Chapter 29
Under the night sky, the waves crashed violently against the embankment, echoing in the void for a long time.
The clock in the living room pointed to one o'clock in the morning, and Lu Chengtian was lying in his bedroom, as awake as a bee caught in wind oil.
If there hadn't been that explosion outside the KTV, Lin Xian would have been sleeping peacefully beside him right now. As long as he was given enough time, he would peel off Lin Xian's always impeccable mask layer by layer and see the true color of the soul beneath his skin.
But the sudden accident completely interrupted his long-term plan. Lin Xian was too cunning, and as long as he didn't want to be found, he would have no way of finding him.
A little moonlight from the window illuminated the bedside table, where a small humidifier sat. Lin Xian had insisted on adding it. Shenzhen-Hong Kong City was close to the sea, so the humidity wasn't low enough to require humidification. He had simply added lemongrass-scented essential oil, claiming it was a sleep aid, and had gotten Lu Chengtian used to the scent.
Whether it was the natural aromatherapy or Lin Xian sleeping next to him, Lu Chengtian had rarely had nightmares recently. He turned on the humidifier for some unknown reason, and a citronella-scented mist filled the room.
His phone screen illuminated his somewhat weary face. Using his position as deputy chief of the Criminal Investigation Division, he logged into the intranet and searched for "Lin Zhengfeng" in the personnel search. A photo with an ID card bearing a resemblance to Lin Xian came into view.
The man looked rather prim, lacking Lin Xian's refined, scumbag temperament. The information system displayed his education and work experience at the South City Police Station, but it ended in June 2010—the year he began his undercover work in the Golden Triangle. Scrolling to the bottom, a short sentence summarized his fate: Mission failed, disciplinary record.
If Lin Zhengfeng were dead, his profile picture would be in black and white, but the system still shows a color photo. So, which mission did he fail in? And where is he now?
Lu Chengtian practically jumped up from the bed. He decided to go find Lin Xian immediately, no matter where he was.
I made hundreds of calls, but the response I always got was, "Sorry, the number you dialed is turned off." If the phone is not turned on, even the most accurate positioning system is useless.
We can only use the most stupid method.
When he returned to the monitoring room of the Municipal Bureau in the middle of the night, he was greeted with shocked gazes from several groups of drowsy staff on duty.
What he wanted to retrieve was the surveillance record of the white Toyota nanny car with a fake license plate.
After exiting the highway, the car drove onto a village road, where it lost track due to the dilapidated security cameras. By the time it reached the traffic light camera at the end of the road, the Toyota was nowhere to be seen.
Lu Chengtian watched the surveillance footage of the village road, considering two possibilities—either getting off the bus midway or switching vehicles. If he got off, the desolate village road was lined with reeds, and the person who had taken him away at least wanted to treat Lin Xian, not kill him, so this possibility was basically ruled out.
That left only one option: changing vehicles. To transport someone so severely injured, they'd need a vehicle at least large enough to accommodate a grown man. From where the surveillance footage disappeared to the traffic light at the village intersection, the distance was only about five kilometers. Driving, if traffic wasn't heavy, wouldn't take more than ten minutes.
Following this line of thought, Lu Chengtian screened out three vehicles in less than thirty minutes. After checking the movement trajectory of these vehicles, he learned the private hospital where Lin Xian was.
The black car drove through the night city and the quiet village roads. The wind whistled past his ears, and the scent of grass and trees grew stronger. Soon, he drove onto the coastal avenue, and the wind seemed to be even cooler.
When Lu Chengtian appeared at Cihe Hospital with bloodshot eyes and a stubbled face, the young nurse at the front desk was drowsy.
"Who are you looking for?" As if she sensed the murderous aura of the handsome young man in front of her, the young nurse suddenly became alert and involuntarily glanced at the phone next to her that could call the security guard with one click.
Lu Chengtian quickly pulled out his police ID and said in a slow tone, "Please cooperate with the investigation and keep quiet. The case is still confidential. If you leak the details, you will bear legal responsibility. Let me see your hospital admission records for the past month."
The young nurse was new, and because of her inexperience, she was assigned to the night shift at the front desk. Any more experienced staff would have called a middle-level manager to handle the situation. After all, the people staying at Cihe were all "big shots" she couldn't afford to offend.
However, at this moment, out of her instinctive trust in the young man in front of her, or perhaps simply conquered by his appearance, she nodded like a quail and immediately took out the booklet that the other party needed.
Due to the high price threshold, less than ten people have checked in in the past month. Lu Chengtian immediately saw Lin Xian's name and the flamboyantly written "Zhou Mubai" in the "Family Member" column.
——It turned out to be him. It seems that he is closely related to what happened in Yulong KTV that night.
The young nurse watched as Lu Chengtian's face darkened even further. She tremblingly took the booklet he handed back and watched him hurried into the elevator.
Lin Xian had been transferred from the ICU to the general ward. Lu Chengtian avoided the medical staff on night patrol and quietly pushed the door open.
There was no strong smell of disinfectant, but there was a floral fragrance coming from a quiet bunch of lilies on the windowsill.
He closed the door behind him, and his heartbeat suddenly accelerated as he approached the bed.
This was his second time meeting Lin Xian in the hospital. The last time, they had a narrow escape, and he had pierced his hand with broken glass. He insisted on taking Lin Xian for a full checkup, discovering a host of issues. Just as he was about to care for the patient, the man "escaped" and went to "get together" with Zhou Mubai in a mountain club.
At that time, he was full of suspicion towards Lin Xian, and any random words from Lin Xian with a hint of "depravity" would arouse his anger.
After all, that was the person he regarded as a beacon and who led him out of the abyss.
But now, all these things, the old black leather notebook, and the shocking secret hidden deep in the closet, made him re-examine Lin Xian.
If he were to ask himself honestly, he still had some doubts about Lin Xian, but at this moment, he just wanted to keep her by his side and protect her well.
He walked quietly to the bedside and looked at the person on the bed with the light coming in from the corridor and the gaps in the curtains.
The drips dripped silently down a transparent tube into the bony, pale back of his hand. His neck brace had been removed, making his neck appear even thinner, like a reed vulnerable to snapping. Unable to fully resume a normal diet, his eye sockets seemed even deeper, and his once slightly soft jawline was now unnaturally sharp.
Lin Xian was not wearing a hospital gown. His shoulders and back, which were exposed outside the quilt, were wrapped in bandages, revealing half of his sunken collarbone. His forehead was still wrapped in a bandage, and there was a scabbed wound behind his right ear - fortunately, it didn't look deep.
Lu Chengtian felt his breath stagnate for a moment, his hands clenched into fists at his sides, his knuckles turning white. Before coming here, he had thought about all the possible conversations between the two of them, questions and honesty, or questions and concealment.
However, at this moment, he had only one thought in his mind: How could he be so thin?
His breathing became heavier, as if he was suppressing a strong emotion. The light from the corridor shone through the narrow etched glass on the door, casting his shadow on Lin Xian.
Lu Chengtian regretted coming to look for someone in the middle of the night.
His eyes swept over the accompanying bed beside him. He was hesitating whether to wait here for him to wake up or spend the night in the car when Lin Xian suddenly and slowly opened his eyes.
"Who?" His voice was slow and hoarse. In the dim light, he saw the tall and slender figure beside him and the tear sliding down the corner of the other person's eye.
Lin Xian couldn't help but close his eyes because of a headache, but the hand that was not receiving the IV drip was tightly held by a somewhat cold palm.
"Does it hurt? Do you want some water?" Lu Chengtian's voice was a little hoarse, his Adam's apple rolled violently, and his heart was broken.
He felt the hand in his palm was even more bony and colder than before. The other person, however, gave him a slight squeeze, then smiled with a hint of Lin Xian's mockery, "Is it really that serious? If you'd come any later, I'd have to go back to work."
Seeing that Lu Chengtian was still silent, he said calmly: "Okay, stop standing there, help me get out of bed, I'm thirsty."
Lu Chengtian finally came to his senses, turned on the soft night light beside him, filled a cup of warm water from the water dispenser and placed it aside, inserted a straw, then slowly raised the bed board, half-hugged and half-embraced the person in one hand, and fed him water in this position.
Lin Xian: ...
He drank uncomfortably under Lu Chengtian's somewhat forceful restraint. When his throat finally felt better, he slowly said, "Captain Lu, did I misunderstand you? According to your usual iron-fisted style of impartial law enforcement, you should have arrested me and interrogated me in a 'civilized and friendly' manner, rather than performing this affectionate drama in the middle of the night."
He was right. Even though he had saved Lu Chengtian at the explosion scene, his presence in Room 302, the release of Qi Tiao and Ba Tong, and Lin Xian's familiarity in calling him "Little Lin Brother" were all sufficient evidence of his deep involvement in the drug ring.
If it weren't for Zhao Yiqing turning a blind eye and the secret he discovered in his apartment in that old neighborhood, no matter how grateful he was to Lin Xian for saving his life, he would have wanted to capture him and interrogate him personally.
"You've already kissed me and hugged me, and you still want to pretend we're strangers?" Lu Chengtian gently wiped the water stains from the corner of his lips with his thumb. "Just a friendly reminder, that was my first kiss."
Lin Xian hadn't swallowed half of his water yet, and he coughed for a long time after hearing what he said. Lu Chengtian patted his back gently and put the water aside.
"You also said that our interrogation methods were 'civilized and friendly.' Now, can you explain it, Editor-in-Chief Lin?"
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