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Lin Xian gripped the handle of the double doors, swung them open, and stepped into the cool courtyard air. He shrugged into the coat that had been draped over his arm and walked down the steps.

Ji Lin followed close behind him, trailing him out to the villa’s courtyard gate.

Ahead of them, a wide, deserted road stretched under dim streetlights. The area was quiet, designed for vacationers, and at this late hour, it was plunged into darkness, save for the occasional light from Ji Lin’s villa.

Clouds swept across the moonlit sky, and a chill seemed to creep across the ground. The moon was soon obscured, casting everything back into darkness.

“Lin Xian,” Ji Lin called, just as Lin Xian was about to leave the courtyard. Lin Xian stopped and turned to face him. Ji Lin was close, perhaps too close for comfort.

“I think… I may have misspoken earlier.”

“What did you say?” Lin Xian’s voice was calm, his stance relaxed yet alert.

“I told you Xu Yun was my first friend. Remember that?”

“And he wasn’t?” Lin Xian’s question hung in the chilly air.

Ji Lin shook his head slowly. “I thought he was. But now, I’m not so sure.”

Ji Lin’s hand rested on Lin Xian’s shoulder. “When Xu Yun died, I was sad, yes. But looking back, it wasn’t the deep sorrow you’d feel for a true friend. Losing someone important should hurt more, right?”

“So, what should it be like then?” Lin Xian asked, his gaze locked with Ji Lin’s.

In the distance, the sound of a car engine speeding up broke the silence of the night.

Ji Lin’s grip on Lin Xian’s shoulder tightened, his fingers pressing harder.

So, this is it, Lin Xian realized. He now understood that Ji Lin and his cohorts planned to kill him at exactly 00:42.

At this moment, with the car hurtling towards them, Ji Lin would pretend camaraderie and then suddenly push him into the car’s path. If Lin Xian so much as stumbled or lost his balance, the speeding car would do the rest.

Hmph.

So that’s the plan, huh?

Lin Xian allowed his body to relax, giving Ji Lin the perfect opportunity to push him.

Come on, push me. That’s exactly what I need you to do.

Ji Lin’s arm tensed as he gathered strength. The pale, slender youth lifted his head, a flicker of emotion crossing his face as he stared at Lin Xian.

“If it were you who died, I wouldn’t just be sad… I’d be devastated,” Ji Lin said, his voice low. “That’s what makes someone a true friend.”

Vroom.

The sound of the high-speed engine drew closer, filling the night with its roar. Ji Lin’s hand reached its peak strength.

But he didn’t push.

He couldn’t.

His strength faded, his hand grew weak, and his arm, previously tense, now hung limply over Lin Xian’s shoulder like a heavy cloth.

Ji Lin hung his head in silence, his curly bangs hiding his eyes and the dark circles beneath them.

Lin Xian had never seen Ji Lin like this before.

But…

“Ji Lin,” Lin Xian said softly, his own hand reaching out to rest on Ji Lin’s shoulder. “You lost.”

He pushed Ji Lin gently back towards the courtyard. Ji Lin’s eyes widened in disbelief as Lin Xian turned and walked away, heading towards the road.

The roaring engine was now dangerously close.

“Lin Xian!” Ji Lin’s scream pierced the night as he collapsed onto the courtyard’s brick tiles.

A taxi burst from the darkness, its headlights cutting through the gloom like startled eyes. It swerved wildly, too late to avoid what was coming.

The taxi’s rear wheels hit two manhole covers in the middle of the road.

Boom!

The explosion, triggered by explosives cleverly hidden beneath the manhole covers, detonated immediately upon contact with an infrared switch.

The blast hurled the taxi into the air. Lin Xian, illuminated by the fiery glow, stood with a war god’s composure as the vehicle spun overhead and crashed into the iron fence of a neighboring villa. The sharp bars pierced through the windshield into the cab, turning the front of the car into a mangled mess. A dark red spray of blood marked the impact.

The echo of the explosion reverberated through the surrounding buildings, the noise deafening and the smoke billowing.

Meanwhile, plainclothes officers in bulletproof vests emerged from a nearby villa, guns drawn. They quickly surrounded Ji Lin and the smoking wreckage:

“Don’t move!”

“Get down!”

“Hands on your head!”

On a water tower in the northeast corner of the complex, sniper rifles targeted Ji Lin, now visible in the night thanks to their red laser dots. Teams of officers climbed the tower, their guns trained on Ji Lin.

In the courtyard, surrounded by gun barrels, Ji Lin looked up at Lin Xian without a word. Lin Xian stood on the road, looking down at Ji Lin, their gazes meeting through the open gate, as if separated by an insurmountable barrier.

They said nothing, yet understood everything.

Lin Xian turned and walked towards the crushed taxi. The driver’s body, pierced by iron, was visible through the shattered windshield. Lin Xian approached the driver, who was disguised exactly like Sergeant Sam, the man who had killed Xu Yun.

Who was under the mask this time?

Zhou Duan Yun, back secretly to finish the job?

Or another pawn in Ji Lin’s game?

Lin Xian reached the driver’s body and paused to take a deep breath before removing the sunglasses and mask.

Underneath were pale, bloodless lips; clean, youthful stubble; lifeless, dilated pupils; and a scar that marred the right side of the face.

As the moon reappeared, lighting up the scene once more, a figure stood in the shadows of a nearby artificial hill, silently observing. She clapped her hands slowly.

Clap, clap, clap.

“Still so thrilling, little Lin Xian,” she smiled, her blue eyes twinkling ominously in the moonlight. “But this time, you won rather messily.”