1985, the year of the great writer, began with Infernal Affairs!

The final plot unfolds very quickly.

Investigation, case closed, commendation.

With the downfall of the Han Chen Group, the police declared a major victory.

Until the very end.

Early morning at the cemetery, the weather was gloomy, with a lingering drizzle.

A group of people in neat police uniforms stood in front of the newly erected tombstone.

Liu Jianming stood at the front, his shoulders now adorned with new epaulets. His face was solemn, his eyes filled with complex emotions.

"salute."

At the command, all the police officers raised their arms in unison and saluted the tombstone.

A photo of Chen Yongren is pasted on the tombstone.

Chen Yongren's police status was eventually restored.

Liu Jianming maintained his salute, his gaze fixed on the face in the photograph. Cold raindrops fell on his face, but he was oblivious. The scene before him began to blur and fade, as if time had reversed.

Flashback.

Many years ago, on the police academy's training ground.

The sun was blazing, making the ground scorching hot. Rows of police academy cadets stood ramrod straight as their instructors gave them a stern lecture.

Not far away, a figure wearing the same student uniform was walking towards the gate with his back to the line.

He had been asked to take off his uniform and was only wearing a plain white vest. His back was thin, and his steps were a little unsteady, but his spine was straight.

That was Chen Yongren when he was young.

He was expelled for "breaking the rules".

The instructor's voice came through clearly, carrying a deliberate tone of humiliation and warning: "Those who don't follow the rules, like him, get out!"

"Is anyone interested in trading with him?"

The queue was deathly silent.

Liu Jianming stood in the queue, watching the lonely figure gradually disappear into the distance. The sunlight was dazzling, and he squinted slightly.

A voice, a voice only he could hear, resounded in the deepest part of his heart:

"I want to switch with him."

He wanted to exchange with the person who had been fired and was heading towards an unknown darkness.

He was tired of this seemingly glamorous facade, tired of the daily hypocrisy and repression.

At that moment, he envied the freedom of that figure, even if that freedom led to an abyss.

The tide of memories receded abruptly.

Before me lay a cold tombstone, and the people in the photos were forever frozen in their most innocent years.

And Liu Jianming, still standing here, wearing this increasingly heavy police uniform, salutes the man he once admired, later feared, and ultimately pushed into a desperate situation by his own hands.

The final scene freezes on Chen Yongren's last glance back in his memories.

There was no resentment or anger on the young face, only a barely perceptible look of bewilderment and weariness.

Then, everything returned to darkness.

Xie Lu gently closed the newspaper.

Chu Yunfei remained in the same position as when he pounded the table. His chest heaving gradually subsided, but the anger on his face had not yet dissipated.

He stared blankly at the closed newspaper cover.

The aftereffects of the second half of Infernal Affairs were quite strong; the three of them hadn't recovered for a while.

The story of Infernal Affairs has come to an end.

This is unlike any of their previous discussions, guesses, and debates.

Han Chen's death was expected.

Although Chen Yongren's death was cruel, it seemed that the fate of undercover agents was already sealed. It was tragic, but they could accept it.

But Liu Jianming.

This man, who walked the line between right and wrong, whose hands were stained with the blood of his colleagues, and whose heart was already twisted, actually survived to the end.

Not only did he survive, he was also promoted, standing in the sunlight in a crisp police uniform, wearing epaulets that symbolized honor, to receive commendation.

He even stood in front of Chen Yongren's tombstone and saluted him as a "police officer".

This ending is so ironic.

There is no exhilarating sense of justice being served, no relief of vindication; only a profound, silent sense of absurdity and a deep feeling of powerlessness.

Good people don't always get good rewards, and evil people aren't always punished. Fate plays such cruel and real jokes.

Chu Yunfei finally recovered and cursed in a dry voice, "That damn author, he really had the guts to do that."

Chen Xiangdong shook his head, his voice low: "Perhaps this is the most likely outcome."

Xie Lu didn't say anything, but simply pushed the cold bowl of noodles to the side.

He looked at the shock, confusion, and frustration still lingering on his three roommates' faces, and felt very calm.

He knew what kind of reaction he would get when he wrote this ending.

This is the effect he wanted.

In the Avici Hell, no one can escape, and no one is innocent.

This is not a comforting story.

They were not the only ones who were shocked.

Almost simultaneously, in every corner of Wuhan University—dormitories, canteens, classrooms, libraries, and benches along tree-lined paths—students who had managed to snag the latest issue of "Contemporary" magazine turned to the last page.

Exclamations, curses, table-slamming, and long silences played out in countless small spaces.

"How could this happen? What gives Lau Kin-ming the right?"

"Chen Yongren is so pitiful."

"I really can't accept this ending!"

"Has the author gone mad?"

"No, I think that's exactly what's so awesome about it. You think this is child's play? This is reality!"

"..."

The debate quickly spread.

From its literary merit to its realistic significance, from the characters' fates to the author's intentions.

The discussion about the ending of "Infernal Affairs" will likely remain one of the hottest topics on the Wuhan University campus for a long time to come.

It wasn't just the students who were shocked.

In the dean's office of the School of Literature, a brand-new copy of "Contemporary Literature" was also laid out on the desk in front of Zhou Shaoyuan.

He read much slower than the students, almost word by word.

His graying brows were tightly furrowed, and his fingers occasionally traced lightly under a certain sentence.

When he saw the ending, he put down his reading glasses and rubbed his sore nose.

Unlike young people, he didn't show his emotions outwardly. He simply leaned back in his chair, gazing at the sycamore trees outside the window, which had mostly withered, and remained silent for a long time.

As the dean of the Faculty of Arts, a scholar who has been immersed in literature for decades, he sees more than his students do.

He saw the ingenious structure, the profound exploration of the dark side of human nature, and the inescapable sense of fate that permeated the entire story.

His student's writing skills, sharp thinking, and broad perspective once again far exceeded his expectations.

This is not just a simple, entertaining article.

This is a substantial and ambitious work that will leave a deep impression on readers.

The author who wrote such an excellent work is just an eighteen-year-old freshman in college.

Zhou Shaoyuan stood up and walked to the window.

Downstairs, students walked by in twos and threes, many of them holding the same contemporary newspaper, excitedly gesturing and discussing the names.

He hadn't seen this scene in many years.

He decided to talk to Attorney Xie.

Not as the dean, but as a reader, a senior, an elder who could shield him from some unnecessary trouble.

Chu Yunfei and his two companions ate a tasteless breakfast in a daze, paid the bill, packed up the three newspapers they had repeatedly read, and left the breakfast shop.

The sunlight outside was a bit dazzling, but their hearts were still shrouded in the shock that Infernal Affairs had given their young minds.