Upon arriving in Japan, Jian Jing felt half relieved.
The beauty stores in Japan were well-stocked. She browsed and shopped, applied Japanese-style makeup at the counter, and changed into a new outfit, completely transforming her appearance from when she had disembarked.
This way, even if Min-cheol Park had an issue, he wouldn't be able to find her quickly.
Next, she bought a phone and an anonymous SIM card, then finally called Kang Mu Cheng.
He skipped the pleasantries and got straight to the point: "Where are you?"
Jian Jing: "Where are you?"
Kang Mu Cheng: "Fukuoka."
"Which hotel?"
He gave her the address, then finally couldn't hold back: "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, very good," Jian Jing tried to reassure him. "I'll contact you once I'm sure it's safe. Help me book a ticket."
Kang Mu Cheng said: "No need, we can leave anytime. I borrowed Yingjie's plane."
The Kang mother and son were practical people, not very interested in big toys like private planes and luxury yachts. It was Si Yingjie who had everything - planes, helicopters, yachts.
This was an unexpected boon. With a private plane, they just needed to apply for a flight path and complete entry-exit procedures to leave.
Before setting sail, Jian Jing wasn't sure if the cruise ship could dock, so thinking she might need to buy something onshore, she had applied for Japanese and Korean visas in advance.
Now it was a big help.
"I'll contact you as soon as possible," she hung up the phone.
There was only one reason for not rushing to meet Kang Mu Cheng - to avoid bringing danger to him.
How powerful was the 3Q Group? Did they only have followers in Korea and the US? What about Japan? Qi Tian's abilities were mysterious and unpredictable, did the Spirit Descent Society have other such bizarre characters?
Better to be cautious.
Jian Jing carefully located the hotel where Kang Mu Cheng was staying, observed for a few days, and never saw any suspicious people coming or going. Only then did she breathe a sigh of relief.
It seemed Min-cheol Park hadn't betrayed her, otherwise if 3Q Group knew she was in Fukuoka, they definitely wouldn't have missed Kang Mu Cheng.
Jian Jing made the call: "Let's meet at the airport tomorrow morning."
She spent that night in an internet cafe.
Eating snacks, reading manga, playing games, time flew by quickly.
Early the next morning, she took a good shower in the bathroom. With a facial steamer, hair dryer, and makeup mirror all available, it was no wonder people could live in these internet cafes - the facilities weren't much worse than a hotel.
Returning to her original appearance, she put on a scarf and mask, and took the subway to the airport.
She arrived smoothly.
She found Kang Mu Cheng in the VIP room, and he immediately took her to complete the entry-exit procedures.
Whether it was because Japan's fax machines were slow, or the Spirit Descent Society's reach wasn't so long, the departure process was uneventful apart from being a bit tedious.
A quarter of an hour later, the plane took off.
Jian Jing finally relaxed completely, lying on the spacious sofa unwilling to get up.
Kang Mu Cheng asked: "What happened?"
"Met a bunch of lunatics," she was extremely frustrated, but thinking of Qi Tian's demise, she couldn't help feeling happy, "But I solved a big problem, so it wasn't a loss."
If Qi Tian hadn't popped up on his own, finding him would have been quite difficult. But he brought about his own demise, so all's well that ends well.
Jian Jing asked him: "Are they still planning to give me the million?"
"We'll contact them again when we get back," Kang Mu Cheng was very concerned, "There are all kinds of rumors online now, you didn't really get involved in some conspiracy, did you?"
"What are they saying online?" she was surprised, "Let me see quickly."
She grabbed Kang Mu Cheng's phone and scrolled for a long time, finally catching up on the latest gossip.
No wonder 3Q Group's tracking wasn't effective - the waters had been muddied, and they didn't dare act rashly for fear the other side would release more bombshells.
By the time she finished catching up on the recent hot topics with great interest, the plane was landing on the runway in Peace City.
Back in the familiar city, a sense of security welled up spontaneously.
Although Peace City wasn't peaceful, with murder cases every now and then, worthy of being called China's Gotham, a parallel Beika, living there for a long time still produced a hometown-like attachment.
Home was here, important people were here - if not a hometown, it was close enough.
Jian Jing sighed and went online to post on Weibo.
"Quick, take an airport photo for me," she instructed Kang Mu Cheng.
10 minutes later.
"Never mind, I'll just take a selfie."
Anyway, she was back.
First she called Jiang BaiYan and told him: "It's about time to stop, it'll be troublesome if we're noticed."
Jiang BaiYan's voice was sweet: "You're back~~ Dinner together tonight?"
"Let's meet tomorrow, I need to take Knight for a bath. Want to come?"
"Sure, see you at the usual place."
Then she posted a message on WeChat Moments to report her safe return.
Before she could reply to everyone individually, her Weibo notifications exploded. She clicked in to see - wow, Wataru Kojima had actually registered a Weibo account and was anxiously asking if she was alright.
She followed him back and sent a private message.
[Safely home, are you all okay?]
Wataru Kojima replied quite quickly: [Mr. Ishikawa, Miss Terauchi and I are all safe and sound]
That's good.
She felt even more relieved.
Dinner was naturally at Kang Mu Cheng's home, and afterwards she took Knight home. After being gone for half a month, the dog saw her and leapt over, nearly knocking her to the ground.
"Alright, alright, I'm back," Jian Jing hugged the German Shepherd's neck, stroking its fur. "Did you miss me? We'll go for a bath tomorrow."
Knight wasn't afraid of baths and wagged its tail even more happily.
At home, Jian Jing could finally put her worries aside and have a good sleep, not waking up until the afternoon the next day.
She met with Jiang BaiYan, took the pet to the hospital for a bath and grooming, and had afternoon tea.
Jiang BaiYan returned the USB drive to her and informed her of the latest overseas gossip: "I don't know what those Americans did when they went back, but it seems the military really went to investigate."
Jian Jing gloated: "Really? 3Q Group is in trouble."
But Jiang BaiYan was very worried: "Will it be traced back to you?"
"It won't. Even if 3Q people want to implicate me, who would believe them?" Jian Jing said, "The entire show had nothing to do with me from beginning to end, and besides, I'm just a novelist, what ability would I have to do something like this?"
That made sense.
Jiang BaiYan relaxed a little, half serious and half joking: "I was so scared these past few days, worried you wouldn't come back. If that happened, I'd have to go all in and we'd all go to hell together."
Jian Jing glanced at him.
He: "?"
"Nothing," she stirred her coffee and said, "Thank you."
Jiang BaiYan: "...Oh."
"I'm a bit happy," Jian Jing rested her chin on her hand, looking at the bustling street outside, and suddenly said, "Those few days in Korea, I didn't have time to think about this and that, I was always guessing 3Q's reactions. It wasn't until I got home yesterday that I suddenly felt very happy."
She said: "People care about me, help me, I came back, and everyone is happy for me... It turns out I'm very important in this world too."
Jiang BaiYan said: "Of course you're important."
Jian Jing smiled and shook her head slightly.
"Important" wasn't the key, the key was being important "in this world".
Three years. In the blink of an eye, it had been three years since she woke up in this world.
She had gained some fame, earned decent money, and lived a better life than in the other world. She found joy in solving cases, and received recognition, praise, and even worship for her writing.
But these things were like the foam on a cappuccino, floating only on the surface, not truly blending into the coffee.
Now it was much better.
She picked up her coffee cup and drank the well-stirred coffee in one gulp.
The foam, milk, and coffee liquid mixed, spreading a rich aroma in her mouth.
The creaminess of the milk, the bitterness of the coffee, the lightness of the foam.
"Waiter, another cup please," she smiled.
Jiang BaiYan looked at her, unable to understand the reason for a moment, but he didn't ask anything, just raised his hand: "I'll have one too, and an order of fried chicken."
Jian Jing: "Not dieting anymore?"
He raised both hands in an exaggerated gesture: "I've finished this year's work!"
"Then let's go for hotpot tonight!"
"Sounds great!"
And then, they were photographed by paparazzi.
A dark alley, dim streetlights, an intercepted car.
Jian Jing held the other party's camera, looking at the photos they had taken one by one: "How much do you get paid per photo?"
"Uh." The two entertainment reporters smiled sheepishly, "Not much, just enough to make ends meet."
Jian Jing was quite interested: "Are you photographing me or Little Bai?"
"Ms. Jian, you've been very popular recently, so..." The reporter didn't mince words and got straight to the point, "Twenty thousand yuan, and you can take all the photos."
Jian Jing looked at Jiang BaiYan, who was crouched by the roadside feeding stray cats: "So should I pay?"
He was experienced: "Contact my agent, we can bill it through the studio."
"Good point," Jian Jing said, "This photo of me looks really good, send it to me."
"Where? Where?" Jiang BaiYan leaned over to look. It was a photo of her walking a dog. "It's very handsome."
But Jian Jing was still a bit unsatisfied: "It's too blurry. Street shots usually look much better."
Jiang BaiYan rolled up his sleeves: "I'll take photos for you."
He grabbed the paparazzi's DSLR camera, playing the role of a temporary photographer: "The light is good under the street lamp. Hey, don't move! There's a cat coming towards you. Don't move, look at me!"
In the alley, under the lamplight, a girl and a group of stray cats.
Nothing could be more beautiful or adorable than this.
Jiang BaiYan took many shots, eventually lying flat on the ground. The two entertainment reporters were itching to take pictures but didn't dare to pull out their phones to snap secretly.
"I'm taking the camera," he said, not bothering to transfer the photos and simply taking it away. "Contact my manager for reimbursement."
The entertainment reporters: "...Alright."
He was a wealthy patron, not someone they could afford to offend.
They played like this until after 10 PM before going home.
Jian Jing had thought if it was early enough, she'd return the money on the way, but it was too late now, so she'd have to do it tomorrow.
The next day while walking the dog, she turned towards the direction of the police station. At the corner, she ran into Lao Gao, who said Ji Feng had taken a day off.
Jian Jing doubted her ears: "He took a day off? Did something happen to Yunyun?"
"No," Lao Gao said. "He said an acquaintance was being released from prison, so he went to pick them up."
Released from prison? She frowned but didn't say anything: "Okay, I'll come another day."
Lao Gao was enthusiastic: "If you need anything, you can tell me too."
"It's nothing, I was just passing by while walking the dog," she said.
Lao Gao didn't ask any further.
*
Heping City Third Prison.
A thin, small woman carrying a tattered travel bag slowly walked out of the prison's iron gates.
The weather was very cold, with heavy clouds pressing down overhead. A chilly wind howled, stirring up a ground full of withered yellow sycamore leaves.
The old woman squinted, observing the unfamiliar surroundings. After a moment, she spotted a bus stop in the distance and laboriously picked up her luggage to walk over.
"The buses here don't go to the west side of the city," someone said to her.
The old woman slowly turned her head, her voice hoarse: "Thank you."
"You want to go back to Anju Residential Community, right?" Ji Feng said. "I'll take you."
The old woman's hunched back suddenly straightened, and her gaze became wary: "You know me?"
"My name is Ji Feng," he said. "Ji Liming's son."
"Oh, that policeman's son." The old woman sneered. "Today, is it your turn to seek revenge on me?"
Ji Feng asked: "Why would I seek revenge on you? Because you killed my father?"
He extinguished his cigarette and tossed it into a nearby trash can: "Mrs. Zhang, you were sentenced to 15 years in prison for intentional homicide, had your sentence reduced three times for good behavior, and are being released today after serving your full term—I no longer have any reason for revenge."
After a long moment, the old woman spoke: "You certainly didn't come to find me without reason."
"Of course not," Ji Feng said. "It's been ten years. I'm here to fulfill my father's dying wish."
The old woman said: "My husband is already dead."
"But the real culprit might not be," he said. "Who was truly wronged—you and I must reach a conclusion about this."
