Chapter 1

Chapter 1

When Shen Zhaoxue was pushed into the interrogation room, the first thing she saw was a lamp.

Sitting beneath its light was Zhou Huaiyan.

He wore a black uniform. His collar was buttoned to the very top. His epaulettes were cold and hard, matching his expression.

Three years ago, he hadn’t been like this.

Back then, he always complained that the sleeves of his traditional robes got in the way. When he wrote letters to her, he would roll his sleeves up to his wrists. His handwriting was lean, yet his strokes were steady.

Now, his hand rested upon her case file.

That hand was excessively clean.

It didn’t look like a hand that had ever held a gun.

“Reporter Shen.” He looked up. “Explain yourself. Why were you at No. 3 Fu’an Lane at 9:27 tonight?”

Shen Zhaoxue stood before the desk.

Her wrists were chafed red by the ropes. She didn’t look at the injury; she only looked at him.

After a long silence, she smiled.

“Officer Zhou is certainly being polite.”

The clerk’s pen paused.

Zhou Huaiyan didn’t move.

“I thought the first thing you’d ask would be, ‘Shen Zhaoxue, how are you not dead after these three years?'”

The interrogation room fell silent.

Tonight, a radio station had been discovered at No. 3 Fu’an Lane. Two codebooks. And a corpse.

She was the first person apprehended at the scene.

Zhou Huaiyan had written all of this in the file.

He turned a page. “Whom does the radio belong to?”

“Aren’t you the expert at investigating?”

“Shen Zhaoxue.”

It was the first time he had called her by her full name tonight.

Her heart felt as if it had been pricked by an old needle.

Three years ago, he had called her that way too.

That day, the Shen family home was draped in red silk. Her mother had smiled, telling him it was time to change how he addressed her. He had looked down at her, the brightness of youth still in his eyes.

He had said, “Zhaoxue, after tomorrow, you can’t back out.”

But the next day, the groom never came.

The Zhou family closed their doors. The Shen family was raided. Her father died in prison.

Everyone said Zhou Huaiyan had sold out the Shen family to buy his future.

Shen Zhaoxue had waited three years.

She had waited only for him to sit behind an interrogation desk and call her Reporter Shen.

Zhou Huaiyan closed the file.

“Refusal to cooperate. Suspected accomplice. Take her down.”

Two special agents stepped forward.

Shen Zhaoxue didn’t struggle.

As she passed him, she paused for a moment.

“Zhou Huaiyan, you look very good in that uniform.”

Like mourning clothes.

His fingers stilled for a fraction of a second.

She was the only one who saw it.

Before the door closed, she heard him tell the clerk, “Seal tonight’s interrogation records. No one is allowed to submit them without my permission.”

Shen Zhaoxue was locked in a dark room.

The walls were damp, the floor cold.

After an unknown amount of time, someone slid a cup of water through the gap under the door.

A piece of paper was pressed beneath the cup.

There were only four words on it.

*Don’t trust him.*

Shen Zhaoxue stared at the line of text.

Three years ago, the last letter Zhou Huaiyan had sent her also contained only four words.

*Old friends, come tomorrow.*

But after that night, there was no tomorrow.

Only gunfire.