WWY Chapter 25

Chapter 25: How is it you again? The palm pressing against the long-sleeved T-shirt grew increasingly…

Amidst a chaotic scene, the reporter shook his head and slowly got up from the ground. Despite the numbing pain in his back, he rushed to help his colleague after seeing his condition.

They pulled away the debris on top of the cameraman and dragged him out of the ruins.

Lan He glanced around at the environment, feeling that things didn’t look good. They were currently on the top floor of the building. The force of the explosion had blown off the ceiling, and debris was constantly falling from above. Getting hit was a minor issue; more critically, there was a leaking water pipe, making electrocution a real risk.

Electrical explosions continued to erupt from the fire, and thick smoke obscured the view, making it impossible to confirm the situation inside. He quickly surveyed the area and spotted the emergency exit sign, signaling the reporter to help carry the cameraman onto his back.

“No, no, no, Mr. Lan, let me do it!”

Lan He glanced at the reporter’s bloody back, “I should do it; your back is injured.”

“Ah? Is it?” The reporter tried to reach behind him and indeed felt a handful of blood, instantly turning pale and frantically wiping it on his clothes.

Lan He sighed.

The body only automatically secretes adrenaline to block pain when pushed to its limit, so his injury must be quite serious.

As the four of them were descending the fire escape, they ran into the firefighters rushing up. The reporter and cameraman were carried down on stretchers, and Lan He, supporting the ankle-twisted Ya Gu, slowly made their way down.

Ya Gu carefully asked, “Lan He, are you okay?”

Lan He tugged at the corner of his mouth, “I’m fine. Who did you offend? Such hatred?”

“I didn’t! I don’t know what’s going on!” Ya Gu observed his expression, but the emergency lights in the stairwell were too dim, making it impossible to see anything clearly. She asked, “Is your heart feeling uncomfortable?”

Lan He paused, “No, Doctor Zhou’s medicine is effective.”

“Oh, that’s great!” Ya Gu seemed to realize the danger after the fact and leaned against the railing, exhaling a breath. “My foot hurts a lot; let’s wait for the stretcher to come up again!”

Lan He was both amused and annoyed, “This is an explosion site; what are you thinking? There might be a secondary explosion, or even other bombs!”

Ya Gu’s face instantly paled, “Then, then…”

This time she wasn’t faking it. She had worn high heels today, and the heel broke during the explosion, which caused her to twist her ankle, and now it was badly swollen.

Lan He bent down and gently felt her ankle, realizing it was indeed quite serious. He descended two steps, pointed to his back, and said, “Get on!”

Outside the Gu’s Trading headquarters, police cars and fire trucks surrounded the area. Bomb disposal officers and firefighters entered the building one after another, conducting a thorough search of the entire building.

When Lan He emerged from the side door of the building with Ya Gu on his back, the entire street had been evacuated, and everyone was craning their necks behind thecordon , with some taking photos with their phones. Several media outlets had arrived on the scene as soon as they caught wind of the situation.

After handing Ya Gu over to the paramedics and indicating that he wasn’t injured, they left him alone.

He looked up, seeing that the meeting room they had just been in was almost completely destroyed. A corner of the building was missing. Of course, it might not be that severe, but because it was all floor-to-ceiling windows, it looked quite tragic.

But there was no doubt that whoever placed the bomb intended to kill.

Intended to kill?

Lan He’s heart stirred, and he frowned.

“Lan He, Young Master—”

A familiar greeting came from the crowd outside thecordon.

Seeing Lan He covered in dirt, Jiu Ya waved his hand anxiously, but didn’t dare to clash with the police.

His shout attracted everyone’s attention, and countless eyes turned to Lan He.

Immediately, a security guard maintaining order came over and politely asked him to leave, but he raised his hand, “I’m looking for your person in charge.”

The security guard hesitated, “We have regulations…”

Lan He said wearily, “I was just at the explosion site and have information to report. Is Tuxi Ling leading the team?”

Hearing that he knew the name of the Second Division Chief of the Criminal Investigation Brigade, the security guard stammered, “Oh, Ling, Ling is in charge. He hasn’t arrived yet, but Officer Xia is here!”

In this small coastal city, the Criminal Investigation Brigade only had two divisions. It was said that they had been incredibly busy recently, and many of the security guards from their special police unit had been called in.

“Shengbo Xia? Where is he?”

The security guard pointed in a direction, and Lan He waved at Jiu Ya and went to find Shengbo Xia.

Upon seeing Lan He, Shengbo Xia was surprised for a moment, then his expression turned into a blatant “How is it you again?”

Lan He went straight to the point, “Hexogen. Suspect remote detonation. It’s unlikely there are other bombs in the building.”

Shengbo Xia’s eyes widened, “Why?”

Lan He thought for a moment and said cautiously, “Because whoever placed the bomb was clearly targeting someone specific. If I’m not mistaken, the target should be Gu, and they even deliberately chose the time when Gu was in the meeting room to avoid causing more casualties.”

“No, no!” Shengbo Xia waved his hand. “Why do you know the type of bomb, and how do you know it was remote detonation?”

Lan He skipped the first question, “After I turned on the air conditioner, I heard a strange noise from the ceiling, but at the time, I just felt it was a little strange. The perpetrator should be able to see the situation inside the meeting room from a certain position outside the window. They only activated it when everyone was present, or perhaps they activated it when the air conditioner was turned on, wanting to use the sound of airflow when the air conditioner was running to cover the countdown beep.”

Shengbo Xia shook his head in confusion, “These criminals are really stupid. If they’re going to kill people, why not do it quietly? Why make a countdown beep?”

As soon as the words left his mouth, the back of his head was suddenly hit. “What are you saying!”

Tuxi Ling had arrived.

He saw Lan He covered in dust at a glance and almost didn’t recognize him.

However, although he was covered in dirt, with large and small holes burned in his clothes, and his hair styled with hair gel had turned gray, it couldn’t hide the bright light in his eyes.

It wasn’t hard to imagine how handsome he would be in this outfit if he wasn’t so disheveled!

Seeing a familiar face, Lan He smiled naturally, but Tuxi Ling looked at him very seriously, seemingly having the same question as Shengbo Xia.

How is it you again?

Therefore, he behaved very well, honestly making a statement, then lied that his heart was feeling unwell and he needed to go to the hospital for a check-up on his own.

It wasn’t exactly a lie; he hadn’t had an attack during the explosion, but it wasn’t good after carrying Ya Gu downstairs. He was never good at this kind of stamina-requiring work.

Tuxi Ling then remembered that the person in front of him was a patient and carefully held his arm. “Are you okay? Or should I call another ambulance to take you there!”

A hint of joy flashed across the depths of Lan He’s eyes, then suddenly turned mischievous. He took off his suit jacket and took the opportunity to take his hand, gently pressing it against his heart, “Officer Ling, it seems to be racing again. Help me feel it.”

The palm pressing against the long-sleeved T-shirt grew increasingly hot. Tuxi Ling’s ears turned red, and he cursed himself as a bastard, even getting carried away by this.

He wanted to pull his hand away, but since it was him who asked for help, he had to pretend to be calm and continue counting his heartbeat, but he messed it up, so he had to start over again and again.

After failing for the fifth time, he gave up.

This was too strange!

“Your, your heartbeat is a bit fast. You should go to the hospital for a check-up. I’ll call a car for you!” His tongue was a little tied.

“No need, I have a driver.” Lan He happily smiled as he enjoyed his flustered and embarrassed appearance, while warning himself not to go too far, or he would scare him away and it wouldn’t be fun anymore.

He asked, “Is there any progress here?”

Tuxi Ling seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, “We are currently checking suspicious personnel through surveillance. If it really is Hexogen, then there’s a lot to investigate.”

He paused, “By the way, how did you know it was Hexogen?”

Lan He couldn’t gloss over it with him as he did with Shengbo Xia, so he had to say, “I’ve seen many kinds of bombs abroad and have a superficial understanding of their smell and properties.”

Tuxi Ling: “Ah?”

Lan He laughed twice, “Not only have I seen them, but I’ve also been bombed, so what’s so strange about that?”

“Weren’t you living in Europe? Is Europe that chaotic?”

“No.” Lan He looked at his eyes calmly and waved his hand, “Before I was ten, I was in the Middle East.”

Tuxi Ling stared at his thin but straight back, watching him walk out of thecordon and meet up with his bodyguard, then he withdrew his gaze, slowly exhaling the pent-up feelings in his chest.

Ten years old, the Middle East, in today’s media’s view of the world, he could imagine how he had survived then.

–

Lan He caught Jiu Ya’s gaze several times in the rearview mirror.

It seemed that from the day they met, Jiu Ya had been used to secretly looking at him like this when he was in the car, as if he wanted to explore his true feelings.

…

Or maybe he wasn’t trying to explore any feelings, but his appearance was just too funny?

Today, Lan He knew he was really disheveled and didn’t like being looked at by him, so after their eyes met for the Nth time, he ordered, “Find a barbershop.”

Jiu Ya respectfully agreed and found a nearby barbershop of considerable size from the navigation system and drove over.

The Bentley owner received a warm welcome from the shop. It was said that Tony, who had just won an international award, personally came out to greet Lan He and asked about his needs in detail.

In fact, Lan He’s real need was just to wash his hair, so he said “whatever,” but…

When Tony proudly showed off the results, Lan He seriously asked him, “Do you think it looks good?”

Tony wanted to stubbornly say it looked good, but due to the other party’s noble status, he didn’t dare to act rashly, “Sir, are you dissatisfied with anything? I’ll fix it for you.”

Lan He looked at himself in the mirror helplessly and sighed, “Give me a buzz cut!”

When he stepped out of the barbershop, Jiu Ya, who was smoking at the door, was stunned for a moment. Under his cold gaze, he desperately suppressed his laughter and opened the car door for him.

Feeling that his performance just now was not appropriate, Jiu Ya praised insincerely after getting in the car, “Young Master Lan, the new hairstyle suits you very well!”

Lan He sneered, touched the top of his head, and felt a handful of fuzzy stubble.

Not to mention, the texture was really good.

Jiu Ya set the navigation back to home, hummed a song, and started the car. Lan He turned his head to look at the street scene, and his heart stirred when he saw the shopping mall not far away.

“Jiu Ya, there’s a supermarket in the mall across the street; I want to go buy snacks.”

“…Yes, Young Master Lan!”

“Before that, go buy some clothes first.”

“Okay!”

Jiu Ya found the entrance to the underground parking lot of the mall, turned the steering wheel and plunged in.

Walking in a shopping mall, money is absolutely omnipotent.

Lan He, dressed like a beggar, swaggered into the elevator of the underground parking lot. A vacuum zone automatically formed around him. However, half an hour later, he was completely renewed.

Having changed his hairstyle, his gentle temperament was swept away, and with the newly bought trendy casual wear, his calm eyes seemed to become frivolous, exuding a faint rogue elegance from the inside out.

Jiu Ya’s eyes widened as he followed him into the supermarket.

Young Master Lan’s motto: Snacks can’t stop!

The two of them pushed a shopping cart full of snacks, settled the bill at the self-checkout counter, and Jiu Ya suddenly covered his stomach, looking a little embarrassed: “Young Master Lan…”

Lan He understood: “Go ahead.”

He parked the shopping cart to the side and sat on a long chair, flipping through his phone, which was full of news about the explosion at Gu’s Trading headquarters.

Just as he was concentrating, someone sat down next to him.

A familiar scent wafted over. Lan He’s fingers, which were sliding on the screen, froze. He held his breath, raised his eyes, stared at the clean floor tiles in front of him, and didn’t say a word.