Kaowei picked up the memory card with a surprised look. "I didn't know that this was hidden in it."

"Let me borrow your phone."

The bandaged man inserted the memory card into the phone, but it showed that it couldn’t be played. Either the format was wrong or the data had been corrupted. Kaowei was extremely disappointed. "This is all he left for me, but I can't see what it is!"

"Can you get a computer?"

"Go to the Internet cafe?"

"How can I go to the Internet cafe looking like this?"

"Then where do I get a computer? I don't have the money to buy one."

The bandage man thought for a moment. "There’s an office building across the road. What is it for?"

"A design company, I think."

"Let’s go there!"

While leaving Goupi Alley in the dark, the old tailor who was curled up on the ground was awakened by some movement. When he looked up, he rubbed his eyes in disbelief. Kaowei was walking with a man in a trench coat. Thus, he took out the phone "on his body" and dialed a number.

When the two went into the office building, the bandaged man carefully avoided the security cameras in the corridor along the way. He lowered his head and covered his face as he walked under the ones that couldn’t be avoided.

In the middle of the night, there was no one in the company. The bandaged man pried the lock on the glass door open skillfully. Watching him do this, Kaowei thought to herself that this man must not have been a good person previously.

There were many computers here. The bandaged man put the memory card into the card reader, inserted it into the computer, and then turned it on to try and recover the damaged data. He concentrated on his work and suddenly found that Kaowei was missing.

Looking back, he smiled. Kaowei was standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows, watching the dancing lights of ten thousand households outside. She was amusing herself.

Pressing Enter, a progress bar began to load. The bandaged man leaned on the chair to light a cigarette. Kaowei said, "I really like it here. It's big, spacious, and very quiet. It would be great if I could live in such a house. Looking at the lights of thousands of houses every night, even if I experienced a hard day, it would be worth it."

The bandaged man walked to the window, stood side by side with her, looked down below, and said, "Humans evolved from monkeys. That kind of memory is still stored in our genes. As long as you stand on a high place with a wide view, you’ll feel a great sense of satisfaction."

Kaowei laughed, "How insensitive you are saying such levelheaded things. I guess you must be a bachelor."

"I…"

The bandaged man was poked in his sore spot. He walked back to his seat silently and said, "Okay."

Kaowei was keenly aware of the changes in his emotions, but didn’t know how to comfort him. The video was ready to be played. After clicking on it, Wang Xi's face appeared on it. It was what he looked like after he had been burned. He had a layer of bandages wrapped around him. The background was a hospital ward.

"Little Wei, when you watch this video, I’m probably no longer by your side."

Hearing this voice she hadn’t heard in so long, tears came out from her eyes. Kaowei covered her mouth with her hand.

"Listen to me carefully. Go to the bank to check the balance of the card you used to have when you worked in the billiard hall. This money is for you. Don’t worry, this money is absolutely clean. You can pay off your debts and find a man to marry. Don’t look for a bad man like me again. You can’t rely on them. I don’t know what to say. In fact... I’m truly an undercover agent, but not from the police. The faction struggles in the gang are very fierce. If it weren’t for climbing up the ranks, I wouldn’t have agreed to such a dangerous thing."

"On the day I went to see your mother, I really shouldn’t have randomly bullshitted after some drinking. After the news spread, the whole world thought I was a bad guy. I was anxious every day. I was followed several times when I went home at night. My Big Brother thought I was an undercover cop and wanted to get rid of me."

"At this juncture, someone found me and made a deal with me. I can't disclose the details because the money you got is the hush fee. My face can also be said to be the price of the transaction. He has a very high status in the gang. When dealing with such a big man, of course I have to protect myself. I’ve set up insurance for myself, so he won’t dare to kill the donkey after it leaves the mill. As I record this video, the transaction has been completed, but my life is still in danger. For both you and I to be safe, I have to hide. I'm sorry to leave without saying goodbye. Little Wei, from this moment on, we officially break up. Go live your own life. No matter what, I’ll love you forever. You’re part of my soul..."

Having said that, Wang Xi cried as the video ended.

Kaowei was crying as well, so much that she couldn’t speak. The bandaged man took a piece of tissue paper and handed it over. Kaowei caught his hands and kept crying. Tears fell on the bandaged man's hand.

As her cries dissipated, the bandaged man said, "Wang Xi should be alive because the other party is still 'protecting' him, indicating that the insurance hasn’t taken effect yet. I’m guessing it may be an email that gets sent if there isn’t regular intervention."

"This bastard. Why didn't you tell me directly? He hid it from me for so long. For so long!" Kaowei wiped her tears and said, "I'm going to see how much money he left for me!"

"Right now?"

"I can't sleep thinking about this."

"Which bank?"

"Bank X. Since it’s so far away, I haven’t used this card in a long time."

The bandaged man sighed, "Okay, go back and get the card. I'll walk with you."

"When I get the money, I’ll pay you back the money used to redeem the jewellery."

After Kaowei left,[1] the bandaged man logged on to a website, which was the police's personal policing system. He entered a police number and hesitated, but ultimately decided not to click it because it might leave behind evidence.

Thus, he just searched the Internet for information about the wanted criminal Song Lang. All the news was from a few days ago. It seems that the attention of the police had shifted. Perhaps after a few heavy rains washing away the wanted warrants on the wall, no one would think of him anymore.

The name Song Lang would gradually be forgotten, and the truth of that night would never be known. Thinking of this, the sadness hurt his heart.

Half an hour later, Kaowei still hadn’t returned. The bandaged man walked to the window and saw a van parked at the alley. Several men were pushing Kaowei into the van. She was gagged and her head was stuffed into the car. At the moment her head was pushed in, she glanced at the window with an expression that showed a plea for help.

The "Impressionist" who got into the car after her also looked towards that direction, but didn’t find anything.

The bandaged man was filled with righteous outrage. He ran back to Goupi Alley and saw the old tailor pulling at his chain. "Hey, you promised to let me go!"

A shadow fell on him and the old tailor heard an angry voice asking, "You blew the whistle?"

The old tailor looked up and pissed himself out of fright as he desperately begged for mercy. "They asked me to do it. I couldn't help but do it! Have mercy on me!"

The bandaged man walked back to Kaowei's house. The door wasn’t locked and the room was smashed into a mess. A line was written in tomato sauce on the wall: "Wang Xi, if you still have some guts, you should come in exchange for your girl!"

1. I know the bandaged man said “I’ll walk with you” earlier, but maybe he just walked her to the bottom of the design building?