Four days later, in front of the State Security 547 Unit building.
Zhang Shun parked his Ferrari. Wearing sunglasses, casual clothes, and sneakers, he showed his access pass under the watchful eyes of the two armed police officers on duty and walked through the main gate.
The next moment, a loud “BANG!” of a car crash sounded from behind. Zhang Shun whipped his head around to see the front of his Ferrari deeply embedded in a utility pole, with a silver-gray Cayenne rammed firmly against its rear.
Zhang Shun took off his sunglasses in disbelief. The Cayenne’s door opened, and Zhou Hui slipped out effortlessly, saying with surprise, “Huh? How did my brakes fail?”
Then he looked at the empty driver’s seat of the Ferrari, turned back to see the dumbfounded Zhang Shun on the steps, and muttered, “…A pity.”
“…” Zhang Shun suddenly exploded. “You fucking did that on purpose, didn’t you! It wasn’t brake failure, you just thought I was in the car! Are you sick, Zhou you fucking idiot!”
Zhang Shun lunged forward to punch Zhou Hui, who hurriedly dodged backward while calling out to his brother-in-law. Just as they were about to come to blows, the other door of the Cayenne opened, and Chu He got out, shouting, “—Both of you, stop!”
The moment Zhang Shun saw him, he burst into tears of joy. “Bro! I fucking thought you were dead!”
This was the first time Young Master Zhang had seen his brother in several months. Before this, either the situation had been too chaotic for them to meet, or Zhou Hui had been keeping Chu He under house arrest. At his most depressed, Young Master Zhang had even suspected his brother had been silenced by Zhou Hui. If not for Yu Jingzhong and Li Hu desperately holding him back, he would have stormed Zhou Hui’s place to kill him.
The three of them walked into the 547 Unit building. Zhou Hui walked in front, humming a tune. Zhang Shun fell half a step behind and asked Chu He, “Bro, how have you been? Were you hurt last time when Beijing was shrouded in death energy?”
Chu He was dressed in a slim-fit black suit, without the button fastened or a tie, looking slender and casual. Even in the bright light, his face was a bit pale, but at least he looked better than when he had nearly exhausted his heart’s blood in H City. Hearing the question, he shook his head. “I wasn’t hurt—what are you doing here?”
“Deputy Chief Yu called me, said there was an emergency.” Zhang Shun shrugged. “That unlucky Zhou guy and you two have been gone for a long time, Team Leader Wu Er is still on his way from the Northeast, and Third Brother is still recovering from his serious injuries. Deputy Chief Yu said I could barely count as combat strength, so he asked me to come to State Security for duty every now and then…”
Zhou Hui was about to lose it when he heard “that unlucky Zhou guy,” but just as he was about to say something, Chu He interrupted him in a strange tone, “—Third Brother?”
“Situ Hou San,” Zhang Shun said as if it were a matter of course. “Third Brother is a great guy, he takes good care of me. He often takes Shenwan, Nine-Tails, and me out for girls and karaoke. Before he got injured, we hit up all the underground casinos around here…”
Chu He looked at him silently, his feelings complex. He didn’t speak for a long time.
Zhang Shun looked at his brother, puzzled. After a moment, Chu He averted his gaze and said expressionlessly, “It’s nothing.”
The elevator doors dinged open. As the three of them walked out, they ran into Li Hu in the hallway.
In her female form, Li Hu was always in her signature busty top. She was startled to see Zhou Hui and Chu He, and her peerless assets nearly jumped out with a shiver. “Phoenix No. 4! You can actually get out! I thought you were dead!”
Chu He took a deep breath. Zhou Hui hurriedly stopped her. “Don’t learn from that idiot kid of a brother-in-law! What are you doing here too?”
“Deputy Yu said there was a situation he couldn’t handle and called me in urgently.” Li Hu tossed her long hair and charmingly hooked her arm through Zhang Shun’s.
Young Master Zhang’s reaction had gone from struggling against her a short while ago to a numb expression now. It was unclear when he had gotten used to her indiscriminate flesh-and-blood attacks.
Zhou Hui frowned, looking at the group before him. He wondered what on earth had happened to make Yu Jingzhong suddenly call everyone, including himself and Phoenix, to the special division.
“Hey, hey, you guys are slow on the uptake. Do you know the latest big gossip?” Li Hu looked around, then lowered her voice mysteriously. “Our special division, last week, a top big boss was suddenly parachuted in…”
“Isn’t our boss Deputy Yu?” Zhang Shun asked.
Zhou Hui said coldly, “Isn’t our boss me?”
“…It’s time to correct your erroneous perception of this world.” Li Hu looked at them both with pity. “Although Yu Jingzhong is acting as the head, he still has ‘deputy’ in his title. Some people high up don’t like him. Last time he killed that old man from the military commission, someone deliberately tried to mess with him. Plus, not long ago, Trailokyavijaya Wisdom King almost killed half of Beijing…”
Zhou Hui said, surprised, “Without that Yu guy, the word ‘almost’ would have to be removed, wouldn’t it? And then?”
“Aiya, in short, political struggles are very cruel and complicated.” Li Hu said, “The situation now is that the people high up, in order to get a piece of the special division, are going after Yu Jingzhong for all he’s worth. This time, they just parachuted in a so-called Chief Zhao, who just took office yesterday…”
A few people coming to do business passed by, and Li Hu immediately shut up.
After they had passed, Zhang Shun asked curiously, “He just took office yesterday. How did you find out so much today?”
Li Hu twisted her waist shyly. “I have a lot of male patrons, you know. From the military commission, the National People’s Congress, the Politburo… Aiya, I don’t even want to hear about all this messy stuff… They’re all fighting to please me, it’s so annoying.”
Everyone: “…”
Zhang Shun quickly pulled his arm away and hid timidly behind Chu He.
“What are you all doing out there?” Not far away, Yu Jingzhong, with a cigarette dangling from his lips and a tablet under his arm, stood at the door of the conference room and asked, puzzled. “Everyone’s here, why aren’t you coming in? The meeting is starting.”
Yu Jingzhong’s expression was normal, without any abnormality. But in the eyes of others, his words and actions were as usual—a forced smile; the three lines on his forehead—a heart full of vicissitudes; shrouded in the white smoke of his cigarette—in unbearable pain…
Filled with emotion, the group entered the conference room and sat down sparsely. Yu Jingzhong, while connecting his tablet to the projector, said without looking up, “I’ve called everyone here today because the special division is facing an unprecedented emergency. The situation is very serious, and we must do whatever it takes to salvage the current state of affairs…”
Li Hu was the first to speak. “Deputy Yu! We all support you!”
Zhang Shun immediately seconded, “We’re all on your side, Chief Yu!”
Zhou Hui said coldly, “No need to waste words. Just get rid of that Zhao guy and the problem is solved.”
There was a chorus of enthusiastic agreement. Even Chu He expressed his tacit approval by not disagreeing.
However, Yu Jingzhong stared at the group, his face a picture of confusion. “What… what are you talking about? Get rid of who?”
“Get rid of that Zhao guy! I’ll take care of the body!” Situ Hou San pushed the door open and entered. His arms, neck, and most of his face were wrapped in bandages, but his Hermès scarf, Van Cleef & Arpels men’s watch, and the gold-rimmed glasses on his face, whose brand was no longer recognizable, still glittered, showcasing his usual inhumanly extravagant style. “—I guarantee not a speck of flesh will be left. Clean, easy, no traces. Professional quality proves everything!”
The crowd gave a thumbs-up to the battle-wounded Situ Hou San, and their praises converged into a joyous ocean.
“…What… what on earth are you all thinking?” Only Yu Jingzhong’s mouth twitched. With a tap of his hand, the face of Team Leader Wu Er appeared on the projection screen. “The emergency I’m talking about is that Team Leader Wu Er went missing on his way to State Security!”
·
Team Leader Wu Er, full name Wu Bei, thirty-three years old this year. Before the age of thirty, he was “running a small business” in the Northeast, often going out with a dozen bulletproof cars. His underlings all carried guns when they walked the streets. He was like a wolf and a tiger, someone even ghosts would be afraid of.
Within his jurisdiction, local hooligans and gangsters all walked on eggshells. The underworld was clean, and drugs like K-powder and ecstasy were completely eradicated. Even the bar owners who hired Russian girls for lap dances wished they were transparent—for no other reason than that this man was the biggest gangster in the area.
And the reason why this Wu guy was so arrogant was that three years ago, he had joined State Security’s Sixth Division, becoming a Northeastern mafia boss with a government employee background.
“—This character profile is not accurate,” Li Hu said to Zhang Shun. “You haven’t met Wu Lao’er—even your brother hasn’t. When he came to State Security, your brother was still hiding out in H City. Wu Bei, you see, he’s not just a simple mafia boss, he…”
Li Hu clasped her hands together in front of her chest, her eyes sparkling with a girlish pink light. “He is a man with a romantic spirit, a melancholic bluesy temperament, who pursues poetry, love, and the distant horizon! No, the word ‘man’ cannot be used to tarnish him. He will forever be a Northeastern boy with eyes as bright as the sky and a soul as weathered as ice and snow!”
“…” Zhang Shun asked, “So how did this Northeastern boy go missing?”
Yu Jingzhong sighed and switched the image. A winding curve of the Tibetan railway on the map of China appeared on the screen.
“Wu Bei goes to cross the great desert or to cleanse his soul in the snowy mountains every so often.” Yu Jingzhong’s expression was particularly hard to describe as he said this. He paused. “A while ago, Wu Bei went to climb Mount Everest. It just so happened that Nepal was returning a batch of equipment to us, so I had him bring it to Beijing on his way back…”
He pointed to a spot on the railway line with a laser pointer. “Four days ago, after retrieving the equipment, he, along with four members of Team Two, boarded an old-fashioned train with the number K7350 at this place called Luhucuo. This is the last place we can verify Wu Bei’s appearance. On the same day, a group of separatists with the Snow Lion Flag started a riot on the train, and then the train went missing.”
Zhang Shun was surprised. “The train went missing?!”
“Yes, K7350 did not arrive at its destination station. The train disappeared on the plain.”
Yu Jingzhong put down the laser pointer. Just as he was about to say something, the door was suddenly pushed open.
A short, pot-bellied man of about fifty, holding a thermos, ambled in with a smile, followed by a very unhappy Shenwan Tiansi.
“What took you so long?” Yu Jingzhong stared at Shenwan Tiansi with some surprise, then greeted him as Chief Zhao and introduced him to the others. “This is Chief Zhao Yong, a division-level leader specially appointed by the higher-ups to better lead our work. He just took office yesterday…”
Everyone looked at “Chief Zhao” with complex expressions. No one spoke.
Shenwan Tiansi angrily walked between Chu He and Zhou Hui, pulled out a chair, and sat down with a thud. After all, he was a child they had fed for a few days when he was little. Both of them looked at him strangely. After a moment, Zhou Hui asked in a low voice, “What’s wrong, Lao Wu? Who bullied you?”
Shenwan Tiansi said hatefully, “They all bullied me! They think I’m related to the train robbers!”
Chief Zhao smiled and walked to the front, unceremoniously pulling out the main seat and sitting down, placing his thermos next to him. His expression seemed to be one of deliberate casualness, as if he were aware of being the center of attention. The problem was, he didn’t know that all these gazes were actually on a piece of meat on Situ Hou San’s plate.
Yu Jingzhong raised a hand to his forehead.
“Excuse me, ah, for interrupting your meeting.”
Chief Zhao cleared his throat, took a sip of tea to wet his throat, and said with a reserved smile, “My name is Zhao Yong, the ‘Yong’ from ‘Zhongyong’ (the Doctrine of the Mean). We Chinese people value the gentleman’s doctrine of the mean, while petty people oppose it. The petty person’s doctrine of the mean is that of a petty person without scruples; therefore, being unscrupulous in everything is not acceptable. Everything must follow rules. Without rules, nothing can be accomplished…”
Zhang Shun said, “Damn, where did this uncle pop out from? His style is all wrong.”
Li Hu said angrily, “Wu Lao’er’s life is on the line! What is he blabbering about?!”
“…Before I came, I heard that the special division’s work style is lax and casual, very much lacking the spiritual outlook that our country’s government agency workers should have—of course, this is not a criticism. I can understand that some comrades have their work habits, ah, which are very difficult to change, but that’s alright. We can take it slow, improve ourselves a little every day, and slowly change the current situation where the special division’s work lacks a central idea and a main guiding principle…”
“…Just like this train hijacking incident,” Chief Zhao finally changed the subject and returned to the main topic of the meeting. His tone immediately became serious and solemn. “This train hijacking, first of all, we must define its nature. This is a malicious act by some ill-intentioned religious fanatics in the Tibetan region, using violent and bloody incidents to incite separatism among the people and create opposition! This is a violation of our consistent management methods for minority areas! So, now that we have defined the nature of this matter, the follow-up measures should be…”
Chief Zhao smiled and turned to Yu Jingzhong. Just as he was about to say something, Deputy Yu immediately cut him off. “The follow-up measures will require Chief Zhao’s specific guidance for everyone.”
Chief Zhao was clearly choked for a moment, but the smile on his round face did not diminish. “Well… of course, first of all, we must strongly condemn this act, which has brought great losses to the lives and property of the people…”
Yu Jingzhong strongly agreed. “That makes so much sense!”
“Well… in order to appease the psychology of the masses and maintain the existing balance and unity, we cannot publicize this incident, so as to avoid over-interpretation and sensationalism by people with ulterior motives, and to prevent some rioters on the internet who fear nothing but peace from interfering with our work with their opinions…”
“So what do you mean?” Yu Jingzhong asked immediately.
He had firmly thrown back the pot that Chief Zhao had tried to pass to him. The latter, however, had not expected the usually “soft” Yu Jingzhong to be so slippery. His eyes, narrowed to slits, blinked rapidly. He opened his mouth several times before suddenly grasping an idea. “Right! Then, we search, privately—the hijackers will definitely make demands on us after hijacking the train. We just have to wait for the hijackers to contact us on one hand, and on the other, contact the local police and conduct a careful search along the railway line…”
“But,” Yu Jingzhong said doubtfully, “it’s been four days, and they haven’t contacted us?”
Zhou Hui let out a snort of laughter, and he, Situ, and Li Hu all covered their mouths and turned away at the same time.
“Right, the hijackers haven’t contacted us in four days, which means—which means—” Chief Zhao’s eyes darted around, and he said quickly, “It means the other party intends to blackmail the government and create an atmosphere of panic and chaos! Under these circumstances, we must remain calm, contact the local police as much as possible, and at the same time, remember to keep it a secret from the outside world. We absolutely cannot leak any information…”
Yu Jingzhong sighed, stood up, and walked behind Chief Zhao.
Chief Zhao was still giving his guidance eloquently when Yu Jingzhong suddenly reached out and squeezed the back of his fat neck.
Instantly, Chief Zhao’s eyes went blank, his expression dazed. Two seconds later, he fell onto the table with a thud.
·
“He’s said to be a senior leader from the Public Security Department. I thought he was some formidable character.” Deputy Yu sighed and returned to his seat. While reconnecting the projector, he said, “I was actually hoping that if someone could really take over, I could just throw this whole mess aside and go… ai, I really shouldn’t have overestimated the bottom line of these people.”
He looked up and saw that everyone was looking at him with a mixture of pity and emotion.
“—What is it?”
Deputy Yu was puzzled. He saw Zhou Hui reach out first and pat his shoulder heavily. Then came Situ, then Zhang Shun. Then Li Hu, while patting him, jiggled her assets and said with infinite emotion, “Jing-ge, you’ve been a mother hen for so long, I almost forgot you’re not actually useless…”
“What are you all thinking!” Yu Jingzhong bristled. “I only did it myself because I was afraid you guys would eat him, okay!”
Yu Jingzhong had no idea that in the eyes of this group, his image was that of a battered, delicate flower in need of protection—it was better that he didn’t know. After all, even Yan Lanyu, a beauty who looked like he could be blown over by the wind, was recognized by everyone as a combat force.
He continued to point at the Tibetan railway line on the map with the laser pointer. “We must immediately send people to the place where the train disappeared to search, and at the same time, deploy defenses throughout the entire Tibetan region. It’s impossible for a train to just disappear from the railway network without a trace. It’s either that a space-time tunnel suddenly opened, or the ground collapsed and the whole train fell in. In short, if something happened, there must be a trace left behind—what do you all think?”
He nodded to Zhou Hui, who was comfortably leaning on Chu He’s shoulder, staring at the map. “Who do you want to send?” he asked.
That was a good question.
Deputy Yu thought for a moment. “This time, the trouble is in the Tibetan region. That Zhao guy wants to use the investigation of the Tiansi to get at me, so the Tiansi can’t leave. Beijing must have enough manpower to protect the capital’s defense circle, so Zhou Hui can’t leave either. Situ is injured and it’s best not to travel long distances for a short time…”
He paused and looked at Chu He with an inquiring gaze.
“Using a tortoise shell to calculate geographical location and track specific targets within the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths, that’s your specialty… How about you take Zhang Shun and Lao Liu for a trip?”
Chu He’s gaze shifted to Zhou Hui beside him.
As expected, the next second, Zhou Hui covered his mouth with his fist and coughed. “Have Nine-Tails stay in Beijing with Zhang Shun. Feng Si and I can just go.”
The combination of Nine-Tails, Zhang Shun, and Shenwan Tiansi was not incapable of holding the rear. Yu Jingzhong was just hesitating whether to agree when he heard Chu He suddenly speak up. “No, I want to take Zhang Shun.”
The whole room was shocked. Even Zhang Shun himself couldn’t believe his ears. “…Bro, you’re not planning to leave me behind this time?!”
Chu He didn’t answer. He only heard Zhou Hui lazily interject, “—What are you taking your brother-in-law for? The Tibetan plateau, thin oxygen. What if your brother-in-law’s liver explodes and he can’t come back…”
Chu He suddenly turned his head and met Zhou Hui’s gaze.
On the surface, Zhou Hui was lazy and informal, his face handsome and his temperament frivolous. But only those who knew him best could see that when he said this, his eyes were clearly glinting with a cold, calculating light.
However, Chu He was unmoved, meeting his gaze without backing down.
There was something in their gazes that no one else could understand, only they themselves. After a long moment, Zhou Hui finally looked away, let out a short laugh, and casually picked up a pen to play with. “—If you want to take him, then take him. Ai… poor disaster brother-in-law. How much rhodiola will you have to drink in Tibet…”
·
They had agreed internally, and Yu Jingzhong didn’t have any major objections. In the end, the personnel staying behind were Hou San, Nine-Tails, and Shenwan Tiansi. The Tibetan search and rescue team was a pair of ex-spouses, plus a tag-along brother-in-law.
Coming out of the conference room, Zhang Shun helped Yu Jingzhong carry the unconscious, pig-like Chief Zhao. The others walked ahead in twos and threes. Zhou Hui deliberately slowed his pace, looked back at Chu He, and smiled. “Wifey?”
His smile was deep and charming, but Chu He stopped warily. “What?”
In the hallway, Zhou Hui and Chu He stood facing each other. The latter was slender and cautious, while the former had an arrogant and unrestrained aura. At first glance, it gave an extremely chaotic and oppressive feeling.
The closest person to them, Li Hu, was several steps away. Zhou Hui leaned towards Chu He’s cheek and whispered with a smile, “You insist on taking Zhang Shun… is it because you’re afraid I’ll have someone stay in Beijing to secretly kill him, right?”
Chu He didn’t answer.
“Are you that worried about gains and losses?” Zhou Hui asked with an interested smile. “Just one bone, and you can’t let it go?”
He carefully observed Chu He’s expression and saw that the usually calm face finally showed a subtle change. A complex and obscure emotion that could not be expressed seemed to flash across it.
“—It’s not like that,” he finally shook his head and said. “It’s actually the exact opposite of what you suspect…”
