Silent Reading

9.24.2020

God knew where a young lady like Dong Xiaoqing got such fierce strength. She thrusted hard and then yanked hard, and somehow pulled the dagger out of Zhou Huaixin again.

Eyes bright read and face twisted in madness, she waved the bloody knife and plunged into the stunned crowd like a Yaksha in human form.

People screamed. A few brave souls managed to snap a couple shots, but the rest did not fancy the idea of "dying for work". They pushed and pulled each other to make way and ran in all directions. The frantic crowd formed a perfect human barrier that separated the Zhou's dumbfounded bodyguards.

Luo Wenzhou's adrenaline rushed and almost erupted like a volcano. He started chasing after her without a second thought. Only after some strides did his thoughts catch up with his steps. They were thoughts of Fei Du. He turned to check on him.

To his surprise, Fei Du neither fainted nor vomited. Instead, he stood stiffly by the side of Zhou Huaixin. Without the camouflage of his glasses, his eyes showed a hint of panic. But he was still largely sober and functional. He was facing Luo Wenzhou sideways in order to avoided the direct sight of the blood. When noticed his attention, he even calmly waved at him.

For a second, Fei Du's hematophobia seemed not too serious at all.

Luo Wenzhou had a weird feeling but was too busy to attend to it. Seeing that Dong Xiaoqing had already cut through the crowd and was about to run out of the hospital campus, Luo Wenzhou quickly estimated her route, circumvented the crowd, and went in pursuit by borrowing way from the roadside flower beds.

From Dong Xiaoqing's attack to her escape, everything happed too fast.

Fei Du's head "buzzed". The sight of oozing blood on Zhou Huaixin's stomach smacked his chest like a heavy duty hammer, cracking his fragile body and discombobulating the soul inside.

In the day to day living, his hematophobia was at most a small inconvenience. After all, there weren't that many opportunities to see blood. Occasionally he might get a small cut but the nausea would go away quickly.

Fei Du didn't know how long it had been since he last faced such a bloody scene. His ears rumbled, his limbs were almost unresponsive, and his fingertips convulsed uncontrollably. But luckily every inch of his bones and muscles tightened instinctively at once which kept him standing upright. He may seem Okay - but his mind was hazy.

Fei Du clenched his fist fiercely. His joints rattled chaotically. He tried his best to look away, and strode towards Zhou Huaijin despite his rumbling, irregular heartbeats.

Zhou Huaijin's one leg was caught in the overturned wheelchair. His other leg kneeled, helplessly. The next moment, someone dragged him up by the shirt collar.

"He was stabbed on the stomach. Abdominal bleeding is very dangerous," Fei Du said in a cold and hurried tone, "Do you want him alive or not? Call out the best emergency personnel in your hospital immediately. Mr. Zhou, I know you are not lame yet, so stand up!"

Zhou Huaijin stumbled, but managed to get on his feet. He stared at Fei Du in horror for two seconds, then, as if freshly awoken, he grabbed his phone.

Zhou Huaixin was like a freshly dissected fish on a cutting board, flopping in vain. Although he was circled by people, no one dared to touch or move him. The blood pool on the ground grew wider as he struggled. Fei Du heard Zhou Huaijin stuttering in his phone call while holding his brother in his arms. He mumbled useless things like "look at me" and "it'll be alright". For some inexplicable reasons, Fei Du raised his sweat-soaked eyelashes and caught Zhou Huaixin's gaze.

The light in Zhou Huaixin's eyes grew dimmer and dimmer. His pupils gradually lost focus. In Fei Du's eyes, he was undergoing some peculiar changes: from a friend to a strange pile of organic waste.

He could clearly feel the divide in himself: half of him was nauseated by Zhou Huaixin's bleeding wounds; the other half acted like an outlier of a herd, staring at Zhou Huaixin's eyes in confusion and unable to associated this dying man with the Zhou Huaixin that he knew. He couldn't feel the others' anxiety and pain, but instinctively he tried to blend in, searching hard for the trace of empathy from the bottom of his heart -- what a normal person should've had, in theory.

But there was nothing, no matter how hard he searched.

"People fear death. But what they really fear is the unknown. Death itself is not painful. There is even a high -- you should've experienced that already."

"Have you paid attention to the eyes of dying animals? Those are eyes that have found the truth. And the truth is: 'living' itself is an illusion created by the nervous system, a fake self-consciousness."

"The human consciousness is like flowing water that's changing all the time. Death is its final destination. This life does not truly belong to you unless you can understand and take control of the whole changing process of a certain stream of consciousness. Very few could manage. So for this 'life' that doesn't belong to you, its every change deviates from your command. Every moment you are basically dying. What's unchanging is the skin bag made of carbohydrates. You have feelings for this skin bag? That's just like anthropomorphizing pork on the plate. Delusional."

The heavy smell of blood flooded Fei Du's nose like a tsunami. His internal organs were being grilled. Emergency personnels rushed out of Heng'ai Hospital in sweats, treated Zhou Huaixin, and then carried him away like a wind. Fei Du followed them all the way to the emergency room. But in the end he could take it no more. He left Zhou Huaijin and turned to the restroom.

Meanwhile, Dong Xiaoqing, the murderer in broad daylight, was drenched in blood herself and running in a frenzy. Her hair band was broken. Her carefully permed long hair were flying up and down in the wind as she ran. Some wrapped around the horrendous weapon in her hands.

"Dong Xiaoqing!" thanks to his long legs, Luo Wenzhou was quickly catching up with her. Seeing that she already got on the main road, he yelled, "Freeze, do you really think you can get away?"

Perhaps because she was already out of breath, Dong Xiaoqing started slowing down. When she heard this, she suddenly stopped and turned around, raising her knife at Luo Wenzhou.

Luo Wenzhou didn't mind if she charged at him: Ten Dong Xiaoqing together wouldn't cause him much trouble. What worried him was the girl's state of mind. He could not understand her motives at all and he feared that she would hurt or even kill herself under such a frantic state. So he quickly stopped a few steps away.

"Easy." Luo Wenzhou pressed his hands down and looked at Dong Xiaoqing with his most calm and firm gaze, hoping to calm her down. Then he made up a lie on the spot, "Listen, girl, the person you just stabbed is not dead. You're not in big trouble yet. Don't be scared, it'll be okay."

Dong Xiaoqing was still very distressed, but have perhaps processed his words a bit. Her knifed hand was trembling uncontrollably, maybe from fear, or maybe from the regret that she didn't finish Zhou Huaixin off with another stab.

"I am a policeman," Luo Wenzhou said in a deep voice. He took out his badge and held it up, "Tell me, I am listening. I can help."

Dong Xiaoqing stepped back. Her gaze finally focused a bit. After a while, the mania on her blood-stained face gradually subsided and was replaced with bone-deep grief and anger. Her eyes were red and filled with tears. Like a dumb person who had never been spoken to, when suddenly there was a pair of attentive ears, she did not know where to begin.

Luo Wenzhou carefully took a step closer: "Easy, would you put the knife down, Miss? Isn't it heavy? How dangerous..."

"I..." Following his words, Dong Xiaoqing subconsciously dropped the tip of the knife slightly and stumbled, "My father, he..."

Luo Wenzhou peeked at the knife and carefully calculated whether he could take her down with one blow. While slowly approaching her, he continued: "Your dad was wronged. We all know it. We will definitely make things right in the future and prove his innocence."

To his surprise, Dong Xiaoqing's tears flooded as soon as she heard him: "My father...my father was not wronged."

Luo Wenzhou puzzled: "What?"

"He was also one of them. They..."

Suddenly, a gust of wind blew across them as a darting car smashed into Dong Xiaoqing after making a sharp turn out of nowhere. Before Luo Wenzhou could do anything, Dong flew across his eyes. Not even the sound of her cry had the time to make it out of her throat.

The shards of the front windshield splashed all over Luo Wenzhou like hail in a storm. In the next moment, the car accelerated again and headed for Luo Wenzhou! He probably used up even the strength in his past life to duck it, but was still hit by the rearview mirror. The mirror was completely shattered. Despite the sharp pain, he covered his head, tensed his muscles, and rolled towards the road side.

The assailant obviously had a clear mind. He knew that the more he delayed fleeing the scene the larger danger he was in. So although he missed Luo Wenzhou in the first attempt, he did not waste time to turn around for another try. The car dashed away immediately.

The back alley of Heng'ai Hospital was a bit secluded, not to mention that it was not during peak hour so the road was practically empty. The frantic car whizzed away with its broken mirror.

Half of Luo Wenzhou's body was numb from the crash. It took him a while to get back up. At that time, the others finally caught up with what's going on and approached. As Luo Wenzhou hurried to Dong Xiaoqing's side he called the Bureau Office: "Nanshan Road at the back of Heng'ai Hospital, a white XX car with a license plate Yan CXXXXX... search the whole city... No, the whole province, the whole country... even if he fled to the Pacific Ocean, drop an anchor and pull him back!"

Dong Xiaoqing's head was completely deformed. A shoe flew directly across the road. Her bare hands and feet were covered with dust and blood. She was beyond dead.

"FXck!" Luo Wenzhou cursed. His eyebrow was itchy so he scratched, but saw blood covering his hand--it was a cut from the flying glasses.

Luo Wenzhou breathed heavily: "Anything from Tao Ran and Xiao Haiyang? Are they at Dong Xiaoqing's home yet?"

On the other side of the line, Lang Qiao had just carried out his orders without a question. Only then did she have a chance to speak: "I was just about to tell you: Vice Captain Tao just called and said Dong Xiaoqing's home was empty. And there was an arson... Boss, what's going on? And, why are you looking for this car?"

Luo Wenzhou squeezed his eyes shut.

People who were scared away by Dong Xiaoqing gathered around again. But they did not dare to come close, only whispered to each other on both sides of the road.

Dong Xiaoqing laid there, in the middle of the road, under broad daylight.

The girl was bad-tempered and stubborn. On one hand, she claimed that she was ready to give out everything she owned to compensate the victims. On the other hand, she resolutely defended her father's reputation at all times.

Then why on earth would she take the risk to assassinate Zhou Huaijin?

And why then, did she contact Xiao Haiyang beforehand?

What did she want? What did she want to give Xiao Haiyang?

And... what she said before her death, He was also one of them...

Who were "them"?

Who would be so audacious to kill in front of a criminal policeman?

Luo Wenzhou felt short of breath.

Meanwhile, inside the Heng'ai Hospital, Fei Du had almost threw up all of his internal organs. His hands were visibly shaking when he rinsed his mouth.

He fidgeted to undo two shirt buttons, splashed some cold water on his face, pushed the wet hair back, and popped in two mints. Not until the mints have completely melted did he finally find the strength to walk upright again. Fei Du carelessly peeked at his own blue-tinted face in the mirror, then hid those trembling fingers in his pocket.

Zhou Huaijin curled up on the hospital bench. His bloody hands nervously tangled together. The tendon on his neck were bulging out hideously. Suddenly, a wet towel fell from the air. Zhou Huaijin raised his head blankly and saw Fei Du walking up to him, eyes staring at the red light of the operating room.

"Here, this might help," Fei Du opened up his mouth first, "Mr. Zhou, you probably don't know me yet: I occasionally hung out with Huaixin."

Zhou Huaijin managed to gather some strength to deal with him: "Ah, Mr. Fei, your name precedes you..."

"It's me who must say that," Fei Du interrupted him. "Huaixin couldn't say three words without mentioning his brother. Every time he mentioned you he sounded like a baby that hadn't been weaned yet. My ears are growing calluses because of that."

Zhou Huaijin inhaled deeply and tightly clasped his hands.

At the moment, a few medical staff rushed past them. Startled, Zhou Huaixin shot up in alarm and stared at the operating room for a while. Then, as if he could not sit still anymore, he started pacing back and forth. His mask of gentleness had fractured. Hair cluttered, he unconsciously folded his hands in front of his chest as if praying for the mercy from some unknown gods. He muttered to comfort himself: "It'll be okay, it'll be okay...it must be okay. "

"With such a long knife pushed in and pulled out, there is very little chance that it will be okay." Fei Du interrupted him ruthlessly again, "Mr. Zhou, although people say life and death are both predestined, at the end of the day, he did it all for you."

Zhou Huaijin collapsed his shoulders: "I know, I just..."

"I'm not talking about him taking the stab for you," Fei Du pushed on aggressively, "Mr. Zhou, you understand what I mean, no? (I mean) the true cause of this whole thing. Do you believe that there are consequences to every lie that gets told? The lies may come true one day."

Zhou Huaijin shuddered.

Fei Du: "How about starting with how you planned the kidnapping?"

Several black-clothed bodyguards quietly approached and closed in on Fei Du nervously.

But he smirked and paid them no attention: if they were any good, Zhou Huaixin wouldn't be in the operating room right now.

After a long while, Zhou Huaijin finally waved his hand and spoke softly: "You are right."

"You are all dismissed, now leave us," Zhou Huaijin said to the bodyguards, "Let me talk to Mr. Fei."

Fei Du walked over to the vending machine, bought two bottles of water, and handed one to Zhou Huaijin.

"I contacted them first." Zhou Huaijin downed half a bottle, took a deep breath, and then said, "It was also me who chose Heng Da."

"Aren't you worried that if the police got there too late, you might have really drowned in that river?"

"Someone was keeping an eye on me. If things got out of hand they'll intervene. We used only locals who were familiar with the landscape and could easily escape from the police's searches. Even if they were caught, it'll be alright, since I could just testify that they were helpful bystanders. "

Convenient indeed.

Fei Du nodded: "You are mostly abroad all year round and probably unfamiliar with the locals. Did Hu Zhenyu help you contact the two kidnappers? Why did you choose the Baisha District?"

"I was the planner and the decision maker. Others just followed my orders. Let's not involve the innocents." Zhou Huaijin paused, then nodded reluctantly, "I chose Baisha District because it is easy to get there from the airport. Also, our helper happened to be from there. And none of us had any obvious associations in the Baisha District so nobody would be easily suspected."

Fei Du: "Your helper?"

"It was just a friend I have helped before." Zhou Huaijin shook his head, "He had nothing to do with this matter."

"On...on that day, I suddenly learned of his death and realized that it was an opportunity." Zhou Huaijin said in a hoarse voice, "In the corporation I am just a mascot. Zhou Junmao held everything in his hand. Even after he died, there is still Zheng Kaifeng the lackey. I still won't have a say in anything."

Fei Du: "I thought that from legitimacy to experience, Mr.Zhou is at least better than Yang Bo."

"Legitimacy?" Zhou Huaijin forced a smile, "What legitimacy do I have? I'm just a fig leaf."