Ren Yi looked through the car window at the dark, deserted construction site in front of them and asked in confusion, “What are we doing here?”
“Picking something up.”
“What?”
“Materials for making a bomb.”
Ren Yi’s expression changed. “What?”
Gong Yingxian said, “I only have seven bullets in my gun. That’s not enough to deal with them.”
“What are you planning to do?” Ren Yi asked nervously, watching him.
Bai Yan had given Gong Yingxian the whereabouts of his accomplice, and Gong intended to find him.
“The one who’s good at counter-surveillance, the guy who managed to shake off the police tail?” Ren Yi asked.
Gong Yingxian nodded. “He’s a former special forces soldier, code-named Yellow Flame. He handled a lot of the dirty work. Zhang Wen’s code name was Orange Flame. They deliberately planted him inside the system to gather intelligence and cover up evidence of arson. There are several people each under Red Flame and Orange Flame. Starting with Bai Yan and moving up the hierarchy, each code name belongs to a specific individual. The organization’s technical specialist is code-named Green Flame. Blue Flame is an extremely mysterious figure. No one knows who he is, but apparently, he provides the organization’s funding. Bai Yan told me all this.”
“Red, Orange, Yellow, White, Green, Blue, Purple…” Ren Yi said nervously. “If Yellow Flame is that capable, you should notify the police and let them handle him. Are you seriously planning to catch him alone? And the two tenants in Room 1206—the hostages are in his hands too, aren’t they?”
“If I notify the police, I could expose myself. Not just to the police, but to Purple Flame as well. The police have kept the information under wraps, so Purple Flame probably doesn’t know whether Bai Yan is alive or dead. If Yellow Flame gets arrested, Purple Flame will realize that Bai Yan talked. He might destroy a great deal of evidence and cut off his channels, or even flee. That would make the police investigation much more difficult.”
“But I still think this is too dangerous.” Ren Yi grabbed Gong Yingxian’s hand. The unconscious gesture betrayed the unease he felt inside.
“That’s why I need certain materials.” Gong Yingxian nodded toward the construction site. “I bought some ingredients.”
“How did you ‘buy’ them?”
“My chemical laboratory has several suppliers. This particular man never asks questions as long as you pay him.”
“…Are they all dangerous materials?”
Gong Yingxian took Ren Yi’s hand and kissed it, a meaningful smile appearing on his face. “The materials themselves are ordinary. Whether they’re dangerous depends on whose hands they’re in.” He opened the car door. “Stand over there and keep watch for me. I’ll be back soon.”
“Yingxian…” Ren Yi watched Gong Yingxian’s retreating figure and let out a deep sigh. Then he unfastened his seat belt and got out of the car.
It was the middle of the night. The area appeared deserted, but Ren Yi felt guilty, as though he were committing a crime. After looking around nervously, he crouched beside a pile of fiber-optic cables, hoping they would provide him with a little cover.
He had barely been there a moment when a powerful beam of light suddenly shone directly into his face without warning.
Ren Yi instinctively raised a hand to shield his eyes. The glare was so intense that he could barely keep them open, and his heart pounded with fright. Thinking the police had come to arrest them, he was about to run when he remembered that he wasn’t the one being hunted. Why was he running? He should be warning Gong Yingxian instead.
“Hey, you! Stop right there!” an elderly voice shouted from a short distance away.
Ren Yi’s eyes gradually adjusted to the light. Squinting, he saw that it was clearly a flashlight, and there was only one person on the other side. Could it be the night watchman? Ren Yi immediately calmed down.
An old man came running over, holding a flashlight in one hand and a stick in the other.
“Damn it! Stealing cables again!”
Ren Yi hurriedly explained, “Uncle, I’m not a thief.”
The old man raised his stick and swung at him. Ren Yi dodged to the side.
“I told you, I’m not a thief!” he shouted.
“If you’re not a thief, what are you doing here in the middle of the night?”
Ren Yi was momentarily speechless. That was a fair question. What exactly was he doing at three or four in the morning at a remote, abandoned construction site?
The old man pulled out his phone. “I’m calling the police!”
“I’m a police officer!” Ren Yi blurted out in desperation. “I-I’m investigating a case. It’s confidential.” He reasoned that he’d at least been in the armed police, so it wasn’t exactly impersonating a police officer… right?
The old man paused and looked him up and down. “Where’s your police ID?”
“…”
“Where’s your gun? Your handcuffs? How can you prove you’re a police officer?”
“…I’m undercover.”
The old man snapped angrily, “I’ve spent my whole life working at construction sites. I’ve seen plenty of people like you pretending to be police officers to scam people out of fines. You’re a thief, and now you’ve got the nerve to impersonate a cop!”
He raised his stick to strike again.
Ren Yi quickly dodged. Now he was getting angry too. “Hit me again, and I’ll hit back!”
“Go ahead! I’ll call the police right now!”
“Wait, don’t call the police!” Ren Yi immediately backed down. “Uncle, calm down. My colleague will be back any minute. He’ll explain everything to you, I promise.”
The old man held his phone up and eyed him suspiciously. “Squat down.”
Ren Yi sighed and had no choice but to squat.
“Young, handsome, and already going down the wrong path.” The old man snorted. “See that sign?”
Ren Yi glanced at the sign beside the fiber-optic cables. It read: Fiber-optic cables contain no copper. Stealing them is pointless.
“Can you read?”
Ren Yi couldn’t be bothered to answer.
“Can you read or not? Read it out loud!”
“I already told you I’m not—”
“Read it!”
Ren Yi rolled his eyes. “Fiber-optic cables contain no copper…”
“‘Optic’!” the old man barked. “The character for ‘fiber’ is pronounced xiān, not qiān! You skipped your lessons as a child, and now you’ve grown up to be a thief!”
Ren Yi didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
Just then, footsteps sounded behind them. Ren Yi turned his head and saw Gong Yingxian approaching.
The old man immediately grew wary.
Gong Yingxian walked up to them and calmly pulled Ren Yi to his feet. “What’s going on?”
Ren Yi explained, “This uncle thinks I’m a thief. I told him we were police officers investigating a case, but he wouldn’t believe me.”
Gong Yingxian took out his identification and held it up, showing the old man the prominent police emblem.
The old man looked at them awkwardly. “You really are police officers… Sorry about that, comrades. Well, I’ll leave you to your work.” He shuffled away sheepishly.
After the old man had left, Ren Yi sighed. “I never expected someone to be guarding this dump.”
“Help me load the things into the car. We need to leave quickly.”
Gong Yingxian had brought back a handcart loaded with a woven sack and several sealed buckets. The two of them quickly transferred everything into the trunk.
Just then, Ren Yi caught a brief flash of light out of the corner of his eye. It was obvious that the old man was secretly watching them.
Gong Yingxian frowned. “He might call the police.”
“What do we do?”
“Leave.”
They got into the car and drove away quickly.
When they returned to their temporary hideout, Gong Yingxian carried everything into the bathroom and spread a large plastic sheet across the floor. Then he handed Ren Yi a piece of paper.
“After daybreak, go buy these things for me.”
Ren Yi took the list and looked it over. It contained more than thirty items, including an electric drill, light bulbs, cotton thread, transparent tape, disinfectant, laundry detergent, and all sorts of other odds and ends.
Ren Yi looked at Gong Yingxian. “Yingxian, I still think you should notify the police. I don’t want you putting yourself in danger, and I don’t want you breaking the law.”
Gong Yingxian gripped Ren Yi by the shoulders and looked deep into his eyes.
“There are only four months left before the twenty-year statute of limitations expires. This is my last chance, Ren Yi. I’ve spent my entire life searching for the killer, and now we’re on the verge of uncovering the truth.”
“But…”
“One important reason I took Bai Yan and left was that I was increasingly sensing resistance from within the police force. My being wanted now only confirms it. If we keep digging, something is bound to happen sooner or later. Now that I’ve become a suspect and Sister Yan has been suspended, perhaps I’m the only one who can continue this investigation!”
Looking into Gong Yingxian’s bloodshot eyes, Ren Yi could see one part exhaustion, two parts madness, and seven parts hatred. He knew that Gong Yingxian had become completely consumed by his obsession with revenge, driving himself to increasingly reckless extremes. He could give up being a police officer, but he could never give up finding the real killer.
Ren Yi’s shoulders slumped helplessly. “All right. I hope you can catch Purple Flame and wipe out the entire organization.”
“They’re already at the end of their rope. Yellow Flame is Purple Flame’s chief enforcer, the one who has had the most direct contact with Purple Flame. He might be able to help us find him.”
Gong Yingxian tightened his grip on Ren Yi’s shoulders, unconsciously applying more force.
“I know I’m getting closer to him. I’m almost standing right in front of him. He’s afraid.”
Ren Yi let out a pained groan.
Gong Yingxian came back to his senses and released him. The obsession and fervor vanished from his face in an instant.
“Sorry. Did I hurt you?”
“It’s fine.”
Gong Yingxian pulled Ren Yi into his arms.
“Ren Yi, do you know? Protecting you has become more important to me than revenge. That’s why, no matter what happens, I’m going to defeat Purple Flame.”
Ren Yi nodded.
“You might be… the only good thing that’s ever happened to me in my entire life. I never imagined that someone like me could fall in love one day. This time, I won’t let anyone take away someone important to me.”
Ren Yi hugged him tightly in return and said firmly, “No one can ever separate us.”
Following the list Gong Yingxian had given him, Ren Yi went shopping at the supermarket and hardware store.
His phone suddenly rang. He picked it up and saw an unfamiliar number.
“Hello?”
“Captain Ren, hello. This is Zheng Pei.”
At the sound of that voice, Ren Yi instinctively felt repulsed. He wanted to hang up, but then he thought that doing so might make him look guilty. He answered impatiently, “What do you want?”
“Where have you been these past two days?”
“I’m not your prisoner. Do I have to report my whereabouts to you?”
“Captain Ren, I thought you were willing to cooperate with our investigation.”
“You thought so. That’s your problem. If there’s nothing else, I’m hanging up.”
“Are you with Gong Yingxian?” Zheng Pei asked quickly.
Ren Yi paused. “Have you found him?”
“You visited your father at the nursing home the afternoon before yesterday, and after that, your whereabouts became unknown. Where are you now?”
“I told you, I don’t have to report where I go to you.” Ren Yi countered, “How did you know I’d been to the nursing home? Were you following me? I’m warning you—”
“Captain Ren, please give me a few minutes to explain.” There was a steady, reassuring strength in Zheng Pei’s voice that made him easy to believe. “If you’ve seen Dr. Gong, I don’t know what he’s told you, but I can make a pretty good guess. He must have said that Bai Chicheng killed Yue Xingu and used clues about his family’s case to blackmail him into helping him escape.”
Ren Yi remained silent.
“At the hotel, Dr. Gong was so agitated that he said he wanted to kill Yue Xingu—‘make Yue Xingu experience what it’s like to be burned alive.’”
“So what? Who hasn’t said something extreme in a fit of anger?”
“But his threat matches exactly what happened afterward. Right after saying those things, he voluntarily switched off his listening device.”
Ren Yi froze.
“What, did he tell you Bai Chicheng made him turn it off? How could Bai Chicheng possibly know he was wearing a listening device? Gong Yingxian turned it off himself. Bai Chicheng never asked him to. So no one knows what they said afterward. But we all know the outcome: Yue Xingu really was burned alive, and Gong Yingxian escaped with Bai Yan.”
Ren Yi said in a low voice, “That’s all speculation.”
“Yes. Those suspicions alone aren’t enough for us to accuse him. But when we searched Zhang Wen’s home as a crime scene, we found something.”
“What?”
“An envelope bearing the name of Sakiel Private Hospital. Inside were photographs taken by the hospital’s surveillance cameras of Zhang Wen while he was there.”
Ren Yi was stunned.
“I doubt the name Sakiel Private Hospital is unfamiliar to you, Captain Ren. From the photographs, Zhang Wen was secretly taking pictures of you and your father,” Zheng Pei said. “Do you know what that means? It means Dr. Gong knew something was wrong with Zhang Wen at least from the time you got into trouble, but he didn’t tell anyone. He sent those photographs to Zhang Wen, presumably to threaten him. What he threatened Zhang Wen into doing for him is something you and I would both like to know. But whatever his reasons, if he hadn’t concealed this from the police, Officer Cai Qiang might not have been injured.”
Ren Yi felt his heart trembling violently, and his head began to buzz.
Was this man telling the truth? If so, why had Gong Yingxian hidden it from him? Why had he kept secrets from him again?
They had promised each other they wouldn’t hide things from one another anymore!
“Captain Ren, if you’re willing to cooperate with me, you’ll also be helping Dr. Gong.”
After a long silence, Ren Yi said softly, “I want to know where he is too.”
He hung up and threw his phone into a trash can.