***
Bonus chapter! Thank you to --- for the donation! ^^
***
Bringing police officers back to the organization would absolutely get him skinned alive by the boss.
But if he didn’t play along with the cops’ plan, he probably wouldn’t walk away unscathed right now.
Luo Qing stared silently at the rearview mirror for a long time before finally lowering his gaze and choosing to pretend he hadn’t seen anything—effectively accepting the two as his "captives."
The two in the backseat let out a heavy sigh of relief. Their stunt had been a gamble with their lives, yet somehow, this guy was actually willing to cooperate.
But their relief was short-lived. They soon realized Luo Qing wasn’t driving toward the factory.
Exchanging a glance, their eyes sharpened with wariness. Their bodies tensed, and their bound hands shifted to the loose ends of the ropes.
Though they appeared tightly restrained, the knots were actually slipknots—they could free themselves in seconds. This had been their contingency plan in case Luo Qing refused to cooperate… and their last line of defense if dragged into the traffickers’ den.
As they watched the driver’s cold expression in the mirror, their doubts solidified. They really shouldn’t have expected a trafficker to have a conscience. This approach was doomed from the start.
The car stopped at the entrance of a secluded alley. Luo Qing unbuckled his seatbelt and opened the door.
The officers braced for an attack, yanking their ropes free in an instant, hands already reaching for their guns—
—only to see Luo Qing walk over to a street vendor beside the alley, order a scallion pancake, and casually buy a cup of soy milk.
The two cops: "……"
***
Luo Qing had been in a foul mood these past two days. He hadn’t eaten properly since yesterday and was now weak with hunger—hence the desperate need for food.
At least he’ll die on a full stomach, he thought grimly.
The consequences of bringing cops back to the boss were too horrifying to imagine. Being flayed alive might be the merciful option.
Yet, strangely, he didn’t regret it. Not saving that officer earlier, not pretending to ignore these two now.
He couldn’t understand his own sudden softness. First mercy, now outright aiding the police—it was practically suicidal.
Luo Qing gave up trying to rationalize it. There was only one explanation left: He must be possessed.
There must be some evil spirit messing with him.
Luo Qing viciously took a bite of his hand-held pancake, deciding that if he survived this ordeal, he would definitely visit a temple to pray.
Munching on the pancake, he returned to his car—only to see the two previously bound men had already freed themselves. One was now tying up the other.
He had guessed their restraints could be easily loosened, but this was just insulting. Were they really demonstrating it right in front of him? Did they think he was some pushover?
...Well, fine. He was a pushover.
Even as the two brazenly reenacted their escape right before his eyes, Luo Qing could only pretend not to notice and kept eating his pancake.
A slipknot was easy to undo but hard to retie—especially since they had originally been tied up by someone else. While one could bind his partner, the last man had no way to restrain himself.
After struggling for a while, even with his teammate using hands and teeth to help, the man still couldn’t get himself properly tied.
"Um..." The man awkwardly glanced at Luo Qing, his voice sheepish with guilt. "Could you... help tie me up?"
Luo Qing: "......?"
He stared at them through the rearview mirror, his expression practically screaming, Are you kidding me?
First, they forced themselves into his car pretending to be victims, and now they wanted him to do the tying?
Seeing Luo Qing's shocked look, the man flushed red. He knew his request was outrageous, but he genuinely couldn’t manage it alone.
How was he supposed to know Luo Qing would just... leave to buy food?
The man fidgeted, mortified. "...I can’t tie myself back up."
Some boundaries, once crossed, only lead to further erosion of principles—and Luo Qing was living proof.
In the end, he set down his pancake and wordlessly re-bound the man.
"Th-thank you," the man stammered, coughing awkwardly in shame.
Luo Qing didn’t respond. He returned to the driver’s seat and quietly finished his meal, the only sound in the car being his chewing.
But even after eating, he didn’t start the car. He just sat there, motionless, staring blankly at the steering wheel with downcast eyes.
A long silence passed—so long that the two in the back seat grew puzzled. Luo Qing’s figure suddenly seemed inexplicably fragile and pitiful.
Before the two men could speak, Luo Qing spoke first: "If I cooperate with you, can my sentence be reduced?"
"I don’t want to die."
His tone was calm, yet it carried an inexplicable fragility—so fragile it made one’s heart ache with pity.
The man’s chest tightened unexpectedly at Luo Qing’s words. Without hesitation, he gave a firm reply.
"Yes."
Raising his eyes to Luo Qing’s reflection in the rearview mirror, his voice was unshakably resolute. "If you assist us, we’ll arrange the best lawyer for you and provide all evidence of your cooperation to secure a reduced sentence."
"We can’t promise how many years it’ll be, but we guarantee it won’t be the death penalty."
They had already investigated his background. Though he’d been involved in multiple terrorist incidents before, not once had he been the mastermind—he’d merely been filler, a body to make up numbers.
His entire criminal career could be summed up in eight words:
Useless at succeeding, adept at failing.
Whether as a robber or a human trafficker, he was the type of "waste" who just drifted along the edges.
While his past crimes might have warranted execution, helping them now would count as atonement through merit, making the death penalty avoidable.
A prison sentence, however, was inevitable.
They left that part unspoken. Something about it felt wrong, as if prison simply didn’t suit him.
Luo Qing didn’t care about jail time. The moment he heard "definitely not the death penalty," it was as if a boulder had been lifted from his chest. The tension in his delicate features eased slightly.
As long as he wasn’t executed—as long as he could keep living—that was enough.
He didn’t know why, but lately, the fear of death had gripped him tighter than ever.
Though fearing death was human. There was nothing unusual about that.
With his answer secured, Luo Qing started the car and drove unflinchingly toward the factory on the outskirts.
As if afraid he might regret it, he pushed the speed harder than ever, even breaking the limit in some stretches.
A trip that should’ve taken fifty minutes took him only thirty.
The abandoned factory loomed in the distance. Just a little farther, and there’d truly be no turning back.
Luo Qing's long eyelashes fluttered uneasily. He gripped the steering wheel tightly, took a deep breath, then gritted his teeth and slammed the accelerator to the floor.
His intention was to leave himself no time or opportunity for regret—but he never expected someone to be driving out of the factory at that exact moment. His sudden acceleration closed the distance between the two cars in an instant.
There was no time to avoid the collision.
Luo Qing's eyes widened, his pupils contracting as he yanked the steering wheel hard to the side, barely scraping past the other vehicle.
Both cars' front ends were damaged, but fortunately, it wasn’t serious, and no one was hurt.
The other driver was scared half to death. After stopping his car, he stormed out, cursing as he marched toward Luo Qing’s vehicle. "Fuck! Fuck! Nearly gave me a goddamn heart attack! How the hell are you driving? In such a fucking hurry to reincarnate or what?!"
The man angrily slapped Luo Qing’s car window, his tone vicious. "Get the hell out here!"
Too afraid to step out, Luo Qing rolled the window down halfway and looked up at the man, his voice trembling slightly. "...Sorry, I wasn’t paying attention."
Pale from the near-accident, Luo Qing looked utterly fragile at that moment.
The man’s anger evaporated the second he saw that pale face staring back at him. All the crude insults died in his throat.
He opened his mouth, then finally muttered stiffly, "Don’t drive so fast next time."
Luo Qing nodded obediently, the picture of compliance.
Something about it inexplicably softened the man’s heart. The guy reminded him of one of those pampered cats rich people kept—docile, delicate, and sweet-smelling.
He wondered if touching him would feel just as…
The man quickly cut off that train of thought. He had a pickup mission to handle—his boss had just gotten a call saying some big shot from their organization was visiting today.
Checking the time and realizing he was late, the man hurried off. Luo Qing, finally able to breathe again, slowly drove into the factory.
Their group wasn’t picky about who they abducted. As long as they were alive, they had value—the organization could always find a buyer.
The boss had no complaints about Luo Qing’s latest "catch." After having the two men locked up, he even gave Luo Qing a few words of praise.
"Not bad, kid. Managed to snag two this time. Keep it up."
Seeing no suspicion from anyone, Luo Qing internally sighed in relief. At the boss’s praise, he pressed his lips together and lowered his head, feigning shyness.
For now, at least, he’d passed the mission.
For the past few days, dark clouds had gathered as soon as evening fell, and the sky turned pitch black unusually fast. The factory had to turn on the lights early.
The lights were the kind used at construction sites—extremely bright, illuminating most of the factory floor.
Luo Qing had originally planned to retire early for the night, but a high-ranking figure from the organization was coming to their location, and all team members were required to gather at the entrance to welcome him. So, like everyone else, he had no choice but to stand and wait.
Luo Qing didn’t know any important figures—people like them rarely got the chance to. But he never expected that this so-called "big shot" would turn out to be an old acquaintance.
When Luo Qing saw the handsome man being ushered in by the boss, his entire body froze.
Because the man was the same person who had insisted on inviting him for tea in the alley that afternoon.
Somehow, he had escaped unscathed from the police.
Luo Qing’s face instantly paled. After all, this man had seen the two people he brought back—and he knew they were cops.
