Desperate people, accept the seed of my soul!

Watching Zhang Zhaoqing respectfully retreat, Wang Shiwei thoughtfully withdrew her gaze, a playful smile curving her lips.

"Is this the company you mentioned before, the one that's so successful in developing neuropharmaceuticals?" she asked softly.

"It's him." Wang Shijun protected his sister as they walked towards the car parked at the door. "Their latest projects, such as 'Tranquilizer Type IV,' have very interesting data and ideas. They might be a 'key' to unlocking the potential of these technologies."

……

The car doors closed, completely isolating the outside world from noise.

In this private space, the brother and sister's conversation quickly switched to another channel.

"Has Uncle Gu officially joined the Special Investigation Bureau as a special advisor?" Wang Shijun opened the car refrigerator, took out a bottle of water, and handed it over.

"Yes, the appointment just came through." Wang Shiwei turned on the tap and took a sip of water. "I will be joining the Special Investigation Bureau with Uncle Gu as a Special Advisor Administrative Assistant, responsible for assisting Uncle Gu with the Bureau's paperwork and liaison work. Although this position isn't high-ranking, it will give me access to all of the Special Investigation Bureau's core files and meeting minutes."

"Zhao Jianguo and Zheng Guofeng are both veteran criminal investigators with a keen sense of smell," Wang Shijun warned. "We have to be extremely careful when working under their watchful eyes. Although Uncle Gu was also recommended by my father, his own stance is complex, and he may not completely follow our wishes."

"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing."

Wang Shiwei turned her head to look at the street scene rushing past the window, her fingers gently stroking the briefcase on her lap. "Besides, if I want to know about the internal workings of the Special Investigation Bureau, I don't necessarily have to go through Uncle Gu."

"Oh?" Wang Shijun raised an eyebrow.

"My old classmate from when I was studying at the police academy happens to work at the Chenxi City Police Department." A complex emotion flashed in Wang Shiwei's eyes. "We used to have a good relationship. If needed, I can get some 'more authentic' firsthand perspective from the sidelines..."

Wang Shijun glanced at his sister, but didn't press her for the name of the "classmate," simply saying, "You decide for yourself. Just don't forget your father's mission."

The atmosphere in the car became more somber when his father was mentioned.

"What did Father say about the nursing home incident?" Wang Shijun asked.

"That pit in Nanshan presented my father with an unprecedented opportunity. He had been stuck in third place for too long."

Wang Shiwei turned her head, her eyes sharpening. "As for the Zhong family, Father's idea is that we shouldn't pay too much attention to their feelings. We should give them the face they deserve, but we can't give up their core interests."

"What core interests?"

""extraordinary"."

Wang Shiwei lowered her voice, "My father believes that a new era is about to begin, and now is the last night before dawn. We must accumulate enough 'extraordinary' bargaining chips during this window of opportunity in order to get the biggest slice of the pie in the new era and to gain real say in the Five Mountains Alliance and within the province."

"So, our mission is to use the Special Investigations Bureau's shell to do our own thing."

Wang Shijun nodded, his gaze fixed on the approaching outline of the apartment building outside the window.

The car slowly slowed down and drove into a high-end apartment complex with tight security.

Wang Shijun broke the brief silence: "We've arrived. You'll stay here for the next few days; it's only a ten-minute drive from the Special Investigation Bureau."

He helped his sister with her luggage, saying, "I won't see you upstairs. Remember, here, don't trust anyone except your own people."

"clear."

Wang Shiwei stood by the car, the night wind ruffling her hair.

"Take care, bro."

After watching her brother's car leave, the capable look on Wang Shiwei's face faded slightly.

She dragged her suitcase into the elevator, and as she looked at her reflection in the mirror, another upright and somewhat stubborn face involuntarily surfaced in her mind.

He once subdued a knife-wielding assailant with his bare hands, his forearm was slashed but he did not let up, his eyes filled with pure anger and suppression of evil.

During the simulated case analysis, he vehemently criticized the assumption that "the suspect escaped punishment due to his background," and his words were sharp as knives, denouncing judicial injustice.

"Li Rui..."

Wang Shiwei murmured the name, her lips unconsciously curving into a slight smile before pressing them into a straight line.

It would be nice to be in the same city and working with you again...

------

The morning sunlight streamed through the gaps in the curtains, slanting into the room and casting a warm ray of light on the floor.

The air was filled with the aroma of fried eggs and hot milk, the smell of "home," enough to temporarily dispel the gloom that had been weighing on Detective Li Rui's mind.

Li Rui stood in front of the full-length mirror in the entryway, preparing to button the last button on his police uniform collar.

A pair of fair hands reached out and gently stopped his movements.

"Don't move, your collar is crooked again."

His wife, Su Xiao, wore a light apricot-colored knitted cardigan, her hair casually tucked behind her ears, exuding a gentle aura bathed in the morning light.

She tiptoed slightly, carefully smoothing out every wrinkle on Li Rui's police uniform collar. Her fingertips lingered for a moment as they brushed over the silver police badge, as if bestowing some silent blessing.

Li Rui lowered his eyes and looked at his wife's focused profile.

Ever since that beast Zhang Ziqian escaped the law through a "mental evaluation," Li Rui has been like a bowstring stretched to its limit, about to snap.

His pent-up anger and doubts about judicial fairness gnawed at his heart like venomous snakes.

Only when he returned to this little home and looked at Su Xiao could he feel that he was still alive.

"Xiaoxiao..." Li Rui's voice was somewhat low, "Sometimes I feel... the evil outside is like weeds that can't be burned out, one batch is burned and another grows back. Even if the Wei family falls, there will always be new shadows breeding in the corners."

Su Xiao paused for a moment.

She raised her head, her clear, bright eyes staring directly at Li Rui, without the slightest wavering.

"But you are the fiercest fire."

Su Xiao said softly, her tone filled with an almost obsessive trust, "Today we will burn through the darkness!"

Upon hearing the words "burn through the darkness," Li Rui's thoughts were instantly drawn back to that bitterly cold winter night twenty years ago.

That was the hardest winter the orphanage had ever endured.

The heating boiler was broken, and the windows were letting in drafts. The biting cold felt like countless ice needles piercing into my bones.

Young Su Xiao huddled under the thin blanket, her lips turning purple from the cold, her whole body trembling uncontrollably.

At that time, Li Rui, who was also young, secretly slipped into the storage room under the cover of night.

He clumsily cobbled together a simple "small stove" using stolen scrap tin cans and a few candle stubs he found.

It was a device fraught with safety hazards; flames flickered inside the tin can, turning the can walls red-hot.

As he carefully placed the tiny flame, radiating faint warmth, beside Su Xiao's bed, as if it were a priceless treasure, he looked at the girl's frozen face and uttered the words that would accompany them for the rest of their lives:

"Don't be afraid of the cold, Xiaoxiao. I'll burn it through."

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Special thanks to the amazing "Yang Jinshui who couldn't help but feel nervous" for the "expert certification"!