Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The number that was released to the public for Gu Nianzhi to use for enrolling in schools was connected to Zhao Liangze and Yin Shixiong’s phones. The moment they received messages from that number, they were supposed to answer them within the shortest amount of time. However, it had been a really long time since Gu Nianzhi was of legal age. Since then, not many people had dialed this number.
What would it be about? Yin Shixiong pressed the “answer” button. A clear female voice that sounded like she was panicking was heard over the phone. “May I know if you are Nianzhi’s guardian? I am her roommate, Ma Qiqi. My phone number is… I have an important thing to tell you about Nianzhi. Please call me the moment you hear this message! You must! It’s a matter of life and death!”
Yin Shixiong was speechless. Right. What is this? He had only been away for 20 days. Why did it seem like he didn’t understand Mandarin anymore? He remembered Gu Nianzhi’s roommate, Ma Qiqi. She was tall and had an outgoing personality. She was always smiling. He did not expect her to drop such a huge bomb on him.
Yin Shixiong felt faint. Massaging his temples, he listened to the voicemail one more time before calling Ma Qiqi. “Qiqi, I am Yin Shixiong. I just heard your message. What is going on?”
Ma Qiqi screamed and said, “Brother Xiong, it’s like this. Nianzhi sent me a video recording of herself a couple of days ago. Her face was swollen from beatings. She said that she was in Berlin and asked me to save her…”
Yin Shixiong was too shocked for words. Just when he was about to ask for further information, the people whom he had called for a meeting arrived. So he told Ma Qiqi, “Qiqi, I have to go to a meeting now. I’ll call you again.” With that, he hung up. When he called for a meeting, ten minutes meant ten minutes. No one would arrive any later than that.
Yin Shixiong put down his phone and nodded to everyone. “Please, sit. I want to know what happened. The general asked me to come back on an emergency notice, but I haven’t met him yet. I wanted to get a heads up first.”
His lieutenant had already told him in the car that two people who had been sent on a mission went missing. However, what exactly happened, like where and when, were not stated clearly. Now that they were in the office of the Special Forces, they could say whatever they wanted, as the room was encrypted.
Another lieutenant stood up and saluted. “Sir, it was like that. Two of our people were sent to Germany on a mission. We suddenly lost contact with them all. It has been three days.”
Germany? Yin Shixiong remembered Ma Qiqi saying “Berlin” in her message. Berlin was the capital of Germany… Could this be related to Nianzhi? Yin Shixiong tensed up. He tightened his fists silently and released them before asking, “What were they doing in Germany? I don’t remember any missions there recently.”
“We are not sure about that, sir. You’ll have to ask the general about that.” His lieutenant shook his head. “You know that these are the rules. We are unable to ask for the details of our colleagues’ missions.”
Yin Shixiong went silent. That was true. His lieutenant and team had not reached the rank whereby they could ask about their colleagues’ missions. They were also unable to tell anyone unrelated about their missions. If they did, they’d be breaking the rules of confidentiality. However, they could reveal the information to their superiors. For example, Huo Shaoheng and his secretaries had high ranks. Therefore, they had the right to know the details of their colleagues’ missions.
“Okay, I’ll see the general now. Wait here for me.” Yin Shixiong stood up and walked to the general’s office building.
The general had been as busy as hell these past couple of days. He needed to investigate why the two soldiers went missing in order to type a detailed report to his superiors and subordinates. Had he not be able to do that, he would have to bear the responsibility. By getting Yin Shixiong to come back, he wanted Yin Shixiong to bear the responsibility of investigation and see if it was related to Gu Nianzhi going missing.
The moment Yin Shixiong arrived at the building, someone brought him up. “Lieutenant Colonel Yin, please come in. The general is waiting for you.”
It was already after office hours now. However, knowing that he would touch down at this time, the general remained in his office, as he knew Yin Shixiong would want to look for him.
Yin Shixiong arrived in front of the general and saluted. “Sir! Lieutenant Colonel Yin is here to report, sir!”
“Please have a seat, Lieutenant Colonel Yin.” The general pointed at the seat in front of him. “There’s an important reason why I recalled you on an emergency notice.”
Yin Shixiong took his seat and answered, “Please let me know the details, sir. I’m wondering what it might be.”
“It’s like this.” The general sighed before continuing, “It happened four days ago.”
Yin Shixiong’s heart was thumping against his chest. He felt that it wasn’t going to be something good.
“Four days ago, General Ji received a call from our embassy in Munich, Germany. The person in charge there had sent a report saying that one of our citizens, Gu Nianzhi, went missing in Munich. Lieutenant Colonel Yin, by the time we received the information, she had already been missing for about 17 to 18 days…”
Yin Shixiong felt like his heart had stopped beating. It was really related to Nianzhi! Nianzhi really met with danger in Germany?! But wait; Ma Qiqi said that Gu Nianzhi ran into trouble in Berlin, but the General said that it was in Munich…
Yin Shixiong felt panicked. He very much wanted to go to the central control system to confirm Gu Nianzhi’s satellite location, so that he could know for sure where she was. However, the words from the general after that confirmed his suspicion. “General Ji had left this to General Huo. General Huo contacted us and asked if we could locate Gu Nianzhi. You know that Gu Nianzhi had been the person who was the most protected in our department, even though her security measures have already been removed, but…”
Yin Shixiong was shocked and blurted out, “General, Gu Nianzhi’s security measures have been removed? Why wasn’t I informed? When did it happen?”
Huo Shaoheng had set Gu Nianzhi’s security measures personally. She used to be extremely well protected. However, perhaps she was too well protected. For six years, no one actually came to look for Gu Nianzhi. They were also unable to find anything related to her background.
Finally, Huo Shaoheng decided to let her go out to interact with society. They protected her secretly in the dark and went along with the flow. Finally, they found that Gu Nianzhi’s father was Gu Xiangwen and cleared her background. However, Huo Shaoheng hadn’t announced that her security measures should be removed. Who was the one so daring to remove Gu Nianzhi’s security measures?!
The general was stunned for a while. “This was an order from the Military Supreme Council. I was merely following orders.”
Yin Shixiong nodded. “Okay. Then, please keep the order well, General. When Mr. Huo returns, he’ll be sure to question this.”
“Of course. I’ve saved everything according to protocol. When Mr. Huo returns, he can check anytime,” the general replied confidently and produced a copy of the document. “There, this is it.”
Yin Shixiong took a quick look and said, “Since this is a copy, can General give me one?”
“Sure, of course. The original has already been saved. We have many copies though. You can have this.” The general knew that Yin Shixiong was Huo Shaoheng’s secretary. Giving it to him would be akin to giving it to Huo Shaoheng.
Yin Shixiong put the copy carefully into his suitcase and continued listening to the general’s report.
“Where were we? Oh. We’ve removed Gu Nianzhi’s security measures, but there wasn’t time to remove them all, such as the satellite system that was on her. Therefore, I asked the central control staff to locate her based on the system and found that she was in Berlin.”
Yin Shixiong’s eyes went wide. He interrupted the general again. “Berlin?! It’s really Berlin?! I thought you said Munich?”
“Yes! It’s strange, isn’t it?! We are confused as well. Therefore, we sent two of our people to Berlin to take a look and find out what exactly happened.”
“Then?”
“Then? Then our people went to the location that was indicated on the satellite system. There wasn’t anything anymore.” The general spread out his hands. “Our communication was suddenly cut off, and we couldn’t contact them anymore.”
Yin Shixiong’s brows furrowed further. He understood immediately that Ma Qiqi’s voicemail wasn’t for nothing. It was real!
“Such an important thing, why didn’t anyone inform Mr. Huo?” Yin Shixiong was unhappy but did not reveal his emotions. “I heard that he had completed his mission.”
“General Huo and General Ji gave orders to not let Mr. Huo know about it until he returns. If anyone leaked the information, he would be dealt with under military law. No exceptions!”
Yin Shixiong was speechless.
“But I feel that this would be much better if you took charge. Therefore, I recalled you immediately.” The general leaned closer to Yin Shixiong and patted him on the shoulder. “Big Xiong, work hard.”
Yin Shixiong replied immediately, “I will. I shall go now, sir. I’ve got many things to delegate.”
The general did not try to keep him longer and looked at him as he left the office. Yin Shixiong did not return to the meeting room. He got a car and headed directly towards B University to look for Ma Qiqi.
