Memory Lost

Chapter 131: If He Were To Die Part 2

“Jin Xi.”

A gentle voice like spring water says accompanied by a pair of eyes that is brighter and clearer than the moon.

That person is standing a few steps below them. His shirt is wrinkled and his face is covered in ashes as he looks up at her.

At this very instant, all the sound and images in Su Mian’s world have disappeared; she stares at the person standing alive in front of her. His eyes are calm yet it carries sadness. He is staring at her just like this. His eyelashes lower as if he’s hiding away all of the complicated emotions.

“You’re not dead! You’re not dead! Forensic Investigator Xu is not dead!” Chatterbox beside them shouts and cries in joy. He turns around and runs up the stairs, “Leader! Cold Face, Forensic Investigator Xu is fine!”

And a few officers below them pause their footsteps, look at each other, and then reveal a smile of relief as they announce, “Hurry and tell everyone that the hostage is fine!” “He’s alive! The perpetrator did not succeed!”

Only he and she are staring quietly at each other a few feet away; no smile and no tears.

A few seconds later.

Su Mian releases her hand on the railing, jumps down two to three steps, reaches out her arms and hugs him.

His embrace is slightly cool. There’s a strong smell of blood as well as the scent of gunpowder. His arms are on each side of his body and are still. He finally lifts one of his arms up after a while and very lightly, hugs her back burying his head.

“I’m sorry……” Su Mian says with much pain.

What else can she say? Say that she couldn’t make a decision at the time? Say that at that instant, she really wanted to come to save him, who weighs heavier in her heart?

Say that they were met with a red light and had no way of making a turn toward his direction?

But if they didn’t come to a red light, would she have been able to make the decision to give up Xiao Zhuan and come to save him? What would happen to Xiao Zhuan then?

There is no answer.

“Xu Si Bai, I’m sorry……” she says again.

Xu Si Bai lowers his head and looks at the woman in his embrace. Her face is pale and her eyes are red and swollen while showing strong emotions of sadness and happiness at the same time. A thought floats across his mind: it’s actually the first time that she’s hugging him——after giving him up.

A certain part of his heart seems to gradually become cold and desolated. But he can’t help feeling his heart ache seeing her like this. He can’t resist to reach out his hand and caress her long hair and say, “I’m fine, I’m fine.”

“Forensic Investigator Xu!” a mournful cry can be heard coming from behind them. It’s actually Zhou Xiao Zhuan who’s stumbling his way up the stairs with the support of a medical staff member. Seeing Xu Si Bai and Su Mian hugging each other, he reveals a joyful smile as he lets go of the medical staff member’s arm and throws himself toward them, hugging Xu Si Bai as well.

“This is too great, Forensic Investigator Xu! You’re fine!” he cries out loud, “This is just incredible! If you were to die, I will be restless for the rest of my life!”

The officers around them all smile; Su Mian smiles as well.

Xu Si Bai releases Su Mian slowly. His face shows a faint smile as he pats Xiao Zhuan’s head, “Xiao Zhuan, stop crying. I’m fine.”

At this time, Han Chen, Cold Face, and Chatterbox are all here. They look at Xu Si Bai and reveal smiles on their faces. Although they’re not as emotional as Xiao Zhuan, they’ve also hopped down the stairs and have arrived in front of Xu Si Bai. Cold Face and Chatterbox pat his shoulders.

Cold Face says, “This is too great.”

Chatterbox says, “Forensic Investigator Xu, it’s so great that you’re fine.”

Han Chen, on the other hand, is standing behind them smiling. His and Xu Si Bai’s eyes meet and he nods, “It’s good that you’re fine.”

Su Mian looks sideways and exchanges glance with Han Chen. He can see the tremendous joy contained in her eyes; she can see the deep happiness and gentleness in his eyes.

And Xu Si Bai’s eyes are calm and gentle as he looks in the opposite direction as if he doesn’t notice their eyes connect with affection and tacit understanding of each other.

“Forensic Investigator Xu, how did you manage to escape?” Chatterbox asks the question that everybody wants to know.

“Forensic Investigator Xu, how did you manage to escape?” Chatterbox asks the question that everybody wants to know.

Xu Si Bai lifts his eyes to look at everyone. He hums faintly and the image of what happened a few minutes ago floats into his mind——

After he shut off the video streaming with Su Mian, he was indeed in a daze for a brief moment.

For a second, he didn’t seem to care about whether or not he would live or die.

But after a while, he calmed down. Even if Su Mian had given up on him, he wouldn’t allow himself to die in such a meaningless way like this. And when he looked down at the bomb on his chest, even though his finger could stretch far enough to reach the scanner and the numeric keypad in the middle, A said that the code to unlock it was Su Mian’s fingerprint. It would be a futile attempt for him to try anything.

He looked up again and examined the room around him. It was easy to recognize that it must be a room of some office building. He could even see similar buildings outside of the window. But this did not bring any help to his escape.

And regardless of what time and place he’s in, Xu Si Bai is always an extremely calm and composed person. He kept quiet for a moment, closed his eyes, and began to recall his memory.

He recalled the explosion incident from last time and how the Black Shield Team was able to come up with the password. The password was 20090420. Even though the police knew the password, they were blocked by the people around them and could not save the hostage in the last second.

This was the goal of the seven-member organization.

Cruelness and mockery.

He recalled what happened just now; A’s behavior and every word that A said to him.

He said: this bomb can only be disabled by my Big Sister’s fourth fingerprint of her right hand.

He said: don’t tell me that in her heart, you can’t even compare to Xiao Zhuan.

He was wearing a mask revealing his eyes only. But a mischievous smile flashed across his eyes as if this was all just a game.

And then he started humming a melody; a strange and awful sounding melody, yet the lyrics were clear:

“The most simple existence of the universe, crisscrossing and turning repeatedly. The most complicated form of life, loses morning and gains night. It can blanket every day, it can possess every year……”

“The most simple existence of the universe, crisscrossing and turning repeatedly. The most complicated form of life, loses morning and gains night. It can blanket every day, it can possess every year……”

Xu Si Bai also noticed the numeric keypad beside the fingerprint scanner.

……

Nothing is more ironic than having the password in front of you yet you don’t hear it, right?

If he really were exploded into pieces, A would send a message or call her to say proudly: I actually told him the password, but he was too stupid and didn’t hear it.

That way, she would be hurt deeply and blamed herself more, right?

Because of killing, these people have always viewed this as a game, a form of revenge. A probably doesn’t care about whether Xu Si Bai lives or die. He only cares about whether or not the process of it is fun.

……

“The most simple existence of the universe, is 1,” Xu Si Bai says steadily, “The most complicated form of life, is 8, which is similar to the symbol of infinity as well as dna……”

He speaks unhurriedly. The people around him are all surprised and relieved. Xiao Zhuan shouts losing his voice, “You actually solved the same password as Leader? You’re amazing!” Xu Si Bai wasn’t at the scene of the explosion from earlier today.

Xu Si Bai lifts his head and looks directly at Han Chen.

Su Mian bites on her lip and reveals a mocking smile. Of everyone around them, she’s probably the only one who knows how smart Xu Si Bai is. He’s a forensic investigator. And he has deep knowledge of mathematics, physics, biology, and chemistry that is enough to surprise anyone. She speaks, “They probably never thought that you would be able to solve the password this quickly. They thought……” she turns to look at Xu Si Bai, “that you would die like this.”

Xu Si Bai stares at her and doesn’t say a word.

At this time, a few medical staff members have run up the stairs. They look at Xiao Zhuan and Xu Si Bai, “You two, please come down with me to the ambulance.” Zhou Xiao Zhuan has been excited the whole time, but he can feel the pain all over his body now. His body loses its energy and a medical staff member quickly supports him. But he doesn’t mind, turns around and waves his hand at the others, “I’ll be going to the hospital first. I’m fine.”

Two medical staff members walk to Xu Si Bai. Su Mian reaches out her arms subconsciously to support him, “I’ll go with you?”

Xu Si Bai moves his arm away without a trace and holds onto the medical staff member. He smiles gently, “It’s okay. You should focus on examining the scene.”

Two medical staff members walk to Xu Si Bai. Su Mian reaches out her arms subconsciously to support him, “I’ll go with you?”

Xu Si Bai moves his arm away without a trace and holds onto the medical staff member. He smiles gently, “It’s okay. You should focus on examining the scene.”

Su Mian’s hand freezes. Han Chen is standing beside her and is observing both of their expressions quietly with both hands in his pockets. Xu Si Bai has already turned around and is disappearing from the staircase.

Su Mian watches him walk far away before letting out a long breath of relief. Cold Face and Chatterbox have already gone up the stairs; only Han Chen is still standing there watching her.

She turns around and looks at him. The two of them remain silent for a moment. Su Mian then reaches out her arms and hugs him, throwing herself into his embrace. He catches her. She’s been under a lot of stress nonetheless, so he lifts her up without a second thought.

Su Mian’s emotions have been on a rollercoaster; it’s worse than being in a life or death situation herself. Everything has finally settled down now. Seeing his handsome face, it makes her think back to how he’s been quietly supporting her; stubbornly wanting to take the burden of making the decision; speeding at 200 km/h and not giving up on saving Xu Si Bai. And thinking back at his calm staring eyes when she and Xu Si Bai hugged, she actually feels happy and pity for him at the same time.

“This is too great, Han Chen!” she cries and smiles at the same time in his embrace, “Everybody’s okay.”

Han Chen hugs her tightly. He looks down at her with his pitch black pupils and is smiling slightly as well.

After a while, she calms down and he lets her down, “You’re done crying?”

She smiles and sniffs her nose, “I’m done.”

He grabs her hand, “If you’re done, follow me. There’s an important evidence found at the scene.”

“Mm,” Su Mian follows him up the stairs, but the corner of her eye can’t help looking below where Xu Si Bai was.

She’s fine now. He’s also okay and is alive.

But from today on, Xu Si Bai will exist as a hole in Su Mian’s heart. That hole will contain all of her guilt and his pain.

That hole can never be filled up.