Save people, hang yourself?
Drunk people have dulled senses but heightened emotions.
They become more melancholic and lose their perception of external stimuli.
This is similar to how some people easily cry, laugh, or become rowdy after getting drunk.
No matter how fast they drive, they don't feel it's fast; no matter how loud the sound in their ears, they don't feel it's loud.
They completely and thoroughly let themselves go.
Even Chen Xiao exclaimed that he couldn't take it anymore...
...
In the early hours of the morning, Chen Xiao had just lit a cigarette while sitting on the living room sofa.
Just then, he suddenly heard a "whoosh," followed by a dark figure falling from outside the window.
"Holy crap!"
Chen Xiao's first thought was that someone had jumped.
He quickly ran to the window sill to look.
He saw a man, with ropes tied around his waist and neck, suspended in mid-air, struggling painfully, his face already turning blue, his eyes starting to roll back, clearly on the verge of collapse.
No matter what, saving a life was paramount.
Chen Xiao grabbed the rope, pulling him closer to the wall.
But the man had already lost his mind in panic, flailing his limbs and unable to find a point of leverage.
Chen Xiao shouted, "Grab the security bars!"
Only then did the man react, clutching the security bars tightly with both hands, which relieved some pressure on his neck, at least creating a gap for his windpipe to breathe.
Chen Xiao assessed the situation; the rope was wrapped around his neck, and pulling him up would likely strangle him.
He ripped off the curtain, twisted it into a rope, and threw it down, "Grab this; I'll use it to pull you up later."
The man nodded, trembling, and quickly tied the curtain around his waist.
Seeing that he had secured it, Chen Xiao said, "You also pull yourself up, and don't look down."
"Okay, okay..."
After catching his breath for a while, the man could speak and immediately nodded vigorously.
Chen Xiao flexed his arms, then exerted force, pulling the bedsheet up with all his might.
The man outside, having calmed down, was also very cooperative, ignoring the fear of being suspended, and climbing upward with force, using every possible point of leverage.
The two of them struggled for seven or eight minutes before finally pulling him from outside the window into the room.
Chen Xiao and the man collapsed on the floor, almost exhausted, breathing heavily.
"Damn, what were you thinking of to kill yourself?"
"Bro, bro, I wasn't trying to commit suicide... I fell by accident."
Chen Xiao: "!??!"
"Are you an air conditioner repairman?"
The man shook his head, "I, I'm a reporter..."
"Huh? A reporter?" Chen Xiao looked bewildered, "As a reporter, why were you jumping from a building?"
The two of them caught their breath on the floor for a while, then got up and sat on the sofa. Chen Xiao lit a cigarette for him, and the man began to tell his story.
"Sigh, I'm an entertainment reporter. Tonight, a certain celebrity was staying with a female Jinning University student in the building opposite."
"Only this building offers the best shooting angle, but there are no windows facing it in the hallway, so I had to tie myself with a rope and rappel down."
"It was all going well, but I got too engrossed in filming and didn't notice the rope wrapped around my neck three times. Then my foot slipped, and I ended up hanging myself right there."
Chen Xiao: "..."
Damn, what a character!
The commotion in the living room hadn't disturbed the three girls; they were all deep in sweet slumber.
"Brother, what's your name?"
The man finished a cigarette, his hands still trembling.
"Brother, my name is An Zhong. You saved my life today. From now on, whenever you need me, just say the word. Through mountains of knives and seas of fire, I won't even bat an eyelid."
Chen Xiao was surprised; this was a man of strong character.
"No need to be so polite. Human lives are at stake; no one would stand by and do nothing if they encountered it."
"Eh? Brother, you can't say that. Although I'm not a hard news reporter, I know a lot about real-life news. There are plenty of people who stand by and do nothing."
"Anyway, no matter what, I'll never forget this life-saving kindness."
Chen Xiao said, "You're welcome. But you can't do such dangerous things again in the future."
An Zhong sighed, "Sigh! I'm not going to do that anymore. The money I earn isn't even enough to buy equipment and pay for medical treatment."
"A while ago, I spent 4 hours squatting in a pool with an oxygen tank, and I finally got the information, but the camera got water damaged, and another ten thousand yuan was gone."
Chen Xiao: "..."
"In the pool, you weren't discovered?"
"Heh, I had camouflage fabric. I'd squat in a corner, the same color as the surrounding tiles, with only the lens eye exposed."
Chen Xiao: "..."
"Awesome."
"Another time, I squatted in a manhole for seven days and almost suffocated. And in a trash can, I almost got taken away by the garbage truck..."
Chen Xiao was shocked. You... are too dedicated.
"My goodness, is this how all your jobs are?"
An Zhong waved his hand, "Not at all. Only for high-value targets do I personally take action. Usually, informants are enough. I'm not bragging, but I have over a dozen informants just at Jinning University."
Chen Xiao grew more excited the more he listened, "You do all this, and you don't even make money?"
"Make money? Most of the information is bought by the parties involved themselves. We only get a small cut, maybe less than ten thousand a month, and we still have to support the informants."
Chen Xiao mused that he would definitely need specialized intelligence personnel in the future. After all, as his path broadened, he would encounter all sorts of characters.
Not just intelligence personnel, but security, legal, and other teams also needed to be established when the opportunity arose.
Otherwise, even a scoundrel like Xing Yanqing could easily barge into his office and flaunt his power, which would be too terrifying.
Thinking of this, Chen Xiao said, "Brother An, let's go out for a drink. It'll help calm your nerves."