Chapter 12

Yu Congyi walked along the path. There were few people in the garden, at least no bodyguards patrolling around. With a feeling that he might have come to the wrong place, he continued walking towards the villa.

Perhaps he was just incredibly lucky at that moment, because he suddenly saw a few people dressed in uniforms, but not the kind of uniforms he usually saw from the security forces—yet they were very similar—about six people, carrying long black sticks in their hands and guns at their waists.

Yu Congyi immediately crouched down behind a clump of trees. After watching the people walk around a pond a few times, they also headed towards the Western-style building. Yu Congyi quickly got up and quietly followed them. There was no one else along the way, and he was able to approach the Western-style building smoothly.

However, the group didn't stop; they continued walking inside. Yu Congyi soon discovered a pointed, domed church standing behind the house. It was a clearly old, yet all the more rustic and elegant Romanesque building. This style of architecture wasn't uncommon in Tianjin—but the sense of time and history it carried made it seem as if it had been built in the Middle Ages. Yu Congyi almost suspected it was deliberately aged. Building this church in such a desolate place was enough to prove it was a private church. But who in Tianjin had the resources to build something like this?

The group continued forward, with Yu Congyi close behind. Sure enough, they stopped at the side entrance of the church. One of them went in first, pushing the door open, and the last person forgot to close it when they followed. Yu Congyi thought for a moment and then followed them in.

The path sloped downwards, the interior not particularly crowded or dark, with natural light streaming through glass windows on both sides that rose above the ceiling, and wall lamps hanging on the walls. Yu Congyi realized it was a basement, and the further he went in, the stronger the damp, musty smell became. At the end of the corridor, the dark figures turned right, and the ground finally leveled out, revealing rows of prison cells on both sides.

It was no different from an ordinary prison cell, but it was clearly a private prison because it was not large and there were no prisoners inside. Yu Congyi kept an eye on his surroundings while looking for Li Ming.

Those people turned and went up the stairs to the side. Yu Congyi quickly turned around and leaned against the wall to hide in the darkness, afraid of being discovered. He strode into the cells and looked around, but there was no Li Ming there. Just as he was wondering, he suddenly heard a dense sound of footsteps above him, accompanied by voices. He realized that he was in a very unfavorable position and quickly followed the footsteps of those people upstairs.

This was a side room that connected directly to the basement from the church hall. Just as Yu Congyi walked up, a sound of footsteps and voices suddenly came from behind him.

Fortunately, there were many pillars in the church. Yu Congyi turned around and leaned against a pillar to stand to the side. His hand subconsciously reached under his clothes and grasped the holster. Several people walked over, but they were so careless that they didn't even glance in his direction.

Yu Congyi was able to turn his head and look around—he saw that the leader was a foreigner dressed in all black, his face obscured by his profile. Behind him were two of the bodyguards he had just seen. Yu Congyi was momentarily distracted, wondering if he was seeing foreigners a little too often lately, when he heard the man speak, "Did you find out? Is he the murderer of my son?"

Yu Congyi was once again shocked by the fluent Chinese spoken by the foreigner. This was the second foreigner he had met recently who spoke Mandarin so fluently. However, before he could make any connection to the matter, the sound of dragging figures came from afar, growing closer and closer. He looked in that direction and saw the other bodyguards, who had been missing, dragging a man by the arms as they walked quickly towards him. The man looked terrified and listless. Who else could it be but Li Ming?

Yu Congyi was certain that Li Ming had been tortured. He didn't know what kind of torture he had been subjected to, but in any case, the man was now on the verge of weakness and fear, and was not the normal Li Ming that Yu Congyi usually saw.

Yu Congyi spent some time considering whether it was necessary to save the other party. He had already heard the other party's question and was certain that Li Ming knew about his actions, and perhaps even knew that he was the real murderer.

"Master, he's refusing to admit it!" one of them spoke up. Yu Congyi heard him kick Li Ming and was furious. "Damn it, he won't talk!"

"Could it be that Zefi arrested the wrong person?" the man standing in front said wearily. "Isn't it too hasty to determine that he's from the Military Police just because he has a button in his hand?"

Yu Congyi suddenly remembered that he had indeed noticed that a metal button seemed to be missing from the cuff of his shirt that night.

"What should we do, sir?" came another voice. "We can't get anything out of them, should we keep hitting them?"

"Wait." The man turned around and faced Li Ming. Yu Congyi, hiding behind a pillar with his view blocked by the building, heard the man stop again and speak in a low voice, addressing Li Ming, his voice tinged with pity and sorrow, "Tell me, on the third day of the ninth month, at the Lin Mansion, did you kill Tang Lishu?"

Li Ming remained silent for a long time, and Yu Congyi suspected that he was actually unable to speak. After a long while, he heard a terrified voice say, "Sir, it wasn't me, it wasn't me!"

"Please, tell me, sir," the other person's tone suddenly became even more pleading, "Tang Lishu was my son, whom I had gone through so much trouble to have. He was very sensible... He helped me so much. If you really killed him because of some hatred, please tell me, so he can rest in peace..."

As Yu Congyi listened, he thought to himself, Tang Lishu... Tang Lishu, the one he killed at the Lin Mansion that day must be him, Tang Lishu... Tang Zefei. In an instant, he understood the reason for his inexplicable shock just now. The Tang Lishu he killed must be Tang Zefei's brother, and the person behind him was Tang Zefei's father, who was also very likely related to the murder of Jiang Jiejie.

Yu Congyi frowned, almost instantly drawing the holster he had been holding at his waist. He turned and walked out from behind the pillar, as if something had exploded inside him. His ears were ringing, his mind went blank for a moment, then filled with the helplessness he felt when he witnessed Jiang Jiejie's death. That's how he was; once he decided on something that was his breaking point, or if there was some inescapable knot in his heart that he couldn't untangle, he would immediately act recklessly, as if he were ready to throw caution to the wind.

All his calmness was just a facade; his heart was filled with nothing but agitation and anger, like a giant boulder thrown into a pond, creating huge ripples, and he was willing to disregard everything.

The sound of gunfire made Yu Congyi's hand go numb. The pistol he was using was a special type issued by the military, and its recoil was even greater than that of a mortar.

Bullets struck four bodyguards, who instantly tumbled and fell to the ground, blood spurting as the bullets pierced their chests. Li Ming clearly saw a streak of blood splatter onto his face, and some likely even got into his eyes. His arm went limp, and he staggered to the ground, looking up in shock to see his superior standing before him for some unknown reason. The other two reacted swiftly, drawing their pistols and returning fire at Yu Congyi. Mister Tang, startled by the sudden turn of events, cried out in surprise and, looking somewhat comical, instinctively ducked behind the two bodyguards.

Yu Congyi barely exerted any effort; they were too close. He dispatched the remaining two bodyguards with a couple of swift movements—the instant they successfully pulled their pistols from their holsters. He pointed his gun at Mister Tang, hesitated for a moment, but didn't make a move.

Pointing his pistol at the ground, he stepped out from beside the pillar and walked a few steps to Li Ming's side. Mister Tang was probably too shocked or too frightened. After the two bodyguards fell, he was also pushed down by the inertia of the weight. At this moment, he was leaning against the corpse of one of them, half-lying on the ground, with his hands raised above his head in a gesture of surrender. "You...you are, don't, don't hit me..." His expression looked really scared.

Yu Congyi kicked him over, squatted down and searched him, finding no weapon on him—then he struck the man hard on the back of the neck with an elbow, knocking him unconscious. For some reason, he didn't kill him immediately, and then he looked at Li Ming.

"Boss!..." Li Ming also lay on the ground, trembling all over. He was covered in sweat, and there were even tears of fear in his eyes. "Boss, boss..." His voice trembled, whether from excitement or something else, "Boss, why are you here, you..."

"Don't say anything yet, I'll take you away." Yu Congyi grabbed him, trying to pull him up, but found he couldn't move him. He frowned. "Can you stand up by yourself?"

"I...I," Li Ming tried to stand up, but found his legs were incredibly weak and he felt dizzy, unable to stand at all. Yu Congyi noticed that he had some abrasions on his face, but his clothes were still intact. He wondered if there were any other wounds on his body, and it seemed he had also lost control of his bladder. Li Ming was, after all, the deputy commander of the military police headquarters, a high-ranking officer. For him to be tortured like this, the other party must have used some methods. However, Yu Congyi didn't want to explain anything to him. He was afraid that other people would arrive soon, after all, those gunshots he had just heard weren't silenced.

He quickly holstered the gun back on his waist, bent down and pulled the other man up, then changed his position so that he could put his arm around his shoulder, and carried the man out on his back.

As he left, he made a point of glancing back. The foreigner lying on the ground was breathing heavily; he knew the man was only temporarily unconscious. At the same time, shouts and screams came from outside the church, as if someone would burst in to witness everything at any moment. Yu Congyi's mind was in turmoil; he couldn't come up with the best solution for dealing with the man. He only knew that nothing was more important than getting Li Ming away. Although a muffled voice inside him anxiously reminded him that he might actually get into serious trouble because of this.

Yu Congyi, leading Li Ming, stealthily made their way through the church and houses to the garden entrance. Beneath the red brick iron fence at the entrance, two guards with guns were patrolling back and forth. Yu Congyi, no longer caring about anything else, grabbed Li Ming with one hand and his gun with the other, and without hesitation, shot the guards down in two quick blows. He then swiftly led Li Ming towards the iron fence. "Get up!" he commanded urgently in a low voice. The surroundings were quite quiet, but he didn't know when another squad of guards might suddenly appear from nowhere.

By this time, Li Ming had regained some strength. Yu Congyi bent down and let him climb up using him as a stepping stone. The situation left Li Ming with no time to hesitate. He hurriedly grunted in agreement, gritted his teeth, placed one foot on Yu Congyi's shoulder, and gripped the steel bars of the iron fence with both hands. "Boss, wait!" he shouted, leaping over smoothly. Before he could even regain his footing, Yu Congyi had already grabbed the railing and flipped over as well.

Yu Congyi's car was parked under a sycamore tree behind the iron fence. He and Li Ming quickly climbed into the car, started the engine, and sped away.

Yu Congyi didn't drive towards the Military Police Headquarters. Instead, he drove towards Haiqiao Avenue, bypassing the Yizuo (Yifang) area. Actually, his hands on the steering wheel were belatedly trembling slightly, not entirely from fear, but also from emotional excitement or something else. He drove for a long time, and for that long, the car remained remarkably quiet. In the passenger seat, Li Ming knew his current miserable state. He was in pain and cold, and vaguely felt a dampness in his lower body. Realizing this, the shame he had previously ignored suddenly surged from the depths of his heart. On the other hand, he was truly bewildered by what had happened that day, feeling a sense of loss and uncertainty, as if he had survived a calamity but was now facing an uncertain fate.

"Boss, what's going on? Who are they? You killed so many of them, like this—" After a quarter of an hour, Li Ming finally spoke. The car was now at the head of the Haiqiao Bridge. Their escape had been going on for almost half an hour. Looking out the window, they saw vast, azure seas on both sides, the sky a pale blue. This bridge connected the two banks, shortening the north-south travel time in Tianjin by more than half an hour.

Yu Congyi heard him ask a question but didn't respond. His brows furrowed again, and he gripped the steering wheel even tighter. His heart was pounding anxiously, and his mind was filled with the restlessness of returning to some rationality after the adrenaline surge. He stepped on the gas pedal faster.

Fifteen minutes later.

Yu Congyi parked the car on the side of the road and then turned to look at Li Ming. Li Ming, who had been holding onto the armrests on both sides of the seat, was startled by the sudden braking.

Yu Congyi stared at him silently for a while, then suddenly drew the pistol from his waist and pressed it against the man's forehead.

"Boss?" Li Ming's eyes widened, staring at him in disbelief. "What are you doing..."

Yu Congyi stared intently at him, silent and fixed.

He was somewhat confused. Looking at Li Ming, he felt a mix of emotions. On one hand, he felt sorry for Li Ming, who had once been his loyal subordinate but had now been unfairly blamed for him, a situation that felt somewhat tragic. On the other hand, Li Ming was also a ticking time bomb that would pose a threat to him in the future. Li Ming must have realized what he had done, what he had been doing, and what he was about to do. In his shock, he swallowed hard, and a resolute determination to face death gradually appeared on his face.

"If only you weren't in my office at the time." Yu Congyi sighed softly, his hand holding the gun slightly raised, aiming at the other man's forehead. Li Ming leaned against the passenger seat, making no move to open the car door and get out, but instead looked at him fearlessly.

Yu Congyi's fingertip tightened its grip on the trigger.

Suddenly, Li Ming swiftly lifted the hem of his shirt and shouted, "Boss!"

Yu Congyi was startled by his action, but he did not act impulsively. He tilted his head and looked at him with great confusion—Li Ming had a long, light brown scar on his chest, across his heart.

“Here—” Li Ming pointed to his chest and said, word by word, “This is from four years ago, when you led us to capture Boss Hei and his gang of smugglers. Back then, the four of us were unlucky; we weren’t armed and were led into a dead end by the enemy. Hei San and his ten men cornered us against the wall, wielding steel bars and iron rods, ready to beat us up. We were almost in despair when you hardened your heart and said, ‘Let’s fight to the death. Fate will decide.’ With your leadership, the three of us managed to fight our way out and escape. I was slashed three times in the chest, and you bandaged me up…”

“Here,” he said, rolling up his sleeve again to reveal a gruesome scar on his upper arm, a mark of a broken bone that had been reattached, “this is from that time the iron building exploded. I was standing at the foot of the building when a spark came straight at me. You have good eyesight and quick reflexes, and you blocked it in front of me, otherwise I wouldn’t just have lost an arm…”

“Here,” he bent down and lifted his trouser leg, “this is from the Zhangjiachang riot on the banks of the Haihe River…”

"Li Ming, Li Ming," Yu Congyi paused, then suddenly sighed. He called out to him, still holding his gun, but he was actually a little upset, because after hearing so much from the other man, he couldn't remain unmoved.

“What I want to say is,” Li Ming said, pulling down his trouser leg and looking up again, his eyes already filled with tears, his voice choked with emotion, “I’m not good with words, and I’m not a brave person. On the contrary, I’m actually quite timid. Boss, you’ve taught me step by step until now, and I don’t know how many times you’ve saved me. I don’t know why you wanted to kill me, or what happened to you, but whatever you insisted on doing, I won’t resent you. My life…”

“Li Ming!” Yu Congyi closed his eyes, sighed deeply, his hands trembling slightly, and goosebumps rising on his skin. He hadn't expected that this lowly officer, whom he had watched climb up the ranks since he first entered the Military Police, would harbor such feelings for him. He felt a little touched, but also a little troubled. Nevertheless, he remained silent; the fewer people who knew about his affairs, the better.

"Go back." Yu Congyi looked tired. He put away his gun and waved to the other person. With a click, the car door unlocked. He sat in the driver's seat with his head down, his hands tightly clasped together. Finally, he whispered, "Please don't tell anyone about what happened today. I'm begging you."

Li Ming nodded and said nothing more. Yu Congyi didn't spare him any more attention. Where Yu Congyi couldn't see him, Li Ming looked at his profile with great concern, then slowly got out of the car, stood in front of the car, and bowed deeply to him.

Yu Congyi drove away. His left hand was still gripping the pistol, but now, with a hint of resentment, he slammed it heavily into his chest, for what had happened today, and for himself.