I decided to die.
In just five short words, the speaker sounded calm, but the listener was filled with desperation.
"I really died," Jian Jing said plainly. "I fell into a bottomless black hole. At first, I felt so relaxed, so quiet. All the noise that had been buzzing in my ears for so long vanished, and I breathed a sigh of relief, thinking I'd finally found true peace and quiet. But..."
She glanced at Wang Shi and said faintly, "I regretted it."
Wang Shi immediately started to say, "You still don't understand..."
"No, you're the one who doesn't understand," interrupted Jian Jing, who had committed suicide. Although her physique was slender, her every gesture exuded undeniable firmness. "You think you understand death, but in reality, you're just an outsider watching other people die. Your 'understanding' is too superficial."
"What is death? Death is when I am no longer myself," she said, taking one step closer. Her face was snow white, like a whitewashed wall, but her lips were cherry red, a characteristic of carbon monoxide poisoning deaths.
"I've lost everything I had as 'Jian Jing' - my family, friends, happiness, glory - even the pain that made me 'Jian Jing.'" Her tone involuntarily grew higher, nearly screaming. "I have nothing left! I'm no longer myself, because it's pain that lets us feel happiness. A person with nothing has no sense of relief."
Wang Shi shuddered, unable to find any words to refute her.
A rope has no absolute length, only two ropes can be compared for long and short.
A tree has no absolute height, only two trees can be compared for tall and short.
Life is the same.
Without painful, difficult, bitter times, how can one comprehend what happiness is?
"I became afraid, I regretted it," said the deceased Jian Jing, pressing her lips together as tears welled up in her eyes. But she resisted closing them, staring fixedly at him instead, unblinking. "But at the very least, I also realized that you were wrong, and I was right. You lost."
Wang Shi took a deep breath, instinctively wanting to argue. But no words came out.
With her standing right in front of him, their faces almost touching, the extremely close distance brought tremendous pressure.
Of the thousands of words in his mind, not one could make it past his lips.
How could the living philosophize about death in front of the dead?
"If you don't admit defeat," she raised the corners of her lips, a sly gleam passing through her eyes, "then try it yourself."
Wang Shi shuddered in shock. Just as he wanted to back away, it was too late.
She raised her hand and gave him a hard shove.
A huge black hole suddenly split open in the ground, dark and chaotic, bottomless, like the gates of hell. Wang Shi tumbled right in, and in an instant, the icy breath of death spread through his limbs and crept into his very bones.
His vision grew blurry, his stomach nauseated, his body and mind exhausted...The sensations felt so real.
In a split second, Wang Shi understood everything completely.
These were Jian Jing's memories, her own experiences in her dying moments.
He couldn't stop trembling.
Because if one dies in a hypnotic state, it's highly likely they can't wake up in reality either.
The Grim Reaper waved his scythe, and Wang Shi sniffed the true scent of death.
In that moment, he had no choice but to admit that compared to the imagined calm and relief, the thoughts arising in his mind were actually fear.
I don't want to die.
He became afraid as well.
In the face of life and death, all reason collapses, all caution disappears, and humans are controlled by the instinct to survive, doing anything possible to live on.
"No!" He struggled desperately, grasping for anything to stop his fall.
But it was futile.
In the black hole of death, all the glittering worldly possessions he once relied on - status, money, power, strength - were but gossamer threads, snapping away into wisps of smoke at the slightest touch.
Death is fair.
Death is also oblivion.
In an instant, the light vanished completely, leaving only chaotic darkness.
His speed of descent grew faster and faster.
The far shore's end was nearing.
"No!" In the throes of extreme terror, Wang Shi's face completely twisted. He couldn't think; he could only rely on instinct and scream from the depths of his heart, "Mom!"
The address he hadn't uttered in nearly thirty years slipped from his mouth.
In the abyss of despair, a woman's face appeared. She was still so beautiful, so fragile. Her eyes that looked at him always brimmed with tears.
Wang Shi had resented her abandonment countless times, yet also missed her embrace just as many times.
"Mom," he reached out his hand. "Save me."
Wang Lingfang's tears fell as she gently embraced her child.
The falling stopped.
*
Jifeng followed Wang Shi's clues downwards, pulling out his communication records since May.
Aside from daily exchanges, one short message in particular seemed suspicious: [Balance payment received, mailing you the key]
He immediately called the number.
The other party ran a seafood business that later went bankrupt. There was still over half a year left on the warehouse he had reserved at the fishing port, so he sent a message to sublet it. Wang Shi had proactively contacted him and rented the remainder of the warehouse's term.
Jifeng's heart raced. "Which dock, what warehouse number?"
The other party reported the address.
Jifeng shot up from his chair. "Found it, let's go!" He rushed to the door, slammed the brakes, and instructed his teammates, "Call the maritime police, request backup."
Lao Gao was startled. "What, smuggling?"
"Hard to say," said Jifeng, running to the door. The desolate night wind blew shivers through them. "Nevermind him, save the hostage first."
The police car raced there like lightning, arriving at the dock and shutting off its sirens a kilometer away.
Under the cover of night, a group of police officers quietly approached the target.
Lao Gao lowered his voice, "Why not call the armed police?"
"Let's see the situation first," said Jifeng, taking a deep breath and suppressing the impatience in his heart, forcing calm. "I just have a bad feeling."
Lao Gao's expression changed slightly. "You mean..."
Jifeng shook his head. His heart was in turmoil and he couldn't get any words out, not knowing what to pray for either. Relying solely on years of training and instinct, they noiselessly closed in.
The dock was tranquil and desolate in the early winter, with some inscrutable fishy smell lingering in the air that couldn't be eliminated.
The gun felt warm in his hand, the plastic casing already soaked in human temperature.
The cold wind shuddered.
Jifeng's heart rose little by little. He suddenly recalled Kang Mucheng's question - if they found her before she obtained what she desired, what should they choose?
Should they ignore her wishes and prioritize the hostage's safety, directly breaking in to rescue her? Or patiently wait, lurking on the side, watching her suffer torment with their own eyes?
Perhaps they should choose the former. As both friend and police, that was the right thing to do, and no one could point out any mistakes. But putting himself in her shoes, would he hope for a botched rescue?
Jifeng searched himself and knew he would not.
There were always some things in this world one would risk life and limb to do. But he also had to admit, a knife didn't hurt when cutting oneself, yet was hard to endure when cutting someone else.
Or...just say it was the superior's orders, that saving lives took priority no matter what?
After all, that was the truth.
These disordered thoughts lingered in his mind, and before he knew it, they had arrived.
The sublet warehouse was right before their eyes.
The door was open, the light was on.
"Crap!" In that instant, Jifeng was so shocked his heart stopped beating. He charged in the door.
The dilapidated warehouse was filled with broken glass. A damaged cage sat by the wall, and white bedsheets and blankets were scattered on the floor. The wire bed had been flipped to its side.
There was a strange smell in the air, like some kind of chemical gas.
Jifeng covered his mouth and nose, opening the door all the way to examine the interior.
"No one here?" Lao Gao followed him inside.
Jifeng calmed down and said, "Too late, they might have gotten on a boat already." He was conflicted now - glad that Jian Jing seemed fine from the scene and had even struggled, yet also worried since the vast ocean meant an even more perilous situation.
"Lao Gao," he said solemnly, putting his gun back in its holster, "we have to hurry. With something happening at sea, there'll be nowhere to look."
Lao Gao surveyed their surroundings and nodded. "Let's contact the rescue team to standby first."
*
Jifeng's guess was right - Jian Jing was at sea at this moment.
The reason for her circumstances could be traced back half an hour prior.
At that time, the hypnosis ended.
Wang Shi's eyes snapped open, and the white lamp light shone straight down, stinging his eyes and bringing tears.
There was a muffled "bang."
He turned to look. Jian Jing had awakened first, holding a crowbar and swinging it at the glass door.
Wang Shi was taken aback. How did she get a gun when he had already searched her body? But he quickly reacted, jumping up from the table to take cover behind it while reaching into the safe to grab his own weapon, dodging the bullets while doing so.
Jian Jing was still breaking out of her glass prison.
He had searched her earlier and thought she had no weapons. The glass house was made of shatterproof glass, so she couldn't have broken it with just her bare hands.
But with a gun, things were different.
Large cracks appeared across the surface, forming a dense web.
She ripped off the thin blanket from the bed and grabbed the steel bed frame, smashing it forcefully against the fractured glass.
Shards sprayed out, scattering across the floor. She tossed aside the heavy steel frame, gathered up her wedding dress skirt, and stepped out of the cage she had been imprisoned in for days.
The dilapidated warehouse, cold white lights, broken glass, thin layer of dust — combined with the woman in a rose pink wedding dress — outlined an eerie yet beautiful scene.
Jian Jing slowly paced into the darkness, half her face obscured in shadow. "What, seeing me get out, you want to run away?"
Wang Shi pressed his throbbing temple and steadily fired a shot.
The bullet whistled towards her.
Jian Jing moved swiftly, dodging behind a table for cover.
But just then, the back door opened.
A shadow flashed out into the night.
Jian Jing knew that if Wang Shi escaped, with his skills he could evade the nationwide manhunt even if he was wanted by the police, living free outside the law.
She didn't hesitate, giving chase on foot.
The cold night wind buffeted her face, carrying a faint damp and briny scent.
This was... the ocean?
Peace City was a coastal town, but due to geographical constraints, it didn't have a good natural harbor, so shipping was not well-developed. The few docks were filled mainly with fishing boats.
In recent years, overfishing had depleted the shallow waters, so Peace City strongly supported deep sea fishing. The offshore fishing season had opened in September, and it was only November, so the deep sea fishing boats had not yet returned, leaving the docks very quiet.
Wang Shi had wisely chosen this place for imprisoning her.
He was familiar with the surroundings and quickly disappeared after a few twists and turns. Jian Jing immediately activated her Enhanced Senses card to follow his trail.
Wang Shi moved swiftly with great agility. In just ten minutes he had jumped aboard a fishing boat.
It was a small shallow water trawler, not much bigger than a speedboat.
By the time Jian Jing caught up, the boat's engine had already started and it was slowly heading out to sea.
She had to activate her White Kitten card, using the cat's leaping ability to steadily jump onto the deck.
In the wheelhouse on the second level, Wang Shi looked at her complexly. "You had to chase after me?"
"With so many lives on your hands, did you think I would let you go?" As the boat left the dock, a sense of ill omen flashed through Jian Jing's mind. She immediately put her hands behind her back, taking out the tracking device she had hidden in her storage space.
Wang Shi's expression turned cold. "You brought this upon yourself."
With one hand on the steering wheel, his other hand pulled the trigger.
Bullets swept across the deck like pouring rain.
On the narrow deck, she had no choice but to dodge to the side, carefully avoiding falling into the sea.
Taking advantage of this, the fishing boat had already left the docked fleet, rushing out to sea at full speed. The night sea surface was cold and lightless, like a lurking giant beast.
Wang Shi was like a cornered madman, recklessly firing whenever he caught sight of her without any regard for the boat's condition.
Sparks flew as several more holes appeared in the deck.
"Xiao Jing," he said. "I don't want to kill you. There are life jackets on board, jump into the sea."