Qin Chuan stared closely at the syringe in front of him, and even his gold-rimmed glasses couldn't stop the obvious trembling of his pupils. There seemed to be a burst of discussion around, but his ears were buzzing, and he couldn't hear anything except his own violent heartbeat.
"..." He panted and looked to the side, only to see Jiang Ting's face as pale as snow; he was also staring at the tray.
No one knew how long the suffocating stalemate lasted, but the King of Spades finally coughed implicitly and turned to Qin Chuan: "Why don't you come first?"
Qin Chuan couldn't say a word.
"I'm sorry," the King of Spades seemed a little apologetic and explained, "Jiang Ting has the privilege of staying with me, so you should come first."
A henchman stepped forward, took out the syringe from the tray, and handed it to Qin Chuan.
The henchman's arm was as thick as two normal people's, and he had a shaved head. Qin Chuan knew that this person, who used to be nicknamed "Ghost seeking sorrow" all over the country, was involved in several murder cases, and the viciousness of each case shocked the area where the crime occurred. Later, this person somehow got under the King of Spades and became one of his confidants. Thinking about it now, it should be that the King of Spades liked to collect such cold-blooded, cruel, and extreme personality criminals as if they were stamps.
Qin Chuan's mind was filled with countless thoughts, as if thousands of currents were passing through his nerve center, but on the surface, only his Adam's apple moved:
"…That doctor's testimony is full of loopholes, and it's impossible to justify ourselves… You know that right."
"I know."
"Then you still—"
Wen Shao interrupted him: "But that's not important."
——That's not important.
For the King of Spades, a person born with an extremely anti-social personality, the ins and outs were not important. He did things completely according to his own preferences. Many decisions that seemed unexpected actually had strict logic behind them, while other behaviors that seemed justified were actually only due to his bad interests and natural cruelty.
Qin Chuan's back molars were tightly clenched together, and he reached out to pick up the syringe as if picking up a poisonous snake with his bare hands.
His chest was rising and falling rapidly, but no oxygen could be taken in. His heart frantically retracted the blood in his whole body, and his brain felt dizzy for a while.
"..."
Everyone was watching him, only to see Qin Chuan suddenly clench his fist with the needle and throw the heroin far away!
Snap!
"I'm sorry, I can't do it." Qin Chuan said coldly under everyone's gaze: "I'm with you to get power and get rich overnight, not for this. If you don't believe me, just kill me. It doesn't have to be so troublesome, I'm not your guinea pig."
Wen Shao sighed and didn't say anything. He just waved his hand: "Take him away."
Without him having to say it a second time, that "Ghost seeking sorrow" went up and grabbed Qin Chuan, pushing him out. The latter staggered all the way, almost tripping when he crossed the threshold, and then disappeared outside the house.
Wen Shao didn't care and looked at Jiang Ting with a smile: "What about you?"
Jiang Ting stood upright, his face colder than ice.
"Heroin is usually divided into opium, monoacetylmorphine, 'No. 3' low-purity heroin hydrochloride, and 'No. 4' high-purity heroin hydrochloride according to its purity. Generally speaking, 98% of the heroin on the market has already reached the state of white powder. It's very rare. The so-called high-purity products are basically yellow sand; as for more than 99.9% of the 'No. 5' pure heroin that has been circulated recently, no one has seen it at all."
Wen Shao hugged Jiang Ting's shoulder, pointed to the tray, and said: "It is right in front of you now."
Jiang Ting said hoarsely: "…Then you are really willing."
"I'm willing to give you this lab-grade pure diacetylmorphine for the rest of my life. How about it, are you still hesitating?"
All eyes were on him, and all invisible hands were pushing him into the deepest abyss.
Jiang Ting opened his mouth, but he didn't say anything. He crushed the air pressure back into his body with a silent gasp, feeling as if the tip of a knife was scraping back and forth, twisting his lungs into a bloody pulp.
"…Okay." He finally spat out a word, and hoarsely said: "Then I will never leave you in my life."
Jiang Ting reached out to pick up the syringe, pulled out the plastic tube, directly stuck the needle into his arm, and injected all the liquid into the muscle!
Silence.
The air froze, the world stood still, and even time was stretched into an infinite moment—
The needle fell to the ground with a thud. Jiang Ting raised his head tremblingly, looking at the King of Spades, and the blood rushed to his cheeks instantly.
"…Hahaha," Wen Shao laughed, and then laughed out loud as if he couldn't stop. Holding Jiang Ting's shoulder, he laughed so hard that he buried his face in the crook of his neck.
"What is this?" Jiang Ting changed his tone: "What is this?!"
"Hahahahahaha…"
Wen Shao laughed so hard that he couldn't speak, and after a long while he finally raised his head and looked at Jiang Ting with an endless smile, teasingly saying, "High-protein nutritional supplement."
Jiang Ting froze in place as if he forgot to even blink.
"Just kidding, you are too thin, you need more nutrition." Wen Shao said with a smile: "No smoking next time, do you hear me?"
Jiang Ting was completely speechless. His knees were trembling uncontrollably, and his hands were shaking slightly by his side. Wen Shao didn't care too much, and affectionately rubbed the sweaty hair on his forehead with his thumb to the back of his temples, and then ordered the henchman to pick up the syringe thrown away by Qin Chuan on the ground: "Pick that up…give it to me, be careful "
"This," he waved the syringe towards Jiang Ting and said with a smile, "This is laboratory-grade heroin."
Then he laughed and turned to the door of the main hall.
Jiang Ting nearly used up all of his strength just to stay where he was, only to see all the henchmen following him one after another, but Wen Shao abruptly stopped, turned around, and smiled, "You said you would never leave me in this life. We will both live and die together in the future—don't forget!"
Jiang Ting didn't say a word, and Wen Shao stepped out of the door with a smile.
...…
"Big brother," just at this time, A-Jie happened to be bringing someone over from the back of the mountain. He immediately walked a few steps to meet him and said in a low voice: "I didn't find the remains of the phone; the mountain stream is too big. I'm going to ask people to go down again and carefully search the grass and rock crevices within a radius of 600 square meters. It must be—"
To his surprise, the King of Spades waved his hand and said, "No need."
"Big Brother?"
"We must leave immediately before it's too late. The mountains will be blocked by heavy snow soon. The buyers can't wait, and we'll act according to the situation when we get to the place."
A-Jie nodded, and couldn't help asking: "That…have you tried it?"
In fact, when he got off the car just now, he had already heard someone report the "test" that happened in the main hall, so when he saw the King of Spades walking forward, A-Jie immediately followed quickly.
"As I expected," the King of Spades said leisurely, "even the reaction is similar."
A-Jie frowned, doubting: "Could it be that I am wrong? Is it Qin Chuan who had the problem?"
The group walked toward the entrance of the village, and from a distance, they saw the "Ghost seeking sorrow" standing under a tree, explaining something to Qin Chuan. The latter's face, which seemed to always be wearing a mask, was not tense.
The King of Spades seemed to be quite interested, and after a long distance, he waved to Qin Chuan to say hello. And Qin Chuan deserved to be called talented; after the corner of his mouth twitched slightly, he also smiled, as if nothing had happened, and nodded politely.
"No, on the contrary." The King of Spades looked at the vast gray sky in front of him and said calmly: "It is normal human nature to want wealth, to want to be in power, and to want to get rich overnight. People have weaknesses when they want something, and refusal to inject is a sign of innocence, and Qin Chuan's behavior is logical."
A-Jie was stunned: "Then Jiang Ting…"
The King of Spades didn't answer and walked forward, and a group of people followed behind. The green fields in front of the village stretched as far as the eye could see, and the poppy fields rustled in the wind. He stood still in front of the ridge, stretched his waist against the wind, and said, "Do you know what kind of person is the most difficult to get along with in this world? "
A-Jie thought for a while, "Person with no desire or interest?"
"No, it is not about material desires at all, but only about feelings."
A-Jie was a little confused.
"Love desires life, and evil desires death. Once love turns into evil, eighteen bulls will not be able to pull back… The stronger and purer the emotion, the easier it is to do so."
All the henchmen didn't follow closely, as usual, and fell behind. A-Jie seemed to understand a little bit and saw the King of Spades turn around and pat him on the shoulder, saying: "From today on, don't leave Jiang Ting's side, don't let him be alone with anyone, and—"
A-Jie swallowed saliva.
"Don't give him any more chances to fool you." The King of Spades said lightly, "Go."
A-Jie was a little embarrassed, and answered cleanly. Then he took people to the convoy for the final supply and inspection.
The King of Spades stood alone in the wind, looking at the boundless poppy field, the barren and vast hills of the Kutkai Mountains, and a black spot passing through the clouds in the distance, which was a bird fluttering at the end of the sky.
He squinted his eyes, and no one knew what he was thinking.
Long howls echoed in the dark night outside the cave, moving from far to near, like wild beasts pacing back and forth. He couldn't remember how long he had been struggling with hunger, thirst, and dizziness. The high fever made him twitch even when he was half-conscious. He couldn't help swallowing, and after several small mouthfuls, the last drop of liquid was swallowed into his throat.
"..."
Maybe it was because the thirst was temporarily relieved, he finally opened his eyes with difficulty, and heard crying in the darkness. It was very soft and depressing, like a small animal trembling vigilantly in its nest.
"…you…"
The sobbing stopped immediately. The moonlight poured into the cave from the hole, and he saw his thin little friend curled up beside him. His shoulders were trembling, and he had buried his face in his knees.
"…Are you crying?"
The little boy immediately covered his mouth, straightened up, and shook his head vigorously.
He barely supported his arms but couldn't lift his upper body. He gave up after trying a few times, lying on the ground and stretching out his hands.
The little boy immediately held his cold hand in his arms and pressed it tightly against his own body temperature.
His hands were soft and white. Although they were covered with dirt from struggling for several days in the wilderness, it was clear that he had received meticulous care since he was a child. The little boy's hands were covered with all kinds of frostbite, scars, and bloodstains. His arms were thin for his age, and his elbows were clearly bones.
The contrast was so clear, but when the two children's hands were clasped together, it was unexpectedly harmonious.
It was as if they were born to hold each other tightly.
"Are you afraid?"
The little boy hesitated for a while and then whispered: "Yes."
"Afraid of death?"
At the junction of moonlight and shadow, a broken light appeared in those big, clear eyes again, and he shook his head for a while.
He laughed: "Liar. Tell me, are you afraid of death?"
"..." The little boy finally said softly, "I'm afraid of your death…"
He was stunned.
"As long as you survive… as long as you survive…" The sobbing sounded again. This time as if he couldn't hold back and collapsed, the little boy curled up beside his partner, crying vaguely and desperately over and over again: "I-I can die, I'm fine, as long as you can survive—"
"As long as you can survive—"
The little boy hadn't had a drop of water in a long time, and he went out to find water at night when the sun was not strong. He carefully used the sunken stone to scoop up water, for fear of spilling even a drop, and came back to feed his high-fever friend in the cave. His own lips were so dry and chapped that the blood congealed at the corners of his mouth into purple-black, and when he moved them while crying, blood beads that were extremely thick due to the extreme lack of water gushed out again.
But the pain of tearing the skin seemed nothing compared to the intense begging contained in his voice.
How can people have such strong emotions? Nine-year-old Wen Shao thought while listening to the sound of crying.
Why would you rather die, burn your last bit of energy, and pray for your beloved companion to live?
He stretched out his other hand, wanting to touch the little boy's black hair under the moonlight, but the years swirled and faded like a whirlpool, and after more than 20 years, the hand of the King of Spades slipped through the air, and his fingertips only touched the swaying poppies in front of his eyes.
The King of Spades closed his eyes.
"I hope to remember a lover who will never change until death…"
"I love you, Yan Xie, and I hope you will also become that insurpassable victor."
"Yan Xie!!"
"Then shoot," The voice of Jiang Ting gnashing his teeth sounded again from in front of him, and he said, "Shoot, don't be cowardly."
...…
The little boy who cried for him in the cave had grown up. He stood up, as if he heard something, and quickly turned around to run out of the cave, never turning back despite the calls from behind. He ran through the torrent of time and space and came to the gray mountain stream of Yuanlong Gorge in winter, hugging the distressed policeman, with joy, pain, and love shining in his eyes.
Then he stepped back and turned half a step, exposing his head to the red dot of the long-range sniper rifle without hesitation.
The King of Spades clenched his teeth so tightly that his cheeks became strangely cold, and his subordinates in the distance took half a step forward and then froze timidly. After a long time, he finally raised his head, opened his eyes, took a deep breath, and put his hands in his trouser pockets to grab a packet of powder.
A voice came from behind: "Big Brother."
"..."
As the King of Spades turned his head, and A-Jie lowered his head cautiously: "The convoy is ready to go."
A thin figure, who was very familiar to him, was being closely watched by his henchmen. He lowered his head and got into the back seat of the car.
The King of Spades remained motionless.
"…Big Brother?"
After several minutes, A-Jie, who was a little nervous at first, finally heard this voice: "Okay."
He looked up strangely, only to see the King of Spades taking out a bag of things from his pocket and throwing it away into the distant poppy fields.
"That's…"
"It's nothing," the King of Spades said plainly, not letting him ask any further questions: "Let's go to Yaoshan."
The convoy started slowly, passing through the mountains and heading north.
After passing through the Kutkai, where the smell of gunpowder hadn't dissipated yet, the southern border, where miasma grows, and the border jungle, where the bones of countless exiled peoples and jade dealers have been buried since ancient times, and passing through the magnificent scenery of Xishuandbanna and the Shu road, under the clouds of the sky, the huge Yaoshan Mountains stand quietly on the top of the plain.
Countless police cars, cloaked in the stars and the moon and flashing red and blue lights, drove into this majestic mountain from the plain.
At the foot of Yaoshan.
Several police cars stopped at the gate of the county police station, and local leaders rushed forward one after another. The leading jeep hadn't come to a complete stop yet, and a black-clad police officer had already jumped out of the car. He took off his sunglasses with one hand and looked up into the distance——
He was tall, with deep brows and a tough face chiseled out by wind knives and frost swords.
The looming dome of the mountain, shrouded in snow clouds, was completely reflected in the depths of his pupils.