Infinity Armament Prologue (Part 3)

Translated by: La Phong

Edited by: Cherry Blossoms/Leo

Prologue (Part 3)

The atmosphere suddenly quieted down.

Shen Yi no longer spoke, Li Qiang as well.

Shen Yi curled up his whole body on the sofa, like he was thinking hard about something, his eyes showing a ray of reminiscence.

After a while, he finally spoke with a low voice.

“My parents died early, only leaving an apartment and a sum of money to me, nothing more. I had no other relatives, Liu Qing’s parents adopted me…”

Li Qiang silently looked at him.

“From primary school, we grew up together. I played together with Qing Qing, we were very good friends. At fourteen years old, we had some ignorant knowledge of love. So we secretly… proposed to get married.”

Talking while recalling the past, he remembered an interesting memory, Shen Yi laughed.

His eyes showed an infinite attachment to the past.

He looked at Li Qiang, “Teenage feelings, have you ever …?”

Li Qiang very seriously replied, “Thirteen years old, one year earlier than you.  A week after I was lovelorn, cried bitterly, tried to drink like adult, even fought with others; the result was a “meal” of beating from my dad.”

Shen Yi once again laughed, he gave Li Qiang a thumb up.

Then he continued with a low voice, “Liu Qing’s parents had to take care of me, knowing that we were not sensible, but really loved each other, so they didn’t object to our proposal. I am two years older than Qing Qing. When I was 18 years old, I was admitted into North University. Liu Qing’s father helped me out, but I didn’t expect that not long after I took off for school, Qing Qing met that accident.”

“That case…” When Li Qiang was about to say something, Shen Yi stopped him. He looked very seriously at Li Qiang, “You are a police officer, you know the law, then you tell me, raping, beating to death, how is the sentence?”

Li Qiang sighed, “An ordinary raping case will be sentenced three years imprisonment. More than two men doing a gangbang, resulting in the victim being seriously injured, death or other serious consequences, is judged as an intentional homicide case.”

“How did they judge?”

“Ordinary raping case… three years.”

“Actually two years and two months, with “good behavior in prison”. Three people went to prison on the same day and also left on the same day. Their life in prison was comfortable as it was outside.” Shen Yi said.

“You listen to me, we all know that in this world, there is always some bastards who tarnish their duties, but you can’t, because of this reason…”

Shen Yi unceremoniously interrupted Li Qiang, “Liu Qing’s father appealed three times, you know what the result was?”

Li Qiang hesitated, this thing he didn’t know.

“All three appeals were dismissed. Liu Qing’s father no longer believed in the local tribunal and decided to go to the capital. The result? His legs were crippled and was also deadly threatened, their house was burned too. Liu Qing’s mother took care of Liu Qing’s father everyday except for when she used her own tears to wash her face. She almost had a stroke, their health was never as good as it used to be. But even in their hardest times, they didn’t interrupt my schooling.”

Li Qiang’s expression dulled like a stone and he couldn’t say a word.

Shen Yi’s expression was always very calm, but Li Qiang could feel that the anger and hatred in his heart was deep as the sea.

He slowly said, “There were a lot of people involved in this case, but no one was equitable.”

Li Qiang sighed.

Shen Yi leaned on the sofa, “You see, I don’t want to oppose the country nor do I want to oppose society, I even believe that this country will get better and better, that this kind of thing will happening less and less. But it doesn’t mean that we have to endure these bad things. The future may be good, but for now, someone needs to fight the bad. Since some things can’t be done by relying on others, I will simply solve them by myself.”

Li Qiang was stunned.

After a while, he said, “I don’t think I need to tell you what the consequences are, do I?”

Shen Yi replied, “Liu Qing’s father told me from a young age, that if a man wants to do something, he must first consider the consequences. He wanted to persuade me to do things with careful thought, and not by impulse. But in my view, these words had another meaning: As long as I bear the consequences of my doings, then I can do anything I want… This was the biggest difference between me and those bastards.”

Li Qiang was speechless again.

Shen Yi smiled, “I have investigated you, I know you are a good police officer.”

Li Qiang was stunned.

He saw Shen Yi tick his finger at him and said, “Come with me.”

He went to the bedroom.

Readily taking out a recording pen, he threw it on bed, and pointed at Li Qiang. Shen Yi said to Zhou Ze’s parents, “This is the Captain of Criminal Investigation Department Li Qiang, he was here to save you, but as you can see, he can’t save you now. Without my consent, this place is like a powder keg, anyone who dares to come in will be die. I’ll give you one last chance, I know you made a lot of effort to save your son. Now, all you have to do is talk with this captain about everything, all your wrongdoings, and all the people involved. By the way, even if you say, “but you know everything”, but the Captain Li here doesn’t know.”

Shen Yi turned to go out, but when he arrived at the door, he suddenly asked Li Qiang, “What do you want to eat?”

“Ah?” Li Qiang confused.

Shen Yi seriously said, “I am hungry, the refrigerator also has lobster. Want to have a taste at my braised lobster?”

Li Qiang nodded, he watched Shen Yi go into the kitchen, and then went back to see the bedroom.

With his professional ability, he has absolute certainty that in the shortest possible time, he could remove all the explosives.

And he was very doubtful if Shen Yi really, as he said, could produce nitroglycerin. Not to mention that those raw materials were controlled by the government, even if he can get the raw materials, these nitroglycerine explosives were unstable, and doesn’t meet the current needs of Shen Yi.

But he didn’t know why; he didn’t want to untie the lead.

He sat on the bed, watching Zhou Ze ‘s parents, slowly talk, “Well then, talk about the things you did…”

Forty minutes later, Li Qiang knew everything.

During this time, the phone rang twice, but was sent off by Li Qiang’s “still in the negotiations” sentence.

His mood was very heavy, but he didn’t know the right thing to say.

Looking at the parents and their son one last time, he picked up the recorder and left the bedroom.

Shen Yi had been eating lobster.

Seeing Li Qiang come out, he pointed to a bowl of lobster on the table, “I prepared this for you, this is not a bribe, alright?”

Li Qiang sat in front of the bowl of lobster and watched Shen Yi.

He said, “They’ve all been recorded, those people… they’re going to be punished by the law, oh, and something you didn’t find.”

“I know some that are some people that I can’t find out about, but that doesn’t matter, they will be found anyways.” Shen Yi showed his two hands which was full of grease.

“So you …” Li Qiang suddenly realized, “You designed all this, you deliberately led me over, you want me to arrest the people you couldn’t find?”

“The key was your personal participation in this process. I knew that the evidence generated under the conditions of coerced intimidation, usually doesn’t have legal effect, but with you as a witness, its properties are not the same. I couldn’t touch Zhou Ze sooner because it would have led to your early detection, so the only choice left was a compromised approach. First dealing with the others without letting you immediately find the problem, and then you would help me solve the part I can’t solve on my own… so many people had died, no one could ever cover this kind of thing. “

“Your thoughts are really comprehensive… You are the one who sent that file to Li Xiaoyue, right? Otherwise, it couldn’t be so coincidental. How did you steal the file?”

Shen Yi smiled, “I graduated three years ago and worked at a computer company. Your Public Security Bureau bought some instruments from my company, and I did the debugging and installation work myself. It took a lot of effort, I arranged the sale, started a small fire, and stole the file. As for Li Xiaoyue… Well, to be honest, she doesn’t know who I am, I took the initiative to give her clues, she was easy to fool; she was a little girl after all. When you go back, don’t judge her too hard.”

“You actually prepared for this day for three years…” Li Qiang still couldn’t believe.

“Seven years.” Shen Yi corrected him, “From the day they were sentenced, I began to plan, to research, to investigate. I made friends with police, learned how you approach your cases, how you study the target, how you take action. In order to ensure an effective operation, I even accumulated the criminal experience of burglary, I stole eleven family’s TV remote controls, robbed six stores of books, it really scared them… So I have planned and made preparation for a full seven years.”

Li Qiang couldn’t say a word.

He reluctantly watched Shen Yi’s smile.

Shen Yi pointed to the lobster, asked Li Qiang, “You really don’t want to try? My braised lobster is very tasty.”

Li Qiang shook his head.

“It’s a pity. Qing Qing liked to eat my braised lobster very much.” Shen Yi shook his head as well and sighed.

His eyes once again shed a ray of reminiscence.

It also had… a painful and tragic look.

After eating the last lobster, he walked into the bedroom.

Li Qiang seemed to be aware of what was going to happen, he turned and shouted, “Shen Yi! Don’t!”

“Bang!”

The sound of a gunshot.

Then there were four other “bangs” that sounded, along with screams like squealing pigs.

Shen Yi came out.

He wiped the red liquid on his face and whispered, “I killed Zhou Ze, and as for his father and mother, their kneecaps are broken, and they can no longer stand up again in their whole lifetime.”

Shen Yi’s expression was always calm.

He went out the door.

Looking at the back of Shen Yi, Li Qiang thought of one thing – If he remembered right, then the five shots should have been the last five rounds of bullets in Shen Yi’s gun.

Standing in the doorway, Shen Yi casually said, “Oh, I forgot to tell you, those explosives were false, but I think you had already guessed that. One thing that I didn’t lie about, is that… you are a good police officer. Thank you. “

His face filled with a smile of satisfaction.

He had specifically given Li Qiang the opportunity to dispose the bombs, but Li Qiang didn’t do so.

Having said that, he strode outside the building.

 Standing alone in the living room, Li Qiang closed his eyes.

He picked up the lobster, and tasted it in his mouth.

Tastes really good.

Outside the villa, Shen Yi raised his gun in front of a group of police officers.

The sound of gunshot echoed.

    ***

One year later.

Li Qiang held flowers and came to Lake View Public Cemetery.

On the tombstone, Shen Yi’s portrait still smiled.

Next to it was the tombstone of Liu Qing.

When still living they couldn’t be together. At least after their death they could finally be buried in the same place.

Placing the flowers on the grave, Li Qiang said, “Shen Yi brother, although I still don’t agree with your approach, but I still wish for you to have a place to rest in heaven, together with Qing Qing.”

He gave a tribute to the tombstone.

Turning away, he saw an old couple not far from him.

The man was sitting in a wheelchair and the woman was pushing the wheelchair.

Li Qiang’s heart suddenly jumped, he stepped forward, “Are you Liu Qing’s parents?”

The old couple nodded.

“Shen Yi has already gone, your life…”

The old man in the wheelchair replied, “Little Yi had arranged everything well before going on that path. He made sure that we didn’t have to worry about money for the rest of our lives. If someone really had to worry about it, it was those bastards who deserved it.”

“They have been severely punished by the law.” Li Qiang earnestly answered.

“We already know.” The old woman sighed, “We also know that this was due to your credit. I heard you withstood a lot of pressure, there were even threats to your life.”

Li Qiang smiled, “There are several major officials off their horses, a few underworld underlings were sent, and a few fishes that slipped through the net wanted to vent, it was very normal. Anyways, as a police officer, I can’t say that I’m a hero, but at least I should be considered worthy of the uniform on this body, worthy of my vows to join the Communist Party. “

The old couple at the same time bowed to Li Qiang.

After the old couple left, Li Qiang walked alone on the trail.

Looking up at the blue sky and the dark clouds above his head that was quietly drifting away…

Chapter end