Haijing’s second team hurriedly arrived, and the mountain search team immediately reported the situation, handing over the two pieces of evidence found by the police dogs. Jian Ru, wearing gloves, picked up a white shell stained with blood and asked the young man beside him, “Luo Fei, is there a little girl with a cochlear implant among the hostages?”
“Yeah, her name is Dong Wuxuan.” Luo Fei opened his phone’s photo album, found an image, and compared it with the white shell. “This is it; it looks exactly like the cochlear image provided by her parents.”
“Then it’s definitely hers.” Jian Ru took a few steps back, looking up at the vines that had been pulled aside. He asked his colleague who was stationed at the cave entrance, “How many are there inside?”
“There are six in total: four boys and two girls.”
“What’s the situation?”
“They’re not in life-threatening danger, but we need to cut the chains to move them.”
Luo Fei waved his hand, and a colleague behind him walked over carrying a handheld cutting machine. Jian Ru put his arm around his shoulder. “Hey, my suggestion to go to the timber yard today was a good call, right? Just look at how much help we’ve provided. Otherwise, where would we find a cutting machine in this wild mountain?”
Luo Fei clasped his hands together. “Yes, yes, yes. When Captain Lin arrives, we’ll give you a good compliment and try to get you transferred to Team One.”
On the other side, Lin Erde watched as the cave entrance was opened and the police poured in, burning with anger as he questioned Lin Heyu, “Did you tip them off?! Huh?!”
Yi Shi couldn’t be bothered to respond to him, while Lin Heyu maintained his usual indifferent expression. The two of them showed no signs of fear, which infuriated Lin Erde. Unable to contain himself, he pressed the gun directly against Lin Heyu’s temple. “Talk! If you don’t, I’ll shoot!”
“Why don’t you shout a little louder so the people below can hear?” Lin Heyu replied.
Lin Erde hurriedly leaned in, pushing aside a tangle of branches to look down, and noticed that the police were all gathered near the cave, completely unaware that there were people on the opposite mountain. He let out a slight sigh of relief.
“Those damn cops, they actually managed to find us. Luckily, not everyone was captured over here…” Lin Erde pulled out his phone and called right in front of them. Once connected, his tone changed instantly, becoming sycophantic and cautious, a stark contrast to his earlier threatening demeanor.
“Something happened; we’ve been discovered… I don’t know; as soon as I arrived, I saw the police! … There are six inside, yes, yes, the people were picked by the bald guy… Huh? They’re all… all dead? Me?”
Lin Erde’s expression turned bizarre as he shoved Yi Shi aside, squeezing into his position and squatting in the bushes, staring in the direction of the cave. “This… this is too far, right? What if I can’t hit them? … Shooting at the police will just get us killed faster! Oh no, more people are coming!”
Yi Shi also squeezed over, picking up the binoculars. He saw a team of seven approaching, led by a man with broad shoulders and long legs, his face stern and unsmiling. Behind him was a boy with a Korean pop star look. With these two at the front, any keen observer would recognize them as Haijing City Bureau’s well-known “Chef” and “Gardener.”
Down the mountain was Lin Heyu, who had another person beside him, creating a strangely delicate sensation. Yi Shi’s eyes fixated on Lin Heyu below, and he stretched out his arm to pat the person beside him, wanting to ask for his thoughts.
But as he reached out, he found nothing. Yi Shi immediately turned his head—where did he go?
Under the giant snow pine, only he and Lin Erde remained. Lin Heyu, who had just been next to him, had vanished. He was certain he hadn’t heard any footsteps; Lin Heyu had not moved from his position. He had disappeared in an instant.
Yi Shi suddenly stood up, the sudden movement startling Lin Erde, who hurriedly pointed his gun at him. “Hey! Who told you to stand up? What do you want to do?! Huh? Where’s your partner? Where is he?”
Yi Shi paced back and forth, examining the shoe prints left on the ground. Normally, there would be three pairs of prints in the mud, but there were only two, belonging to him and Lin Erde. It was as if Lin Heyu had never existed.
In that moment, he seemed to understand that Lin Heyu’s question to verify something was also the matter that had been interrupted earlier due to Lin Erde’s presence—during their subsequent interactions, Lin Heyu had not mentioned encountering three bandits, indicating that another trace of Lin Heyu did not exist in this scene.
The conclusion now drawn was that it was impossible for two identical versions of him to coexist in the same place at the same time.
“When did your partner run away? Damn it, I didn’t hear a sound at all!” Lin Erde glared at Yi Shi. “You, don’t stand there! Get down! Crouch with your head down!”
Yi Shi furrowed his brow, still lost in thought. It was impossible for two Lin Heyus to exist; why could two Yi Shis exist? Was it due to differences in age and identity that there was no effect?
In the cave, the chains were cut, and each child was carried down. Lin Erde was nervously gripping his gun, his hands trembling. Tu Laogui had said to leave no one behind, to kill all the hostages; how could he shoot accurately? Wasn’t this putting him in a difficult position?
At that moment, a police officer down the mountain inadvertently looked up, his gaze drifting upwards for a few seconds before stopping dead on the snow pine forest. Lin Erde’s palms began to sweat; it was too far to see the officer’s expression, but he saw him grab the arm of the tall guy in front of him, pointing in Lin Erde’s direction.
They had been discovered! Lin Erde’s scalp tingled, and gritting his teeth, he decided to act without hesitation, firing several shots at the police officers moving to transfer the hostages. At the moment the gunshots rang out, chaos erupted below, and Yuan Maoqiu shouted, “Stop searching; they’re right by the snow pine trees! There are two of them! First, protect the hostages!”
The piercing sound of gunfire jolted Yi Shi back to reality, and his face paled. How could he have spaced out at such a critical moment, especially with Lin Erde next to him shooting at the hostages?
“You’re crazy!” Yi Shi furiously grabbed the gun barrel. Just as Lin Erde was about to pull the trigger, the bullet that came from his tilted gun hit a young police officer holding a little girl.
“Luo Fei! Luo Fei!” Jian Ru caught the collapsing Luo Fei, his hands drenched in vivid red blood, stinging Yi Shi’s eyes. What was this? Indirect murder? If he didn’t seize the gun, with Lin Erde’s lousy shooting skills, he wouldn’t have hit anyone at all!
There was no time to think. Bullets rained down from all directions, leaving holes in the mountainside and tree trunks, causing the birds to scatter and dust to fly. Lin Erde cursed, planning to retaliate, but Yi Shi grabbed him by the back of his neck and forced him down to the ground, quickly snatching the gun away and pressing it to his temple. “Dare to shoot again?!”
All around them, bullets whizzed by. Just then, a stray bullet struck a nearby snow pine, and Yi Shi immediately dropped to the ground. Lin Erde, however, broke free from his grip, scrambled to his feet, and staggered a few steps before clutching his stomach and collapsing to the ground, wailing.
Yi Shi cursed under his breath. In this situation, crawling would maximize their chances of avoiding stray bullets. Lin Erde was just digging his own grave. He yanked Lin Erde behind a tree, where the police had already begun to surround the mountain. When he turned around, he locked eyes with the person at the front of the group.
Even though they were several meters apart, Yi Shi studied him closely. Those elongated, deep-set eyes, with pupils as black as ink, held none of the familiar warmth he had come to know, only an unyielding layer of ice, with a flicker of rage hidden beneath.
Yi Shi was momentarily stunned. He had never seen Lin Heyu like this before; the warmth he had just experienced shattered into pieces under that gaze. If he pulled down his mask, would Lin Heyu still see him as the assailant who had injured his teammate?
Time didn’t give him the chance to think it over. Lin Heyu raised his hand, the gun aimed squarely, and shot without the slightest hesitation. Yi Shi knew he had to dodge, but his body wouldn’t respond in time. It was Lin Erde who scrambled up and, with the last of his strength, pulled Yi Shi away. “Damn! Everyone’s here, and you’re still standing there!”
“Thud!” The bullet struck Yi Shi in the upper right arm. Under the effect of adrenaline, the pain hadn’t yet reached his brain. After stumbling a few steps while being dragged by Lin Erde, the intense burning sensation erupted from the wound. The bullet rolled through his muscle at high speed, creating a cavity, and the tearing sensation shot straight to his scalp. Cold sweat drenched his back, and his face went pale.
The film and television trope of protagonists shrugging off multiple gunshot wounds was a lie. Under the massive kinetic energy of the bullet, even a non-fatal hit could make one wish for death. Yi Shi’s vision went dark, and he stumbled, kneeling on the ground while pressing his hand against the bleeding wound.
His entire right arm was rendered useless, but thankfully it wasn’t his leg, leaving him a sliver of hope.
Lin Erde clutched his stomach and yelled, “Get up! They’re coming right behind us! Do you want to die here?!”
Yi Shi bit his tongue to suppress the pain, glancing at the terrain. Ahead was a small slope; without thinking, he jumped down to use the height to escape the line of fire. Below were decaying leaves and a muddy pit. Lin Erde followed suit, and Yi Shi ordered sharply, “Find a way out!”
Lin Erde nodded repeatedly. “This way, this way! There’s a path to Lover’s Peak!”
The two raced through the woods, their lives on the line. Lin Erde didn’t dare waste a single second, rolling and crawling along the quickest route through the shadowy snow pine forest. After a while, they could no longer hear the footsteps behind them. Yi Shi took a breath; Lin Heyu wouldn’t find them so quickly. He had mentioned that he hadn’t remembered the paths until now, which meant he probably hadn’t recalled his childhood experiences of running through the mountains yet.
However—things weren’t entirely safe. Yi Shi spotted the blood droplets continually dripping to the ground; their path was like painting a map. They would eventually lead Lin Heyu right to them.
Lin Erde’s wound was in his abdomen, and blood had already stained his clothes red. He sat down on the ground, cold sweat pouring down, “I can’t go on! I’m bleeding out! I’m going to die!…”
Yi Shi tugged at his shirt, discovering that although he was bleeding profusely, the bullet had merely grazed his waist, resulting in a superficial wound. Despite feeling like a knife had cut through him, this was one of the least severe gunshot injuries; it hadn’t damaged any bones or muscles, and could not be compared to the penetrating wound on his shoulder.
No wonder he could still run for so long. Under normal circumstances, if someone got shot in the abdomen, they would have collapsed long ago.
“If you really want to die, just stay here,” Yi Shi said, glancing up at Lover’s Peak, which was close at hand. He remembered that the blood trail had ended by the lake; whatever happened next, heading in that direction was certainly the right choice.
Hearing this, Lin Erde struggled to his feet, his steps unsteady and dazed, completely losing the arrogance he had shown earlier. Yi Shi recalled how his attitude had changed during the interrogation—from initially being boisterous to ultimately appearing like a drowned rat. It seemed that no matter the world, one’s true nature remained unchanged.
The small lake was connected to the low peak. The two stumbled to the lake’s edge, with Lin Erde panting heavily, pointing ahead, “Over there, there’s a narrow passage down there… we can get through there…”
Yi Shi ignored him, kneeling by the lakeside and looking down at the water. The clear lake reflected his image, and as he blinked, he noticed that his reflection had somehow changed.
The face of a young man was distorted by the rippling water, his expression one of surprise, as his right hand slowly reached into the water. Yi Shi paused for a moment, mimicking the action. The icy lake water gradually enveloped the back of his hand, slowly swallowing his entire right hand.
Underneath the surface, his fingertips touched warm fingers. The index and middle fingers tentatively brushed against his hand, then grasped it firmly, pulling him into the water.
Behind him, Lin Erde exclaimed, “Damn! Don’t fall into the lake!”
The injured arm was also caught, and the tug-of-war between their two forces aggravated the injury. Yi Shi was nearly driven mad by the pain. The strength from the water suddenly eased, then yanked him hard, dragging Lin Erde into the water with him, ending this extreme struggle.
