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墨書 Inktalez
"Did it succeed?"
Old Shao's voice was very faint, almost drowned out by the sound of fireworks, barely louder than a mosquito's buzz. However, Xu Yiman and Jiang He heard Old Shao's words clearly.
"It succeeded; it exploded overhead. There might be injuries, but no one will die," Jiang He replied.
"That means our police are still impressive," Old Shao said, his face lighting up with a proud expression, like a child waiting for praise from their parents.
But to Jiang He and Xu Yiman, that expression was filled with endless sorrow. Although Jiang He had followed Xu Yiman's instructions and they had done everything they could at that moment, a ruptured carotid artery meant that even if they stopped the bleeding immediately, life and death were just a fleeting moment apart.
Excessive blood loss left Old Shao staring blankly, yet he could see nothing.
Xu Yiman's tears fell like rain as she pressed firmly on Old Shao's neck, soothing him as if he were a child. "Don't speak; the ambulance will be here soon."
Old Shao didn’t care about that; he gently asked, "What about Shi Xu’s condition?"
"He’s already dead," Jiang He said. "He was worse off than you; his neck was broken."
Shi Xu was very close to Old Shao, so close that their blood had mingled together. A shard of metal from the explosion had pierced Shi Xu’s neck deeply, nearly severing it in half. If the collar had been around a person's neck at the start, the force of the explosion would have sent the metal flying with such power that it could have sliced through the neck entirely, decapitating him.
Just a second’s difference would have resulted in hundreds of heads rolling on the square.
Yet the one who prevented all this from happening lay beside Jiang He, whispering weakly, "What a pity; if he hadn’t died, we would have known where he hid that diary."
After a pause, Old Shao continued, "But Shi Xu once said something profound: consultants like him come and go, but outstanding detectives like you will continue to emerge generation after generation. Shi Xu has planted his seeds, and I have planted mine as well; the future is in your hands now."
"What happened to Old Shao?"
The sound of the ambulance siren echoed outside the café. A person pushed the door open, and Jiang He turned to see a familiar yet strange face—Wang Chao. The very Wang Chao he thought had long perished under gunfire, the one who had recommended him to join the police force, the one who had sacrificed himself to save the entire task force in Desolate Village.
“Shui Xinlan, hold the door.”
Yuan Jun's voice reached everyone's ears. “Guan Deng, hurry and bring the stretcher out from the ambulance. Xu Yiman, Jiang He, Captain Wang Chao, we need to get Old Shao onto the ambulance. Doctor, contact the hospital immediately; we have an emergency. Move quickly!”
Yuan Jun's speed was remarkable, his almost shouted words seemed to crash into everyone's hearts like stones.
Everyone began to follow Yuan Jun's orders.
Tears welled up in Jiang He’s eyes. Somehow, at this moment, it felt wrong to let Old Shao speak any longer, yet he stubbornly asked, “Is it worth it?”
Worth it?
In his final moments, Old Shao was also asking himself this question: all that he had done in his life, was it worth it?
People often say that before death, one's life flashes before their eyes like a slideshow. Yet now, Old Shao couldn't recall anything at all. At that moment, how he wished he had Jiang He’s hyperthymesia. But then he suddenly realized that once Jiang He found his emotions and overcame his inner demons, perhaps his hyperthymesia would improve as well.
Old Shao understood that when Jiang He lost his hyperthymesia, his abilities would likely diminish significantly. Yet Old Shao sincerely felt happy for Jiang He. A superhuman who knows no pain might not be better than an ordinary person who experiences joy and sorrow. Jiang He was only thirty-two; everything was just beginning for him.
Guan Deng spoke up, “The stretcher is here; let’s get Old Shao on it right away. I can control the traffic lights along our route through the network to ensure a smooth ride to the hospital.”
Guan Deng's fluent communication astonished everyone. They couldn’t fathom why Guan Deng, who had never dared to speak with others before, could communicate so decisively now. But there was no time to ponder this; they were focused on getting Old Shao to the hospital as quickly as possible.
Xu Yiman pressed her hands against the wounds around Old Shao's neck and warned Jiang He and the others who were about to lift him onto the stretcher, “Be careful not to touch the metal shard in his neck. As long as it remains in place, Old Shao can hold on a bit longer. We must avoid any jolting to prevent further injury.”
"You."
Guan Deng almost shouted in surprise. The forensic expert Xu Yiman he saw was no longer the trembling Xu Yiman who would shake at the sight of a severely injured person.
They didn't know what kind of magic Old Shao possessed, but it seemed that they had all changed subtly.
Old Shao heard their conversation, vague yet clear.
He wanted to open his eyes and see his team members: Jiang He, Xu Yiman, Guan Deng, Yuan Jun, Wang Chao. But his eyelids no longer obeyed his brain's commands. The effort to open them was futile; his world was engulfed in darkness. The voices of those around him, the sounds of fireworks exploding in the sky—everything grew more distant.
Finally, memories began to resurface.
At twenty-three, he graduated from the police academy and was assigned to intern at the Yuzhou Public Security Bureau. A year later, he was transferred to the criminal police team, working alongside Captain Shih Huacheng and officer Wang Gang, solving numerous cases and forming a solid trio within the Criminal Investigation Team of the Public Security Bureau in Yuzhou City.
At twenty-five, he met the most beautiful forensic expert Yang Xiaojuan, who once claimed that she could never like someone with his slick demeanor. She eventually became his girlfriend.
At twenty-seven, during a mission, Captain Shih Huacheng mysteriously disappeared. He shot a suspect but lacked evidence and ended up imprisoned for a year, leaving him with a psychological scar that made him unable to hold a gun again.
At twenty-nine, he was assigned a special task to investigate the mysterious disappearance of former Captain Shih Huacheng. His team included his girlfriend Yang Xiaojuan, military police trainer Yan Junde, and a Franco-Chinese hacker named Mary.
At thirty, Yang Xiaojuan hoped they could get married by thirty. However, due to the unresolved case of Shih Huacheng, he repeatedly brushed off the topic. Some things, if not done in time, would never have another chance.
At thirty-one, he arrested former Captain Shih Huacheng, who had formed a criminal organization to save his daughter. Yang Xiaojuan took a bullet for him, injuring her brain and leaving her in a vegetative state. That year, he adopted Shih Huacheng's young daughter Little Stone and resigned from the police force.
At thirty-six, both Little Stone, who suffered from leukemia, and Yang Xiaojuan left this world. From then on, he became silent and no longer resembled his former self.
At the age of forty, he received a lead from the Public Security Bureau regarding the remnants of the Shih Huacheng organization, particularly targeting Zhao Mingkun, whom he harbored deep resentment against. Accepting the bureau's commission, he established a task force once again, tasked with tracking down and apprehending Zhao Mingkun.
By forty-one, he handpicked his team members: Wu Meng, who suffered from delusions of guilt; Guan Zengbin, a fledgling forensic expert; the honest and straightforward Gu Chen; and the loyal Xiao Liu.
At forty-two, he devised a flawless plan, believing that as long as it served justice, the means were unimportant.
At forty-three, his carefully laid trap succeeded. He treated his team members as pawns to successfully lure out Zhao Mingkun, leading to Zhao's suicide. He also exposed Wu Meng's twin brother, the criminal genius Wu Zui, and surrounded him. He dismantled Shih Huacheng's criminal organization in one fell swoop, but at a great cost: Wu Meng's suicide, Xiao Liu's death, Gu Chen's betrayal, Guan Zengbin's humiliation, and Wei Demian's escape from the psychiatric hospital amidst the chaos.
At forty-four, he successfully arrested all remnants of the Shih Huacheng organization and avenged his girlfriend Yang Xiaojuan.
At forty-five, he began to question what true justice really was.
At forty-six, he knelt before Yang Xiaojuan's grave, feeling that he had made mistakes.
By forty-nine, he became a professor of criminology at the Public Security University. Over the next decade, he mentored generations of detectives, many of whom would later gain national recognition for their excellence.
At fifty-nine, someone slipped a black card into his pocket with golden letters spelling "Criminal Consultant." He volunteered to stay on and selected new team members: Jiang He, Xu Yiman, Guan Deng, and Yuan Jun—all of whom had lost their parents.
At sixty, he set another trap. This time he successfully drew out the Criminal Consultant without treating anyone as mere pawns. He regarded his team members as living beings. He cured Jiang He’s hyperthymesia, Xu Yiman’s psychological issues, and Guan Deng’s social anxiety disorder—paying for it with his own life.
Now at sixty-one, he dedicated his life to exploring what it truly meant to be a detective and what real justice was.
As he debated with Shi Xu, he realized that he had already planted seeds in many hearts.
The fireworks display continued overhead; metal shards fell from the sky with a clattering sound. Some people cursed their bad luck after being struck while others in masks gazed up in confusion. Even the police who were apprehending them paused to watch. They were captivated by the spectacular fireworks show as silence enveloped the square.
No one knows what truly happened on that extraordinary night.
The new year naturally signifies a new beginning.
"The fireworks are beautiful," said Old Shao suddenly, his voice booming.
The team members looked up at the fireworks exploding in the sky, and indeed, they were stunning.
Tears began to fall, one drop after another.
In the darkness, Shaoshilin saw the beautiful fireworks.
A girl, even more beautiful than the fireworks, slowly walked towards him. "You promised to watch the fireworks with me every year."
Then he smiled.
It was just like every ordinary night when he was twenty-five, waiting for her to close the door of the Autopsy Room and walk towards him.
"Yang Xiaojuan, I'm here to marry you."
(The End)
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