Looking at the dagger in her hands, Qin Shuman looked up at Qiu Tu, her voice trembling as she asked, "Are... are you telling me to use this to kill him if things get exposed?"
Qiu Tu shook his head. Reaching out, he gave Qin Shuman's heavy left breast a pat and said, "If you find out we've been exposed, pull it out and stab right here, then give it a twist. In two seconds, you won't feel a thing.
"Trust me, being dead is far better than living through worse than death."
Qin Shuman: ...
Her expression flickered several times. Her eyes reddened, and she pummeled Qiu Tu several times with her fists. "You bastard!"
Her voice carried a sob. "You tricked me into bed, and now you want me to do something so dangerous.
"I shouldn't have come out today. I never should have come out!"
Qiu Tu kept his eyes glued to the expressions on her face. Seeing that she appeared genuinely afraid and regretful, he adopted a gentle demeanor, wrapping his arms lightly around the woman and patting her back to soothe her.
Yet behind her back where she couldn't see, his gaze turned extraordinarily deep, harboring an impenetrable darkness that refused to disperse...
Women truly were made of water.
Qin Shuman was plenty wet down below, and she had an awful lot of water up top as well.
Qiu Tu spent a good ten-odd minutes comforting her before Qin Shuman finally stemmed her tears.
Once he had mollified Qin Shuman, Qiu Tu led her to sit on the worn-out sofa, rehearsed their stories, and briefly outlined what she needed to coordinate with him on next. After ensuring she remembered every detail, he finally led her out of his home.
At this moment, four hours and ten minutes remained before the life-and-death ordeal tonight...
Leaving his apartment, Qiu Tu took in the rancid stench of decay lingering in the corridor and looked up at the sky.
The sky of this world was a murky gray, as if perpetually smothered under a thick layer of smog—heavy and gloomy.
According to his predecessor's memories, ever since the Cataclysm, the sky had remained like this, making sunlight rare and precious.
The Cataclysm decades ago had shattered the order of the entire world, laid waste to human civilization, and irrevocably transformed this world...
"What are you thinking about?" Seeing Qiu Tu spacing out, Qin Shuman, standing beside him, stole a cautious glance at him.
Perhaps because she had just been held at gunpoint, Qin Shuman seemed a little fearful of him.
Qiu Tu snapped back to reality, glanced at her, and shook his head. "Nothing."
Then he offered a calm reminder, "Don't wear that expression. Doing that will only get the both of us killed."
At his words, Qin Shuman gave him an aggrieved look, took several deep breaths, and composed herself.
Then she patted her own cheeks, nodded toward Qiu Tu, and held onto the rust-mottled stair railing, cautiously leading the way downstairs.
Qiu Tu followed without drawing attention to himself, keeping a measured distance from Qin Shuman—close enough to protect her at a moment's notice, yet not so close as to seem intimate.
Qiu Tu's home was situated in a tenement building on Jiuxiang Street. Although this was already considered a decent area in Xinjie City, it was still dilapidated and decrepit:
Cracks and chips covered the stairs, and discarded books, broken glass, and filthy plastic bags lay strewn across the corridor, looking every bit like a slum.
—After all, the zone pending planning had been built atop urban ruins.
As the two descended the worn stairs, Qiu Tu keenly sensed several furtive gazes sweeping over them from the surroundings.
'Most likely Yan Chen's people.'
Ever since reporting this to Yan Chen, Qiu Tu had guessed that with Yan Chen's personality, he would undoubtedly dispatch someone to watch and observe.
He had even anticipated that given the sensitive nature of the matter, Yan Chen would surely pull trusted confidants from a directly affiliated department—which was why Qiu Tu had dared to snatch some leisure from the chaos and fool around with Qin Shuman.
Sure enough, just as Qiu Tu thought this, a plainclothes agent stepped out from the shadows.
His expression was stern and unsmiling, giving off the impression of someone difficult to deal with.
Striding up to Qiu Tu, he gave him a searching look before flashing a black badge. "Agent Qiu, I am First-Class Agent Fang Ming of the Special Service Department.
"On the bureau chief's orders, I am here to escort you and Miss Shuman to the city villa to rest for now. The bureau chief will speak with you both tonight."
'The Special Service Department?' Taking a deep look at the agent before him, Qiu Tu couldn't help feeling a stir of emotion: Yan Chen truly thought highly of him. As one of the three major authorities in Xinjie City, the Investigation Bureau had a complex and rigorous structure. Beyond its eleven directly affiliated departments, it also oversaw seven branch bureaus and seventy-nine security offices.
Among these dozens of departments, the lowest in power were the grassroots security offices, while the most powerful were the Political Department and the Special Service Department among the eleven directly affiliated branches.
As the Investigation Bureau's two most formidable departments:
The Political Department was responsible for intelligence, espionage, counter-espionage, internal affairs, and other sensitive matters, holding immense authority.
The Special Service Department was tasked with combating anti-government armed forces, suppressing riots, and conducting armed patrols in key sectors and during special periods, making it the Investigation Bureau's mightiest instrument of force.
This division of labor not only granted the Special Service Department an organizational structure independent of the standard bureau hierarchy, but also endowed it with lavish weaponry rivaling the Military Department, giving it tremendous strength.
This was Yan Chen's exclusive direct-line armed force, as well as the most crucial trump card allowing him to firmly hold his seat as one of Xinjie City's Big Three.
Therefore, even though they were both Yan Chen's "lackeys," Qiu Tu could only obediently follow orders in front of the Special Service Department.
'It seems... Yan Chen intends to lock down my and Qin Shuman's movements, then bring us straight in for interrogation.'
'Fortunately, I prepared a backup plan.'
Thinking this, though Qiu Tu showed nothing on his face, he turned to Qin Shuman beside him and said, "Miss Shuman, you heard the bureau chief's orders. From here on, Agent Fang will be responsible for your safety."
Hearing Qiu Tu's words, Qin Shuman blinked.
Playing along, she put on a disappointed expression. Her beautiful peach-blossom eyes swept past Fang Ming before settling back on Qiu Tu, and she said aggrievedly, "But... I wanted you to accompany me to Cross Street for a walk."
With that, she looked pitifully toward Fang Ming. "Agent Fang..."
As Yan Chen's confidant, Fang Ming naturally recognized Qin Shuman and knew her relationship with Yan Chen.
At this point, Qiu Tu and Qin Shuman's affair hadn't been exposed, and Yan Chen would never tell a subordinate that he had been cuckolded. Consequently, this immediately led Fang Ming to misjudge the situation.
He hesitated, glanced at the time, and after brief consideration, said to Qin Shuman, "Miss Shuman, the bureau chief will return to the city villa before 18:00. I can only grant you an hour and a half."
Qin Shuman nodded obediently in agreement.
Throughout it all, Qiu Tu stood to the side with both hands tucked in his pockets, watching coldly like an outsider.
Once the three reached an understanding, the duty of guarding Qin Shuman was swiftly handed over.
Agents from the Special Service Department took Qiu Tu's place, flanking Qin Shuman on both sides, while Qiu Tu stood guard on the perimeter alongside Fang Ming. The group made its way toward the intersection in an imposing procession.
Perhaps because such a smartly dressed entourage was far too conspicuous on the street, the underclass hiding in the decrepit buildings didn't dare make a move. Their eyes—filled with fear, numbness, or blank stares—watched them stride across roads slick with sewage, terrified of provoking this group whose high status was obvious at a glance.
To most ordinary people in this city, whether it was Qiu Tu or Fang Ming, they were big shots who could decide their life or death on a whim.
Yet what they did not know was that before the truly powerful figures, Qiu Tu and Fang Ming were just like ants...
Such was the brutal, dog-eat-dog chaotic world of the post-Cataclysm era.
The agents present had long grown numb to these varied stares, so their expressions remained entirely unchanged as they quietly escorted Qin Shuman past rows of low, decrepit buildings to an old-fashioned sedan.
This was a vehicle Yan Chen had specially arranged for Qin Shuman.
Spotting the old-fashioned sedan, Fang Ming strode over, opened the rear door, and extended a polite, practiced gesture toward Qin Shuman. "Miss Shuman, after you."
Qin Shuman glanced back at Qiu Tu behind her. Receiving no response from him, she bit her lip resentfully, lifted her skirt, and stepped forward.
Just as she reached the car door and lowered her head to get in, a man's flippant voice suddenly drifted down from above her: "Heh, how embarrassing~"
Hearing the voice, everyone looked up in bewilderment! In a sudden blur, followed immediately by a deafening bang—
A corpse crashed heavily right onto the roof of the old-fashioned sedan!
In that instant, the roof of the old sedan caved inward in a deep dent, while blood sprayed and mangled limbs flew from the battered corpse on top!
Piercing screams and wild, maniacal laughter echoed throughout the mouth of Jiuxiang Street...
With such a massive incident erupting so suddenly, everyone's heads buzzed in shock.
Only Qiu Tu kept his composure at that moment. Alert and swift, he stepped forward, shielded the screaming Qin Shuman, and sprinted to the side.
By then, the Special Service agents had also reacted. Like released arrows, they dashed forward to shield the pair, raising their firearms and opening fire at the rooftop without hesitation...
Chapter 5