Author: 长洱 / Chang’er

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

Chapter 169

All issues pointed directly to AIH, but it still took a lot of time to investigate the true motivations of Xiang Ye and Meijing, which was something they couldn’t rush.

Besides, until now, all they could do was inform AIH to pay attention to financial risk and dissuade Song Shengsheng fans from attending large-scale gatherings. In addition, Lin Chen couldn’t think of what else they could do in this short time.

After the inquiry work was over, Jiang Chao forcibly drove him to the Second People’s Hospital next to Yongchuan’s Second Bureau. According to Vice Captain Jiang, his beautiful wife worked in the neurosurgery department. Naturally, a wound suture like his wouldn’t need the deputy chief physician of neurosurgery to address it, so Lin Chen went to the urgent care department by himself.

The one who stitched up his wound was a young doctor. As soon as Jiang Chao sent him to the treatment room, he slipped away under the pretext of buying water.

Lin Chen suspected he was just taking this opportunity to greet the leader of his family, but a good relationship between husband and wife was still enviable.

He sighed softly and suddenly heard the doctor ask, “How did you get hurt?”

Lin Chen was distracted and was just about to speak when the doctor poured hydrogen peroxide to wash his wound. This was probably the standard procedure for the hospital, but the disinfectant was so painful that he couldn’t even scream.

“Cut myself on porcelain pieces,” he reluctantly replied.

“Ah, it’s pretty bad,” the doctor said as she began to use a soft brush to clean up the debris that might still be stuck in his wound.

It still hurt. Compared to this doctor’s skills to Xing Conglian’s, Xing Conglian’s could be considered gentle.

Thinking of this, he subconsciously looked at the two scars on his arm. The knife wounds had healed, and new flesh had grown out. Some of the red scab hadn’t yet fallen off, and it was mixed with the white of his skin, looking a bit off putting.

Most likely, it was because he was looking at the knife wound on his arm that the doctor also looked over. The doctor then raised her voice as she asked, “What do you do?”

Lin Chen thought for a while and answered truthfully. “I do consulting work for the police.”

The doctor breathed a sigh of relief and said, “No wonder. I thought you looked too gentle, and this didn’t seem like it was due to a fight.” She paused, picked up the needle and thread with tweezers, and prepared to sew his wound. “Police work is very dangerous.”

Lin Chen nodded and said nothing more.

At this moment, there was a sudden noise outside the room. The door wasn’t closed, so the sound floated in from the corridor. A team of security guards were running through the halls, causing all the surrounding patients to stare.

Lin Chen frowned. At the same time, his phone suddenly rang.

The ominous premonition in his heart became stronger. The doctor was busy stitching up his wound, so he glanced at the other party and picked up the phone with his other hand.

Jiang Chao’s anxious voice came from the other end. “Consultant Lin, Consultant Lin!” There was an easily detectable tremor in his voice.

“I’m here. What’s wrong?”

“My wife is being held hostage with a knife on the fifth floor in the neurosurgery department. Can you be a negotiator?”

The clinic room was too quiet, so Jiang Chao’s words were easily heard by the doctor. “What… How could this happen?!” the doctor said anxiously.

“I’ll be there soon.” After Lin Chen finished speaking, he hung up the phone. “Cut the thread,” he said to the young doctor.

……

10,000 kilometers away in the Republic of Angodo, which was adjacent to the Dana Rainforest, Xing Conglian was looking at the Xazi Mountains to the southwest. Thick, dark clouds covered the mountain tops, and the entire Dana Valley seemed to be shrouded in a humid shadow of death.

Of course, the so-called shadow of death was just his inner thoughts. After all, since he was sitting in a small bar hundreds of kilometers outside the rainforest and witnessing mercenaries with live ammunition wandering around outside, it would bring him an inexplicable sense of displeasure. He had been away from such a life of gunfire and explosions for too long, and now he had just returned to his old job, so it was inevitable that he would need time to adapt.

The lights in the bar were dim. Unlike the luxurious bars in developed countries, Dana’s bars only needed to provide three things: alcohol, sex, and, of course, drugs. These three things were also the most common payment methods here, besides gold. Piles of beer were stacked behind the bar, and the wooden shelves were filled with spirits in simple packaging. A kerosene lamp was the only light source in this bar. The decorations in the bar were all ivory, and the precious ivory was crudely carved. Seeing the precious ivory being roughly carved and hung on the wall so casually, Xing Conglian only felt pain.

Across from him sat the owner of the bar named Garstini. Garstini meant python in Dana, which wasn’t a good word. Usually, bars were always equipped with beautiful and flirtatious proprietresses and tough thugs, but the rules in Dana were different. The owner of the bar was a mighty and majestic Gaomeng man with a shaved head and mustache, which didn’t match his body shape, while his bodyguard was a thin girl who wasn’t any taller than 1.6 meters. Xing Conglian’s gaze swept over the muscle lines of the female bodyguard as well as the guns fixed with black belts to her arms, waist, and thighs. It was clear that a woman who could survive in Dana must be extraordinary.

Behind him, Kang An put down his backpack, took out three gold bars from it carelessly, and patted them on the table.

Gold touched people’s hearts, and it didn’t need any verbal guidance. The bright color emitted by the gold alone made the idle mercenaries outside the window look over subconsciously. The soldiers showed a malicious, bloodthirsty gaze, but when they saw the Gaomeng man sitting across from them, they quickly narrowed their gaze, changed from a jackal to a wilting mole, and left bitterly.

The bar owner also retracted his gaze from out the window. The interesting actions of the mercenaries obviously satisfied his vanity. He glanced at the gold on the table again; his eyes revealing clear satisfaction, but he said, “Boss Xing, usually this amount is enough, but now, it’s not.”

Xing Conglian had fought many times with the most cunning people from the Gaomeng tribe in Dana for a long time, so he didn’t say a word but looked back at Kang An. In the short time he stood up, Mr. Kang had already stuffed the gold bars back into his backpack.

The next moment, the boss’ female bodyguard drew her gun and pointed the muzzle at Xing Conglian’s chest. Xing Conglian lowered his head slightly and glanced at the slender woman in front of him, avoided the muzzle indifferently, and continued to walk out.

“Stop!” he heard the female bodyguard shout in the Gaomeng language.

Before her voice fell, Kang An had already grabbed the bodyguard’s gun with lightning speed and pulled the trigger.

The bullet passed through the woman’s ear and shot out the window. The floor-to-ceiling window of the bar cracked in response, and the glass shattered. The bar owner hugged his head in despair, but his bare head was still pierced by some of the glass fragments.

Xing Conglian couldn’t help but glare at Kang An and scold, “Why are you so violent?”

“Boss, I… This is not… I… got angry when I saw her pointing the gun at you!” Mr. Kang shouted righteously.

Xing Conglian didn’t say anything else to Kang An. He pointed to the stool at the other table and motioned for Kang An to bring him another one.

He sat down opposite the bar owner again. Although the situation had reversed, the bald Gaomeng man still raised his head. “Boss Xing, I’m afraid it’s not good for you to be so violent at my place, right?”

“I can do as I want. There’s nothing wrong with it.” Xing Conglian glanced at the wound on the top of the other man’s head as he spoke casually.

“Even if you kill me, I can still guarantee that neither you nor your subordinates will be able to get out of this area safely.”

“I’m here to buy things, not kill people. Are you Gaomeng people so delusional?”

Hearing what he said, the owner seemed to have misunderstood. He slammed the table heavily and said arrogantly, “You don’t have the attitude of buying things. Double the price or there will be no discussion!”

Doing business in this kind of three-way zone was so troublesome.

Businessmen had no integrity, and they would never negotiate if they could grasp it clearly.

Xing Conglian leaned back in his chair and glanced at the young man who had been hiding in the corner.

Wang Chao swallowed and emerged from the shadows timidly. “Boss, can you not speak with such harsh words?”

Xing Conglian knocked on the armrest impatiently, causing Wang Chao to bow his head to the bar owner and look like a meat mountain. He spoke in fluent Gaomengnese. “Hello, Mr. Moda Nar. I am the chief secretary, attendant, and sidekick of Boss Xing. I’m ordered by my boss to inform you that your eldest son, who’s studying finance in Italy, and your younger son, who’s in his sophomore year of high school, are under our control. We know that you have lost your fertility due to an infectious disease, so the two of them are your only offspring. If my great boss and his two subordinates can’t reach your tribal settlement smoothly, you can say goodbye to your family.” As he said this, he took out his phone and brought up two candid photos. Two equally majestic and might Gaomeng teenagers appeared on the phone screen.

The face of the bar owner turned blue at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Xing Conglian let out a low cough. Wang Chao hurriedly put away his phone, bowed, and said, “I sincerely wish your family all the best.”

The laws of the jungle were as such. Unreasonable people could live longer than reasonable ones.

After Wang Chao retreated, the bar owner, who was the second son of a distant cousin of the leader of the Gaomeng tribe, quickly changed tune. His eyes were full of anger, but his mouth was as sweet as honey. “Handsome Boss Xing, the son of Qi Naer of the Gaomeng tribe, is willing to help.” While speaking, he clapped his hands and said to his bodyguard, “Kanachal, go get my most expensive wine. I want to have a drink with our most distinguished guest.”

The moment the bar owner bowed his head and softened his attitude, his bodyguard instantly turned into a tender little woman.

Hearing that she was going to get the wine, the woman with muscles as hard as iron gave him a meaningful look, then swayed her figure and walked towards the bar.

The owner of the bar spoke again. “Honorable Boss Xing, it’s not that I don’t want to lead the way for you, it’s just that today’s rainforest isn’t like yesterday’s. The god of the rainforest has sent down a punishment from heaven. Anyone who trespasses will not be spared.”

Hearing this, before Xing Conglian could speak, Wang Chao said “so stupid” behind him.

Fortunately, Wang Chao spoke Chinese. Otherwise, if the Gaomeng man heard this, they would most likely have another fight.

Xing Conglian narrowed his eyes slightly, leaned back in his chair, and asked, “Can you tell me specifically what this ‘divine punishment’ is?”

The bar owner trembled. He leaned over quietly and said gloomily, “It’s death.”

“There has to be a way to die or some form of death?”

“No one knows. No one knows… The world falls into madness, and dead bodies pile up like mountains. Ashes will be everywhere, and even the Xazi Mountains will turn snow-white.” The bar owner clutched his chest devoutly, closed his eyes, and recited, “This is a prophecy—a prophecy of the end of the rainforest.”

When the Gaomeng people talked about things like death, they revered it as mysterious and mystical. Xing Conglian curled his lips, but Kang An and Wang Chao were visibly nervous.

“Boss!” Kang An grabbed the shoulders of his shirt tightly.

Xing Conglian thought for a moment and frowned. “What does madness mean? Does it mean that many people in the forest have gone crazy and disappeared? And what does it mean that corpses are burned to ashes? Did the Gaomeng people give up on burial?”

The bar owner closed his eyes tightly and kept his mouth shut, refusing to say another word.

When Xing Conglian wanted to press the issue, a sweet female voice came from his side.

“Distinguished sir, your drink.”

The bodyguard put down the wine tray, and there were two glasses of pure black spirits in the goblet. Before he could react, the woman took one of the glasses and turned around to sit on his lap.

The other party hooked his neck, pressed on his shoulders with her plumb breasts, and gently rubbed her ass between his legs.

The owner of the bar laughed loudly. “Mr. Xing, my Kanachal rarely likes someone. You might as well stay a little longer. I’ll let her accompany you. I guarantee that her skills in bed are some of the best in Dana.”

Xing Conglian looked at the woman snuggled in his arms. He looked into her amber eyes and said lightly, “Get off.”

His words were straightforward. The woman in his arms leaned back, spilling half of the spirits in the goblet and splashing it on his snow-white shirt. Xing Conglian looked at the stain on his chest and said coldly, “Don’t make me say it again.”

The woman who had been softened into a puddle of spring water instantly turned back into a tough female bodyguard. She slammed the goblet down so hard that Xing Conglian suspected she would pull a gun from somewhere on her body and shoot him in the head.

But he didn’t care about it. He bypassed the spilled glass of wine, picked up the glass belonging to the bar owner, and took a big sip.

The strong wine was extremely spicy. Mixed with the long, wet breeze from the window, Xing Conglian let the wine pass through his mouth. Such a strong taste made him think of Lin Chen when he kissed him hard. He could clearly feel Lin Chen’s hot body under his shirt, as if it were about to burn.

He looked at the liquid in the cup as deep as night. The dark color was like Lin Chen’s beautiful eyes.

He suddenly wanted to recklessly take Lin Chen to his side, in spite of everything. He didn’t know how Lin Chen was doing; whether he would encounter new dangers in dealing with the follow-up issues, and he didn’t even know if that idiot Huang Ze would harass Lin Chen again while he was away. Simply put, the reason he wanted Lin Chen to be here was only because he needed him to, not because Lin Chen needed his protection or for some other reason. This kind of thing that was beyond his reach and seemed to be out of his control hadn’t happened to him for many years.

In the distance, sporadic crossfire sounded, and further away, was the sound of mortars.

Xing Conglian sighed. He certainly couldn’t bring Lin Chen.

In a field of glass ballast, amidst the sound of gunfire, he took another sip of wine. He subconsciously looked to the southwest, but his vision was obscured by the Xazi Mountains.

‘I hope you are well in my absence,’ he thought as he gently set down the goblet of pure black liquid.

……

While Xing Conglian was wishing him well, Lin Chen’s situation wasn’t good.

This wasn’t because he was forced to cut the suture short and rush up to the fifth floor after he just got stitches, nor was it because of the hostage situation he had to deal with that involved Jiang Chao’s wife, but because the hostage-taking situation itself was far worse than he imagined.

Although Vice Captain Jiang Chao was already as anxious as an ant on a hot pot, urging him to enter the neurosurgery doctor’s office to start the negotiations, Lin Chen stubbornly stood outside, listening in detail to the interns who had just escaped from the office.

There was no Xing Conglian and no Wang Chao, so he didn’t have the invisible wireless headset or surveillance that could be retrieved at any moment. He could only use the most primitive method of inquiry to get a better grasp of the situation.

In front of him, a male intern looked so nervous as if he was about to be overwhelmed.

“Let me sort out my thoughts. Just now, a man with a knife entered the office and just started slashing for no reason. Then he took a hostage at the entrance. Director Li took the initiative to replace herself with the other hostage. The other party followed her suggestion, so now the current hostage is Director Li, right?”

The intern covered his face in shame, and his eyes flushed. “I’m sorry. I’m useless… I… I’m not a man at all. I actually let Director Li take my place… my…”

Lin Chen patted the man on the back and said with relief, “It’s Director Li’s will as your teacher to replace you. We all hope to rescue her smoothly, but only if you can answer my question calmly. First, has the hostage-taker made any demands? What I mean is, has he made it clear what he wants?”

“He… He said someone put a bug in his head and asked us to dig that thing out!” the intern said seriously.

Lin Chen frowned slightly and asked, “So is the hostage-taker a patient you have treated before?”

Several interns looked at each other and couldn’t answer this question for a while.

“I don’t seem to have seen him.”

“Me neither, but I’ve only been here for half a year.”

“Where are the nurses?”

Lin Chen turned his head and asked.

The nurses who were huddled together also shook their heads one after another. “We haven’t seen him before. He’s not a patient in our department!”

<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 长洱 / Chang’er

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

Chapter 168

The similar malice smelled familiar to Lin Chen.

Once upon a time, someone planned a similar incident in order to play with human nature, arouse the malice of bystanders, and at the same time prove to all the well-meaning people in the world that the ordinary people around you would always be more vicious than you think, and the world was truly bad.

In fact, Lin Chen also thought about the significance of similar games in human nature, but the questions about morality and good and evil in human nature were themselves the ultimate questions for humanity. Countless philosophers, scientists, and psychologists have debated this extensively since ancient times, and with so many people discussing it in their daily lives, it should be meaningful.

However, with Xing Conglian not around, Lin Chen didn’t bother to think too deeply in this direction. He wasn’t engaged in philosophical research. He was just a lovelorn person who was left behind by his crush. Even if he did understand these ultimate questions about mankind, it wouldn’t make Xing Conglian come back a day earlier.

Lin Chen’s mood suddenly faded. He stood up and threw the bloody, broken porcelain in the trash.

Jiang Chao kept yelling in his ears, saying, “This wound is so deep”, “Consultant Lin, you mustn’t”, “Consultant Lin, you have to bandage it”, and so on.

Lin Chen looked back at him and said lightly, “I know. Is there any gauze here? I’ll stop the bleeding first.”

“How can you stop the bleeding? We have to go to the hospital right away.”

Looking at Jiang Chao’s appearance, Lin Chen thought of Xing Conglian. Xing Conglian really knew him.

At the embassy that day, after he finished his interrogation with Li Jingtian, Xing Conglian took him directly to the infirmary for bandage, because he knew he didn’t like hospitals.

But Xing Conglian never pointed this out and embarrassed him; instead, he dealt with it thoughtfully and meticulously.

Lin Chen spread out his hand. He saw the bloody wound on his palm that was cut by the porcelain and felt he was really done for.

He looked back at the police officer, who was tapping on the keyboard quickly after hanging up the phone, and said to Jiang Chao, “I think the result will come out soon, so it’s fine to go later.”

Jiang Chao wasn’t Xing Conglian, so he couldn’t explain to him why he was being so tough. Seeing that he was persistent, Jiang Chao could only nod his head and then immediately run out to get him the medicine box.

Lin Chen sat down next to the computer again and said to the police officer, “AIH Insurance has opened up the inquiry authority for you. Why is this so simple?”

“I said there might be insurance fraud, so the person in charge got nervous. Speaking of which, Consultant Lin, why do you think these criminals wanted to murder fans for insurance? Could it be that all the fans have listed the same beneficiary? Then isn’t it easy for us to find out who that beneficiary is?”

Lin Chen thought for a moment, then replied, “Assuming there’s a common beneficiary—let’s call him Mr. A—how can we prove that Mr. A planned the fire at the Christine Cultural Center? You can’t just say he was going to kill people and defraud the insurance because he’s the beneficiary, right?’

“Then let’s dig deep into the relationship between Meijing, Xiang Ye, and the beneficiary, Mr. A. There will be clues.”

Lin Chen shook his head and said, “First, I’m afraid it’ll be difficult for you to find empirical evidence. Second, I think when you find the relationship, it’s very likely you’ll dig up a huge criminal network. At that time, you must pay attention to your personal safety.”

“Don’t scare me.” The police officer was a little terrified.

“I’m being serious.” Lin Chen patted the police officer’s shoulder. “But don’t be afraid. There are many people around you, including me.”

The police officer let out a laugh that was as absentminded as Jiang Chao. “It’s okay. I’m not afraid of death.”

Lin Chen lowered his head and smiled, patted the other’s head, but didn’t speak again.

The computer issued a notification that the calculation was over, and the policeman hurriedly turned his head. Lin Chen followed suit. Colorful contents appeared on the comparison form. Although he couldn’t sort it out, he still understood something based on the increasingly frightened expression of the police officer.

Seeing that the police officer finally pushed the keyboard away and turned his head to look over in a daze, Lin Chen asked, “What’s wrong?”

“Consultant Lin, the direction you mentioned seems to be correct. It’s very likely that the fire set by Xiang Ye and Meijing was really for insurance,” he said as he held down the form and dragged it to the middle position. “There are three groups of insurance beneficiaries in the same situation. The first group should be a pair of sisters, and the beneficiary should be their own mother. The second group should be a couple whose beneficiary should be their own daughter. The last group is the most suspicious. There are 21 fans who filled out the personal accident insurance for a Doctors Without Borders* organization.”

*A charity that provides humanitarian medical care. It’s a non-governmental organization of French origin known for its projects in conflict zones and in countries affected by endemic diseases.

“Doctors Without Borders?” Lin Chen was surprised. “Can a beneficiary be an organization?”

The police officer took a deep breath, then said, “It depends on the type of insurance, but since the beneficiary is listed here, it means that AIH Insurance approved of the purchase.”

Lin Chen nodded. “What you said makes sense, and I’m about to ask a dumb question.” He paused. “I just find it strange why these fans uniformly filled in the beneficiary for Doctors Without Borders…”

As Lin Chen spoke, he set his sights on the full name of the organization: [MSC Doctors Without Borders].

Lin Chen said to the police officer, “Can you calculate the total insurance amount first and then please check the relationship between Song Shengsheng and this organization and whether he has ever called on fans to donate to Doctors Without Borders?”

“Okay, I’ll check right away!” The police officer started to work.

Listening to the clacking of the keyboard, Lin Chen fell into contemplation again.

Could it really be that Meijing intends to murder more than 3,000 people just for the insurance claim of 21? The payoff was hardly proportional to the cost.

“Consultant Lin, I figured it out. Each person had a payout of 1 million, for a total of 21 million.

“US dollars?”

“Ah… The unit is our country’s currency.”

Lin Chen frowned. The amount was beyond his expectations. He was just about to say something when Jiang Chao finally came back with the first aid kit.

Lin Chen took the medicine box and, at the same time, informed Jiang Chao of the results of their investigation just now.

Vice-Captain Jiang patted his knees and said excitedly, “I know this organization. This is the oldest Doctors Without Borders organization in the world. My wife joined this organization before and also participated in a year-long medical aid operation in Africa. How could an organization like Doctors Without Borders scam people? I think it’s unlikely, right?”

Lin Chen nodded again. Jiang Chao’s words actually made sense. There was no reason for a Doctors Without Borders organization to do this. He opened the first aid kit Jiang Chao handed him and casually rummaged through it, looking for something.

Seeing that he wasn’t saying anything, Jiang Chao began to ramble again. “But this beneficiary unit is too strange. I think there does seem to be a problem with it. I’ll investigate it later. Consultant Lin, what do you think is going on?”

Lin Chen didn’t answer. He opened the bottle of hydrogen peroxide and poured some on his hand nonchalantly. Jiang Chao was dumbfounded. “Consultant Lin, you’re being too rough.”

Lin Chen grimaced in pain, then looked at the technical officer and asked, “Have you found the relationship between Song Shengsheng and MSC?”

The other party nodded and clicked on the news report. “You guessed it right. Mr. Song Shengsheng did donate a lot of money to this MSC organization ten years ago. Although he didn’t directly call on fans to donate to Doctors Without Borders, since he took the initiative to do so, it still made a huge appeal. The so-called insurance beneficiaries may be decided through internal discussion within small fan groups. We won’t know the specific situation until we find these victims and ask them about it.”

“In other words, it may be just coincidence that the beneficiary of the personal accident insurance of the 21 fans is Doctors Without Borders?” The severe pain made Lin Chen sober. He picked up the gauze to wipe the blood from his hand.

“Maybe?” The police officer said, “But 21 people, isn’t this much?”

21 was indeed a clever number. It wasn’t so prominent among the more than 3,000 victims, but it would definitely become a clue for the police. Lin Chen finally realized that what Meijing and Xiang Ye were planning might be far beyond their imagination.

He thought again about the problem that Meijing kept constantly tricking him on the rooftop. Meijing himself wanted to use the revenge theory to cover up the insurance problem of AIH. What if this 21 was also a trap?

Lin Chen wiped away most of the blood clots and then changed the piece of gauze and pressed it on the wound. “First answer me this. Is there a high proportion of Song Shengsheng’s fans who buy AIH Insurance?”

“Among 3,021 people, a total of 1,922 have purchased insurance from AIH. Although I haven’t done a specific difference analysis, this ratio is relatively high.”

“Nearly two-thirds?”

“Correct.”

“So, if we put aside the beneficiaries, it should be AIH Insurance that will suffer the most economic loss if their action was successful.”

“Shit, Xiang Ye and Meijing aren’t trying to bring down AIH, are they?” Jiang Chao said.

Lin Chen frowned. Although Jiang Chao was just asking a rhetorical question casually, Lin Chen felt this might be the answer. “First calculate the total amount of insurance that AIH Insurance needs to pay.”

When the police officer heard this, he stared at him with wide eyes. “That’s probably an astronomical figure. Even if it were 2,000 people at 1 million each, it would total up to 2 billion.”

“Is it enough to bring down AIH?”

Jiang Chao took a deep breath. “Consultant Lin, your speculation is too scary, but AIH is a multinational insurance giant. Compensating such an amount shouldn’t be enough to bankrupt them, right?”

“The total amount is 4.5 billion,” the police officer said.

Jiang Chao almost bit his tongue. “So high?”

“I remember that a certain country once experienced a terrorist attack. The amount of fire insurance claims after the attack directly led to its bankruptcy. The total amount of claims that the company had to pay is about 3.5 billion.”

“But I still don’t think this number can really hurt AIH’s foundation,” Jiang Chao insisted.

“Whether the injury is foundational or not needs to be judged by carefully studying AIH’s financial report. If the company is in a period of internal losses, there may be some problems.” Lin Chen pressed the gauze on his palm tighter. “But I really don’t know anything about financial matters. This is just simple speculation.”

“No, no, your speculation does give us a general direction!” Jiang Chao said with emotion. “Hurry up. I’ll send you to the hospital right away. Don’t get caught up in the sequelae. I can’t have Lao Xing cut me to death!”

Lin Chen barely heard Jiang Chao’s words. He fell into contemplation again, but this time he wasn’t thinking about Xing Conglian, but another thing. Since it took up to ten years to plan behind the scenes for this incident, their purpose couldn’t be just simple revenge or targeting a certain Doctors Without Borders organization. It may not even be that they wanted to bring down a certain multinational insurance company. The three purposes may be mixed together, so what if there was a fundamental purpose that they weren’t aware of?

When thinking of this, Lin Chen felt chills all over again. At the same time, he also felt they were lucky. If the people behind the scenes had made any mistakes in the past ten years, it must be that they chose the wrong person to implement their plan.

Fortunately, Song Shengsheng persisted.

Lin Chen couldn’t help thinking like this. This was really an extremely fortunate outcome, but it was also awfully sad.

He seemed to see that blond young man standing in front of him again, patting his chest proudly, and looking at him with a big smile.Looking at Song Shengsheng’s figure, Lin Chen thought, ‘It’s amazing that you persisted for so many years. Just leave the rest to me.’

<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 长洱 / Chang’er

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

Chapter 167

As long as hard work was put in, anyone could make progress quickly.

Lin Chen read dozens of pages of materials again, took advantage of the tea break, and went to the network department. The two police officers inside were working overnight shifts as well. They took turns lying down on the table to rest, as if they couldn’t bear it anymore.

Seeing him push the door and enter, the one who was still awake looked at him blankly as he waved to him.

After all, this wasn’t the police station where he worked, so Lin Chen didn’t know the name of the other party. He could only nod his head and drag a chair over and sit down.

“You’ve worked hard,” he said to the police officer, who was still awake.

“Not as hard as you. How many hours have you not had a good rest? Just look at your face.”

Lin Chen lowered his head and took a sip of tea. Jiang Chao’s subordinates made him speechless, just like him.

But to be honest, since Xing Conglian and Wang Chao left, he really hadn’t had a good night’s sleep. Every time he wanted to close his eyes and rest for a while, countless pictures would flash in front of his eyes, one after another. For a while, it was a picture of Xu Ran being hit, and for a while, it was the scene of Song Shengsheng’s death. In short, those images that left the deepest impression in memory were also the easiest to emerge from the subconscious when the consciousness was relaxed. The one he thought about the most was Xing Conglian.

Lin Chen pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to wake himself up from this bad state.

Only the sound of the computer case was left in the office. The police officer smiled awkwardly a few times, not knowing what to say.

“There hasn’t been any progress so far, right?” Lin Chen held his teacup as he asked.

The other party nodded. “After cross-comparison, all the fans of Mr. Song Shengsheng seem to have nothing in common. Whether it’s age, life experience, locations, and the like, the only thing they have in common is gender.”

“Well, if they want to select victims, they will always use some statistical method to make it less easy for us to find the problem.” Lin Chen thought for a while and suddenly looked up at the police officer in front of him. “There’s another possibility. The personal files stored on the internet are still relatively simple. There should be something that isn’t on the file that’s very important, but we haven’t found it until now.”

“Like what?”

‘That’s a good question.’ Lin Chen fell into contemplation.

There were too many things that weren’t counted in the archives, such as what they bought on Taobao or if they had bought a book today… But the reason why Meijing and Xiang Ye chose Song Shengsheng’s fans was most likely because Song Shengsheng had influence over his fans, and most of the singer’s influence on the fans would be reflected through works and advertising endorsements.

Lin Chen remembered that Wang Chao had once made him a collection of Song Shengsheng’s MVs and advertising works. He patted the police officer next to him on the shoulder and asked the other party to open up his email and bring up the documents Wang Chao had sent.

Then he discovered that because too much time had passed, the files sent by Wang Chao had expired and couldn’t be downloaded.

Lin Chen subconsciously took out his phone, then realized he couldn’t call the teenager now. There would no longer be that sweet voice on the other end of the line.

He looked at the contact number in a daze for a while, until the voice of the police officer next to him called him back.

“I’m sorry. The information has expired, so I have to trouble you to collect it again.”

“Don’t say that. You’ve been helping us.” The other party scratched his head embarrassedly and suddenly said, “Why don’t you just transfer over here?”

Lin Chen was taken aback. He didn’t know where Jiang Chao’s men could come up with such whimsical ideas.

“I’d better not. My original unit is quite good.”

Before he finished speaking, Jiang Chao’s applause suddenly came from the door.

Lin Chen turned his head and saw Vice Captain Jiang clapping his hand twice. He patted his subordinate’s shoulder heavily and said to him, “Seriously, Consultant Lin, you should think about it. Hongjing is a small city. I know you and Lao Xing aren’t the types who pursue higher glory and officialdom, but as you can see, Yongchuan is a big city with a dense population. Criminals especially like to commit crimes here. Besides, don’t worry. You and Lao Xing have solved so many cases together. If Lao Xing is transferred, his rank will probably be just as high as mine.”

Lin Chen sighed inaudibly. He couldn’t tell Jiang Chao that the reason Xing Conglian chose Hongjing was because he wanted to live a less exciting retirement life. But speaking of it, Xing Conglian’s position in his retirement career may have undergone some deviations since he appeared.

“Let’s talk about it when he comes back.” Lin Chen could only evade like so.

“Hey…”

Jiang Chao sighed heavily as he pulled over a chair and sat down beside him. “What are you doing?” He asked the police officer, who was looking at information.

“Consultant Lin gave me a direction. I’m looking for some information.” As he spoke, he looked over again. “Consultant Lin, it will take me some time to find the materials. Would you like to take a break first?”

Lin Chen shook his head and took another sip of tea. “No, I’ll wait for you here.” He paused and then said, “I thought for a while. What Xiang Ye and Meijing planned should be a relatively slow-acting thing. Otherwise, they wouldn’t spend more than ten years waiting. This, of course, is most likely related to Song Shengsheng’s imprisonment. I’m afraid there are reasons for the time I just mentioned.”

“You’re very reasonable, but it really takes some time to check the materials from ten years ago.”

Lin Chen nodded. He rested his head on one hand and thought about the MVs and commercials he had seen. The pictures in his mind were switched frame by frame, and he felt the answer should be obvious, but in the last two days, almost all his thoughts were occupied by Xing Conglian, and any remaining thoughts were distributed to Wang Chao, so there wasn’t much energy to think about the problem.

What Jiang Chao said earlier wasn’t wrong. The real motivation of Xiang Ye and Meijing was an urgent matter, while he had more time to clearly think about the rest.

Thinking of this, the pictures in his mind suddenly stopped.

Song Shengsheng’s appearance in an advertisement appeared before his eyes. At that time, Song Shengsheng was still young. He was wearing a cap and huge sunglasses, and his collar was pulled extremely high, as if he were hiding someone. Subsequently, the ad screen gradually cleared. Lin Chen remembered that it should be in a hospital space. He carefully avoided the doctors and patients passing by, making people think he seemed to be up to no good. After a very thrilling period of time passed, he suddenly opened the door of the ward, then took something from his pocket and sprayed it into the air.

“Bang, bang, bang!”

He shouted.

As the ribbons fell from the sky, everyone in the ward was stunned. At this moment, the first person to react was a little girl lying on the hospital bed. The little girl covered her face and cried, looking very excited.

Song Shengsheng hurried over to hold the little girl in his arms and comforted her, like a prince charming in a fairy tale. He said to her in a gentle tone, “Sorry, my princess. I’m late.”

The subtitles then appeared, which showed: [AIH Insurance. Protecting you for a lifetime.]

A chill ran down his spine, and the porcelain cup in Lin Chen’s hand crashed to the floor.

The police officer lying on the table suddenly straightened up and shouted, “What happened!”

“Consultant Lin, what’s the matter?” The other police officer looked at him worriedly.

“Insurance… Have you checked the insurance of Song Shengsheng’s fans?”

“Yes, most people are on social security, so there are no problems there.”

“I’m not talking about social security. It’s commercial insurance.”

“It’s not in the file, so you have to go to the major insurance companies to compare the lists.”

“You don’t need to go to the major insurance companies. Just go to AIH.”

The police officer nodded. Although he had many doubts on his face, he immediately called the Yongchuan branch of AIH and communicated with the operator on the other end of the line.

Jiang Chao sat aside and listened inexplicably. His face was gloomy as he asked in a low tone, “Consultant Lin, what does this mean? Could it be that Meijing and the others wanted to burn thousands of Song Shengsheng’s fans to defraud the insurance company? Isn’t this something we can find out as soon as we check the beneficiary of the insurance?”

When Jiang Chao was talking, Lin Chen was squatting down to pick up the broken porcelain. Hearing Jiang Chao’s question, he couldn’t help but clench the porcelain in his hand uncontrollably.

No matter which part of AIH Insurance Xiang Ye and Meijing tampered with, using Song Shengsheng’s appeal to induce fans to buy insurance and then kill those fans, the sinister intentions were beyond normal logic. This was more like a ruthless mockery: Look, in the end, it’s not your favorite person who makes you buy things you shouldn’t buy but kills you.

Even though he couldn’t confirm whether it was an insurance issue or not, if Meijing managed to kill Song Shengsheng’s fans in the end, he couldn’t imagine what the public and media would say after learning about it.

And it was only now that he realized what Meijing said. The innocent victims in this fire would become brain dead fans. Many would say that if they didn’t chase stars, they wouldn’t die, so they deserved it.

How many people could clearly realize that there was no necessary causal connection between fans buying goods endorsed by idols and their deaths? It wasn’t Song Shengsheng who killed them; it wasn’t the insurance products that killed them; it was the malice of the forces behind the scenes that killed them.

But how many people who adhere to the true concept of right and wrong would clearly recognize this?

Lin Chen lowered his head and released his hand. His palms were flushed. Jiang Chao gasped violently in front of him but didn’t dare say a word.

Some people would say, “So that’s what happened. Who made them rush to buy things endorsed by idols.”

Some people would say, “I told you before that you shouldn’t buy things endorsed by stars. It’s all a waste of money, but this time it wasn’t just a waste of money but also a waste of life.”

Some people would say, “Maybe Song Shengsheng conspired with his agent to kill fans for money.”

Seeing such a similar statement would make anyone who was kind from the bottom of their hearts despair for human nature—and this was probably what Xiang Ye and Meijing wanted.

He suddenly thought of the question Wang Chao had asked. “Have you ever seen an extremely evil world?”

<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 长洱 / Chang’er

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

Chapter 166

The Dana Rainforest was located in the middle of the Titan Basin. It covered an area of about 2.3 million square kilometers and was the second largest tropical rainforest in the world ten years ago. However, ten years later, due to the destruction of the forest caused by mining, the area of the rainforest was greatly reduced. All this content could be found by opening an encyclopedia, but there was only a small mention of the status quo of the rainforest, which was divided up by major armed factions that fought endlessly year round. Even the large and terrifying numbers of refugees weren’t mentioned.

Of course, the Dana area was listed as one of the six no-fly zones in the world by the FAA. Not only were there militants and refugees, but there were all kinds of ferocious beasts and uncivilized, primitive cannibal tribes. Most terrifying was the raging epidemic of infectious diseases due to the low level of medical and health care.

A virologist once joked that the area with the deadliest virus samples in the world wasn’t the central virus database of any country but the Dana Rainforest. This was actually not a joke, as he almost failed to get out alive.

Xing Conglian was keenly aware of the danger of this mission that he couldn’t give Lin Chen any promises. After all, the cruelest thing was to give up and let it be shattered.

Lin Chen shouldn’t have to experience such cruelty.

The flight was about to land in an hour. Kang An had sorted out all the materials on the table very doggedly, looking extremely guilty. Wang Chao was desperately stuffing pure water into his backpack while Xing Conglian just sat on his seat and kept tapping the table repeatedly.

He suddenly thought of Lin Chen again for no reason. If Lin Chen were here, he would definitely use a peaceful tone to analyze why Kang An was so anxious and kept hesitating to speak. But now that Lin Chen wasn’t here, he could barely guess what was going on in his subordinate’s head. Kang An’s request for help might put their lives in danger, so it made him uneasy.

In front of him, Mr. Kang was sorting out materials at a terrifying speed, as if he wanted to devour all the materials. Xing Conglian glanced at his subordinate and stopped tapping the table.

Kang An was so frightened that he wanted to throw out all the materials in his hands. Xing Conglian glanced at Wang Chao and said, “Go to the bathroom for a while.”

Wang Chao looked at them blankly for a moment, then suddenly shivered and fled to the bathroom as if he had sprouted wings, not forgetting to plug his ears as he ran.

“Mr. Kang, tell me what’s going on.”

The next moment, Kang An kneeled to the ground with a thump, refusing to look up at Xing Conglian.

“Mr. Kang, we are a formal department. Don’t engage in the underworld, okay? The scenes of deep relationship between a master and apprentice and guilty pleas are not very useful in modern dramas. My time is precious, so I’ll go back if there’s nothing major.” Although he said this, in fact, he knew better than anyone else that Kang An wouldn’t come to a retiree like him for help if he hadn’t encountered an extremely difficult problem that couldn’t be handled.

Finally, his subordinate raised his head, and his eyes were red. “Captain, this matter is all my fault. Xiao Wu and A’K might be crazy.”

“Go to a doctor if they’re crazy. Why come to me?”

“They disappeared along with thousands of people who were about to be slaughtered by the Gaomeng Tribe.”

“If they’re missing, find someone to look for them. Do I look like I’m a professional person finder?”

“It’s not like that, Captain. Something happened in the rainforest, and no one knows what. Xiao Wu and A’K suddenly went insane during the investigation process, and we lost contact. As far as I know, a similar situation has already occurred in the Dana Rainforest. Dozens of incidents occurred in major armed groups nearby, and some are saying it’s a curse…”

Xing Conglian wasn’t surprised at all. He said calmly, “Don’t talk about the paranormal. I still can’t do anything about curses and witchcraft.”

“Captain.” Kang An kneeled solemnly with his back straight. “Captain, I’m with Xiao Wu. Please save him.”

Xing Conglian looked at his subordinate, who was kneeling on the ground, in disbelief that he had almost spilled the water on the table.

……

Naturally, Lin Chen didn’t know that Xing Conglian was going through the biggest test of his career, which was how to correctly deal with the love problems of two former subordinates of the same sex. In face of this matter, any mysterious incident in the Dana Rainforest or the entrapment of thousands of people were suddenly pushed back a bit.

For Lin Chen, after the initial loss, there was a long and difficult period of worry.

The sky was getting brighter outside. Earlier today, Xiang Ye was in the detention center. Although the guards were already extremely strict, Xiang Ye still found an opportunity to cut this femoral artery. If a person wanted to die with all his heart, he would always find a way. He didn’t go to the scene, but according to Jiang Chao, Xiang Ye’s blood was splattered everywhere; seemingly, he died a miserable death.

For him, Xiang Ye’s death was an inevitable outcome, like the struggle between two people since ancient times.

However, Jiang Chao was still brooding over Xiang Ye’s death. For this reason, he was dragged by Jiang Chao to work overtime on another night shift. The second division of Yongchuan was filled with the sweet and bitter taste of instant coffee. The police station at night was still busy with official duties, and there were constant phone calls and the sound of police officers rushing in and out.

Lin Chen felt it was quiet, however. There was no sound of Wang Chao chewing potato chips or eating any snacks around him, and Xing Conglian would not suddenly make him a cup of tea and set it on the table, then pull him away from a case to relax and chat for a bit.

The handwriting on the computer screen began to blur. He was just checking the personal files of all members of the Song Shengsheng fan club. In fact, he suspected that some filtering procedures were embedded in Xiang Ye’s and Meijing’s ticketing system for the Song Shengsheng fan meeting. Only certain members were selected. Because for Meijing, he had to strive to obtain the maximum benefit from any action. However, looking at more than 3,000 different materials, Lin Chen once again became confused.

Only when he manually investigated the case would he find that he missed Comrade Wang Chao even more. For this kind of thing, if he gave it to Wang Chao, he would get the exact result in half an hour.

He looked at his phone. It had now been more than 50 hours since Xing Conglian and Wang Chao suddenly left, which meant that Xing Conglian and Wang Chao had reached any point on the earth. And yet, so far, his phone hadn’t rung once. Although he knew that Wang Chao and Xing Conglian had their reasons for not telling him, wasn’t it reasonable to tell him that they were safe or that they would be leaving for a bit after landing? Since they hadn’t reported their safety, it meant what they were doing wasn’t safe.

He wanted to call Xing Conglian, but when he picked up his phone, he put it down again.

After all, Xing Conglian had said, “I’m very sorry” before he left, and he didn’t even add “Wait for me”. After the irritating period when he heard this, Lin Chen gradually calmed down. He began to analyze the relationship between him and Xing Conglian and started to think about the deep meaning contained in what Xing Conglian had said to him.

If Xing Conglian said, “It’s not a big deal. Let’s talk when I come back”, then the problem shouldn’t be serious and he would do as he said.

And if Xing Conglian had said, “I’m very sorry. Wait for me.”, then the problem should be relatively serious, but it wasn’t unsolvable.

But he only said, “I’m very sorry”, which meant that the situation may be out of Xing Conglian’s control, so he couldn’t make any promises to come back.

Perhaps after watching the computer for so long, Lin Chen felt pain in his eyes. He propped his elbows on the table and covered his eyes with both hands. He really rarely had this kind of moment where he was at a loss and felt powerless. He didn’t even have a direction to find someone. He didn’t know what was going on, he didn’t know who the man was who was wearing the rubber green boots, and he didn’t know why Xing Conglian would suddenly make up his mind to give up his peaceful life and leave resolutely. Now the only clue he could grasp was the cigarette Xing Conglian was holding in his hand.

He was considering whether he should go to that small shop next to the Xinni Embassy to find out more about that pack of cigarettes. Thinking of this, he had already grabbed his coat and stood up.

“Consultant Lin…” Just as he stood up, a long call sounded behind him.

Lin Chen turned around and saw Jiang Chao’s smiling face.

“Captain Jiang, is there something wrong?”

Jiang Chao rubbed his hands, then his face, and said excitedly, “Consultant Lin, your hunch should be right. There really is a specific list filter module on the ticket distribution system for the Song Shengsheng fan club, but we can’t grasp what it is yet.”

Lin Chen was taken aback and was unable to recover from his thoughts just now. “What did you say?”

Jiang Chao’s eyes glowed, which was the look that police officers would have when they reached a breakthrough during an investigation. “Meijing and Xiang Ye should have wanted to kill certain fans of Song Shengsheng. You’re right. Their attack was premeditated and well organized. Most likely the motives aren’t just to retaliate against us police!”

Lin Chen nodded and patted Jiang Chao on the shoulder a little absentmindedly. “Mm, a major breakthrough. Keep going.”

“Consultant Lin, where are you going?” Jiang Chao asked suddenly.

“Out for a break.”

“Then… have you finished reading Song Shengsheng’s fan club information? What do they have in common? The members of my other two groups have also been studying, but there has been no breakthrough yet.”

“I haven’t finished reading it yet. I’ll tell you if I have news.” Lin Chen was about to bypass him and go out.

“I know, I know you’re tired and in a bad mood because Lao Xing left. Then do you think I can accompany you for a walk? Just around the police station compound. The scenery there is quite good. Later, you can get a few hours rest in the lounge, and I’ll give you a call,” Jiang Chao said earnestly.

Lin Chen glanced at the position at the door without nodding.

“I’m mainly afraid that I haven’t found out the exact motives of the criminals. What if they want to organize another attack on Song Shengsheng’s fans? This is an urgent matter.”

Indeed. Compared with the thousands of fans who could be in danger again, he didn’t need to worry too much about his two extremely capable friends.

Lin Chen sighed. He put down his coat and sat down again in front of the computer.

I hope you guys return safely.

He tilted his head to look at the sinking sun outside the window.

<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 长洱 / Chang’er

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

Chapter 165

At least that was what he thought, and he certainly did, but not before he took a step forward.

“Boss!” The man behind him shouted loudly.

“Damn it, I retired a long time ago.” Xing Conglian kept walking forward irritably.

“Coordinates (7°11’S, 24°45’W), Kang An, the knocker, was ordered to ask you for help.”

His former subordinate emphasized solemnly.

Xing Conglian suddenly stopped, turned around, and asked, “Dana Region?”

“Yes.” He examined the stubborn-faced subordinate in front of him, and his gaze finally fell on the cigarette the other party was handing out.

At that moment, all he could think about was Lin Chen, but he still stretched out his hand to take the cigarette. He took out a lighter, lit it, stuffed it into his mouth, and took a puff.

“What the hell happened?” he glared as he said solemnly.

“The Gaomeng Tribe has imprisoned thousands of people and is preparing to start a massacre. We have no way to find the exact location where they’re being held, and negotiations have reached a deadlock. Please leave immediately. The direct flight from Yongchuan Airport is on standby.”

Kang An kept whispering in his ears. When he heard the coordinates, he knew exactly how urgent the situation was, but he didn’t want to say a word now. Xing Conglian raised his eyes and began to search for Lin Chen’s figure among the people moving around in the square. He saw girls sitting on the ground with frightened faces and firefighters who were still rushing towards the fire, but he didn’t see Lin Chen.

After an inefficient search, he thought he could still call him. He took out his phone and dialed Lin Chen’s number, but the long disconnected tone made him feel at a loss.

“Boss, the flight is on standby,” the annoying voice urged in his ear.

“Can’t I have a little privilege?” He started running towards Wang Chao.

“Boss, you can’t.”

“Then give me five minutes.”

The voice behind him became more irritating. Xing Conglian opened the door of the car. Wang Chao had already packed all his luggage and was looking at him with a sad face. “Boss, can I not go?”

“Quickly locate the location of your A’Chen Gege’s phone. I can’t find where he is.”

“What?” Wang Chao’s eyes suddenly lit up. “Can we really take A’Chen Gege with us?”

“Dana Rainforest, Gaomeng Tribe. Do you think it’s appropriate?”

Wang Chao quickly lowered his voice. “Then… Then don’t do it. It’s too dangerous. A’Chen Gege is allergic to antibiotics, so he can’t go to that kind of place…” Wang Chao became more discouraged. “Do you know what happened, Boss?”

Hearing this, Kang An interjected. “Boss, this is a top-secret operation. It’s forbidden to leak to outsiders of the system, and who is this A’Chen?”

“The regulations are written by laozi. You think laozi doesn’t understand better than you?” After Xing Conglian finished speaking, he knocked on Wang Chao’s head irritably. “I told you to find someone, so stop talking nonsense.”

Wang Chao quickly opened his laptop and began to search for the GPS location of Lin Chen’s phone while muttering, “Boss, what should we do about A’Chen when we leave? It’s so sudden, and I feel like A’Chen isn’t in a good mental state. Will it be hard for him if we’re not there…”

Xing Conglian’s brows furrowed tighter. He remembered Lin Chen’s despair and pain when he kissed him. If it weren’t for being forced to the extreme, how could Lin Chen suddenly erupt just now? Since Lin Chen’s attitude was clear, it was obviously very irresponsible for him to suddenly leave now. If there was enough time, he really wanted to pull Lin Chen aside and tell him everything, but he didn’t have enough time, and he didn’t have a way to tell Lin Chen where he was going, what he was doing, when he would be back, or the possibility that he may never return.

The geographic location of Lin Chen appeared on the screen. Xing Conglian glanced at it, confirmed the location, and ran there, but before he could run two steps, he found Kang An was following him.

“Are you this fucking annoying?” He turned around and cursed with a cigarette in his mouth.

“Boss, there are two minutes and eleven seconds.” His former subordinate, dressed as a bricklayer, tapped the children’s electronic watch on his wrist and urged.

“Don’t follow me. Give me two minutes.” Xing Conglian changed his tone and requested politely.

“No,” Kang An replied without hesitation.

Xing Conglian was speechless. He even wanted to beat him up.

There were too many people in the square, which really hindered his movements. He had to avoid many people carefully. When he saw Lin Chen, Kang An counted down behind him telling him there was only thirty seconds left.

In the distance, Lin Chen was squatting near the wounded area to comfort a little boy. Some golden sunlight shone through the dense clouds and fell on Lin Chen’s side. Lin Chen had a peaceful face and gentle eyes as he was talking to the crying little boy.

Looking at Lin Chen’s side face, at that moment, Xing Conglian had a feeling of unwillingness for the first time in the world. It was enough to leave the world fucked.

Lin Chen rubbed the little boy’s head. When he turned his head, he happened to see Xing Conglian running. Lin Chen squatted on the ground, looking at him blankly.

Xing Conglian ran to Lin Chen. He just wanted to say goodbye at that time, but the moment he saw Lin Chen, he didn’t hesitate to pull him up from the ground and hug him tightly.

At the moment of being pulled up by Xing Conglian, Lin Chen felt dizzy for a short time. It may be because he squatted for too long or Xing Conglian used too much force, but when he reacted, he had already leaned against Xing Conglian’s shoulder. Xing Conglian was embracing him with his other arm.

When he kissed Xing Conglian just now, the other party was calm, but now, he didn’t know why Xing Conglian’s emotional reaction was so intense. Was this the manifestation of too long of a reflex arc?

What made Lin Chen even more confused was the meaning of this hug. He didn’t know why Xing Conglian suddenly rushed towards him and hugged him tightly. He lowered his head slightly, and at first sight, he saw the golden thread wrapped around the edge of the cigarette that Xing Conglian was holding. He looked up and saw an eager stranger standing behind Xing Conglian. He saw the other party’s green shoes and the cigarette pack in his hand and instantly understood something.

“What’s wrong?” He leaned on Xing Conglian’s shoulder and asked faintly, amidst the occasional cries of pain from the wounded.

“I’m very sorry.” The next moment, Xing Conglian replied in his ear.

Lin Chen was taken aback and took half a step back. This wasn’t the answer he expected. There was no agreement or rejection in this answer. This may not even be a response to his confession.

But what exactly are you sorry for? He really wanted to ask Xing Conglian bluntly like this.

If you don’t like me, don’t. If you don’t want to accept my feelings, don’t. Don’t force your feelings either. How can you be sorry?

Just when he decided he would ask clearly, Xing Conglian took a deep look at him and then turned around without hesitation, so that he didn’t get a chance to even say a word.

Xing Conglian’s receding back disappeared into the crowd as the dark clouds covered the last ray of sunlight. Lin Chen looked up that sky and covered his eyes with the back of his hand.

……

Xing Conglian left, and so did Wang Chao.

They left so suddenly without saying anything to anyone, so when Jiang Chao found Lin Chen cleaning up the scene, he swore at those two.

“Fuck, they just leave whenever they want. That’s too irresponsible!”

Jiang Chao pulled out his phone and called Xing Conglian’s number but he only got “The number you have dialed has been disconnected.”

“It should be something urgent.” Lin Chen replied with some simple speculations. In fact, he didn’t blame Xing Conglian and Wang Chao for not telling him. After all, he was convinced that something that could make Xing Conglian act this way was far more important than finishing up the aftermath of this case. Xing Conglian had never been an irresponsible and ignorant person.

He looked at Jiang Chao seriously and said, “Please take back what you just said. It’s very excessive to use ‘irresponsible’ when evaluating Xing Conglian and Wang Chao.”

Jiang Chao hurriedly apologized. “Sorry, Consultant Lin. I’m sorry. I just have a bad mouth, but, Consultant Lin, don’t you live with Lao Xing? You have such a good relationship. How can you not know where they went? It must be really urgent then.”

Lin Chen bowed his head slightly. Jiang Chao’s words were truly lacking in tact.

Indeed, although he was living in Xing Conglian’s home, he didn’t know where Xing Conglian and Wang Chao were going or what they were doing. In fact, their previous acquaintance was probably an illusion after a mutual whitewash. Xing Conglian didn’t know his past, and he didn’t know Xing Conglian’s. He even wondered if he should even return to Yanjia Lane.

After all, what was a home without its master?

Rarely was Lin Chen so confused. He felt as if his heart had been hollowed out.

He silently followed Jiang Chao to deal with the follow-up matters on the scene. After all, human attention was a limited resource. When he was busy, he wouldn’t have to think about too many things for the time being.

For example, where did Xing Conglian and Wang Chao go, whether they would be in danger, when they would return, or whether they would really come back. Although these questions occasionally appeared in his thoughts, they would soon be suppressed by the matter at hand, but the scenes that occurred in that dim underground space would continue to flash before his eyes. Sometimes it was the blackened face of Xing Conglian, and sometimes it was when he wiped his tears away with his hands. Lin Chen looked down at the time. Xing Conglian had only been gone for about five hours, and he had probably already thought about him hundreds of times.

The night was sultry. The surroundings were dark, and the mosquitoes were dense. The dark clouds that had been smoldering for the whole day didn’t turn into thunderstorms. The people at the cultural center had gradually dispersed.

Lin Chen closed his notebook and put the ballpoint pen into his pocket. He thought about some details of the case and walked towards the police car with Jiang Chao.

“It’s still necessary to investigate the backgrounds of all victims in detail to find out the common ground. Meijing and Xiang Ye must have a more secret purpose behind this,” he said as he walked.

“Consultant Lin, you haven’t heard anything from Lao Xing yet?” Jiang Chao began to touch subjects he shouldn’t be touching.

“Yes, no.”

Lin Chen got into the car and found that he could already calmly answer this question.

On the return trip, he specifically asked Jiang Chao to take him to the entrance of the subway station, where Xing Conglian had parked his Jeep. Sure enough, the vehicle he was very familiar with was parked alone in the parking space at the entrance to the subway. Wang Chao’s pillow, snacks, and comic books were randomly thrown in the back seat. The location of the sundries was the same as when they got off, which showed that Wang Chao and Xing Conglian didn’t even have time to return to the car to get necessary items.

After Jiang Chao saw all this, he became a little nervous. “Consultant Lin, Lao Xing didn’t even take the car. Could it be that something happened? Do you think we should report a disappearance?”

“No need,” Lin Chen replied with great certainty.

……

Thousands of miles high.

Through the porthole, Xing Conglian looked at the red sunset outside the window, a little distracted.

He was still wearing the sweat-soaked shirt after the fire. When he got on the plane, he just washed his face and started his new job.

Kang An kept explaining the latest situation opposite him, but his voice had completely disappeared as he was distracted. He could only feel that someone was talking on the opposite side, but he automatically blocked out the sound. This was naturally unprofessional behavior, but when he looked at the increasingly bright sky outside the window, he couldn’t help but think about something else.

……

Lin Chen said goodbye to Jiang Chao but didn’t intend to check into his hotel room immediately.

The hotel Jiang Chao booked was an express hotel where he and Xing Conglian stayed last time. The river at the entrance was still quiet, and the snack street was still bustling.

Lin Chen put his hands in his pockets and walked down the street at will. There were countless people drinking and partying in the food stalls. Whether they were lovers or friends, they were happy clinking cups and drinking merrily. Those people were talking and laughing. Then, their voices were mixed in with the smoke from the stove, like countless clouds of joy steaming up from the long street.

The streetlights were dim, and the night was getting darker. Lin Chen didn’t know how long he had been walking. When he came back to his senses, he was standing in front of a crayfish shop called “Reunion”.

The meaning of the name of the shop was really good. He looked at the store sign and walked in.

He ordered a serving of spicy crayfish and a plate of roasted peanuts but didn’t order beer.

When the dishes were served, heavy rain started falling outside the shop.

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