“I never thought . . .” he said, gasping for breath, “that I would lose this shot to you.”

“I foresaw it long ago,” Bo Jinyan said. “All thanks to you, I spent close to a year in darkness, so my eyes adjust to darkness more readily than yours.”

Derrick smiled again, then his arm slowly lifted up, with the gun in hand. Bo Jinyan frowned minutely and used his body to shield Jian Yao, all the while training his gun on Derrick. His finger slowly tightened on the trigger.

But Derrick suddenly closed his eyes with a pained expression and groaned softly. After a fair length of time, he opened his eyes and fixed them on Bo Jinyan and Jian Yao. Unexpectedly, he smiled.

To Jian Yao, it was a rather strange smile.

There was sorrow, there was peace, there was the gentle relief of having finally shed all the treacherous pretense.

He said, “So it turns out that he has always been like this, letting you stand behind him.”

Jian Yao was slightly stunned. Bo Jinyan’s expression remained unchanged.

Derrick raised his gun and shot himself in the temple.

The earth once again resumed its silence; only the rain continued splashing around their legs. Then, from the river bank near the overhanging cliff, they saw the flashlights and heard the calls of numerous police officers searching for them. Bo Jinyan swiftly pulled Jian Yao into his arms. The two of them held each other tightly. Behind them, the waterfall plunged into the darkness of night, and the deep water was quiet and still. The rocks in the pool stood, silent and upright, glimmering with a pristine beauty in the darkness. Just like eyes, always staring.*

*T/N This symbolic presentation of the deep pool with rocks first occurs in Chapter 56, where Bo Jinyan describes justice as being like such a deep pool. This is the metaphor which gives rise to our translation of the title of this novel, ‘Pristine Darkness’. In the end, even in darkness, justice will prevail. The relevant lines are extracted below (click the link above to go to the chapter itself):

——

A few days later.This was a secluded sanatorium in the outskirts of Beijing. It was sunset, and the golden beams, tinged with a rosy blush, illuminated the entire grassy lawn. There was hardly anyone around.

Someone sat by herself on a white bench, gazing at the white pigeons which were swooping over the grass. She had been sitting there for a long time, a fragile figure who did not even know how much time had passed.

Far behind her, her manager and assistant stood wordlessly, looking at the desolate figure.

“She’s still unable to go back to work?” the manager asked.magic

Her eyes red, the assistant nodded. “She’s been like this all the time. I think . . . she may never be able . . . to work again.”

The manager took a deep breath, patted the assistant on the shoulder, and said, “Ok, I get it.” After a moment’s silence, he said, “To be honest, I really regret it. If I had known this would happen, I would not have packed Xiaozhe’s schedule, so that she could have had more time with him.”

The assistant burst into tears.

Twilight descended bit by bit, and the golden beams gradually faded. Jin Xiaozhe sat where she was, unmoving, just as she had sat the entire day, constantly gazing towards the southwest. The assistant took up some clothes and, with the manager, was about to move forward, when they heard footsteps coming from the hillside behind them.

Someone was running towards them.

This place was a private facility under contract to them, so there should not be anyone else there. The manager turned to look at the approaching runner, and was struck dumb.

The assistant’s mouth hung open as she pointed at the person. “You, you . . . ghost . . .”

That person paid no heed to their startled confusion. He looked around and asked impatiently, “Where is she? Where?” Then he caught sight of the person sitting on the bench on the lawn.

He seemed to be rooted to the spot. Although he had been running so hard he was sweating, at present, he was no longer running but simply gazing at her. Then, he smiled.

Step by step, he approached her from behind.

The assistant and the manager stood where they were, not knowing whether to be happy, or sad. In the end, both women buried their faces in their hands and started to cry.

Fang Qing walked until he stood right behind her. From his angle, he could see that she had still combed her hair neatly, applied some light make-up, and put on a pretty skirt. However, she just sat there, unmoving, with her hands on her knees and her fists tightly clenched. In her eyes, there was a touch of something dark, cold and indifferent.

……

Fang Qing suddenly felt his heart ache. He placed his hand on the back of the bench and softly called, “Xiaozhe.”

Jin Xiaozhe slowly turned her head and saw him.

Two pairs of eyes gazed at one another. A light breeze blew along the grass, ruffling the sleeves of his police uniform, ruffling her skirt.

“Am I dreaming?” she asked.

“It’s not a dream, not a dream!” Fang Qing caught hold of her hand and placed it on his chest. “I’m sorry, Xiaozhe, I’ve come back! At that time, I thought I would not be able to return! But, I . . .” He laughed and said, “I’m back! I’m alive and back!”The tears were welling up in Jin Xiaozhe’s eyes as she made an effort to stand up. Unable to control his surging emotions any longer, Fang Qing pulled her into his embrace. She also hugged him tightly, and with a face covered in tears, cried out, “I really thought you wouldn’t come back! You called me like that! That kind of call! I thought I was completely finished, too! I thought my life was over!”

There were tears in Fang Qing’s eyes as he said, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry! That time I really . . .”

Thought I would definitely die.

The two of them cried and held each other. After a long time, Jin Xiaozhe looked up at him and asked, “What on earth happened?”

Fang Qing smiled, bit his lip and said, “I feel . . . that someone up there was protecting and blessing me so that I could return to be by your side. I’ve always felt the heavenly powers would have an eye on someone like me who devotes my entire life to catching bad guys and does good. It turns out they really do.”

. . .

Fang Qing actually had no clear recollection of what had happened later that night. The last thing he remembered was that the entire temple had collapsed, with a powerful flood behind it that was sufficient to bury everything. And the huge Buddha statue was falling towards him.

When he awoke, it was already the evening of the next day. He discovered that he was lying on a boat, and Bo Jinyan, Jian Yao, and An Yan were all with him. Next to him was Gu Fangfang, who was still receiving medical attention*.

*T/N shl and Anks just want to add that we are upset no mention is made of Zhao Kun (the undercover police officer in Buddha’s Hand). We’ll just trust he survived, and Ding Mo forgot to include his name in this scene.

“Why do I . . .” he asked.

Bo Jinyan looked at him gently and said, “Fang Qing, you have a blessed life.”

He was stunned.

It turned out to be the Buddha statue.

When the statue fell, the belly had already been shattered, and the shell of it covered him precisely. Moreover, the back of the statue was incredibly solid. That entire night, the surging force of the landslide encoffined him under layers of mud and rocks. Only that Buddha statue enclosed him. Thus, the next day, as soon as it was light, when the police forces returned to the area, they dug through the layers at his last-known location and made a miraculous discovery. He had not been fatally injured and was still breathing! They immediately dug him out . . .

Fang Qing looked at Jin Xiaozhe. By then, her tears were unstoppable. He laughed benevolently and bent his head to kiss away her tears. The last light of sunset faded away and the two of them quietly nestled against each other on the bench, feeling that the years had indeed never betrayed them; their dreams and their love had never been forgotten.

——

One month later.

It was a bright, sunny morning. An Yan, wearing a white shirt and black trousers, with a backpack slung against his back, rode his bicycle to work as usual.

However, now, his original cool, trendy and brand-name bicycle had been replaced by a family-friendly model with a rear seat, a front basket, and a carrying rack. Every time he rode this bicycle, he felt a little like a joke.

What to do? Someone liked to ride his bicycle.

He was actually only riding to the building next door, whereupon he stopped and rang the bicycle bell.

A few minutes later, a girl came running downstairs. She first shoved a piece of bread into his mouth before hopping onto the rear seat and patting his backpack. “Let’s go, Prince of Monitoring.” Her hands lightly gripped his waist. An Yan smiled faintly, lowered his head, and set off swiftly and steadily.

En route, the wind blew gently and the willow branches swayed. As they passed the gate of the police headquarters, the security guard looked at them with bitter envy.

An Yan sneered inwardly, refusing to give him the time of day.

They reached Gu Fangfang’s workplace very quickly.