Police officer Chen Shu.

Company Commander Ma's expression changed.

The ruthlessness that had been so intense was gone in an instant. His face, which had been full of hostility just moments before, softened slightly. His lips twitched a few times, as if he were smiling, or perhaps mocking himself.

"Go back?" Company Commander Ma repeated the word, his voice bitter. "Go back where? I only came to this godforsaken place because I couldn't stay in China anymore after committing crimes! You think I don't want to go back? My mother passed away last year, and I could only see her one last time through my phone..."

"I can't touch it..."

"I can't touch it!!!"

His voice suddenly rose, filled with years of suppressed resentment: "My son took the college entrance exam this year and got into a top-tier university, and his mother actually told me on the phone that she wants to go to police academy! Haha, to be a policeman! Does she really think his dad went to Myanmar to do business? Hahaha!"

Company Commander Ma laughed loudly and unrestrainedly.

But there was no joy in that laughter, only a sense of desolation from being repeatedly crushed by fate.

"I'm a fugitive, and my son wants to be a policeman." Company Commander Ma finished laughing, lowered his head, covered his face with his hands, and said in a low voice, "What the hell is this...?"

Clearly, Company Commander Ma had inquired about this matter. As the son of a criminal suspect, it was impossible for his son to pass the political background check. He wouldn't even be able to become a police officer, let alone a police auxiliary officer.

After a long while, Company Commander Ma raised his head and said self-deprecatingly, "Before, I could at least send some money home so I had something to look forward to. Now the country is so strict, I can't even send money home. I don't know why I'm still staying here..."

"So you're just going to give up entirely?"

"What else can I do? If the police catch me for what I did, I'll probably be in a cage for the rest of my life. Staying here, at least I have a chance to survive."

"What kind of life is this? I'm just being treated like a dog."

Company Commander Ma suddenly raised his head, the tenderness that had just appeared in his eyes was instantly shattered, and the blue veins on his forehead throbbed, but he deflated the moment he was about to open his mouth to shout for battle.

Because this young man who had only been there for half a day was right.

"Just because I'm not Burmese, not from their village, that old man treats me like a dog. When he's happy, he gives me a couple of bones; when he's angry, he slaps me twice. Wait, I'm not even as good as a dog! At least a dog can bark a few times, but me? I don't even dare to bark..."

Company Commander Ma leaned heavily back in his chair. His eyes, which had been bloodshot from gambling all night, were now devoid of both malice and tenderness, only emptiness and numbness remained.

After a long pause, he said in a hoarse voice, "So what if I'm a dog? At least I can still breathe."

"Heh." Chen Chuan said sarcastically as always, "Company Commander Ma, you're a dog now, but are you willing to be a dog for the rest of your life? To be a dog for life, to have a son and then continue to be a dog for your master?"

"Bullshit!" Company Commander Ma seemed to have regained some strength, laughing and cursing, "What are you hiding in your belly, kid? Tell me, who are you, and what are you planning to do here?"

Chen Chuan walked to the table, lowered his head slightly, stared into Company Commander Ma's eyes, and slowly said, "For you, who I am is not important. Who you are now and who you will become in the future are the most important things, aren't they?"

"I am a pawn; wherever others place me, that's where I'll be..."

"No, you're the chess player," Chen Chuan interrupted Company Commander Ma's self-deprecating remark, "a chess player pretending to be a chess piece."

Company Commander Ma sat up straight, his gaze fixed once more on the newcomer, scrutinizing him from head to toe for a long time: "What is your purpose in coming here? What do you need me to do? And what will I gain?"

After going through a long and winding road, things have finally reached the most crucial moment.

Chen Chuan took a photo out of his pocket and pushed it in front of Company Commander Ma. Company Commander Ma looked down at it, then pushed the table and chair aside with a creak and stood up. His expression became tense, and his eyes widened.

Tick.

Tick.

Cold sweat dripped from his forehead.

The photo is quite ordinary; it's a group photo of three middle-aged and elderly people standing at the entrance of a scenic area in China. All three are smiling, and he recognizes the person standing on the left the most.

Angsoring.

"General...General?" Company Commander Ma first cried out uncontrollably, then suppressed his voice and whispered, "What do you want to do to the General?"

"I want him to fall." Chen Chuan's tone was as calm as if he were saying, "The weather's nice today, I'm going out for dinner." "I need you to provide all the help you can, and then we'll deliver the fatal blow when he's at his weakest. And you, my friend, you'll get everything you want."

Company Commander Ma felt that this world was truly a fucking shoddy mess.

One moment he was still receiving a salary under the general, eating, drinking, and having fun in the area under his jurisdiction, enjoying the all-inclusive services that only cadres in the organization had. The next moment someone came to his door asking him to rebel against the organization together and then become the boss.

"Is this some kind of movie shoot?"

Company Commander Ma paced rapidly in the spacious room, his mind racing.

The room fell silent. After a long while, Company Commander Ma calmly said, "Young man, this is truly a strange situation. You were the one who came here with money to ask me for a favor, but now it seems like I'm the one asking you for something?"

Chen Chuan smiled and shook his head, saying, "Brother, today it's not me begging you, nor you begging me. We're supporting and helping each other."

"Why do you think I'd help you? Oh right, money isn't important, I don't even know if I'll be alive to spend it later."

"Brother, money is important, money is very important. Money can buy many people's lives, including..."

Chen Chuan shut his mouth at the right moment and tapped the photo on the table with his knuckles.

Company Commander Ma immediately held his breath.

Chen Chuan continued, "Do you miss your son? Do you miss your wife?"

Company Commander Ma took a deep breath, trying to find a reason for himself: "Anyway, I can't go back..."

Chen Chuan tempted, "Let's look at this from a different angle. Since you can't go back, can your wife and children come to northern Myanmar? They definitely can't now. Given your situation, if they came, they'd definitely be a bitch and her puppies..."

"Fuck your mother! Are you spewing shit from your mouth?!"

A loud shout rang out in the room. Company Commander Ma drew the pistol that had just fired two bullets at a living person and pressed it firmly against Chen Chuan's forehead.

Chen Chuan did not resist; he even nudged the dark gun barrel with his forehead.

He looked at the other person and joked, "But if this deal goes through, it doesn't matter if your son can't get into police academy in China. He can come to northern Myanmar and become a policeman. Of course, if he wants to be the police chief, I think that's fine too."

After a pause, Chen Chuan's expression changed, and he said very seriously, word by word, "Your son got into a top university and wants to be a policeman. That's a good thing. You should be proud of him."

After saying that, Chen Chuan slowly raised his right hand, slowly moved the gun barrel that was pressed against his forehead away, and then slowly asked, "Brother, are you right?"

Company Commander Ma raised his head and let out a long sigh of relief.

He recalled that more than a decade ago, he and three brothers smuggled themselves from China to northern Myanmar. On the night they arrived, the four of them excitedly raised their glasses to celebrate their successful escape and vowed to make a name for themselves here.

In less than a year, two people died because of a conflict over flour sales channels. Two shots rang out on the street, and two young lives were lost.

He recalled the first time he met Ang Soling. He knelt before the man, pressed his forehead tightly to the muddy ground, and swore allegiance to him in the somewhat broken local language, before someone stepped on the back of his head.

He thought of the people he had killed and the bodies he had buried over the years, and his last brother, who was injured and covered in blood when he was taken to the hospital while fighting for territory, but never came out alive.

He finally remembered the phone call from last year, the last words his mother said before she passed away.

"My son, come back. I don't blame you."

The room fell silent once again.

After a long pause, he finally spoke, asking, "Brother, how much money do you have?"

I like Policeman Chen Shu.