The north wind got stronger, tilting the treetops on the distant hilltops to one side. The howling of the wind and the rustling of dead leaves came from all directions, but everyone in the open space held their breath, and only the bellows-like gasps in the old man's chest could be heard.
"…So you believe him now, Wen Shao?" Uncle Bo finally asked tremblingly: "You really believe that he wasn't sent by the police to deceive you and get close to you, huh?"
The King of Spades laughed and asked back: "Is it important?"
The old man obviously didn't understand what he meant; his hands were clenched tightly, and his wrinkles were stretched out of shape: "Just think about it carefully; your head is worth a lot to the police! No matter what Captain Jiang did in the 1009 explosion, no matter how many crimes he committed in the eyes of the police, as long as you are used as proof of loyalty, the police will still accept him! Maybe he'll even be promoted to a higher position! So you can consider whether the surrender of the Queen of Hearts is worth your trust!"
Jiang Ting's eyes flickered slightly, but he didn't make a sound.
The King of Spades sighed, and there seemed to be a helplessness —"How haven't you understood yet?"— look on his face. But after thinking for a while, he didn't directly refute the old man but suddenly turned to Jiang Ting, looked down at his icy expression, and asked, "What do you think?"
Jiang Ting said, "The worry is justified."
"Then what do you think I should think?"
The old man was in a rather unstable mood, and he didn't immediately figure out the meaning of the King of Spades' words. But in reality, not only him, but very few people present realized what the meaning was behind those words.
Jiang Ting obviously understood, but he just shook his head flatly: "It doesn't matter to me what you think."
The King of Spades looked a little regretful.
"The fact is that I have no way back anymore. Even if I take your head back to Gongzhou, those who are connected with you will not let me go. It is even more impossible for that old fox Chief Lu to speak for me." Jiang Ting paused, his gaze had been on the small piece of dry blood-red grass in front of him, but at this moment he finally raised his eyes: "However, although the reason for my surrender is not important to you, at least I can prove that I am not an undercover agent sent by the police."
"…Oh?" The King of Spades became interested: "How do you want to prove it?"
There was a soft click.
The experienced henchmen tensed up at the same time, only to hear that the gun in Jiang Ting's hand was loaded.
A henchman immediately took a few steps forward, but was stopped by the King of Spades with a wave of his hand. Under the watchful eyes of everyone, Jiang Ting slowly raised the muzzle of his gun. At the same time, the King of Spades glanced at Yan Xie out of the corner of his eye and seemed to be a little surprised.
A-Jie turned his head sharply toward Yan Xie, unabashedly revealing his bloodthirsty expectations.
The atmosphere became extremely tense for a moment. Yan Xie's jaw tightened, and his pupils contracted as the muzzle of the gun raised —
"I'm sorry," Jiang Ting said in a low voice, and then raised his hand and pulled the trigger without hesitation!
The gunshot rang out, and Qi Sihao, who was hiding behind henchmen not far away, widened his eyes defenselessly.
"..." He looked at the bloody hole on his stomach in disbelief, almost suspecting that he was dreaming. But his rapidly draining life was so clear and real that after a few seconds, he finally staggered and fell down. He stopped moving after a few gasps.
No one expected him to act so quickly, and the surroundings were dead silent.
Yan Xie stared straight at the corpse, feeling very similar to Qi Sihao's feeling at the moment when he was dying—did he do it just like this?
He killed someone?
Not to stop a crime in progress, not to deal with a desperate criminal, but an active-duty police officer?!
Although Qi Sihao stole and seized drugs, participated in drug trafficking in partnership, and even sneaked toward the King of Spades, he still had the name of the police after all. Jiang Ting's shot was equivalent to completely cutting off his last retreat to return to normal society!
"Didn't you ask me to kill Rivet for this purpose?" Jiang Ting said indifferently, "I killed the captain of the Gongzhou Criminal Investigation Division, which should prove that I'm not sent by the Public Security Bureau."
The King of Spades stared at Qi Sihao's fresh corpse for a long time. Few people dared to look directly at his face, so no one noticed that the eyes of this well-known South Asian drug lord were shining with what could be called excitement. He finally took a long breath, turned his head and laughed, and whispered in Jiang Ting's ear: "As expected, no matter how many years have passed, you are still the one I like the most, and you have never changed…"
Jiang Ting turned his head slightly and leaned back, he said, "Yes, I can satisfy you a little more."
He turned sideways to avoid the King of Spades and raised his gun again—Uncle Bo felt that something was wrong, but Jiang Ting's marksmanship didn't give him time to react at all. All of a sudden, he just heard bang! bang! bang!
Uncle Bo lost his voice: "Stop!"
After the bullets ran out, Jiang Ting threw away the empty gun and took a few steps forward. When he passed by A-Jie, he snatched the gun from the subordinate who was closest to him. However, A-Jie was not stupid; he seemed to realize something at the time and wanted to reach out to stop it, but before he could move, he saw the King of Spades shaking his head, obviously signaling him to leave it alone.
Bang bang bang bang!
Uncle Bo's subdued men couldn't resist at all. Every bullet fell down one by one, and every corpse was hit on the forehead. When the gunfire stopped, they all died in a row!
The bullet casings clanged and struck the ground, and Jiang Ting finally stopped.
Uncle Bo watched helplessly as his men collapsed in an instant, and he fell limply to the ground. Then he saw the muzzle of the still-smoking gun aimed at him.
"Not only can I not turn back at the police, but I also don't want to go back to being Wu Tun's subordinate and continue to serve him like a cow." Jiang Ting faced the ashen-faced Uncle Bo, but he said to the King of Spades: "Just cut off all the back roads today, and there will be no more suspicions in the future."
"Wait, wait!" Uncle Bo blurted out: "Wen Shao! He treats others like this today, he can also treat you the same way tomorrow—"
Bang!
Jiang Ting made a quick shot. Uncle Bo was shot in the middle of his eyebrows, and he fell backward to the ground.
"..."
In the blink of an eye, there were ten more corpses in the barren open space. The exact same bullet holes were exposed in the air, and the blood seemed to be slightly steaming. This gang of murderous drug dealers was a little panicked, and the nearby subordinates looked away in unison, and one or two moved back a few inches unnoticeably.
—If he treats others like this today, he can also treat you the same way tomorrow.
Uncle Bo's unspoken roar seemed to be still echoing in the air, but the person was already lying dead on the ground.
The old man had spent most of his life by the Ace of Clubs' side. The King of Spades seemed a little impatient. He shook his head, and sighed, then beckoned to a subordinate: "Carry him to the car, and find a place to bury him later."
His subordinates responded immediately.
Jiang Ting didn't look at the corpse again, just turned around when he suddenly heard a voice from behind: "Wait!"
It was A-Jie.
"Are you finished?" A-Jie looked at the back of Jiang Ting's head gloomily and said, "Isn't there still one left?"
Jiang Ting didn't turn his head back: "Are you left?"
A-Jie ignored his sharp words and raised his chin: "If you can't do it, I can help you." Then he snorted, "It's just that it may not be as clean and pleasant as when you do it yourself."
——Looking in the direction he signaled, Yan Xie had been pointed at with guns until now, unable to move even half a step, standing frozen a few meters away.
"You really don't want to stay alive." Jiang Ting finally raised his eyebrows and looked at A-Jie and said, "But you should think about it carefully; if everyone dies in the valley, how would everyone outside be able to know that the one who killed Qi Sihao is me, so it's alright?"
A-Jie said coldly: "Is that the reason you silenced the old man and his gang just now?"
His question was merciless, and it was indeed true. If any one of Uncle Bo's subordinates had escaped and been caught by the police, they would have become the witnesses of Jiang Ting's killing of the on-duty criminal policeman; but now that everyone was dead, there was no one except Yan Xie who could prove that Qi Sihao didn't die at the hands of drug traffickers.
It was hard for anyone to say why Jiang Ting shot and killed the old man's eight or nine henchmen in one breath just now. Could he not stop himself from killing? Or was there a secret intention behind it?
The King of Spades seemed to have nothing to do with Yan Xie's life and death, so he kept silent and watched the scene as if watching a good show. Jiang Ting pointed at Yan Xie and asked A-Jie, "Do you really want him to die?"
A-Jie asked back, "Reluctant?"
"You're underestimating me too." Jiang Ting nodded with a smile, and his eyes flashed with ridicule: "If he dies here now, I'll be the only love of his life. But if he is let out alive, the more he loved me before, the more he'll hate me in the future. When we meet again in the future, we'll already be enemies of life and death. Do you think I want to remember a lover who will never change until death, or do I want to leave behind an enemy who wants my life?"
A-Jie didn't think of this at all and was stunned for a moment.
Not far away, the King of Spades' expression of watching a good show gradually disappeared.
Jiang Ting waited for a few seconds, then the smile at the corner of his lips deepened: "—So even if no one mentions it, do you think I'll let him get out of here alive today?"
Jiang Ting turned around under A-Jie's monster-like gaze and walked toward Yan Xie, his movements neat and agile without any sloppiness. He went straight to Yan Xie, and said to the others in a low voice: "Go away!"
Maybe because he had killed eight or nine henchmen without blinking just now, the few people who were pointing their guns at Yan Xie were subconsciously a little afraid. After looking at each other for a moment, they all carefully lowered their guns and stepped back a few steps, leaving an open space of about ten square feet.
——Is there really no way to escape anymore?
He really can't think of a way out at all?!
There seemed to be countless voices screaming and howling in Yan Xie's head, but his body was powerless, as if filled with lead.
His eyeballs trembled slightly, the sockets of his eyes were full of red threads, and he looked at Jiang Ting as if he had never seen him before. It wasn't until the two of them were separated by only a few centimeters that they could clearly hear the breathing from each other's noses. Jiang Ting stood still and looked up at the handsome yet embarrassed face in front of him.
"I'm sorry," He finally spat out these two words.
Yan Xie acted as if he didn't hear it.
Immediately afterward, Jiang Ting asked: "Do you still remember the time we went to the hospital to visit Shen Xiaoqi together?"
"..."
What? Doubts flashed subconsciously in Yan Xir's chaotic mind.
Went to the hospital to visit Shen Xiaoqi together?
When did this happen?
"When Shen Xiaoqi woke up and found out that Bu Wei was dead, his first reaction was not, "This woman who caused me so much danger is finally dead', but instead he cried loudly. If Bu Wei was still alive, Shen Xiaoqi would sit in the courtroom listening to the public prosecutor's explanation of her many evil deeds, and seeing how she planned to murder him. He will definitely grit his teeth and hope that she will pay with her life. But Bu Wei died just like that, and Shen Xiaoqi didn't have time to see all this, so he cried that he had lost the girl he loved the most forever."
Yan Xie's eardrums were throbbing with pain, and he realized that Jiang Ting seemed to be expressing something, but he didn't understand why Jiang Ting was doing this.
Didn't he come to kill him? Why make up this nonsense?
"Li Yuxin killed He Liang and suffered from PTSD. She seemed to be living in the detention center, but in fact, we all know that the little girl who was interrogated was just a walking dead. When He Liang was alive, she may not have liked him very much; otherwise, she wouldn't have killed him to save her own life, but He Liang died. No matter how a person was before their death, what is left to the living is always the most beautiful thing. She might have spent countless days and nights repeating every look and every word of He Liang until she hypnotized herself into falling deeply in love with him."
"Memories, emotions, psychological imprints—these details are sublimated repeatedly with parting, and death is the best filter." Jiang Ting raised his hand and stroked Yan Xie's hair, focused on his painful eyes, and said softly: "The dead cannot be surpassed; the dead are always victors. That's the truth."
Yan Xie tilted his head in a conditioned reflex, but his struggle was actually very weak. Jiang Ting pressed hard to keep him from moving, and at the same time he asked the King of Spades with a smile: "——I think you insisted on Teng Wenyan killing Wang Rui and Li Yuxin killing He Liang for this reason, right?"
The King of Spades stared at him blankly, his face seemed very ugly.
The next moment, the King of Spades seemed to want to say something, but Jiang Ting didn't give him the chance. He smiled and said, "So I'm going to do the same today."
He pressed Yan Xie's head with his hand, almost half-forcibly, and gave him a long kiss.
No matter how many thoughts were circling in his mind just now, at the moment when his lips and tongue were entangled, all of Yan Xie's thoughts disappeared, and his brain and even his soul went blank. He didn't even realize it himself, but hot tears poured out of his eyes uncontrollably. His throat spasmed with soreness, and his internal organs were sliced into a bloody pulp by thousands of sharp knives.
He opened his teeth tremblingly, wanting to bite off the tip of Jiang Ting's tongue, but he couldn't.
"Even if you have money and a career, if you meet someone you like, you still have to obediently wait to be picked…"
"But I'm still very happy to be picked up."
"Do you feel this heart beating? It's beating so fast now. "
"Marry or not? Huh? Tell me, marry or not?"
"Marry, marry…"
All the memories turned into fragments, and like a heavy snowfall, they drifted away with the wind. The futile and desperate struggle disappeared, and all the strength was completely drained, turning into white nothingness.
Jiang Ting stepped back half a step, stood in the wind, and looked at him lovingly.
"I love you, Yan Xie." He said, "I want you to be that unsurpassable winner too."
Then he raised his hand and pressed the muzzle of his gun against Yan Xie's forehead.
The King of Spades finally opened his mouth hesitantly, but at this moment, something on Jiang Ting's head was reflected in the depths of his pupils, and his face shook suddenly: "Stop! Wait!!"
Jiang Ting, who was going to pull the trigger with his index finger, paused, and as if he didn't know what happened, he turned his head.
Just now, Jiang Ting ordered the few subordinates to back away, so now there were only him and Yan Xie in the open space, and before he raised his gun, he stepped back half a step, and the angle of his body was staggered by half of Yan Xie's, causing him to have more than half of his body exposed unobstructed, facing the rugged mountain forest not far away.
But at this time, on the side of his forehead facing the woods, a scarlet light spot appeared quietly, like a poisonous snake, swimming slightly from side to side and aiming at his head all the time.
Everyone saw it. The surrounding subordinates were stunned for a moment, and at the same time recognized what the red dot was—
The sight of the scope!
Snipers were ambushing in the distant woods!