SDT 47

Chapter 47 Reunion

The days passed quickly in their routine.

After a year and a half of treatment, Yu Xiaowen no longer needed medication, only regular checkups to provide physical data. Half a year ago, he had begun consistent, high-intensity exercise, determined to regain his pre-illness condition. Every morning, he got up early without fail, ran laps on the open ground beside the dorm, and then practiced pull-ups and dips.

Recently, he had been running faster and faster. Among the seven or eight Alphas in the security team, none could catch up to him. Even though someone had started a rumor that anyone who could overtake Captain Hao Dali during laps would be allowed to smell his Omega pheromones, the only ones in the whole security department, no one had ever succeeded in earning that “reward.”

When everyone else collapsed onto the ground, the Omega captain rolled up his sleeves, showing his forearms, and smiled as he walked over.

“I’d like to see who dares spread dirty rumors about me again. Hm? If you want to smell pheromones, go get yourselves wives.”

Two months after Hao Dali, the man with the powerful-sounding name¹, was promoted to captain of the Third Security Team, he received a rather important assignment.

The group’s top executive, Mr. Ye, who was also Agent Ye Yisan’s direct superior, had purchased a cruise ship in the harbor city of C Country. He planned to hold a formal launch ceremony at a major harbor there called Secret Port.

A large auction would be held at the same time, attracting wealthy businessmen and social elites from various countries. Mr. Ye intended to host a banquet on the cruise ship and, for anyone interested, allow them to board and travel together to the M Pharmaceutical Company’s annual new drug release and medical biotechnology expo.

It was an event that served many purposes at once, and Mr. Ye valued it highly. He was rich, extremely rich, but M Country was small, and its businessmen rarely had the chance to stand proudly as hosts among global elites. So he selected the best security and service personnel from across his enterprises, determined to make the event flawless.

Yu Xiaowen’s Third Team was chosen to participate in the voyage. When he heard that the harbor city was located in C Country, he felt an unexpected excitement.

While reporting this to Ye Yisan over the phone, he asked, “Yisan, rivers and seas are connected, right? Would there be a chance to go all the way to Jiang City?”

“No.” Ye Yisan was busy preparing for another mission and couldn’t accompany them to the harbor. He replied, “The harbor is in the southern sea. Jiang City is in the north, by the river.”

“The southern sea?” Yu Xiaowen said. “Then the harbor city’s climate must be kind of like S Country, right?”

Hearing him mention S Country again, Ye Yisan paused. “I think there’ll be guests from S Country attending. Be careful with your identity. If you’re exposed, both of us are done for. And remember, Mr. Ye himself will be on that ship.”

“I won’t be exposed.” After a moment of silence, Yu Xiaowen replied, “The people I used to know wouldn’t attend something like an auction. Besides, I’m in disguise. Don’t worry.”

A few days later, training began on the cruise ship. The Third Team’s assignment was ideal, they were the mobile unit, allowed to move freely between all decks and areas. Everyone was pleased.

There was no need to describe how luxurious the ship was. The staff from M Country were already used to Mr. Ye’s extravagant standards, but even the distinguished guests expressed admiration for the wealth of this small nation’s pharmaceutical magnate.

That day happened to coincide with a popular Western festival in the harbor city, when people wore masks or elaborate costumes to the streets. To blend in, Mr. Ye instructed the ship’s staff to dress up as well. For security officers, however, costumes were inconvenient, so they only wore masks covering the upper half of the face.

That evening, Yu Xiaowen and Da Guang were assigned to watch the entrance of the banquet hall, making sure guests were attended to if they needed anything.

Although the rich of M Country were refined and indulgent, none matched the harbor guests’ exquisite style. Through his mask, Da Guang kept staring at a lady wearing icy-silk gloves until Yu Xiaowen nudged him and whispered, “Hey, quit staring before your eyeballs fall out.”

Da Guang quickly looked away.

The first few guests naturally began chatting about the large-scale auction held over the past two days.

“Who do you think lit a lantern for that jade bead prayer?” asked an elderly gentleman.

“Whoever it was, they clearly don’t know the art,” said a lady, waving her fan, her green bracelets gleaming.

“Rich, but ignorant,” another man agreed. “Many of the items were bought for outrageous sums. Take that jade bead prayer for example, it was carved from a whole piece of dragon jade, with only one bead taken out. Yet it was auctioned for the price of an entire bangle.”

The lady shook her head. “Tens of millions for a single leftover bead? I liked it too, but lighting a lantern for it was just foolish.”

“That person must’ve gone there for that one piece,” said the old gentleman.

“Wasn’t the man from Hai City even worse? He…” The man leaned closer to whisper, and Yu Xiaowen couldn’t hear the rest.

After a while, his walkie-talkie buzzed. The security chief told him to check the garden lounge area.

He gave Da Guang a quick word of instruction and headed off.

The garden lounge was on the ship’s top deck. The fastest route was from the banquet hall up to the deck, across the aft deck, and then by elevator to the rooftop pool and garden.

It was already dark. Most guests were inside the banquet hall or at the lounge bar, mingling and having fun. There were a few people out on deck for the sea breeze, but not many. Inside, the ship glowed brightly, while the deck was lit only by faint lamps, creating a calm, spacious atmosphere like the harbor itself.

Yu Xiaowen walked briskly, paying little attention to his surroundings. Then, in the shadow ahead, a figure caught his eye for no clear reason. The person drew his attention for several seconds. As Yu Xiaowen passed behind him, he heard the guest grip the railing and whisper faintly toward the sea, “Good night.”

“…?” Yu Xiaowen wondered if he had misheard. His instinctive alertness made him stop and ask, “Sir, do you need any assistance?”

The guest turned around, and their eyes met.

“…”

Neither knew how long they stood frozen like that.

The guest stiffly took a few steps toward him, and Yu Xiaowen couldn’t move his legs. He stood like a trapped rabbit, eyes wide behind his mask, watching the man come closer.

The man stopped right in front of him, and Yu Xiaowen thought he could hear the sound of raindrops hitting the deck.

…Was it a hallucination? A sound from an old memory?

From Manjing, the city of endless rain?

He looked down. Under the dim light, he saw dark droplets splattered on the deck. It wasn’t rain. From years as a detective, he could judge the fall height from the splatter pattern. He looked back up, and sure enough, the man’s upper lip and mouth were stained with the same dark color.

“Hey! You…”

…Nosebleed again?!

The man seemed to want to lift his hand toward Yu Xiaowen’s mask, but before he could, his body went rigid, just like that time two years ago when his nose bled, and collapsed against Yu Xiaowen’s shoulder.

Yu Xiaowen instinctively caught him, steady and practiced, the same way as before.

“…”

The man, eyes rolling, struggled to pull a key card from his pocket and press it into Yu Xiaowen’s hand.

Yu Xiaowen tried to pull it free to check the room number but couldn’t. Just then, a waiter passed by, and he called out, “Hey! Give me a hand here!”

Even with the waiter’s help, he still couldn’t pry his hand free from the grip, so he had the waiter squat and check the card.

“Section A, Room 208,” the waiter said, his face serious. “Section A, that’s a VIP suite! Should I notify Mr. Ye right away?”

“…Not yet!” Yu Xiaowen said quickly. “Telling him now won’t help. Just call a doctor to 208! I’ll carry him there first.”

“Oh, okay!” The waiter nodded rapidly and ran off.

Yu Xiaowen first tore two pieces of tissue, rolled them into small plugs, and carefully stuffed them into Lu Kongyun’s nostrils. Then he immediately hoisted him up and headed toward the elevator. Through his radio, he reported in that someone else needed to patrol the garden in his place.

There were other guests in the elevator who asked if he needed help. He shook his head quickly. “Thank you. This guest probably got seasick and fell. Sorry if it disturbed you.”

He carried Lu Kongyun to the door of Room A208. With their still-clasped hands, he swiped the key card and pushed the door open. The two of them stumbled inside together. He set the man down on the bed, but his hand was still tightly held and couldn’t be freed.

He had seen the guest list earlier, Lu Kongyun hadn’t been on it. But some invitations had been sent out by Mr. Ye only after arriving at the harbor, so he couldn’t know them all… That was plausible enough.

But Lu Kongyun coming to an auction?

What, were they auctioning a limited-edition beaker set?

Yu Xiaowen’s head was a mess.

Stay calm.

Yu Xiaowen had always believed that as long as he never returned to ScCountry, the chance of meeting anyone from his past was zero. His social circle had been small, he had never been abroad, and even when traveling across provinces, it had always been for cross-regional arrests.

He never imagined that when he did meet someone again, it would be someone of this level.

But in another sense, also the least consequential one. Of all the people he had known, Lu Kongyun was probably the one least concerned about seeing him again. Seeing him or not made no difference. So even if his cover got blown in front of this man, it practically didn’t count as being blown at all.

But would Lu Kongyun, who was that smart, really fail to notice something strange about a former officer from S Country suddenly working as a security guard on a cruise ship in M Country?

…He could just say the salary here was good. It didn’t matter. Lu Kongyun wouldn’t care about where he ended up anyway. Maybe he’d even feel relieved that this troublesome brat had gone abroad and wasn’t under the same passport anymore.

Yes.

He leaned toward the door to make sure no one was passing by.

He tried pulling his hand free again, but the other man’s grip seemed locked tight from unconsciousness, no matter how hard he pulled, it wouldn’t budge. So Yu Xiaowen used his free hand to fumble for the switch and turned on the dim bedside lamp.

Then he turned his head to look at the man’s face.

…It was covered in blood.

Had he gone into rut again? Why was he wandering around like this?

Yu Xiaowen felt irritated. Why was he always like this?

He removed the tissue plugs from Lu Kongyun’s nostrils and threw them into the trash, then took some wet wipes from the nightstand and carefully wiped his face. Wherever he wiped, the blood disappeared, revealing that same composed face beneath.

Yu Xiaowen kept wiping, then slowly withdrew the tissue, letting his fingertips take its place instead.

All his attention focused on the few square millimeters at his fingertips. Along with the wetness of the tissue, he felt the other man’s cheek, his jaw, and his closed, soft lips.

He was focused. There was no thought in his mind, no desire, only the recognition of something he had thought he would never touch again. He simply wanted to feel if it was the same as he remembered, to confirm that something real from the past still existed.

Had he gotten thinner? …Though honestly, he had never really touched him properly before. It was all a blur.

When he finished wiping his face, he came back to himself and drew his hand away. But then he realized, the man’s eyes were open in the dim light, silently staring at him. There was no visible movement of breath, no sound, just his gaze.

Yu Xiaowen froze, uncertain if what he felt was embarrassment or shock.

He tried to get up. Then suddenly, an arm wrapped around his waist and pulled him down.

Lu Kongyun, awakened by the sudden reflexive motion, started breathing again, and fast. He tilted his head back, half-lidded eyes wet, looking up at Yu Xiaowen hovering above him, lips slightly parted.

Yu Xiaowen saw his tongue brush past his sharp canine teeth, remembering vividly how it had been during the last time his rut had broken out. He immediately tried to push himself up, but his neck was caught and forced down again, bringing him dangerously close to the man’s face. Dr. Lu tilted his head up, staring straight into his eyes.

Yu Xiaowen’s fingers tensed. He stared back nervously, not knowing whether he should say something or stay silent.

“…”

No sound.

Only that pair of eyes, wide open and fixed on him, seemed to be clearing with awareness. The clearer they grew, the brighter they became, piercing and predatory. The fingers holding the back of Yu Xiaowen’s neck tightened like iron clamps, making it hurt. Lu Kongyun’s quick, shallow breathing hit his face, and his chest rose with each breath.

Lu Kongyun’s hand still held him tightly, so their faces kept getting closer until Yu Xiaowen’s mask stopped them.

“…”

“You…”

After who knew how long, Lu Kongyun finally made a sound. His voice was hoarse and muffled, so small and distant it hardly sounded like him.

“The security guard!”

He had barely said a word when a panicked female voice came from the doorway, followed by bright light flooding the room.

“Ah! What are you doing to the guest?!”

The cruise’s service manager happened to arrive with the ship’s doctor. When they heard that the guest in A208 had collapsed and saw the name in the registry, they had rushed over in alarm, only to find one of the estate’s security officers pressing down a fainted son of a S Country military commissioner, apparently taking advantage of him.

1. Hao (豪) “heroic,” “magnificent,” or “bold.” Dali (大力) “great strength” or “mighty power.” ↩︎