---

So he’s suspicious and cautious.

But there’s one thing I just can’t figure out.

If I didn’t leak the information, then who in the department did? Who leaked the intel?

Could it be that Zhou Shaobo is just testing me?

No, it doesn’t seem like that.

The fact that he threw me out of the car so mercilessly proves that he has enough evidence to believe I was the traitor.

---

Twelve days later, Zhou Shaobo found me again.

It was in a noodle shop.

I had been staying there for the past few days. The owner charged me 20 yuan per night to stay.

My arm was in a makeshift sling, and I leaned against the wall with a limp, watching a group of old men play cards.

He was dressed in a Burberry trench coat I could never afford in my lifetime, hands in his pockets, looking down at me.

He smiled.

“How did you think to hide here?”

“Do you know how long I’ve been looking for you?”

I realized I was truly like a dog.

He was the bone, and as soon as he turned, I followed obediently, wagging my tail.

I felt like my dignity was slipping away completely.

I really wanted to kick him away, but I was afraid I’d cripple my other leg too, so I just rolled my eyes at him.

“How could I dare?”

“What brings young master Zhou here? Come to deal with me, the ‘traitor’? Throw me into a pig cage? Dismember me?”

I helpfully suggested ways he could deal with me, but he just smiled again.

He raised a hand and smoothed down my hair.

“You really hold grudges.”

“I looked into it, and it wasn’t A’Lin who leaked the information.”

“The real police mole overheard our conversation that day.”

“I misunderstood you. But you know, in my line of work, the thing I fear most is being stabbed in the back by the people closest to me.”

He lowered his gaze and squeezed my shoulder. I could tell from his tone that he was being sincere.

“Forgive your brother, hmm?”

But my heart suddenly sank.

Sure, my name had been cleared.

But then, who was the police mole who got caught…?

---

Thirteen days later, I was taken to a basement.

When I saw the young man tied up, battered and bruised, I knew that fate really loved to toy with me.

There was another undercover agent who had infiltrated Zhou Shaobo’s organization at the same time as me.

Unlike me, he started from the bottom, so we rarely had contact, only aware of each other’s existence.

That day, when Zhou Shaobo told me the exact route for retreat, it’s possible he overheard it.

And he reported it to the department.

Little did he know that Zhou Shaobo was already suspicious of me and had set a trap.

I didn’t fall into it, but he did.

I stared at the young man, now tortured almost beyond recognition.

Yet his eyes still burned with defiance.

Even on his knees, his back remained straight.

“Pah! Zhou Shaobo, you’re just a damn dog.”

“Just wait—one day, you’ll be brought to justice!”

“You’ve done so many things to harm innocent people. Karma is going to catch up with you!”

---

Zhou Shaobo stood there with his hands in his pockets, listening to him curse. Then, tilting his head slightly, he didn’t even look at the man but turned toward me instead:

“A’Lin, do me a favor.”

“…”

Zhou Shaobo had definitely noticed my hands trembling.

But he still took my hand and placed the gun into my palm.

“Kill him for me.”

“…”

I stood there, unable to turn away, unable to move.

Zhou Shaobo’s gaze locked onto me.

I knew this was the last hurdle I had to overcome.

“Damn it!”

“Just kill me already!!”

“If you have the guts, then do it!!”

The young man in front of me suddenly roared.

In that moment, I remembered—it was the secret signal we used back at the police academy.

When someone said that, it meant—

“This pain is too much.”

“I can’t hold on any longer.”

“Brother.”

“If you can end my suffering, please, just do it.”

---

I moved the gun to his forehead.

A bullet travels at 1,200 meters per second. Once I pulled the trigger, it would be over in an instant.

I pulled the trigger, heard the deafening bang, felt the recoil in my hand—and then he collapsed.

Warm blood splattered onto my face for the first time in such a violent way.

The gunshot left me with a strange ringing in my ears.

He wouldn’t die immediately from a gunshot wound like that. The larger the wound, the more pain he would feel. Most people die from blood loss.

Before he passed, in a voice only I could hear, he whispered into my ear—

“Brother, the road ahead…”

“Walk it for me.”

---

The gun slipped from my hand.

I stood there, frozen, tears streaming down my face, though I didn’t know why.

It was like my tear ducts had been blown wide open.

Until a hand cupped my face.

I jolted in shock.

There was blood on me, and there was blood on Zhou Shaobo.

He wiped the blood from my lips with his thumb.

Such a bastard.

That day, the two of us stood in a pool of blood.

The smell of iron was heavy in the air.

At my feet lay the body of a comrade.

A comrade I killed with my own hands.

Zhou Shaobo grabbed my chin.

And kissed me.

---

Fourteen days later,

I think it was from that day that I started smoking like crazy.

When I woke up in the same bed as Zhou Shaobo.

He had a cigarette in his mouth.

The white smoke blurred the sharp edges of his face.

Seeing how casually he treated me, I realized he saw me as nothing more than something disposable.

I lunged at him, tackling him, grabbing his throat in a chokehold.

He looked at me.

Those phoenix eyes, bright, arrogant, enticing.

“Stop messing around.”

He let me squeeze his carotid artery as tightly as I wanted.

In a low voice, he reminded me.

“You’ve got a fever.”

Damn you, Zhou Shaobo.

I really wanted to kill him.

Maybe I wanted to kill myself—the body I had was so broken and disgusting that I could barely look in the mirror without feeling sick.

But.

I didn’t have a choice.

This path I had to walk, blindfolded, until the bitter end.

I didn’t have a choice, really. If I failed this mission, how could I face my fallen comrades? I wouldn’t even dare cross the Bridge of the Dead.

---

I loosened my grip around his neck.

Took his cigarette.

It was wet.

I inhaled the smoke deeply into my lungs and exhaled.

Living was already miserable enough. I didn’t mind making it worse.

---

Fifteen days later,

Zhou Shaobo said I had changed since that day.

I told him, “No one comes out the same after seeing so much blood.”

“I kinda regret giving you that gun back then.”

Zhou Shaobo frowned as he looked at me.

I grabbed his tie and pulled him close.

“Don’t regret it, brother.”

“You knew what I would become—you knew.”