SDT 56

Chapter 56: Breach of Trust

By late morning, the cruise ship had docked.

Lu Kongyun disembarked alongside his temporary personal bodyguard, Captain Hao Dali, with Dai Lanshan walking nearby.

At the pier, Lieutenant Colonel Lu Renjia from S Country’s Intelligence Bureau was already waiting. He greeted them with a smile. “The two of you came together? The 208 team’s all here again.”

Then his eyes moved briefly toward the Omega beside Lu Kongyun. “And this is?”

“An ordinary security guard from the Ye family’s estate,” Lu Kongyun replied. “The manager assigned him to look after me.”

“Oh.” Lu Renjia gave Yu Xiaowen a brief, assessing glance before looking away.

Yu Xiaowen didn’t know who this man was, nor what “208” referred to. But his attention was drawn to a black car parked in the distance. The man in the driver’s seat was Dai Jingxi, the one who had once saved him back in S Country, and the unlucky elder brother constantly pestered by Dai Lanshan.

Their eyes met. They recognized each other, then both looked away.

Dai Lanshan had also noticed the car immediately. But instead of rushing over to his brother as he normally would, he turned his focus on Captain Hao Dali, carefully watching his reaction.

The wordless exchange between those two made Dai Lanshan’s smile darken.

Yu Xiaowen looked back at Lu Kongyun and Lu Renjia with a polite, neutral smile.

Perhaps being reunited with his “rescuer” at sea had been too dreamlike. Now that his feet were on solid ground again, the detective’s instinct that had dulled these past few days returned in full force. Reality felt solid underfoot once more.

Every gaze around him seemed to carry a different meaning. Suddenly, Yu Xiaowen felt as if he stood at the center of overlapping circles, every person’s attention intersecting on him. Given his current identity, he needed to stay cautious.

Lu Kongyun turned to him and said quietly, “Remember what I told you.”

Your only assignment is me. You’ll follow me, and you can’t leave me.

…Was that really something to say to Captain Hao Dali?

It didn’t sound like it. Yet it wasn’t something meant for Yu Xiaowen, either.

It was as if a master were speaking to a personal attendant.

Yu Xiaowen didn’t show any reaction, only nodded. “Understood, Mr. Lu.”

As the group prepared to board the vehicles waiting to take them inland, Yu Xiaowen said, “Mr. Lu, I’d like to return to the staff dormitory first to change into a clean uniform and drop off my things. After that, I’ll meet you.”

Lu Renjia interjected at once, “Come with us, we can give you a ride. The car’s big; there’s plenty of room.”

“…It’s not on the way,” Yu Xiaowen said.

“Come on,” Lu Renjia insisted with a grin. “Our boss’s rule is never to leave anyone behind.”

Dai Lanshan added with feigned casualness, “Captain Hao Dali, why don’t you ride with my brother? Maybe you two will get along.”

The air shifted ever so slightly. Everyone’s attention turned toward Yu Xiaowen.

“No need, no need,” Yu Xiaowen said quickly. “I’m just a security guard. I’ll take the staff bus. Otherwise, the manager will think I’m slacking off. It’s fine, really.” He bowed politely with a practiced smile.

Lu Kongyun said nothing, only watched him.

Then Yu Xiaowen took hold of his suitcase handle and said, “Mr. Lu, I’ll see you in a bit.”

He turned and began walking away. But after a few steps, he heard measured footsteps following behind. He stopped and looked back.

Lu Kongyun had followed. After a few seconds, he closed the distance between them.

He opened his mouth to say something, but seeing the others nearby, he frowned and said instead, “Come back quickly.”

“Alright,” Yu Xiaowen said.

As his figure receded into the crowd, Lu Kongyun turned to Lu Renjia and asked, “You came alone?”

Lu Renjia shifted his gaze back from the retreating bodyguard and replied, “I came with your brother. He’s waiting for you.”

That caught Lu Kongyun off guard. “…Why would he come? Isn’t he supposed to be busy right now?”

“You’re right,” Lu Renjia said, equally confused. “He was supposed to let me handle this alone. But when he saw some M Country intel that Second Dai had asked me to check, he immediately booked a seat on my flight. Even handed over that stealth drone case he’d been managing personally. That one’s a top-priority operation. It’s strange.”

All this trouble just to dig up some half-baked lead about a long-gone police traitor? Hardly worth the fuss. But that thought, he kept to himself.

Dai Lanshan snorted. “You idiot. I ask you to dig up information for me, and after all this time, you’ve not only turned up nothing, you’ve leaked everything I collected to the spymaster himself.”

“That’s not fair,” Lu Renjia said lightly. “Any citizen of S Country should be aware that having one’s private data held by the Intelligence Bureau isn’t espionage, it’s national security.”

Dai Lanshan glared at him. “A nest of government dogs.”

Lu Renjia smiled. “Say that again in front of Director Lu, and maybe I’ll be impressed. You noisy fly.”

Lu Kongyun frowned, the tension between them obvious.

Just then, Dai Jingxi honked softly from the black car. “Lanshan.”

“My wife’s here to pick me up,” Dai Lanshan said, dropping his hostility in favor of a smug grin. He turned and strutted toward the car.

But even as he climbed in, his mind was whirring. The fact that Lu Qifeng, the head of intelligence himself, had dropped an ongoing top-level case to fly here after seeing Dai Lanshan’s files on Ye Yisan meant one thing: Ye Yisan and Hao Dali were far more important than they appeared.

Now, with Hao Dali likely rushing off to make a report, this was Dai Lanshan’s best chance to uncover the truth.

After some thought, he turned to Dai Jingxi. “Brother, I’ve got something to handle first. You go back to the hotel and rest. I’ll come find you later.”

“Let’s eat first,” Dai Jingxi said calmly.

“Dinner, then,” Dai Lanshan replied. He glanced over his brother, frowning slightly. “You’ve lost weight. What’s going on? Miss me that much?”

Then he grinned, opening the car door. “I’ll make it up to you tonight.”

“…Lanshan.”

Dai Lanshan froze. He turned back.

Dai Jingxi’s tone had softened in a way it never did.

Normally, he would call him by his full name or when lecturing him, “Xiao Shan.” But just “Lanshan”… was too intimate. It was unprecedented.

And in that moment, Dai Lanshan understood. His brother, who had arrived in M Country earlier, must already know more, perhaps he had even met Ye Yisan.

The realization hit him like a wave.

After a long pause, Dai Lanshan shut the door again and pulled Dai Jingxi into an embrace, pressing his face against his shoulder.

“Alright,” he murmured. “Then hold me. …No, that’s not enough. Kiss me.”

…

Meanwhile, Yu Xiaowen had returned to the staff dormitory near the estate. He dropped off his luggage, packed a smaller bag, and slipped out through a discreet side gate.

He needed to speak with Ye Yisan.

His messages had gone unanswered, so he decided to go in person. Something about today made him unusually alert. After switching vehicles several times, he reached Ye Yisan’s public residence, but found it empty. So he circled around, taking back alleys until he arrived at a safe house hidden on the edge of the city’s industrial sprawl.

Sure enough, Ye Yisan was there.

Yu Xiaowen knocked in their coded pattern, then retrieved the spare key hidden beneath a concrete tile and let himself in.

Ye Yisan sat inside the dim, unlit room, a motionless shadow.

Yu Xiaowen entered, scanning the place. “Can we turn the light on?”

A pause. Then Ye Yisan said faintly, “Mm.”

The ceiling light flickered to life. Ye Yisan’s face was pale, his eyes unfocused. There were even teeth marks on the back of his hand.

Yu Xiaowen was startled. “…What happened to you?”

“Did you come alone?” Ye Yisan asked.

“Of course,” Yu Xiaowen replied. The question felt strange, this was their designated meeting place; of course he’d come alone.

He poured a glass of water for Ye Yisan. “I figured you’d be worried about me being overseas, maybe calling every day to check in. But I sent you a message and didn’t hear back.”

Ye Yisan was silent for a while before answering.

“The comrade who went on the last mission with me is dead. Zhao Hebian. You met him once.”

“…”

Their missions were always dangerous. Yu Xiaowen thought of how Ye Yisan had once scaled a cliff in a storm, killed Ding Qi’s crew, retrieved the case, and still carried him to safety. People like them lived every day on the edge of death.

He patted Ye Yisan’s shoulder in condolence.

“It was Mr. Ye’s doing,” Ye Yisan said after a while, his lips trembling.

“…What?”

“He failed the assignment and exposed himself. Mr. Ye ‘cleaned up’ afterward.” Ye Yisan’s voice was hoarse. “I should be used to it. Our lives belong to him. The moment we sold ourselves, we accepted that. But it still hurts.”

Yu Xiaowen had heard stories like that before, but he’d never fully understood. M Country’s brutal order of things was beyond reason, yet for those within it, this was law.

He gripped Ye Yisan’s shoulder more firmly. “He was your brother-in-arms. It’s normal to grieve.”

Ye Yisan rubbed his face.

“Being ‘cleaned up’ by Mr. Ye means death,” he said quietly. “But now… I’ve met something worse than death.”

His expression had turned vacant and haunted. Yu Xiaowen studied him closely. He looked shaken, nothing like the calm operative he knew. More like that frightened man he’d first met years ago in S Country.

“Captain Hao Dali,” Ye Yisan said suddenly, “on the ship, you were with the Lu family, right?”

“Yes.” Yu Xiaowen nodded. He’d planned to tell him this anyway but hadn’t had the chance earlier. “The second son, Lu Kongyun. We’ve met before, though not closely. He thinks I’m Yu Xiaowen’s twin brother…”

There were inconsistencies in that story, but he stuck to it for now. “Either way, he’s leaving in three days. You don’t need to worry. Oh, and Dai Lanshan came too, with his brother. He might come looking for you.”

At that, Ye Yisan’s face turned even grimmer.

“Entry logs show that Lu Qifeng, director of S Country’s Intelligence Bureau, has arrived in M Country,” Ye Yisan said. “He dropped an active case and came here personally. That’s not coincidence. I think your cover was blown on the ship. Maybe Lu Kongyun told him.”

“That’s impossible.” Yu Xiaowen’s back stiffened as he said it. “He wouldn’t…”

On the ship, the unusual behavior between Lu Kongyun and himself had always been there, he had simply been too lost in his dream to notice. Now silent, Yu Xiaowen stared at Ye Yisan, waiting for him to explain the reason behind his deduction.

Ye Yisan said, “You brought your S Country wristband onto the ship, right?”

“Yes,” Yu Xiaowen answered. “But I never turned it on.”

Then he fell silent again.

He started feeling dread.

“The wristband was activated,” Ye Yisan said. “Before I returned it to you, I powered it on in a signal-blocked area and copied its operational data to my own device. I’m sorry. I didn’t fully trust you back then.”

Ye Yisan continued, “After that, it stayed inactive. But while you were on the ship, it turned on, for exactly one minute and thirty seconds, and logged in with your user ID.”

A cold chill ran from the crown of Yu Xiaowen’s head all the way down his back.

…

Lu Kongyun looked around the room. It was completely sealed, soundproof, with double doors and insulated walls. He had chosen it deliberately.

Moments later, Lu Qifeng arrived.

The head of intelligence walked in with unusual intensity; Lu Kongyun had rarely seen his elder brother in such an state.

Lu Kongyun poured him tea and slid the cup across the table. “Drink some water.”

Lu Qifeng sat down heavily, drained half the cup, and set it down with a grin. “Case solved. Want to hear it?”

Gone was his usual cold, sarcastic demeanor. Today, he looked radiant, almost triumphant. The change was unsettling.

Lu Kongyun regarded him calmly. “Is this case really worth your enthusiasm?”

“I couldn’t care less about your deadbeat little policeman,” Lu Qifeng scoffed. “I’m talking about Ye Yisan. You’ve heard of him?”

“I heard the name on the ship,” Lu Kongyun said.

“Ye Yisan,” Lu Qifeng declared, “is the spy who escaped from me two years ago.”

The revelation stunned Lu Kongyun. He froze for several seconds.

“…You mean the same Ye Yisan you planted with Gao Yuting, the one who escaped afterward?”

“Exactly,” Lu Qifeng said. “After his escape, around the same time, Yu Xiaowen disappeared during the Ding Qi case, he fell off a cliff, and the black case vanished with him. Now Ye Yisan’s reappeared in M Country, accompanied by someone named Hao Dali. This Hao Dali looks almost identical to Yu Xiaowen. And from my research, Ye Yisan is an expert in disguise. But you know as well as I do, disguise can change the face, not the scent. Especially not pheromones.”

Lu Kongyun said nothing.

Seeing his younger brother’s expression stiffen and pale, Lu Qifeng smiled in satisfaction.

“Good, you’re not entirely brain-dead. I don’t need to spell it out. Still think the Bureau is slandering your ‘martyr’? You’ve spent two years acting like a fool.”

He watched his brother’s throat tighten, the muscles shifting as he swallowed back words. Then his eyes flicked to the wrist on which Lu Kongyun now wore only a single wristband. Clicking his tongue, he said, “Put your medical stabilizer back on. Who told you to remove it?”

Lu Kongyun didn’t move. His tone was stiff. “Medical stabilizer for what? If I die, I die.”

“Pathetic,” Lu Qifeng muttered. Glancing at his watch, he asked, “Where is Yu Xiaowen now?”

“He said he was going back to the dormitory to drop off his luggage,” Lu Kongyun replied.

“That man’s gone to warn Ye Yisan,” Lu Qifeng said coldly. “Ye Yisan. Poor abandoned thing. A turtle in a jar. Let’s see where you’re hiding now.”

His eyes gleamed unnaturally bright, his excitement almost manic. As he tried to stand, a sudden wave of dizziness hit him. His body went limp, and he collapsed back into the chair.

A few seconds later, comprehension dawned. He laughed through his teeth. “Lu Kongyun, I just said you weren’t an idiot, and here you are proving me wrong. You drugged me? Instead of chasing that conman who deceived you, you went after your brother, a national officer on duty?”

“Because you’re loud,” Lu Kongyun said. “And reckless. I wanted you calm. I’ll handle this case. Alright?”

…

Yu Xiaowen’s mind traced back through everything that had happened on the ship.

He couldn’t believe Lu Kongyun, the kind of man he was, would fabricate some elaborate lie just to lower his guard, secretly gather proof, and then report him. Yet even if that were true, it wouldn’t be wrong. If Yu Xiaowen was alive, then by S Country’s laws, he was a traitor. For an officer like Lu Kongyun, any course of action was justified.

But why would he go to such lengths for me?

“If Mr. Ye discovers that I helped you assume a false identity, both of us will be ‘cleaned up.’ And if Lu Qifeng catches us, death will be a mercy,” Ye Yisan said. “We have to leave. Immediately.”

Yu Xiaowen forced himself to stop thinking in circles.

The only thing that mattered was determining whether they were truly at risk yet. He couldn’t let Ye Yisan, who had once saved his life, be dragged down with him. Everything else was meaningless.

“Calm down first,” Yu Xiaowen said. “We need to confirm whether our connection has actually been exposed. Even if Lu Qifeng wants me, it doesn’t mean he’ll come after you.”

Ye Yisan covered his face. “No. I’ve already been exposed. They’ll trace everything back to us.”

Yu Xiaowen noticed his trembling hands and was startled. What had happened to him? This man who had always walked through fire and blood without flinching.

Lu Qifeng was a busy man; he wouldn’t fly to M Country without cause. Coming for an old case was already excessive.

Yu Xiaowen thought for a moment and said, “Don’t panic yet. Let’s think this through. Maybe he’s here for something else. And besides, Lu Kongyun isn’t the type to report someone in secret.”

After a pause, Ye Yisan seemed to reach a decision. He powered on his phone, tapped a few times, then tossed it to Yu Xiaowen.

Yu Xiaowen caught it and looked.

On the screen were four words: Long time no see.

It wasn’t a message, it was a screenshot. The SIM card was gone, and the pile of twisted, charred remains on the table made it clear what had happened to it.

Yu Xiaowen stared at those words, then at Ye Yisan. Something in Ye Yisan’s expression made those four simple words seem alive, dangerous, terrible.

“Today,” Ye Yisan said quietly. “The moment Lu Qifeng’s plane landed. It had to be him.”

“…You two knew each other?” Yu Xiaowen asked.

But Ye Yisan refused to answer. After a while, he said only, “We need to go. Quickly. Once this breaks, both sides will come for us, Lu Qifeng and Mr. Ye. There won’t be time for anything.”

Yu Xiaowen frowned. If Lu Qifeng had already located Ye Yisan, then his own cover was gone as well.

His phone vibrated. The caller ID showed an S Country number. He knew instantly, it was Lu Kongyun.

“…Lu Kongyun,” Yu Xiaowen murmured. “He’s probably calling to ask when I’m coming back.” He looked at Ye Yisan. “Should I answer?”

Ye Yisan thought for a moment, then took out a device, adjusted it, and said, “Answer. Listen to what he says. Hang up within thirty seconds.”

Yu Xiaowen obeyed.

“…Hello.”

“Hello,” came the quiet voice on the other end. “Where are you?”

Yu Xiaowen didn’t answer. “What’s wrong?” he asked instead.

After a pause, Lu Kongyun asked, “Did you go to see Brother Ye?”

Ye Yisan could hear every word, his eyes locked on Yu Xiaowen’s face.

Yu Xiaowen stayed silent.

He sounded resigned.

Then Lu Kongyun’s voice came again, calm but heavy. “When will you come back?”

Yu Xiaowen glanced at Ye Yisan. “…Soon.”

“Do you remember what I told you?”

At that, something shifted inside Yu Xiaowen. For the first time, he understood that sentence, just stay with me, and perhaps more than that. But danger pressed too close for reflection. He swallowed and forced out, “Mm. You said… I just need to stay with you.”

Silence.

Then, softly, “Come back soon. I’ll be waiting.”

The call ended. Ye Yisan’s gaze grew unreadable. He switched off the signal device. “He’s not nearby for now.”

He then dismantled his own phone, removing the card. “But they can still trace us easily. We can’t take anything. We leave now.”

“…Now?” Yu Xiaowen hesitated. “I just told him I’d come back—”

Ye Yisan studied his face carefully.

Then asked abruptly, “Does Lu Kongyun love you too?”

The word too hit like a slap. Yu Xiaowen instinctively shrank back.

“…Of course not,” he said quickly, almost too quickly.

“Then are you sure you know what you’re walking back into?” Ye Yisan asked.

He didn’t. He only knew that he’d said he would return.

It was foolish, and with his current identity, he couldn’t afford foolishness. But he knew it.

What was Lu Kongyun really thinking? He knew the truth but hadn’t said it aloud. Was it strategy, to hold him until Lu Qifeng arrived? Or did he want Yu Xiaowen to confess on his own, to admit who he really was, to surrender?

Either way, Lu Kongyun couldn’t be wrong. As an officer, as a man of conscience, everything he did was justified.

Yu Xiaowen knew the life Ye Yisan lived was brutal, money, affection, everything scarce. His only goal had always been survival. A man like that had risked his life once to save him; Yu Xiaowen couldn’t drag him down again.

He calmed himself and said firmly, “We’re exposed. It’s my fault. I brought something I shouldn’t have and underestimated the risk. But I won’t let you die.”

“You can’t die either. We both live,” Ye Yisan said, taking Yu Xiaowen’s phone. He powered it off, removed the SIM card, and lit it with a lighter.

The two of them watched in silence as the card blackened, curled, and turned to ash. Ye Yisan crushed it with a tool until it was no more than warped fragments.

“Let’s go,” Ye Yisan said. “Being alive is what matters. You’ve already died once. You should understand better than I do.”

Yu Xiaowen stared at the smoldering remains. The thought that this might truly be goodbye, forever, dragged at him like a weight tied to his soul, sinking deep into dark water.

…

Lu Kongyun waited for a long time. When he noticed Lu Qifeng trying to stand again, he calmly took a fresh syringe, walked over, and injected him with another dose.

Lu Qifeng watched his brother’s calm hand and laughed. “You’ve got guts, Lu Kongyun, drugging your own brother.”

“Don’t talk,” Lu Kongyun said flatly. “My emotions aren’t stable, and you can’t fight back.” He recapped the needle and set it aside.

“Idiot,” Lu Qifeng said. “He’s not coming back. He only humored you on the ship because he had no choice. Now that he’s ashore, he’s long gone. If you let my spy escape, I’ll make you pay, brother or not.”

Lu Kongyun’s voice hardened. “If you’d ever understood the difference between mine and yours, things wouldn’t have come to this. You were the one who touched what was mine first.”

Lu Qifeng barked a laugh. “You really are a fool. Did he agree to be ‘yours’?”

Lu Kongyun looked at him coolly. “Did your ‘spy’ agree to be your spy?”

“Why don’t you call the Mars satellite network and ask if a rocket just passed by,” Lu Qifeng sneered. “Maybe the Bureau can beam a message to it, ‘Colonel Lu says the nation owes him an apology~’”

Lu Kongyun turned to the window. The sky outside had gone red, the sun was setting, light bleeding into dusk.

After a moment, he took out his phone and dialed again.

“I’m sorry, the number you are calling has been switched off…”

The voice from the speaker was quiet, but clear enough for Lu Qifeng to hear. He laughed, it was cruel. “Lu Kongyun, are you really that stupid?”

The figure by the window didn’t move. His shoulders were still straight, yet something hollow had entered his frame, as though the strength had drained from him. The hand holding the phone trembled as it lowered.

Lu Qifeng watched him. The laughter faded.

“Yes,” Lu Kongyun said at last, voice distant. “You’re right.”

Seeing him like that –,remembering what the past two years had done to him – Lu Qifeng, harsh as he was, couldn’t bring himself to twist the knife any further.