With a splash of water, the two of them emerged from the river at the same time. Yan Xie gasped and looked back.
They had swum for a while and were quite a distance away from the scene of the gunfight on the river bank. The surrounding scenery gradually became visible in the light gray morning light, and the sporadic gunshot sound mixed with the chirping of birds came from afar.
Yan Xie turned his head and asked in a low voice, "Why are you—"
Before he could finish his words, Jiang Ting's face turned blue. In such cold weather, the breath out of his mouth had turned into a white mist, and he sank into the water.
Yan Xie gritted his teeth and moved forward to grab him, barely wading into the water and dragging him onto the rocky beach.
Jiang Ting didn't choke on water, but his body temperature was extremely low because the continuous diving had exhausted his stamina. Yan Xie didn't have time to ask anything. He held his upper body in his arms and massaged his chest, neck, and arms. Jiang Ting's face, which was soaked in water, was ice-white, while his eyes were pitch-black, having an extremely shocking contrast. After a few shivers, he finally regained consciousness and started coughing.
"Cough, cough…"
Jiang Ting pushed Yan Xie away, sat up exhausted, rubbed his face with his palms, and brushed all his soaked black hair up, revealing his smooth, completely bloodless forehead.
"I know what you want to ask." He said hoarsely, "We can't… can't stay here. Come with me."
He got up to his feet staggeringly and walked forward, pushing through the bushes, and went into the woods by the river bank. Yan Xie followed closely, and neither of them said a word. The tense silence lasted for a long time. Finally, their vision suddenly became clear, and they came to the relatively empty and flat ground in the valley.
At this time, the gunfight in the distance was completely inaudible, and it was not known whether A-Jie had been hacked or whether he had called for help and killed the attackers. The dense forest surrounded the mountain stream, and under the roar of the wind, every inch of space was densely covered with unknown danger.
Jiang Ting finally stumbled to the back of the tree, sat down against the trunk, and asked with a wry smile, "Why are you here?"
Yan Xie stood a few steps away and looked at him quietly, neither angry nor bursting out. After a while, he said slowly, "I should be the one asking you this question."
"..."
"Why are you here?"
Yan Xie was a person who would scold the suspect in a rage and scold his subordinates right in the face, but that was not the time when he was the angriest. When his rage reached its peak, he would calm down instead, not showing any emotion on his face and instead allowing people to feel the suffocating oppression from the bottom of their hearts.
Jiang Ting turned his eyes away, fixedly staring at a certain point in the air, and suddenly said after a while, "You have been to that orphanage, haven't you?"
The words were interrogative, but the tone was declarative.
Yan Xie looked at him condescendingly.
"…Is there anything you want to ask me?"
After Jiang Ting said this, the surroundings fell silent, and after a full half a minute, Yan Xie asked softly, "If I ask you, will you tell me the truth?"
The sky brightened, and the gray and black clouds gradually turned white. The fog in the valley finally dissipated slowly, and the pale and rugged outline of the winter forest emerged in the distance with the light, displaying a vast panorama.
Of the two of them, one was standing while the other was sitting down; both of them didn't speak again.
Despite the fact that they were only a few steps away, it appeared as if an invisible barrier was finally showing its hideous face.
"Yan Xie," Jiang Ting raised his head to look at him, a flicker of light in his eyes that was difficult to see. He asked, "Do you still believe me now?"
Yan Xie's first reaction was, you still dare to mention this now?
Anger at being fooled hit his heart instantly, but before it broke out, it turned into deep exhaustion. He shook his head and laughed, not knowing what else to say. Raising his eyebrows, he asked, "What do you think?"
As if something had finally been finalized, Jiang Ting took a deep breath. He raised his head, closed his eyes, and heard the vibrations reverberate in the void for a long time, which caused his whole heart to convulse and beat prematurely. He exhaled a long breath, and no one saw him relying on this action to put his cowardly soul back into his calm and indestructible armor, and when he opened his eyes again, he was back in his invulnerable state of ice.
"Just don't believe me."
"——I left Jianning because Chief Lu came to your door while you were away and asked me to cooperate with him in performing a counter-intrigue, go undercover next to the King of Spades, and provide information to the police." Without waiting for Yan Xie's reaction, Jiang Ting continued to narrate quietly: "But this request is not only extremely dangerous but also against my own interests, so I didn't agree. I could only escape from Jianning after stabbing him… Don't worry, Chief Lu is not dead. I don't want to go through the investigation and experience the intensity of being arrested for the murder of the chief of public security."
Yan Xie was stunned by these successive bombshells, but at least his professional instincts were still there, and he quickly caught the unnatural part of these words: "…your own interests?"
Jiang Ting didn't have the slightest intention to explain:
"The valley you are in is called Yuanlong Gorge; after several blows to the drug production industry in Daliang Mountain, it became one of the largest drug production bases in the Southwest region. Since 20 or 30 years ago, due to climate change and national crackdowns, Yuanlong Gorge has gradually become unsuitable for poppy cultivation. The locals then started to smuggle drugs from Myanmar through Yunnan, so they have a very close relationship with some big drug lords on the border, and the biggest force is…" After a brief pause, he said: "The father of the King of Spades, 'Ace of Clubs', whose name is Wu Tun."
"Wu" was not a surname for Burmese people, but a preposition, which usually indicates that the person was older and had a prominent status. This showed that this drug lord who was active on the China-Myanmar border in the last century has only one name: "Tun".
"In his early years, Wu Tun acted in a high-profile manner, paid attention to ostentation and loyalty, and he was fanatically religious. King of Spades grew up in the United States when he was a teenager, and his personality was completely opposite to that of his father. After returning, because of power issues within the group, he gradually developed a big conflict with Wu Tun, so that later the father and son turned against each other and almost broke off completely."
"I'm not particularly sure how bad the relationship between them is. After all, I have been in a coma for three whole years. From the current speculation, they should both want to kill each other, and they are both well aware of this; but for the sake of sharing smuggling channels and protecting the interests of the family from being touched by other drug lords in the Golden Triangle, they have not completely torn apart each other's faces for the time being. They just fight each other secretly, and on the surface, they barely maintain a cooperative relationship."
Jiang Ting never mentioned these inside secrets of the drug cartel. However, now he was uncharacteristically open and honest, to the point of having no scruples.
Yan Xie had a vague premonition, but he didn't show it on his face; he just asked: "Do you know where "Ace of Clubs" Wu Tun is hiding?"
Jiang Ting said: "Yes."
"But you never mentioned it to the police."
"Yes."
Both answers were short and affirmative, without even the slightest change in tone.
Yan Xie stood there, subconsciously raising his hand to touch the cigarette, but then realized that the cigarette case had been soaked in water and the tobacco had turned into a ball, like mud. Sure enough, things like nicotine couldn't provide any real spiritual support. Yan Xie rubbed his eyebrows and exhaled, and finally, he raised his eyes and said calmly: "Don't tell me that you have a good relationship with your adoptive father, Wu Tun."
Jiang Ting opened his mouth but swallowed the words back.
"Yuanlong Gorge is basically a part of Wu Tun's territory, so the King of Spades is very wary of this place. Yongkang Village, which is located at the foot of the mountain, was cultivated by him to monitor this place." Jiang Ting responded inanely, "I'm here to find someone, and Jin Jie is following me under the orders of the King of Spades."
Yan Xie immediately asked: "Who are you looking for, Wu Tun?"
Jiang Ting raised his head but did not answer immediately.
Small movements gradually resounded in the mountain forest; the noise became louder and louder, and the sound of footsteps approaching could be clearly heard. Soon, a row of figures appeared in the thin morning mist—about eight or nine people, with two or three people tied at the front—heading straight for the open space.
"Yue Guangping called Chief Lu before he died and said that he was sorry for the anti-drug policemen who died in the 1009 explosion, and he was also sorry for me. Before Qin Chuan was arrested, he said that Yue Guangping would not casually disclose information to others, and the real murderers that led to the failure of the operation were Yue Guangping and me. If neither of them lied, then I can only think of one possibility…"
Jiang Ting finally stood up from under the tree, looked at the approaching person in front of him, and narrowed his eyes:
"I'm here to verify this possibility, and the answer should be revealed today."
Yan Xie turned around.
A-Jie and two of his subordinates had their hands tied behind their backs, each with a gun muzzle behind their head, and were staggered and pushed into the open space. Behind them was a group of people who had just rushed to the river's edge to launch a surprise attack. The head was a thin and gray-haired old man in his 60s or 70s. He was wearing a traditional Burmese sarong and was respectfully supported by his subordinate with one hand.
Yan Xie's cheeks tensed. At first glance, he thought it was Wu Tun, but then he realized that the old man looked different from the photo on Chief Lu's computer.
——Is he a subordinate of "Ace of Clubs"? or a relative?
The next moment, Jiang Ting answered his question: "Uncle Bo."
The old man called "Uncle Bo" glanced at him. He stood still, raised his finger to the open space in front of him, and shouted, "Let them go!"
Burmese men immediately pushed the three prisoners forward, kicking them hard on their knees.
There were still obvious purple marks left on A-Jie's throat, and his eyes were full of undisguised fierceness, but his words were quite restrained, and other than the few obvious curses when he fell to his knees, he didn't say a word. Knowing the status of Jack of Diamonds, the Burmese subordinates did not dare to relax their vigilance, and immediately someone put a gun on the back of his head.
Jiang Ting stared at this scene lightly and asked, "Why didn't you kill him?"
A-Jie's beast-like gaze immediately fell on him.
Jiang Ting turned a blind eye to his cold gaze: "This person is one of the most capable men with the King of Spades. Getting rid of him means breaking the right arm of the King of Spades. He should not be allowed to continue to live."
"You…"
The old man called Uncle Bo interrupted A-Jie hoarsely and pointed to Yan Xie: "If it wasn't for him, we could have left Yuanlong Gorge last night and gone to Myanmar to join Wu Tun. Why did you insist on saving him?"
These words contained a lot of information, and a place in Yan Xie's mind exploded first: He really was going to Myanmar—
He immediately turned to look at Jiang Ting, but only saw that Jiang Ting's expression was still very flat, it could even be said to be very casual, as if the old man's question was not a problem at all: "A night as a couple breeds one hundred days of affection. I can't see this person dying in front of my eyes. What's the problem?"
No one expected him to give such an answer. The old man was stunned on the spot, and the others couldn't react, and the atmosphere suddenly became very weird.
Suddenly A-Jie sneered and said: "Uncle Bo, do you believe what he said?"
The old man scolded: "Shut up!"
"I thought you were a senior member just after the Ace of Clubs, shouldn't you know that the surname Jiang is famous for telling lies more real than real gold?"
The Burmese man holding the back of his head roared angrily, probably telling him, a captive, to shut up, but A-Jie turned a deaf ear: "This man is Yan Xie. Vice-Captain of the Criminal Investigation Division of the Jianning City Public Security Bureau, a dignified third-level police inspector. You think Jiang Ting is willing to go back and continue to be a cow, but in fact, he has already prepared a retreat with the police. If you don't believe me, you can give him a gun now and let him kill this policeman. See for yourself if he will do it?!"
Several Burmese people looked at each other; the old man's expression changed suddenly, and he looked Yan Xie up and down.
The situation became extremely treacherous, and there was a dark smell of gunpowder in the air, which seemed to be on the verge of breaking out at any time. At this moment, Jiang Ting laughed, seemingly feeling both absurd and emotional: "When did you start to guess my mind?"
Immediately afterward, he stepped forward on the gray and wet grass, and no one around him dared to stop him. He casually pulled out a gun from a Burmese and held it in his hand, stepped back a few steps, and stood back on the spot, pointing the gun at Yan Xie's temple!
The old man's face twitched, A-Jie looked at it in disbelief, and Yan Xie froze suddenly.
But the expression on Jiang Ting's face was completely indifferent:
"Uncle Bo, after the incident three years ago, you can almost see that I have a feud with Jin Jie. I don't think it's better to just do it like this. If you kill Jack of Diamonds, then I will feel better and won't care much about this man's life or death. What do you think?"
The old man's bark-like aging and slack cheeks twitched slightly as if he was weighing something.
"I'm already on the wanted list of the Public Security Bureau. I don't care about the life of this deputy captain. But we are in a cooperative relationship. I can't do whatever you ask me to do and will kill anyone you ask me to kill. This criminal policeman named Yan Xie can die, but you have to give me something in exchange." Jiang Ting stared at the old man with his black and white eyes, which seemed to have a hint of a smile: "How about it, Uncle Bo? Kill the Jack of Diamonds, and we can go to Burma to join the Ace of Clubs; don't you want to hurry up?"
"..." Time passed bit by bit, and finally, the old man slowly turned to the Burmese man who was supporting him and, without saying a word, nodded solemnly.
A-Jie was shocked. He saw the Burmese understand and took out a gun from his back. He then pointed it at his two men, who were tied up in a row—bang!
The corpse was shot in the eyebrow.
Bang!
The second man also fell to the ground.
The blood soaked through the dry and cracked soil in winter, and then the Burmese pointed his gun at A-Jie—
Bang!!
The sniper's bullet penetrated a distance of hundreds of meters, and the gunfire echoed endlessly. There was a bloody hole in the Burmese man's head, and his pistol fell to the ground with a clatter.
Uncle Bo's cloudy old eyes suddenly stared straight, and he saw the Burmese person's body shaking a few times, and then "plop!" The corpse fell headfirst.
There were endless noises of vehicles, and the roar of the engine of the off-road vehicle gradually came from all directions in the open space. Uncle Bo suddenly turned his head to look, only to see that more than ten cars had appeared around the valley and had come here in an instant.
A-Jie blurted out: "Big Brother!"
—King of spades!
The off-road convoys stopped, and well-trained bodyguards jumped out of the cars one after another and surrounded the open space. Eight or nine of Uncle Bo's subordinates immediately became the weaker side, and the later group of people went up and pushed them away roughly, disarming them in just a few seconds.
The old man's face was purple, but he didn't dare to make a sound. He watched as the two people rushed up to help A-Jie, and used a knife to cut off the rope on his body. A few people couldn't help but pull Yan Xie away, staring at him intently to keep him from moving.
Jiang Ting seemed to turn a blind eye to everything around him, and he stood there with a strange expression, looking ahead.
Behind him, a figure got off the off-road vehicle and walked slowly forward across the grass until he stopped behind him.
"I said that the ultimate winner of this bet is me. One day you have to admit defeat, but I didn't expect you to guess the hint given by Qin Chuan so quickly."
The King of Spades put one hand on Jiang Ting's shoulder, saying with a smile: "I won't blindfold you this time; don't you want to look back at me, Queen of Hearts?"
Yan Xie's pupils constricted instantly—
Jiang Ting's neck seemed to be rusted, and after a long time, inch by inch, he slowly turned his head and stared closely at the smiling face behind him.
The King of Spades looked at him with gentle eyes, they even seemed to be faintly encouraging.
"…You maggot in the gutter," Jiang Ting paused beside his ear and said word by word, "—'Rivet'."