Lu Linjiang’s expression shifted instantly. "Mr. Luo, don't be impulsive!" he shouted, moving to intercept him. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the burly man lunging forward; he dodged nimbly, yet the man still collided with him, causing him to miss grabbing Luo Jia’s hand.
Luo Jia’s movements were surprisingly agile. In one stride, he stepped onto the air conditioning unit. With a loud *thud*, Lu Linjiang watched as his feet slipped, nearly sending him plummeting. Luo Jia wobbled precariously before managing to steady himself by gripping the base of the window ledge. Then, summoning a sudden burst of strength, he leaped upward to catch the sill.
Lu Linjiang’s heart leaped into his throat. He didn't dare say another word, fearing he might startle Luo Jia and cause him to lose his grip. The burly man scrambled up and poked his head out. Terrified by the sight, he leaned half his body out of the balcony, reaching out and yelling, "Hey! Come back!"
Lu Linjiang yanked him back and hissed, "Get lost!"
Having stabilized himself, Luo Jia glanced down. Looking down from a height of over forty meters caused a wave of vertigo. Coupled with the biting high-altitude winds whipping against him, his hands and feet began to grow numb with cold.
Luo Jia leaned in and gripped the protruding window ledge, kicking off the wall with his feet. However, lacking sufficient leverage, his body only rose slightly—not enough to climb through the window. He looked back at Lu Linjiang and, seeing the officer’s tense expression, flashed a vengeful smile. He kicked against the outer wall again, trying to hoist himself inside.
A thick layer of snow had fallen the previous night. While the roads had been cleared, a thin sheet of ice remained on the high-rise’s exterior walls. Though some had melted due to the heat from the AC unit, it hadn't cleared completely. Unsurprisingly, Luo Jia’s leather shoes slipped, and his entire body jerked downward.
The burly man covered his mouth, muffled cries of alarm leaking through his fingers.
Lu Linjiang glanced at the open window below just as the balcony door swung open again. Yang Bo was about to enter when Lu Linjiang waved him off, pointing urgently toward the window ledge below.
Yang Bo froze, stood on his tiptoes to look, and reacted instantly. He spun around and sprinted back toward the fire escape, heading for the twelfth floor. He practically burst into the hall. It was a buffet restaurant, and at this hour, there were no diners left. Yang Bo’s sudden entrance only startled a few cleaning staff. He scanned the windows and ran toward one of them.
"Sir, do you need help?"
Yang Bo pressed himself against the wall and made a silencing gesture to the inquiring waitress. He pulled his police ID from his pocket to show her, then signaled for her to approach. "Look out that window and see what's outside."
The waitress looked confused but complied. When she saw Luo Jia hanging halfway outside, she let out a sharp gasp of surprise.
Luo Jia saw her too. The waitress was at a loss; she pulled back to look at Yang Bo, who shook his head quickly in a "stay quiet" gesture, pointing outside and looking at her firmly. The waitress turned back to Luo Jia. Ultimately, her professional training won out, and she spoke with a trembling voice, "G-guest, please hold on! I’ll go get help! Don't move, whatever you do, don't move!"
Yang Bo beckoned to the dazed staff nearby while stepping back. Two male waiters immediately crowded the windowsill, reaching out to grab Luo Jia’s hands from both sides.
Yang Bo breathed a sigh of relief. Lu Linjiang, his entire body taut, watched as Luo Jia was slowly pulled up. Luo Jia was nearly limp; having hung in the freezing air for so long, he had lost all sensation. If those two waiters hadn't appeared, he might have let go by now.
The interior decor drew closer and closer. Just as Luo Jia’s nerves were beginning to relax, he spotted Yang Bo hiding to the side. Yang Bo gave him a somewhat smug wave and mouthed a silent "Hi."
Luo Jia, who had been letting them pull him in, suddenly began to struggle violently. He kicked his legs unconsciously, and as a sudden warmth seemed to flood his body, his thrashing grew even more frantic.
The two waiters holding him weren't expecting the sudden resistance. One lost his grip, and the other stumbled forward a few steps.
Lu Linjiang realized something was wrong. Scanning his surroundings, he spotted a fire hydrant on the wall. He rushed over, yanked the door open, and pulled out the hose. He wound it around his waist a few times to secure it, then vaulted over the balcony railing.
He stepped onto the AC unit, feeling the machine vibrate beneath his feet. Once steady, he immediately reached out to grab Luo Jia’s legs. Luo Jia struggled even harder. Lu Linjiang warned him, his voice thick with fury, "Don't move! Do you want to die?"
Luo Jia stopped for a moment. Just as Lu Linjiang thought the cold wind had finally cleared the man's head, Luo Jia relapsed, kicking his legs with even greater intensity.
Yang Bo had managed to grab Luo Jia’s other hand, but the man seemed to have lost his mind. He clawed at Yang Bo’s hand so hard that Yang Bo nearly let go from the pain.
Finally, the support bracket of the AC unit beneath Lu Linjiang’s feet gave way. With a sharp *crack*, it snapped in two. The unit tilted, and Lu Linjiang’s body sank as he began to fall.
"Dammit!" The curse he’d been holding back finally exploded from his lips. He instinctively let go of his hands to avoid dragging Luo Jia down with him, only to realize that Luo Jia was falling as well. In mid-air, Lu Linjiang jerked his upper body upward, catching Luo Jia’s hand in an almost impossible maneuver.
"Are you fucking crazy?!"
As they both plummeted, Luo Jia continued to struggle like a madman. Lu Linjiang’s curses were torn apart by the wind, but Luo Jia heard them clearly.
"Do you think I have any life left to live?"
He laughed like a maniac and wrenched his hand from Lu Linjiang’s grip. Under a dozen pairs of disbelieving eyes, he fell straight down, landing with a dull thud.
Before long, a patch of red bloomed amidst the snow on the lawn.
***
Chu Juxian looked like he wanted to smash his desk to pieces. If someone had struck a match against him, he probably would have gone up in smoke.
"Explain this! Just explain it! Huh?! Are we filming a movie? *Super Cop 5*, is that it?" Chu Juxian was fuming, looking like he wanted to swat Lu Linjiang flat. "Do you know how many people have admired your 'heroic' form? You’ve officially made your debut, haven't you!"
Lu Linjiang listened to Chu Juxian’s roar without a hint of temper, maintaining a blank expression and trying his best to look penitent. It was just his luck—someone nearby had been filming the snowy scenery and caught the exact moment Luo Jia and Lu Linjiang were dangling in mid-air.
Before Luo Jia had even reached the hospital, the video had already made several rounds online. Fortunately, it was filmed from a distance, so their faces weren't clear, but that didn't stop Chu Juxian from recognizing his subordinate while scrolling through his feed. And if Chu Juxian could recognize him, others could too. The phone on the desk rang for the umpteenth time, and Chu Juxian’s face turned another shade of green.
He took a deep breath and picked up on the third ring, answering with a low, strained "Hello." His expression shifted slightly as he confirmed, "Are you sure?"
The person on the other end said something, and Chu Juxian let out a huff through his nose. "I see. Carry on." His expression finally softened, and he hung up the phone without slamming it.
"Guo Junyi says there’s a new discovery. There was an electronic document in Luo Jia’s luggage—it’s likely the original data before it was tampered with. Go see what’s going on."
Lu Linjiang had been called back halfway to the hospital. After enduring half an hour of this "execution," he was eager to leave, but Chu Juxian stopped him again. "Keep a low profile! This case involves foreign parties. If someone unexpected pops up because of a slip-up, I might not be able to protect you. Understand?"
Lu Linjiang nodded and beat a hasty retreat from the "execution ground."
A large bruise had formed on his waist where the fire hose had cinched him. Though Lu Linjiang considered himself tough, he had to admit that this ordeal had really put him through the wringer.
Guo Junyi was already waiting for him in the office. As soon as Lu Linjiang entered, Guo skipped the pleasantries. "I found a flash drive in Luo Jia’s luggage and recovered a hidden document. There’s a file in it that is identical to one found on Tao Minxing’s reader."
Lu Linjiang looked at the two documents Guo Junyi had opened. Several sections were highlighted. Lu Linjiang scanned them quickly; though he wasn't an expert in virology, the summary indicated they were from the same experiment—a report on the impact of a mutant influenza virus on viral pneumonia.
The wording was nearly identical at the start, until it reached the mouse trials. Guo Junyi pointed out the discrepancies. Lu Linjiang compared them; all the data in the second version had been significantly lowered.
Guo Junyi explained before he could ask, "This shows the performance after injecting antibiotics. According to the original data, the antibiotics didn't have much effect. But the modified data looks quite impressive." Guo tapped the screen. "While the effect isn't extraordinary, it’s at least effective."
"He even added a paragraph to the modified report, analyzing why the drug's efficacy wasn't particularly obvious. You could say he was quite thorough."
"Does it mention the antibiotic manufacturer?"
"A European pharmaceutical company called MURA."
Lu Linjiang noted it down and patted Guo Junyi on the shoulder. "Thanks." As soon as he left, he called Yang Bo. "How’s Tang Hua?"
Yang Bo was running between two wings of the hospital. "He’s fine, just inhaled some ether." He glanced at the operating theater. "Luo Jia hasn't come out of the emergency room yet."
Lu Linjiang gave a few instructions and hung up. Just as he walked into the office, he was stopped by Xu Sichen, who was on the phone. After confirming something with the person on the other end, she said to Lu Linjiang, "I contacted Jiang Langmin. Luo Jia claimed to the outside world that the money for his house and car came from gambling winnings. Apparently, people even joked that if he won a few more rounds, he could retire early."
"But the feedback from Interpol is that although he frequented casinos, the records show he lost far more than he won. He even owed a significant debt to loan sharks in Las Vegas at one point."
***
**Glossary**
Chinese | English | Notes/Explanation
---|---|---
MURA | MURA | A European pharmaceutical company mentioned in the documents.
郭俊毅 | Guo Junyi | A member of the investigation team, likely forensics or tech-focused.
徐思晨 | Xu Sichen | A female colleague of Lu Linjiang.
姜朗旻 | Jiang Langmin | A contact or colleague mentioned by Xu Sichen.
乙醚 | Ether | A chemical used to induce unconsciousness.
刑场 | Execution ground | Metaphorical use for the boss's office during a scolding.
