Chapter Fifteen
"How is the situation?" Lu Ming asked almost impatiently as soon as the doctor came out.
The doctor's expression was ambiguous, neither happy nor worried, but he answered truthfully: "The gentleman's condition is much better than Ms. Chu's. Even without any unconventional methods, there is a high chance that he can get through the withdrawal symptoms and will not be in danger of death... However, it will be an extremely painful process, even one that is difficult to describe in words."
"Whether or not one will relapse depends on the individual. But to be honest, based on my experience, it's very difficult for anyone to stay abstinent for life..."
If there is even the slightest mishap, it means that Su Yizhong will be a puppet controlled by drugs for the rest of his life—gradually losing himself, his will, his health, and even his humanity and memory.
Lu Ming had never truly hated the knife that had trapped her in the abyss until it plunged into Su Yi's body—why wasn't it him, even though he was the one who had committed countless evils! Even though he was the one who was utterly wicked!
I'm fine with anything, but... can't we go back to where it all started? Can't he just look at him from afar... I won't go forward anymore, I'll never go forward again... Lu Ming thought almost desperately.
“No medication needed. I’ll be with him on the plane to H country.” His voice was almost hoarse, seemingly flat, yet it sounded heartbreaking.
We are like a farcical love story written on a medieval guillotine.
Only now, as if on the verge of death, has he truly come back to life, carrying with him a decade of longing, as if waking from a dream—it turns out that everything he thought he couldn't give up or get rid of was just a self-imposed prison.
"If you're willing to give me a chance, I'll stay here and never leave. I won't care about anything else when I'm with you..." Lu Ming gently kissed Su Yi's forehead, who was still fast asleep. No matter how many years had passed, he was still like the boy she had first met, always giving people the feeling of being still a bit childish.
Could you attribute my sins a thousandfold to the next life, leaving me pure and spotless in this life, and a few years to protect him for the rest of his days?
That's all I can hope for.
"The transaction has been divided into two parts: one for 30% of the surviving goods, and the other for 70%. The time for the first transaction has been set, and the second transaction will be discussed after the first transaction. Currently, the two batches of goods are stored separately, and if anything goes wrong in the first transaction, the goods will be moved. We have no way to transmit effective intelligence all at once." Gu Bai'an laid out the current situation in front of him, like a bloodstained knife laid bare.
This is a trap, a trap they can't avoid falling into.
"The success of any transaction is a failure of our mission."
“We may have other options.” Gu Bai’an’s words were as dry and lifeless as a heavy, dull wooden pillar that had been smashed down.
Their own sacrifice was the smallest sacrifice they could make.
"I'm going out." Yi Chu picked up the coat from the coat rack by the door, without replying to him.
“…Okay, drive carefully.” Gu Bai’an replied, turning around to tidy the table—the door clicked shut. For a moment, it felt as if space itself had torn open, and countless eyes reappeared beside him, staring intently at him. But he was neither terrified nor bewildered—he didn’t know whose eyes these were, but he knew for whom they were there.
Among countless gazes, the clearest yet most unsettling one, like a sharp blade, pierced the void and struck him head-on—it was a pair of dying eyes. He could hear the unspoken whispers of those eyes, asking, "When we are willing to sacrifice our lives for life, what are we holding onto?" Initially, it was the voice of an almost unfamiliar man, but over the years, through repeated refinement, forgetting, and resurfacing, it became a question that seemed to rise from the depths of his own heart.
That man was the first person in his life he had ever witnessed so vividly on the verge of death. It was during his third month undercover, and he was his comrade-in-arms. It was said that he had been tortured to death and his body was dumped in the desolate mountains outside the city, but Gu Bai'an didn't dare to go looking for it.
The special task force investigating the Lu family case has been established for a full nine years. The leadership team has come and gone several times, yet no major progress has been made. Countless self-righteous outsiders think they have become silent or given up, but everyone involved, when they look at those thirteen nameless white tombstones in the corner of the cemetery, knows there is no turning back.
The Lu family's internal system was so tight that it was almost impenetrable. Of the fourteen informants they had sent out, including Gu Bai'an, only he remained. In a sense, he bore the weight of the entire situation's success or failure. He had no right to be indecisive; he had to be rational. It was like undergoing a painful but necessary procedure, where the flesh had to be sacrificed first.
It was almost midnight when Yi Chu returned, looking travel-worn and weary. A gust of early winter wind, carrying the smells of tobacco and alcohol, swept in, instantly dissipating the warmth that had filled the house. Gu Bai'an had only turned on one light, barely illuminating the living room, but even that light seemed veiled and indistinct. On the table in front of him lay a loaded pistol, the one Yi Chu always kept hidden in his bedside table, one that Gu Bai'an knew.
Yi Chu closed the door gently as always, as if the slightest movement would disturb the rippling night. He suddenly asked, "Do you remember that paper about the inside police that my advisor withheld during my graduate studies?"
"……Remember."
The paper mentioned a real-world scenario, to which Yi Chu argued that undercover police officers, when necessary, could sacrifice comrades, even innocent lives, to ensure absolute secrecy. Even if a second option existed, it should be followed if the risks of the second option outweighed the first and the consequences of failure were unbearable. In the paper, he likened the sacrificed to a "smokescreen." All choices served only one principle—the victory of the overall situation was always more valuable than the survival of any individual life.
It is an act of kindness towards more people.
It is the clearest mind and the most resolute will.
“My teacher told me, ‘Life cannot be compared. Because if even life is quantified, then our initial intentions are no different from those of thugs.’ But I still feel that he was wrong—absolutely wrong. These are choices that countless undercover police officers face every moment, so why can’t they be mentioned? The existence of life may not be comparable, but its meaning can. This is not ‘the loss of humanity,’ but ‘duty-bound.’” Yi Chu took off his coat and sat down in the chair opposite him. “We can never escape reality. Gu Bai’an, but I’m incredibly grateful that your smokescreen is me.”
Because if it were anyone else, you might feel uneasy for the rest of your life.
Because how many people in this world can truly face death without regret?
But I'm different.
"How should I put it in a more romantic way?" Yi Chu thought seriously for a moment, then said it almost word by word, as if every syllable was filled with the dew on the flowers in the morning, ready to drip, "I was just the white moonlight by your bedside, and I have become the cinnabar mole on your heart."
"Gu Bai'an, I will always love you. We both need to be brave."
Gu Bai'an lowered her head and remained silent, wanting to look at him but not daring to raise her head.
The long-standing hesitation, which we were unwilling to confront, has been answered in such a cruel yet magnificent way.
The gun barrel slowly rose, reflecting a completely dark world into the pitch-black hole, the world dim and gloomy.
"Bang—" The not-so-strong recoil almost knocked Gu Bai'an over, and the gunshot was deafening.
Yi Chu felt a sharp pain in his lower limb and rolled off the chair to the ground. He frowned and struggled to look at his wound—the bullet had hit the outside of his thigh, and blood was gushing out, almost forming a small puddle on the ground.
Almost within minutes of the gunshot, someone broke down the door. Clearly, it wasn't one of Gu Bai'an's men. (2477068O21)
"Young Master Gu, we're taking him with us." The leader showed no respect whatsoever, and before Gu Bai'an could even agree, he ordered his men to lift Yi Chu off the ground.
Gu Bai'an gave him a cold look: "If something happens to him for no apparent reason, I'll kill you."
Whether something goes wrong or not is not up to me to decide.
Due to excessive blood loss, Yi Chu quickly became disoriented. When he regained consciousness, he was suspended in an unknown underground water dungeon. His leg wound had been given a simple, even crude, bandage to stop the bleeding. It was extremely painful, and he felt dizzy, likely due to an infection. His hands and feet were bound by leather ropes. His arms were cold from lack of blood circulation while suspended in the air, and the sewage under his feet reached up to his knees, causing his lower limbs to become swollen.
He tried his best to stay awake and observe his surroundings. There were no windows or light to help him judge the time; only a few rough, exposed wires connected to a large, blinding white light, pointing directly at him, with no way to avoid it. In such an environment, every second, the torment of pain, the unknown fear, and the inner struggle were stretched and amplified to the maximum extent, pushing him further and further toward death.
He forced himself to close his eyes and escape into emptiness—but he couldn't, he couldn't. His mind seemed to be filled with something, but when he looked closely, it was just a dark, empty void.
He didn't know how long this went on. He began to sob softly, but still refused to struggle or yell excessively. It seemed that only in this way could he touch some reality, but he couldn't let himself go too far and break down.
"I'm still alive..." he told himself, "I must live..."
The iron gate opened, and under the light, a woman was shoved in. The woman's appearance was extremely strange; her features seemed pieced together, her face meticulously groomed to a gleaming shine, while her eyes were dark and murky. It was the woman Lu Ming had seen at the Lu family's old residence that day.
She showed neither sorrow nor joy. When Yi Chu saw her, a series of uncertain guesses suddenly surged within him—absurd thoughts…yet supported by so much evidence…
"No...no!" Yi Chu watched as the woman was injected with a drug, his eyes becoming glazed over, and he roared with all his remaining strength.
No...no...
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