WVKWnovel Chapter 325: Dawn broke, and he went home
Chapter 325: Dawn broke, and he went home
Chapter 325: Dawn broke, and he went home
The moment Jiang Ci decisively covered that grenade.
The image on the monitor, the view of everyone present,
was dominated by a flash of white light.
Jiang Wen gripped the frame of the monitor with a deathly tightness.
In that moment, there was no script, no director.
There was only Jiang He, the final flashbacks exploding in his mind.
The oath in the police academy auditorium roared in his ears.
"...Fight for the cause of communism for life!"
The epaulettes were blinding under the sunlight.
...
His stomach churned violently, the cold porcelain of the toilet pressed against his forehead, sweat dripping down his jaw.
...
A little boy's bright, smiling face, and the plastic smell of a brand new schoolbag in his hands.
Behind, his own hand was trembling.
...
Finally, it was that torn cigarette carton cardboard.
The distorted character for "Mom", a period that couldn't be drawn round, a home that couldn't be drawn round...
The white light faded.
The smell of scorch and gunpowder mixed with blood assaulted everyone's nostrils.
"Secure the scene!"
"Team One, Team Two! Mop up the remnants!"
The "narcotics officers" clad in black tactical gear swarmed forward, the beams of their tactical flashlights crisscrossing through the lingering smoke and dust.
The camera crane slowly descended, its lens piercing through the chaos, pushing towards the epicenter of the explosion.
Jiang He, covered in blood, lay quietly on the cold, muddy ground.
With his own frail back, he had shielded the few "assault team" members who had charged ahead,
blocking the vast majority of the shrapnel and shockwave.
Cha Cai, who had been pinned beneath him, was now unrecognizable.
Jiang Wen did not call cut.
The entire film set was left with only the predetermined sounds of tactical footsteps.
Jiang Ci lay on the ground, the searing pain from the prop explosive burn on his back,
and the sticky feel of the stage blood were terrifyingly real.
He was still lingering in Jiang He's final moments.
Using the last of his strength, he struggled, trying to open his eyes.
His eyelids felt as heavy as a thousand pounds.
His vision was a blur of bloody red and swaying light and shadow.
Dawn was almost here.
A strand of genuine, morning sunlight,
pierced through a hole in the factory roof, through the gunpowder smoke that hadn't yet dissipated,
transforming into a beam of light carrying motes of dust, landing precisely on his blood-smeared face.
Within that beam of light, he seemed to see a tall, straight-backed figure.
That person wore a faded, old-style Police Superintendent uniform, the epaulettes still gleaming in the morning light.
He couldn't see the person's face clearly, but he could feel that gentle, familiar gaze.
That figure stood within the light, silently, extending a hand towards him.
Jiang Ci's lips moved.
An utterly pure smile slowly bloomed on his face, which was smeared beyond recognition with blood, grime, and gunpowder residue.
It wasn't the fawning smile of the drug dealer Ah He.
Nor was it the restrained smile of the undercover agent Jiang He.
It was the smile belonging to that young man who took the oath at the police academy, Jiang He.
The smile of a child returning home.
The sound equipment precisely captured that faint, breathy whisper, so light it was almost carried away by the wind.
"Day... has broken."
As the words fell.
Jiang Ci, utilizing that terrifying control over his body, commanded the final ebb of life.
That pure smile on his face froze.
The fire that had always burned in those eyes dimmed, bit by bit.
From focused, to unfocused, and finally, devoid of all spark.
He was no longer the undercover agent struggling in hell, nor the low-level dealer treated like a vicious dog.
At the moment dawn arrived, he was simply a child going home.
"Cut—!"
The word Jiang Wen forced out from his throat with all his might carried an uncontrollable, violent tremor, almost cracking.
That word was like a switch.
The string that had been stretched to its absolute limit on set snapped.
The young makeup artist who had once felt heartache over the wound on Jiang Ci's face,
who had secretly passed him a warm towel, could no longer hold back.
She covered her mouth, squatting on the spot, her shoulders shaking violently, sobbing uncontrollably.
What she saw was not the end of a performance, but the real passing of a vivid life.
[Ding! Detecting extreme composite heartbreak emotional fluctuations...]
[Heartbreak Value source: All female crew members on set (makeup artists, set assistants, prop masters, medical personnel...)]
[Settling... Heartbreak level determined: Epic.]
[Heartbreak Value settlement: +1888 points.]
"Medical Team! Hurry!!"
Assistant Director Wang's roar snapped everyone out of it.
The medical personnel, clutching first aid kits, rushed forward like madmen.
Jiang Ci still lay there, motionless.
But no one saw, deep within those eyes that had already lost their "spark",
the long-suppressed physiological tears finally breached the dam,
rushing out uncontrollably.
It wasn't a silent trickle, but a spasm born from the intertwining of excruciating pain and release.
Tears mixed with sweat, blood, and the ash of gunpowder,
carved two disheveled yet glaring tracks down his rigid cheeks.
He did not activate [Emotion Isolation], or rather, he couldn't even muster the thought to activate it.
At this moment, he felt "Jiang He" deserved this most complete pain and release.
This was the final tribute he, as an actor, could offer this character.
So, he allowed the searing pain from the explosive burn on his back,
and the immense sorrow of "Jiang He" the character collapsing and finding release in his final moment, to intertwine,
gnawing at every inch of his nerves, making all his muscles stiff as iron, utterly unable to move.
Lei Zhong, equally disheveled, staggered to his feet from the ground.
He looked down at the young man on the ground who had already "lost vital signs",
at this undercover agent he had personally "sent off" in the scene.
This veteran Film Emperor, who had won awards until his hands were soft, did not reach out to pull him up, nor did he offer a hand.
He simply solemnly straightened his own tattered costume,
then, facing "Jiang He" on the ground, raised his arm in an extremely unstandardized, yet profoundly solemn military salute.
This was actor Lei Zhong's highest respect for actor Jiang Ci.
Soon, Jiang Ci was lifted onto a stretcher by several set assistants.
The glaring lights, the anxious faces crowding around, the cacophony of voices, all turned into blurry patches of color in his vision.
In his mind, only the system notification sounds kept frantically scrolling, terrifyingly clear.
[Ding! Due to the tragic death of the "Jiang He" character, triggering super-strong group empathy, Heartbreak Value continues to surge...]
[Heartbreak Value +120 points...]
[Heartbreak Value +235 points...]
[Heartbreak Value balance surpasses twenty thousand points...]
The stretcher was lifted, the violent shaking and sense of blood loss plunging his vision into complete darkness.
In the last second before his consciousness sank into the dark, a line of numbers solidified and magnified in his mind,
becoming the sole footnote to this grand "death".
[Remaining Lifespan: 16 years, 3 months, and 2 days.]