Chapter 493: Torment

Chapter 493: Torment

Gao Yang didn’t make any comment after Heavenly Dog finished his story. It didn’t feel right to say that he understood, neither did it feel right to offer him comfort and encouragement, or make a joke to lighten the mood.

He looked at the deep blue ocean in the distance with Heavenly Dog. Triangular wakes trailed after the cruise before the surface of the ocean smoothed out again, erasing the tracks left by the vessel.

After a good moment of silence, Gao Yang asked, “Do you still think about her?”

“I do.” Heavenly Dog looked up, propping himself up with his hands on the deck. He drawled, “I think about her all the time. I think about that when I see her again, I have to ask her...”

He narrowed his eyes, his gaze melancholy, but his lips curved upward. “Why don’t you love me?”

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Half an hour later, Gao Yang returned to his suite. He opened the door to the bedroom gingerly to see a bathrobed Qing Ling lying on her side on the large bed, lit by the soft lamp light above. Gao Yang only had to look at her to know that she hadn’t actually fallen asleep.

Her posture wasn’t relaxed enough, and her breathing was flighty. She had merely closed her eyes.

Gao Yang opted not to bother her. He closed the door and went into the bathroom, taking a shower to wash away his exhaustion while going over what had happened the past few days.

Twenty minutes later, Gao Yang changed into a bathrobe and dried his hair with a towel as he walked out. He glanced at Qing Ling, who was lying on the bed, and paused in surprise. Although she was still lying in the same posture as before, he was certain that she was now asleep.

In fact, judging by her slow, much more settled breathing, she was sleeping quite soundly.

Gao Yang felt himself relaxing too.

For some reason, every time he saw her, a girl severely lacking in a sense of security, enjoying food or sleeping soundly, he felt comforted.

It was as if she was living proof that no matter how hard life was, there would always be moments that made it worth it.

Gao Yang dried his hair and lay down on the sofa, slowly closing his eyes and whispering, “Goodnight.”

...

The four of them woke up early. They headed to the cafeteria for breakfast.

There were all sorts of facilities for entertainment on the cruise, but none of them were in the mood to use them, and they returned to their suites to keep waiting.

Officer Huang stood on the balcony, having cigarette after cigarette. He kept calling Chen Ying, waiting less than half an hour between each call. He wished she would give him something concrete the next second so that he could go rescue his wife as soon as they disembarked.

It got to the point that Chen Ying got fed up and stopped taking his calls.

At the head of the bed were the desk and the computer, and on the walls on the sides were hooks for clothes and a small recessed wall cabinet. With a ventilation system, it didn’t feel too stuffy in the room.

Gao Yang lay down, but sleep seemed to elude him.

There was nothing he could do but wait back on the cruise, and he was able to rest properly. Now that they had reached their destination, though, it was tortuous to not be able to make a move.

Gao Yang glanced at the time. It was two in the morning. He decided to take a stroll.

He found himself stopping in the area offering free manga. Like a small library, the rows of bookshelves were filled with manga books. A few young people weaved through the shelves, looking for a book they would like to read.

After a while, Gao Yang spotted a familiar figure in a corner.

Officer Huang stood before a bookshelf, looking through the collections.

Sensing someone approaching, he turned around, and he smiled wryly when he saw Gao Yang. “I couldn’t sleep and couldn’t stop myself from overthinking, so I came here to check out the manga.”

Gao Yang was reminded then that Officer Huang used to love manga when he was young. He had gotten his sense of justice from the shonen manga.

Gao Yang asked without thinking much, “Can you understand it?”

“I don’t need to read the lines, just look at the drawing.” Officer Huang was holding a manga from a long time ago. “I’ve read this so many times back then that I know it by heart.”

Gao Yang checked the cover. He had read the work back in middle school, too. It was about a swordsman.

The swordsman used to be a coldblooded killer. He later fell in love with a woman, but he didn’t know that the woman was here for revenge, having lost her fiance to the swordsman's blade.

Then, even though he knew he was walking into a trap, the swordsman pushed aside all reservations and went to save the woman, but ended up killing her by accident.

The story was full of twists and angst, not a good omen for what they were doing now.

Officer Huang seemed to remember that part of the story then, and he quickly shoved the book back onto the shelf.

He turned to Gao Yang, his eyes bloodshot. “My wife and kid will be alright, won’t they, Gao Yang?”

Gao Yang nodded. “Don’t worry. We’ll save them.”

Buzz.

Gao Yang’s phone vibrated. He took it out and checked the screen. It was Chen Ying.