My feelings toward Zhou Shaobo were like wildly growing branches—stirring up a pool of hatred, bitter and full of sting.

He started allowing me to really engage with his businesses. Having a physical relationship changes everything. No wonder they say a wife can cause the most trouble. I began gathering information more frequently. Zhou Shaobo was quite indulgent with me, even though several of the officers in the organization warned him that I was definitely not someone to be trusted.

But I understood how much his feelings for me were mixed with guilt, resentment, and possessiveness. As much as I couldn’t break free from him, he couldn’t escape from me either.

On my birthday, Zhou Shaobo bought me a helicopter.

“Why this thing?” I stared at the sleek body of the aircraft, confused by his thought process.

“A-Rin, do you remember when we were kids?” he asked. “One day, you looked up at the plane overhead and said you wanted me to take you flying to the skies too. Now, I think I can finally do that.”

He jumped into the helicopter, and I followed him.

“Scared?” he asked, placing noise-canceling headphones over my ears, his voice flowing like electricity through the headset.

“I remember when you were young, afraid of heights, yet always clinging to me, wanting to be taken to the highest places.”

Yes, I used to be afraid of the dark, of heights, of huge machines. But now, I feared nothing.

The mountain wind howled, and the helicopter’s blades spun rapidly. We slowly rose from the ground, just as we drifted away from our former selves.

As a child, he held my hand and led me through a dark forest, saying, “A-Rin, one day, I’ll make sure you live the life you want.”

But unfortunately, the one stepping onto this helicopter was no longer that child.

We flew over forests and mountains, with a vast landscape beneath us, scattered with twinkling stars.

Controlling the helicopter, Zhou Shaobo turned to me and said, “Happy birthday, A-Rin. Stay with me for the rest of your life too, alright?”

In my heart, I whispered to him, “Brother, you might not have much of a future left.”

---

Zhou Shaobo didn’t know that while he was flying me up in the sky, all of his businesses were being surrounded by the police. Most of his associates were being arrested in a large-scale joint operation spanning multiple provinces. The targets weren’t just him; they also extended to the deeper networks of his industry and the protective umbrellas behind them.

When Zhou Shaobo landed the helicopter, a sea of police cars surrounded him. He reacted within two or three seconds, immediately pulling out a gun and shooting at the tires of the police cars.

“Zhou Rin, run! Run!” He pushed me away, his voice urgent.

I was suddenly reminded of many years ago when he pushed me away like this, shoving me out of hell. But this time, I didn’t run.

I stood there. His look shifted from urgency and unease to hesitation, then shock.

I raised my gun and aimed at him. Behind me was a glow of police lights.

“A-Rin,” I heard him call my name, his voice trembling. His eyes reddened instantly.

“I never thought… I really, never thought… you would betray me.”

---

Like a tide receding quickly, memories flooded back. Someone shoved me, and I snapped back to reality.

“What’s wrong? Didn’t sleep well?” My partner walked beside me. I casually took out a cigarette and lit it. Watching the white smoke dissipate into the endless blue sky, I finally realized I was in the police station. I had almost completed the mission, but Zhou Shaobo had escaped again—like an unkillable cockroach.

“How many days has it been since Zhou Shaobo disappeared?” I asked. “Do you think he fled abroad?”

In the office, my partner lifted his head from a pile of files. “No chance,” he replied.

I grabbed my messy hair in frustration. “Knowing Zhou Shaobo, he’s probably planning his revenge on me. He’s even written my name all over that car. You think he’ll just let me go?”

I rubbed my eyes, exhausted from sleepless nights. After all, with such a big fish slipping away, the entire department was on edge—even the retired police dog guarding the door was put on high alert.

“I’m telling you, you should let me out as bait to lure him in—”

Before I could finish, the office door burst open. The chief, his temples graying but still full of energy, looked at me.

“Zhou Rin, I hope you understand. Though you’ve had to immerse yourself in the darkness to gather information, you wear a badge, and you’re part of this team. We don’t ever want our family to be hurt.”

---

He was right. Knowing Zhou Shaobo’s vengeful nature, if word of my whereabouts got out, he would make sure to drag me down to hell with him.

But I was already in hell.

The chief walked over, patted my shoulder, and was about to say something when another officer burst in, frantic.

---

My partner had seen his share of gruesome scenes as a frontline officer, but when he emerged from that room, he headed straight for the bathroom to vomit.

The victim, Wang Jingchang, was shot multiple times, with dense bullet holes covering his face. He also had another identity—he was my colleague. The officer who had stormed in to beat me up after his girlfriend died because of Zhou Shaobo’s jailbreak—that was him.

No one could have guessed that he would die in such a bizarre and horrific way in his own home. The number of bullet holes was practically a taunt to the police.

In Huai City, there was only one person who could do something like this—Zhou Shaobo.

---

Beside the corpse was a file folder. After evidence technicians took fingerprints, the chief handed me the contents inside a sealed plastic bag.

It was Wang Jingchang’s confession letter. That night, at midnight, he had planned to kill me and then turn himself in.

“This Zhou Rin,” he wrote, “I’m certain he’s already turned traitor. If the organization is still protecting him, then I’ll be the one to serve justice. My girlfriend died because of him, and I can’t just watch innocent people die. After I kill Zhou Rin, I’ll face whatever punishment comes my way. My conscience is clear.”