Suo Ran frowned, confusion and suspicion mixing together on his face. "You said I have changed!How would you know that?"The older man didn't answer right away. Instead, he simply stared at him.He was simply... looking.Suo ran suddenly became aware of every movement he made. The gaze was making him increasingly uncomfortable. He shifted his weight and crossed his arms. "What?" he asked again, this time more impatiently.
The older man's eyes softened slightly and said, "You still rub your forehead whenever you're frustrated." Suo Ran blinked once before he could respond, the older man continued. "You still bite the inside of your cheek when you're thinking too hard." Suo Ran's expression changed.Qin Yue slowly lowered her arms, her playful expression disappearing.The older man continued"You still hate bitter medicine." His gaze drifted toward suo ran's tired face. "And even when you're exhausted, you always say you're fine."
Suo Ran stared at him for several seconds. "How do you know all of that?" The older man remained calm. "Because some habits never disappear." Suo ran shook his head. "That isn't an answer." The older man didn't argue. He simply nodded once. "I know." Suo ran took a step closer. "No, seriously." His brows furrowed deeply. "How do you know those things?" He continued,"Nobody here should know those things."
Qin Yue quietly glanced toward the older man but said nothing. The driver stood silently beside her, unexpectedly serious for once. Suo ran pointed at himself. "You know how I react when I'm frustrated?" He pointed at his mouth. "You know what I do when I think?" Then he folded his arms tightly. "You know what medicine I hate?" His eyes narrowed further. "Who exactly are you?" The older man looked at him quietly then he gave a small smile. "You always become more aggressive when you're confused too." Suo ran looked at him and said,"Did you just ignore my question?" The older man blinked once. "No." "Yes, you did." "I answered part of it." "You absolutely did not."
Qin Yue suddenly covered her mouth to hide her smile. The driver quietly turned away, pretending not to hear anything.Suo ran looked at them. "Stop that." Qin Yue straightened herself. "Stop what?" "That look." The driver looked innocent. "What look?" Suo Ran pointed at both of them. "The look that says you know something and refuse to tell me." Qin Yue grinned. "Your instincts are very good." "I don't need instincts." Suo Ran snapped. "I need answers." The older man suddenly spoke again. "You also hate waiting." Suo Ran groaned loudly and rubbed his forehead. "There." The older man pointed gently. "You did it again." Suo Ran instantly dropped his hand and glared at him. "Can you stop observing me?"
The older man's expression softened. "I've spent a long time not being able to."Suo Ran froze for a brief moment. Something inside his chest tightened unexpectedly. But his suspicion quickly returned. "That sentence is strange." The older man nodded. "It is." "Very strange." "I know." Suo Ran looked at him for a long moment. "You keep saying things that make it sound like we've known each other for years." The older man didn't answer. Suo Ran took another step forward. His exhaustion was long gone now. Curiosity and frustration had completely replaced it. "Have we met before?" He continued,"Did you know my family?" Silence. "Did you know Jun Wei?"
The older man's eyes flickered slightly at the mention of Jun Wei, but his expression quickly settled again. Suo Ran noticed immediately. "You reacted." Qin Yue quietly sighed under her breath. The driver rubbed the back of his neck. Suo Ran pointed at the older man. "See? You reacted." The older man calmly replied, "Everyone reacts to something." Suo Ran stared at him in disbelief. "What nonsense?!"
Qin Yue laughed softly. "He's not wrong though." Suo Ran groaned again. "Can someone please answer like a normal person?" The driver raised his hand. "I can try." Suo Ran immediately pointed at him. "No. You especially stay quiet." The driver looked offended. "That hurts." "Good." Qin Yue chuckled while shaking her head. Then her expression softened slightly as she looked toward Suo Ran. "You know..." she said quietly. "The reason all of this is overwhelming is because a part of you already feels that something is wrong." Suo Ran looked at her. She continued, "You don't trust us. That's normal but you also haven't walked away."
Suo Ran opened his mouth to argue. Then stopped because she was right. He hadn't left even though he was irritated.He was still there with them.The older man noticed his silence then he quietly said, "Some things aren't remembered by the mind first." Suo Ran looked at him. The older man met his gaze. "Sometimes they're remembered by instinct."Suo ran stood there quietly for a few seconds then he exhaled sharply and folded his arms. "I don't like this." Qin Yue raised an eyebrow. "The room?" Suo ran shook his head. "No." He pointed toward all three of them. "This." The driver pointed at himself. "Me too?" Suo ran gave him a look. "Especially you."
The driver sighed dramatically. "That hurts." "Good." Qin Yue chuckled softly while the older man simply continued watching Suo Ran quietly. That only irritated him again. "And stop doing that." Suo ran said suddenly. The older man blinked once. "Doing what?" "Looking at me." "I apologize." "No, don't apologize. Just stop." The older man's expression softened slightly. "That's difficult." Suo ran threw his hands up in the air. "Again. There you go again." Qin Yue covered her mouth to hide her smile. "Boss, you're not helping." The older man nodded slightly. "I know." Suo Ran stared at him for a moment. "Then why do you keep saying things like that?"
This time, the older man actually paused. His gaze lowered briefly before returning to suo ran. And he said,"Because this moment took a long time to happen." "What does that even mean?" The older man didn't answer instead, he slowly walked toward one of the photographs hanging on the wall. He stopped in front of a picture of a teenage suo ran sitting alone on a park bench reading a book. The older man stared at it for a few seconds before speaking. "You always preferred quiet places." Suo Ran frowned. "Stop changing the subject." The older man nodded once. "I know."
Suo Ran groaned loudly."Do all of you attend the same class on how to avoid answering questions?" The driver suddenly raised his hand. "Actually..." Suo ran pointed at him. "No."The driver lowered his hand again. "Fair enough." Qin Yue laughed quietly before her expression slowly softened. She walked over to Suo Ran and stopped beside him. "Listen." Her voice was much gentler now. "You're trying to force twenty years of answers into one hour." Suo Ran looked at her. Qin Yue smiled sadly. "That's impossible." His expression slowly hardened again. "Then tell me where to start." Qin Yue became quiet.
Her gaze shifted toward the older man. The older man stared at suo ran for several long seconds. Then he asked, "What's the earliest memory you have?" The question caught Suo Ran off guard. He blinked. "What?" "Your earliest memory." Suo Ran frowned. "Why?" "Humor me."Suo ran looked suspicious. "That's not an answer either." The old man replied,"I know." Suo Ran exhaled through his nose. "I don't know." The older man nodded. "Try."
Suo Ran frowned as he thought about it. Then he spoke slowly. "I remember being at home." He paused. "I remember my father." His expression softened for a brief moment. "I remember school." He shrugged. "Nothing unusual." The older man remained silent. Then he quietly asked, "Before that?" Suo Ran shook his head. "Nothing." That answer made old man disappointed.Suo Ran noticed instantly. "What?" The older man looked at him. "Nothing." Suo Ran narrowed his eyes. "See? That's exactly what all of you keep doing."
Qin Yue sighed helplessly. The driver looked at the ceiling this time. Suo Ran folded his arms tighter. "Can someone explain why every time I answer a question, all three of you suddenly look at each other?" Qin Yue blinked innocently. "Do we?" "Yes." The driver nodded. "We do." Qin Yue glared at him. "You weren't supposed to answer that." The driver blinked. "Oops." Suo Ran stared at all of them in disbelief. "I feel like I'm losing my mind." The older man suddenly spoke again. "You're not." Suo Ran looked at him. The older man's gaze softened. "You're simply standing at the edge of a truth you were never supposed to discover alone."
He ran a hand through his hair and took a step backward,"This is too much."His eyes moved between Qin Yue, the driver, and the older man, searching for even a hint of clarity, but finding none. Then frustration spilled over. "No. Seriously. This is too much." His voice echoed sharply through the room as he turned slightly, pointing toward the walls covered in photographs. "I walk in here and discover strangers have been following my life for years." His jaw tightened. "I thought I could find Wei Wei here, but he is still not found and you all..."
He stopped for a moment, exhaling sharply before continuing, "Nobody gives me direct answers." Then he pointed toward the older man, eyes narrowing. "He talks like he knows me." Then toward Qin Yue, irritation sharp in his voice. "You keep speaking in riddles." Then he pointed at the driver. "And you're..." He paused. The driver blinked. "Annoying." Qin Yue didn't smile. Instead, she quietly walked toward Suo Ran, her steps steady and controlled, her expression completely changed from before. The playful teasing, the lightness, everything was gone. She stopped a few feet away from him, looking at him directly without any amusement in her eyes. "Suo Ran." He looked at her, still tense, still frustrated.Qin Yue spoke quietly, her voice softer but firm. "You can be angry."
He frowned, still holding her gaze.She continued without raising her voice, "You can hate this." Her eyes shifted briefly across the room, taking in the photographs, the files, the silence that followed every question. "You can hate all of us if you want." Suo ran stared at her without speaking.Qin Yue took a slow breath, steadying herself before speaking again. "You can leave afterward if you want."Qin Yue's voice softened slightly, but her seriousness remained. "But at least listen first." Suo Ran looked at her for several seconds, longer than before, something in her tone making him hesitate. It wasn't persuasion that held him it was sincerity like she genuinely meant every word without expecting anything back.
He exhaled quietly, his shoulders lowering just a fraction. "Do you know what the worst part is?" Qin Yue shook her head gently. "No." Suo Ran let out a short laugh, but there was no humor in it, only exhaustion and disbelief. "The worst part is..." He looked around the room again, at the faces, the silence, the photographs that felt like they were watching him instead of the other way around. "...none of you look dangerous." The driver blinked immediately. "Is that a compliment?" Suo Ran didn't even look at him. "No." His gaze shifted toward the older man, sharper now. "That's what makes this harder." His brows furrowed. "If someone was threatening me, this would be simple." His voice dropped slightly. "If someone was blackmailing me, this would be simple." His eyes moved back to Qin Yue, frustration building again but now more controlled. "But instead..." He raised his hand and pointed around the room. "...all of you are acting like you're waiting for me to remember something."
Three of f them went silent after hearing suo ran.Suo ran noticed it,"See?" He pointed at them again, more firmly this time. "Again." The driver awkwardly scratched the back of his neck and looked away. Qin Yue let out a quiet sigh, her earlier firmness still present but now mixed with concern. Suo Ran dragged a hand down his face, exhaling sharply. The older man simply watched him in silence then the driver, unable to hold back his restless energy, slowly picked up one of the photographs from the table and looked at it for a second before saying quietly, "He waited years for this."
Qin Yue slowly turned her head toward him. The driver blinked once, then again, suddenly realizing what he had done. "...Oops." Qin Yue stared at him flatly. "You talk too much." The driver pointed at himself as if defending his entire existence. "It slipped." Qin Yue crossed her arms. "It always slips." He nodded helplessly. "I know."But Suo Ran wasn't listening to any of them anymore. His entire focus had snapped onto that one sentence,his expression changed instantly, confusion sharpening into something far more serious. "Waited for years?" His eyes moved slowly from the driver to Qin Yue, then to the older man. "For what?" Nobody answered.
Suo Ran took a step forward, his voice rising slightly now. "What does that mean?" The driver quickly looked away again, avoiding his gaze completely. Qin Yue let out a slow sigh, already anticipating what was coming next. The older man remained perfectly calm, his expression unchanged, but that calmness only made suo ran's frustration spike further. His heartbeat began to quicken, irritation and anxiety mixing together as he snapped, "Stop doing that."
He pointed at all three of them in turn, his voice echoing off the walls filled with photographs. "Stop going quiet every time something important gets said." His jaw tightened. " Years doing what?" His gaze locked onto the older man. "Searching?" Then shifted to Qin Yue. "Watching?" Then to the driver. "Waiting?" The driver swallowed nervously, suddenly very aware of the mistake he had made. Suo Ran stepped closer, his voice lower now but more intense. "You said it." The driver exhaled slowly. "I know." Suo Ran's eyes narrowed further. "So answer me."
Suo Ran stepped closer,his eyes locked onto the older man without blinking. His voice dropped, firm and controlled. "What exactly did you lose that you are still looking for?"exterior. He didn't answer instead,he slowly reached toward the table and picked up a few photographs images suo ran hadn't fully noticed before: one of Suo ran standing beside Jun wei, another with Cai lang faintly visible in the frame, and another older, faded picture that seemed to tie them all together in a way Suo ran couldn't yet understand. The older man looked at them for a long moment, his fingers tightening slightly around the edges, before speaking in a low voice. "I lost a child."Suo Ran's breath caught slightly as he stared at the older man,"A child..." he repeated. Slowly, he looked directly into suo ran's eyes. In a quiet voice,the older man said, "And I never stopped searching for him."
Elsewhere Jun Wei slowly stirred awake, his body swaying with the movement of the vehicle, and for a moment he didn't understand where he was until the pressure around his wrists reminded him that he was still restrained, still trapped, still not free; his breathing turned uneven as he forced his eyes open fully, staring at the dim, shifting interior of the van, different from the last one, unfamiliar, darker, and when he turned his head slightly toward the window he saw only blurred roads passing under streetlights, no familiar signs, no landmarks he could recognize, just endless motion taking him further away.
Vehicle finally slowed, turning off the main road, and Jun wei lifted his head slightly as the surroundings changed, the streets becoming wider, emptier, more controlled, until massive iron gates appeared ahead, opening slowly and beyond them stood a huge industrial complex stretching into the distance, far larger than the rail yard, surrounded by high security fences, blinking cameras, and armed guards patrolling in calm, practiced movements that made Jun Wei uneasy instantly because this didn't feel like a temporary hideout anymore, it felt permanent, deliberate, important, and as the van rolled deeper inside, he pressed closer to the small window despite his restraints, eyes widening slightly as he took in the scale of it all, whispering under his breath, "Where… is this place…?"
Then a rough voice from the front seat snapped through the silence, "Careful with him." followed by another voice answering casually, "The boss wants him intact," and Jun Wei froze at those words, Boss?!who wants to see me?! He thought. And van came to a stop inside the complex, the doors opening with a metallic clang that echoed in his chest, and when the guards outside stepped closer, one of them gestured sharply while speaking in a low voice, "Take him inside." while another added, "Don't damage him." and Jun Wei's heart sank further as he was pulled forward, forced to step out into the cold air, his legs unsteady as he looked up at the towering structure in front of him.
Back at the warehouse,Lian Ziho stood near the broken chair, staring at the empty space where Jun Wei had been, his jaw tight and his hands still slightly trembling as the sound of Jun Wei's scream kept repeating in his mind like an echo that refused to fade, and even though Zheng Rui was already moving around the room checking details, Lian Ziho didn't move, his eyes fixed on the chains, on the floor, on anything that could still feel like proof, as if staying there a little longer might somehow reverse what had happened.
Zheng Rui stopped what he was doing and turned toward him with a tired but firm expression, speaking more bluntly now, "We're not going to find him if you stay frozen here." "I heard him!" he said quietly, almost to himself, "I heard Jun Wei calling me." Zheng Rui exhaled sharply, running a hand through his hair as he stepped closer, "I know!" he said, tone softer but still direct, "but standing here isn't going to fix it."Lian Ziho's fingers curled slightly at his side as he finally looked up, frustration and guilt mixing in his eyes, "I was right there, Zheng rui!" he continued, "right there and I didn't.." he stopped himself, shaking his head slightly.
Zheng Rui cut in immediately, not unkindly but firmly, "You can hate yourself later." he said, stepping in front of him so he couldn't keep staring at the empty chair, "right now we need to find him." for a moment Lian Ziho didn't move, his breathing uneven as he looked away toward the dark interior of the warehouse, then slowly his shoulders lowered slightly and he gave a small nod, not fully calm but forcing himself forward,"Fine!" he muttered, voice rough, "tell me what you found."
Zheng rui turned back toward his equipment, "That's more like it," he said, "because you're not helping anyone like this." and as they both started moving again, Zheng rui's phone suddenly rang, he answered quickly, listening without interrupting, his expression changing little by little as the information came through, then he lowered the phone and looked at Lian Ziho, "We got something!" he said simply, and Lian ziho's head snapped up,"What?" Zheng rui didn't waste time, "One of the transport vehicles," he said, "matches the description from the rail yard!"
Lian Ziho stepped closer instantly, "Where?" Zheng Rui hesitated only for a second before replying,"We don't have a destination yet!" he admitted, then added,"but we have direction." Lian ziho frowned,"Direction isn't enough!" Zheng Rui nodded, already walking toward the exit, "It's better than nothing!" he said, "North industrial highway!""Then that's where we go!" he said without hesitation, and Zheng Rui glanced at him briefly, "You sure?" Lian Ziho didn't even slow down, "There's no other choice." he replied,and they reached the car, Zheng rui added quietly, "If we're wrong, we lose time." Lian Ziho opened the door, pausing only for a second as his hand tightened around Jun wei's bracelet and said,
"Then I'll make sure we're not wrong!" before getting inside, and as the engine started and the car pulled out into the dark road, Lian Ziho stared ahead, the bracelet still clenched in his hand, his voice lower now as he whispered, "Hold on, Wei Wei!" then after a pause, firmer, "This time…" his grip tightened slightly, eyes fixed on the road, "I'm not missing you again."