SDT 30

Chapter 30 Questioning

After arranging work, Lu Kongyun entered the Central Military S District Training Ground and began two weeks of closed training. After two weeks, if all subjects met requirements, he could submit a report; after review and announcement with no objections, he could wait for the performance review and position change.

The daily training schedule was as follows: morning physical and practical tests, afternoon theoretical study, evening summary group meeting speeches.

Requirements: 1. Except for rest time, phone use is not allowed. 2. Closed management; no leaving the camp privately during training.

The training was arranged very fully. Director Lu seemed to have regained his past calm and focus in doing research, so his physical condition was also gradually stabilizing. Including the so-called aftereffects, they also gradually receded in the increasingly busy life.

He even had a feeling of returning to the right track. Reassuring.

It was just that, as part of the training, the military required everyone, regardless of rank or position, to live in collective dormitories. So every night he needed to avoid other people’s activity areas to complete the blackmail routine.

Some trouble. But fortunately, it would not be for long.

A few days after he felt life returning to stability, he suddenly had a strange dream. In the dream, it was a very hot him and a cooling other half. Eating the other was as comfortable as eating ice cream in stuffy sea breeze. The him in the dream was a low-level animal in Alpha essence, as if playing the person badly was also fine. This dream made his control lever nearly explode when he got up in the morning; even going to the toilet was strenuous. He controlled it for a long time before it subsided.

He sat on the toilet gnashing his canine tooth in thought. He had physical contact with the target several times, but all shallow. The scene in the dream seemed truly very familiar with the other’s body.

Thinking of this, his emotions fluctuated again. He felt a bit annoyed.

Given that he was currently in training, to avoid any unnecessary trouble, after repeated thought he still had to call Doctor Gao.

His phone was off.

Strange. This guy never turned it off.

He subconsciously logged into his email. He saw the scheduled email sent by the other, visible upon login: Safe. See you.

After reading, the email disappeared.

Lu Kongyun tried to sort out the meaning of these words. He washed his hands, dried his hands, wiped his phone, then walked into the dormitory. His neighbor Lu Renjia, who was resting on the next bed, suddenly sat up and looked at him: “Second Young Master Lu. Gao Yuting is your friend, right?”

Lu Kongyun looked at him. This person had sly eyes; he was a colleague in Lu Qifeng’s intelligence department and had also come for the promotion training this time, inexplicably assigned to the same room. Originally Lu Kongyun wondered why, but suddenly seemed to understand a bit. He was silent for a moment and asked: “Yes. What is wrong?”

That person pondered, looked around; no one. He still planned to sell this favor to Second Lu and said lowly: “The M Country spy in his clinic escaped.”

Lu Kongyun was stunned: “Did you not have many people watching him?”

“…So, your brother is furious; all the guards on duty at the time are in for interrogation,” the other’s voice was even lower. “Have Doctor Gao be careful. I am afraid your brother will vent anger and kill him; it would not look good between brothers. Second Young Master is more steady; I think notifying you is better. Let that doctor run far away.”

Gao Yuting was not simple; his background was mysterious. He had a vegetative beloved he had been caring for in C Country, so he had identity there too. Doctor Gao sending that kind of message to report, should mean he had already fled there.

Lu Qifeng’s hand could not reach C Country; even if he had the mind, better to catch his M Country spy.

Before Lu Kongyun could say anything to this informant Lu Renjia, another roommate walked in at the door.

“Colonel Lu.” That person draped his clothes over his shoulder, revealing a gleaming muscular body. “Tomorrow’s free combat confrontation test; are you willing to group with me for a match?”

This Navy Marine Corps lieutenant colonel should be Ding Qi’s relative. Ding Qi was the officer Yu Xiaowen mentioned who had been slapped by Lu Kongyun at S House. Originally Lu Kongyun did not know this roommate was related to Ding Qi, but this person dared not act openly but always had some friction with Lu Kongyun covertly.

This was in the Manjing Military District, where from officials to soldiers everyone knew the Lu family; this behavior was very abnormal.

Lu Kongyun saw his name, Ding Kai. He roughly knew his identity.

This person probably wanted to take advantage of tomorrow’s free combat to openly avenge his relative. Because at that time, no matter what Alpha you were, combat could not use pheromone suppression. It was pure physical confrontation.

Doctor Lu looked at his bulging muscular arms and said nothing.

Another roommate walked in, ignored everyone, only sat at his small desk, turned on his phone, and began speaking lowly. Though not oblivious to others, with slightly controlled volume, it still could not avoid the ear-spicy fact.

“Brother, brother, why do you not answer the phone? At home? Do not leave. I am watching the surveillance.”

“Why did you go to the bathroom so long? You cannot do bad things behind my back. Can you hear my voice? You can, right? Hurry out and let me see you. I will rest a little; I miss you so much.”

“Brother said if I successfully promote in the military, you would take the initiative to kiss me… Remember? For you, I would do anything. Hurry out and nod to me; otherwise, I cannot stay. I will go back to find you now.”

There seemed to be a sound in the video; this roommate’s voice also softened with a smile.

“Sorry, I did not mean that… Sorry, I was wrong, sorry…”

“Brother, did the gift I bought you arrive…”

“Fuck.” Ding Kai flung his clothes onto his own bed, took a water basin and walked out, slamming the door.

Lu Renjia also lay back on the bed again, then silently plugged in his earphones.

According to other officers, this person was the legendary S-class madman who knotted his brother during rut and then dragged his monk brother back for marriage. Why he was placed in this room was probably because Lu Kongyun was the only top Alpha in this training.

The officer assigning dorms probably thought that if this madman went mad during training due to lack of pheromone soothing, the Lu family top Alpha could hold out for a while.

Lu Kongyun sat at his desk, propping his forehead.

That madman endlessly showed off his love that people disliked and dogs ignored, scattering his hard-to-ship happy candies. So annoying. Very unhappy. A bit hard to endure.

The second half of the morning was the shooting test. Military officer promotion training was not selecting battlefield soldiers, so the shooting requirements were not particularly outrageous; reaching B level passed. Some civilian officers with family backgrounds had even worse levels. The instructors turned a blind eye to them; as long as the ring count was about right.

Top Alphas had high physical quality, good eyes, steady heart and hand. The same professional quality requirements for doctors apply to gunners. In military academy, Lu Kongyun’s shooting scores easily surpassed same-level marines, but he felt nothing of it.

Like eagles have better vision than humans, leopards run faster than humans, pigs eat more than humans. So what?

Animals always have their strengths.

At this time, he had no respect for the military’s sacred guns and shooting profession, shouldering the point-shooting M16A4 and sweeping at the dummy’s head on the target.

Instructor: “…Colonel Lu, our goal is ten rings.”

Lu Kongyun was silent for a while and decided to respect the instructor. He said: “Sorry, but I want to destroy the target.”

Instructor: “…Fine. You play.”

He said, stepping back a few steps.

In the evening, he got his phone back. Looked. There were some work messages; he replied to them one by one.

Although he had told the blackmailer that he could not reply to messages during training. But at the beginning, the blackmailer still sent him messages. He did not reply, and the other changed to sending videos of small animals. But not sure if because Lu Kongyun never replied, these two days the other had not sent messages anymore. Only his two green task voice messages stood side by side, very quiet.

For an instant, he felt himself absurd. Thought of his dream, thought of the real blackmailer. A police officer, yet a blackmailer, gambler, using various appearances to seduce and toy with him, but shying away when truly close.

Actually, nothing would happen.

Thinking this way, his mood for the day calmed a lot. He replayed the small animal videos several times, then did the “Goodnight sweetheart” task, then walked out of the bathroom and got into bed in the dark.

…

Based on obtained clues, the Major Crimes Division and anti-narcotics brigade united to prepare contact with the transnational biochemical trafficking gang in the territory. But a undercover anti-narcotics officer lost contact after entering the gang; two days ago, when the undercover was found, he was already a cold corpse. However, the criminals had long vanished.

Even though the martyr was not from the division, he was a colleague. This morning, they collectively went to the martyrs’ cemetery Haoran Cemetery in Manjing suburbs to attend the funeral.

The funeral was also a swearing-in assembly. The entire police force, before the martyr, solemnly swore. They must uproot the entire gang network lurking in the country and give the martyr the justice he deserved.

After attending the funeral, the entire division held a case meeting again. From morning through afternoon to evening. No one meant to rest; the fatigued air dimmed even the white fluorescent lights.

“Any movement from Ding Qi’s side?” Chen Zihan rubbed his eyes and asked.

A team member answered him: “There has been someone tailing him all along. Today he went to the hospital; his relative had an accident and was beaten quite severely.”

“Hm?” Chen Zihan sat up. “Someone from the Ding family was beaten again? Related to our case?”

“…Sort of, not really,” the team member hesitated. “It is that Ding Kai. Today in the military camp, the news of the anti-narcotics colleague’s sacrifice and funeral spread; he heard and joked a few sentences, seems his superior taught him a lesson. Said he was carried out from the training ground.”

“…” Chen Zihan was silent for half a day, then with red eyes cursed.

“Deserves it.”

Yu Xiaowen’s mood was poor, and he felt chest pain and dizziness more, body illness and sin hard to endure. He wanted to find a place to take painkillers, then catch his breath. He stood up, waved to everyone, and walked out of the office.

While swallowing the painkiller, he walked out of the bureau; outside it was drizzling rain.

He didn’t know when the sky had become so dark.

He let out a long breath and looked toward the darkness.

When he raised his head, his peripheral vision saw a figure under the streetlight across the road; suddenly he felt a shiver running down his spine. His first reaction was a case-related criminal from the transnational organization, but just one more second of looking could tell it was a familiar silhouette.

Yu Xiaowen was stunned for a moment, balled up the medicine packet with his fingers, squeezed it small, put it nonchalantly into his pants pocket, then walked over.

As he approached, the victim gradually became clearer. He was standing at attention in military combat uniform, somewhat solemn and cold, a rare appearance. Yu Xiaowen looked, stunned until his steps slowed, then thought how awful he must look now, clothes wrinkled, haggard, still carrying some smoke smell.

This was not good. He hold his hem and quietly tugged it.

“Lu Kongyun, are you not in training…” He stopped mid-sentence. The other’s mouth corner had some blood scab, and his eye socket had bruising. Not sure how long he had stood in the rain; his whole body was damp.

“What happened to you?” Yu Xiaowen asked.

The victim: “Training.”

“…Promotion training is so harsh,” Yu Xiaowen raised his hand to touch his wound but feared it hurt, so he lowered it.

The victim looked at his hand until it fully fell.

Yu Xiaowen asked: “How are you here? Is your training not closed? How long have you been here?”

The victim looked into his eyes. After a while, he said: “Why did you turn off your phone? Police cannot turn off phones.”

“…” Yu Xiaowen took out his phone. It was black-screened.

He rubbed his hair and turned on the phone: “…Ah. Went to the funeral this morning and turned it off. Then stayed in the bureau busy until now; anyway, the people who need to find me were around… I forgot to turn it on. You called me?”

Yu Xiaowen’s voice was filled with disbelief.

“So the blackmailed victim is not someone who should find you?” The victim’s voice was still cold but inexplicably aggressive. “I called you. Why turn off the phone for the funeral?”

“…To show respect,” Yu Xiaowen could only explain to this victim. “You should have heard, right? Two days ago, one of our anti-narcotics colleagues died. Today we went to the martyrs’ cemetery for his funeral; I represented the Major Crime team to fire three shots for him. I felt that at that time, true silence was needed, including thoughts. So I turned it off.”

The victim was silent.

A light breeze brought a petal of a fallen redberry flower, which landed on Yu Xiaowen’s shoulder. The victim stared at it for a moment, then raised his hand to pick it off. His cold fingertips brushed against his earlobe and the end of his hair.

Yu Xiaowen paused, a heat running down his back that made him shiver. Yu Xiaowen was about to die, and only he knew it. The fear and loneliness he had felt since attending the funeral suddenly became too intense to control. 

He covered his face. After a while, the victim raised his hand and patted his shoulder again: “Okay. I understand. I don’t blame you.”

“…Who cares if you blame me or not,” Yu Xiaowen lowered his hand and said hoarsely: “What do you have to find me for? You even came here. You do not let me go to the institute to find you, but you dare come. Don’t come again in the future.”

He repeated emphatically: “Never again…never come to see me again.”

The victim, under the streetlight, just stared at him, his expression still deadly. 

Speaking of “in the future,” Yu Xiaowen’s throat tightened again. He did not want to deepen this emotion. After all, seeing the victim in this state today felt not bad.

“…Hey? Cough, that,” Yu Xiaowen changed the topic, extended two fingers to pinch the corner of his combat uniform collar, said lightly: “You are not thinking the dead one is me so came to see…”

“No,” the victim shouted, interrupting his whimsical thoughts. 

“…Oh.” Yu Xiaowen looked at his face with no expression change and waited for him to say the correct reason.

But for a long time, the victim didn’t speak. 

Yu Xiaowen probed again: “Could it be you thought of some possibility for why I blackmailed you?”

The victim, after a while, said: “Yes.”

Yu Xiaowen was stunned.

“Really?”

The victim thought and nodded: “Of course it is true.”

“…That’s it? You ran out because of this?” Yu Xiaowen was speechless. “I thought your promotion training was so rigorous and you were so dedicated. But you just came out like that?”

The victim was silent for a moment and answered: “The training is very strict; I am very dedicated. It is not just coming out casually.”

“Oh? Really? What you said about not replying to my messages, and how intense the study was, was that just a lie to get me off? I message you every day, and you don’t reply, and you ask me why I turned off my phone?”

The victim remained unmoved by his questioning. “Not every day. You haven’t messaged me in the past two days.”

“Fuck… talking to yourself against the wall can still make an echo,” Yu Xiaowen sighed. He then moved closer, poking his chest with his fingertips, and whispered slowly, “Alright, I’m leaving. You little rascal. Curious, huh? I won’t tell you. If you want the answer, wait until you’re done with training.”

He took two steps away, then couldn’t help but look back. The victim stood there, motionless, as if still staring at him. 

Yu Xiaowen kicked his toes, cursing himself for being spineless. But honestly, it was quite a distance from the military training ground to this place. 

He walked back angrily and stopped. 

The victim’s deathly expression changed, as if he was a little surprised that he had come back. 

Yu Xiaowen asked, “Tell me what you thought of. Hurry up.”