Chapter 11
Lu Chengtian's deep pupils seemed to be covered with a layer of ice.
There was a loud bang of a gunshot, and a huge blood flower exploded in front of his eyes, splashing dirty and hot liquid all over his head and face.
The killer's voice stopped abruptly.
Lin Xian's figure holding the gun swayed slightly, and then he quickly stood firm - this detail was captured by Lu Chengtian's eagle-like eyes.
He looked at the corpse on the ground with half of its head blown off. The bullet that should have hit the center of the eyebrows deviated a little and hit the right eye.
Lin Xian threw the gun beside the corpse, wiped the blood on his arm, and showed a look of disgust.
Lu Chengtian's pupils constricted. He felt as if there was an invisible, vast net behind Lin Xian—but it was a pity that the important witness before him was dead.
The sound of sirens came from far away.
"Have you notified the people from the Municipal Bureau?" Lu Chengtian looked at Lin Xian, and the other's cold expression finally cracked.
Lin Xian's voice sounded extremely weak, but he still sneered, "I informed Chen Fei when you were chasing him. At the speed you were responding, if it were an ordinary citizen, he would have been taken straight to the funeral home by now."
Facing the killer's still-warm body on the ground, Lu Chengtian's thoughts raced. What would he say if the city police asked him about it? Would he say Lin Xian acted in self-defense?
But Lin Xian, a magazine editor-in-chief, could skillfully operate such a powerful weapon. Anyone would find it suspicious and start investigating.
He took a few steps forward, picked up the gun, and first carefully wiped off the original fingerprints on it with a corner of his clothes. Then he put the gun back into the dead man's hand, which was still not stiff, and pressed the fingerprints produced by the corresponding actions in different places.
Under Lin Xian's silent gaze, he held the gun and said, "If the team asks about it later, I'll say it was excessive self-defense. I accidentally killed him to protect you. As long as our statements are consistent, that's all."
Lin Xian: "Why are you helping me cover it up?"
Lu Chengtian threw his gun aside, stepped forward and grabbed Lin Xian's shoulders, his eyes full of aggression: "These people want to kill you, is it related to your experience in Myanmar?"
At this moment, Lin Xian suddenly started coughing violently, and his whole body was shaking, as if he was not the one who had just killed someone without blinking an eye.
Lu Chengtian felt a hint of warmth on the palm of his hand that was holding Lin Xian's left shoulder. He raised his hand and saw that there was indeed a stain of blood on the palm of his hand.
"Your wound has broken open." Lu Chengtian took off his jacket and wrapped Lin Xian with the warm inner layer.
He was half a head taller than Lin Xian. When he looked at him, his eyes dropped, and his crow-feather eyelashes cast a small shadow under his eyes.
"Lin Xian, can you trust me for once?"
Lin Xian looked at the back of his hand, which was stained by the glass shards and hung at his side, his eyes narrowed slightly. His amber-brown pupils seemed to be covered with a layer of mist. "So, did you trust me, Xiao Lu?"
This unfamiliar name passed through nine years, lifted the heavy fog, and stepped lightly on Lu Chengtian's heart.
The afternoon sun streamed in through the cracks in the roof, casting a small patch of light on the concrete floor between them. Dust swirled and danced in the light, and the air seemed almost stagnant.
A voice called out from a distance: "Editor-in-Chief Lin, Lu Detachment, are you still there?"
It’s Chen Fei.
The suffocatingly thick air began to flow again.
Lu Chengtian let go of Lin Xian and took a few steps back, maintaining a polite social distance. As Lin Xian's gaze grew increasingly cold, he picked up the gun from the ground and remained silent for a few seconds.
When he looked at Lin Xian again, his eyes were dark and clear, just like the boy he was nine years ago: "I am willing to believe you. But if you betray my trust, I will never show mercy."
Before Lin Xian could answer, Ma Qiang rushed in with Chen Fei and several plainclothes officers.
They were going to go to Liu Yaoyao's school and home with Zhao Yiqing and people from the North City Branch to find out the situation and track down clues about Galanxiang, but Chen Fei received a message from Lin Xian saying that Lu Chengtian had discovered a suspicious person and was tracking him, and the other party might be armed.
Before getting off the car, Lin Xian sent Chen Fei his location and asked her to tell the people from the Municipal Bureau to come for support as soon as possible. Ma Qiang then brought his men over first.
Looking at the black-clad killer's bruised body and the lethal weapon in Lu Chengtian's hand, Ma Qiang, the ramen-haired otaku, suddenly changed his expression: "Damn it, Captain Lu, this might be a transnational criminal. This gun can't be obtained in China at all."
Lu Chengtian said calmly, "Well, let's go back and check to see if this guy has a criminal record." He stroked the gun in his hand and glanced at Lin Xian. "Editor-in-Chief Lin and I almost died here today, but unfortunately we accidentally killed him and didn't leave him alive."
He and Lin Xian rolled several times in the broken glass, their heads and faces covered in dust and blood.
Chen Fei handed Lin Xian the glasses he had snatched from the Wrangler's hood. He looked up and down at his battle-worn editor-in-chief and said excitedly, "Editor-in-Chief Lin, how many of those lying on the ground outside did you knock down?!"
Ma Qiang: "Shouldn't you first check whether Editor-in-Chief Lin is injured?"
Chen Fei rolled his eyes at him disdainfully. "What's a few minions to worry about? Last time, Editor-in-Chief Lin and I were chased by that shady business owner who illegally discharged sewage. He took down five or six burly men all by himself."
Hearing this, Lu Chengtian glanced at Lin Xian calmly. This man looked sickly, but his skills seemed to have been professionally trained. His lethality was far greater than that night in his memory.
"I understand, Captain Lu, you just want us to clear the area, right?" Ma Qiang scratched his head in frustration and roared in the air.
As if she had suddenly discovered a new world, Chen Fei looked at Lin Xian's jacket and asked in surprise, "Editor-in-Chief Lin, why do you always wear the Land Detachment's uniform? You two are so adorable!"
Lu Chengtian: ...
Lin Xian glanced at Chen Fei coldly, scaring the little girl into silence.
The confused straight man Ma Qiang didn't understand why reporter Chen was so upset about this.
At this time, a plainclothes officer came in and said, "Captain Lu, Brother Ma, those guys outside are seriously injured. One has lost too much blood and is unconscious. We've taken them to the hospital. Do you want someone to keep an eye on them?"
Ma Qiang looked at Lu Chengtian and Lin Xian and whispered, "It must be the worst bad luck for the criminals to have run into you guys..."
Lu Chengtian ignored him directly: "As long as they are still awake, record their statements first. Each ward must be guarded 24 hours a day to make sure nothing goes wrong."
He ordered Ma Qiang to lead his men to seal off the scene and had the technical detective come over to bag the evidence. He then grabbed the pale-faced Lin Xian and said, "Editor-in-Chief Lin is seriously injured. I'll take him to the hospital first. You guys figure out the identities of these people first. I'll return to the bureau later."
"Captain Lu, why do I feel like your condition looks more serious..." Ma Qiang glanced at the back of Lu Chengtian's left hand which was pierced by broken glass.
Lu Chengtian said coldly: "Hurry up and do your job." Before he finished speaking, he escorted the "seriously injured" Lin Xian into the Wrangler, and used his hands, which were as pricked as a dinosaur's back, to steadily control the steering wheel and drove all the way to the Shenzhen-Hong Kong First People's Hospital.
The Department of Surgery of the First Hospital is almost the mother-in-law of the Municipal Bureau. Lu Chengtian has to come here to make an appointment at least four or five times a year.
In the department, a female doctor with a bun and elegant temperament had just treated the wound of a scalded child when she saw Lu Chengtian leading a gentle and handsome young man in.
Both of them were covered in blood and their clothes were covered in dust. Passing patients and their families looked at them sideways.
Chen Yun frowned at the dirty glass shards on the back of Lu Chengtian's hand. She quickly stood up and walked forward: "How did it become like this? The wound on your hand needs to be treated quickly, otherwise you will easily get tetanus." After saying that, she asked him to sit down first.
Lu Chengtian was covered in blood, but his battle-worn demeanor made his handsome features stand out even more. He was tall and straight, and wherever he stood, he looked like a sharp sword, carrying a hint of ferocity.
Chen Yun had always wanted to introduce Lu Chengtian to her daughter, and her daughter had also been attracted by Lu Chengtian's appearance. However, they had made two appointments, and each time, halfway through the meal, the "workaholic, straight man" Lu Zhituan would answer the phone and go to handle official business. Her daughter was so angry that she blocked him directly, and Chen Yun had no choice but to give up.
Against the backdrop of the "straight-laced, workaholic" Lu Zhijun, the well-dressed, bespectacled young man beside him looked even more refined and elegant, like a wealthy, idle man from a scholarly family, or a professor at a top university. Chen Yun couldn't help but take a few more glances at him, thinking that if she had the chance, she might introduce him to her daughter.
Lu Chengtian ignored Chen Yun and pressed Lin Xian, who appeared to have no external injuries, onto the chair. "Director Chen, this is my friend. He has a shoulder injury and is coughing up blood. The wound may have infected his lungs. Please take a look at him first."
"You'd better remove these glass shards from your hands first. It hurts me to see you." Lin Xian was pinned down on the chair by him and could not move. She could only look at him with squinted eyes.
Chen Yun called her assistant Xiao Huang and said, "You two have a really good relationship. Don't give in. Watch it together."
"Then you can take a look at him. I have only a minor injury. Please ask Doctor Huang to treat it for me."
Seeing Lu Chengtian's insistence, Chen Yun said, "It's always like this. Last time, I almost lost my life, and I still asked about my colleagues. Ancestor, please don't look for me anymore."
Lin Xian had a wound on his shoulder and was taking off his sweater to let Dr. Huang check it. Hearing this, he glanced at Lu Chengtian and found that he was also looking at him.
Being a man and at his age, Lin Xian had long passed the stage where he would feel ashamed to take off his clothes in front of outsiders, but under Lu Chengtian's burning gaze, he actually felt a little uncomfortable.
To hide his embarrassment, he smiled and said, "Captain Lu always thinks of others. Otherwise, how could he be so young and be promoted to this position?"
As he spoke, he swiftly removed his soft sweater, revealing a slender, muscular figure. The blood-soaked gauze on his shoulder was stuck to the wound. Chen Yun poured some disinfectant on it, dissolving the adhesion before carefully removing it.
While cleaning the wound, Chen Yun accidentally noticed the bruise-like kiss mark on his neck. Thinking that the young man looked gentle and refined, but was quite playful, it seemed that he could not introduce him to her daughter. So she smiled and gossiped, "Young man, do you have a girlfriend?"
Upon hearing this, Lu Chengtian looked at the two of them, ignoring the pain of the glass shards being pulled out of his flesh by Doctor Huang.
Lin Xian stood with her back to him, slightly hunched. Her shoulders were broad, her waist narrow, and the lines of her spine and scapula were graceful and distinct. Under the bright white light of the treatment room, several ancient scars etched across her translucent white skin, like cracks on porcelain.
When asked about "girlfriend," Lin Xian knew Chen Yun was referring to the kiss mark on her neck left by Zhou Mubai. He responded with a "hmm."
Chen Yun smiled and said, "I saw that you look quite like my daughter's favorite star. I was thinking of introducing you two to each other, but it's a pity that I'm a step too late."
Lin Xian lowered his head and smiled, hiding his embarrassment: "Thank you for your kindness, but I am too old and not worthy of your daughter."
"Hey, I see that you and Xiao Lu are about the same age. Why do you young people act so old?" Chen Yun, deceived by Editor-in-Chief Lin's face, lifted the gauze and took a look at the bloody wound, frowning.
"Is this a bullet grazed wound? It's obvious you got some water in there without paying attention, and it's a bit infected. I just heard from Xiao Lu that you're coughing up blood, which is probably caused by bacterial infection of the wound. After the wound is treated, don't let it get wet for two weeks. Go get a blood test and a lung CT scan later."
After the two men treated the wound, Lu Chengtian wrapped his left hand like a dumpling. As soon as Lin Xian put on her clothes, she was dragged by Lu Chengtian and walked through almost every department of the hospital.
Anemia, gastric ulcers caused by stress and irregular diet, hemoptysis caused by bacterial lung infection, insomnia and moderate depression... Holding a stack of test reports and examination results, Lu Chengtian felt that it was a miracle that the man in front of him could walk around in front of him as if nothing had happened.
Finally, Lin Xian was pressed on the hospital bed by Lu Chengtian according to the doctor's instructions.
The nurse brought three 500ml bottles of IV drip and inserted the needle into the clear blue-purple vein on the back of his hand. She said to Lu Chengtian, who was leaning against the windowsill with his hands in his pockets, "The attending doctor said that in this case, he needs to be hospitalized for at least three days of observation with intravenous drips. Are you his family member? Go and help him with the hospitalization procedures first."
Hearing the word "hospitalization," Lin Xian felt a sudden pang in his stomach. He raised his wrist to check the electronic shackle. The blue digital display showed it was already 5:30 PM.
The time he and Zhou Mubai agreed to meet was eight o'clock.
As if seeing through his thoughts, Lu Chengtian reminded him word by word before leaving to get his discharge certificate: "Rest well, don't act up, and wait for me to come back."
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