Because I had failed you.”
“I know it’s too late. No matter how I try to make it up to you, it’s too late.”
“But I don’t want you to hate me. I just can’t bear it.”
…
On the Ferris wheel, as we reached the highest point, fireworks suddenly exploded in the sky.
For a moment, they ignited the long night, then swiftly vanished.
“I don’t know what to do. I avenged you.”
“My hands are stained with blood now, just like yours.”
He leaned in, pinning me against the cabin wall.
Where was the man who stood above everyone? He was like a dog begging for scraps.
“Qingqing, I’ve torn my heart open and shown it to you.”
“Teach me how to love, won’t you?”
…
The man lowered his head, his eyes suddenly reflecting the brilliant lights.
I stood there, watching him, for a very, very long time.
After a long while, I answered softly.
A smile touched his eyes. His fingers brushed against my neck.
He lowered his head and kissed me.
Gently, as if I were some priceless treasure.

Chapter 17

In the hotel room, the man held me.
As if he never wanted to let go.
I pushed him a few times, but he wouldn’t budge.
I had to cough.
“You… can you go take a shower first?”
He chuckled, his voice laced with mockery.
“Think I’m dirty, huh?”
“…Yes.”
I don’t know why that answer made the man laugh so hard.
Still reluctant, he planted a kiss on the tip of my nose.
“Wait for me.”
He turned towards the bathroom, tripping slightly over a round stool on the floor.
…Xu Chang said he’d never been in a relationship. Now, I believed him.
I stayed where I was, not moving.
The sound of running water came from the bathroom. I still didn’t move.
After about five minutes, I shot up and rushed to the table.
I fumbled through Xu Chang’s bag and pulled out his phone.
Sure enough, a man in love gets careless. Before, he would never have left such an important phone outside the bathroom.
The phone had a passcode. I entered my birthday. It unlocked.
First, I confirmed there was a signal. Then I dialed the number I knew by heart.
Keeping a tight watch on the closed bathroom door, I prayed for a quick answer.
Finally, a steady voice came from the other end.
“Hello?”
“Director Liu, it’s Chen Ruoqing, badge number 7865xxxx.”
“I now possess crucial evidence of Xu Chang’s crimes, including arson, murder, and bribery of high-ranking officials.”
“My current location is Room 809, 8th Floor, Evergreen Forest Hotel, city outskirts.”
“I request immediate apprehension!”
A brief silence, then the voice on the other end was firm and concise.
“Understood. We are dispatching units immediately.”
“Well done, Comrade.”
“…”
Hanging up, I realized my old habit of sweating when nervous had returned.
My hands wouldn’t stop shaking, but I still put the phone back in his bag.
I returned to the bed, telling myself over and over to calm down.
The sound of the shower continued. The call hadn’t taken long.
Now, all I had to do was stall for time.
I grabbed a nearby travel brochure, reading the words to steady my racing heart.
Until the man emerged from the bathroom.
The tips of his hair were still dripping, wet. His eyes were wet too.
Droplets traced a path down his sharp jawline, down the grooves of his abdomen.
“What are you looking at?”
He tilted his head, smiling faintly at me.
“A travel brochure, I suppose. Trying to trick me into a vacation.”
I waved the booklet at him.
He came closer, pulling me into his arms. The damp air mixed with his ragged breathing made me flinch involuntarily.
I reached up and ruffled his hair.
“Hey, don’t you dry your hair?”
“Sit over here. I’ll dry it for you.”
He obediently sat on the stool in front. I knelt on the bed behind him, plugged in the hairdryer, and tested the heat.
The loud whirring noise was almost deafening. It helped mask the frantic pounding of my heart.
I’d always thought his hair was as hard as he was, but it felt surprisingly soft to the touch.
My hands moved through his hair, and amidst the black, I caught a glimpse of a few white strands.
“Hiss, Xu Chang, you have gray hairs.”
His voice was barely audible over the drone of the hairdryer.
“You have them too. When you fell asleep the other day, I pulled some out.”
“…”
How old were we? Already with gray hairs.
Tormented, I suppose.
When it was dry, I put the hairdryer down.
The man seemed impatient. He pushed me down onto the bed.
“I haven’t showered yet… Xu Chang!”
The kisses he pressed onto my neck and shoulder were fierce.
His voice too, much rougher.
“A shower… you still want to shower?”
“And after the shower? What then? How will you stall me again, Officer Chen?”
“You didn’t really think my people…”
“…haven’t noticed the squad cars racing towards this place, did you?”
In an instant, my mind felt like it had been shattered by an explosion.
Then, a sense of resignation washed over me.
Of course. In the end… he was still on guard.
The man pulled out a gun, aiming it at me.
For the first time, I saw something akin to sorrow in his eyes.
“I gave you my heart. What did you give me?”
“Weren’t you supposed to teach me how to love? You never intended to, did you?”
“Qingqing, in the end, I’m still a man who can’t love anyone.”
“…”
I knew, at this moment, I should be trying to de-escalate the suspect’s emotions.
Outside, the wail of sirens grew impossibly loud. The police were already downstairs.
“Give it up, Xu Chang.”
“That day you held me, I collected trace evidence from your wool coat.”
“A comparison will confirm your involvement in the arson and the use of firearms.”
“You have nowhere to run. This time, I have enough evidence to arrest you.”
“…”
He looked at me, but as he looked, he started to laugh.
His eyes red, he asked me.
“Chen Ruoqing, am I just a dog to you?”
“Making me fall for you was as easy as making a dog fall for you, wasn’t it?”
“…”
I shook my head, stepping forward, approaching him one step at a time.
But suddenly, a violent explosion shattered the air.
“Don’t come any closer, Chen Ruoqing.”
“I’ve planted twelve bombs in this building. Take one more step towards me, and my men will detonate another.”
“Tell the police to pull back, or I can’t guarantee the safety of everyone in this building.”
He moved with calculated precision, keeping himself out of a sniper’s line of sight.
His gun remained trained on me as he slowly backed towards the elevator shaft.
“Xu Chang!!!”
I panicked, looking at him, speaking slowly, deliberately.
“Think carefully.”
“Cross that threshold, and you become a fugitive.”
“…”
But the barrel of the gun remained pointed at me.
“Xu…”
As I took a step forward and shouted his name, suddenly, the gunshot rang out.
A searing pain tore through my arm, blanking my mind for an instant.
I collapsed to the ground. Bright red blood streamed down my arm.
I tried to stand, but couldn’t. The agony was overwhelming, consuming me.
I watched helplessly as he disappeared into the elevator shaft.
The wail of sirens and the roar of explosions merged into a cacophony. I lay on the ground.
A small box tumbled out of his fallen bag, rolling to a stop before me.
It fell open, revealing a magnificent diamond ring.
Probably, the gift he never got to give.