Han Li woke up in the middle of the night.
There were no lights on in the room. Everything around him appeared blurry and hazy in the dim night, almost making him think he was still dreaming.
His phone, deep in his pocket, vibrated twice.
He slowly blinked his eyes. Although there were no longer forcefully inserted images in his mind, the remnants of the high fever lingered in his body, bringing a sense of grogginess and weightlessness.
Han Li took out his phone. The screen, flashing a faint blue light in the darkness, illuminated his cheek.
There were two new messages.
The first one was from Zhao Yun, informing him on the progress of the casino incident.
Just yesterday, the police raided the casino with abundant and detailed evidence, shutting it down directly for tax evasion and suspicion of multiple serious illegal activities. The responsible individuals of the casino were also held accountable— the whole process progressed surprisingly smoothly, encountering almost no obstacles.
Although there seemed to be no movement on the surface from the eastern faction.
But upon closer inspection, it was found that a few days ago, it hastily withdrew from several areas where it had previously cooperated with the casino.
Like cutting off the tail to survive.
Cutting off the poisoned and rotten limbs in order to preserve the whole.
—Rather than saying he won, it’s more like the opponent pushed the casino out as a shield and scapegoat.
Han Li furrowed his brow. While pondering about it, he absentmindedly tapped on the screen and opened the earliest message he received.
The next moment, he was stunned, almost unable to believe what his eyes saw.
Han Li held his breath and read the words on the screen again word by word——
“The wanted criminal you asked us to monitor has been found. Current address: xxxx sanatorium.”
…Found?
The man who saved him eight years ago—has been found?
Han Li’s fingers clenched the phone involuntarily, his fingertips turning pale from excessive force. His breathing became erratic, and his mind was in chaos. He didn’t know how to react for a moment.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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The tall and slender young man stood by the door, wearing a loose-fitting T-shirt on his body. The fabric was full of wrinkles and creases. His hair was disheveled, sticking up in all directions. His face was also marked with red imprints from being pressed while asleep. He squinted his eyes as he looked at Han Li.
Han Li’s fingers loosened its grip on the phone. For some reason, when he saw the other person, his heart seemed to instantly calm down a lot.
…It’s really magical.
Shen Kong yawned, his voice lazy and casual: “Awake?”
Han Li nodded: “Mhm.”
Shen Kong frowned, leaned against the door frame with his arms crossed, and asked:
“So, what’s with this fever of yours? Didn’t this happen before? Didn’t you go to the hospital?”
His frequent fevers weren’t probably due to physiological reasons. Han Li already knew this, so he just shook his head and answered vaguely:
“Uh, it doesn’t matter. I’m taking medicine. Maybe I’m just too tired these two days…”
Shen Kong stepped closer, using the back of his hand to feel Han Li’s forehead, while his other hand rested on his own forehead for comparison.
He raised his eyebrows: “Not bad, the temperature has dropped.”
As soon as the words fell, Shen Kong felt his wrist, which he was about to withdraw, grabbed by a cold hand. He couldn’t help but look down in surprise.
Han Li looked up at him from below, a hint of strange brilliance flashing in his pitch-black eyes beneath his long eyelashes. There was a fleeting expression of some indescribable emotion in his eyes, disappearing completely when Shen Kong looked again.
Han Li let go of his hand, but it felt as if there was still a trace of the warm and delicate touch of the other’s wrist on his fingertips.
He calmly lowered his eyes.
At this moment, a thought suddenly popped out of his mind——
Han Li hesitated for a moment, then looked up at Shen Kong standing by the bedside. After a few seconds of hesitation, he opened his mouth and asked, “By the way… um…”
Shen Kong came back to his senses: “Hmm?”
At this point, Han Li felt a bit embarrassed to bring it up. He took a deep breath, turned his face slightly to the side, and asked in his calmest voice possible, “Tomorrow, do you want to come to my place?”
Perhaps because he was harboring ulterior motives, as soon as he blurted out these words, Han Li realized the ambiguity in them, so he hastily added an explanation:
“Um, that, it’s just that, actually, my place has more space, and it’s more suitable for—”
Halfway through speaking, Han Li hurriedly changed his words, explaining somewhat flusteredly, “Wait, I didn’t mean to imply that I dislike it here…”
Shen Kong burst into laughter.
Han Li’s cheeks couldn’t help but flush a bit. He lowered his head, seriously pondering whether he had fried his brain while having a fever.
Shen Kong lowered his head and glanced at the watch on his wrist: It was almost three o’clock.
He lazily yawned, deciding to settle the matter quickly, “Okay, let’s do it after school tomorrow.”
Han Li pursed his lips, involuntarily forming a tiny curve. The tension and drowsiness from just now seemed to dissipate in an instant.
Shen Kong turned around and walked into his room, turning off the lights in the living room.
The room was shrouded in darkness, with the night settling heavily between the gaps of the walls.
Han Li turned on his phone screen, a line of short black text once again lighting up the blue screen, stinging his eyeballs.
He subconsciously tightened his fingers and slowly took a deep breath. His mind was no longer as chaotic as when he first saw the message, but rather able to sort out the cluttered thoughts in his mind and truly think about what to do.
After a moment of pause, Han Li replied slowly, “Got it, I’ll come over as soon as possible.”
Seeing the message sent on the screen, Han Li breathed a sigh of relief, as if a heavy stone had been lifted from his heart.
——Perhaps, after tomorrow, he would finally get the answer he wanted.
Whether it was the answer from eight years ago or the present one…
.
The next day.
When Shen Kong woke up, Han Li had already left.
On the table was a brief note, written in Han Li’s lively handwriting: “The porridge is warming on the stove, and the sandwiches are in the fridge.”
A small smiley face symbol and a small arrow symbolizing page turning were also drawn at the end.
Shen Kong followed the instructions and turned over the note, only to see two lines of brief messages written on the back: “Had urgent matters today, took the day off. See you after school.”
Sure enough, as the note said, Han Li didn’t come to school at all today. The others at school had already gotten used to his whereabouts, even feeling more comfortable that he was no longer coming to school every day.
When class was about to end, Shen Kong received a message on his phone from Han Li:
“Sorry, I had a lot to deal with today. I’m afraid I won’t be able to make it back to school in time. I’ve arranged for someone to pick you up at the school gate. Meet you at my house later.”
Shen Kong didn’t pay much attention to it, simply replying with an “Okay.”
Han Li, sitting in the car, lowered his gaze to the brief letters on the phone screen, a hint of warmth flashing in his eyes.
He turned off the phone screen and glanced out the window at the rushing sea of people and traffic, tiredly pinching the bridge of his nose.
After that casino was shut down, some follow-up and conclusion of cooperation projects required his decision, including mergers and integrations in some areas——after all, there was now a new power vacuum there, making it a good opportunity for expansion and invasion.
Since leaving Cheng Chen’s house this morning, Han Li has been busy non-stop until now, finally finding the chance to meet an old friend.
The car slowed to a stop. Someone outside opened the door for him.
The blue and white sign of the sanatorium was bathed in a golden glow from the setting sun. In the quiet courtyard, only the sound of the wind rustling through the trees and grass could be heard.
Han Li took the folder handed to him by the person next to him and followed the guide into the sanatorium.
He roughly browsed through the contents of the folder along the way.
The kidnapper’s name is Zhou He, and he’s thirty-nine years old. He previously worked at Blackwater Corporation for a year before joining an illegal mercenary organization upon returning to China. He is ruthless and adept at dirty work. After disappearing following the accident eight years ago, his true identity was only confirmed last month in a routine traffic accident case. However, due to his injuries, he is currently recuperating in the sanatorium, awaiting formal detention after his recovery.
Han Li’s gaze lingered on that photo for a long time.
Indeed, it was the same face.
But for some reason, it gave him a strange sense of dissonance, as if… something was different from what he remembered.
He stared at the closed ward in front of him, slowly took a deep breath, and pushed the door open to step inside.
Thank you for the chapter 😍 ❤️ ❤️
You’re either the first to every chapter to comment or you like reading the same novels as I do cause I see your thank yous everywhere and it’s just nice to see 😀
Ill join you: thank you for the chapter! 😍 Looking forward to his conclusion haha
🥰
Thank you for the chapter 🙂
Exciting! Han Li’s intuition is on point, here’s hoping it can help him calm down rather than freak out.