SDT 58

Chapter 58 Information Gap

More than a month later.

The annual assessment and performance review meeting for young serving military officers and cadres was held at a military training ground on the outskirts of Manjing.

This morning, during the physical fitness test, a group of people were running sparsely on the track. Some civilian officers were dragging their bodies, sometimes running with their backs to the sky, sometimes running with their backs bent to the ground. From a distance, they were crying and wailing.

Lu Renjia wasn’t a civilian, but he wasn’t much better. He was reasonably fit, but not particularly adept at endurance-testing events. He collapsed on the grass after the run, gasping for breath.

Dai Lanshan, who had finished running a long time ago, looked at the photos on his phone and said in a leisurely tone, “Lieutenant Colonel Lu, how can an Alpha live a happy life if his endurance is so poor?”

“I have a rough idea of how much running track is enough to pass, but I don’t want to run too fast and tire myself out.” Lu Renjia glanced at him and said, “After all, there are things at home that really require effort. Unlike you, looking at photos all day doesn’t waste any energy.”

“…” Dai Lanshan sneered, “Oh? Are you tired? Your mysterious wife never lets you interact with Alphas. I always thought you were the one who was lying down and enjoying it.”

Lu Renjia’s face froze for a moment, and he straightened up and looked into the distance, changing the subject: “What’s wrong with the doctor?”

Dai Lanshan also looked over.

The officers who had finished their laps were resting, awaiting the firearms and shooting technique assessment in half an hour. Colonel Lu, however, had already headed straight for the firing range and was firing frantically at the target before him.

The shooting range was on the other side of the training ground and the view was not clear, but based on the number of shots from the M16 rifle, the two men guessed that he had changed two magazines.

“It was weird during the free fight this morning,” Dai Lanshan said. “Don’t you think so?”

“Yeah.” Lu Renjia narrowed his eyes as he looked at the shooter at the shooting range. “Although Ding Kai asked him to do that last time, it felt like revenge with a clear purpose. But this time, the look in his eyes made it seem like he simply wanted to attack the other person without any grudges, but he was trying hard to restrain himself.”

He recalled that look and shuddered again for his opponent at that time.

Dai Lanshan agreed: “So after the game, he almost broke through the sandbag next to him. Is this the beginning of his susceptible period?”

“Actually, I don’t think he’s weird until now.”

Lu Renjia recovered a bit, sat up, looked around, and said, “Don’t you think he’s been a little off since he came back from M Country? Last month, there was a public meeting at the military, and a reporter asked him if he had any plans to get married or if he liked someone. He said “It’s a military meeting, but you thought it was a family gathering.” Did Lu Kongyun ever talk so arrogantly before?”

“He’s right. Some media outlets deserve to be criticized.” Hearing about M country, Dai Lanshan blinked and sat down next to Lu Renjia calmly.

“Speaking of M Country, how’s your case going? Is it closed?”

“No. We haven’t caught all of them yet.” Lu Renjia shook his head, glanced around, and replied, “We were supposed to catch a traitor and a fugitive, but our boss ended up wanting to catch a foreign spy. It’s baffling.”

Dai Lanshan didn’t say anything.

Lu Renjia added, “For a criminal from our own country, we could extradite him according to an extradition treaty or bring him back secretly. But that guy is a foreign spy, and it’s inappropriate for a senior official from the Ministry of National Security to personally go to a foreign country to arrest him. It’s actually overstepping the boundaries. I don’t know what the boss is doing.”

“Heh. Lu Qifeng has never followed any rules when it comes to doing things. That’s why it’s scary to be targeted by him.” Dai Lanshan took the water bottle and took a sip. “That spy is quite powerful. Even the great Lu couldn’t catch him.”

Lu Renjia retorted, “Not really. If the boss hadn’t been inexplicably plotted against in M Country, delaying the opportunity, he wouldn’t have had the chance to escape at all.”

“But we’ve found the main culprit we’re trying to apprehend,” Lu Renjia added. “He’s currently interrogating them in secret.”

Dai Lanshan stopped drinking water and said, “Oh? Where did you find him?”

Lu Renjia lowered his voice and said, “This guy is really smart. He must have gotten wind of the situation and didn’t follow our planned route to L Country. Guess where he ended up.”

Dai Lanshan: “How would I know?”

“He went back to S Country.” Lu Renjia laughed. “He’s quite courageous. He knows the darkest place is under the lamp. No one knows how he came back. Who would have thought he would dare to come back? We searched for him for almost two months, and only thanks to a coincidental tip-off did we find him. Otherwise, he would have fled overseas in a few days, and we might never have found him.”

“Back home…where did you find him?” Dai Lanshan’s palms were sweating a little as he casually asked, “He was alone, right?”

“He’s alone, in a dirty shack in the wilderness. He was in heat, and there’s no medicine to help him.” Lu Renjia smiled ambiguously, pulled up two blades of grass out of boredom, and threw them away.

“I think an Omega with such a low pheromone level is no better than a Beta.”

“Why didn’t Lu Qifeng say anything?” Dai Lanshan asked, “After all, I was the one who gave you some of the information.”

Lu Renjia said as if it was a matter of course: “I didn’t say you gave it to him. After all, even if you gave it to me, if I didn’t collect it all together, it would be useless information. Isn’t it?”

No wonder. It turned out he was using it to take credit. Dai Lanshan laughed. Then he asked, “What kind of case are you handling? Is it serious?”

“Haha. That’s not an acceptable question.” Lu Renjia looked at him. “If I say any more, I’ll be breaking the rules.”

Dai Lanshan thought. Ye Yisan and Dai Jingxi had some connection, and it was obvious that Dai Jingxi, who had heard about the incident some time ago, had already dealt with it himself. As for Hao Dali, he actually had no direct connection with Dai Jingxi, and it would be difficult to find any concrete evidence. Therefore, as long as Ye Yisan was not arrested, Dai Jingxi would be safe.

Dai Lanshan thought Hao Dali was stupid again. He thought it was safer to stay with Lu Kongyun, the big tree, and didn’t go with Ye Yisan. What a mistake. There was no way Second Young Master Lu would care about him.

After the morning assessment, a debriefing meeting for officers who passed the probation period was held in the afternoon. After lunch, Dai Lanshan returned to the dormitory to change into his formal military uniform.

Lu Kongyun was getting ready in his dormitory. He had already put on his ribbon, medals, badge, and seniority badge. Facing the mirror, his expression unchanged, he took his hat, put it on, and pulled down the brim.

Dai Lanshan threw his combat jacket onto the stool and said, “What’s the rush? You’re not even going to eat lunch?”

“I’m not hungry.” Lu Kongyun said.

“Not hungry? You’re not hungry after all this morning? You still look so pale, are you sick?” Dai Lanshan also took out his hanging military uniform. He thought for a moment and asked, “Lu Kongyun, what case did your brother go to M Country for?”

Lu Kongyun paused as he adjusted his cuffs.

“Why do you ask that?”

“…Nothing. Just asking.” Dai Lanshan put on his military jacket. “I thought you might be a little concerned.”

“I don’t care at all.” Lu Kongyun answered simply.

“Oh. You were close with that little security guard on the cruise ship. Your brother caught him and is now interrogating him personally. I thought you knew something…”

“What did you say?” He was interrupted.

Dai Lanshan turned to look at him: “What, what? It’s Hao Dali. Damn, you haven’t forgotten his name… huh?”

Dai Lanshan: “Lu Kongyun?”

Dai Lanshan: “Hey, where’s that guy going?”

…

Yu Xiaowen shook his head. He was in heat, and his bracelet had broken when he fell into the sea. He had no money, and no medication or inhibitor patches. He’d already survived several times along the way.

Only now… His hands were fixed to the armrests of the seat, and his feet were still in heavy shackles. He couldn’t even wipe the tears from his face.

Opposite him is Lu Qifeng.

He’d long heard of the terrifying interrogation methods of this high-ranking intelligence chief, but now that he’d finally been in his hands for two days, and aside from the lack of suppressants, Yu Xiaowen had at least endured no physical pain. Lu Qifeng questioned him about his relationship with Ye Yisan, where the spy had gone, and why they’d split up. He also asked if his defection two years earlier had been arranged with Ye Yisan, and if Ye Yisan had come to S Country to wait for him. Yu Xiaowen didn’t answer.

He was captured in S Country. Even if Lu Qifeng could identify him as Yu Xiaowen through test results in a few days, he had no evidence to prove Hao Dali was Yu Xiaowen, or Yu Xiaowen was Hao Dali. Technically speaking, his chain of evidence was incomplete. Yu Xiaowen didn’t need to speak. He could just stall for as long as possible.

There were several times when he felt that the other party wanted to use some other means or hit him directly, but he did not carry out the plan, as if he had some reservations.

It looked like the chief’s patience had run out today. He mixed the liquid and powder together, then picked up a syringe and drew out the liquid.

“Yu Xiaowen, do you know what TS-4 is?” Lu Qifeng placed the empty medicine bottle on the table and pushed the syringe with his thumb. “You probably didn’t use it when you were a police officer. You’re not important enough to come into contact with this kind of thing. Do you want me to explain it to you?”

Military truth serum. Yu Xiaowen bit his lip, but remained silent.

“You are really the prisoner I treat the best. You didn’t go through any necessary procedures and just applied the medicine directly. This thing is not cheap. I have to get a permit every time I use it.” Lu Qifeng walked up to him and turned over his arm.

Then he frowned and sniffed: “How did a bad Omega like you hook up with Lu Kongyun?”

What?

Hearing the familiar name, Yu Xiaowen looked up and tried to open his eyes wide to look at the other person.

Lu Qifeng looked down at him and asked, “Because of your face?”

“…” The proximity of the top Alpha made Yu Xiaowen feel even more uncomfortable. He curled up his legs and stretched his body as tight as a bow.

Lu Qifeng noticed his situation and sneered, “Look at you, you are worthless. What the hell do you think you are?”

He picked up the truth serum and prepared to give it to Yu Xiaowen.

The door was suddenly kicked open.

They both looked over at the same time. When they saw the person, Lu Qifeng cursed. Yu Xiaowen couldn’t see clearly, so he blinked hard, squeezing out the tears.

…This was the first time Yu Xiaowen saw him in such a formal military uniform. Why was he dressed like this?

He wanted to see more clearly, but he couldn’t. With the headlights on his face, Yu Xiaowen could only see the man in military uniform standing in the dark doorway, the metal medal hanging from his collar flashing rapidly.

“Lu Qifeng.” After a while, the figure at the door spoke, “What are you doing?”

“..What am I doing? I’m working.” Lu Qifeng said, “But you, shouldn’t you be at the military headquarters? Why are you running here? Are you addicted to breaking discipline?”

The figure at the doorway came closer, and Yu Xiaowen could see it more clearly. Lu Kongyun’s lips were tightly drawn, and the corners of his eyes were raised.

After taking a deep breath, his lips tightened even more.

“It’s not me who caused him to be in heat.” Lu Qifeng snorted coldly, “He has a lowly physique that makes him go in heat with everyone. Doctor Lu should know this.”

Lu Kongyun: “Lu Qifeng. Evidence indicates that you have repeatedly abused drugs on suspects, violating the permitted drug use and human rights laws. I have been authorized to conduct an investigation and oversight on behalf of the members of the Institute of Life Sciences’ Drug Ethics Panel. Here are the documents.”

Lu Qifeng was stunned.

“Hey, fuck… why are you being so literary with me? You’re acting, right?”

He propped up his forehead and lowered his hand. The smile on his face was as ferocious as if he was enduring ants crawling under his skin. “You haven’t recovered from your illness yet. Are you still blind and stupid? Do you remember what I said before?”

Lu Kongyun was silent for a while, grabbed the documents on the table, opened it, and looked down.

“It’s just my job. If you have any complaints, report them. Don’t yell at me.”

…It turns out that Lu Kongyun is like an old civil servant at work.

Yu Xiaowen had never seen this before and chuckled.

So cute.

During this period, he had barely eaten any proper food or slept, his mind constantly tense. He had also been to many crowded places, surrounded by all sorts of pheromones, without any medication to suppress them.

The moment he saw this person, his mind inadvertently relaxed, and then it was difficult to concentrate again.

He felt that the light from the headlights in front of him had faded, like the wings of an angel of light that was welcoming him before ascending to heaven.

He struggled to control himself, and the shackles on his feet made a rattling sound. Then both of them looked at him.

Lu Qifeng’s expression was one of contempt, something Lu Kongyun couldn’t understand. But Yu Xiaowen knew he must be looking very embarrassed and ugly. He gripped the armchair tightly and spoke in a hoarse voice. He hadn’t spoken in so long since he fled, and his voice felt a bit rusty.

“… Commander, before you kill me, I don’t want any last meal. Just give me an inhibitor.”