Chapter 822: Wang Xi’s Identity

Kao Wei picked up the memory card in surprise and said, “I didn’t know this was hidden in here.”

“Can I borrow your phone?”

The bandaged man inserted the memory card into the phone, but it couldn’t play. Either the format was wrong, or the data was already corrupted. Kao Wei was extremely disappointed. “This is something he left for me, and I can’t even see it!”

“Can you get hold of a computer?”

“Should we go to an internet café?”

“I can’t go to an internet café looking like this.”

“Where am I supposed to get a computer from? I don’t have the money to buy one.”

The bandaged man thought for a moment. “What’s that office building across the street?”

“A design company, I think.”

“Let’s go there!”

Leaving Dog Skin Alley under the cover of darkness, the old tailor, who was curled up on the ground, woke up from the commotion. He rubbed his eyes in disbelief as he saw Kao Wei walking with a man in a trench coat. He quickly took out a phone from his “body” and dialed a number.

The two entered the office building, with the bandaged man carefully avoiding the hallway cameras. When he couldn’t avoid them, he kept his head down to hide his face.

Late at night, the company was empty. The bandaged man skillfully picked the lock on the glass door. Watching him, Kao Wei thought this man must have been a bad guy before.

There were many computers inside. The bandaged man inserted the memory card into a card reader and then into a computer, trying to recover the corrupted data. As he focused on his task, he suddenly noticed Kao Wei was gone.

He turned around and smiled; Kao Wei was dancing alone in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, facing the twinkling city lights outside.

He pressed enter, and a progress bar began to load. The bandaged man leaned back in his chair and lit a cigarette. Kao Wei said, “I love this place. It’s so big and spacious, and it’s so quiet. If I could live in a house like this, watching the city lights every night, it would be worth any hard day.”

The bandaged man walked to the window and stood next to her, looking down. “Humans evolved from monkeys, and that memory is still in our genes. As long as we’re standing in a high place with a broad view, we feel immense satisfaction.”

Kao Wei laughed, “You are so unromantic, saying things like that. I bet you’re single.”

“I…”

The bandaged man, hurt by her words, silently walked back to his seat and said, “It’s done.”

Kao Wei noticed the change in his mood but didn’t know how to comfort him. The video started playing, showing Wang Xi’s face after he was burned, wrapped in bandages, with a hospital room in the background.

“Xiao Wei, if you’re watching this video, I’m probably no longer by your side.”

Hearing his long-missed voice, Kao Wei covered her mouth as tears streamed down her face.

“Listen carefully. The card you got when you worked at the pool hall, go to the bank and check the balance. This money is for you. Don’t worry, it’s clean money. You can pay off your debts and find a good man to marry. Don’t go for a bad guy like me; you can’t rely on them. I don’t know how to say this, but… actually, I’m an undercover agent. But not for the police. There’s a lot of internal strife within the gang. If it weren’t for climbing up the ranks, I would never have agreed to such a dangerous thing.

“When I went to see your mom, I shouldn’t have said those things while drunk. After it got out, I became an outcast in the company, always on edge. Several times, I was followed home at night. My boss thought I was a snitch and wanted to get rid of me.

“At this critical moment, someone approached me with a deal. I can’t go into details, because the money you’re getting is hush money. My face… you could say it’s the price of the deal. He’s a high-ranking figure in the gang, and dealing with such a big shot, I had to protect myself. I set up some insurance, so he wouldn’t dare to kill me after the deal. When I recorded this video, the deal was already done, but my life was still in danger. To keep you and me safe, I had to disappear. I’m sorry for leaving without saying goodbye. Xiao Wei, from this moment on, we are officially breaking up. Live your life, but know that I will always love you. You are a part of my soul…”

At this point, Wang Xi broke down in tears, and the video ended.

Kao Wei was also sobbing uncontrollably. The bandaged man handed her a tissue. Kao Wei grabbed his hand and kept crying, her tears falling onto his hand.

When her crying subsided, the bandaged man said, “Wang Xi should still be alive because his deal partner is still ‘protecting’ him, which means the insurance hasn’t kicked in yet. I guess it might be a timed email.”

“That bastard, why didn’t he just tell me directly? He hid it for so long, for so long!” Kao Wei wiped her tears and said, “I want to see how much money he left me!”

“Now?”

“I won’t be able to sleep thinking about it.”

“Which bank?”

“X Bank. It’s far away, so I’ve never used this card.”

The bandaged man sighed, “Alright, go get the card, and I’ll go with you.”

“I’ll pay you back for the jewelry as soon as I get the money.”

After Kao Wei left, the bandaged man logged into a website, a personal police system. He entered a badge number but hesitated to press enter because it might leave evidence.

So, he just searched for information on the wanted criminal Song Lang. All the news was from a few days ago. It seemed the police’s attention had shifted. Maybe a few heavy rains had washed away the wanted posters, and no one would remember him.

The name Song Lang would gradually be forgotten, and the truth of that night would never be known. This thought brought a stabbing pain to his heart.

Half an hour passed, and Kao Wei hadn’t returned. The bandaged man walked to the window and saw a van parked at the alley entrance. Several men were shoving Kao Wei into the van. She looked towards the window with a pleading gaze as her head was pushed into the van.

The “Impressionist,” who followed, also glanced towards the window but saw nothing.

Furious, the bandaged man ran back to Dog Skin Alley and saw the old tailor tugging at his chain, saying, “Hey, you promised to let me go!”

A shadow fell over him, and the old tailor heard an angry voice questioning, “Did you tip them off!?”

The old tailor looked up, terrified, and wet himself, pleading desperately, “They made me do it! I had no choice! Please, have mercy!”

The bandaged man returned to Kao Wei’s house. The door was open, and the place was a mess. On the wall, written in ketchup, was a line: “Wang Xi, if you’ve got the guts, come trade yourself for your girl!”