CH 165

At least that was what he thought, and he certainly did, but not before he took a step forward.

“Boss!” The man behind him shouted loudly.

“Damn it, I retired a long time ago.” Xing Conglian kept walking forward irritably.

“Coordinates (7°11’S, 24°45’W), Kang An, the knocker, was ordered to ask you for help.”

His former subordinate emphasized solemnly.

Xing Conglian suddenly stopped, turned around, and asked, “Dana Region?”

“Yes.” He examined the stubborn-faced subordinate in front of him, and his gaze finally fell on the cigarette the other party was handing out.

At that moment, all he could think about was Lin Chen, but he still stretched out his hand to take the cigarette. He took out a lighter, lit it, stuffed it into his mouth, and took a puff.

“What the hell happened?” he glared as he said solemnly.

“The Gaomeng Tribe has imprisoned thousands of people and is preparing to start a massacre. We have no way to find the exact location where they’re being held, and negotiations have reached a deadlock. Please leave immediately. The direct flight from Yongchuan Airport is on standby.”

Kang An kept whispering in his ears. When he heard the coordinates, he knew exactly how urgent the situation was, but he didn’t want to say a word now. Xing Conglian raised his eyes and began to search for Lin Chen’s figure among the people moving around in the square. He saw girls sitting on the ground with frightened faces and firefighters who were still rushing towards the fire, but he didn’t see Lin Chen.

After an inefficient search, he thought he could still call him. He took out his phone and dialed Lin Chen’s number, but the long disconnected tone made him feel at a loss.

“Boss, the flight is on standby,” the annoying voice urged in his ear.

“Can’t I have a little privilege?” He started running towards Wang Chao.

“Boss, you can’t.”

“Then give me five minutes.”

The voice behind him became more irritating. Xing Conglian opened the door of the car. Wang Chao had already packed all his luggage and was looking at him with a sad face. “Boss, can I not go?”

“Quickly locate the location of your A’Chen Gege’s phone. I can’t find where he is.”

“What?” Wang Chao’s eyes suddenly lit up. “Can we really take A’Chen Gege with us?”

“Dana Rainforest, Gaomeng Tribe. Do you think it’s appropriate?”

Wang Chao quickly lowered his voice. “Then… Then don’t do it. It’s too dangerous. A’Chen Gege is allergic to antibiotics, so he can’t go to that kind of place…” Wang Chao became more discouraged. “Do you know what happened, Boss?”

Hearing this, Kang An interjected. “Boss, this is a top-secret operation. It’s forbidden to leak to outsiders of the system, and who is this A’Chen?”

“The regulations are written by laozi. You think laozi doesn’t understand better than you?” After Xing Conglian finished speaking, he knocked on Wang Chao’s head irritably. “I told you to find someone, so stop talking nonsense.”

Wang Chao quickly opened his laptop and began to search for the GPS location of Lin Chen’s phone while muttering, “Boss, what should we do about A’Chen when we leave? It’s so sudden, and I feel like A’Chen isn’t in a good mental state. Will it be hard for him if we’re not there…”

Xing Conglian’s brows furrowed tighter. He remembered Lin Chen’s despair and pain when he kissed him. If it weren’t for being forced to the extreme, how could Lin Chen suddenly erupt just now? Since Lin Chen’s attitude was clear, it was obviously very irresponsible for him to suddenly leave now. If there was enough time, he really wanted to pull Lin Chen aside and tell him everything, but he didn’t have enough time, and he didn’t have a way to tell Lin Chen where he was going, what he was doing, when he would be back, or the possibility that he may never return.

The geographic location of Lin Chen appeared on the screen. Xing Conglian glanced at it, confirmed the location, and ran there, but before he could run two steps, he found Kang An was following him.

“Are you this fucking annoying?” He turned around and cursed with a cigarette in his mouth.

“Boss, there are two minutes and eleven seconds.” His former subordinate, dressed as a bricklayer, tapped the children’s electronic watch on his wrist and urged.

“Don’t follow me. Give me two minutes.” Xing Conglian changed his tone and requested politely.

“No,” Kang An replied without hesitation.

Xing Conglian was speechless. He even wanted to beat him up.

There were too many people in the square, which really hindered his movements. He had to avoid many people carefully. When he saw Lin Chen, Kang An counted down behind him telling him there was only thirty seconds left.

In the distance, Lin Chen was squatting near the wounded area to comfort a little boy. Some golden sunlight shone through the dense clouds and fell on Lin Chen’s side. Lin Chen had a peaceful face and gentle eyes as he was talking to the crying little boy.

Looking at Lin Chen’s side face, at that moment, Xing Conglian had a feeling of unwillingness for the first time in the world. It was enough to leave the world fucked.

Lin Chen rubbed the little boy’s head. When he turned his head, he happened to see Xing Conglian running. Lin Chen squatted on the ground, looking at him blankly.

Xing Conglian ran to Lin Chen. He just wanted to say goodbye at that time, but the moment he saw Lin Chen, he didn’t hesitate to pull him up from the ground and hug him tightly.

At the moment of being pulled up by Xing Conglian, Lin Chen felt dizzy for a short time. It may be because he squatted for too long or Xing Conglian used too much force, but when he reacted, he had already leaned against Xing Conglian’s shoulder. Xing Conglian was embracing him with his other arm.

When he kissed Xing Conglian just now, the other party was calm, but now, he didn’t know why Xing Conglian’s emotional reaction was so intense. Was this the manifestation of too long of a reflex arc?

What made Lin Chen even more confused was the meaning of this hug. He didn’t know why Xing Conglian suddenly rushed towards him and hugged him tightly. He lowered his head slightly, and at first sight, he saw the golden thread wrapped around the edge of the cigarette that Xing Conglian was holding. He looked up and saw an eager stranger standing behind Xing Conglian. He saw the other party’s green shoes and the cigarette pack in his hand and instantly understood something.

“What’s wrong?” He leaned on Xing Conglian’s shoulder and asked faintly, amidst the occasional cries of pain from the wounded.

“I’m very sorry.” The next moment, Xing Conglian replied in his ear.

Lin Chen was taken aback and took half a step back. This wasn’t the answer he expected. There was no agreement or rejection in this answer. This may not even be a response to his confession.

But what exactly are you sorry for? He really wanted to ask Xing Conglian bluntly like this.

If you don’t like me, don’t. If you don’t want to accept my feelings, don’t. Don’t force your feelings either. How can you be sorry?

Just when he decided he would ask clearly, Xing Conglian took a deep look at him and then turned around without hesitation, so that he didn’t get a chance to even say a word.

Xing Conglian’s receding back disappeared into the crowd as the dark clouds covered the last ray of sunlight. Lin Chen looked up that sky and covered his eyes with the back of his hand.

……

Xing Conglian left, and so did Wang Chao.

They left so suddenly without saying anything to anyone, so when Jiang Chao found Lin Chen cleaning up the scene, he swore at those two.

“Fuck, they just leave whenever they want. That’s too irresponsible!”

Jiang Chao pulled out his phone and called Xing Conglian’s number but he only got “The number you have dialed has been disconnected.”

“It should be something urgent.” Lin Chen replied with some simple speculations. In fact, he didn’t blame Xing Conglian and Wang Chao for not telling him. After all, he was convinced that something that could make Xing Conglian act this way was far more important than finishing up the aftermath of this case. Xing Conglian had never been an irresponsible and ignorant person.

He looked at Jiang Chao seriously and said, “Please take back what you just said. It’s very excessive to use ‘irresponsible’ when evaluating Xing Conglian and Wang Chao.”

Jiang Chao hurriedly apologized. “Sorry, Consultant Lin. I’m sorry. I just have a bad mouth, but, Consultant Lin, don’t you live with Lao Xing? You have such a good relationship. How can you not know where they went? It must be really urgent then.”

Lin Chen bowed his head slightly. Jiang Chao’s words were truly lacking in tact.

Indeed, although he was living in Xing Conglian’s home, he didn’t know where Xing Conglian and Wang Chao were going or what they were doing. In fact, their previous acquaintance was probably an illusion after a mutual whitewash. Xing Conglian didn’t know his past, and he didn’t know Xing Conglian’s. He even wondered if he should even return to Yanjia Lane.

After all, what was a home without its master?

Rarely was Lin Chen so confused. He felt as if his heart had been hollowed out.

He silently followed Jiang Chao to deal with the follow-up matters on the scene. After all, human attention was a limited resource. When he was busy, he wouldn’t have to think about too many things for the time being.

For example, where did Xing Conglian and Wang Chao go, whether they would be in danger, when they would return, or whether they would really come back. Although these questions occasionally appeared in his thoughts, they would soon be suppressed by the matter at hand, but the scenes that occurred in that dim underground space would continue to flash before his eyes. Sometimes it was the blackened face of Xing Conglian, and sometimes it was when he wiped his tears away with his hands. Lin Chen looked down at the time. Xing Conglian had only been gone for about five hours, and he had probably already thought about him hundreds of times.

The night was sultry. The surroundings were dark, and the mosquitoes were dense. The dark clouds that had been smoldering for the whole day didn’t turn into thunderstorms. The people at the cultural center had gradually dispersed.

Lin Chen closed his notebook and put the ballpoint pen into his pocket. He thought about some details of the case and walked towards the police car with Jiang Chao.

“It’s still necessary to investigate the backgrounds of all victims in detail to find out the common ground. Meijing and Xiang Ye must have a more secret purpose behind this,” he said as he walked.

“Consultant Lin, you haven’t heard anything from Lao Xing yet?” Jiang Chao began to touch subjects he shouldn’t be touching.

“Yes, no.”

Lin Chen got into the car and found that he could already calmly answer this question.

On the return trip, he specifically asked Jiang Chao to take him to the entrance of the subway station, where Xing Conglian had parked his Jeep. Sure enough, the vehicle he was very familiar with was parked alone in the parking space at the entrance to the subway. Wang Chao’s pillow, snacks, and comic books were randomly thrown in the back seat. The location of the sundries was the same as when they got off, which showed that Wang Chao and Xing Conglian didn’t even have time to return to the car to get necessary items.

After Jiang Chao saw all this, he became a little nervous. “Consultant Lin, Lao Xing didn’t even take the car. Could it be that something happened? Do you think we should report a disappearance?”

“No need,” Lin Chen replied with great certainty.

……

Thousands of miles high.

Through the porthole, Xing Conglian looked at the red sunset outside the window, a little distracted.

He was still wearing the sweat-soaked shirt after the fire. When he got on the plane, he just washed his face and started his new job.

Kang An kept explaining the latest situation opposite him, but his voice had completely disappeared as he was distracted. He could only feel that someone was talking on the opposite side, but he automatically blocked out the sound. This was naturally unprofessional behavior, but when he looked at the increasingly bright sky outside the window, he couldn’t help but think about something else.

……

Lin Chen said goodbye to Jiang Chao but didn’t intend to check into his hotel room immediately.

The hotel Jiang Chao booked was an express hotel where he and Xing Conglian stayed last time. The river at the entrance was still quiet, and the snack street was still bustling.

Lin Chen put his hands in his pockets and walked down the street at will. There were countless people drinking and partying in the food stalls. Whether they were lovers or friends, they were happy clinking cups and drinking merrily. Those people were talking and laughing. Then, their voices were mixed in with the smoke from the stove, like countless clouds of joy steaming up from the long street.

The streetlights were dim, and the night was getting darker. Lin Chen didn’t know how long he had been walking. When he came back to his senses, he was standing in front of a crayfish shop called “Reunion”.

The meaning of the name of the shop was really good. He looked at the store sign and walked in.

He ordered a serving of spicy crayfish and a plate of roasted peanuts but didn’t order beer.

When the dishes were served, heavy rain started falling outside the shop.