Three years ago, Gongzhou.
January tenth.
boom! The door of the abandoned house was pushed open, the cold wind swept into the room, and countless dusts suddenly rose up in the dim light, and then flew and gradually fell silent.
"Come in," Applejack ordered in a low voice.
The young man being held by him was extremely thin, his face was bloodless, his lips were pale blue, and even his shoulder bones were stunned. Probably because he had been deprived of vision for a long time, he suddenly took off the blindfold and couldn't see the outside light. His eyes were half closed all the time. A tired arc.
The light was indeed too dim, and most of the interior scene was sketched with only a few hazy lines.
If you just look at the silhouette, no one will recognize this young man, who is the second detachment of the Gongzhou Anti-drug Detachment Changjiang Ting, who was kidnapped back a few months ago.
Jiang Ting was half-supported and half-pushed by Ajie to enter the door. Someone stepped forward to put a gun on his head, and someone stuffed something hard and cold into his weak hand—it turned out to be a gun.
Ajie picked up the phone and leaned it against Jiang Ting's ear, and then the nightmarish gentle and cruel voice rang:
"Kill the undercover in front of you and you will be free."
"No, I can't do it. I… "
"you can."
"No. Just kill me, kill me quickly—"
"You can do it," Spade K was still very patient, even with a smile in his words: "You don't want to die, Jiang Ting, you are the person I've ever met who doesn't want to die. In any desperate situation, you don't want to die. It's your nature to give up trying to get even the slightest chance of life, it's what you're born with, so you can do it."
"… "
"Kill him, then you'll be free, or you'll die here too."
Jiang Ting gasped for breath, and the hand holding the gun trembled violently. He has never been so afraid of guns in his life. It seems that he is not holding the handle of the gun, but the cold fangs of the snake. The venom penetrates the skin and soaks the blood until it brings death to the heart.
"Jiang Ting," said the K of Spades, full of inducement, "Didn't you say you can beat me? Show me the proof."
After an inexplicable amount of time, the time was so long that every second was extremely long, and the hand that Applejack had been staring at finally moved—
The gun was slowly lifted into the air, and then the muzzle turned and pointed towards Jiang Ting's own temple!
"Fuck!" Ajie yelled, saying it was too late, turning the gun's muzzle with Jiang Ting's hand, the next second only to hear: Bang!
The figure in the dark corner ahead shook, then slipped against the wall and fell to the ground weakly.
There was a solidified dead silence for more than ten seconds, and then there was a snap, and the gun in Jiang Ting's hand fell to the ground. His last nerve that was tensed to the limit was finally broken. He leaned back and was grabbed by Applejack. He forcibly opened his eyelids and looked at his pupils. He shouted sharply, "Sedative!"
Someone was running fast, someone was calling, but Jiang Ting couldn't hear anything.
The needle of the syringe pierced the skin, and the stinging pain at that moment woke him up, his consciousness was extremely clear, but his body did not obey. He struggled to get up while shuddering, the needle detached from his body with a streak of blood star, and fell to the dusty ground.
Then he started coughing non-stop, his bronchospasm throbbing, his whole body curled up, his throat full of the sweet smell of rust. In the interval of ventilation, he heard Ajie's hard voice saying, "You'd better get an injection."
But he didn't answer, he managed to stop the cough, swallowed his mouth full of blood, and stood up embarrassed, not knowing whose hand he was supporting.
"Don't worry about him, Jiang Ting is just such a person." The voice of Spade King said leisurely on the phone, "He is free now."
Jiang Ting withdrew his hand, as if he wanted to stand firm on his own strength, but the health and physical strength that had been rapidly consumed for many days could no longer fulfill such a simple self-requirement. He staggered back a few steps and leaned his back against the wall, feeling that the whole world was spinning before his eyes.
And then in the drowsiness he heard something—
It was the sound of sirens from far and near.
"The police are here, Jiang Ting, I'm going to give you back to them."
The K of spades on the other end of the phone sounded very nostalgic. No matter what he said, it seemed like he was talking in love, with an eternally stable and disgusting mellow and soft, whispering in his ear like a nightmare.
"When you return to the ranks of the police, facing countless doubts, questions and accusations, and endure all the hatred, hatred and abuse, please don't forget the bet we made today; Words, no one will trust, no one will listen, because all the facts have proved that you are a traitor."
"One day you'll find out that I'm right, and then you'll be willing to go back to where we first met. And until then, as long as there's one cop who's willing to believe in you—even if there's only one." The King of Spades sneered. The meaning deepened, and he said, "It's all counted as a loss for me."
The siren was approaching rapidly, getting louder and louder. The sound of water splashing came from outside the abandoned house. It was drug dealers pouring gasoline around.
"Goodbye, Jiang Ting," said the king of spades, "I welcome you to admit defeat at any time."
The raging fire engulfed the house, and under the gloomy sky, the roaring flames danced wildly.
The red and blue police lights flickered, the fire truck whistled sharply, and the footsteps swarmed towards the burning house; but Jiang Ting did not look back, nor did he dare to look back. All his strength was used to hide and run, even if it was a desperate stumble.
I don't know how far I ran, but the hustle and bustle of people and the noise of the flames were all left behind, and there was only the whistling north wind in my ears.
His eyes darkened, he stumbled to the ground, and finally lost consciousness.
“… Team Jiang…”
"Team Jiang..."
"Captain Jiang!" Someone shouted to him in the haze: "Wake up! Hurry up!"
After a few minutes or more, Jiang Ting finally slowly opened his eyes.
He couldn't focus his vision, and his blurred and scattered eyes were cast in the air, only to see a large gray and blank sky. After a long time, the pain like tens of thousands of needles finally returned to this body, and all the internal organs were twisted and shrunk into a ball.
In the throes of pain, he heard someone keep saying, "...I know you must still be alive, I know you must not give up..."
Jiang stopped using all his strength, finally turned his head slightly, and saw the surrounding scene clearly.
He passed out in a bush on the outskirts of the city, far from the scene of the fire surrounded by police cars. A thin old man in a dark blue uniform and a white shirt was half-kneeling by his side, his white hair trembling in the cold wind, his face flushed and eager, and he kept saying something excitedly.
"Fortunately, you didn't die, it's good to live, it's good to live!"
Jiang Ting closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, he finally recognized who he was—Yue Guangping, the former deputy mayor and chief of public security of Gongzhou.
"Don't move, don't move, you've been hurt too much. I've already called your contact person named Yang Mei and told her to come here to pick you up. I'll be fine, take care of your injuries first, as long as you're alive, everything is fine. Think long-term—"
"… there is none left… "
Yue Guangping paused: "What?"
Jiang Ting lay on the ground, looking up at the sky, his eyes blank with despair, and said, "The rivet is dead."
Yue Guangping's whole body shook violently: "What did you say?!"
"I failed. The drug trade was in the eco-park, and all my team members died in the plastic factory... I failed." Jiang Ting shook his hands, tightly covering his face that didn't look like a living person, and repeated nervously from the palm of his hand over and over again. It came out: "There is no long-term plan at all, my teammates are dead, and the rivets have been killed by me, and they have no long-term plans anymore..."
Yue Guangping covered his mouth, wiped his face heavily, and said word by word, "But you are still alive!"
Jiang Ting's face was blank.
Yue Guangping gritted his teeth and said, "As long as you live, you can take revenge!"
He got up and carried Jiang Ting up. Although the former deputy mayor was already old, Jiang Ting didn't have much weight at all at this time, and he was helped to the edge of a relatively smooth rock without much effort.
"I'm the supervisor of the rescue operation. I can't leave the scene for too long. I have to go back." Yue Guangping asked him to sit down against the stone and calmly told him, "Later Yang Mei will come and pick you up to go to the safety that we have been meeting before. house before moving on to the next step. Remember the safe house? You remember the address and password, right?"
Jiang Ting's ears were ringing, his spirit was extremely unstable, and he nodded hastily.
"The investigation team of the 1009 plastic factory explosion is very high-level. Even I am under 24/7 surveillance. It is estimated that I will not be able to contact the outside world at any time in the next week. You should recover from the injury first, and I will contact you in seven days. We are still Meet at the safe house."
Yue Guangping got up and was about to leave, but suddenly stopped, hesitating for a moment before speaking, then slowly said, "I'm investigating another matter recently, and I've almost got my eyes on it..."
Jiang Ting was groggy and in a very bad state.
"I'll let you know when I get the final result." Yue Guangping gritted his teeth and whispered, "You must persevere and wait for me to contact you."
Yue Guangping walked away quickly, black smoke billowing from the wilderness, it was the fire brigade who extinguished the abandoned house lit by gasoline, they should have found the body of Rivet and Jiang Ting's gun.
And farther away, Yang Mei, who received the notice, came quickly, preparing to take Jiang Ting to a safe place to recuperate—
Under the vast sky, dark clouds piled up and rolled, and all the conspiracy and desperate traps were officially opened at this moment.
In a hotel suite.
"—What is Yue Guangping investigating?" Yan Yan sat on the sofa and frowned sharply: "Why do you say 'other', are you investigating something else before?"
Jiang Zing stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, and he couldn't see his expression against the light, but he slowly shook his head: "I don't know what he meant by 'other', he died before he could tell me. But Before that, the two of us have been conducting follow-up investigations in the Gongzhou City Bureau, hoping to find the internal nails while destroying the king of spades."
Yan Yan said unexpectedly, "The two of you?"
"..." Jiang Ting seemed to smile bitterly: "Yes. Do you remember when I told you before that the rivets were exposed before the 1009 Plastic Factory's anti-drug operation?"
Yan Yan stared at him.
"The rivets are exposed, who betrayed them? This person must be in the Gongzhou system, and his position is quite high. Combined with the fact that the previous siege against the king of spades always failed, I guess someone at the top is the internal response of the king of spades. But I'm not sure who it is."
"—You know this feeling is terrible. The traitor is around, but you don't know who he is. It may be the senior you admire the most, or it may be your closest partner. People come and go, ghosts and shadows. , it's watching you in the dark, but you can't catch this ghost in human skin."
Jiang Ting took a breath and said, "I didn't have much time at that time, because Operation 1009 is about to start. If I want to temporarily revise the action plan, I must find a completely innocent and trustworthy leader to rely on. After much consideration, I chose Yue Guangping."
Yan Yan asked, "Why him?"
"There are two reasons for this." Jiang Ting explained: "First, he is my immediate supervisor who has been taking care of me and promoting me, and I know him the most; second, he is the deputy mayor of Gongzhou and the level of the Public Security Department. Chief, the big leader of Gongzhou police number 000001, who else can I trust if I don’t trust him? If even he is a ghost, then I will be finished no matter what, and there is no need to fight with the king of spades.”
Yan Xun nodded slightly and thought: "So before the 1009 plastic factory anti-drug operation started, Yue Guangping believed that you were not a black police officer."
"He won't believe my words alone. He should have verified it through various methods, but he doesn't know how." Jiang Ting took a breath and said, "After he believed my confession, the two of us joined forces. I have been investigating inside the city bureau for a while, but have found nothing, and I can't find out how a lot of inside information leaked to the king of spades. This ghost is so hidden and so perfect that sometimes I have a kind of feeling that it is in the end. The illusion of non-existence."
"In this way, as time passed to the beginning of October, Operation 1009 began. After obtaining the consent of Yue Guangping, I temporarily revised the action plan and transferred the police force from the ecological park to the plastic factory."
Yan Yan realized something and asked: "That means only Yue Guangping knows about the revision of the action plan besides you?"
"That's true in theory." Jiang Ting said lightly, "But in fact, if the inner ghost's authority is high enough, you can also observe from many clues that the action plan has been temporarily modified... So it can't be said that the one who leaked the plan must be Yue Guangping."
- That being said, but Yan Yan immediately understood why after the explosion, the only person who desperately advocated to rescue Jiang Ting was Yue Guangping: if he was innocent, he really had to rescue Jiang Ting at all times. To prove his innocence, on the other hand, it is better for the two to confront each other and investigate the inner ghost.
"And then?" Yan Yan asked, "Did Yue Guangping contact you a week later?"
Jiang Ting was silent for a while, then nodded: "On January 18, I received a call from Yue Guangping."
Three years ago, 1.18—
"The last time I told you about the investigation, it was about how the king of spades learned that you had temporarily modified your action plan, and now the result is basically certain. I didn't expect it, really didn't expect it... If the two of us found out earlier, this Nothing will happen…”
The curtains were drawn so tightly that no light could penetrate the room. After seven consecutive days of recuperation, Jiang Ting recovered a little, but his energy was still very low, and his voice was extremely hoarse: "What happened?"
Yue Guangping's forcibly suppressed breathing came from the other side of the phone, and after a few seconds, he said:
"I think I found out who the ghost is."
- Jiang Ting's pupils shrank in an instant.
"I don't know if they are targeting me. I may have been. This is a complicated matter. The phone is not safe. We will meet in the safe house in an hour." : "I'm sorry for you, Team Jiang, no matter what happens... No matter what happens in the future, I can die, but please live, I'm sorry."
He hung up the phone.
Yan Yan was sitting with his legs wide open, his elbows resting on his knees, his fingers constantly rubbing his chin, and he wondered, "Why is Yue Guangping's words so weird..."
"It's really weird, but I can't figure out where it is." Jiang paused and said, "I hung up the phone and went out to the safe house—it was rented by Yue Guangping when I met privately before, by the park where he often fished. A basement is equipped with a full set of anti-eavesdropping equipment. But halfway through the way, I received a text message from Yue Guangping, saying that there was someone coming from his house, let me go first, and he would be about half an hour late."
At this time, Yan Yan realized that something was wrong.
According to Yue Guangping's tone on the phone before, what he wanted to tell Jiang Ting should be extremely important and critical, so why can it be delayed for half an hour? - In Yan Yan's words, even if he just went out for an appointment with Jiang Zing, he would not be late for half an hour.
Furthermore, Yue Guangping knew that he "may have been targeted by them", so why did he invite temporary visitors in
Is he so insecure
"I will always remember that day, January 18. I waited in the basement until three o'clock in the afternoon, but Yue Guangping didn't come, didn't answer the phone, didn't answer the text message." Jiang Ting's tone was a little unstable, he raised his neck and took a deep breath , said: "Finally, I couldn't wait any longer. I left the safe house and drove to Yue Guangping's house. His door was left open..."
dong dong dong!
"Takeout, you ordered takeout!" Jiang Ting, wearing the delivery boy's vest and baseball cap, stood in front of the door and raised his voice: "Hey! Is there anyone at home!"
squeak-
The wooden door opened a gap inward.
Jiang Ting's brows twitched, and some kind of fear from out of nowhere suddenly came to his heart, but it was too late.
The door was completely open, revealing the scene inside the door unobstructed. Yue Guangping was wearing a sweater and long trousers, lying on his back on the floor of the living room, with a pool of vomit beside his bruised cheeks, his eyes were wide open, and he was obviously not breathing.
"..." Jiang Ting didn't have any strength in his body, and slowly took a few steps backwards.
how come? He repeatedly thought, how could it be
It's like falling into an intricate labyrinth, with poisonous nightmares hidden in every room, one after another, never ending.
At this moment, a distant siren sounded outside the community.
"I immediately went downstairs and drove to escape, but was spotted by the police car. At that time, I only had one thought in my mind: I must not be caught by them, because firstly I can't tell, and secondly I don't know if they are real police officers or gangsters. The beginning of another conspiracy of Tao K."
Even after more than three years had passed, Jiang Ting's shoulders were still a little trembling when he recounted this experience.
"Several police cars were chasing it, and I drove up the highway... The last memory is of a lorry coming out of the incline, and then I hit it head-on, and I don't know anything."
—Like a trapped beast rushing to the left and right in a trap, knowing that it is embattled on all sides, but still trying to make a way out, even if it ends up being shattered.
In the empty suite, Jiang Ting's calm and clear voice echoed: "Just like this, when I wake up again, it will be two years and three months later."
Neither of them were talking. After a long time, Yan Yan finally covered his mouth with his hand, and let out a long, deep breath of hot air.
"Yang Mei couldn't have rescued you from the police's endless net, so the police car that was chasing you at that time must have been strange. And Yue Guangping's death can basically be determined to be related to the K of Spades." Yan Yan leaned back on the sofa , the dark and bushy sword eyebrows were knitted together, and he murmured, "But who is the inner ghost he wants to tell you?"
- What kind of identity does this inner ghost have, so that Yue Guangping can't report his name directly on the phone, but has to meet and explain the whole story in person, so that he is killed at a critical moment
Jiang Ting said: "I don't know, the police car came so fast that I didn't even have time to go to the scene of Yue Guangping's death to do any inspections. But there is one thing I have always brooded about, and I still can't figure out why."
Yan Yan suddenly raised her eyes.
"The last sentence Yue Guangping left before his death was I'm sorry."
Jiang Ting paused for a while, as if every word had been brewing between his lips and teeth for a long time, and then asked gently, word by word:
"If this is the clue he left, why does he think he's sorry for me?"