Roses in Flames

His hearing has not been completely lost.

She spoke to him at close range, and he could still hear her.

His thin, cold face showed no emotion, as indifferent as a thousand-year-old ice. "There's nothing worth saying. I injured my eyes and ears a little. My older brother has already found a doctor for me. I'll be back to normal after the surgery."

He paused, his expression and voice growing even colder, "Forensic Doctor Ye, I have no feelings for you anymore. We've broken up. You said you wouldn't bother me anymore, so leave now."

He thought that after he said those cold and heartless words, she would leave immediately.

Unexpectedly, she threw herself into his arms.

She reached out and wrapped her arms tightly around his lean waist.

A familiar and pleasant fragrance wafts into my nose.

It stirred up a storm in his heart.

His hands, hanging at his sides, were clenched into fists.

He closed his eyes, forcing himself to calm down.

She must be pushed away.

But the familiar warmth in his arms stirred a desire within him.

She hugged him tightly, her small face buried in his chest, soaked with tears.

His facial features were taut, and his Adam's apple bobbed uncontrollably.

Don't cry...

For some unknown reason, he gritted his teeth and forcefully pushed her away.

"Forensic Doctor Ye, please have some self-respect."

Ye Yuntang lifted her long, damp eyelashes and looked at the man.

His eyes and brows were full of coldness and indifference.

That expression pierced her heart like a needle.

"Xiao Lin, is your current condition more serious than blindness or hearing loss?"

He probably wouldn't have treated her like this unless it had gotten to an irreparable point!

Even if he no longer loves her, he wouldn't be so cold to her!

What exactly happened?

Why won't you tell her?

The man's thin, crimson lips pressed into a straight line. "Please leave immediately, or I'll call the building security."

Ye Yuntang remained standing still.

The man took out his phone, pretending to make a call.

Ye Yuntang's eyes stung and stung. She sniffed and said, "I'll wait for you outside the villa to tell me the truth. If you refuse to tell me, I won't leave."

After saying that, she walked away from him.

She arrived outside the villa.

He stood in the courtyard and didn't go in.

She stood there until nightfall.

Lightning flashed and thunder roared in the sky, and rain began to fall.

She recalled that not long after they met, she was afraid of thunder, so she knocked on his door.

That night, she clung to him and slept with him, telling him about her sister's accident.

She truly regretted telling him about her sister that night.

If he didn't know, would he not have gone undercover?

Although he refused to say anything, she could imagine how much suffering he had endured in the past two years.

You big idiot!

Why must we silently endure everything?

boom!

Another thunderclap swept overhead.

Ye Yuntang gasped in surprise, clutching her head and crouching down.

His whole body was soaked through by the heavy rain.

……

Second floor of the villa, in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows.

Xiao Lin stared intently at the courtyard below.

His eyesight has been fluctuating lately; sometimes he's in complete darkness for 24 hours straight, and other times he regains brief periods of light.

For example, right now.

He could see the situation in the yard at a glance.

The woman's slender body was soaked through by the rain, her hair plastered to her small face, making her look utterly disheveled.

Despite being so terrified of thunder, she stood there, motionless.

Looking at her frail yet stubborn appearance, his heart felt as if it were about to break.

He reminded himself not to be soft-hearted.

Perhaps, if we wait a little longer, she will leave on her own.

He tried to lie back in bed and force himself to fall asleep.

But the next second, he couldn't help but return to the floor-to-ceiling window.

Another thunderclap sounded.

She screamed in fright and involuntarily squatted down on the ground.

His trembling appearance tore at his heart.

If he ignores her, will she have to stand outside in the rain all night?

If you're so scared, why don't you leave?

But if he went downstairs and let her into the house, he would definitely tell her the truth.

He couldn't imagine how much pain she would feel when she learned the truth.

He just wanted to shoulder everything alone.

The rain is getting heavier.

Seeing the woman suffering in the rain, his heart ached terribly.

Why be so persistent?

Didn't they already break up? Didn't they completely cut ties? Why is she still looking for him? Why is she torturing herself like this?

When he saw the white light flash across the sky again, all his rationality, pretense, and forced indifference collapsed.

He couldn't care about anything else.

All I knew was that I couldn't let her be frightened by thunder anymore, and I couldn't let her get wet in the rain anymore.

He turned and rushed down the stairs.

He opened the gate, wading through the rain, and rushed into the yard.

He was soaked to the bone by the rain, but he was completely unaware of it.

He stretched out his long, slender hand, grabbed her delicate white wrist, and pulled her up from the ground.

"Come in with me." His voice was low and hoarse, brooking no refusal.

Ye Yuntang saw the man who came out to pull her away, her eyes, washed by the rain, staring at him without blinking.

She stood there, refusing to go inside with him. "I won't go unless you tell me why."

A layer of scarlet appeared in the man's narrow eyes.

His taut, sharp features conveyed a sense of restraint and repression. He closed his eyes, a hint of pain in his expression. "Wouldn't it be better to just part ways like this, without inquiring about each other's situations?"

Ye Yuntang's long eyelashes trembled. She stepped forward and grasped his arm. "Xiao Lin, have you forgotten our promise? You said you'd wait for me to come back, but as soon as you returned, you wanted to break up with me and were so cold to me. Have you thought about my feelings? I beg you, tell me the truth!"

Xiao Lin's Adam's apple bobbed violently. He closed his eyes, his long eyelashes damp and cold. After a long while, he spoke in a hoarse voice, "Yun Tang, if you didn't know the truth, you would hate me for a while after we broke up. But as time goes by, when you meet a better man, you will forget me and start a new life."

Ye Yuntang felt a vague sense of unease rising in her heart.

He still has feelings for her, so why does he want her to forget him?

Could it be, could it be—

Her grip on his arm tightened unconsciously. "What is the truth?"

Xiao Lin's eyes were bloodshot. After staring at her for a few seconds, he finally gave in.

"I don't have long to live, at most a month left."

Upon hearing the man's words, Ye Yuntang felt as if she had been struck by lightning.

Her pupils contracted sharply, and her face turned deathly pale.

The surrounding lightning, thunder, and torrential rain seemed to be completely inaudible.

All the blood in my body rushed to my head.

Her body trembled uncontrollably, and tears streamed down her face like a burst dam. "You lied to me, didn't you? Why did this happen?"

Seeing Ye Yuntang's devastated state, Xiao Lin felt as if his heart was being slowly sliced ​​to pieces.

He pulled her towards the villa, saying, "Come inside with me first, and I'll tell you the truth."

The two entered the villa, and after he got her a set of clothes, he told her to go take a shower.

When she came out after showering, he had also changed into clean clothes.

The two sat on the living room sofa, and she stared at him intently. "Tell me already," she said.

Xiao Lin poured her a cup of hot water. "Don't worry, I'll tell you everything."

He infiltrated the criminal group as an undercover agent, and thanks to Ji Shu's help, things went relatively smoothly at first.

During a mission, he saved the third-in-command of a criminal organization.

He took a bullet for the third leader, who immediately gave him an important position.

However, the criminal group had experienced betrayal in its early years and had undercover agents infiltrate it. The group's leader was extremely wary and didn't trust outsiders at all.

To this end, the head of the criminal group commissioned the development of a special poison. Anyone who wanted to enter the inner circle and participate in secret operations had to be injected with that poison.

"When that poison takes effect, it first causes blindness and deafness, then organ failure and death. The only way to suppress it is to inject an antidote every three months. As long as we don't betray the group, the boss will give us the antidote on time."

"Ji Shu and I both injected ourselves with poison, and that's how we got into the inner circle. We were involved in the subsequent operations and confidential arrangements, collecting evidence bit by bit, noting down their operational chain, and secretly transmitting key information."

A month ago, they worked together from the inside and outside to finally locate the criminal group's hideout.

The time was ripe, and the operation to close in was officially launched.

The base was destroyed, and the leaders of the criminal group were arrested.

However, that big boss was too ruthless; he had long ago wiped out all those who were researching and developing poisons and antidotes.

He was the only person in the world who knew the formula for the antidote.

"In order to ensure the success of the mission, Ji Shu and I have agreed that even if there is no antidote, even if we die from the poison, we will still wipe out that group of people."

"The only boss who knew about the antidote detonated the lab with a bomb when he was captured, and he died on the spot."

"After returning to China, we searched for every doctor, top laboratory, and expert in toxicology we could find, but that poison was specially made. Unless we could find the person who made the poison at the time, there was no hope."

"Recently, my eyesight has started to fail and my hearing has also started to decline. In a while, my organs will gradually fail as well."

His voice betrayed no trace of joy or sorrow, only the serenity that comes from having experienced the vicissitudes of life.

So what if we can't accept it?

It's a done deal.

He accepted his fate.

"Our sacrifice can lead to the complete destruction of the criminal organization, save countless innocent families, and avenge your sister. I think it's worth it."

He turned his head slightly to look at the rain outside the French windows, his tone solemn and firm, "This is my duty. I have lived up to that police uniform and to myself, but I have failed the oath I made to you."

Of all the words I could say, in the end, there's only one: I'm sorry.

"I didn't tell you because I was afraid that if you knew the truth, you would be heartbroken, guilty, and unable to get over it for the rest of your life. I would rather you hate me and think I'm heartless, selfish, and cold-blooded than let you suffer for the rest of your life."

"When you're heartbroken, time will heal you and you'll meet a better man, but if you knew I was going to die, you'd never get over it."

But now that she knows, he needs to make other arrangements and plans.

He would have his older brother hire the best psychologist to hypnotize her, make her forget him, forget everything, and let her start a new life.

Tears welled up in Ye Yuntang's eyes and streamed down her face like the rain outside.

She felt as if all her strength had been drained away by a giant syringe.

She never expected the truth to be like this.

He won't live more than a month.

God, why are you so cruel to him?

She simply couldn't bear the pain of losing him!

She threw herself into his arms, clinging to him tightly, sobbing uncontrollably, "No, I don't want you to die, there must be a way to save you and Ji Shu..."

Looking at the woman trembling in his arms, Xiao Lin raised his large hand and gently patted her back.

"Please don't cry, okay?"

Ye Yuntang was unable to control her emotions.

When he returned and treated her coldly and ruthlessly, and when she proposed breaking up with him without any objection, she truly hated him.

But to her utter surprise, it wasn't that he had stopped loving her, or that he had changed his mind.

He drove her away, acted indifferent, and said harsh words, all because he was about to die.

He didn't want her to remember him for the rest of her life, to suffer for the rest of her life, or to feel guilty for the rest of her life.

He just wanted her to forget him, start a new life, and live well.

He's the biggest idiot in the world!

Ye Yuntang raised her head, cupped his gaunt face in her hands, and looked at him with broken despair and urgency, pleading, "Is it only that big boss who was killed in the bomb who knows the antidote formula? Are the other bosses really completely unaware?"

Xiao Lin shook his head. "It's no use. We've interrogated all the other captured leaders, over and over again, using every method imaginable. They've never had any contact with the antidote formula. The big boss has never trusted anyone; he's always kept the formula and the antidote to himself."

Ye Yuntang gripped Xiao Lin's collar tightly, her knuckles turning white. She cried so hard she could barely breathe, "Why were you so foolish? Before closing the net, why didn't you get the antidote and the formula first? Why did you have to sacrifice yourself? Why did you do this to me?!"

She pounded his chest, but couldn't bring herself to use force; it was more like a desperate outpouring of emotion.

Seeing the tears streaming down her face, Xiao Lin held her hand, his voice low and hoarse, heartbreaking, "If I had gone to get the formula and interrogate her about the antidote, the operation would have been exposed. Sacrificing myself to completely dismantle the criminal group and prevent countless families from being harmed in the future is worth it."

Ye Yuntang understood the reasoning. It was because of heroes like him and Ji Shu who were not afraid to sacrifice themselves, who braved the darkness and protected peace with their lives, that we were able to enjoy the peaceful life we ​​have today.

Rationally, she acknowledged his sense of righteousness.

But emotionally, she simply couldn't accept his departure.

She threw herself into his arms again, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck. "Xiao Lin, Xiao Lin, what should we do? I can't bear to lose you. Can I give my life to save yours?"

Xiao Lin raised his hand and hugged her back, "Don't talk nonsense!"

After holding her for a while, he reached out and pushed her away.

"Tomorrow, I'll take you to meet someone."

He didn't want to see her in so much pain.

The only way is to make her forget him, forget everything related to him.