Qi Siyan watched Li Zhenmian go inside but didn’t leave immediately. He sat in the car for a long time.
There were things that needed to be looked into—why Zhizhi didn’t remember him, why the DNA test didn’t match.
The most troublesome thing right now was that he couldn’t live with Zhizhi…
After Li Zhenmian returned home, she was bombarded with messages from Yun Zhi. She called Yun Zhi back directly.
“Sis, are you okay? What happened last night…”
“Qi Siyan took me away last night—why didn’t any of you stop him?”
“I-I, we did try to stop him! But he insisted on taking you away, we couldn’t hold him back.”
Yun Zhi felt a bit guilty. In truth, they had watched Li Zhenmian being taken away without any attempt to stop him.
Li Zhenmian thought for a moment, then asked:
“Do you know what I did after I got drunk yesterday? Why did he suddenly take me away?”
Yun Zhi was also baffled. The way Qi Siyan had looked yesterday…
“Uh, you were just sitting there drinking, and then Qi Siyan carried you off.”
“But you did seem to say a few words to him at the time—though I was too far away to hear.”
Yun Zhi was inwardly frantic. Why hadn’t she been by Li Zhenmian’s side at such a critical moment? What had she missed!
Li Zhenmian: “I see.”
There was a cough on the other end of the line, hesitant.
“So, you two last night… cough… nothing happened, right?”
“No.” A simple, straightforward answer.
“That’s good, that’s good.” Yun Zhi breathed a sigh of relief. The cabbage was still intact.
After hanging up, Li Zhenmian curled up on the sofa, trying hard to recall everything from last night. What exactly had she said that caused such a drastic change in Qi Siyan?
But her memories from last night were wiped clean. She couldn’t remember anything at all.
Li Zhenmian felt a bit frustrated. She tugged at the edge of a throw pillow, thinking about how Qi Siyan had treated her—it was exactly how one would treat their lover.
So, was Qi Siyan really treating her as a substitute?
At that thought, Li Zhenmian’s eyes instantly turned cold.
In the afternoon, Li Zhenmian went straight to the Execution Department base. Xiao Jiying was training there today.
Seeing Li Zhenmian arrive, he immediately stopped and walked over.
“Ah Mian.”
Li Zhenmian nodded in response.
“Brother Jiying.”
“Here to train today?”
“Yeah. Did Brother Mo and the others all go out on missions?”
“Yeah, Brother Yu went to Luojiasi. Susu and Jiang Cheng are in the West City.”
“Oh.”
Li Zhenmian picked up a gun, weighing it in her hand. She loaded a round, aimed at the target ahead.
Bang. Dead center.
Xiao Jiying stared at the distant target and commented:
“Good marksmanship.”
“Thanks.”
This was also the first time Xiao Jiying had seen Li Zhenmian shoot. She held the gun with her right hand.
But Jiang Zhi had been left-handed, always shooting with her left.
Li Zhenmian went on to observe the training of the other team members. Each squad had about seven or eight people, each with their own specialties, but everyone had to possess basic self-defense skills.
Team Five usually operated independently on missions. Only when there were extremely important and difficult tasks would all five teams join forces, following the command center’s orders.
On the way back, Li Zhenmian and Xiao Jiying walked side by side.
Li Zhenmian lowered her head slightly.
“Brother Jiying, can you tell me about Jiang Zhi?”
Xiao Jiying paused.
“Why are you suddenly asking about Zhizhi?”
“I know I look a lot like her, so you were all surprised when you first saw me.”
Xiao Jiying hadn’t expected her to already know.
“Ah Mian, don’t overthink it.”
“So… can you tell me about her?”
Xiao Jiying was silent for a moment, then spoke:
“Zhizhi… entered the base when she was 16. When she first arrived, she was small and thin, but she always had a smile on her face, like a little sun.”
As he spoke, a faint smile crept into his eyes.
“We thought there was no way this little girl could handle the base’s intense training, but we all underestimated her.”
“She was better than any of us.”
Then, as if remembering something, his expression turned sorrowful.
“Later… no one could have imagined that such a bright, resilient girl had been carrying so much.”
The atmosphere suddenly grew heavy. Xiao Jiying fell silent.
Jiang Zhi had once been the most carefree and unrestrained girl among them—mischievous, but always knowing her limits.
Jiang Zhi was lively and playful, while Li Zhenmian was the opposite—cool and aloof.
They could always see a brilliant smile on Zhizhi’s face. She was like a little sun, warming everyone around her.
But they never knew that behind that warm, lovely girl lay so much weight—so much pain that even they couldn’t bear.
Even crawling through darkness, she still moved toward the light.
When Jiang Zhi became team captain, they had their doubts. Mo Yu had even lectured her, telling her to be more composed.
But later, all they wanted was to see more smiles on her face, brighter than ever. It didn’t matter if she caused trouble—they would have her back, protecting her for life.
But there was no “later”…
She rested with that island in the deep sea, taking all that darkness with her.
…
Listening to his description, Li Zhenmian recalled that photograph, and she could imagine how wonderful that radiant girl must have been.
Qi Siyan stood not far away, watching coldly as Li Zhenmian and Xiao Jiying walked over side by side.
The two of them were chatting about something, unaware of him standing ahead.
Su Pei suddenly felt a chill run down his spine and quietly took a step back.