Chapter 30
"What do you want to hear?" Lin Xian raised his eyebrows. "Can you take care of the patient first and let me lie down?"
Lin Xian's back was wrapped in bandages, with some skin exposed. At this moment, Lu Chengtian half-held her in his arms in an overly intimate posture. He could even feel the other's burning heat through the thin layer of shirt. Moreover, the distance between the two was too close, almost rubbing their ears - this made him very uncomfortable.
Lu Chengtian whispered into his ear: "Tell me why you appeared at the transaction site, and I will let you lie down."
His voice was low and magnetic, and Lin Xian only felt his earlobes itchy.
"I was drunk and walked into the wrong room. If that was your first kiss, I apologize."
An insincere answer.
To protect Lu Chengtian, Lin Xian's back was pierced by several deep and shallow glass punctures, two of which had just had their stitches removed. At this moment, the sharp pain from the wounds made his breathing heavier, but his tone remained frivolous.
What he didn't expect was that Lu Chengtian didn't get angry at his perfunctory answer, but looked at him seriously: "Then don't you want to be responsible for me, Editor-in-Chief Lin?"
Before Lin Xian could come to his senses, Lu Chengtian had already laid him down on the half-rocking bed and helped him adjust the position of his pillow. Every movement seemed overly cautious.
A night breeze blew in from the window, filling the air with the scent of lilies. Under the warm, dim light of the bedside lamp, Lu Chengtian sat by the bed, watching Lin Xian's trembling eyelashes. The restlessness that had been brewing in him recently disappeared, and a sudden sense of peace arose in his heart.
He tucked the corner of the quilt for Lin Xian, and his fingertips seemed to accidentally brush against Lin Xian's neck. His low and steady voice, along with the scent of lily, dissipated in Lin Xian's ears.
"The gin you fed me contains a compound that inhibits 5-HT2A receptors, allowing a brain controlled by hallucinations to instantly clear up. That explains why I felt weak at first after smelling the galangal incense, but then suddenly became sober. You once said that drugs might have an antidote. How do you have an antidote for galangal incense?"
Lin Xian closed his eyes and sighed softly, "Normally, a straight man would sober up instantly if forcefully kissed, right? Also, while Galan incense is quite addictive, it's smoke after all, so the effects won't be immediate. If that's something you're concerned about, I apologize again for my drunken behavior. Can I let the patient rest?"
"Who told you I'm straight?" Lu Chengtian suddenly lowered his head, so close to Lin Xian that she could even feel his breath gently brushing against her cheek. He slowed down his tone and spoke word by word, "I'm sorry, I'm not. And I told you, that was my first kiss, you have to be responsible for me."
Lin Xian only felt a throbbing pain in his head. He didn't know whether it was the dull pain from the wound that hadn't had the stitches removed, or because he was angry - this guy did it on purpose, how could he let him sleep?
I haven't seen him for a few weeks, why has he suddenly become so difficult? Is this going to end?
He knew it would be difficult to fool him. So, he considered it for a moment, and under Lu Chengtian's calm gaze, he slowly said, "Okay, Captain Lu, how do you want me to be responsible?"
Lu Chengtian looked at him and said word by word: "Tell me the truth."
Lin Xian's Adam's apple rolled. He was just thinking about how to trick the kid in front of him when he heard footsteps coming from the corridor. He suddenly lowered his voice and said, "Zhou Mubai is here. Hide in the closet first."
The advantage of this exorbitantly priced private hospital is that everything is fully equipped. There's a huge wardrobe against the wall to the left of the bed. Lu Chengtian also heard the sound of leather shoes hitting the marble floor and quickly hid in the wardrobe. His strong anti-reconnaissance instinct made him quickly drink the remaining water in Lin Xian's cup before slipping into the wardrobe. He then returned the cup to its original position and turned off the bedside lamp.
The closet was dark and cramped, and Lu Chengtian found it difficult to breathe. The woman who died with her eyes wide open in the old closet, the bloody scratches on the back of the closet door, the damp, decaying smell of that rainy summer night, returned like a revolving lantern.
This was typical post-traumatic stress disorder. He tried his best to slow down his breathing and focus on the sounds outside the closet.
The ward door closed, and Zhou Mubai walked to Lin Xian's bedside. A ray of light shone through the gap in the wardrobe, and he turned on the bedside lamp.
"Ah Xian, I know you're still awake. Open your eyes and look at me, okay?"
Lin Xian slowly opened his eyes: "You come at this time, don't you know the patient needs to rest?"
Zhou Mubai: "I was worried that you would sleep too much during the day and would be bored at night, so I came here to accompany you."
Lin Xian remained silent.
Zhou Mubai: "Are you unhappy? Well, let me tell you something interesting. Today, Ah Qiang pried some information out of Lin Xian. The girl who jumped from the Jinyuan Building was called Liu Yaoyao, right? A cult deliberately induced her to commit suicide. The video has been viewed hundreds of thousands of times on the dark web, and the amount of paid and rewarded money alone is worth hundreds of millions."
After a pause, Zhou Mubai sneered and continued, "A bunch of idiots, just to watch a girl jump off a building - the key is, this cult organization is a long-term investment of my eldest brother, and he can't be separated from this matter. Tell me, if the police find out, can they arrest him under this name? I can also find a way to get some confession from Lin Xian, so that I won't have to worry about not being able to prove his guilt."
Lu Chengtian's nerves suddenly tensed up as he heard Lin Xian say, "If that's the case, then there should be more than just this one case."
Zhou Mubai chuckled, "Ah Xian, you're really smart. They've tasted the sweetness and are said to be looking for a new 'anchor' recently."
"The cult organization uses the name of sacrifice to make money from live broadcasts on the dark web, and also uses these girls to distribute drugs and squeeze them dry. It's really a good plan. Don't you want to learn?" Lin Xian calmly pushed away his hand that was stroking her face.
"In your eyes, am I someone who would do such a thing?" Through the gap in the wardrobe, Zhou Mubai could be seen leaning over Lin Xian.
"Ugh—let go! Are you sick?" Lin Xian struggled slightly.
Their breathing was heavy and Zhou Mubai was kissing him.
Lu Chengtian's nails almost dug into his palms. He knew what Lin Xian's kiss felt like: soft, cool, and the sharp aroma of gin always rushed into his heart unexpectedly at some point.
Why does Zhou Mubai do that?!
He wanted to rush out immediately and beat Zhou Mubai until he was bleeding. But his mind told him that if Zhou Mubai found out he was here, it would definitely be very disadvantageous to Lin Xian. The veins on his forehead bulged, and he tried his best to slow his breathing and calm himself down.
Lin Xian's violent coughing interrupted Zhou Mubai's rough possession.
"I... cough cough cough, I want to drink honey water." After a heart-wrenching cough, Lin Xian's voice was almost weak and even hoarse.
"Okay, I'll go ask the nurse for some honey." Zhou Mubai stood up and walked towards the door. He paused in front of the wardrobe and said, "I'm not going anywhere tonight. I'll stay here." After that, he pushed the door open and walked out.
Hearing the footsteps gradually fade away, Lin Xian whispered, "Hurry up and go through the emergency exit on the south side to avoid running into him."
Lu Chengtian walked out of the closet and saw Lin Xian's pale lips, which had been kissed red and glistening with water. He clenched his fists tighter at his side, not even noticing the blood marks on his palms from where his nails had pinched them. "You can leave him anytime."
"Shouldn't you be more concerned about who the cult's next target will be, Captain Lu? Let's go." Lin Xian closed his eyes and didn't want to say anything more.
Before turning to leave, Lu Chengtian turned his back to Lin Xian and whispered, "If one day you can't bear it alone anymore, you can choose to tell me. As long as it doesn't touch the bottom line of the law, I will accompany you no matter if it means climbing a mountain of swords or going through a sea of fire."
Lin Xian opened his eyes and watched the lonely figure, as tall and straight as an unsheathed sword, push the door open and walk out.
·
Downstairs in the Bei'an residential complex, a nondescript black Santana had been parked by the flowerbed all night. A thin young man in the passenger seat wore a baseball cap, his chin covered in stubble. He nudged his partner, who was snoring like thunder, and said, "Fatty, wake up! What time is it?"
It was almost noon, but Luo Hua had not come out since he returned home yesterday morning. The light on the balcony had been on all night without being turned off - as if it was done on purpose for them to see.
"Oh my god, it's already past eleven. Sorry, brother, I'm so sleepy. I'm too old to hold on." The fat man checked the time on his phone, shuddered, and asked, "Hasn't he come out yet?"
"The balcony light is still on, but no one has come out—" the young man in the baseball cap said, exchanged glances with the fat man, and then said in unison: "That bastard ran away!"
Shenzhen-Hong Kong Public Security Bureau Narcotics Control Brigade. Zhao Yiqing had slept in his office for several nights, his usually stylish hair hanging languidly across his forehead.
The men tracking Zhou Mubai found nothing new at the mountain club, and they didn't dare rush in and alert the people inside. Zhao Yiqing considered it, ultimately leveraging his family connections to thoroughly investigate the Zhou Group's investments. As he was poring over the pages of information with a splitting headache, his gaze suddenly stopped on the words "The Light of the Great Truth of the Gospel of Christ."
This is a folk religious group registered in 2018. The Zhou Group invests hundreds of millions of dollars in it almost every year.
Is it really that serious for an organization that we don’t know if it’s a cult?
Although he had hardly asked about the family business, Zhao Yiqing had been influenced by it since he was a child, and his intuition told him that there must be something behind it.
He thought of the triangular flame scars on the back of Luo Hua and Liu Yaoyao's necks and was about to tell Lu Chengtian about this discovery when his cell phone vibrated at that moment.
"Hey, Monkey, what's up?"
"Captain Zhao, Luo Hua might have escaped through some other means. The light on his balcony has been on since last night. Do you want to call a few more brothers to go check on him?"
"Okay, Captain Lu and I will be there in a moment."
After hanging up the phone, he called Lu Chengtian: "Captain Lu, you came to the bureau in the middle of the night to check the surveillance footage for a human flesh search. Are you still physically fit? It's nothing, it's just that Luo Hua's grandson might have run away. Do you want to come and take a look? Okay, then we'll meet at Bei'an Community. I'll send you the specific address right away."
Luo Hua's residential complex was newly built after the old city was demolished, and the security door was a smart model. The special police officer held a card in his hand and simply operated it in a few seconds, and the door opened effortlessly.
A special police officer sneaked in carefully with a gun, followed closely by Lu Chengtian and Zhao Yiqing.
The two looked at each other and found that they both looked sleep-deprived. Especially the red bloodshot eyes of Lu Chengtian, which was a bit scary.
There is no one in the room.
The house was over a hundred square meters, with three bedrooms and a living room, an open kitchen, and an ecological fish tank in the living room with a huge silver dragon fish. The balcony light was still on, and there were several men's shirts hanging on the clothes rack. Lu Chengtian touched his sleeve and found it was wet.
The window was open, and the room smelled strongly of cigarette smoke. The ashtray on the white coffee table was almost full of cigarette butts, but the whole house was relatively tidy, and the floor was almost spotless. Zhao Yiqing followed Lu Chengtian into the bedroom and opened the closet, only to find a few summer short-sleeved shirts hanging there, without the jackets and sweaters that should be worn in this season.
"It seems that he really ran away." Zhao Yiqing thought thoughtfully.
Lu Chengtian, wearing disposable rubber gloves, opened the drawer of the bedside table, and inside was a bundle of blue incense sticks.
Zhao Yiqing came closer, his pupils shrinking. "Jialanxiang, the evidence is conclusive. The anger you endured during the interrogation was finally not in vain."
He was about to call his brothers to check the surveillance and block all highways out of the city, but Lu Chengtian stopped him: "I suspect he may have been kidnapped or silenced, and he didn't escape on his own."
Zhao Yiqing put down his phone: "What do you mean?"
"Those clothes hanging on the balcony were still wet. If he had planned to abscond, would he have done laundry yesterday? Also, the floor was incredibly clean, practically spotless, but his belt was draped over the back of a dining room chair, the kitchen countertops were a mess, and there was a pile of debris on his office desk. He definitely doesn't pay much attention to sanitation. The floor had clearly been mopped; there wasn't even a hair on the floor. If he was so meticulous as to mop before leaving, why didn't he clean the ashtray or even leave the incense behind? It's as if he was afraid we wouldn't be able to figure out his connection to drugs."
Zhao Yiqing heard this, and her peach blossom eyes curved behind her hair that she hadn't had time to take care of. One hand rested loosely on Lu Chengtian's shoulder: "What should I do? I seem to have fallen in love with you again."
"Get lost." Lu Chengtian said expressionlessly.
This was just a joke. Zhao Yiqing's expression quickly turned serious, and he asked several technical detectives to check the house for fingerprints and footprints - but they found nothing.
"He faked it as if he had escaped, but it's very likely someone came and took him or his body away. The killer even had enough time to erase all traces; he must have been a professional. The windows were open, allowing for good ventilation, but the strong smell of smoke suggests he'd been gone a short time ago." Lu Chengtian sealed the bundle of incense in a bag and handed it to a nearby detective. "Check all the surveillance footage from 9:40 yesterday morning, when Luo Hua returned, until now. Focus on the footage from the past 12 hours. Question all suspicious individuals, especially those who don't live in this complex."
The study's curtains were highly light-blocking, making the entire room small and dim. Lu Chengtian pulled the curtains aside, and dust drifted into the light.
High school Chinese lesson plans and supplementary materials were scattered across the desk, while the bookshelf was mostly filled with literature and history books. Lu Chengtian's gaze fell on the computer on the desk. A green light lit in the right corner of the monitor—it wasn't turned off, just the screen. He moved the mouse a few times, and sure enough, the old Windows interface appeared, but it required a password.
Zhao Yiqing, who was standing by, saw this and thoughtfully called Luo Xiaohei: "Xiaohei, are you busy? Beian Community, Building 3, Unit 1, 1201, come now, Captain Lu needs you."
Lu Chengtian turned around and their eyes met.
Zhao Yiqing opened his phone's photo album and showed Lu Chengtian the scanned copy of the Zhou Group's investment in the "Christian Gospel Taisho Light." "I used some of my family's connections and found that the Zhou Group was involved with a cult organization. Captain Lu, have you come up with anything?"
"What is the logo of this organization?" As soon as Lu Chengtian finished speaking, Zhao Yiqing showed him the picture sent by his family members.
On the black background, there is a red isosceles triangle with a burning flame mark in the middle.
"Do we want to detain Zhou Xinzhang for interrogation?" Zhao Yiqing narrowed his eyes dangerously.
Lu Chengtian thought of Zhou Mubai's remarks. Zhou Mubai told Lin Xian about Zhou Xinzhang's connection to the cult, hoping that Lin Xian would pass the information to the police and direct the blame towards Zhou Xinzhang.
They were clearly brothers, but clearly not on the same page. This clue was enough to get Young Master Zhou to come to the Municipal Bureau for some tea, but Lu Chengtian always felt that there was some conspiracy he didn't know about, and he didn't want to be fooled by Zhou Mubai.
"No, first, privately find out what their relationship is with that organization, and what exactly that organization does." Lu Chengtian looked out the window at the scorching afternoon light. "I always feel that there is a deeper connection behind these things."
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