Вrоthеr Lоng was not а hеаvу smоker, and cоuld еven go уears withоut а singlе сigаrеtte. Yet during thеse days of staking out Li Наozhаng's residеnсе, hе oftеn fоund himsеlf unсоnsciоusly discarding mаnу cigаrette butts at his fеet. Whenеver he ореnеd his mоuth, thе fоul stench оf niсotinе wоuld еscаpе.
Аfter returning tо Вeijing, Li Нaozhang hаd been staуing indооrs like аn unmarried womаn in thе оld soсiеtу, nоt еvеn steррing out оf the innеr courtуard. Surрrisinglу, hе reliеd еntirеlу on takeоut for all three meаls a day. Тhe morе he bеhаved this wаy, the more Brother Long felt something was off—a thug who didn't go out drinking, chasing women, or scheming for money, what was he doing being a homebody?
Unfortunately, he wasn't a police officer, so he couldn't use methods like wiretapping or checking financial records. Otherwise, why would he be going through such hardship? He hadn't told Bayunye where he was going, only maintaining simple contact with her so she wouldn't think he had disappeared. He had always been a man with a plan, but this plan couldn't be shared with anyone.
Finally, one night around ten o'clock, a familiar figure caught Brother Long's eye—the build and walking posture unmistakably belonged to Hippo, who had been missing for a long time. He probably never expected Brother Long to be in the area, wearing only an anti-smog mask as he hurriedly turned into the stairwell.
Brother Long was a man who could keep his composure. He stayed where he was, fiddling with the beads of his bracelet with his left hand while lighting another cigarette with his right.
Hippo's appearance here was definitely no coincidence. Could he be connected to Li Haozhang?
Brother Long stared at the lights in the stairwell. The illumination stopped at the floor where Li Haozhang lived, confirming that Hippo had indeed come for him. Recalling Bayunye's mention of Li Haozhang hiring thugs to harass the old orphanage site, a surge of anger rose from the depths of Brother Long's heart. It wasn't for the thugs themselves, but for the fact that Hippo, who had worked with Bayunye for over three years, was somehow connected to this lowlife?
Li Haozhang saw through the peephole that it was Hippo. Cautiously listening for any other movements, he dawdled for a long time before finally opening the door.
Hippo pulled off his mask, stretched lazily, and flashed a roguish grin. "How's it going? Bored out of your mind, huh?"
"When is Chief He going to assign me other tasks?" Li Haozhang sprawled on the sofa like "Ge You." "I've called him several times, and he just tells me to lay low for now. What's so scary about Diao Zhuo? Does he really have the time to follow me all the way to Beijing? From what I've observed over the past month or two, he and Bayunye are practically glued together in Yunnan every day. If it were me, I'd want to be with a woman too. What's the point of tailing a man?"
Hippo had long known that Li Haozhang's trip had been fruitless, merely an excuse for He Zhengren to divert attention. He changed the subject and asked, "Master Ba... is she doing alright?"
"Business is pretty good. She didn't slack off during the Spring Festival, sometimes taking a few clients to Lugu Lake and Blue Moon Valley."
"Does she curse me in private?"
"Who knows? I wouldn't dare get close." Li Haozhang replied irritably. Over the past two months, he had suffered quite a bit at Bayunye's hands. Not only had she damaged their tires, but she sometimes deliberately took detours, leaving them disoriented. Other times, she pulled some unknown trick, causing them to break out in allergic rashes, itching so badly they felt like tearing their skin off.
"By the way, Chief He called me back, saying there's no need to keep monitoring Bayunye and Diao Zhuo. Did he discover something new?"
"I'm not sure."
"Chief He has been acting strange lately," Li Haozhang probed. "Do you think he... wants to retire?"
"Retire? That won't do!" Hippo shook his head regretfully. "I haven't made much money working for him yet. How can he just back out now?""He should have communicated his thoughts with me..."
"He doesn't necessarily tell you everything," Hippo mocked, his words laced with insinuation. "I followed Master Ba for over three years, and she probably only realized it when I fled. And you? You've only been with her for two months, yet she's already played you to the point where she uncovered that you hired people to cause trouble at the orphanage. Tsk! Mr. He probably won't use you anymore from now on. You'd better start thinking about other options."
Li Haozhang flared up, "How can you compare me to you?! What identity did you use to get close to her? And me! If you hadn't run away, why would she be so vigilant?"
"Take care of yourself," Hippo sighed, leaving a stack of cash before turning and walking away.
The cash was quite thick, but Li Haozhang felt like an ant on a hot pan, pacing restlessly around the living room. His mind was filled with Hippo's words: "Mr. He probably won't use you anymore" and "think about other options." After hesitating for a long time, he picked up his phone and made a call—
"Old He is acting suspiciously. I'm afraid he doesn't want to do this anymore!"
Hippo walked downstairs, hailed a taxi, and quickly left. In a corner, a car quietly followed him, tailing him to the area near Dongzhimen, close to Beixinqiao subway station. Hippo got out of the car, walked less than a hundred meters along a hutong, and disappeared into the entrance of a youth hostel.
This place was very close to Gui Street, and at this hour, tourists who had just finished their late-night snacks were still talking and laughing loudly. Brother Long, wearing a hat and mask, blended in with the tourists and checked into a guesthouse across the street. From the third-floor balcony, he had a clear view of the youth hostel's entrance.
He stood on the balcony smoking for a while before Bayunye's call came through.
"Brother Long, where on earth have you gone? They say they haven't seen you for a month."
"I'm in the Northeast."
"The Northeast?!" Bayunye clearly didn't believe him. "Where in the Northeast?"
Brother Long paused for a second. "Qiqihar."
"What are you doing in Qiqihar?"
"Meeting up with an old comrade. I mentioned him to you before—Company Commander Yu Wutong from the engineering battalion."
"Put him on the phone."
Brother Long couldn't help but laugh. "You little brat, checking up on me? What time is it? Would I be hanging out with a man at this hour?"
"So you're with a woman?"
Brother Long snorted.
Bayunye remained skeptical but changed the subject. "I'm back in Lijiang. The peach blossoms in Nyingchi are blooming in patches, even more beautiful than last year. With the TV promotion of the Peach Blossom Festival, we've had a lot of inquiries, and bookings are higher than expected. Next month, we plan to set out on the Yunnan-Tibet route with six vehicles..."
Brother Long wasn't interested in business. "You handle it. What about your man?"
"He's flying to Kashgar early next month." Bayunye's voice lowered, clearly unhappy about the impending separation, which could last up to half a year.
Brother Long chuckled. "This year, let's explore more routes in Xinjiang. Maybe you should switch to Xinjiang loops in the future, going from a 'Tibet drifter' to a 'Xinjiang drifter.'"
"Aren't you in Qiqihar? Why do I hear someone passing by talking about Houhai?" Bayunye suddenly asked.
Brother Long glanced at a few drunken young people shouting downstairs and immediately turned to go inside. "You misheard. It's from a TV show."
After chatting a bit more, Brother Long excused himself, saying he needed to take a shower, and hung up.Over the past few days, Brother Long had bribed the owner of a small shop near Li Haozhang’s home to keep an eye out for him while he shifted his focus to tailing Hippo. Hippo was much harder to track than Li Haozhang—he went out almost every day, living like an ordinary resident in the area, dining out, taking walks, or hanging out at bars.
With his background as a scout, Brother Long managed to avoid detection by Hippo. However, the smog and dry air inflamed his throat several times, making him realize just how easy it had been to surveil the homebody Li Haozhang. Unfortunately, he hadn’t lost any weight!
His persistence paid off when one day he noticed Hippo taking the subway to the outskirts of the city. Not long after, Hippo drove out in an A8, with what appeared to be someone in the back seat. Brother Long photographed the license plate and address, then followed the car to a private restaurant. Sure enough, a man stepped out of the back seat. Though his face was unclear, he seemed older and walked with some difficulty.
Was Hippo working as a driver for the A8’s owner in Beijing? Or was he just a temporary driver? Knowing that impatience was the enemy of surveillance, Brother Long kept his distance, hiding in the shadows without approaching further.
Over the next few days, Brother Long confirmed that Hippo wasn’t a temporary driver but the A8’s full-time chauffeur. The A8 frequented two locations: the private restaurant and the office building housing the Beidou Rescue headquarters. Through this, Brother Long discovered that the owner of the A8 was none other than He Zhengren, one of the survivors and witnesses of the tragic car accident years ago. Asking around with a photo, he learned that Li Haozhang had also been He Zhengren’s driver, but after Hippo took over, Li Haozhang had vanished.
Zhang Chenguang, Song Fan, Li Haozhang, Hippo, and He Zhengren—these five individuals formed a web that left Brother Long deeply shocked. After the shock came a wave of weakness and overwhelming anger. Even someone unrelated to the incident could foresee that this network involved several successfully executed conspiracies.
“He Zhengren…” he muttered the not-unfamiliar name, syllable by syllable, before slumping down in exhaustion.
For this Yunnan-Tibet trip, the Eagle Club dispatched six off-road vehicles, with Bayunye leading the convoy. Starting from Lijiang, the journey had been smooth, with the tourists getting along well. A man had been sitting in the passenger seat beside her, sometimes taking over the driving—it was Diao Zhuo. After reaching Lhasa, he would fly directly to Kashgar.
Certain sections of National Highway 318 were occasionally affected by falling rocks or traffic accidents, leading to temporary road closures for repairs or traffic jams. One day, the convoy encountered a traffic jam just before reaching the "Nujiang 72 Bends." Everyone got out of their vehicles—some taking photos, others flying drones.
Bayunye and Diao Zhuo stepped out, gazing into the distance at the zigzagging sky road, both falling into silence. The fatal car accident from years ago had occurred not far ahead. Looking at the steep drop-offs, one could easily imagine the tragedy that had unfolded.
Wearing sunglasses with her hands tucked into her pockets, Bayunye looked effortlessly cool. “When I first started in this line of work, I drove alone to scout the route. By the time I reached here, it was completely dark, and I was exhausted. I wasn’t paying attention and actually dozed off while driving. Suddenly, it felt like someone slapped me hard on the head. Instinctively, I slammed on the brakes and realized I was on the outermost edge of a sharp turn. One second later, and both the car and I would have tumbled down.”
As she spoke, she pointed out the approximate location to Diao Zhuo, her tone light. “Troublemakers live long lives.”
Diao Zhuo, habitually serious, gave her head a punishing rub and asked, “Have you ever heard a saying?”
“What saying?”"A thousand-year turtle, a ten-thousand-year tortoise."
Bayunye took a deep breath. "You damn fool, I'll beat the crap out of you."
Startled by the sudden burst of Shaanxi dialect, Diao Zhuo was momentarily speechless. A few seconds later, he crossed his arms. "Not learning anything good, huh? Picking up curses like a pro?"
"When you're out in the world, you need a few skills to get by." Bayunye raised an eyebrow smugly, looking utterly shameless.
"Say a few more lines for me."
"No way."
The other drivers in the convoy, bored and looking for amusement, teased Bayunye and Diao Zhuo. "Hey! Has this handsome guy paid up?"
"Of course he has," Bayunye replied with a straight face. "But since he's so good-looking, I gave him a fifty percent discount."
The other drivers knew she was just making it up and deliberately asked, "What about our looks? How much of a discount can we get?"
Bayunye rolled her eyes at them. "Double the price."
The road ahead seemed to be clearing up. Bayunye waved her hand, calling for the passengers to get back on the bus and settle in. Just as Diao Zhuo was about to board, his phone rang—it was Ran Jinxian calling. He answered and quietly sat in the passenger seat, listening to the other person speak. Bayunye glanced at him in passing and noticed his eyes widen slightly, as if he had just heard something shocking.
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