Tao Ran was excellent at implementation, and very amiable; he got along well with friends and colleagues; he'd always rather take a hit himself to make sure everyone else was comfortable. He could work hard and run around himself, even risk his own life when necessary, but as soon as his responsibilities exceeded what he believed himself capable of shouldering—for example, if some decision of his could impact many people—he'd be unusually hesitant from not knowing how to balance the considerations.
He could take charge on his own, but he couldn't take charge when many people were involved, because in critical circumstances, his first reaction was always to solicit other people's views.
Lu Youliang had some understanding of this junior whom he'd watched grow up; only he hadn't expected that after being Luo Wenzhou's deputy this long, Tao Ran wouldn't have made any progress in this respect—when Luo Wenzhou wasn't here, Tao Ran turned his gaze on Director Lu.
Director Lu at once found the public security sub-bureau in the science park's development zone and had them go on ahead. Then he put down the phone and looked up to ask Tao Ran, "Where is Luo Wenzhou? What's he been up to today? And what's going on now?"
Tao Ran stood there like a wooden post, looking at him in blank helplessness for a moment; then, as though waking from a dream, he got out his phone. "Oh, wait, please. I'll ask him."
Though Lu Youliang was normally rather lenient towards his juniors, he still angry enough to start steaming at the ears. "Tao Ran! What's with your attitude today? Luo Wenzhou has slinked off, and you're at a complete loss. Do the two of you still want your jobs?!"
Since the crowd of parents, like a conference of ducks, had called Director Lu over in the morning, Tao Ran hadn't ceased to listen to scoldings. Perhaps he was now numb from listening. He lowered his head, like a dead pig that doesn't fear scalding water, and asked, "Director Lu, who should I report to now?"
Lu Youliang: "…"
Reasonably speaking, this work shouldn't fall on Director Lu personally, but Luo Wenzhou's whereabouts were unknown, it was the weekend, and this was an emergency. Others were too far off to help, and Tao Ran couldn't be depended on. He looked all around, found that there was no one he could use, and had to grab his jacket and drape it over himself, waving a hand towards Tao Ran. "Come with me."
In the instant Lu Youliang turned his back, the vacant confusion on Tao Ran's face receded like the tide. He squeezed his eyes shut, didn't argue, and strode out to follow Lu Youliang.
In the Longyun Center, everyone watched the man who'd come to investigate, silent with fear. The man's expression was twisted with rage; then, in the blink of an eye, he regained his calm and directed a look at the bodyguard-looking people behind him.
His subordinates understood at once. They cleared the security camera room of the manager and the security guards.
With a grave face, the mysterious investigator, whose title at Wei Zhanhong's company was "special consultant," picked up his phone and dialed a number. The dial tones stretched out like the cuts of a lingchi(10). After three full rings, the phone was picked up. Perhaps it was his mistaken impression, but the other side's voice seemed to sound unusually gloomy and hoarse.
"Hello, Science Ecological Park Management, who are you looking for?"
"One-Eye." The investigator let out a long breath and said quietly, "The Beehive has been 'blown away' by the wind. You're going to have a 'change of weather' soon. Clean up all the 'garbage,' and find a place to hide."
One-Eye gently sucked in a breath, seeming scared by the sudden news. He paused, then, lowering his voice, said, "What…should I do with the 'garbage?'"
"'Clean up,' don't you understand? Cut it, chop it, set it on fire—whatever you like."
One-Eye was silent for two seconds. "Then what about us?"
The investigator paused, then quickly said, "We've already arranged for someone to pick you guys up. When you've finished doing what you need to do, contact the 'sheepdog.' He'll arrange it. Relax, don't run around."
The person on the phone gave an affirmative and hung up. The investigator immediately dialed another number. Before the other side could answer, he directly ordered, "Base 13 has been exposed. Destroy it as soon as you hear the signal."
At 2:00 pm, to the west of the western science park, there was a sudden enormous sound in the abandoned unfinished ecological park. The whole row of quite carefully constructed dormitory buildings and their yards rose to the heavens. The commotion was so large that it disturbed the villagers in the natural village three kilometers away.
Only now did the penetrating sounds of police sirens arise. The first wave of police from the sub-bureau was just arriving!
The head of the sub-bureau's Criminal Investigation Team had personally gone out to lead his people after getting the order, nearly turning the police car into a rocket. But even if they'd been on a multi-stage rocket that had reached escape velocity, they still couldn't have outrun a powerful electromagnetic signal.
Even if the science park's sub-bureau had been next door to the scene, how could they have travelled faster than information over the phone?
At the moment they'd received the order, it had already been too late.
The flames rose to the sky; the late-coming police officers looked at each other in blank dismay. Their leader tasted bitterness. He turned swiftly and roared, "What are you all staring for?! Get someone to put it out!"
Less than a kilometer away from them, at the little gas station that acted as a reception area, a man dressed like an ordinary worker put away a miniature telescope. He didn't approach. He wrapped a simple and unadorned down jacket over his uniform and very casually left the gas station, mixing into the crowd of villagers who had heard the sound and come to mill around; he very earnestly whispered along with everyone else for a while, then left.—Each "base" where the wanted criminals were kept had a "sheepdog," who ordinarily looked after the criminals's needs and made sure they didn't stir up trouble. As soon as something went wrong, he would turn into a dog that would kill a sick sheep.
The words "clean-up completed" left his fingertips, sorrowfully rose from the smoke and dust, and passed through the great net that had nearly been exposed to the bright light of day by the hurricane, scattering and reaching the ears of all those concerned.
In the security camera room of the Longyun Center, the investigator received word, put down his phone, and sighed gently, his gaze falling on his subordinates investigating the security camera records. "What have you found at the other locations?"
"Look, sir, this is camera number 26—filming the back door of the employee passage."
The investigator went over and saw Lu Guosheng calling the black sedan that had come to pick him up, making it back up out of the camera's range. That black sedan was one of the Beehive's customer cars.
The investigator frowned, rather uncomprehending. "Lu Guosheng? Why? What was he doing here?"
A wanted criminal who had hidden himself for fifteen years had suddenly turned up at some brat's birthday part, and even left behind security camera footage of himself?
Was this something a primate of ordinary intelligence would do?
The investigator's brow furrowed tightly for a moment. Then a bloody smile crossed his lips—so that was it. The cops were magical enough to follow this bit of a lead all the way to the Beehive.
But while this was dangerous, luckily their information had come fast enough; they'd been prepared.
Until the cut footage could be restored, there was for the moment no way to judge what was on it. But even if it had caught Lu Guosheng dancing cheek-to-cheek with that whelp Wei Wenchuan, what did it matter? He was dead now, leaving no evidence behind. And even if the small child had for some reason come into contact with him, how could he know that he was a wanted criminal? The kid probably hadn't even been born when Lu Guosheng had committed his crimes.
The investigator waved a hand. His subordinates took away the security camera footage waiting to be restored and followed him in well-trained fashion, calmly walking out. But as soon as they arrived in the lobby, they were stopped by a crowd of police charging in.
"There have been mass reports that the Longyun Center high-grade consumption facility has been involved in pornography and drugs. Without exception, all relevant personnel must remain here and await investigation. Search!"
At the same time, the "sheepdog" from the gas station went along a desolate and poorly-maintained road for about a kilometer. Then, as he expected, he saw an accomplice's car waiting to receive him. He pulled open the passenger's side door and sat down inside, saying to the driver, "Let's go."
The driver didn't move. He sat there like a jiangshi, staring straight ahead, his teeth chattering slightly.
The "sheepdog" froze, then instinctively went on the alert, the hair on the back of his neck bristling. He immediately went to open the door—but the door was already locked. The muzzle of a handgun slowly rose and lightly pressed against his temple. He heard an almost sloppy-sounding man say, "Where are you going?"
The "sheepdog" looked up and, in the rearview mirror, saw the person in the backseat. There was some unshaven stubble on his chin. He dangled a set of handcuffs in one hand with a light clank. Then he blew a whistle. "Hello, sheepdog. I'm a police dog. We're both working dogs. If you behave, I won't bite you. How about we drive down to the public security bureau together in peace and harmony?"
Half an hour earlier—
While all the Longyun Center's security camera footage from November sixth was being reviewed on fast-forward, Fei Du detoured around the gas station at the last moment and approached the ecological park from the other direction. At the same time, Luo Wenzhou sent someone a screenshot showing One-Eye and quietly said to the person on the line, "That's the one. I saw them preparing explosive materials and suspect that someone is using this abandoned ecological park for 'terrorist' activities."
Dumbstruck, Lu Jia accepted the phone Luo Wenzhou returned to him. "Explosives? Terrorist activities?"
"Explosives are possible," Fei Du said. "As soon as they're exposed, they'll move if they can, and if they can't move, they need a mechanism for dealing with things urgently. Comparatively speaking, a bomb can be controlled remotely to a certain extent. It's a good choice."
"Really? Thank you for your good wishes. I hope you're right, because I've gone through my dad to cheat the armed police into coming over, and if there isn't anything here but a few rats, the old man will skin me." Luo Wenzhou laughed heartlessly. Then he became serious again. "They've already gotten to the Longyun Center. As soon as they see Lu Guosheng's traces, they'll likely kill him to make sure he doesn't talk. I'm not waiting for backup to get here. I'm going in."
Lu Jia said at once, "I'm going, too!"
This time, Luo Wenzhou didn't request, in his capacity as a police officer, that unconcerned personnel to keep out of it. He only said, "If Lu Guosheng is alive, he can go to court. That's the only way the injustice done to your brother has a chance of being righted. Otherwise, at most you'll be one more person sitting in jail, which will be completely useless. Do you understand?"
With his identity unexpectedly revealed, Lu Jia froze.
Luo Wenzhou looked at him deeply. "We sneak into the village. No guns.—President Fei, could I trouble you to provide external support?"
"My performance fee is very high." Fei Du gave each of them a specially made wireless communication device and knocked on the steering wheel, half-jokingly saying, "If one day there's no one to pay my fee, then I'll have no choice but to go out and be a 'street cleaner' myself."
Luo Wenzhou clicked his tongue, very unsatisfied with his roundabout means of expression. Taking no care whatsoever to evade the onlooker, he reached into the front seat, brushed Fei Du's chin, and pinched his earlobe. "Got it. You love me. I'll be careful."
One-Eye went into the basement carrying the box of food. In the damp, dark little room, there was a man chained up in a corner. It was Lu Guosheng, who in these few days had already lost so much weight that he was looking skeletal.
"Eat." One-Eye tossed the box of food at Lu Guosheng's feet as though feeding a dog. The box opened as it fell, some unfortunate-looking vegetable leaves spilling out. One-Eye looked at him mockingly with his single eye. "You're like a stray dog. Hurry up and eat. This may be your last meal."
Lu Guosheng gave him a gloomy look and didn't move.
"The food isn't poisoned," One-Eye said. "I heard that idiot last time died of poisoning. If you die of poisoning, too, it'll be too much of a coincidence. I figure they'll deal with you some other way—though I haven't received the notice yet, so you can relax for now."
Lu Guosheng hesitated a moment. Then he was convinced by this logic and shifted over with a clank, picking up the box of food.
"The way I see it," One-Eye continued sarcastically, "if you really had nothing better to do—it's one thing to get involved in another major case, but you've messed around all this time and cooked up this ridiculous business.—How much money did that little whelp give you that you were willing to work for him? Even I think it's beneath your dignity, simply…"
Before he could finish, the lights in the basement suddenly flickered and went out.
One-Eye stopped, then heard Lu Guosheng speak for the first time out of the darkness: "Power's been cut."
Ever since the organization had found out through secret channels that the police force's investigation into Feng Bin's death was concerned with Lu Guosheng, the rotten apple Lu Guosheng had been shut up in here. He hadn't seen the light of day for quite a few days. His voice was as hoarse as glass scraping over rusted metal; it made you break out in gooseflesh to hear it.
One-Eye gave a fierce start. "Shut up!"
He hastily got his phone out of his pocket—it was an old-model dumb phone, a kind that had been off the market for a long time.
There wasn't a single bar of service!
Lu Guosheng began to laugh quietly.
The laughter was about to make One-Eye piss himself. He went towards the sound and kicked him, then ran quickly out of the basement, looking all around… The hastily swung door bounced off a small rock that had rolled over and didn't close shut.
With the power and the signal cut off in the ecological park, a disturbance arose among the initially peaceful houses. Quite a few people came out to investigate; there were over twenty of them!
Lu Jia glanced all around, sweating as he watched Luo Wenzhou, with the boldness that comes of skillful execution, charge directly into the little dark room through the remaining crack in the door. A moment later, he heard Luo Wenzhou's voice over the specially made communication device, which wasn't affected by the signal blocker. "I've found Lu Guosheng. The fucker's still alive!"
Lu Jia had no time to celebrate; he heard footsteps approaching. One-Eye had reacted!
In the basement, by the faint light, Luo Wenzhou displayed the burglary techniques he'd practiced for over a decade, deftly prying open the shackles on Lu Guosheng's hands and feet, lifting Lu Guosheng, whom he'd knocked out, and carrying him out over his shoulder.
At the same time, the returning One-Eye saw that the door of the basement hadn't shut firmly. He instantly tensed. He quietly turned and approached the door, raising his hand to get out the switchblade at his waist.
The next instant, a very faint sound of someone walking came from the basement. One-Eye's face was savage. As the footsteps approached the door, he raised the knife—
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Author's Note:
(10) Death of a thousand cuts.