The old man was the father of a sacrificed police officer. Without his son, he became a lonely old man. His superiors, understanding his situation, invited him to work here.
He had been working here for many years and had seen many police officers with immense inner pressure, like Su Kangxi, who often suffered from insomnia and came to the shooting range for practice. He would usually let them in.
Once, an employee from the police psychology department had also told him that police officers often faced life and death situations or the dark side of human nature, which caused them significant psychological stress. Sometimes, shooting was a way to relieve that stress.
Su Kangxi didn't bother to count how many bullets he fired until his hands ached and his fingers were too stiff to pull the trigger.
During his escape, Wei Laoda was surrounded and cornered by them. Wei Laoda's pair of blood-red eyes were fixed on him.
What kind of despair, unwillingness, and hatred was that...
He had naively tried to persuade Wei Laoda to surrender. Just as he thought he had convinced Wei Laoda and approached him, Wei Laoda suddenly blew his own head off.
He had watched it happen from such close proximity, with Wei Laoda's blood and brain matter splattering almost entirely onto his face.
These scenes replayed in his mind with every gunshot, pushing him to the brink of collapse...
When he left the shooting range, he found that the sky outside had already brightened.
The gentle light of the rising sun in the early morning shone on his face. He felt as if he had returned to the human world, as if he were his former self again.
He checked the time. He had intended to go directly to the police station to work, but he suddenly remembered that he was off today. He hailed a taxi, planning to go back to his place and sleep for a whole day.
However, as soon as he got downstairs to his residence, he saw Brother Sijie, whom he hadn't seen in a long time. It seemed like he was waiting for him.
Yang Sijie also spotted him immediately. Seeing his tired and haggard appearance, he walked up to him and asked, "Were you working overtime last night? Your dark circles are almost touching the ground."
Su Kangxi smiled, opened his arms, and hugged him tightly. "Brother Sijie, when did you come to Lancheng?"
Yang Sijie patted his back and said, "Good brother, I've heard about what happened to you."
Su Kangxi let go of him and looked around, asking, "Where is Sister Susu? Did she come back with you?"
"I've been in Lancheng for a while. Susu... she's not with me."
"How has she been this past year? Why didn't she contact me? I thought you were both too busy to bother with me," Su Kangxi said with a smile.
Yang Sijie said with a gloomy expression, "I came to find you because of Susu's matter. I need your help."
"What happened to Sister Susu?" Su Kangxi felt something was wrong from his tone.
Yang Sijie said, "This isn't a place to talk. Let's go to your place."
"Okay." Su Kangxi immediately led him into the elevator.
Once inside the apartment, Su Kangxi invited him to sit and asked if he wanted anything to drink.
Yang Sijie waved his hand and said, "No need for formalities. Susu is missing. I've been looking for her in Lancheng for almost three months, and I still have no news of her. So, I was hoping you might have some way to help find her through the police station."
"Missing? How could this happen?" Su Kangxi had thought they would live happily ever after after going abroad.
Yang Sijie lowered his head and said sadly, "Something bad happened before we went abroad, and she lost her memory. Her amnesia didn't improve after going abroad. Three months ago, I brought her to Lancheng, hoping that being in a familiar environment would help her recover her memory. But one day, she inexplicably disappeared."
Su Kangxi became anxious upon hearing this. "What happened before you went abroad that caused Sister Susu to lose her memory? Sister Susu has been missing for three months, why didn't you report it to the police earlier? If something happened, it might be too late even if we find her now!"
"I know, I know, but this matter cannot be reported to the police! I came to you hoping that without reporting it, you could use the police department's resources to help me find her." Yang Sijie was also anxious. Before Su Kangxi could ask further, he told him about Susu being injured while held hostage by Ai Shunan before they went abroad.
He also mentioned some things that happened after they went abroad, but while telling Su Kangxi, he concealed some details and downplayed others, his sole purpose being to get Su Kangxi to find Susu as soon as possible.
During the three months in Lancheng, he had tried every method except reporting to the police and utilizing police resources.
After listening, Su Kangxi finally understood why Sister Susu hadn't contacted him for nearly a year, and why she hadn't replied even when he messaged her online. It turned out she had amnesia.
He had heard a little about the Ai Shunan incident at the time. That case was not handled by him, and he hadn't expected Ai Shunan to be the biological father Susu mentioned.
Yang Sijie pleaded, "Do you understand what I mean? As long as we can find Susu, I don't want to officially report it and make these matters public knowledge. This way, even if Susu is found, it will be a blow to her."
Su Kangxi also understood that Yang Sijie was a public figure. The moment he arrived in Lancheng, countless eyes would be watching him, so he had to act discreetly. He nodded and said, "Okay, I'll contact my colleagues now and ask them to find a way to investigate. But you need to tell me in detail if Sister Susu showed any abnormalities or said or did anything before she disappeared, the exact time of her disappearance, and where she was last seen."
Yang Sijie then fabricated some stories, subtly hinting to Su Kangxi that to find Susu, he should focus on Qin Tianyi and Huo Jin, suggesting that Susu might be hidden somewhere by them.
Su Kangxi didn't suspect him of withholding or deceiving him. Based on the clues he provided, he prepared to conduct a secret investigation into Sister Susu's whereabouts. Finding her as soon as possible was the most important thing.
...
Time flew by, and it was already late spring. However, Lancheng was still experiencing several days of light rain.
This continuous drizzle was like the lingering sorrow in Qin Tianyi's heart, making it impossible for him to smile.
Tonight, there was a charity gala attended by many business magnates. He originally didn't want to go, as Xiao Anjing's presence was enough.
But Xiao Anjing, seeing that he hadn't been genuinely happy for over a year, insisted on dragging him along, wanting him to relax and not always wear that chillingly cold expression, which made all the employees in the group tremble and the group feel perpetually gloomy and lifeless.
After Xiao Anjing's repeated persuasion, Qin Tianyi finally reluctantly agreed to do some good deeds.
Every charity gala was more or less the same. He had long found these formalities tedious and went to the restroom to get some fresh air.
As soon as he washed his face at the sink, he overheard two young men in the restroom making fun of someone behind him.
One of them said, "Haven't seen Young Master Huo here today either? Has he turned over a new leaf recently? Not only does he not go to nightclubs anymore, but he's also not interested in events like this filled with beautiful women. It's truly strange."