Memory Lost (美人为馅): Chapter 42 (3 of 3)

Chapter 42: Confidante (3 of 3)

Very soon, the sound becomes louder and noisier.  It sounds like there is more than one helicopter circling the top of the mountain.  And at the same time, a number of searchlights shine into the sky as well as towards the top of the mountain.

“You’re right,” T speaks suddenly, “your moves have gotten better than they were five years ago.”

Just when Han Chen is about to speak, he catches Jin Xi tripping on her footstep with the corner of his eye.  Her face is completely pale and looks as if she is about to faint.  He feels a squeeze in his heart.  He holds the gun steady on one hand and reaches his other arm out, pulls her over, and locks her into his embrace.

She might have triggered the wound inside due to fighting with T just now.  Therefore, after Jin Xi finishes talking, she feels a bigger rush of blood than before and her chest and stomach are hurting like they are going to explode.  She can feel Han Chen’s arm wrapped around her waist tightly.  She leans against his chest, sniffing the scent coming from his body, and her mind starts to become blurry.  She bites hard on her lip to wake herself up again.

“Internal bleeding,” T speaks, “She covered you when Ke Fan struck with a bat.”

Han Chen doesn’t say anything.

But Jin Xi feels his arm holding her waist tightened.  She looks up, and their eyes meet.

Those dark brown eyes cause Jin Xi’s heart to skip a beat.  She smiles towards him and says softly, “I’m okay.”

He’s breathing on her face but doesn’t respond.  They both lift their heads and look at T again.

At this very moment, three helicopters have already arrived and are circling the area.  Numerous searchlights illuminate everything that is happening on the flat land at the top of the mountain.  It’s as if everything will come to an end.  A number of rope ladders are thrown down from the helicopters; the SWAT team and other armed policemen come down at full speed.  And on the helicopters, many guns are pointing at T, who’s in a confrontation with Han Chen.

“Drop down your weapon!  Put the weapon down immediately!” Qin Wen Long’s voice comes on the loudspeaker, “Otherwise I will shoot!”

“Things should end where they started.  That was my first case,” T looks at them.  The searchlights shine on his whole body, reflecting blinding yet dismal rays of white.  But he reveals the calmest smile, “I am one of the serial killers from five years ago.  I’m sorry.”

Jin Xi and Han Chen are struck dumb.

They see T lift up his gun super fast and points it at his left chest suddenly.  Han Chen releases his arm around Jin Xi’s waist as he pounces forward!

It’s too late!

“Bang!”

Blood erupts instantly from T’s chest; the bullet has already gone through him.  Han Chen has only made it in time to hold onto his collar.  The gun in his hand has already fallen to the ground.

Jin Xi also falls to the ground after losing support; everything seems to be going dark in front of her eyes.  But she can still see Han Chen’s face turning paler than she has ever seen.  He hangs onto T’s collar, who’s almost on his last breath, and roars, “Where is she?  Where is my fiancee?”

Where is she?

My fiancee……Where is she?

The she who I’ve searched for many days and nights……where exactly is she?

“I cannot tell you,” T closes his eyes slowly after saying these four words.

And Bai Jin Xi watches Han Chen’s body stiffen the moment he hears these words.  She can only feel a tremendous amount of pain stabbing her heart.  She can longer withstand and suppress the rush of hot liquid inside.  Everything in front of her becomes a blur, but Han Chen’s extremely stubborn expression from just now is stuck in her mind like it has been engraved with a hot iron.

Her eyes become watery, carrying a certain deep kind of grieve, yet she doesn’t know why.  She struggles to get up but falls to the ground again.

She can hear many footsteps coming from all around; many of them heading in their direction.  Jin Xi tries to get up again and manages to stand up, but with a sound of retching, she lets out a big mouthful of blood.

Zhou Xiao Zhuan is running among the crowd.  With his sharp eyes, he spots Bai Jin Xi walking with her back towards Han Chen.  She looks a bit out of it, and there is a big spot of blood stain in front of her chest.  Zhou Xiao Zhuan is scared out of his wits, “Xiao Bai!”  He dashes over and embraces her immediately.

“Xiao Zhuan……” Jin Xi’s tears flow from her eyes as she reaches out her arms and hugs him tightly.

But she feels a strong pair of arms from behind suddenly, hugging her as if it wants her to return to that familiar embrace.  Jin Xi pushes that pair of arms away, “Don’t touch me!”  Many images and voices instantly flash across her already chaotic mind like a train wreck——Him sitting behind the big wood screen at Su Se Nightclub, the room permeated with the smell of cigarettes, and the depressing yet surreal song, “Hunger”; him staring at her in the dark holding a knife up her neck; him standing by the river in dim lighting with a cigarette in his mouth and smiling towards her; him lifting her onto the tree and telling her not to come down no matter what; and him standing beside her and saying softly, “Now you’re more like Han Chen’s confidante……”

The overwhelming feeling of grief drowns out all of her willpower.  She reveals a self-mocking smile.  Her eyes then go dark, and she falls into Zhou Xiao Zhuan’s embrace.

_____

Jin Xi’s consciousness is hazy throughout the whole night.

She hears faintly the sound of propellers and senses people passing by her every so often.  She is placed lying down on a flat surface, but she constantly hears the sound of the wind and other thrashing sounds.

The pain from her chest and stomach doesn’t subside, making her unable to fall into a deep sleep but unable to open her eyes either.

“Ow……” she says softly, “Xiao Zhuan, it hurts.”

In her half-conscious state, she seems to feel someone grabbing her hand, and then she feels something warm and soft against the back of her hand.

She can sense that someone is staring at her.

“Xiao Zhuan……” she speaks again while still in a trance, “Tell me……how can I have such bad luck……my parents are dead, and I’m the only one left.  I don’t have a single……friend or relative……”

The person doesn’t move as if he’s listening to her this whole time.

“I like my past boyfriend so much……” her tears begin to flow, “yet he left me and married someone else……and now, now I like him, yet he has a fiancee……he has……a fiancee……”

“Xiao Zhuan, I want to go back to Jiangcheng……I’m going back to Jiangcheng.  I don’t want to see him again……don’t want to again……”

“Why do I always……have such bad luck……I don’t want to anymore……”

“I don’t like him anymore……boohoohoo……I won’t like him anymore……”

……

“Don’t like me?” a deep and raspy male voice says.  It seems to carry the strongest taste of bitterness, yet it is also full of longing and gentleness like never before.

All of a sudden, she feels the softness and warmness on the back of her hand disappear.

But in the next second, it is pressed heavily on her lips.

It has the familiar fragrance of cigarette as well as a certain kind of repression and determination.  He kisses her anxiously and forcefully.  His tongue pries open her cold and dry lips mercilessly, chasing her tongue in madness; twining, sucking, not leaving her any room to breathe.

Her mouth still contains the aftertaste of blood.  Mixing it together with his taste creates a certain kind of sweetness and bitterness.  Tears begin to shed from her eyes, and then she feels him kiss even harder, almost sucking her entire lips, kissing deeper and deeper.

Jin Xi feels that the emotions that have been suppressed inside her heart for a long time are about to explode.  She opens her eyes in a daze.  Seeing his blurry handsome face makes her feel wronged and hurt even more.  She reaches out her hands to push him away, but he embraces her tighter and kisses her even harder.

……

“What are you doing?” she hears someone ask beside them, “Fellow Officer, you can’t kiss her!  She’s injured!”

She then feels her body sway a bit.  Han Chen releases his arms around her suddenly but instantly embraces her again.

“Can’t even pull them apart!” someone shouts.

……

Han Chen.  Han Chen.

Just by reciting his name, how come she feels a certain kind of deepness and entanglement from it?

How come she cannot reject his kiss?

Just like how she is unable to neglect what’s been buried in the deepest part of her body, and the many years lost from longing and searching for it.

—End of Arc 2—