35: Chapter 35 Who is the Traitor?

The night was as dark as ink, and the abandoned industrial zone was so silent that one could only hear the wind and their own heartbeat.

Cao Kun and Liang Lingmeng, like two agile nocturnal animals, utilized the cover of shadows and dilapidated buildings to silently approach the seemingly dormant counterfeit factory once again.

The air was filled with the pungent smell of chemicals and the scent of rust.

Just as Liang Lingmeng had expected, the perimeter security of the factory had relaxed significantly. There were only a few listless guards, whose attention seemed focused on the external search, lacking vigilance toward the interior.

Relying on Liang Lingmeng's familiarity with the terrain, the two bypassed several surveillance blind spots without any mishaps and successfully infiltrated the storage area.

On the second floor of Building B, the door to the abandoned file room was left ajar; it was pitch black inside, heavy with the smell of dust.

The two slipped inside, one after the other.

The room was not large, piled with some dilapidated tables, chairs, and filing cabinets.

Liang Lingmeng precisely located the position of the third ceiling tile on the left, and Cao Kun tacitly moved over a relatively sturdy box to serve as a step, assisting her in retrieving the item.

But unexpectedly.

Liang Lingmeng groped for a long time, but found nothing.

She was a bit bewildered.

She had clearly put the item here! Had she remembered it wrong?

Just at this moment.

"Clap! Clap! Clap!"

Several high-power searchlights inside the warehouse suddenly turned on, and the blinding white light illuminated the entire room as if it were daytime!

At the same time, the sound of chaotic footsteps came from outside the door, and even from other hidden entrances to the room.

In the blink of an eye, twenty or thirty fierce thugs wielding clubs and machetes swarmed in, surrounding the two of them firmly in a fan shape!

The leader was none other than Sang Biao, who had a scar on his face and sinister eyes.

He was smoking a cigar, clapping his hands leisurely, with a cruel smile on his face like a cat playing with a mouse.

"Brilliant, truly brilliant!" Sang Biao exhaled a smoke ring. "Enforcement Officer Liang, I didn't expect you to be so bold as to actually dare to come back?"

"Are you looking for these?"

As he spoke, Sang Biao brought out the evidence.

Liang Lingmeng felt as if she had been struck by lightning and froze in place instantly.

The plan was exposed!

Not only did the other party know she would return, but they had also precisely set an ambush here!

"How could this be..." she muttered subconsciously, her brain racing.

Her and Cao Kun's operation had been extremely secretive, and they hadn't noticed being followed along the way.

Apart from herself and Cao Kun, the only one who knew she was coming back to retrieve the evidence was... her superior on the other end of the phone, Old Zhou!

A terrifying thought slithered into her mind like a viper.

She turned her head abruptly, her gaze piercing towards Cao Kun beside her like a knife!

It was him! It must be him!

Thinking back now.

The timing of Cao Kun's appearance was too coincidental, his skills were too good to be those of an ordinary passerby, and he had insisted on following along...

All of this must have been planned.

She had foolishly trusted a stranger and brought him to the most critical location!

Liang Lingmeng's heart sank into an ice cellar instantly; the boundless self-reproach and the anger of being deceived made her whole body feel cold.

She stared fixedly at Cao Kun, her eyes filled with the pain of betrayal and the despair about to erupt: "Was it you... did you tip them off?"

Cao Kun was also stunned by this sudden turn of events. Facing Liang Lingmeng's accusing gaze, he was just about to open his mouth to explain.

A voice, so familiar that it made Liang Lingmeng's heart stop, came from behind the crowd behind Sang Biao, carrying a heavy sigh and unconcealable exhaustion.

"Lingmeng... it wasn't him."

The crowd parted, and a middle-aged man in casual clothes with a haggard face slowly walked out.

It was none other than Liang Lingmeng's superior, her trusted contact, Old Zhou!

"Old Zhou?" Liang Lingmeng's pupils contracted sharply, and she could hardly believe her eyes. "How are you here?"

However, an even more devastating scene appeared.

Sang Biao nodded at Old Zhou, his tone even carrying a touch of hypocritical courtesy: "Enforcement Officer Zhou, come take a seat and watch a good show with me."

Old Zhou's body trembled almost imperceptibly. He didn't look at Sang Biao, but instead gazed at the stunned Liang Lingmeng with bloodshot eyes filled with immense pain.

Boom!

Liang Lingmeng felt the world spinning; it seemed as if the entire world had collapsed and shattered in an instant.

It wasn't Cao Kun... could it really be Old Zhou, the one she trusted and respected the most, who had cared for her like a mentor?

The one who had taught her case-solving techniques hand-in-hand when she first entered the Law Enforcement Bureau, ignorant and naive.

The one who had silently handed her a cup of hot tea when she was feeling down because of her mother's situation.

The Old Zhou who had always supported her on her path as an undercover agent and urged her to be extremely careful?

Memories surged in like a tide, the fragments clear yet heart-wrenching.

During her first mission, when she was so nervous her legs went weak, it was Old Zhou's calm voice guiding her over the communicator.

When she was injured during training, it was Old Zhou who carried her to the infirmary without a word.

During holidays, it was Old Zhou who silently sent her blessings as if she were his own daughter...

She had long regarded Old Zhou as an elder.

These bits and pieces of care had now turned into the sharpest irony, stabbing fiercely into her heart.

"Wh... why?" Liang Lingmeng's voice was dry and hoarse, every word squeezed from her throat, carrying disbelief, trembling, and a chill that seeped into her bones.

"Old Zhou... why was it you?"

Old Zhou avoided her agonized gaze, his hands clenched tightly into fists, his nails digging deep into his flesh.

His face was a mix of guilt, pain, struggle, and a numbness born of being pushed to the brink.

"Lingmeng..." His voice was terribly hoarse, as if he had aged ten years in an instant. "I'm sorry... I really... had no choice..."

He raised his head, his eyes red-rimmed, tears welling up within them: "My son... Xiaolei, he has uremia, it's in the terminal stage... he needs a kidney transplant, otherwise... otherwise he'll be gone..."

This usually resolute law Enforcement Officer was now choking with sobs, filled with the helplessness and despair of a father.

"I've searched through every channel, waited for nearly two years... a matched kidney source is like finding a needle in a haystack... I could sell everything I own for money, but time... time waits for no one!"

He closed his eyes in pain, then opened them again, his eyes filled with bottomless exhaustion and self-mockery.

"I've been an Enforcement Officer for nearly thirty years, caught so many bad guys, solved so many cases... but in the end, I can't even save my own son's life."

"I work day and night, I can't take care of my family, my wife complains, I can't even be by my son's side often when he's sick... I feel like such a fucking failure!"

His gaze shifted to Sang Biao and then quickly moved away, filled with humiliation and helplessness: "Just when I was desperate, they... they found me. They said they had a suitable kidney source... as long as I... as long as I turned a blind eye, and when necessary... provided a little convenience..."

He looked abruptly at Liang Lingmeng, tears finally rolling down. "Lingmeng, it's not that I didn't struggle! I hate myself! But I couldn't just watch my son die! He's only eighteen! His life has only just begun!"

"So... you betrayed me? Betrayed your duty? Betrayed this uniform you've worn for thirty years?"

Liang Lingmeng questioned him hoarsely, tears mixed with boundless anger and heartbreak rolling down.

She understood Old Zhou's pain, but that could not be an excuse for betrayal.

Old Zhou shook violently, shaking his head in pain: "No... I didn't want to... They forced me! Lingmeng, I really didn't want you to come back! When I called you, I hoped so much that you would just disappear and never show up again..."

"But they threatened me with Xiaolei, saying that even though Xiaolei has already had the kidney transplant, taking his life would still be easy. I had no choice..."

The truth was so cruel.

The betrayal did not stem from malice.

...