Chapter 61#

The rain began to fall again, first pattering on the deck. In an instant, it poured down like a torrential downpour, covering the line of sight like a curtain, stinging people’s eyes so they couldn’t open them. Between the sea and the sky, it was dark and dim, and the wind howled terrifyingly.

When the explosion occurred, the first shot actually missed.

Black Bear initially tried to aim at Fu Jinchi. Across a distance, his accuracy might not have been enough, but at this moment, he couldn’t care about how many people would be accidentally injured. He just wanted to drag one person down with him. But suddenly, a hand reached out from nowhere, grabbed his collar, and dragged him back.

Yan Zishu took advantage of his instability and knocked the muzzle off course, and the two fell to the ground together.

A huge radial crack was left on the cabin wall, which also alerted the police and the crowd.

In fact, everything happened within a few seconds.

There were many voices shouting upwards, some warning “don’t mess around,” some exclaiming “there’s still someone up there,” and “it’s a waiter,” but they were all wrapped in the sound of rain, becoming very slow and distant.

Yan Zishu didn’t have much time to think. There was only one thought in his mind: he had to snatch the gun.

He knew that the people below probably wouldn’t come up so quickly. In this gap, he could only rely on himself. The entrance to the observation deck was locked by this man. When he came up just now, he had to go around to the back and climb up the maintenance ladder in the rain.

This was probably one of the most thrilling things Yan Zishu had ever done in his life, but as if with divine help, he actually didn’t fall.

Now a group of police officers were trying to pick the lock below, and the rest went to urgently find other ways.

On the platform, two men rolled on the ground, fighting together.

Yan Zishu only won the upper hand by a sneak attack. Once Black Bear reacted, the situation quickly reversed.

He didn’t know who Black Bear was or what his name was. He only recognized him as one of Wen Biao’s right-hand men through contact in the past few days.

But in reality, against such a villain who had actually killed people and seen blood in his early years, when he became ruthless, Yan Zishu really found it hard to be his opponent.

Moreover, Black Bear still had a weapon in his hand. Soon, he was left struggling and fell into a disadvantage.

A muffled groan of pain came from Black Bear. In desperation, Yan Zishu stabbed the fork he brought from the room into his shoulder.

The gun slipped from his hand, but Black Bear, like a wild beast injured and gone mad, actually pulled out a shiny dagger from his leggings.

The dagger was sharpened extremely fast, and the sharp blade sank into the soft flesh, encountering almost no resistance.

*

Under the heavy rain where day and night were almost indistinguishable, everyone was extremely embarrassed, and Fu Jinchi was no better.

Even if only a fleeting shadow was reflected on his retina, he still recognized by intuition that it was Yan Zishu up there.

Until this moment, he, a man who feared nothing in heaven or earth, finally experienced the kind of fear the other party had experienced.

Unease wrapped around Fu Jinchi’s heart like a cold poisonous snake.

Disregarding everything else, Fu Jinchi ran as fast as he could. In fact, two plainclothes officers had already arrived at the back of the observation deck and were trying to climb the maintenance ladder. Fu Jinchi didn’t know how he pulled them away. Relying on the energy from the adrenaline rush, he climbed up with all his might.

When he came up, he still held a shred of luck, thinking it was still in time.

But it was too late.

Fu Jinchi climbed onto the observation deck. Yan Zishu lay on the ground, barely turning himself over. He didn’t know when he had thrown away his jacket, but there was still a black vest over his shirt, so at first, he didn’t realize that the clothes on his abdomen had been soaked with blood.

He didn’t even have time to feel much pain or fear, only feeling that the blade was very cold.

Until the heavy rain mixed with blood, it gradually became a stream of blood, gurgling under his body.

But it couldn’t stay on the floor either, and was soon diluted into a faint red.

Blood, body temperature, and strength were all draining away together.

Black Bear stabbed him several times mercilessly, and only let go when he heard the noise behind him. Seeing the person coming, he immediately bent down to pick up the gun not far away, aimed at Fu Jinchi again, and shouted something, but it sounded vague in the rainstorm.

To prevent a sneak attack from behind, he paid attention to his position, leaning tightly against the railing, with the dark and boundless sea behind him.

Fu Jinchi’s throat was already choked, and he could hardly make any sound.

He wanted to say “stop,” but as soon as he opened his mouth, tears filled his eyes.

Yan Zishu tilted his head slightly, facing his direction. His right hand rested on his body, and the gaps between his fingers were bright red. It was unknown if he was still conscious.

Actually, he was.

Black Bear didn’t want to delay. The person he wanted to kill was right in front of him. There were no other obstacles. He just wanted to shoot him dead and be done with it.

He wiped his face, wiped away the rain blocking his vision, and placed his index finger on the trigger.

The crowd on the deck heard a second gunshot.

But this shot missed again. Yan Zishu strangled Black Bear’s neck.

Black Bear never expected he could get up. In fact, his remaining physical strength and accumulated strength were only enough for this one sneak attack, far from subduing the enemy. But after all, he had the physique of an adult man, and fortunately, or unfortunately, the railing on the observation deck was not high, and the ground was very slippery. Black Bear was caught off guard, and his upper body was weighted down by a person, so the two fell over together.

There was no protection behind them, only the turbulent sea.

Fu Jinchi’s eyes were splitting. In his eyes, everything seemed to have pressed the slow-motion button.

The thrill of revenge had just filled his chest, only to be completely extinguished. It was as if an invisible axe had split his soul. Half of his soul was forcibly scattered, while the other half remained in his body in panic, driving him to stumble towards the opposite side.

Fu Jinchi knew he was finished.

There were many details that sounded impossible to see clearly, but they seemed branded in his mind, constantly replaying compulsively, even magnified infinitely.

Even later, it was so clear that Fu Jinchi suspected whether it was all hallucinations generated by himself, yet he couldn’t bear not to believe it.

For example, Yan Zishu seemed to smile at him. It was the steady and peaceful smile he usually showed. Usually, as long as he showed such a smile, it would make people feel at ease, feeling that everything was fine. In addition, he seemed to have said something, but unfortunately, the lip shape was really not obvious. Fu Jinchi vaguely read only a “take care,” and might have misread it.

The complete sentence Yan Zishu said was “Take care of yourself.”

He did smile, because his heart was suddenly light. A tooth for a tooth—it didn’t seem to be used this way, forget it, whatever—anyway, everyone saved each other, and at least he didn’t owe anything before leaving. Moreover, he thought this could be considered an acceptable ending. If he really had to die for someone, compared to the inexplicable protagonist, it was better to die for the one he chose himself.

Independent choice, free will. For a person, this still had some meaning, right?

During their fall, they hit the ship’s hull several times, but unfortunately, they were not stopped.

But the moment he fell into the sea, it seemed that some invisible shackles were completely shattered along with it.

The cocoon he had spun around himself, woven by rationality and fear.

Yan Zishu’s part was over.

Many messy falling objects floated on the sea surface, but the person who fell disappeared in the blink of an eye.

The plainclothes officers who climbed up behind him, one on the left and one on the right, hurriedly and forcibly grabbed Fu Jinchi.

Having been police officers for a long time, they had seen all kinds of scenes. If they hadn’t been quick-eyed and quick-handed, they feared this young man would have jumped down with him.

However, this result also made them helpless. There were too many obstacles in the place where the suspect was hiding. The sniper couldn’t shoot directly, not to mention that no one discovered it in time just now. But now was not the time for reflection. One of them hurriedly contacted colleagues for salvage and rescue.

Perhaps when human pain exceeds a threshold, it triggers a defense mechanism. Fu Jinchi remembered how he survived this night both vividly and chaotically. Although saying this might seem a bit contradictory.

He only knew that he knelt on the deck and threw down all the life jackets and lifebuoys he could find, attempting to increase the chance of survival for the person who fell into the sea by a fraction, just in case Yan Zishu could grab one of them and hold on until rescue arrived.

But he couldn’t see his own appearance. His face was covered in indistinguishable rain and tears, an embarrassment unprecedented in his life. But at that time, who could care about demeanor or image? He actually suspected he was having a nightmare, but couldn’t find a way to wake up.

But in the end, nothing was salvaged.

In the boundless sea, it was too easy to swallow one or two people; it only took an instant.

Nature is so ruthless, and how fragile and insignificant humans are.

The police searched and rescued from night to day, but the heavy rain made the rescue too difficult and it didn’t go smoothly. At dawn, the rain finally stopped, and helicopters came, but still found nothing. Instead, two days later, Black Bear’s drowned body was found in a bay.

When notified of the news, Fu Jinchi, who was still on the search and rescue ship, first heard “found the deceased,” then heard “it’s the suspect’s” and “probably hit his head when falling.” within a short sentence, he experienced a journey from hell to the human world.

He hung up the phone with almost trembling hands, and then fell into endless silence again.

Although his secretary Lily felt that the possibility of Assistant Yan surviving was actually close to zero, she didn’t dare to say it.

Not only did she not dare to say it in the near future, but she also didn’t dare to say it in the long term.

Just look at the fact that six months after the incident, the boss still hadn’t given up and was still burning money to send rescue teams to search and rescue in the nearby waters, and you knew he couldn’t accept reality at all. Yes, one must say “search and rescue,” not “salvage.” And one couldn’t mention words like “accident,” “victim,” or “just in case” in front of him or even behind his back. As long as he heard it, Fu Jinchi would immediately turn hostile.

The situation in Dongcheng was still treacherous. He couldn’t completely let go, so he ran back and forth, torturing himself like this.

Whenever Fu Jinchi had time, he flew over to stare at the rescue team’s work. Lily sometimes followed—she didn’t have to be so tired before, but now she had to significantly increase the time she followed the boss. There was no way; otherwise, you couldn’t guess what he might do.

For example, once, passing by a “Iron Mouth Straight Judgment” fortune-telling stall, which looked like a street trick, Fu Jinchi looked coldly for a while, then suddenly went over and said he wanted a divination to find someone. He drew a lot and opened it to see:

“Lost a needle while sailing in the past, seeking in the sea still today. If the original needle is found, it takes effort and heart.”

To interpret the lot, the stall owner shook his head and opened his mouth: “Fishing for a needle in the ocean. The person you are looking for, I’m afraid it’s ominous…”

Fu Jinchi kicked over his stall. The stall owner jumped up and said: “…ominous number in chest! I have a number in my chest (I know what I’m doing). The person you are looking for will turn bad luck into good luck, secretly protected by gods and buddhas. It must be meeting danger but not dangerous. You will definitely find him in the end!”

Fu Jinchi’s expression was dark. He looked at him for a long time, then suddenly smiled brightly: “I’ll take your auspicious words.”

Before leaving, he threw down a stack of money: “If I can’t find him, you pack up your stall and wait to get out.”

Lily used to think the boss had a bit of a histrionic personality and was neurotic, but now he was close to being a mental patient.

Fu Jinchi ignored and didn’t care how his subordinates viewed him.

Saying he was really crazy wasn’t impossible either—