Qiming Chapter 82

Chapter 82

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When the second gunshot rang out, dozens of grey pigeons flew from the building opposite, flapping their wings as they soared into the clear sky.

Wei Han lay on the ground, his pupils dilated, a pool of crimson blood beneath him. Half of his skull was almost blown off, and he died with his eyes wide open. Time seemed to stretch indefinitely. Xu Chengyue stared at the blood on the ground, his world spinning as everything went dark despite the bright sunlight.

Everyone's movements appeared to slow down infinitely. As Fang Xing pulled the trigger, Gu Yunfeng swiftly kicked him in the groin and delivered a powerful chop to his wrist.

Before Fang Xing could react, Gu Yunfeng punched him in the nose, ready to snatch the gun from his hand.

As he seized the gun, a bullet burst from the muzzle, whizzing past Gu Yunfeng’s coat, and the shell casing hit the wall behind before gently falling to the ground. His arm shook as he took the gun, and he was dazed for a few seconds, feeling a chill in his body. He bent over to catch his breath, touched his shoulder, and noticed blood on his hand, a minor graze, it seemed.

Fang Xing, stumbling and nearly falling, managed to grab back the Type 92 pistol and almost crawled into the elevator, desperately pressing the close button. Just as the doors were about to shut, he fired a few random shots outside, and with the force of the recoil, collapsed onto the floor, utterly exhausted, watching the elevator doors close and the elevator rapidly descend.

The stray shots Fang Xing fired hit the walls and floor, leaving empty shell casings scattered everywhere. Xu Chengyue quickly scanned the area, there were five bullet holes in total, far less than the fifteen rounds the magazine could hold.

"There were only six bullets left in my gun, and now there's one," Gu Yunfeng's face was pale as he pressed the button for another elevator. "I've already informed Old Qin, they’ll chase after him."

"Are you hurt?" Xu Chengyue noticed his face didn't quite look right. Fang Xing had fired several wild shots earlier, and it was unclear which ones had hit and which hadn’t.

"That last shot just grazed my shoulder and ruined my jacket," Gu Yunfeng was annoyed, the shoulder injury wasn’t a big deal, but he really liked that leather jacket. Now it had a hole in it from the bullet, and it couldn’t be properly repaired. He couldn’t even buy an identical one.

He could only put it away in his wardrobe.

When they exited the building, Qin Wei had already led his team in pursuit of Fang Xing, leaving a few people to guard the scene on the twenty-first floor. On the phone, he explained to Gu Yunfeng that Fang Xing hadn’t escaped through the main entrance but had instead jumped out of a second-floor window, scaled a wall, and fled. There was a soft patch of grass below the window, and a car was parked there. As soon as Fang Xing jumped down, the door opened, and he was whisked away, speeding to the south. They were now closely tailing the car, trying to force it to stop.

"This Mr. Fang has a strong survival instinct, he hasn't eaten for days, was beaten up, and still managed to climb over a wall," Gu Yunfeng remarked as he opened the car door and sat in the driver’s seat. He felt a bit uncomfortable but didn’t pay much attention to it, taking off his jacket and retrieving a basic first-aid kit from the car to quickly bandage the wound on his shoulder.

"Officer Qin is one kilometre ahead of us, just follow him," Xu Chengyue fastened his seatbelt and synced the navigation with Qin Wei’s location.

He kept sensing a bloody smell in the car, and even after rolling down the window, it didn’t go away. It might have been the residual smell from the twenty-first floor lingering in his nasal cavity. The scent made him gag, and he had to clutch his throat for half a minute before he recovered.

This was the first time Xu Chengyue had seen someone die right before his eyes.

Wei Han's death replayed endlessly in his mind. He regretted not closing Wei Han’s eyes before leaving. If he had died with his eyes closed, would it have been more dignified?

Although Wei Han had kidnapped, imprisoned, and tortured Fang Xing, and spread fear-mongering statements to disrupt public order, Xu Chengyue still felt deep sympathy for him. They had endured similar ordeals, but the outcomes were different, and their futures diverged significantly.

By comparison, Xu Chengyue considered himself much more fortunate.

He closed his eyes, feeling the sunlight on his long eyelashes. He took a deep breath, listening to Gu Yunfeng slam down on the accelerator, racing wildly forward on the highway.

After about ten minutes, the intense light forced him to open his eyes again. Instinctively, he turned to look at Gu Yunfeng, only to find his face as pale as a ghost, completely devoid of colour. Although the window was open, the car was filled with an inescapable smell of blood.

A few beads of sweat dripped from Gu Yunfeng's forehead in the cold wind, gathering together and falling down his chin. The car was moving slower and slower, gradually veering off course and no longer travelling in a straight line. Gu Yunfeng lowered his head, looking at something unknown, his expression a mix of exhaustion and pain.

"What's wrong with you?" Xu Chengyue asked with concern, a terrible feeling surging through his heart.

Gu Yunfeng pressed the brake and came to a stop, looking at him with a deathly pale face. One hand gripped the steering wheel, and sweat suddenly poured from his temples, neck, and palms.

"I just realised that I've been shot, in the abdomen, possibly the stomach." If it had been any other area, he probably wouldn’t have been able to stay alive or even speak.

His voice grew extremely weak and powerless, his eyes gradually losing focus. "That gun has been used quite a lot, the rifling in the barrel is badly worn, so the accuracy is pretty low. When I was hit, I thought it was just a graze."

As he spoke, he moved his palm away from his abdomen, revealing a large area of his T-shirt stained red. Blood continuously flowed through his fingers, dripping into the car, a horrifying sight.

"He fired six shots in total. Apart from the five shell casings left behind, the last bullet is here." He pointed at his abdomen as he sweated profusely in the car filled with cold air.

Looking up, he saw endless fields and forests outside the window. Today, the sun was setting early, and the horizon was tinged with blood. Seeing Gu Yunfeng's blood-soaked hands and the blood continuously oozing from his abdomen, Xu Chengyue felt his mind explode with a loud buzz. The blood before his eyes merged with the blood on the horizon, forming a continuous, unending expanse.

—————

When Lin Xiangrong received Fang Xing’s call, she was drenched in sweat, stepping on a treadmill at the gym.

Over the past few days, the kidnappers who held Fang Xing had released some exposés about her, making her situation in the industry quite awkward. She had secretly worked for a competitor of her husband’s family’s company and had blatantly provided them with the core technology she possessed. Strictly speaking, this didn’t count as corporate espionage, but it was certainly not something to be proud of.

Now, she was inundated with phone calls every day. The massacre of the Jiang family and Fang Xing’s kidnapping had inevitably made her a person of intense interest. A few days ago, she had contacted one of her classmates abroad to take Jiang Quan back to school, cutting off all ties with the child.

If he grew up and learnt the truth of the matter, he probably wouldn’t want to see her either.

Lin Xiangrong frowned at the unfamiliar landline number displayed on the caller ID. She initially wanted to hang up, but after wiping her sweat, she somehow answered.

As soon as she picked up, she heard Fang Xing's voice, barely clinging to life. She froze for two seconds, and after confirming his identity, a huge wave of disappointment surged in her heart, though she was forced to feign joy and concern in her tone. "Mr. Fang, have you been rescued? Congratulations!"

She stepped off the treadmill, navigating through the crowded gym to find a place to rest.

"Go to 808 Yulong Avenue, there’s a blue and yellow garbage bin on the corner opposite the crossroads, inside it, there’s a KFC bag, take care of what’s inside for me."

"What’s inside the bag?" she asked. On the other end of the line, Fang Xing seemed to be by the river, she could hear the sound of a ferry horn, along with wind and car horns. He didn’t sound like someone who had just been rescued, rather, he sounded like he was fleeing for his life... What had happened to him? Who had he killed this time?

"A gun."

"Mr. Fang, please don’t joke around with me."

"Go there now and dispose of it. Then send Qiu Lu to pick me up at Jinsha Beach."

"What? How am I supposed to deal with this? And where did you get this gun?" Lin Xiangrong, full of doubt, wiped the sweat from her face, held the phone between her ear and shoulder, changed her clothes, and left the gym, heading toward her home.

"It was self-defence, I shot and killed the maniac who kidnapped me." Fang Xing’s voice sounded slightly unstable, he spat out the word "maniac" with gritted teeth, trying to emphasise his innocence.

"You didn’t use a police gun, did you?"

"Mhmm."

"Then even Buddha can’t save you now." Lin Xiangrong sighed, her eyelids twitching incessantly. She rubbed her brow and walked quickly, saying, "But if it was self-defence, you shouldn’t have much to worry about."

"Just do as I say!" Fang Xing ordered loudly, then abruptly hung up, leaving only a series of busy signals.

Whenever Fang Xing spoke to her in that commanding tone, it made her furious. Once again, he was making her clean up his mess, just like with the Jiang family incident.

Last time, not only had he used someone she had painstakingly trained to commit murder, but he had also botched the whole thing, deeply implicating her. With no other choice, she had to hide, retreating to Northern Europe to create an alibi for herself, hoping for some peace. She still didn’t know how Wang Kun had been so careless, leaving blood at the scene, forcing her to hint at the bone marrow transplant situation to Xu Chengyue so that she could clear her name and regain some tranquillity.

And now? How had Fang Xing ended up using a police gun to kill his captor? He had taken an officer's gun, what had happened to the gun’s owner?

There was no time to think further. She changed into more practical clothes and shoes, contacted Qiu Lu and others to meet Mr. Fang at Jinsha Beach, and then quickly altered her hairstyle, put on a mask, and headed out. She took a taxi to Yulong Avenue and then walked towards the location where the gun was hidden.

She was relieved that Fang Xing had chosen a decent spot. The garbage bin where the gun was hidden was conveniently in a blind spot of the surveillance cameras. She was wearing a mask, so she was sure she wouldn’t be traced. Still, she sneered angrily, bending down to put on gloves before digging through the recyclable garbage bin to retrieve the KFC paper bag.

Maybe the mask helped, but the smell of the trash wasn’t too overpowering. She disdainfully pulled out the Type 92 pistol hidden inside, carefully disposing of the gloves and the paper bag, planning to dismantle the gun.

Upon disassembling it, she found that the barrel’s rifling was significantly worn, reducing its power and accuracy. The barrel was empty, without a single bullet. It was unclear whether the ammunition had just run out or if Fang Xing had removed the bullets for another purpose.

She shook her head indifferently, reassembled the gun within a few minutes, and concealed it on her person. After removing her mask, she rejoined the bustling crowd. Looking up at the towering buildings around her, she suddenly thought of something and quickly dialled Xu Chengyue's number.

After a series of busy signals, she gave up on the call and sent Xu Chengyue a message instead–

Fang Xing is heading to Jinsha Beach, he might be planning to run, you’d better hurry and catch him~

Then, she casually checked the time and started planning her public transport route to Jinsha Beach, which was twenty kilometres away.

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

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Translator Notes

Please feel free to comment any mistakes I made so I can improve and do better as I go through the book.

Translated: September 10, 2024 by Angel

Edited: December 5, 2024 by Angel