Chapter 453: The Water's a Bit Deep

Whether in his past life or this one, Yu Dazhang feared most hearing news of a colleague being injured.

He had cooperated with National Security a few times and even helped each other privately, so by now he already regarded Ye Lin as a friend.

"No danger to her life for the moment."

Li Mingzhao on the other end of the line answered briefly:

"You don't need to worry too much."

As long as the person was fine... Yu Dazhang let out a breath of relief and sat back down.

Unconsciously, his forehead was already covered in beads of sweat—he really had been scared quite badly.

He could also tell that Ye Lin must have been injured Extremely heavy this time.

Otherwise Li Mingzhao wouldn't have used the word "for the moment."

"No danger to her life for the moment" meant Ye Lin's condition had only just stabilized.

"Is there anything you need me to do?" Yu Dazhang asked in a deep voice.

At this moment, he had already decided to help.

Revenge and repaying a favor were two different things.

When a friend was being bullied, he couldn't just stand by and watch.

Especially when the other party was also a "little white flower."

"Come to my place, join my special operations group."

Li Mingzhao seemed to have thought it through long ago and said directly:

"Stand a few days of post here, and once things blow over, if you want to go back, I won't stop you."

He had even spoken out Yu Dazhang's own concerns for him.

He had seen it before—this fatty feared most that National Security would force him to stay.

They all say a good man sets his sights on the four corners of the earth, but this useless one only wanted to guard his own doorstep.

"Alright." This time Yu Dazhang agreed readily:

"Give me the address, I'll get there as soon as I can."

Since he'd decided to help, naturally he couldn't drag his feet.

Once Yu Dazhang made a decision, he never went back on it.

"Give me your current address." Li Mingzhao said quickly:

"I'll send someone to pick you up. This time your itinerary must be kept secret. Also, you don't need to report to the bureau—I'll touch base with your municipal bureau later."

Yu Dazhang then gave Li Mingzhao the address of this private kitchen restaurant.

After hanging up the phone, he saw Seeing Qu Tuotuo staring at him, her expression displeased.

"A colleague was injured, so I need to go check on the situation."

Yu Dazhang saw at a glance that she was angry and hurried to explain:

"She helped me before, and now something's happened to her—I can't just turn a blind eye, can I?"

He had previously promised Seeing Qu Tuotuo he wouldn't go out of town for cases anymore.

So Yu Dazhang assumed she was angry about that.

"Ye Lin."

Seeing Qu Tuotuo said, her tone sour:

"What a familiar name. If I remember right, she's your little white flower, right? And your favorite 'widow' series."

Should've known better than to share a man's joys with you... Yu Dazhang suddenly felt that even between boyfriend and girlfriend, one shouldn't be too candid.

And this phone's earpiece—couldn't they design it to be a bit more private?

Any enclosed room is just like having it on speaker—anyone can hear.

"You know, she's just a colleague to me."

Yu Dazhang had a clear conscience on this matter, so he explained himself with full conviction:

"Don't overthink it. I'm just going to check on her injuries this time, and if there's nothing serious, I'll be back soon."

He had always believed Seeing Qu Tuotuo wasn't the type to be unreasonable.

When he'd mentioned Ye Lin before, he'd only briefly explained, and Seeing Qu Tuotuo hadn't said anything more.

Who would have thought, this time she was completely out of character—not only did anger show on her face, she rebutted him without any courtesy:

"When you just heard she was injured, you panicked all over. If she were just an ordinary colleague, would you react like that?"

Seems like he had overreacted a bit... thinking of this, his tone involuntarily softened:

"When I was injured, she came to visit me too. Even if it's just reciprocating courtesy, I should go see her."

No matter how intelligent a woman is, when she sees her other half paying excessive attention to someone of the opposite sex, she can't help overthinking.

The smarter the woman, the more so.

Those born with a saintly cuckold constitution excepted.

Precisely because of this, Yu Dazhang would patiently explain.

If Seeing Qu Tuotuo didn't get jealous at all, he'd instead feel something was off.

"I understand."

Seeing Qu Tuotuo stood up, looked at him, and said calmly:

"Go find her."

After saying that, she turned and walked out. "Hey, you—"

Yu Dazhang hurried to chase after her, but was stopped by the server. By the time he paid the bill and ran to the door, Seeing Qu Tuotuo had already gotten in a car and left.

Just as he was hesitating whether to chase after her, a black sedan stopped in front of him.

The car door opened, and a man in a black suit stepped down from the driver's seat.

"You're Officer Yu, I presume. I've been ordered to take you to the airport."

The man's eyes were very bright, and although his tone was respectful, it carried a coldness.

Yu Dazhang narrowed his eyes.

A soldier!

He had already been observing the man from the moment he stepped out of the car.

From the man's build and gait, this was an active-duty soldier who had undergone military training for many years.

He had heard before that the Ministry of State Security had province-wide coverage.

All 31 provincial-level administrative regions across the country had a provincial Department of State Security.

At the prefecture-city level, offices were set up selectively, with special offices dispatched by the provincial Department of State Security.

So a super first-tier city like Songhai would certainly have a State Security department as well.

Moreover, State Security offices nationwide were all managed vertically by headquarters, with no local jurisdiction over them.

From this alone, one could see how special the Ministry of State Security was.

Four words to sum it up: directly under the central government.

Yu Dazhang glanced in the direction Seeing Qu Tuotuo had left, feeling very conflicted.

If he chased after her now, he should still make it in time.

But even if he caught up, what then?

Since he had already agreed to Li Mingzhao, he had to follow through on his word.

Forget it… Yu Dazhang sighed and got into the back seat of the sedan.

Twenty minutes later.

"A chartered flight?"

Yu Dazhang looked at the small plane before him and couldn't help feeling it was a bit unreliable.

It bore no resemblance at all to the luxurious private jet he had imagined.

"For reasons of confidentiality, please understand," the man explained.

After boarding, Yu Dazhang discovered that the plane's interior was much more spacious than it looked from the outside, and the seats were quite comfortable.

Inside, there were even two flight attendants who looked the part.

Settling into the comfortable airline seat, Yu Dazhang unconsciously broke into a smile.

The small plane looked unremarkable on the outside, but inside it lacked nothing — very much in line with the working style of those within the system.

After takeoff, Yu Dazhang closed his eyes, focused his attention, and recalled the contents of his earlier phone call with Li Mingzhao.

There were currently two unclear points:

1. Ye Lin's injuries.

Li Mingzhao had only said that Ye Lin had been shot and was temporarily out of life-threatening danger.

But he hadn't specified which part of Ye Lin's body had been hit, or how many times she had been shot.

Seeing Qu Tuotuo had been present at the time, so he hadn't felt it appropriate to ask.

2. The nature of the work once he got there.

Li Mingzhao had, however, said: join his special operations team and stand guard for a few days.

Why standing guard?

Yu Dazhang figured the most likely possibility was: this mission was a protective detail.

This kind of mission had one characteristic.

The enemy is hidden; we are in the open!

This isn't going to be fun… Yu Dazhang let his mind wander, beginning to think on a deeper level.

If it warranted the Ministry of State Security to stand guard, what could they possibly be guarding?

Or rather, what level of importance would it take to mobilize State Security for protective duty?

The waters are a bit deep.

He wondered if it was still possible to back out now.

About two hours later, the plane touched down on the runway.

Then the cabin door opened, and Yu Dazhang looked at the two flight attendants and asked:

"Where is this?"

"We don't know," one of the flight attendants replied.

"The destination of this flight is classified; we don't know where we've landed either."

(End of chapter)