Chapter 242: KANG SIYING(1)

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His hand stilled over the mouse halfway through the second paragraph.

At his desk, Liuxian had opened the email the moment it landed, Luo Cheng’s message carrying a single attachment and nothing else.

Now his brow furrowed, the report on the screen demanding a second, slower read.

He dialed Luo Cheng directly. "When did this come in?"

"Less than an hour ago." Luo Cheng’s voice came through clipped and professional. "Confirmed sighting. We’re monitoring the location now. No movement in or out yet."

Liuxian closed the file on his screen. "Keep watching. No one approaches until I say so."

"Understood." The line went quiet.

For a moment Liuxian sat still, his thumb tapping once against the edge of the desk, then reached for the intercom.

"Zhang Wei."

"Sir?" Zhang Wei appeared in the doorway moments later, still holding the stack of documents he’d carried around all afternoon.

"Go home. Whatever’s left can wait until tomorrow."

Zhang Wei’s eyes flicked to the screen still open on the desk, then back to Liuxian’s face.

He didn’t press the matter.

"I’ll leave the files on my desk. See you tomorrow." The door clicked shut behind him.

Reaching for his jacket, Liuxian paused halfway into the sleeve, his gaze drifting back to the closed file on the screen.

He didnt have a good feeling about this.

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At the station, with his knees pressed together and his hands tucked between them, Kong Siying sat rocking slightly, a motion small enough that he doubted anyone could notice it.

Without permission, his right hand found his left wrist and pressed down, thumbnail digging into old scar tissue.

Near the filing cabinet, in the corner of the room, a shadow shifted.

That’s not real.

Despite knowing better, he looked at it anyway.

Behind the front desk, a phone rang.

"This is Officer Liang." The man’s tone was easy, unhurried, like someone discussing something mildly inconvenient. "Yes, I found him. Walked right in a few hours ago, if you can believe it."

Instantly Kong Siying’s whole body locked, his breath catching high in his throat.

"No, he hasn’t said a word about who he is." A short laugh, almost fond escaped him. "Doesn’t matter, I already know exactly who he is."

Oh no!

He’s coming. He knows.

He’s coming to get me.

Move.

You have to move now.

Before he’d decided to, Kong Siying rose, his chair scraping softly against the tile.

The side door. Go there.

Don’t run yet. Walk.

Walk like you belong here.

Instead of bolting, he passed through the side door as calmly as possible.

A part of him steering his legs the way it had steered them out of that house years ago, and out of the hospital he was trapped in.

Fewer eyes noticed a person walking than a person running.

The moment he stepped through it, the cold outside struck his face.

You can run now.

Run as fast as you can.

Three blocks in, his lungs gave out, doubling him over against a wall, gasping.

You’re not safe yet.

Keep going. Someone might have spotted you.

Find somewhere to hide.

Behind a shuttered noodle shop, wedged into the gap between two dumpsters, he ended up with his knees drawn to his chest.

Please. Please don’t let him find me. I’ll be good. I’ll be so good. Just don’t let him find me.

Again, his nails found his wrist, and this time he pressed harder.

Then a beam of light swept across the alley.

He froze completely, the way small animals freeze, when sighted by predators, various calculation running beneath his conscious thoughts deciding whether stillness or flight offered better odds.

"There." An unfamiliar voice, rang out. "We’ve got him."

Though there was nowhere left to go, his body chose flight after all, a scramble backward that only pressed him harder into the brick.

Oh no!

They’ve found me.

He’s found me.

"Easy." A second voice came, quieter, closer. "We’re not here to hurt you. Someone sent us to help you."

Liars. Everyone lies.

Everyone always lies.

Between them and himself, Kong Siying stared at the two men crouched a careful distance away, his chest heaving.

Distantly, something in him registered that neither man had approached any closer than necessary.

He didn’t trust it. He didn’t trust anything anymore.

But for the first time in longer than he could measure, some small, exhausted part of him wanted to.

Lower, the taller of the two crouched, dropping his voice further. "My name’s Luo Cheng. I work for someone who’s been looking for people like you. People, Shen Zihao has hurt."

At the name, Kong Siying’s breath caught, his whole body flinching as if struck.

"I know." Luo Cheng didn’t move closer. "I know hearing it does that to you and i’m sorry. But I need you to understand why we’re here."

Slowly, the second man knelt, keeping both hands visible. "We’re not going to touch you unless you say it’s alright. We have a car nearby, we will take you to a place, somewhere Shen Zihao can’t reach."

Between the two of them, Kong Siying’s eyes darted, searching their faces for the crack that would reveal the lie underneath.

He found none. That frightened him more than if he had.

"How do I know." His voice came out cracked, barely audible, the first words he’d spoken aloud in hours. "How do I know you’re not his."

"If you follow us, our employer will reveal himself." Luo Cheng’s honesty landed harder than any reassurance could have. "You can call whoever you trust once you’re safe, and if you decide you don’t want to come with us, we’ll let you go. No one’s forcing you into that car."

Around his own wrist, Kong Siying’s hand tightened, the old scar throbbing faintly beneath his nails.

A single thought surfaced, quieter than the panic that had carried him this far.

Maybe. Just maybe, this once.

He didn’t answer right away. He only nodded, small and uncertain, and let the two men help him to his feet, his legs barely holding his own weight after everything the night had asked of them.

The walk to the car felt, longer than it should have each step slower than the last, his body still braced for a hand to close around his arm and drag him somewhere he couldn’t escape.

But no hand came.

Beside him, Luo Cheng kept a measured pace, close enough to catch him if he stumbled, far enough to leave him room to breathe.

Stepping aside, the second man opened the back door, waiting.

At the threshold, Kong Siying hesitated, one hand gripping the frame of the car, his eyes flicking once more toward the mouth of the alley behind them, half expecting a shape to emerge from the dark.

Nothing did.

Slowly, he climbed in, sinking into the seat, and for the first time in longer than he could remember, the silence around him held no static underneath it.

"We will be leaving now. If you have any complaints. Let us know."