Huo Shaoheng looked at Zhao Liangze with a fixed yet unfocused gaze. After a long time, he finally asked, “how is this plane accident related to Gu Xiangwen? Was he on the plane?”
How could he have been on that plane seven years ago and now be in a coma?
According to the news received by the Special Forces, there were no survivors of that accident.
“Yes, I went there with a colleague personally.” Yin Shixiong was taken aback as well. “There were citizens of the Huaxia Empire on that flight, so you had me follow the people from the Foreign Affairs department and help the families of the deceased with their wakes.”
That aviation accident had seemed almost ridiculous, Huo Shaoheng recalled. The aircraft had disappeared from the radar in a blink of an eye, and it hadn’t gone where it was supposed to go. Countries from around the world helped with the search, but no one found anything for more than half a year.
Then, miraculously, two years later, someone discovered the wreckage of the flight on a small island in the Indian Ocean.
“Even if some people survived the crash, they would’ve died of serious injuries. They were found two years later! Think about it. An aircraft falling from the sky. Could anyone go totally unharmed?” Yin Shixiong said as he immediately retrieved information from the accident.
He’d taken many pictures and had written a detailed report. He’d also made sure to ensure the scene was cleared up properly. But there had been nothing left of the passengers besides bodies and bones. It had taken a lot of manpower to match the DNA of the family members with the victims before sending the bodies and bones back to the Huaxia Empire for proper burial.
Huo Shaoheng could easily recall the aviation disaster as well.
“I remember that accident. There was nothing left of our citizens…only bodies, and we did not miscount.”
“Yes. We found all our citizens,” Yin Shixiong answered quickly. “But if Gu Xiangwen had been a passenger onboard the flight, he wouldn’t have been our citizen, so there’s a possibility his name wouldn’t end up on our list.”
“Which means we wouldn’t have been informed of Gu Xiangwen’s fate.” Zhao Liangze looked at Huo Shaoheng. “Mr. Huo, what would you like to do?”
Huo Shaoheng came to a decision in no time. “First, Little Ze, get the list of passengers on board flight MH210. Confirm whether or not Gu Xiangwen’s name was on the list.”
“Yes, Sir.” Zhao Liangze wrote down his task. He planned to use his personal laptop to look for loopholes in MH Airline’s South East Asian website and enter their main site from there. Then he would look for the passenger records from seven years ago.
“Second,” Huo Shaoheng continued, “Big Xiong look through the list of funeral preparations on that Indian Ocean island again. Check if we missed anything or if there are any strange records we glossed over.”
“Yes, Sir.” Yin Shixiong wrote down his task as well and immediately began looking through the records on his personal laptop.
“Third, I will personally go to the hospital Gu Xiangwen just left.”
This third command was for himself.
Yin Shixiong and Zhao Liangze exchanged glances and said together, “Mr. Huo, we’ll go with you.”
They would never allow Huo Shaoheng to act alone. He wasn’t a mere soldier from the Special Forces anymore; his safety concerned the lives of tens of thousands of Special Forces soldiers from all over the world.
Huo Shaoheng looked down and sighed. “Fine. You guys complete your tasks first. I’ll make arrangments for Barbados.”
“Who will we be going as, Mr. Huo?” Yin Shixiong asked excitedly. “Barbados is a small country, but I’ve heard their girls are really fiery!”
“Your puny mind is filled with nothing but girls!” Zhao Liangze rolled his eyes at Yin Shixiong. “Mr. Huo, do we have to bring this thing along?”
Huo Shaoheng smiled. “We will be going as ourselves this time around. Big Xiong, contact the government of Barbados. Simply say the Huaxia Empire’s Army’s Supreme Committee respects their military, and wishes to have an exchange with them.”
Yin Shixiong paused slightly then said, “what’s there for us to respect? Seems like ants vying for the attention of elephants?”
“The Barbados government wants to be on good terms with the Huaxia Empire in order to do business with us. They want to export rum. Their country’s famous for it.” Huo Shaoheng decided to ignore Yin Shixiong’s joke. “Reach out to them immediately. If you can’t find a reason, just make one up. We have to interview Barbados officially.”
Zhao Liangze stepped up. “Mr. Huo, I’ll contact General Ji and Senior Speaker Long for their authorization on my end.”
“Yes.” Huo Shaoheng nodded. “Quick. I want to be in the Barbados airport inspecting their Honorary Army by this time tomorrow.”
“Yes, Sir!” Yin Shixiong and Zhao Liangze pushed all jokes aside and turned into working mode. Their efficiency was amazing.
Two hours later, Zhao Liangze was already on the main website of MH Airlines and had managed to retrieve the passenger records from flight MH210. The name “Kevin-Ku” was printed clearly on the list.
They compared this with the list MH Airlines had provided the Huaxia Empire Embassy with seven years ago. The two lists were identical.
There was no doubt about it, Gu Xiangwen had been on that flight.
Yin Shixiong went through the scenario all over again, but could not find any loopholes.
“Mr. Huo, it happened like this: the aircraft crashed on the island, the airlines announced that there were no survivors, the insurance company paid a huge amount of money.” Yin Shixiong continued. “But because Gu Xiangwen wasn’t our citizen, he name wasn’t on the list provided to us by the insurance company. This is normal. In order to find out if the insurance company compensated the Gu family, we’ll have to hack into the insurance company’s internal system.”
Yin Shixiong turned his eyes on to Zhao Liangze. “We’ll need Little Ze’s help on this.”
Zhao Liangze rolled his eyes and laughed. “No need to say that twice! I’ve already had a stroll through the insurance company MH Airlines was using at the time and got the compensation list from their system.” With that, he produced the list and maximized it on his laptop.
“Look here, Mr. Huo, the Gu family was compensated with a huge amount of money.”
“Hmm? If Gu Xiangwen did not die, then wouldn’t Gu Yanran be involved in insurance fraud?” Yin Shixiong’s eyes lit up. “Should we inform Swiss Anew Insurance?”
Huo Shaoheng remained silent. He digested the information from both of them and looked through the records carefully. His brows furrowed even more, and he finally said, “did you notice Swiss Anew gave the Gu’s a family compensation instead of a personal one?”
“Is there a difference?” Yin Shixiong looked over curiously. “Isn’t it just a payout to the Gu family?”
“No. International insurance is categorized into four divisions: personal, parents, children, and family.” Huo Shaoheng was familiar with this topic, and his subordinates were impressed. Huo Shaoheng continued his explanation. “A family policy would cover a family that was traveling, including a partner and children.”
Zhao Liangze fell silent. His logical mind was at work again, analyzing the situation.
“Are you saying Gu Xiangwen wasn’t alone? There was someone else from the Gu family on that flight?”
“Yes.” Huo Shaoheng looked up and began typing his analysis into the computer. “We already know this: Gu Yanran wasn’t on the flight because she’s still alive. As for her sister, if it is Gu Nianzhi, she wasn’t on the flight either.”
Yin Shixiong looked at the evidence carefully and noticed an interesting point. “Look here, Mr. Huo. The day Nianzhi appeared was the day MH210 crashed!”
“Yes. Nianzhi wasn’t on the flight either. Neither of the daughters were, but Swiss Anew Insurance gave them the family insurance compensation, and Gu Yanran accepted it gracefully. From this we can deduce the person with Gu Xiangwen was most likely his wife, and she most likely passed away. So, Swiss Anew insurance gave them with the family insurance compensation.” Huo Shaoheng picked up the mouse and circled “Gu Xiangwen’s wife.”
“Did you guys manage to find out who is she?”
“There’s someone named Grace Ku on the passenger list. Could that be her?” Zhao Liangze returned to the passenger list again and found the name.
“It’s possible. Women from other countries often use the surnames of their husbands after they’re married. It’s highly possible she has the same surname as Gu Xiangwen. But who is Grace Ku? Is she Nianzhi and Gu Yanran’s mother?” Yin Shixiong asked thoughtfully, feeling as though the mystery was becoming simultaneously clearer and also more complicated. He felt so close, yet so far away.
