Аs sооn аs thе restraint оn Вауunуe's hand was сut, shе ran towаrd Diao Zhuо, whо hаd аlrеаdy gottеn up and was running toward her. Соverеd in mud, theу stооd fаcing еасh оthеr, momеntarily spееchlеss. Finally, Bаyunyе couldn't hоld bасk аnd sроkе first, punching him hаrd аt the sаmе timе—"Cоuldn't yоu hаve given mе а heаds-up if you wеre going to рlау deаd?!"
Diao Zhuo smilеd аnd huggеd her, lеtting hеr vеnt with а tоrrеnt of аngrу words.
Аfter а while, she rаn out оf stеаm, pаnting lightlу аs shе leaned intо his embrace, letting hеr tears soаk the front оf his shirt.
"Why did уоu stoр?"
"I'm hungry..." she whimpered, and her stomach let out a long, timely "groan—" After all the hallucinations and fighting along the way, she had forgotten how many hours it had been since she last ate.
Brother Long, as the keeper of crucial evidence and a witness to the crime, was surrounded by armed police and public security officers. He didn't even have time to thank Bayunye and Diao Zhuo before being led away. Bayunye, sharp-eyed, suddenly remembered him, pushed Diao Zhuo away, and squeezed forward, eager to ask Brother Long many questions.
Diao Zhuo smiled and shook his head, exhausted. Now that the tension had suddenly eased, he felt as if his bones had been broken, aching all over. He stretched his neck, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw something move nearby. Startled, he focused and saw that Fat Monkey, whose leg had been shot by Brother Long earlier, had taken advantage of the moment when medical staff were lifting him onto a stretcher to pull out a hidden gun and fire wildly. After injuring a nearby medical worker, the stretcher tilted, and he fell to the ground, aiming his gun with a twisted expression at Bayunye, who had her back to him.
"Watch out behind you!!" Diao Zhuo roared, rushing toward her without a second thought, spreading his arms to block the flying bullets.
But how could anyone outrun a bullet? He only felt a surge of heat beneath his palm as the bullet sped toward Bayunye's back. His eyes widened, and at that critical moment, someone rushed out from the side and threw themselves in front of Bayunye. With a "bang," they were hit by the bullet, propelled forward by the force, and collapsed to the ground.
Fat Monkey was quickly subdued by armed police, pinned firmly to the ground. He screamed and cried hysterically, shouting about wanting to kill himself, but his actions were clearly an act of revenge—the talk of ending his own life was just self-deception.
Bayunye turned around, pushing through the crowd of medical staff, and craned her neck to see that it was Hippo.
"Hippo!!" She knelt down, shaking him vigorously. "You... who are you?! Who are you?! You can't die!! Tell me! Tell me!"
"Please do not interfere with emergency medical care!" a medical worker said sternly. The armed police held Bayunye back, and she could only stand on the sidelines, straining to see inside but unable to make out anything clearly.
Everything had happened too quickly, too suddenly. Bayunye crouched on the ground, overwhelmed with frustration and racing thoughts, until Diao Zhuo came to her side and pulled her up.
"Hippo, he..." Bayunye said worriedly.
"He'll be fine," Diao Zhuo said firmly and calmly.
"The bullet hit him!"
"Master Ba..." Hippo's voice.Bayunye hurriedly turned around to see the medical staff stepping aside, revealing Hippo lying on the ground. His mouth was dripping with blood, and his neck was covered in it. Her heart skipped a beat as she thought, could it be that Hippo’s rescue was ineffective and he was about to bid his final farewell? She swallowed hard, stumbled, and knelt beside him. “Hippo, I know you must have your reasons. Don’t say anything more. I understand you, I forgive you. Let’s not bring up the past. You mustn’t give up, you have to hold on. You won’t die, you won’t! Get better, and we… we’ll still drive together!”
“Master Ba…” Hippo seemed to be in pain, opening his mouth, his teeth stained with blood. “You… you really won’t hold it against me?”
“What does ‘hold it against me’ mean?”
“It means not counting the past,” Diao Zhuo whispered in reminder.
“It doesn’t count! None of it counts!” Bayunye thumped her chest in assurance.
Hippo shakily grabbed her hand. “You… you know, actually, I…”
He’s always liked me? Bayunye’s heart sank. Fine, whatever he says, she’ll go along with it! Maybe it’s the last time…
“Actually, I was wearing a bulletproof vest,” Hippo said.
The atmosphere instantly turned awkward. Diao Zhuo shot Bayunye a sidelong glance, Bayunye’s mouth hung half-open, and Hippo stared at her with wide, unblinking eyes.
“Then the blood in your mouth is…” Bayunye pointed at his mouth.
Hippo wiped it with his hand. “Oh, I bit it when I fell.”
Immediately afterward, Bayunye’s thunderous cursing echoed through the forest: “Hippo, I’ll fuck your ancestors!! Go die, you bastard!!”
Tents dotted the deep, shadowy woods, lending a touch of liveliness to the scene. The aroma of food filled the air, and the crisp clinking of bowls and chopsticks carried a homely warmth, bringing a sense of comfort and ease.
Aside from the injured Da Qin, the Rescue Team and members of the mountaineering association, guarded by several armed police officers, had set up camp for the night in a sheltered grove, planning to continue their journey at daybreak. Sheltered from the wind and lacking direct sunlight, the area was particularly damp and cold, but it had the advantage of low levels of hallucinogenic toxic gases.
The other team members took turns cooking noodles and congee on small gas stoves. Bayunye kept glaring at Hippo, making him hang his head low.
“No wonder I couldn’t recognize you, you bastard. Not only did you wear insoles, but you also wore a bulletproof vest…” Bayunye taunted. “Now you have to tell me who you really are. Whether you’re from the police or the armed police, you owe us a reasonable explanation. Otherwise, none of us will let you off, even if you are a cop!”
Tan Lin, Xiang An, and Qi Zi quickly shook their heads. “No, no, no, this has nothing to do with us. Please don’t drag us into this…”
“Considering I saved your man and then saved you, try to control your temper,” Hippo said with a pout. “Besides, I told you a long time ago that I graduated from the Chinese People’s Public Security University. You just didn’t believe me…”
Bayunye was left speechless, vaguely recalling that he had indeed said something like that at some point. She cleared her throat to ease the awkwardness. “Are you really a police officer?”
“Not exactly.”
“Then what the hell are you?!”
“I’m not exactly anything either,” Hippo said, immediately regretting his words. He lowered his voice and added, “I’m… from the State Security Department.”Everyone except Diao Zhuo gasped. Diao Zhuo reached out and patted Hippo’s shoulder. “Since you’re willing to reveal your identity, it means your mission is complete. Why not tell her everything?”
Hippo took a deep breath, as if organizing his thoughts. He pursed his lips and gazed vaguely upward. “We discovered long ago that there’s a group of ‘hooks’ in the country who specialize in trafficking information. But they’re scattered and their sources are complex. We gradually realized that the ones we caught might just be lower-level operatives. For example, the one who hired Zou Kaigui to search for ‘Heavenly Lake’ in Qiangtang—he was just a ‘middleman,’ an intermediary who obtained information and sold it to foreigners.”
Bayunye asked with interest, “Are they spies? When I was in the military, I heard about a high-ranking official in charge of important affairs who was arrested. Later, it was rumored that his son had sold important military secrets to the Americans through his work channels. Both he and his son were convicted of espionage.”
“‘Hooks’ have a broader scope. They’re…”
“Can you speak in plain language?”
Hippo laughed, then thought for a moment. “‘Hooks’ aren’t driven by national interests—they’re purely motivated by money. They sell useful information and secrets on the dark web to any buyer, regardless of their identity. This definitely includes spies from certain countries, forming a black-market industry chain. They’re a key target of crackdowns by various countries, and their threat to national security is no less than that of professional spies.”
“Why did you come to our club? Did you suspect we were also involved in ‘hook’ work?” Bayunye asked.
“Not exactly…” Hippo waved his hands quickly, afraid of getting beaten. “Actually, based on our investigation, we gradually identified Song Fan and Zhang Chenguang as suspects selling things like our country’s resources and maps on the dark web. That’s how we discovered the issues with the geological team’s car accident involving your sister earlier than the police. Then, digging deeper, we found out that Brother Long’s wife died in that accident. You and Brother Long are both survivors of the deceased, yet you ended up together. So I joined Brother Long’s club and, sure enough, discovered the photo clues left by Ba Xiye on you. That made it even more impossible for me to leave.”
Hearing this, Diao Zhuo felt a pang of emotion and whispered, “But Song Fan and Zhang Chenguang are already…”
“Zhang Chenguang has been under our control for a long time,” Hippo said with a mischievous smile, his features scrunching together comically. “Before joining the Eagle Club, I first became a colleague of Zhang Chenguang and the others, pretending to sell information about your whereabouts to them. That’s why I recorded so many videos everywhere I went—not to become an internet celebrity, but to tip them off about your location. You know what? Not only are we keeping an eye on you, but they are too. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have repeatedly harassed the orphanage where you grew up. To gain their trust, I sold them the information about the photos in your possession—of course, I also told my real colleagues. When you followed Zhang Chenguang to Pearl Peak, I called him and told him to leave quickly. But I knew he wouldn’t leave until his business was done.”
Bayunye shook her head, patting her knees. “But the blizzard at Pearl Peak was beyond your control!”“Our people disguised themselves as climbers and planned to apprehend him at the summit. But then a blizzard hit, so they arrested Zhang Chenguang ahead of schedule. To the outside world, we could only claim he went missing, to avoid raising suspicions from his superiors.”
“So, Zhang Chenguang… is still alive!!” Bayunye exclaimed excitedly.
“Not only him—He Zhengren is actually… alive too.” Hippo raised an eyebrow. “The villagers who discovered the body and the police at the scene were all part of a performance we staged. However, he was stabbed and severely injured. After emergency treatment, he’s still under observation, and I haven’t received any updates about him regaining consciousness yet. Regardless of whether he survives, we must publicly declare him dead. Otherwise, more people will want him dead—after all, he knows too much. Besides, given the information he’s sold and the crimes he’s committed over the years, he might still face the death penalty.”
The surprise came so suddenly. Bayunye and Diao Zhuo exchanged a glance, their eyes filled with joy.
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