Miss Forensics – Chapter 131

Volume Two: Second Scroll

Battle of the Endgame (5)

Her older brother killed her best friend.

“Lin Yan.” Song Yuhang was still not at ease. She grabbed her hand, her expression anxious, and said in a low voice.

“I’ll stay behind, you go first.”

Lin Yan shook her head: “You go first, go after Ding Ye. It’s enough to have me here.”

The whispering and intimate actions between the two of them did not escape the bottom of his eyes. Lin Ge let out a cold laugh.

“Thinking of leaving? It’s not that easy. Since you’ve come, then leave your lives behind!”

As he spoke, he raised the sniper rifle and aimed it at Song Yuhang. Lin Yan, with quick hands and sharp eyes, pushed her aside and faced his gun muzzle herself.

“Lin Yan!” Song Yuhang lunged for her, but she remained firm and unmoving, her fingers gripping the gun barrel and pressing it against her own heart.

“Lin Ge, if you kill Song Yuhang today, I will not live on alone. I may not have the ability to kill you, but if I were to harm myself, no one present could stop me.”

“Either you let us go together, or—” She slightly raised her chin, lifting her eyes to look at him, her pupils black and bright, filled with determination.

“Kill me first, then kill her.”

Lin Ge’s hand on the trigger began to tremble, and he gritted his teeth.

“Don’t force me.”

Lin Yan did not yield an inch, her gaze resolute and fearless, as if to say, if you have the guts then shoot.

Seeing her like this, it was Lin Ge who began to panic instead.

“Yanyan, listen to me. I don’t want to kill you. As long as you come with me, we can still be like we were before……”

Before he could finish speaking, he was coldly interrupted by Lin Yan.

“No one can live in the past forever. We can’t go back, Lin Ge.”

“No…… no……” Lin Ge shook his head, a touch of madness in his expression: “Everything I’ve done was for you……”

Lin Yan’s fingers gripped the body of the gun as she advanced step by step.

“For me? What have you done for me?” Lin Yan gave a sarcastic smile, a flash of pain in the depths of her eyes.

The truth of the question she never dared to think deeply about came to light at this moment.

Perhaps she was strong and calm enough in front of others, but Song Yuhang, standing behind her, saw that her other hand, hanging at her side, was trembling slightly.

She was afraid, and she was also grieving.

Song Yuhang’s heart ached beyond measure, and she followed her, matching her every step.

“That time I went to the provincial capital, was it you who leaked the information to Vulture’s men?”

“Yes.” Meeting her gaze, Lin Ge slowly nodded. After a long moment, he added an urgent explanation.

“But I didn’t think he would make a move against you. I only told him to follow you.”

Lin Yan closed her eyes for a moment and a small smile touched the corner of her lips. As expected. Jiangcheng was only so big, and the people she was familiar and on good terms with were few and far between. Only Lin Ge would ask after her well-being from time to time, inquiring where she was and what she was busy with.

“Kidnapping the Song family members, torturing a small child.” Lin Yan suddenly enunciated her words heavily: “Was that also you?”

She took a step with every sentence she spoke. The courtyard was not large, and in the blink of an eye, they had reached the warehouse entrance. Lin Ge’s back knocked open the storeroom door.

Song Yuhang followed her inside and heard him speak truthfully.

“Yes, that’s right. I was in contact with them for a while. She really is a very cute little girl. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have kidnapped her.”

Not only did he show no remorse, but he was also glib-tongued.

A surge of anger and blood rushed through Song Yuhang. She raised her fist and lunged forward, but when she saw the gun muzzle pressed against Lin Yan’s chest, she suppressed her hatred and retreated with reddened eyes.

“Very good. You are certainly frank.”

“Now that it has come to this, I have nothing more to hide from you,” Lin Ge said, tugging nonchalantly at the corner of his mouth.

Lin Yan gripped the gun muzzle tightly and said coldly, “The one who tampered with my car, was that you too?”

“It was me.” He admitted it freely, yet also gritted his teeth: “But I never expected you would actually jump into the sea to save her! On what grounds?! Why?! Why would you risk your life to save her!”

“On the grounds that I love her!!!” Lin Yan grew agitated, panting heavily. As she leaned forward, the gun pressed deadly against her heart.

Lin Ge instantly released his hand from the trigger. He staggered back a step, knocking over the bottles and jars on a shelf.

The depths of his eyes were filled with anger and disbelief.

“You love her?” His voice suddenly grew shrill.

“Then what about me?!”

“You? You don’t have this chance anymore!”

To hear Lin Yan’s first confession at such a critical juncture, Song Yuhang felt a little sweet, and also found it somewhat laughable and lamentable. However, it didn’t delay the important matters at hand.

The moment the words fell, she moved. Taking advantage of the fact that Lin Yan had captured all his attention and that no one else had followed them into the storeroom, she, who was standing right behind Lin Yan, suddenly burst into action. Her left elbow smashed towards his wrist, while her right hand, like an eagle’s claw, went straight for his throat.

Every move aimed for a vital point, showing no mercy.

The weapon threatening Lin Yan’s heart was finally knocked to the ground. In his dazed state, Lin Ge hastily exchanged a few moves with Song Yuhang but gained no advantage at all and was quickly subdued on the floor.

He lifted his eyes to look at Lin Yan. The corner of his eye was red, swollen, and bruised from being hit, making it look as if he had been crying.

He asked with a hoarse voice, “What about me then, Lin Yan? What have you considered me to be?”

“Considered to be what……” Lin Yan mulled over these words, looking at his face, momentarily lost in a daze.

The warm little boy from that year gradually overlapped with the face before her.

In that instant, she seemed to see the past.

The first day she was brought back to the Lin family home.

A little boy, holding a jar of candy given to him by his mother, walked over to her side bashfully and handed it to her with both hands.

“Don’t cry anymore. From now on, you are my younger sister. Older brother will protect you.”

The young Lin Yan looked at the fruit drops in the transparent candy jar and swallowed. Her dirty little face was full of vigilance, and she did not reach out to take it.

“I don’t want it, I don’t like to eat candy.”

The young Lin Ge looked back at his mother and, after receiving an encouraging glance, pushed the candy jar straight into her hands and ran off.

The person who said she didn’t like candy, he found when he came back from his interest class, was hiding alone under the swing set in the backyard licking a candy. It wasn’t the kind of eating where you unwrap a whole one and pop it in your mouth, but rather holding it in her hand and licking it carefully. Candy wrappers were scattered all over the ground beside her.

The little boy remembered his mother’s advice and ran over anxiously, carrying his schoolbag: “You can’t eat candy like that. If you eat too much at once, you’ll get cavities and diarrhea.”

The startled Lin Yan slapped his hand away, turned her head, and ran off.

That night, she really did vomit and have diarrhea.

As Lin Yan lay in bed clutching her stomach, tossing and turning, the bedroom door knocked gently twice.

Lin Ge, like a little gentleman, knocked on the door first. After not hearing a response for a long moment, he then bravely pushed it open.

“Mom asked me to bring you the medicine. Drink it quickly, you’ll be better after you drink it.”

Lin Yan sat up from under the covers, staring at him with wide eyes. She always seemed to have this expression as if someone owed her two-five-eighty thousand¹, clearly still a half-grown brat, and she didn’t like to smile, acting all old and stodgy.

Lin Ge chuckled. He scanned the room and saw that there wasn’t even a servant. The glass on the bedside table contained cold water, and it was almost empty.

His heart softened, and he took the glass and ran out: “You wait for me.”

When he returned, he had a full glass of warm water and was holding a candy in his other hand.

“Hurry and take it. You can have candy after you finish the medicine.”

At that time, under his mother’s guidance, he was already like a mature little adult, both considerate and gentlemanly. And because there had never been any children his age to play with him, he was a bit more curious about Lin Yan.

Lin Yan looked at the oral liquid, holding it in her hand, she didn’t even know how to poke the straw in. It was he who took it, helped her get it ready, and passed it to her hand.

“It’s not bitter, it’s very sweet.”

Lin Yan took a sip, half-believing and half-doubting. Her tightly furrowed brows finally relaxed a little, and the expression on her face was no longer so guarded.

Lin Ge wanted to say something more, but he looked at his watch. It was time for his calligraphy practice; being late would get his palms smacked by his mother.

The little boy hurriedly placed the candy by her bed.

“I’m going back first. I’ll come see you another day.”

Who knew how long this “another day” would be. Lin Ge had to complete his courses at the elite school during the day, and attend interest classes at night and on weekends. He wasn’t the type to like running around outside, and his mother didn’t allow him to play wildly outside either. When he had nothing to do, he would just stay at home and do his homework.

One day, he was sitting at his desk by the window writing an exam paper. Sunlight poured onto the desk as the young boy chewed on his pen, working on an Olympiad math problem.

A small stone tapped lightly on the glass.

The first time, no reaction.

Lin Yan picked up another stone and threw it over.

Still no reaction.

He was too engrossed in his work.

So the small child with short arms and legs held a large stone in her hands, stood on her tiptoes with effort, and with a “dong” sound, smashed it against the window.

Lin Ge jumped in fright. Only then did he raise his eyes to look out the window, where a small head was bobbing up and down.

He stood up and opened the window. The small child stood on her tiptoes and shakily placed a glass jar on the windowsill.

It was the jar left over after she had finished the candy he had given her that day, only now it was no longer filled with candy, but with colorful butterflies vibrating their wings.

The young boy was stunned by this beauty. The small child let go and took two steps back: “For you, thank you.”

After speaking, she ran off in a flash.

Lin Ge examined the glass jar for a long moment, and finally, with belated realization, came to his senses, threw down his pen, and chased after her.

“Wait…… wait for me! Where did you catch the butterflies?!”

The young Lin Ge was slightly chubby and had started wearing glasses at a young age. He ran until he was out of breath.

Lin Yan pointed a hand towards the back garden: “Right there, there are lots of butterflies!”

The two of them ran wildly in the garden for an entire afternoon, holding butterfly nets, and finally collapsed onto the grass.

Lin Ge pillowed his head on his arms and lay down: “It’s so good that you’re here. No one ever played with me before.”

“No one played with me either.” Lin Yan’s dirty hands patted the glass jar, watching the butterflies inside fly about in alarm.

Lin Ge sat up, his eyes a little excited.

“Then from now on, let’s play together. In the spring we can go catch butterflies. In the summer, there’s a river in the woods, I don’t know if there are any fish. Mom never lets me go over there……”

As Lin Ge spoke, he became a little dejected again.

“But I haven’t finished my exam paper yet. She won’t let me come out to play, and even if I finish it……”

Mother Lin was always worried he would get into some danger, not letting him run, not letting him jump. Even when there was nothing to do, the greatest entertainment was staying at home and watching cartoons.

At that time, Lin Yan didn’t understand the regret on his face. She looked at the butterflies in the glass jar, crashing about but unable to fly out of their prison, and only felt they were pitiful.

So she said: “Let’s set them free.”

Lin Ge nodded and also took out his own. The two of them twisted open the lids together, watching the butterflies flap their wings and fly up into the sky, cheering joyfully, and spent a happy day.

That evening, Mother Lin discovered that Lin Ge hadn’t finished his exam paper and punished him by making him kneel in the living room.

He placed the plant specimen he had made for his mother to one side, knelt down obediently, and lowered his head, extending his palms. What he didn’t expect was that a small figure rushed in from outside the door and, without a word, knelt down beside him.

Lin Ge was stunned, and Mother Lin was also stunned. After a long moment, she put down the thumb-thick bamboo slip she used to hit him and picked Lin Yan up, wiping her face clean with a handkerchief.

“Yanyan be good, you’ve been running all day and haven’t eaten yet, right? Come, Shenniang² will take you to eat.”

Lin Yan lay in her arms and looked at Lin Ge kneeling on the floor. Lin Ge secretly gave her a thumbs-up to show he was fine.

After his mother had carried Lin Yan far away and he was the only one left in the huge living room, the little boy finally relaxed his straightened back, knelt on his own legs, and let out a long sigh.

In those three years, the two of them grew up accompanying each other like this. Lin Ge was used to following the rules, and although Lin Yan was young, her whimsical ideas were endless, her little head always full of new and interesting things.

In spring, they picked flowers and caught butterflies; in summer, they went down to the river to catch fish, cicadas, and crickets; in autumn, they picked the ginkgo nuts hidden under the fallen ginkgo leaves. Lin Yan bit one open with her teeth, her expression suddenly froze, but she said nothing.

Lin Ge looked at her, eager to try: “How is it, is it tasty?”

The small child extended her chubby palm and handed over a large handful, saying in a childish voice: “Tasty, Ge³, have a taste.”

Lin Ge impatiently shelled several nuts and threw them into his mouth, only to be so bitter that he spat them out repeatedly with sounds of “pei pei pei”.

“You little Lin Yan, you actually dared to trick me!”

Lin Yan had already run off in a flash and was out of sight.

Winter was her favorite season, not only because it would snow and they could go outside to build snowmen and have snowball fights, but also because during the New Year, Shenniang would give her a red envelope⁴, and Lin Youyuan would also come back.

Ever since the day she was brought back, the two had met only a handful of times in three years. The young Lin Yan had seen many scenes of happy family reunions in cartoons and, after all, held expectations for the role of a father.

The day before New Year’s Eve, she was still busy pasting her paper lantern. Lin Ge used a battery and a small light bulb to help her make a light-up device to put inside. Her small hands, still not very steady with the scissors, carefully cut the red paper.

Lin Ge was responsible for gluing the paper strips she cut.

“Lin Ge, do you think he will like it?”

“He will. The lantern our Yanyan made is the most beautiful lantern in the world.”

On New Year’s Eve, he really came. Lin Yan hid behind Shenniang, hugging her leg, with the small lantern hidden behind her back.

After Lin Youyuan checked Lin Ge’s homework and asked him a few questions, the young boy answered fluently.

He nodded his head in satisfaction and signaled the butler to give a red envelope. As Lin Ge took the red envelope and stepped back, he heard him call his own name.

Lin Yan dawdled as she walked up. The word “Dad” hesitated and had not yet left her lips when Lin Youyuan saw her timid and awkward appearance and frowned slightly.

“Doesn’t kindergarten teach ancient poetry? Recite a couple for me to hear.”

No matter how desperately Lin Ge made eye contact and gestured to her from the side, she still couldn’t recite any. With great difficulty, she stammered out a line: “Bed…… front…… bright moonlight……”

Lin Youyuan had already interrupted impatiently, without even giving a red envelope.

“Someone, take her away. She’s starting elementary school in the spring and can’t even recite a single poem. From today on, she is not allowed to go out and play.”

Lin Yan was stunned. Before she could come back to her senses, an adult was pulling her, and she stumbled as she was led away.

That small lantern, which she had pasted together with such difficulty, was naturally thrown into the trash can by him in the name of being a plaything that saps the will⁵.

The next day, Lin Ge was teaching her to count popsicles: “One popsicle is 1, two popsicles is 2……”

Before he finished speaking, Butler Lin walked in with some people and bowed.

“Young Master, by order of the Master, I am here to take th home.”

Lin Ge was stunned, a strong wave of reluctance suddenly surged in his chest. Lin Yan had already been picked up by the butler.

He chased after them, following far behind, puffing out his cheeks and shouting loudly: “Yanyan, don’t be afraid, study hard, Ge will come find you!”

That year Lin Yan was six, and he was thirteen. After that, Mother Lin signed him up for an overseas study winter camp, and he didn’t see her again for the entire winter break.

After returning to school in the spring, he finally made it to the end of the school day. Lin Ge quickly packed his things and eagerly ran to the elementary school section to find her, only to see her being cornered against a wall, being punched and kicked.

Lin Yan fought back, hitting the boys with her schoolbag, but was shoved away. She fell to the ground, her books scattering everywhere. A boy slapped her across the face.

“Where did this bastard come from? A dog thing born of a bitch is also worthy of the surname Lin, and worthy of being in the same school as me. Beat her for me!”

The boys and girls surrounding her pounced. Lin Yan covered her head to protect herself. A rush of hot blood went straight to Lin Ge’s head, and he threw himself over her, shielding her tightly.

“Stop hitting her, Lin Cheng, she’s your younger sister!”

The moment his words fell, perhaps because he couldn’t retract his fist in time, Lin Cheng slapped his glasses off. The frame fell to the ground, the lenses shattered to pieces, and the corner of his eye swelled up.

Lin Cheng resentfully withdrew his hand: “What kind of younger sister is she? Just a bastard born from a wild woman. Lin Ge, if it weren’t for your sake today, I would have beaten her to death.”

The group of people scattered like birds and beasts.

Without his glasses, he was still a little unaccustomed. He rubbed his eyes, squatted down to pick up the frame and put it in his schoolbag, then turned around and took her hand.

“Let’s go, Yanyan, let’s go home.”

Lin Yan dragged her tattered schoolbag with one hand, the zipper wide open, and just walked with him like that.

After a long moment, she stopped. The setting sun stretched her shadow very, very long.

Lin Yan kept her head down, and water stains fell on the ground.

“Ge, am I a bastard?”

Lin Ge was taken aback. He squatted down, his expression gentle, and wiped away her tears.

“No, you’re not. Your name is Lin Yan. You are my younger sister.”

At that time, he probably didn’t know that his simple words became the eternal warmth in her childhood.

Lin Yan’s appearance opened a window in Lin Ge’s dreary life, and Lin Ge, in turn, cast the first ray of sunlight into her gloomy life.

Of course, if it weren’t for the things that happened later, they might have been good siblings for a lifetime. But since Lin Yan already knew the truth, she could no longer remain indifferent.

There was one thing she could never let go of.

Lin Yan gritted her teeth and arduously spat out those two words: “Chunan……”

Lin Ge, kneeling on the ground, smiled. He raised his head, the frame of his glasses was knocked crooked, and beneath the lenses, a sinister and vicious light shone through.

“Do you want to know where she is? Hehe…… haha…… guess for yourself.”

It was as if she had been struck by a sudden clap of thunder on a clear day.

Lin Yan’s body swayed slightly, almost collapsing to the ground. Her eyes turned red as she lunged forward and grabbed his collar, dragging him backward. With a bang, a shelf was knocked over, and bottles and jars rained down on their heads.

Lin Yan roared: “You did that too?!”

Even at this moment, there was still a trace of disbelief in her voice.

Lin Ge curled his lips into a smile: “Yes, I did it. I had just returned to the country at that time and found that you were actually so close to someone else. Was I no longer your only friend, your only good older brother? She started to appear by your side. I wasn’t happy. I admit I was very jealous. If she died, I would be the only one by your side again, so I just……”

“You shut up!” Lin Yan couldn’t listen anymore. A rush of hot blood went straight to her head, her eye sockets burned, and tears fell. She casually grabbed the dagger that had fallen on the ground and stabbed it fiercely towards his chest.

“Just for a reason like that? What kind of messy, nonsensical reason is that? You went after an innocent girl. Her life wasn’t even one-third over! She has no future, no future, but you’re still alive, living so well!”

Song Yuhang did not stop her from venting. She knew it was better to say these things than to keep them bottled up inside. Just by standing beside her and watching, she felt an endless sorrow. How much pain must Lin Yan’s heart be in.

Lin Ge had the ability to resist, but he didn’t dodge. Instead, he tilted his head slightly, closed his eyes, and offered his neck to be killed.

He knew this stab from Lin Yan would not land.

He understood her, not much less than Song Yuhang did.

As expected, the sharp dagger only went an inch into his heart and could go no further. Lin Yan trembled all over, clenching her jaw, her mind filled with only one thought.

Her older brother killed her best friend.

Her older brother killed her best friend.

Her older brother killed her best friend.

……

Tears suddenly rolled from the corners of Lin Yan’s eyes. Chunan, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I…… it was me who harmed you.

It was in this moment of distraction that a strange smile appeared on the corner of Lin Ge’s lips. He raised his wrist and lightly swept it across the blade’s edge, and the tied rope fell away.

“Lin Yan, be careful!” Song Yuhang, with quick hands and sharp eyes, pushed her away. A bullet grazed her shoulder, tearing through her clothes, splitting the skin and flesh.

“Song Yuhang!” Lin Yan was pressed tightly in her arms, the smell of blood rushing to her face.

“I’m fine!” She hugged her and took a few steps back, placing her in a safe area.

“You stay here and don’t move. Find a chance to escape on your own first. Duan Cheng will be outside to meet you.”

“I don’t want to—” Lin Yan started to get up, but was pushed back down. Song Yuhang leaned over and planted a kiss on her forehead.

“Be good.” Then she grabbed a gun and rushed out.

The moment Song Yuhang showed her head, a volley of bullets shot over. She dodged back, and sparks flew from the metal shelf.

Taking advantage of the moment the other side was reloading, she supported herself on the ground with one hand and flipped forward, the pistol held steady in her hand, and quickly opened fire.

Lin Ge also rolled on the ground and hid behind a nearby shelf. The bullets hit the industrial chemical barrels behind him, making BANG! CRACK! sounds.

Perhaps hearing the gunshots inside, the people guarding the door wanted to rush in. Seeing a sliver of light through the crack in the door, Lin Yan darted over in a single bound and kicked the first person who burst in, sending him flying.

“Someone’s guarding the door, use a gun!”

Not good!

Her pupils suddenly contracted. She covered her head and dropped to the ground. Bullets flew past her scalp, and the iron door was shot into a sieve. Rays of light pierced through, and dust floated in the air.

“Lin Yan!” Hearing the commotion over there, Song Yuhang was inevitably distracted, and her reloading speed was a step too slow.

Lin Ge leaped over the top of the shelf, the long gun in his hand swung across and locked tightly around her neck, dragging her backward, forcing her to suffocate.

Song Yuhang was forced to take a few steps with him. When she came to her senses, her right elbow slammed backward, hitting him squarely in the abdomen. Caught off guard, Lin Ge was hit in a vital spot. He staggered, his strength slackened, and he could no longer hold her.

Song Yuhang seized the opportunity, smashing a fist into his face, shattering his glasses. Lin Ge stumbled back a few steps, his head thrown back as blood spurted from his nose. Her heart was full of hatred with nowhere to vent. Lin Yan might show him mercy, but she would not. She followed up with a whip kick, the force so great it seemed you could hear the sound of bones breaking, sending him flying straight into a pile of clutter. The industrial chemical barrels stacked in the corner scattered across the floor.

He fell to the ground, his fingers touching something cold and slippery. It was the industrial chemical that had leaked from the barrels. A smell of alcohol filled the air.

Song Yuhang clenched her fists and walked up to him.

“You can’t beat me. I will act for Lin Yan, for Chunan, for Xiao Wei, for my sister-in-law, for all the innocent people who died unjustly.”

“Avenge them.”

---

“Report, a large number of criminals have been found in an abandoned plastic factory in Zhongjing Industrial Port, possessing heavy firepower, heavy firepower, report complete!”

The sound of chaotic static came from the communicator.

Zhao Junfeng grabbed it: “Relay my order, full assault, we must capture them all!”

Feng Jianguo shot to his feet: “No, the satellite images haven’t come back yet. The enemy and our own positions are unclear. We cannot rashly launch a full assault.”

“So we just watch as the drug traffickers get on the boat and escape to the high seas?!” Zhao Junfeng retorted loudly.

“I am the commander-in-chief. If anything happens, I will take full responsibility! Go in!”

Following his order, the special police surrounding the plastic factory exchanged glances. The captain gave a hand signal, and two team members ran forward, pulled smoke grenades and tear gas canisters from their tactical vests, pulled the pins with a hiss, and threw them far inside.

Smoke billowed out. The thugs guarding the courtyard were choked into coughing fits. The special police captain placed his hands on his knees, and a team member stepped on his shoulders, flew up, and jumped into the courtyard. Using the cover of the smoke, he opened the courtyard gate.

A burst of BANG! BANG! PA! PA! gunfire, and more than half of the thugs fell. Sporadic return fire rang out.

Lin Ge, who had been beaten by Song Yuhang to the point of vomiting blood and had lost the ability to resist, lay on the ground. Hearing the commotion outside, he knew the situation was lost. He curled his lips into a smile and looked at Lin Yan.

“You still haven’t told me, what have you always considered me to be?”

“I……” Lin Yan climbed up from the ground. Just as she was about to answer, several panicked thugs rushed in. They saw Song Yuhang standing in the middle of the passage at a glance and, without thinking, raised their knives and charged.

“Young Master, I’ve come to save you!”

“Be careful!”

Song Yuhang turned around abruptly. A thin back blocked her way. Lin Yan’s body swayed slightly, her hand gripping the knife’s edge tightly, blood beads rolling down from her wrist.

“Lin Yan!” Song Yuhang was aghast. She turned and hugged her. The blade had already penetrated three-tenths of an inch into her heart.

She was sweating profusely from the pain, her face deathly pale.

Song Yuhang’s eyes reddened, and she clenched her back teeth. Her peripheral vision caught the two men still trying to charge forward. She casually picked up the gun Lin Ge had dropped on the floor and pulled the trigger. Blood splattered, and the thugs fell to the ground.

Song Yuhang held her tightly, cupped her face, and with a slight sob, her voice was full of panic.

“I’ll take you away, take you away, we’ll go to the hospital, to the hospital, you’ll definitely be fine, be fine……”

Lin Ge slowly closed his eyes. He understood.

This question no longer needed an answer.

Lin Yan could show him mercy, but she would not die for him. Her love for Song Yuhang was real.

Then what had he been, all these years?

All his painstaking efforts, all his meticulous schemes, had come to nothing in the end. Not only had he lost her trust, but he had also made himself completely unrecognizable.

A sarcastic smile touched the corners of Lin Ge’s lips. He mustered his last ounce of strength, stood up shakily, reached into his pocket, and took out a lighter.

“Since you’ve come, don’t leave. Let’s die together.”

The smell of alcohol in the warehouse grew stronger and stronger. Lin Yan also sensed that something was wrong. Her peripheral vision caught the word “Butanol⁶” written on the industrial chemical barrel.

Alarm bells instantly went off in her head. Ignoring the fact that her wound was still bleeding, she pushed Song Yuhang outwards.

“Go, go quickly!”

“If we go, we go together!” Song Yuhang put one of her arms over her shoulder, wrapped her arm tightly around her side, and moved step by step towards the door.

“Do you think you can still leave?” Lin Ge dragged his crippled leg, pressing closer step by step, like a demon.

Song Yuhang glanced over; it was too late to fight back. The moment he opened the lighter in his hand, the flickering flame would instantly ignite the air to form an explosive mixture. At that point, no one would be able to leave. She had no confidence, especially with Lin Yan injured, that she could take him down in one hit and snatch the lighter from his hand. That gun was also out of bullets.

She threw the gun in her hand to the ground, squatted down, and carried Lin Yan on her back as she ran outside.

Lin Ge’s speed also increased. Just as they were about to rush out the door, Song Yuhang’s knees were grabbed tightly.

She couldn’t break free. She turned and kicked his head fiercely. Lin Ge clenched his jaw, blood seeping from his mouth and nose, but he didn’t let go. His eyes danced with an excited and bloodthirsty light. He raised his head and rammed it into her lower abdomen.

Song Yuhang cried out in pain, her body swayed, and her hand slipped, losing her grip on Lin Yan. She rolled to the ground. Song Yuhang lunged over and held her tightly in her own arms.

“Lin Yan, Yanyan……” As she spoke, tears welled up in her eyes.

Lin Yan shook her head, coughed twice, and smiled faintly, gripping her hand: “I’m fine…… go…… go……”

Seeing that they were only one step away from the door, both of them had nearly reached their physical limits.

Song Yuhang gritted her teeth, got up, and dragged her towards the outside. Lin Ge clung to them again like sticky candy.

He was dizzy, many of his bones were broken, and he was bleeding internally. He coughed constantly, but his mind was filled with only one crazy and paranoid thought.

Can’t…… let them go…… Lin Yan is his…… if we die, we die together!

The dying man chewed on this sentence, a bone-deep hatred suddenly erupting in his eyes. He dragged his broken leg and stood up, roaring as he pounced, dragging the two of them back, and with a click, lit the lighter.

“Lin Yan, don’t go. Accompany me to hell.”

The flames shot up, scorching his hair, dyeing his entire face a golden yellow.

The cloud of fire in Lin Yan’s pupils grew larger and larger. She screamed, both angry and terrified, her voice actually trembling slightly.

“Ge!”

It was a word shouted subconsciously, but Lin Ge was suddenly stunned.

Ge.

This word was like a gentle rain, blowing softly into his heart, as if returning to his childhood, the little girl chasing after him, also calling out just like this, one sound after another: “Ge, Ge, Gege……”

Although Lin Yan’s mouth was opening and closing, he could no longer hear what she was saying.

In that moment, he just remembered a long time ago, the year he left home to study abroad.

The two of them had arranged to meet in the garden. It was the same starry sky, the same lawn, but unfortunately, it was the height of summer then, and there were no more butterflies, only fireflies dancing all over the sky.

The young girl handed him a painting she had drawn herself.

Lin Ge: “You draw so well. What do you want to be in the future?”

Lin Yan shook her head: “I don’t know, I don’t have a goal.”

Another five years passed. She had grown a bit, her slender figure beginning to show, but she still didn’t like to smile.

So Lin Ge reached out and caught a firefly, closing it in his palm to trick her: “Guess what this is?”

Lin Yan sneered: “Another trick for little kids.”

Although she said that, when she saw the firefly fly out from between his fingers, the young girl was still slightly moved.

Lin Ge smiled: “No rush, you still have a long time to think slowly about what you want to do in this life.”

Lin Yan also copied him, catching a firefly and then setting it free.

“What about you, what do you want to do?”

“Me……” Lin Ge was taken aback, then he smiled and patted her head.

“I don’t have any particularly grand wishes. It’s enough to be able to protect the people I love.”

The topic ended there. Lin Yan seemed to understand, yet not fully. He looked at his watch; it was time to catch his flight, so he said goodbye to her.

“Yanyan, I have to go.”

Lin Yan kicked at the stones on the ground: “Go then. Once you’re gone, don’t come back.”

The young girl’s nature was mischievous. He didn’t take it to heart. He waved his hand and turned to leave, but he heard her say softly behind him.

“Ge, you will always be my ge, no matter how far you go.”

“Lin Yan!” Seeing that the flames from the explosion were about to engulf her, Song Yuhang threw herself on top of her, holding her tightly.

Have you now found someone who can protect you?

That’s good.

Lin Ge let go of his hand, but then clenched it tightly into a fist. Before being engulfed by the flames, he pushed them out with one last shove.

Lin Yan’s heart-wrenching cries rang out from outside the door.

“Ge!!!”

To be able to hear you call me that again, is really good.

Lin Ge slowly closed his eyes, a smile on his lips as he fell backward. The flames consumed everything.

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LP: Re-translated on September 04, 2025

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