Leo couldn't remember how he managed to squeeze out of the circle of reporters, and how he returned to the office building. The noise from the outside world seemed to come from myriad radio frequencies, unintelligible and insignificant. When he locked the door of his office and excluded all of other people's concerns and prying, he felt that the whole world suddenly became silent.
He sat in his chair like a statue, expressionless and motionless, until the intercom rang sharply.
It rang for a long time before he finally pressed the answer button.
The voice of his immediate superior, Gordy, came out from the phone. The old FBI agent who was about to retire always spoke slowly, but now it was with an irrepressible agitation, "What the hell are you doing, Leo?"
"I'm sorry." Leo replied in a low voice.
"You're not good at this so there's no need to apologize. I just want an explanation as to why you've put yourself in such an embarrassing and passive situation to the point where it nearly went completely out of control? It's like it was another person who was on the witness stand." Gordy questioned strictly.
"...I'm sorry." Leo repeated a few seconds of silence, refusing to say another word.
Gordy fumed: "If we aren't in such an urgent situation, I would have given you a beating myself! I have instructed 'our people' in the media to try delaying the spread of what happened as long as possible to suppress the likely unfavorable publicity. As for you, I'll give you 12 hours to-by any means-get that defense attorney to admit to the reporter that he gave false testimony. Leo, this is your only chance to fix this, and I hope you understand how big this mess you've stirred up is!"
"I understand." Leo said, "There's a simpler solution: I'll resign and go to jail."
Gordy seemed to choke, and then he growled, "You did the stupid thing yourself, so go wipe your own ass! Don't just throw your hands up, walk away, and leave this mess to someone else! You want to retire in prison? What about all the energy the government spent on you? How about all the expenditure you've accumulated? Who will pay for it? You bastards are too young! How naïve! Do you think you can handle all of it by yourself once things get completely out of control?"
He took a deep breath, tried to calm his emotions, and said with bitterness "Now, now, go figure out what to do! Get moving! Don't fucking give up on yourself and remember, you only have 12 hours!"
The man on the other line hung up the call with a bang, leaving Leo, who was still holding the phone, in a daze. After such a big mistake, that old man, Gordy, was still desperately trying to protect and save him, which made his eyes warm.
In fact, his situation wasn't completely helpless. As Gordy said, that lawyer was a good point to breakthrough. Everyone has weak points. So long as he employs a less "openhearted" means to hold the opponent's weakness, even if he couldn't solve this crisis immediately, he could make the situation develop favorably towards his direction.
He just felt frustrated-
-- About Sha Qing, about his own complex and contradictory feelings, about the unclear and entangled fetter of gratitude and grievances between the two of them.
They attract and repel each other, save and hurt each other, and neither of them could one-sidedly end their twisted relationship.
Leo tried. In the courtroom, he tried to abandon his personal feelings, and treat Sha Qing as a stranger and a criminal. What he got was a pitfall of flashing knives and swords, and the intensified clashing of fire and water.
"And by that, you mean you think it is possible for him to prey on innocent people in the future even if he has never done so before?"
"...... Yes."
He would never forget the glimpse of pain in Sha Qing's eyes when he uttered that word of confirmation.
Those eyes felt like a pale hand, squeezing his heart and dragging it all the way to the abyss of depravity.
At that moment, he thought he heard the sorrowful cry from the depths of his own soul.
He knew what that pain in Sha Qing's eyes meant.
It's the pain of the extreme disappointment in someone, in his own self-for putting that person in a special place in his heart, for trusting that person on a spiritual level, for thinking that in this fucked up world, there's always someone who would understand and believe in him.
He knew it, but chose the latter between intuition and reason, and deeply stabbed Sha Qing's soft spot. That blade pierced the part where their mind and spirit intermingled, causing destruction to both sides.
Does it hurt?
Yes, but you have to get used to it, Leo warned himself, because it will hurt more in the future.
If this pain was a punishment for his own hypocrisy, then he must bear it all.
A ring sounded again, but this time, it's from his mobile phone.
Leo looked at it, and the name of <Molly> flashed on the screen.
Molly! Li Biqing! He almost forgot this... After Sha Qing's arrest, he displayed a non-violent yet non-cooperative attitude, and refused to answer the content related to the situation. In addition, he was seriously injured and had to be sent to prison first, so he didn't have the time to ask Sha Qing about the place where he put Li Biqing under house arrest.
How was he going to face Molly, who had been completely in the dark of what happened?
Leo wiped his face with his palm and reluctantly connected to call. When he learned that his sister would take the flight back to New York the day after tomorrow, he was like a death-row prisoner who had been given a two-day reprieve- despite his unchangeable doomed end, he still felt grateful that his demise was delayed even for a minute.
He must rescue Li Biqing. For the mistakes he made, he alone should bear the consequences- no need to drag uninvolved people into it. He also just lost a lover, so how could he let Molly suffer the same pain.
Leo let out a long sigh.
After a moment, he seemed like he finally found the course of action that he needed to do, so he got up from his chair.
Rob hovered outside the closed office door, worried, but he didn't dare knock for fear that he would disturb the man inside. Amidst his dilemma, the door suddenly opened, and his partner stepped out, the latter's face calm and steady, just like the usual.
"Rob, I'll go to MCC. You go outside the parking lot and help me break away from the reporter."
"...Leo?"
"What is it?"
Rob stared at his face, but he found no abnormalities. He asked, with hesitation, "Are you... okay?"
"I'm fine." Leo gave a brief reply, patted his partner's arm, walking passed by him.
"Huh, an overly calm sea is a harbinger of the storm." Rob muttered then tried to catch up with Leo, "Are you going to MCC? Is it to see Sha Qing? Wait, leave your gun here! Impulse is the devil's brother..."
*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*
Leo came to the correctional center again. The warden was away, but the prison guard in charge of reception was very polite to him, even preparing a meeting room with the best conditions.
The meeting room was small, it's walls covered with floral wallpaper. It was equipped with a framed bed and although its style was quite outdated, the mattress and sheets looked clean and tidy. A fake open window can be found on the side, with a green lawn sticker being used to forge the non-existent courtyard scenery.
At the other end of the room was a simple sofa, coupled with a small coffee table decorated with magazines and plastic flowers. Everything looked simple, deliberately creating a warm ambiance. This was the so-called "husband and wife room" for the prisoner's spouse to use when visiting the prison where they can enjoy the right to privacy, so the supply exceeds demand. As long as one is willing to spend more money, some secret meetings that you don't want to be known could also be arranged here.
According to regulations, the visitation span is one hour. The guards would close the soundproof door when they leave, and they wouldn't knock on the door until the time is over.
When Leo walked into the room, he saw a man with cuffed hands and feet, quietly sitting on the edge of the bed.
When the man heard the noise, he slowly looked up and chuckled at the person who walked in, "I really am surprised, agent. I thought you would never take the initiative to come see me for the rest of your life-unless I dig a hole and escape from here."
Leo sullenly dragged a chair and sat down opposite him.
"Where is Li Biqing?" He asked, cutting to the chase.
"You're not even asking how I'm doing here. I thought you would visit me, at least even once."
"You once said that someone is watching over him. If that person found out that you were in jail, would they hurt him?"
"I remembered that you owned several sets of books I wrote. Did you throw them away? Sorry for not telling you about my other identity in advance. As a low-key author, I always feel a little shy when facing fans, you know."
Leo, with gritted teeth, continued to ask questions that seemed to fall on deaf ears, "You're a killer who considers yourself to be principled. But are you going to make an exception for Li Biqing? You used and imprisoned him, an innocent person. Why does he have to suffer all of these?"