The few people remaining in the room began to let their eyes wander, taking in the interior furnishings. Ren Lifei had long since grown accustomed to Lu Linjiang’s tendency to act as if no one else existed. After waiting a moment and seeing no further reaction, he simply directed his subordinates to move the equipment back to the center first.
Once everyone had left, Lu Linjiang finally spoke, his voice low and sharp. "I will make him pay for this!"
Jiang Cheng sensed the lingering fear in Lu Linjiang’s tone. He reached out and gently patted Lu Linjiang’s back a few times. "I know."
***
Droplets slid down the IV tube and disappeared beneath the covers. The person on the bed seemed to move their limbs slightly, only to fall still again immediately. Zhao Zhijie waited patiently. Finally, as the liquid in the bottle ran dry, he pressed the call button at the head of the bed.
The fluid in the tube decreased visibly to the naked eye until the entire line was empty. Zhao Zhijie frowned and glanced at the ward door; the nurse who should have arrived by now was nowhere to be seen. He exhaled an impatient breath. When he turned his gaze back, the last of the liquid had already vanished beneath the quilt.
Zhao Zhijie pressed the call button again, then leaned forward to pull back the covers to see if blood was backing up into Luo Jia’s line. An oddly colored, swollen hand slammed into his vision. Zhao Zhijie froze. With a sudden surge of strength, he yanked the entire quilt off the bed. Beneath the covers lay a special-purpose silicone doll wearing a silver wig, its features grotesque and unsettling.
The door finally swung open. Zhao Zhijie whipped his head around. Leading the group was Yang Bo, who was supposed to have left with Lu Linjiang.
Zhao Zhijie realized instantly that he was exposed. He straightened up calmly. "Luo Jia escaped?" As he spoke, he had already pressed his phone, his fingers sliding across the screen by memory, attempting to tap a shortcut on the desktop.
"Don't bother. There’s a signal jammer in the room next door," Xu Sichen said. "No matter who is in this room, they won't be making any calls."
Yang Bo had already raised his firearm. "Drop the device. Hands behind your head where I can see them clearly."
Zhao Zhijie dropped the phone and slowly raised his hands, allowing Yang Bo to approach and cuff him. Yang Bo was quite satisfied with his cooperation and patted him on the shoulder. "Let’s go. Back to the bureau to tell us exactly what’s going on."
Yang Bo took off his jacket and draped it over Zhao Zhijie’s arms to hide the handcuffs, then he and Tang Hua flanked Zhao Zhijie, escorting him downstairs. Zhao Zhijie remained cooperative the entire time. The police car was parked in the basement; he had driven it there himself, only this time he was no longer the driver, but a passenger in the designated rear seat.
"I failed," Zhao Zhijie said suddenly after Yang Bo started the engine.
Yang Bo gave a noncommittal grunt. Tang Hua, wearing a mask in the passenger seat, turned back at the words. "What, do you want to do a post-mortem on your performance?"
"No, I’m just reflecting."
Tang Hua looked at him with a half-smile. "If you had succeeded, what were you planning to do?"
"If I succeeded, I succeeded. I would have gone back to work as usual."
"Oh." Tang Hua nodded. "This thing... who told you to do it? You’re throwing away your entire career. A life-and-death friend?"
Zhao Zhijie didn't speak this time, turning his head to look out the window. Tang Hua shook his head. "Young man, you're still too naive."
The night roads were clear, and Yang Bo soon arrived back at the bureau. Zhao Zhijie cooperated as he got out of the car. Yang Bo and Tang Hua flanked him as usual, and it wasn't until they entered the main gates of the municipal bureau that Yang Bo spoke up. "Brother Tang, should we tell him?"
Tang Hua laughed. "Haven't you been waiting for this moment for a long time?"
Zhao Zhijie’s heart sank. His composed expression finally cracked at the sight of Yang Bo’s jubilant face.
"The listening device you installed in the car has already been removed by us." Yang Bo looked at him and shook his head. "Captain Lu said you guys would definitely have a backup insurance measure. He was absolutely right."
Tang Hua patted Zhao Zhijie. "You can't protect him. You might as well tell us everything honestly to save everyone some trouble. It’ll also stop him from turning around and pinning all the blame on you."
Zhao Zhijie fell into a total silence. The casual confidence Yang Bo had seen on him when they first met had completely vanished. Yang Bo sighed with a hint of pity and began a silent war of attrition with Zhao Zhijie in the interrogation room.
***
Jiang Langmin sat on his balcony, a rare occurrence. Perhaps because the antibody extraction had been successful, the cars on the street were no longer as sparse as they had been the previous two days; there was even a queue of vehicles at the distant intersection. Jiang Langmin took a calm sip of wine. His phone sat on the small tea table in front of him as he waited patiently for a message from the other side.
Before long, the phone lit up. A message arrived quickly: *“It’s done.”* Before Jiang Langmin could even process it, another followed: *“Lu seems to have had an accident.”*
For Jiang Langmin, this was undoubtedly a double blessing. He showed his first genuine smile in days, tossed his phone aside with great satisfaction, and poured himself more wine.
By the time he had finished half a bottle of red wine, the phone on the table lit up again. The contact said: *“The CDC is in chaos. No one is allowed in or out. I’m trapped here too.”*
Jiang Langmin frowned, but that small bit of unpleasantness was quickly cast to the back of his mind. The alcohol was making him drowsy, yet his spirit remained exceptionally excited.
"Idiot. Running to the CDC... isn't that just seeking death?" He laughed dismissively. Just as he was about to toss the phone away, another text popped up. Jiang Langmin clicked it open: *“Can you get me out?”*
"Out?" Jiang Langmin’s brain was functioning a bit slowly now. "You're dreaming. Stay there with Lu Linjiang; you could call it dying together. Isn't that nice?"
After muttering to himself, he simply threw the phone aside and drained the last of the wine in his glass. "This glass is for your send-off."
***
Lu Linjiang held the phone in front of Zhao Zhijie’s eyes, letting him see the contents of the messages. "I really did intend to transfer you over, but unfortunately, this is the way we ended up 'collaborating.'" He straightened up and walked back to the opposite side of Zhao Zhijie, ensuring the man could see his expression. "Is Jiang Langmin really worth throwing your life away for?"
Zhao Zhijie was dazed for a moment. It wasn't that he didn't know why Jiang Langmin had sought him out after all these years. At first, he thought that since Jiang Langmin lived abroad year-round, recruiting him was just a "just in case" measure.
But he never expected that the first thing Jiang Langmin would ask him to do was to poison a man named Guzman.
Zhao Zhijie’s first instinct had been to refuse. But Jiang Langmin produced a sum of money so vast he could never earn it in a lifetime as a policeman, and then brought up the old debt of gratitude for the support Jiang Langmin’s mother had given him years ago. Zhao Zhijie considered himself a man of integrity, but when he thought of his peers who already lived in houses and drove cars thanks to their parents' help, while he was still struggling just to afford a down payment...
What was integrity good for? Could it buy a bathroom?
Furthermore, Guzman was a foreigner with no family or friends in this country. Who would go to the ends of the earth for such a person?
Zhao Zhijie had taken the money, knowing full well that he would have to walk this path of no return to the end.
He had used that money for a down payment, but he hadn't saved the rest in a bank; he kept it in his wardrobe. He knew clearly that if he deposited it, it would be too easy for someone to find the discrepancy if they ever investigated.
That money gradually became his torment. Many times he dreamed of returning to the day Jiang Langmin asked him for the favor. If he had said no, would he have avoided this agonizing conflict through countless nights?
If only, back then, he hadn't been blinded by greed...
Seeing his pensive look, Lu Linjiang reminded him, "You don't have many chances left."
"What chances are there?" Zhao Zhijie finally spoke. "Once you're on the boat, it's not so easy to get off."
"Oh?" Lu Linjiang placed a courier box in front of him, pointing to the sender's name column. "Someone sent Jiang Cheng a virus bomb. Guess who that person was?"
Zhao Zhijie looked at the flamboyant character for "Zhao" and was momentarily struck dumb.
"How about it? Does it look familiar?"
***
Jiang Langmin’s head felt a bit heavy. He had inadvertently fallen asleep on the balcony and, after being woken by the cold, had stumbled over to sleep on the sofa. When he woke again, the sun was high in the sky. It was quite warm weather, yet he couldn't stop himself from sneezing a dozen times. His blocked nostrils forced him to realize that he had caught a cold.
A slight headache made him feel uncomfortable. He looked at the balcony; the red wine that had been breathing all night and then baked in the sun was likely a bottle of vinegar by now. Jiang Langmin pinched the bridge of his nose and decided to get some cold medicine first.
A knock sounded at the door. Jiang Langmin walked over and checked the intercom; the cleaner had arrived for work. He opened the door and turned away to pour some water. It wasn't until he swallowed the medicine that he realized the woman hadn't followed him in. He looked toward the door in confusion. Zhao Zhijie, looking utterly disheveled, was pushing the struggling cleaner inside.
Jiang Langmin instinctively took a step back. His building was designed with one unit per floor; even if he rushed out the door now, he wouldn't be able to escape Zhao Zhijie immediately. Jiang Langmin glanced surreptitiously at the intercom, clenching his fists tightly. Only after the pain from his palms cleared his head did he speak. "What are you doing here?"
Zhao Zhijie wiped his hand under his nose; there was a smear of blood on his index finger. He carelessly wiped it off on his clothes and said, "The CDC exploded. You really should have seen the scene."
Jiang Langmin played dumb. "What happened?"
Zhao Zhijie scanned the room, walked straight into the living room, poured himself a glass of water, and downed it in one go. "Didn't you see the texts I sent you? Lu Linjiang was sprayed directly by the virus you prepared. When the CDC was trying to move him to the isolation ward, a few blind fools thought the CDC was trying to destroy evidence of medical malpractice and rushed up to snatch him. Now it's great—a whole group of them have gone down together."
Jiang Langmin’s face was as cold as water. "So, the CDC should be under martial law now?"
"Yes, martial law."
Jiang Langmin didn't seem to catch the sarcasm in Zhao Zhijie’s tone. He took a step forward, closing the distance between them. "What happened to you?"
There were numerous scratches on Zhao Zhijie’s face. His white shirt was a dusty reddish-gray. The sharp efficiency of his usual self was gone, replaced by a lingering, inescapable despondency.
Zhao Zhijie didn't answer his question directly, only saying, "Me? I need the vaccine, money, and a plane ticket out of here."
Jiang Langmin’s gaze lingered on Zhao Zhijie for a moment, seemingly considering his options. "I have money, but the vaccine isn't here."
"Where is it?"
"At Weiguan Da."
Zhao Zhijie’s gaze instantly turned fierce. "Weiguan Da? After their general manager got into trouble, the whole company has been in a state of semi-lockdown. Are you sure it's there?"
Jiang Langmin narrowed his eyes slightly. Zhao Zhijie continued to press him. "Then how are you going to get the vaccine to me?" He looked at Jiang Langmin suspiciously. "You're not going to tell me to go get it myself, are you?"
Jiang Langmin gave a forced laugh. "Of course not. But you know the situation there is special right now, and with Cheng Hao in prison, getting things out isn't easy."
Zhao Zhijie nodded upon hearing this, appearing to agree with what Jiang Langmin said. Jiang Langmin put on a thoughtful expression. "So, we need to plan this out. Perhaps we can find a few of Cheng Hao’s old associates at Weiguan Da..."
Suddenly, Zhao Zhijie took a large stride forward. Before Jiang Langmin could react, he let out an earth-shattering sneeze right in his face. "Achoo!"
Jiang Langmin’s mouth hadn't even closed. He opened his eyes in disbelief, staring at the other man. A beam of light from the window shone right between him and Zhao Zhijie, allowing him to see the mist of water droplets drifting in the air with terrifying clarity.
***
