The engine of the sedan started up again as Lin Heyu and Yuan Maoqiu followed. Sheng Guoning called: “Yang Weiyi contacted me. He just met with Pang Daozi’s men.”
“Hmm, it’s Zhao Chenghu.”
“Eh? Did you see?”
“Of course, we saw. Yang Weiyi got beaten up and hobbled back.” Yuan Maoqiu asked, “What did he say to you? Did he have a falling out with Pang Daozi?”
“Sort of. He unilaterally broke the contract. He’s actually not a bad person, just did everything for his son. Now that he realizes the seriousness of the situation, he regrets deeply and plans to surrender.”
If this was true, Yuan Maoqiu glanced back at the shrinking chemical plant: “That’s good. Once we catch him, the legal implications will be different.”
So far, the controlled substances Yang Weiyi provided had not harmed anyone. Jiang Dongliang had been rescued, and the machinery plant had not yet had an accident. If they could avoid it in time and he showed a good attitude in admitting guilt, his sentence would be much lighter.
Lin Heyu opened Yi Shi’s WeChat. Hours had passed, and there was still no reply. He felt uneasy, his right eyelid twitching uncontrollably, and couldn’t help but press it.
“By the way, do you have any news about Xiao Shitou?” Yuan Maoqiu asked.
Sheng Guoning hesitated for a few seconds before answering: “None. Shen Ruirui and the others are already checking the surveillance. So far, only a few similar figures have been found; it’s not confirmed if any are Xiao Shitou.”
Yuan Maoqiu sighed. It turned out that Lao Lin was right—the kid was quite clever, letting others know where he went but never giving anyone a chance to find him.
Although they were in Muli, their mission was more challenging, and they couldn’t afford to spare time to search for a child. Sheng Guoning said he was on the way, having communicated with the local police in the Muli Second District, and would find Xiao Shitou as soon as possible.
Lin Heyu had no objections to his arrangement: “Hmm, Zhao Chenghu is up to me and Maoqiu. If Zhizhi asks, tell her to stay at home. I won’t call her.”
“Don’t call her. Just pretend you don’t know. Zhizhi is fine. The client needed her, so she went to the company.”
Zhao Chenghu had been driving around Muli for several hours. As night fell, he ended up back on a familiar road.
In the dim night, the tall smokestack of the chemical plant was clearly visible. Yuan Maoqiu was puzzled: “Why have they come back? Planning to forcefully take over the deal if it didn’t work out?”
Lin Heyu didn’t respond, calmly following behind the sedan. It gradually slowed down, forcing Lin Heyu to ease off the accelerator and, from ten meters away, hit the hazard lights, pretending the car had broken down. Yuan Maoqiu got out, looking up at the tall mountain silhouette: “This is Baimei Mountain, and the entrance is ahead. Are they waiting for someone here?”
As soon as he finished speaking, someone came out from the slope of the mountain entrance holding a piece of clothing, knocking on the window and signaling to open the trunk. The clothing wrapped something, with a rounded shape, still alive, as they could clearly see the object struggling inside the fabric.
“Hey, Lao Lin, look!” Yuan Maoqiu lowered his voice, “Hair! There’s hair!”
Several strands of fine black hair were visible, swaying rhythmically as they were thrown into the trunk. From the edge of the coat, a slender little leg was also exposed.
“Damn! It’s a child!” Yuan Maoqiu grabbed Lin Heyu’s arm, and Lin Heyu stopped him from making a fuss. Of course, he knew it was a child—the child was none other than Zhizihua, whom they had been searching for so long!
Wasn’t she supposed to be taken for matching? This situation seemed like a trip to the hospital? It was more likely to be a cover-up.
Lin Heyu sensed something bad: “Get in the car, quickly!”
Without hesitation, Yuan Maoqiu jumped into the car. The sedan had already started moving, and they followed. As they passed the mountain entrance, Yuan Maoqiu suddenly pressed his face against the car window, astonished: “It’s that Volkswagen!”
“Are you sure?”
“Damn right! My eyesight is 1.5 every year during physical exams!”
The Volkswagen, which they had been unable to locate, suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Lin Heyu’s eyelid twitched even more, and the sense of unease expanded bit by bit.
After a while, he noticed in the rearview mirror that the Volkswagen had followed and was getting closer. Its target was Zhao Chenghu in front, changing lanes to bypass the dump truck behind and overtaking aggressively.
The two cars were separated by a lane. The Volkswagen suddenly floored the gas pedal and zoomed past them.
Yuan Maoqiu’s face turned pale, his throat bobbing: “…Hey, I’ve got something even more terrifying to tell you.”
“Go ahead.”
“I think I just saw your partner.”
———
Zhao Chenghu sat in the passenger seat, legs crossed, smoking. The window next to him was slightly open, and smoke wafted out, looking like a small chimney from a distance.
The car was driven by a subordinate who had been with him for six months but was not very useful, only capable of doing menial tasks. Hearing that they were going to deal with a little girl, the subordinate had already turned pale.
Zhao Chenghu glanced at him with the corner of his eye. With such courage, he was only fit to drive. Compared to them, the bald old guys were the real cold-blooded fiends. It was said they had killed several children, some to show off to the police, others to intimidate parents for ransom, and some were accidental deaths, showing no mercy.
“Drive faster! Stop dawdling all the time.”
They drove toward the town, turning at the crossroads and heading toward the riverside according to the navigation. The town was small, and the only busy ferry closed at 9 PM. After the bright lights were extinguished, the water cypress forests along the river were silent, with no trace of people.
“Brother Hu, what do you think about this spot?” The underling glanced ahead. “If I park the car in the woods, no one will be able to see it.”
“Idiot, why are you stopping? With such a big target, can’t you just keep driving?” Zhao Chenghu slapped him across the head, making the underling feel aggrieved. “Aren’t I waiting for you? The ferry’s closed, so you can’t get back to Nanyi anyway.”
“…” Zhao Chenghu had never seen someone so dumb. He kicked him, unbuckled his seatbelt, got out of the car, and told him to wait for a call.
He single-handedly lifted the little girl out of the trunk, tucking her under his arm, grabbed a snakeskin bag, and walked into the metasequoia forest without looking back. Gardenia struggled to lift her head, weakly whimpering. She wanted to resist, but after prolonged hunger and intense anxiety, her body was exhausted. Even with all her strength, she could only make her legs tremble slightly.
“You could have lived, you know. If they’d swapped your kidney for that Yang kid’s, you could have lived. After one, there’s always another. Either way, you’d have survived, right?”
“But that Yang bastard didn’t appreciate it. He doesn’t want to save his son, and now you’ve got no chance either. If you turn into a ghost, go after him for revenge.”
“Killing a kid like you, this is a first for me. That bald old ghost said that killing kids feels different from killing adults. It’s so easy; just a flick of the fingers and they’re gone.”
Gardenia’s body turned cold as she recalled that creepy old man, who strangled a boy to death with one hand. The boy’s face, red and purple from mechanical asphyxiation, was etched in her memory, leaving a psychological scar she could never erase.
Soon it would be her turn. Gardenia closed her eyes. She once saw a homeless man who drowned after falling into a river. It was summer, and when they found the body, it was so swollen it looked like an inflated balloon, grotesquely bloated. But her fate would likely be to rot quietly underwater, lying in the dark, cold riverbed, turning into a skeleton that no one would ever know about.
The metasequoia forest ended at a dam, with a large slope covered in stones of all sizes. New grass sprouted from the cracks between the rocks, brimming with life. It was spring, and the river hadn’t risen yet, so the rocks were still visible. But come July, during the main flood season, the river might rise enough to submerge the metasequoia forest.
“Damn, gotta go down there. What a hassle.”
The path below the dam wasn’t meant for people to walk on, so Zhao Chenghu had to pull out his phone to light his way. He slipped on a stone, cursing under his breath, every word foul.
When Gardenia was finally set down again, the sound of waves crashing was continuous in her ears. The river wind howled, carrying the earthy smell of mud. The raging waves licked the riverbank, like a monster opening its abyssal mouth, ready to devour a weak life.
Zhao Chenghu picked through the stones on the riverbank, throwing some into the bag until it became heavy. He placed it next to Gardenia. Squatting down, he patted the little girl’s cheek. “Next life, pick a better family. Don’t be born into a rich one; they’re all no good.”
A rich family…? Tears welled up in Gardenia’s eyes as memories of not having enough to eat or wear, wandering the streets with her brother, flashed before her. Sleeping in concrete pipes, on the streets, even envying dogs for having a place to call home—her best clothes were the school uniform she got from Jiang Dongliang.
If she could really choose her fate, she’d wish for an ordinary family in her next life, where life was just okay, her parents were harmonious, and she had a brother who spoiled her. No need for wealth or luxury; she’d be content with a simple, happy life.
All she ever wanted was a simple dream.
Someone… please save me.
—
Xiao Shitou sat in the back seat, gripping the driver’s seat tightly, his eyes never leaving the car ahead that was carrying Gardenia.
“Hey… where are they taking Gardenia? Do you know?”
Yi Shi glanced out the window. They were heading toward the ferry, and in a flash, he could imagine Gardenia’s fate.
Xiao Shitou noticed too. “Isn’t this the place I pass on the bus?” He froze for a few seconds, then burst out yelling, “They’re going to drown Gardenia!”
“Quiet.”
Yi Shi frowned, a buzzing in his ears. The tearing pain in his ribs kept assaulting his nerves, but he forced it down. He instinctively reached to check, feeling the damp bandages. They had to hurry.
So Yi Shi stepped on the gas, the car speed instantly soaring. Ahead, separated by a lane, was an SUV. Xiao Shitou suddenly shrank back into the rear seat, whispering, “Lin Heyu is here.”
Yi Shi glanced at the SUV. “Are you sure?”
“From the license plate, yes. A couple of days ago, they came back from a mission in that car.”
Yi Shi frowned even more, pressing the gas pedal harder, rushing through the intersection just before the light turned red. But the SUV completely ignored the red light, following right behind. He was momentarily stunned, having forgotten about the special treatment they received during investigations, and had foolishly hoped the red light would stop them.
He checked the time on the dashboard. At the next intersection, the sedan went straight, but Yi Shi decisively turned right. As he turned, Xiao Shitou panicked. “Why’d you change direction?!”
“We’ll get there. It’s a bit roundabout, but we’ll be faster than Lin Heyu’s team.”
Xiao Shitou’s eyes were full of questions, but Yi Shi calmly said, “There’s a train track up ahead. Every day at this time, a train passes through.”
He had calculated the time. If they went straight, the sedan would make it, but they would be stuck waiting for the train. Now, by turning right, they’d take a shortcut to the riverside, which would definitely be faster than waiting for the train.
“How do you know? Do you live in Muli?”
“I’ve been here.” Yi Shi replied. There wasn’t a city around Nanyi he hadn’t been to, especially Muli, where he had come several times before to investigate Yang Weiyi.
When they reached the riverside, they saw the sedan had turned around and was coming out of a side road, heading toward the ferry. Xiao Shitou was even more confused. “Why did they come back? Where are they really taking Gardenia?!”
The entire riverside was desolate, not a soul in sight. The Volkswagen was about to cross paths with the sedan. Yi Shi sharply turned the steering wheel, bringing the Volkswagen to a stop across the middle of the road.
The person on the other side got out of the car, looking bewildered, and walked over to tap on the car window. Without saying a word, Yi Shi forcefully opened the door outward, causing the man to step back: “Where is the person?”
The underling stumbled and hesitated: “…Who are you? Where are the people who were originally in the car?”
He looked at the license plate in surprise, not mistaking it—it was indeed the one driven by Tu Laogui’s men. But where were those two guys? How did they get replaced by this fierce-looking person?
Yi Shi had no patience for nonsense. He walked over, performed a restraining technique, grabbed the back of the man’s neck, and pressed his face to the ground, his tone cold as ice: “Where is the person?”
“Wh-what person…”
“The girl.” Yi Shi’s hand gradually tightened, increasing the pressure on the man’s neck. “If I have to ask a third time, I’ll snap your neck.”
Terrified, the underling didn’t hesitate to betray his boss to save his life.
Yi Shi tied him up by the side of the car. When he looked up, Xiao Shitou had already disappeared.
