"Let go!"

Ji Qiuhan tried to open the door with one hand and struggled to break free from Jiang Zhan's restraint with the other. His determination and resistance only further infuriated the man. In the next second, his wrist, along with his entire body, was forcefully pulled down onto the couch by an unstoppable force.

Have you made enough trouble?! I sympathize with you for holding your anger, but you're not finished yet!

Ji Qiuhan met his gaze head-on and said, "Jiang Zhan, don't talk to me in such a patronizing tone! Who do you think you are to treat me like this?!"

Jiang Zhan didn't expect Jiqiuhan to still dare to oppose him at this moment. He couldn't help but laugh in anger and said, "Why? This is the third time you've said this to me. Let's see if I can manage to change things for you today, all at once!"

After finishing speaking, Jiang Zhan immediately took action...

For a moment, a tremendous shame, accompanied by pain, surged straight into Ji Qiuhan's brain nerves, driving him to desperately escape from this humiliating form of punishment.

"Don't move again!"

"What do you think I don't know about the events of the past month? What have you been up to? I suspect you're planning to rebel!"

Ji Qiuhan endured the pain that trailed behind him. It was impossible for him to just lie there and take a beating. He discreetly seized the opportunity, his peripheral vision locked onto the right moment. After all, he had practiced flipping over 400-meter hurdles countless times. Just as the palm behind him was about to land, the restraints on his waist loosened momentarily. Without hesitation, Ji Qiuhan swiftly executed a flip, agilely leaping over the backrest of the couch, and made a dash for the dining table.

The sudden unexpected turn of events left Jiang Zhan stunned for a brief moment.

Obviously, since Jiang Zhan came to power, there has never been a situation where someone dared to run away in the middle of a fight.

Returning my senses, terrifying waves surged in Jiang Zhan's amber eyes. "Come here!"

Through the rectangular marble dining table, Ji Qiuhan gasped for air after surviving a catastrophe, "No... impossible!"

Jiang Zhan no longer wasted words. He strode forward to grab someone, but Ji Qiuhan quickly dodged in the opposite direction. The dining table was an excellent terrain for a tug of war. After going back and forth for two rounds, Jiang Zhan directly unhooked the belt from his waist with one hand.

Holding a winter high fashion design by a top designer, Jiang Zhan folded it in his hand and threateningly pointed it at his panic-stricken lover across from him.

"It's one thing for you to obediently come over now, and it's another thing for me to catch you. Think about it for yourself, hmm?"

The Adam's apple rolled unnaturally. Ji Qiuhan had been with Jiang Zhan for almost a year, and naturally knew his lover's stubborn temperament. He also knew the disastrous consequences of what Jiang Zhan referred to as "another matter."

His gaze, no longer calm as before, fell on the pitch-black, resilient leather belt in Jiang Zhan's hands. Behind him, memories of unforgettable pain seemed to flood back in an instant. Ji Qiuhan moved his lips but struggled to speak:

"Jiang Zhan...! You can't...!"

The negotiations proved ineffective, and Jiang Zhan's last ounce of patience was exhausted.

In the next second, Jiang Zhan raised his leg and kicked the table, causing the heavy dining table to screech against the floor under the fierce force. It abruptly jerked forward, and the hard marble edge of the table collided with Ji Qiuhan's thigh bone.

"Uh...!" Ji Qiuhan grimaced in pain, hunching over. In that moment, Jiang Zhan took a step forward and quickly seized him.

"Can't you run? Come on, let's see you run again?"

Just as he finished putting on his pajama pants, he was unsurprisingly slapped hard from behind. In the blink of an eye, Ji Qiuhan was once again pressed down onto that wicked couch. Despite his tall stature of over 1.8 meters, Jiang Zhan's furious subordinates were surprisingly powerless to fight back.

"Look at what you've become? Going home only three times in a month, working nonstop for twenty-four hours straight. Do you think you're some kind of superhuman?"

"What's with all the junk food that you've ordered on your phone? Are you not going to take care of your stomach?"

"You dare to run after being taught a lesson!"

The sound of the wind tearing through the air could be heard as the belt descended with a chilly gust.

Ji Qiuhan didn't know how Jiang Zhan knew about all these things, but the immediate pain left him no time to ponder. He could only muster all his strength and sanity, gritting his teeth tightly to suppress the almost bursting plea for mercy.

Jiang Zhan asked him three times if he still dared to run. During the last time, Ji Qiuhan, whose rational nerves were engulfed by overwhelming pain, had a thin layer of sweat covering his fair and smooth forehead. With a hoarse voice, he replied, "...no, I...I don't dare anymore..."

The new pain has ceased, but the old pain lingers, just when Ji Qiuhuan felt that it was finally coming to an end.

He heard Jiang Zhan ask,

"Did you ever consider the possibility that the other person might have had a knife when you charged up there alone yesterday afternoon?"

Ji Qiu's body stiffened in an instant.

As it turned out, Jiang Zhan knew.

The decision to make the arrest was made during a meeting yesterday. The notorious cross-province child trafficking case, which has caused a great uproar, is now reaching its final stages. The main suspects of the criminal activities have already been captured and brought to justice, with the exception of one ringleader who is still on the run. This individual had spent several years in prison earlier in his life, possesses a strong counter-surveillance awareness, and is exceptionally skilled in disguise.

After learning that he intended to escape by taking the two o'clock afternoon bus, Ji Qiuhan, along with the three teams he led and three snipers brought in from the Special Police Force, had already set up an early ambush at the bus station, surrounding intersections, and nearby buildings. However, despite the passing of four o'clock, the target had yet to appear.

As Ji Qiuhuan finished smoking and came out of the restroom, he accidentally collided with a rural woman carrying a bag. Though it was just a brush against each other, his professional sensitivity immediately made him realize that something was amiss.

The appearance is similar, but it changed from a man to a woman.

S City is a first-tier municipality with a large population flow. The bus station experiences a peak in commuter traffic in the afternoon, and the diverse crowd is like a tidal wave, jostling and engulfing an individual within a matter of seconds.

No way we can let him escape!

Ji Qiuhan almost rushed forward without thinking. However, he didn't expect that person had already prepared to go all-out, taking a risk of sacrificing everything. In the split second when he dodged the knife, his vulnerability was seized by someone who swiftly twisted his arm, and the hidden blade glimmered as it came striking towards him. He had no choice but to abandon one side.

The sound of a dislocated joint snapping reached the top of Season Qinghan's head. Enduring the excruciating pain, he found relief as the criminal was finally subdued by his arriving colleague.

Later, even the colleagues in the same group were trembling with fear. If he had hesitated for even a moment longer, perhaps a blade would have been thrust into his eyes, piercing through his skull, extracting his brain.

What was even more chilling afterward was the discovery of a homemade bomb hidden in the suspect's clothing at the police station, which could have been easily triggered during the struggle...

He dare not imagine the consequences.

Jiang Zhan...! This is my duty. In that kind of situation, I must step forward...!

"What is your duty? To act like a fool and charge ahead without considering anything? Have you ever thought about what would happen if others were holding guns instead of knives? Do you still have the audacity to talk to me about responsibilities?"

Accompanied by Jiang Zhan's furious reprimand, Ji Qiuhuan was on the verge of becoming completely numb with pain.

"Apologize and assure me that you won't do it again next time."

Jiang Zhan's voice was calm, but he did not give him any right to refuse.

Ji Qiuhan tightly bit his pale lips, lowering his eyelashes.

In the depths of the mind, the missing memories trembled like a collapsing skyscraper in this very moment.

He admitted that his impulsive decision-making this time was indeed a mistake. His rationality was instantly burned away when he laid eyes on that face, simply because during the full three months of the investigation, he stared at this face, which bore an uncanny resemblance to hatred and evil, unable to fall asleep.

It has been sixteen years. Countless times, in the dead of night, he wakes up from recurring nightmares. He hears his sister Ji Xia's piercing screams in his dreams, but he can't find her body, nor can he find the baby in her belly.

And the appearance that is extremely similar to the escaped murderer from the case on 5.23 sixteen years ago, instantly fills him with deep-seated hatred, blood boiling in his veins.

He must catch him...he couldn't care about anything else!

Ji Qiuhuan closed her eyes, and all the words became like a dream that was difficult to express clearly, a tangled lump stuck in her throat.

"You hit me..."

Ji Qiuhan said, the missing memories seem to have plunged him into a state of self-destructive despair, deep in the recesses of his mind, the pitch-black abyss-like gaps in his memories scream at him, like pairs of resentful eyes.

He needed to suffer punishment for his mistakes, whether it was yesterday or sixteen years ago...