Qiming Chapter 90

Chapter 90

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Under the impact of the bullet, the ankle bone shattered and deformed instantly, and the gunshot accompanied by the sound of the bone breaking echoed into the distance. Gu Yunfeng raised his leg and kicked the gun out of Qiu Lu’s hand. Leaping into the air, he grasped the handle of the gun tightly. After landing, he quickly stood up and walked over to her, crouching down to handcuff her hand to the nearby water pipe. Looking up, he saw Shu Pan running towards him. He frowned slightly, tossed the confiscated gun over, and nodded to signal that this one was for them, then turned to chase after Fang Xing, who had fled.

Fang Xing had a slight ankle sprain, making him run much slower. He squeezed through the narrow gaps between walls and ran out of the abandoned, dilapidated residential area that had long been deserted, before dashing madly towards the mountain.

After weaving through the maze-like houses, Gu Yunfeng finally emerged and looked up to see Fang Xing limping along the edge of the mountain road, struggling uphill next to the camphor trees perched on the cliff's edge.

The mountain road was steep, and looking up gave an illusion that the road was connected to the sky. Fang Xing’s figure appeared old and feeble, his faltering steps seemed to be walking towards a path of no return.

A strong wind suddenly arose, followed by a loud noise. The sharp screeching of brakes cut through the air, and a few seconds later, a black SUV shot into view, coming to a halt in the middle of the road after turning a corner.

It seemed the car had broken down, and Fang Xing was heading towards it.

To his surprise, after the car stopped, the door opened and Xu Chengyue stepped out.

Xu Chengyue took a few steps forward, locking eyes with Fang Xing’s reddened eyes. Instinctively, he took a few steps back, then saw Fang Xing pull out a pocket knife and charge at him like a madman.

In a reflex action, Gu Yunfeng loaded his gun and aimed at Fang Xing’s calf, hesitating on whether or not to pull the trigger. For a few seconds, Xu Chengyue was frozen, but as the knife’s tip slashed towards his face, he bent down and squatted on the ground, and without hesitation, kicked Fang Xing hard in the groin. The impact caused Fang Xing to drop the knife, and he bent over to protect his lower body. What followed were three gunshots, the sound reverberating through the valley.

After the three shots, Fang Xing was hit in the chest. In excruciating pain, he staggered back and then fell, tumbling into the bottomless abyss behind him.

He died, shattered in the lush green mountain and forest, on the very land where he had been born and raised.

In a way, it could be said his soul returned home.

Twenty metres away, Gu Yunfeng stared in disbelief at his hand, now almost stiff with shock. He was sure that although he had loaded the gun, he hadn’t pulled the trigger.

Who fired the shots?

He walked towards the dumbfounded Xu Chengyue. As he reached him, the driver’s door of the black SUV suddenly opened, and Lin Xiangrong stepped out, removing the sunglasses from her face and resting them on her collar. She stood by the car door with an air of victory, looking down on everyone.

She leaned against the door, holding the well-worn gun that Gu Yunfeng had used for many years. She squinted one eye, mockingly aiming the gun at herself before turning it back and re-aiming towards Gu Yunfeng.

"Bang–" she mimicked the sound of a shot with her mouth, gazing at them with a smirk. Then she removed the remaining bullets from the gun chamber, opened her palm, and let them fall, one by one, into the deep abyss below.

"See, no bullets left." She clapped her hands. "Captain Gu, I had to go to a lot of trouble to get those bullets. Your gun, well, it was empty."

Her relaxed and carefree attitude suddenly enraged Gu Yunfeng. He charged towards her, pointing to the bottomless abyss below as he shouted, "Do you even know what you just did?!"

What did she just do? In that very moment, she had raised the gun and ended the life of her former superior, without any psychological burden, as effortlessly as killing an ant.

This wasn’t a stranger, nor an enemy, but someone who had once trusted her. Without hesitation, she acted decisively, and Gu Yunfeng could only come to one conclusion – someone wanted Fang Xing dead, and she merely seized the right opportunity to carry it out.

As the culprit behind the company’s ruined reputation, Fang Xing was nothing more than an eyesore to his former subordinates and friends who started the business together when they were young, a discarded pawn. They were all eager to kick him when he was down, with no one extending a helping hand.

"I saw a passer-by about to be attacked and stepped in to rescue him," Lin Xiangrong said, casually leaning against the car door. Perhaps worried another vehicle might approach, she moved to stand by a nearby tree, idly twirling the gun Gu Yunfeng had lost.

"This man was dangerous, first, he attacked the police, and now he was threatening an innocent bystander. I happened to have a gun in hand, and I acted heroically."

Saying that, she waved the Type 92 in her hand and tossed it towards Gu Yunfeng, who stood tense, veins bulging in his hands and wrists. "Catch, Captain Gu, this is your gun, after all, I fished it out of the trash. Now it’s back where it belongs, you decide, was it an act of heroism or self-defence?"

When Gu Yunfeng remained silent, she sauntered over with a smile, "Don’t tell me you’re thinking of charging me with murder."

"Isn’t that exactly what it was?"

"Oh, come on, I saved your lover and retrieved your gun, and now you want to accuse me of murder?" Lin Xiangrong’s smile widened, "Hey, don’t be unreasonable."

"......" Facing her carefree and happy expression, Gu Yunfeng was momentarily at a loss for words. He took a deep breath and grabbed Xu Chengyue’s hand, leaning in to whisper, "Why were you in the same car as her?"

"I ran into her after getting off the plane. She said she was also looking for Mr Fang, so... we took the same car." Xu Chengyue, still shaken, bent over and coughed violently a few times. Trembling, he stared down at the abyss, his mind racing with visions of himself falling, his body shattered and unrecognisable at the bottom.

The only thing left at the cliff’s edge was the sharp pocket knife, gleaming in the sunlight. It was as if nothing had ever happened, as if Fang Xing had never existed, no trace remained of the man who had just plunged to his death before their very eyes.

Gu Yunfeng walked over, bent down, and picked up the knife, placing it into an evidence bag. He waved it in front of Lin Xiangrong’s face, "You came here to kill him, didn’t you?"

"Don’t be like that, I was just doing the right thing."

"Who asked you to come?"

"Of course, I’m here on behalf of my current employer, visiting his hometown." Lin Xiangrong pulled her coat tighter as a gust of wind blew, scattering leaves from the nearby tree that fell lightly on her.

"Wan Biannian?"

"I came to see his dying brother for him and to admire the breathtaking scenery of these mountains." Her gaze drifted from the cliff to the distant peaks and lakes. Finally, her eyes rested on the clock tower in the centre of the county square.

Under the blue sky and swirling clouds, the clock tower’s hands moved counterclockwise, pointing to eleven. The deep chimes dispersed in all directions, echoing through the valley. It was as if the clock had turned back in time, back to when Fang Xing had first left this mountain. At that time, he had walked away without looking back, chasing success in the big city alone, only to end up buried in the mountains he had once loved.

"Look at the clock tower in the square. Doesn’t it look like a red countdown?" Lin Xiangrong pointed towards it, her gaze shifting back to them as she added with a meaningful smile, "I wonder whose countdown it is."

—————

The bumpy mountain road on the way back to the airport felt just as rough as before. Luckily, they weren't sharing a car with Shu Pan, which meant they were spared from witnessing his motion sickness throughout the ride. Gu Yunfeng unlocked his phone, noticing that although the police had yet to confirm any information, entertainment news had already begun circulating rumours that Fang Xing had committed suicide by leaping off the cliff out of fear of punishment.

Wan Biannian, grief-stricken, recounted the struggles he and his late brother had faced while building their empire from scratch, navigating numerous ups and downs. He lamented that Fang Xing had unfortunately strayed down the wrong path, causing unrest within the entire group of companies.

From now on, regular self-assessments will be mandatory from the top down. Both executives and employees will be held to strict standards, adhering closely to the company's policies. In the video, Wan Biannian, as the founder of Zhiyin Technology, spoke with a firm, resolute tone, always wearing his signature classic shirts.

Gu Yunfeng and Xu Chengyue were seated in the back. Xu Chengyue had taken a flight at one in the morning and by the time he arrived, it was already past three, so he hadn’t even managed to grab breakfast. He leaned against Gu Yunfeng’s shoulder and rested. Although he didn’t suffer from altitude sickness or motion sickness, having taken a red-eye flight with little sleep and the effects of the high altitude on his body, he looked completely exhausted.

His backpack lay carelessly at his feet, slightly misshapen from the jolts of the road. The zipper had come undone, revealing a small bottle of unmarked medication.

Gu Yunfeng bent down to pick it up, and upon opening it, he realised the bottle was still sealed.

Examining the label, he discovered its purpose, in addition to boosting immunity, it had an unusual effect –

Blocking neural repair.

Although Xu Chengyue hadn’t taken the medication, there must have been some reason for purchasing it. The label explicitly stated that it would inhibit neural recovery, which led Gu Yunfeng to surmise that excessive use could lead to significant brain damage, if not outright cognitive decline.

He didn’t dwell on it too much. After snapping a few photos of the packaging from every angle, he returned the bottle to the bag. As he did, Xu Chengyue unconsciously grabbed his hand, as though in the throes of a dream. Gu Yunfeng had the unsettling feeling that there was an unknown secret lingering between them. Why hadn’t Xu Chengyue taken the medication? And what would happen if he did?

Unsure and unable to draw any conclusions, Gu Yunfeng closed his eyes, choosing to rest like everyone else on the flight back to Nanpu City.

A few days earlier, Lin Xiangrong had provided him with the medication she'd mentioned before, designed to ensure that the real Xu Chengyue would never wake up, damaging his brain and suppressing the transmission of neurotransmitters.

But when he actually held the medicine in his hands, he hesitated.

Would he really take such a drug?

Was he qualified to deprive someone of their right to live?

What if the drug truly caused irreversible neural damage?

Torn between these conflicting thoughts, Xu Chengyue had been living in this ambivalence for quite some time. He dreamt more frequently, recalling more of his childhood memories.

He had begun to feel as though his path was gradually converging with the life of the original Xu Chengyue, inching closer with each passing day, overlapping more and more.

He even wondered, if he continued to leave the bottle unopened, would they one day become the same person, carrying the weight of two completely different lives and experiences?

‿︵‿︵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 16, 2024 by Angel

Edited: December 12, 2024 by Angel