Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Huo Shaoheng’s face was expressionless as he took the thesis paper from Chen Lie’s hand. He quickly read it. He agreed with Chen Lie’s perspective after reading it. “It’s definitely something, but it isn’t as defiant of the natural order as Ye Zitan had said. However, I feel like they didn’t bring out the real goods. They were only using this like fool’s gold to attract Ye Zitan’s interest and gain something actually valuable in return.”
Gu Nianzhi’s body’s latent ability to heal rapidly had shown that it was much stronger by many folds than what the data presented by the thesis had supposed. Even though Chen Lie envied Gu Nianzhi’s unique body constitution, he was not the same as Ye Zitan, who had no boundaries for the sake of science. Furthermore, he had watched Gu Nianzhi grow up. Not many people would be willing to let people experiment on a cat or dog that they raised themselves, let alone a human being who was still alive…
Chen Lie completely agreed with Huo Shaoheng’s perspective and angrily said, “I was thinking exactly the same thing. But my heart is more at peace after reading this, or else I would have thought they were so good that we would be left behind. If that happened, it would be really vexing.”
Huo Shaoheng nodded and threw the thesis into the stainless-steel wastebasket. He then took out the Zippo lighter Gu Nianzhi had given him and set the thesis on fire. Zhao Liangze had already disposed of the original physical copy from the mailbox. The fewer people who knew about this stuff, the better.
Chen Lie shook his head and sighed after seeing the bright fire in the wastebasket turn dark. What was left of the thesis was only a pile of black ash. He asked Huo Shaoheng, “You were on a mission again these past two days? I am telling you, you are already a major general, a well-known member of the Special Operation Forces. So why do you still need to take care of everything yourself? Don’t you understand that important people need to stay out of danger?”
One of Huo Shaoheng’s hands was in his pants pocket, and the other was on Chen Lie’s desk. His long legs stretched as he calmly said, “There are certain things that you have to take care of yourself to have peace of mind.”
Chen Lie looked at him a bit nervously. “What did you do? Don’t tell me you went to Germany!”
“I did.” Huo Shaoheng’s voice became cold. “They dared to lay their hands on our people. How could I not give them some color?”
Chen Lie stared at him for a long time. He leaned forward, lowered his voice, and said, “Don’t be sanctimonious and tell me all those noble excuses. Tell me the truth. Was it because of what happened to Nianzhi that you went there to vent your anger?”
“What anger do I need to vent?” Huo Shaoheng calmly denied it. “It was for the country’s benefit that I did it. Revenge for our field agents. That was why we invited that Mr. Als to eat a bullet.”
“Who is Als?”
“The German Federal Intelligence Agency’s section one bureau chief.” Huo Shaoheng raised his right hand without any expression on his face and made a finger gun with his hand. “A shot right through the middle of his forehead. It was an extremely precise and small bullet. It would only explode inside the skull. It most definitely wouldn’t pollute the environment.”
Chen Lie gasped a breath of cold air. “You are too ruthless! What did Als do to cause heaven and humans alike to be so furious?! Wasn’t that kind of bullet prohibited?!”
“He killed two field agents, and he electrocuted Nianzhi,” Huo Shaoheng said coldly.
“Right! Right! You should have given him a couple more of those small, super precise bullets!” Chen Lie instantly became angry. “Are they even human! Nianzhi isn’t even a secret service agent! She’s an innocent little girl! He is demented! That day when you wanted me to go to the airport to get Liangze, was it because of this?”
Huo Shaoheng nodded. His eyes became hazy for a quick second.
“Heheh, and you said it wasn’t for Nianzhi…” Chen Lie came back to his senses and gave Huo Shaoheng a despicable look. “Just keep on talking nonsense. You even invited him to eat a bullet… Will you eat it if I invite you?”
“You asked if I was the one who invited him. Of course it was me who invited him. I didn’t ask him to pay for the bullet.” Huo Shaoheng leaned back in the chair. Both of his hands were on the armrest. He flicked his fingers lightly and nonchalantly said, “I really need to sort out the ranking this time around. Before, I didn’t feel good about using my people all the time, but now I won’t be reserved about it. I just promoted Big Xiong and Little Ze to be Deputy Chiefs of the Special Operation Forces.”
Chen Lie grinned widely and nodded with great energy. “Alright, Huo Shao. From now on, there will not be a drop of water that will be able to leak out of this place.”
“Hehe, can’t help it. I was completely forced to do it.” Huo Shaoheng gave a little smile and spread his hands. He stood up and was about to turn around and leave when he heard Gu Nianzhi’s sweet, soft voice coming from the door outside. “Brother Chen! Can I be discharged today?!” She was clearly not calling for Huo Shaoheng, but that voice still made Huo Shaoheng’s steady and composed heart jump a couple of beats.
Chen Lie smiled bitterly, pointed toward the door, and said to Huo Shaoheng, “You hear that? These past couple of days, the moment she opens her eyes, she asks to be discharged. I am starting to have white hairs looking for reasons to delay her discharge.” He pointed to his own head as he said this.
Huo Shaoheng looked at him and said with indifference, “I don’t see any white hair, but it seems like you have gotten a bit balder.”
Chen Lie became furious, so furious that he grabbed a document from the desk and threw it at Huo Shaoheng. “Get out!”
Huo Shaoheng easily dodged it. He turned around and walked out of the room while he said in a low voice, “Don’t come out for a while.”
“Ha! I’m going to go out, and I will be a third wheel! Let’s see what you are going to do about it!” Chen Lie brought over his mirror harshly and looked at the top of his head carefully to see if it really was balder.
…
The moment Gu Nianzhi opened her eyes, she started to “bother” Chen Lie. She really wanted to be discharged. She couldn’t do any of the things that she planned by staying there. Furthermore, she wanted to go back to school, and she really missed Ma Qiqi.
Being unable to be discharged those past two days, she could only mull over her situation. She was thinking that the reason He Zhichu and Huo Shaoheng were able to find her location must have been because of Ma Qiqi’s help.
When Gu Nianzhi was in that predicament, the only people she was able to get in contact with were Ma Qiqi and Chen Lie. Because of Ye Zitan, Chen Lie must have not gotten the message. Then the real assistance must have come from Ma Qiqi.
Gu Nianzhi was extremely grateful to her.
…
Huo Shaoheng came out from Chen Lie’s office and walked past the screen to Gu Nianzhi’s sick bed. He saw that she had already changed into patient’s clothing, and that she was laying on the bed in boredom. One of her legs was raised high up as she did kicking exercises on the bed. Her round and fat, soft, pink toes had snow-white nails like jade that were reflecting the light like pearl.
The edge of Huo Shaoheng’s mouth twitched a couple times. He nonchalantly looked away and calmly said, “You are awake? Are you feeling better?”
Gu Nianzhi only saw Huo Shaoheng come out of Chen Lie’s office at that moment. She wrinkled her eyebrows so discreetly that it was unnoticeable. She put her leg down in a hurry, covered herself with a blanket, and said in an unsatisfied tone, “Mr. Huo, this is a girl’s patient room. Don’t you knock when you come in?”
Huo Shaoheng was speechless.
Chen Lie heard it from the office. He laughed so hard that he couldn’t hold his mouth shut. He quietly gave Gu Nianzhi a thumbs up. He had been counting the strands of hair he had on the top of his head with the mirror while attentively listening to those two being at odds with one another in the patient room.
Gu Nianzhi took a quick glance at the half-closed door and pulled the blanket up to completely cover herself. She said firmly to Huo Shaoheng, “Mr. Huo, I need to get up and wash up now. Can you get out for a moment?”
Huo Shaoheng took a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket. He took one out, put it in his mouth, and nodded. “Okay. You wash up, then.” He turned around and left, but he didn’t hear Gu Nianzhi’s voice telling him to stop smoking.
Gu Nianzhi only looked at his back. Her eyes dimmed. In the end, she swallowed what she was going to say. She quietly laid back down on the bed. Then she pulled back the blanket and got up. She put her slippers on, but she didn’t go to the bathroom to wash up. Instead, she knocked on Chen Lie’s office door. “Brother Chen, are you in there?”
Chen Lie froze for a moment. “Nianzhi? Are you by yourself?”
“Yes, Mr. Huo went out.” Gu Nianzhi pushed open the unlocked door and went in.
Chen Lie put the mirror down in a hurry and said a bit unnaturally, “Nianzhi, what is it?”
Gu Nianzhi leaned against Chen Lie’s big office door while hugging her arms around herself and said in an unhappy tone, “I want to ask Brother Chen, when can I be discharged? If you still won’t discharge me, then I will sue you for illegal confinement.”
Chen Lie quickly raised both hands. “Don’t be too hasty, little miss! Your Brother Chen is a scaredy cat, and I don’t handle threats well. Fine, you can be discharged. You will be discharged today.”
“Really?!” Gu Nianzhi felt better instantly. She was beaming with joy and stopped hugging herself. “Can I really go now?”
“Of course. But, it would be better if you changed your clothes.” Chen Lie nodded and gestured at her.
Gu Nianzhi walked toward the desk in his office. “What is it, Brother Chen?”
“Nianzhi, Brother Chen is going to give you some advice. There is a limit to your arrogance and to being loved. Huo Shao isn’t a very patient person, and he really is a very busy person. He just went to Germany these past two days and personally killed that German Federal Intelligence Agency’s section one bureau chief, Als. He didn’t sleep for two days and nights. You should stop causing trouble! Look at the dark color under his eyes…” Chen Lie winked his round eyes and exhorted Gu Nianzhi in a low voice.
Gu Nianzhi was very shocked. Her eyes widened as she lowered her voice and asked, “What? These past two days? He killed Als?!”
“Yes. You know that person, right?” Chen Lie lean forward. “Was it this person that electrocuted you?”
Gu Nianzhi remembered the pain from that day, and she held the fingers on her left hand without realizing it. She nodded slightly. “Yes, electrocuted my fingers.”
When Chen Lie heard that, he felt like his own finger started to have a burning pain. That Als really was abnormal. Being electrocuted is painful enough, but to go as far as to pick the most painful spot to electrocute her! Didn’t he know that the fingers are linked to the heart? What a bastard!
Chen Lie quickly comforted Gu Nianzhi. “Nianzhi, you see, Huo Shao has already avenged you. You should stop causing trouble, okay?”
Gu Nianzhi didn’t like Chen Lie saying that. However, she also knew that anyone who knew her and Huo Shaoheng almost all felt that way, that she was the one who was unable to recognize others’ good intentions; that she was the spoiled and arrogant one; that she was the one causing trouble without good reason.
But did they think about the fact that whether Als was assassinated or not, she couldn’t pretend the aching pain that she felt in her heart never happened? What was Huo Shaoheng doing during the time she would rather have been pursued and killed than to bother him…
So, late is late.
But she was still grateful that Huo Shaoheng killed Als. He was able to pay off the debt of blood for the other two field agents. That was another incident altogether.
Gu Nianzhi calmly nodded. “Brother Chen, you should not intervene in the thing between him and me. He killed Als, so I am naturally grateful to him, but Als also killed two of our field agents. With him being the way he is, it would definitely be an eye for an eye. If you insist on saying he killed Als for me, you are actually belittling him. But don’t you worry, I won’t cause trouble for him.”
They had broken up amicably. What was there to cause trouble for?!
