Chapter 64

Chapter 64

"Is it Li Wei we're after?"

"Yeah."

Lin Ze hadn't expected him to move this fast. He thought for a moment and said:

"I'll go with you."

"No."

"Xiu Jin, I'm not going to be left behind this time."

Li Xiujin didn't budge.

"We don't know how long it'll take. Chongyi will be okay if I'm gone, but he needs you. Remember last time we were late? He cried and wouldn't sleep."

Lin Ze's eyelashes fluttered.

"This assignment is different from previous ones..." The other side has weapons, and a shootout is unavoidable. Moreover, it's on foreign soil, putting us at a significant disadvantage.

"I used to be ready to die if I had to. But now, I want to live. I don't want you to be left a young widow."

Lin Ze lowered his eyes, his shoulders trembling slightly.

Seeing this, Li Xiujin's heart ached. He cupped Lin Ze's face and began to kiss him.

Lin Ze looked at him and quickly responded, sliding his tongue into his mouth.

They kissed until a silvery strand connected them before parting. Li Xiujin's eyes darkened.

Seeing him just staring, Lin Ze, feeling ashamed, covered his face and made an advance.

Lin Ze's toes curled up. It didn't take long before he came on Li Xiujin's face.

Lin Ze was utterly mortified and wanted to wipe him clean, but Li Xiujin just wiped it off roughly and then...

Lin Ze's neck arched high.

It was almost dawn when Li Xiujin finally finished...

Lin Ze struggled not to lose consciousness and had held out until now. His beautiful face was flushed as he said with slight shame, "Xiu Jin, you can..."

A jolt went through Li Xiujin.

"You'll get pregnant."

"It's... it's okay..."

"It's okay to have another one?"

"Mhm..." Lin Ze shyly covered his face.

Li Xiujin proceeded to knot.

Li Xiujin pulled Lin Ze into his embrace.

Exhausted, Lin Ze still refused to sleep.

Li Xiujin said, "I'll come back safely."

They were to depart that evening. Early the next morning, Li Xiujin went to the military headquarters. He kissed the still-sleeping Lin Ze, reluctantly glanced at the child, and then left.

Yang Yu had already assembled all the soldiers for this mission.

"General, as per your instructions, we've only brought over a hundred men, all selected elite soldiers."

Li Xiujin gave an acknowledging hum and went to the training ground.

He scrutinized each elite soldier one by one, then instructed Yang Yu, "Train for another half day."

As the sky gradually darkened, it was time to depart.

The soldiers retrieved their phones, which had been confiscated during training, and began saying goodbye to their families and friends.

Yang Yu also called his wife. After hanging up, his eyes were red-rimmed.

Li Xiujin was used to this from him. "When are you going to fix this habit of crying every time you leave home for a mission?"

"General, it's not that I don't want to fix it, I really can't help it! You didn't understand how I felt before, but now that you're married to Colonel Lin and have a child, don't you understand?" Yang Yu said, aggrieved.

Li Xiujin did understand now. He stared at his phone in silence.

All day, Lin Ze hadn't called him. He hesitated to call, afraid that hearing Lin Ze's and the child's voices would make him as miserable as Yang Yu. In the end, he decided not to.

"Has the plane been dispatched?" Li Xiujin decided to wrap this up fast, complete the mission early, and return sooner.

"It should be here soon."

As soon as the words were spoken, the drone of an airplane was heard.

"General, it's here."

"Have the soldiers assemble at the aircraft parking area."

"Yes, sir." Yang Yu wiped his tears and swiftly left the office.

This time, they took a military aircraft. The plane flew to a neighboring country of Vina that had an airport, and then they would drive the rest of the way.

Li Xiujin put on his military uniform and went to the armory storing firearms. First, he selected a lightweight small pistol, then picked up a rifle.

At exactly 8 PM, the soldiers boarded the plane in an orderly manner.

Li Xiujin and Yang Yu boarded last.

After the plane took off, Li Xiujin looked out the window and saw a slender figure standing on the military headquarters' watchtower. He quickly recognized it as Lin Ze. His hand pressed against the window, and he watched as Lin Ze's figure grew smaller and smaller until it was completely out of sight. Only then did he lean back into his seat...

Having just departed, he already felt an urgent longing to return home...

Six hours later, at 2 AM, their plane landed. After disembarking, they boarded the arranged vehicles and arrived at the small country of Vina by daybreak. Li Xiujin ordered all the soldiers to rest first. He and Yang Yu summoned their undercover agents stationed here.

"Their people are extremely vigilant. Their routes when coming out and going back are different each time; they deliberately take long, winding paths. Currently, we only have a general area, but the specific location still needs further tracking."

Without a precise location and being in a foreign country, Li Xiujin didn't plan to be too conspicuous. So, he ordered the soldiers to stay at their lodgings for now, conserving their energy.

He and Yang Yu, along with the undercover agents, searched for Li Wei's specific location. They discovered that Li Wei sent people to the market in this small country every Wednesday and Sunday to buy a lot of food, clothing, and supplies. This person would disguise himself as a wealthy man's servant.

The first time, unfamiliar with the surrounding environment, they lost the trail. The second time, they lost the person halfway. It wasn't until the third time that they successfully followed the person through several remote villages to a wooden house hidden deep in the mountains and old forests. Outside the wooden house stood several burly, imposing men.

After confirming the location, Li Xiujin and Yang Yu returned and began discussing how to take them all down at once.

Li Xiujin let out a cold sneer, "They love planting bombs in the middle of the night, don't they? Let's give them a taste of their own medicine."

At 2 a.m., during deepest sleep, two men were patrolling outside the wooden house. Yang Yu and a soldier slipped up on them and knocked them out cold. Then, at Li Xiujin's signal, the right side of the wooden house instantly erupted in flames.

The explosion woke everyone inside with a start. Li Xiujin and his hundred-plus men stormed in, subduing those they could and shooting those who resisted.

Li Xiujin grabbed one of Li Wei's subordinates and barked, "Where is he?"

The man pointed to the house on the south side. Li Xiujin shoved him aside and made a beeline for the southern house. He kicked the door open and found that while the rest of the wooden house was as crude as could be, Li Wei's room was extravagantly luxurious, filled with glittering gold, silver, and jewels.

Li Wei had indeed been caught off guard, looking like he'd just woken up. Barefoot, he was being carried on someone's back as they tried to escape from the rear. Li Xiujin put a bullet in the carrier's leg, causing him to kneel, and Li Wei tumbled to the ground.

Yang Yu hurried over.

Li Wei, lying on the ground, wasn't scared of being caught. Instead, he glared fiercely at Li Xiujin and Yang Yu because his clothes had gotten dirty.

"Are you serious, boss? Now? You're still worried about your clothes?" Yang Yu asked, puzzled.

Li Wei couldn't even be bothered to look at him.

Li Xiujin ordered his men to tie him up.

"Disgusting, don't touch me," Li Wei snapped angrily.

They had brought a hundred-plus men, and not a single one was injured during the mission. Yang Yu had never completed a task so smoothly before. "General, this Li Wei seems all show and no go. I feel like we didn't even need to spend so much time capturing him."

"Honestly, you could have left this entire mission to me."

Li Xiujin also thought Li Wei must have some unusual abilities, but so far, he seemed like someone who only cared about indulgence and pleasure. However, watching Li Wei still shouting about the soldiers dirtying his clothes, Li Xiujin felt things weren't that simple.

Sure enough, not long after, they heard several gunshots.

"Everyone, hands up! Don't move!"

Yang Yu and Li Xiujin, who were searching inside the house, exchanged a glance, headed outside, guns in hand. They saw Liu Cheng with a whole squad who had the place surrounded.

"General Li, I didn't expect you and the Prime Minister to have the same idea. The Prime Minister ordered me yesterday to capture Li Wei. I didn't expect you to be so fast. In that case, hand him over to me. I'll take him to see the Prime Minister, who will personally interrogate him."

After speaking, Liu Cheng signaled to a subordinate beside him, who immediately tried to take Li Wei from him.

Li Xiujin let out a short laugh and raised his gun, aiming at Liu Cheng's man. "Get lost."

"General Li, what do you mean by this?"

"Of course, I can let you take him, but not now."

"So, you're defying the Prime Minister's orders."

"I wouldn't dare," Li Xiujin said calmly.

"But that's exactly what you're doing."

"Please make it clear, General Liu. The Prime Minister ordered you to capture Li Wei, not me."

"If General Li insists on quibbling, there's nothing I can do," Liu Cheng smiled. "The Prime Minister gave me a strict order: if I don't bring Li Wei back, I can consider myself out of a job. So, for the sake of my future, this man must be taken to the Prime Minister by me."

"General Li, if you persist, I won't be polite."

Li Xiujin slowly shifted his gun from aiming at Liu Cheng's subordinate to pointing at his forehead, saying coldly, "Then let's see how impolite you can be."

Liu Cheng hadn't expected him to be so unyielding, but at this point, he had no choice but to order, "Spare Li Wei. As for the others, don't hold back."

Li Xiujin pulled the trigger. Liu Cheng was pushed by a subordinate and only injured his arm. Li Xiujin fired another shot, but Liu Cheng rolled away, dodging it. At the same time, Li Xiujin was surrounded by Liu Cheng's men...

Li Xiujin ignored Liu Cheng, grabbed one of his subordinates to use as a human shield, and retreated toward the wooden house that hadn't been destroyed by the explosion.

Realizing their men had been subdued by Liu Cheng, Yang Yu dodged bullets with Li Wei and made it inside the wooden house.

Li Xiujin followed closely behind.

"Liu Cheng brought a huge number of soldiers. Our men are already under his control," Yang Yu said.

After they entered, they closed the door tightly, but soon, bullets began raining in one after another.

"General, it seems he really wants to kill us. What do we do now?" Yang Yu asked anxiously, ducking to avoid the dense barrage of bullets.

Li Xiujin reloaded an empty magazine, his gloomy eyes fixed on Li Wei. "Is there an underground passage in this house?"

Li Wei shrugged indifferently. "I don't know."

"Do you think you'll be better off in Liu Cheng's hands?" Li Xiujin smiled darkly. "He's the one who ordered the repeated attacks on the mining sites, isn't he? If you fall into his hands, he'll just kill you to silence you."

"But if you're with us, since you can provide evidence, we'll do our best to protect your life."

"You're a smart man. You should understand this."

Li Wei's expression changed slightly.

"Follow me."

After continuous bombardment, the door finally collapsed. Liu Cheng entered and found the room empty. He soon discovered an underground passage in the house.

"After them!"

*

In a dense rainforest, a bullet whistled through the air and struck Li Xiujin in the forehead.

"Xiu Jin—"

Lin Ze abruptly opened his eyes and sat up. Realizing it was just a dream, his pale face didn't ease, and cold sweat continued to pour out.

Lin Ze rubbed his chest, which ached from the intense fear. Whenever Li Xiujin went on business trips before, he would worry, but never like this—having nightmares every night and waking up in terror... This filled him with a strong sense of unease.

Lin Ze picked up his phone. Since Li Xiujin left, he hadn't sent a single message. Lin Ze was afraid of disturbing him while he was busy with work, so he hadn't contacted him either. This time, suppressing the lingering palpitations, he dialed Li Xiujin's number.

No one answered.

He then called Yang Yu, but again, no one answered.

For the rest of the night, Lin Ze couldn't sleep at all, staring blankly at Li Chongyi.

The next day, after feeding Li Chongyi, Lin Ze went to the military headquarters.

However, the people at the military headquarters also had no idea about Li Xiujin's situation.

Lin Ze thanked them and prepared to leave.

A beautiful omega with a four-year-old child also came to inquire.

"Colonel Yang has always called me and our child every night on all his past missions, but this time he hasn't called for three days."

"Sometimes their missions are classified, and it's normal not to be able to call."

The omega insisted firmly, "This isn't normal. They must be in danger. You have to send someone right now."

"We haven't received any orders from General Li..."

Lin Ze, who had been about to leave, grew increasingly uneasy upon hearing the omega's words. He spoke up, "Dispatch a team now to check on General Li and Colonel Yang's situation."