Chen Yanxiu leaned back in his seat, his face pale as paper, but he forced himself to open the car computer: "Turn left and take Binjiang Road. There are secret sentries posted by Li Zhou there."
The windshield wipers swung frantically, but the road ahead was still unclear. Shen Mingzhe's car slammed into them, shattering the trunk glass.
Chen Yanbai turned the steering wheel sharply, and the car drifted in an arc on the slippery road and rushed onto the embankment overlooking the river.
"Brother, hold on tight!" He stepped on the accelerator, and the car sped along the embankment, with the churning river on the right. Shen Mingzhe's car followed closely behind, the muzzle of a gun protruding from the broken window.
Chen Yanxiu suddenly sat up straight and pointed at the bridge hole in front of him: "Drive in!"
The moment the car rushed into the bridge hole, Chen Yanbai saw Li Zhou and the members of Dark River rushing out from the shadows, and the red light of the rocket launcher cut through the rain curtain.
Shen Mingzhe's car suddenly turned and hit the pillar of the bridge. The flames of the explosion illuminated the surface of the river red.
————————(time dividing line)
In the VIP ward of the municipal hospital, the smell of disinfectant was replaced by the faint scent of gardenia.
Chen Yanxiu leaned against the head of the bed, holding a cowhide envelope with the words "Li Zhengyang personally addressed" written on it - it was found in the iron box in the Shen family's cellar.
When Chen Yanbai pushed the door open, he saw him carefully opening the envelope with a paper cutter. There was no letter inside, only a floppy disk and a photo.
The photo shows the young Chen Yanxiu and Li Zhengyang, standing under the cherry trees in the police academy, smiling brightly.
“This is…” Chen Yanbai’s voice was choked.
Chen Yanxiu inserted the floppy disk into the laptop next to him, and an encrypted folder named "Nightingale Project" popped up on the screen.
After clicking it, it contained Li Zhengyang's investigation notes. Each page was marked with a date, and the earliest record could be traced back to the first year that Shen Yanxiu entered the Shen family.
"So he knew all along," Chen Yanxiu's fingertips swiped across the screen, "that I would be lurking for ten years, that he knew Chen Yanrong's conspiracy, and even knew Ye Xiao's true identity..."
At the end of the folder was a video file shot the day before Li Zhengyang’s car accident.
In the picture, he was wearing casual clothes, standing on the Jiangcheng Bridge, with the dark night behind him: "Yan Xiu, if you see this, it means I am no longer here."
"Night Owl isn't just one person, it's an organization. Their tentacles have already reached the highest levels of the police force. Protect yourself and Yan Bai..."
The video suddenly cut off, and a line of words popped up on the screen: "Decryption Key: The angle of the heart of the Shen family emblem."
Chen Yanbai looked at Chen Yanxiu. The rain was still falling outside the window, making a rustling sound when hitting the glass.
He recalled how when he was a child, Chen Yanxiu would always tell him stories before bed and warm his frozen hands and feet with his body temperature. Now, his brother's hands were still warm, but with an unspeakable heaviness.
"Brother," he said softly, "no matter what comes next, I will be with you."
Chen Yanxiu raised his head, and the coldness in his eyes behind the lenses was gone, only tenderness that could not be melted away: "Okay."
The cursor on the computer screen is still blinking, waiting for the decryption key.
The rainy night in Jiangcheng is still long, and the Shen brothers' journey of settling accounts has just begun its heaviest chapter.
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