Translator: Henyee Editor: Henyee
In a military command of the capital.
“Sir, I don’t want to work in the anti-terrorism force anymore. I want to stay in China. I like serving in the army more than traveling all over the world, because I feel like I belong to the army.” Xiao Yao stood at attention in front of his superior and said seriously, “And I don’t think I can give full play to my ability in Country M’s anti-terrorism force.”
“I heard that the government of Country M is collecting the incriminating evidence of Long Xiao Group and wanted to eliminate the Long Xiao Group in one action.” A middle-aged man in his forties stood erect in front of Xiao Yao, clasping his hand behind his back. He gazed deeply at the view outside the window, and said, “Although Long Xiao Group seems to be an arms dealer and doesn’t take sides with any country, they secretly support our country. They always sell us the most advanced weapons at the lowest possible price. Some of their weapons are even more advanced than the latest developed weapons of Country M, so we can’t sit by and watch Long Xiao being destroyed.”
Xiao Yao frowned and looked at the middle-aged man, asking, “Is the top secret document you just mentioned about Long Xiao Group?”
“Yes, besides the supreme military commanders, only their president is authorized to read that document. We don’t know the contents of the document. That’s why I assigned you to the anti-terrorism force.”
Xiao Yao’s eyes had a gleam of puzzlement. The middle-aged man said, “You’re our most excellent elite. You are the best at every aspect and have very adaptable to changes. You won’t just be a common solider once you join the anti-terrorism force. You can deal with the international gangs, or even investigate the Long Xiao Organization, but… you have to stop those people from touching Long Xiao Group…” The man looked back and patted his shoulder, saying, “But don’t worry. Since Long Xiao Organization is engaged in arms dealing, they must have been prepared and won’t let anyone find the evidence against them that easily.”
Xiao Yao standing still asked seriously, “So what’s my task?”
“Continue to be the team leader of the anti-terrorism force, to fight against terrorist organizations and secretly protect Long Xiao Group.”
Xiao Yao frowned, pondered for a while and nodded. “Okay, I see. I’ll be going, then.”
Walking out of the army commander’s office, Xiao Yao went back to his dormitory. He lit up a cigarette, stood by the window and called Qiao Liang.
Qiao Liang told Qiao Yuxin why Tang Xi didn’t come today and went to wash up after he came back home. As soon as he walked out of the bathroom, he heard his cell phone ringing. He raised his eyebrows and took a look at his phone. When he saw the caller ID, his eyes had a gleam of surprise. He picked up the phone call, and asked in doubt, “Mr. Xiao?”
Xiao Yao said, “My army commander ordered me to serve in the anti-terrorism force, to secretly protect Long Xiao Group.”
Qiao Liang raised his eyebrows, saying, “Really? Then Mr. Xiao, Make sure you do what your chief tells you to do.”
Xiao Yao asked, “Qiao Liang, are you really clean?”
Qiao Liang frowned and looked at the night view out of the window as if he was thinking of something. After a while, he smiled, asking, “Clean? I never expected Mr. Xiao to ask me such a naive question. How can a person like me be clean? Can I still be alive if I’m ‘clean’?”
When Qiao Liang said these words, he reminisced what his life used to be when he was living in the darkness. Either he bled or he made others bleed. The rule of living for them was that either you kill or be killed. He had tried so hard to get rid of that nightmare-like life.
In others’ eyes, he, Lin Yuan and Lu Li were lucky to have founded such a huge company. It was even rumored that they founded Long Xiao Group because of their families’ support. However, as a matter of fact, they trusted each other, because they shared the same experiences and targets. The three of them worked together to create such a legend!
Thinking of how scared he was when he was sold to that island the first he went to Country M, Qiao Liang suddenly grabbed the curtain hard, it had been quite some time before he calmed down. At this point, Xiao Yao said, “Yes, a clean person can’t be as successful as you. Take myself for example, I succeed because I’m good at killing, not because I’m clean.”
Qiao Liang paused and said, “A person growing up like a greenhouse flower won’t be able to understand the pain of being abandoned by your own family.”
When he was five years old, he was sent to a desert island, and then he used his own strength to escape the desert island. He swam out of the island risked drowning at sea. He couldn’t even tell the horrible experience to his mother, or Tang Xi, because he was afraid of frightening them…
And the man who made this tragedy part of his life also cruelly hurt his mother! So he sent him to jail!
Xiao Yao thought Qiao Liang was talking about what happened five years ago. He said, “You’re still luckier than most people except what happened to you five years ago. You…”
“It seems that Mr. Xiao doesn’t know me well enough.” Qiao Liang loosened his grip on the curtain, pushed open the glass window and suddenly he felt the air was not so suffocating. He took a deep breath of the fresh air flowing from outside, and said coldly, “If you had known what happened to me in the past, you wouldn’t have called me and asked me these stupid question. How can a person who killed dozens of people to survive be clean? Mr. Xiao, I said these words to you, because you’re Tang Xi’s brother. I’ll support your work, but you’d better tell the idiots of Country M not to mess around with Long Xiao. Otherwise, I can’t guarantee our agents won’t do something to them that you don’t want to see.”
“I heard you have an army?” Xiao Yao narrowed his eyes and continued, “Do you know you’ve broken international law by keeping an army of your own? Not only we, but also Interpol will investigate you.”
“An army?” Qiao Liang gave a cold smile as he said, “How comes I haven’t heard about this army?” He didn’t want to continue this conversation. He said, “It’s late. Mr. Xiao, go to sleep.”
“Have you recovered from your insomnia?” Xiao Yao asked, “It’s said that you have insomnia.”
Qiao Liang frowned as he said sarcastically, “Mr. Xiao, you’d better pay more attention to your subordinates’ safety rather than my health. If they still mess with Long Xiao Group, I will ruin them. You know, what I hate the most is to be threatened.”
