Chapter 39: The Truth

Chapter 39: The Truth

Three months after Han Qiang's mistress went missing, many believed she had been murdered, with her body yet to be discovered. However, just a day before Commander Han's grand birthday celebration, she surprisingly resurfaced as the police were investigating her disappearance as a murder case.

Her reappearance was utterly unexpected. Han Yue was at the hotel, contemplating what gift to bring to the banquet the following day when he received a call from the front desk, informing him that a pregnant woman claiming to be A'Ling wished to see him.

Han Yue's hand trembled, almost dropping the phone.

The woman seemed unharmed physically, but appeared much more haggard than before. Something must have deeply disturbed her, as her speech and actions were slower than they used to be. She appeared to be evading someone, with her hair messily covering her face and her loose clothing concealing her six or seven-month pregnancy.

Han Yue asked what had happened, but she only shivered uncontrollably, repeatedly mumbling "National Security Bureau Unit Nine" and "Long Jiwei" incoherently. Seeing that he couldn't get any clear answers, Han Yue promptly called Gao Liangqing to come over.

Gao Liangqing, experienced in interrogations, quickly calmed the woman down and focused on crucial questions: "Where have you been all this time? Who kept you captive?"

"… Pei, Pei Zhi…"

Han Yue and Gao Liangqing exchanged a startled glance, but then A'Ling changed her story, trembling as she said, "No, it was Long, Long Jiwei!"

"…Was it Pei Zhi or Long Jiwei? Where have you been all this time?"

A'Ling started trembling visibly, her body quivering like a leaf in the wind. After a moment, she suddenly grabbed onto Han Yue, her voice shrill. "Long Jiwei is dead! I – I only managed to escape because of that! Don't send me back!"

Both Han Yue and Gao Liangqing were taken aback. Gao Liangqing asked, "That can't be true. Long Jiwei couldn't possibly be dead, could he?"

Without hesitation, Han Yue struck A'Ling unconscious, gently pushing her into Gao Liangqing's arms. "Take care of her for now. We'll question her more when she wakes up. I'll call someone from Department Nine to inquire about Long Jiwei and Pei Zhi."

A'Ling didn't remain unconscious for long, indicating that Han Yue had been careful with his force. Within a few minutes, she stirred, and Gao Liangqing settled her in an inner room of their hotel suite. He intended to fetch Han Yue, but seeing him engrossed in a phone call, he decided not to disturb him.

In reality, Han Yue's call was anything but smooth. Department Nine had always been at odds with the Han family, so he couldn't extract any insider information. Pei Zhi had been uncontactable lately, and they assumed he was on a business trip abroad. Today was the first time they managed to get through to him, but there was no answer.

Later, Han Yue called an old comrade-in-arms of Commander Han, who provided information about Long Jiwei. It seemed that chaos had erupted within Department Nine. Yesterday, during a secret meeting between top officials and Japanese dignitaries, Long Jiwei was providing covert protection. Somehow, a confrontation occurred, resulting in a massive energy surge that left everyone in the building unconscious. Deputy Minister Yu hastily arranged for evacuation, and as the head of Department Nine, Long Jiwei, accompanied by Old Long, stayed behind to cover their retreat. However, this delay cost them, and Long Jiwei did not make it out. When Old Yu returned to find Long Jiwei, it was said that Old Long had grown to such a size that an entire floor couldn't contain him. Several elders from Japanese sorcerer families had been devoured whole. Even their protective barriers were no match against the berserk Old Long, who reduced them to charred remains.

Deputy Minister Yu knew the situation was dire. Creatures like Old Long grew stronger with their master's weakening state. Once it sensed its owner's life force fading, it would become uncontrollably violent, potentially even consuming its still-living host. Believing that keeping cherished items within itself was the safest place, it was oblivious to the fact that once swallowed, its master's fate would be sealed.

Risking his life, Deputy Minister Yu donned protective gear and found Long Jiwei in a corner of the devastated floor. True to his character, Long Jiwei, gravely injured, administered a shot to himself, forcing himself into a deep sleep, just as he had done two years prior.

The old comrade-in-arms told Han Yue that when Long Jiwei was transported to Division Nine, he was reportedly drenched in blood. After Old Long's rampage subsided, it had shrunk into its most minuscule form, coiling tightly around Long Jiwei's body like a hemp rope. The residual buffering waves emanating from this entity had yet to fully dissipate; they left everyone in Division Nine feeling dizzy and disoriented. Even now, there were still a few individuals hospitalized who hadn't recovered enough to leave.

Upon reflection, Han Yue realized it made sense. If A'Ling was indeed being held captive by Long Jiwei, then yesterday she would have also been affected by Old Long's disruptive influence, causing her thoughts to be somewhat disordered. Yet, she still knew to escape, and perhaps someone took advantage of the chaos to release her, after which she immediately sought out the Han family members.

Then, could it be that Long Jiwei was the one who killed Han Qiang?

Such a horrifying method of murder could only be executed by someone as merciless as Long Jiwei, unless the perpetrator bore an immense blood feud with Han Qiang...

"Han Yue, Han Yue! I've uncovered a new development!" Gao Liangqing burst out of the room with a tense expression. "On the morning Han Qiang was murdered, Pei Zhi went to see A'Ling and even tried to forcefully take her away. But it was Long Jiwei who eventually apprehended both Pei Zhi and A'Ling! Long Jiwei has been holding them both in custody all this time!"

Han Yue was startled. "Pei Zhi? Why would he forcefully take A'Ling away?"

"A'Ling later remembered an important clue. Han Qiang had been entrusting his friends to help him look at houses those few days, right? You remember, don't you? Because of the incident with Long Jiwei involving the Han family, your father was in Taijiang, and you were injured and didn't go out. Han Qiang couldn't go to view the house himself without drawing attention, so he asked a friend to do it for him. On the morning he was killed, he told A'Ling he was going to see a friend about something and wouldn't be back for lunch. If we connect that to the mobile number he frequently contacted, I think it's highly possible that he went out that day to meet the friend who was looking at the house! That friend is a major suspect!"

"...The friend Han Qiang entrusted with the task of viewing the house probably isn't Long Jiwei, right?" A terrifying thought flashed vaguely through Han Yue's mind, and his face paled instantly. He coughed repeatedly before forcing a smile. "C-Could it be Pei Zhi?"

Without hesitation, Gao Liangqing replied, "I'll arrange for surveillance immediately and try to control Pei Zhi's movements before tomorrow!"

Han Yue nodded, watching as Gao Liangqing rushed out while making phone calls, like a gust of wind.

Han Yue initially planned to settle A’Ling first before heading to the police station. However, dealing with A’Ling became a tricky issue.

After all, she was carrying Han Qiang’s unborn child and should have been sent to the Han family immediately. Yet, Han Yue had a lingering fear in his heart that he didn't dare to delve into. He was afraid that if he sent A’Ling to the Hanks, she might reveal something in front of them.

What he could anticipate, Commander Han could as well.

In the end, he booked a hotel room for her and instructed her not to leave without permission. He then called over a few subordinates to keep an eye on her.

The moment Han Yue stepped out of the hotel, ready to drive to the police station, his phone rang. It was Old Qian's call.

He had entrusted Old Qian to find a trustworthy subordinate to investigate Chu Ci's hometown in Guizhou. The time was about right now.

Sure enough, Old Qian said on the other end, "I've gathered the information for you. I specifically found a quick and honest young man for the task. When would you like to meet him so he can hand over the documents?"

Han Yue almost blurted out the address of the hotel. At the last moment, he hesitated and eventually said slowly, "…Send it to my apartment outside the Third Ring Road. I'll… I'll get it now."

Since Chu Ci's departure, Han Yue hadn't set foot in this apartment for a long time.

There was only one instance when he got drunk one night and stumbled to the apartment, banging on the door and calling out for Chu Ci. His shouts turned into sobs, repeatedly turning the hallway lights on and off until he finally fell silent, sleeping at the doorstep fully clothed.

That person was already gone.

Living to the age of thirty, he suddenly found himself alone again, without even a home.

It was an excruciating emptiness that pierced through his heart and bones, turning the world he saw into an icy cold landscape, devoid of any warmth.

Old Qian's subordinate was indeed punctual, waiting at the apartment door for Han Yue early in the morning. The young man introduced himself as Little Zhang, with an ordinary appearance that would easily blend into a crowd. However, his actions were swift and composed, likely due to his experience in intelligence work.

Han Yue invited him in with a smile, saying, "Please don't mind, it's been a while since this place was cleaned, so there's some dust."

Little Zhang waved his hands, dismissing the concern, then placed a sealed leather envelope on the table. He opened it and pulled out a thick stack of documents, arranging them for Han Yue to see. "These are the records of the subject's life in Guizhou, including their parents' occupations. The subject's mother passed away from childbirth a long time ago, and that branch of the family has since lost contact. There isn't much information available."

Han Yue picked up the pile of materials, feeling his hands tremble slightly.

Back then, he had indeed asked Pei Zhi to investigate Chu Ci's family background. However, what Pei Zhi had found wasn't as detailed as this. He merely told Han Yue that Chu Ci's parents had both passed away, and that there were no troublesome relatives or influential friends in his family.

At that time, Han Yue didn't push for more information because he felt that what he knew was sufficient. After all, he only cared about having Chu Ci by his side. As long as he had the person, everything else was secondary. Family and relatives were unimportant and couldn't stand in the way of his obtaining Chu Ci.

Who exactly had killed Han Qiang? Why did Pei Zhi take A'Ling away on that particular day? What role did Long Jiwei play in all this? And why did Chu Ci go to purchase that mobile phone card...

A myriad of questions wrapped Han Yue in a dense fog, shrouding him entirely.

He could have easily dispelled the veil hiding the truth with a mere wave of his hand, but he hesitated to do so. He feared that the truth lurking behind the darkness would be too monstrous and horrifying, leaving him bloodied and shattered upon contact.

"Your subject's mother was a high school teacher, and his father was a military officer who once served on the border with Vietnam. According to our investigation, he was quite renowned in the army, having even been invited by the Vietnamese as a combat instructor."

Little Zhang pulled out a death certificate from the documents and continued, "This is the proof of his death due to stomach cancer at a hospital in Guizhou, where treatment proved ineffective. I also spoke to their neighbors back home. The area didn't seem prosperous, and some elders recalled that their family lived a modest life. After the father passed away, their situation worsened, as if they had incurred debts for medical treatments."

Han Yue felt a mix of emotions, nodding after a moment. "Ah, I see."

"However, later on, the subject seems to have been taken in by one of his high school teachers." Little Zhang found a thin stack of papers from the documents and showed them to Han Yue. "This high school teacher supposedly faced a difficult financial situation. She divorced her husband and had a son, who reportedly had a good relationship with the subject. In the local context, she would be considered his adoptive mother. Unfortunately, her entire family perished a couple of years ago, though the cause—whether illness or something else—remains unclear. Oh, right, her name was Li Weili, and this is a photo of her son before he passed away."

Han Yue nodded, then abruptly snatched the papers, his voice cracking with alarm. "Li Weili?!"

Startled, Little Zhang asked, "Second Young Master Han, what's wrong?"

"..." Han Yue's ears rang, and his limbs turned cold. After a long while, he managed to force out a reply between gritted teeth, "N... Nothing. Thank you for your hard work. ...Ah, how about this? You leave the documents here, and I'll go through them at my own pace..."

Little Zhang assumed Han Yue had stumbled upon something personal that he didn't wish to share. He thought, These influential and wealthy people are like that, so he nodded understandingly and bid farewell, kindly closing the front door for Han Yue as he left.

Han Yue heard the click, and then silence returned to the living room.

He stared at Li Weili's photo on the paper, before finally, with trembling fingers, he turned the page to see her son, Li Gaoyang's picture. That single act of flipping the page seemed to drain all his energy. When he saw the dates of their deaths, he abruptly slumped onto the sofa.

Impossible, impossible, impossible! The thought roared wildly in his mind like a trapped beast, driving him to seize Chu Ci and demand a complete denial of this truth.

Yet, for some reason, as if all his strength had been sapped, Han Yue could only sit on the sofa, his body so heavy that he couldn't even lift a finger.

An immense terror gripped his heart, like being helplessly trapped beneath an encroaching veil of despair. For a moment, the rapid rush of blood left his hands and feet numb, nearly devoid of sensation.

But he could see his hand gripping the edge of the coffee table with such force that it seemed his fingers might snap, trembling violently, the frequency visible to the naked eye.

In that instant, memories flooded his mind, details he had deliberately overlooked flashing past like scenes from a movie.

The night before Han Qiang was killed, Chu Ci had been unusually proactive, drawing Han Yue into a realm of excitement and pleasure that made him oblivious to the passing time until two in the morning. He slept soundly that night, a rarity for him, to the point of losing all sense of time.

Normally, he would wake up once during the night to use the bathroom, but not that night – he was too deeply asleep. Yet, when he did awaken, the clock read ten in the morning.

That instant Han Yue woke up and saw the time, a flicker of doubt arose, but at the time, he didn't dwell on it, or perhaps Chu Ci didn't allow him to.

Now, that tiny seed of doubt, nurtured by the passage of time, had blossomed into a significant question within Han Yue's mind.

He could vividly recall that morning when he woke up; the curtains in the room were tightly drawn, blocking out any hint of light and obscuring the view of the sky outside. After he got up to prepare Chu Ci a cup of soy milk, he caught a glimpse of the sky from the kitchen...

It all came back to him. The sky outside had been gloomy then, and upon returning to the bedroom, he had even mentioned to Chu Ci that it might rain soon, wondering why the sky appeared so overcast.

What did Chu Ci say in response? He seemed to have agreed...

A bolt of realization struck Han Yue. He had always believed it was a dreary morning when Han Qiang was murdered, and with Chu Ci staying at home with him, there was a perfect alibi for both of them.

Yet, this evidence hinged on one assumption: that Han Yue truly woke up at 10 AM and not in the late afternoon when darkness was descending!

This horrifying realization almost stopped Han Yue's heart in its tracks. Immediately after, more suspicions flooded his mind. When he served Chu Ci the soy milk, the usually cold and taciturn man had unexpectedly asked him to "lie down with me for a while." Han Yue, who should have been wide awake after several hours of sleep, had actually fallen asleep while lying there!

Han Yue's recollection of the subsequent events was even clearer. He had received a text from Han Qiang upon waking up, but Han Qiang should have been dead. Someone else had sent the message. Putting aside the identity of the sender, when he checked his phone after receiving the text, it was already past 10 PM.

Was it really possible for him to fall back asleep quickly after waking up at 10 AM and then sleep until nearly 10 PM?

As a professional soldier who had spent over a decade in the military, with discipline ingrained in his bones, could his biological clock be so disrupted by just one night of indulgence?

Unconsciously, Han Yue dismissed this possibility in his mind.

But if the first time he woke up wasn't at 10 am but closer to late afternoon, around 4 or 5 pm, then everything would make sense.

The dim sky he saw through the window wasn't an indication of rain, but rather the fact that it was already that late in the day. His second nap didn't last twelve hours, only from around 5 or 6 pm until past 10 pm.

With this explanation, everything fell into place.

To achieve this effect, Chu Ci might have adjusted the clock time in the morning, giving Han Yue the illusion that it was still 10 am. In reality, it was already 4 or 5 pm, and nobody knew what Chu Ci had been doing outside!

Shaking, Han Yue pulled out his phone and typed out Chu Ci's number, yet hesitated to press the green call button.

He wanted to hear Chu Ci say "no," to hear him angrily question how Han Yue could suspect him. He even wanted to hear Chu Ci scoff dismissively, then lazily ask, "Do you really think that's possible?"

As long as Chu Ci denied it, even without any explanations or reasons, Han Yue was willing to firmly believe in him!

...Yet, as Han Yue yearned for this, a clear and terrifying voice in his heart relentlessly reminded him – if he made that call, the brutal truth might tear him apart in an instant.

Because Chu Ci wouldn't deny it.

He was the type who wouldn't admit to his actions unless caught, but he wouldn't deny them either once discovered.

Han Yue recalled how, long ago, when he first got his hands on Chu Ci, he found himself constantly gazing at him, growing fonder with each passing moment, wishing he could devour him whole. But seeing Chu Ci's cold, distant demeanor made his teeth itch with frustration. He couldn't help but do things he knew would cause Chu Ci pain and discomfort, despite knowing it would only push them further apart.

There was a time when Han Yue had chained Chu Ci to the bedhead, forbidding him from wearing clothes, only releasing him when Chu Ci begged for mercy. On another occasion, he paraded Chu Ci in front of his friends, only to become consumed by jealousy mid-show, publicly kissing and touching him in a fit of possessiveness.

At times, witnessing Chu Ci's embarrassment and suffering, Han Yue felt a pang of regret. However, once the deed was done, the damage irreversible, even his remorse couldn't undo it. He always consoled himself that he'd make amends later, as there was still so much time left – a lifetime, after all. Yet, today, he realized too late that he had forever lost the chance to make it right.

In his entire life, Han Yue had brought nothing but pain to Chu Ci, offering no reprieve whatsoever.

And in the end, Chu Ci returned to him this unbearable, heart-wrenching loss.

Han Yue bit down fiercely on his hand until it bled, barely holding back his guttural sobs.

As the sky darkened, he sat alone in the empty house. Suddenly, his phone rang, its sound echoing loudly in the silent living room.

"Hello, Han Yue! It's Gao Liangqing here. I've got some good news – we've tracked down Pei Zhi's whereabouts. He'll definitely attend your grandfather's birthday banquet tomorrow, giving you the chance to confront him face to face... Hello? Are you listening? Han Yue? What's wrong with you?"

Upon hearing the word "banquet," Han Yue stirred, vaguely remembering his anticipation for the event, as the old Commander Han had told him Chu Ci would be attending too.

At that time, he was so overjoyed that his restless anticipation was barely containable. Despite his age, he found himself counting down the days like a child, wishing for time to leap forward to the day of the birthday celebration.

"Hey, Han Yue, are you still there? What's wrong with you?" Gao Liangqing paused, asking sensitively, "Did you find something? Any leads, tell me right away!"

Han Yue opened his mouth, then after a long while, he replied in a hoarse whisper, "No, nothing."

"Huh? What did you say?"

"I said no." Han Yue spoke slowly, "I haven't found any... clues."