Translator: Dj22031
Editor: Dj22031
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One year ago.
Chen Tanliang walked into the M Army’s base. As soon as he entered the hall, a brown-haired, blue-eyed soldier came up to him.
“Mr. Kelly, the Colonel is looking for you.”
Chen Tanliang nodded and walked towards the officer’s office. At the far end of the second floor, the office door was open, and Colonel MacFee was tidying up the documents on his desk with his back to the door.
“Sir.”
MacFee turned his head, looked at Chen Tanliang, and smiled.
“Kelly,” he said, “I’ve seen your application. You want to leave the military and be transferred to a rear-end position?”
Chen Tanliang went inside and nodded silently.
“If I don’t get promoted, I can retire in three more years.”
“You are an exceptionally good officer,” Colonel MacFee said with some regret. “Why don’t you reconsider? If you earn merit, and with my support, you will surely rise even higher.”
Chen Tanliang’s lips curled slightly.
“I’m grateful that peacetime has prevented me from earning military merit,” he said. “I enlisted because I couldn’t do anything else, but that doesn’t mean I like war. I think you don’t need a war-weary officer like me, do you?”
MacFee sighed and handed a document to Chen Tanliang.
“I’ve secured an opportunity for you. Normally, officers of your rank wouldn’t be able to retire so easily, but…” MacFee gestured with his chin toward the document, “A secret operations unit needs a leader. If you’re willing to transfer to this unit and serve for a full year, you can retire next year as you see fit.”
Chen Tanliang frowned as he looked at the document.
“I thought that was the responsibility of the Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Intelligence.”
“Yes, they’ve already sent people over. You’ll be their direct superior,” MacFee said. “This department involves multiple interests. You’ll be representing the military and cooperating with two other departments. What do you say? Are you interested?”
“I don’t want to do anything unclean,” Chen Tanliang said.
MacFee smiled helplessly; he did indeed admire someone like Chen Tanliang.
“I assure you, all the targets of the missions are bad people who deserve to be punished.”
….
Chen Tanliang then left the M Army and went to this secret department jointly established by the three parties.
At first, the team members were very resentful. In their minds, military personnel were all stubborn and annoying old fogies. Why was someone like that parachuted in to be their superior?
But after the first mission, they were completely convinced.
Chen Tanliang was an upright man with excellent skills and a good handgun. Whether he was personally leading missions or arranging troops, he was very intelligent and admirable.
As MacFee had assured him, the secret team’s role was to track down bad guys, but because the other side was powerful, the entire team always needed to cooperate, lie in wait, and disguise themselves to achieve their goals.
Chen Tanliang didn’t actually feel a sense of belonging to this country or even the world, so the reason he took on this mission was simple: to have the option to retire voluntarily after a year, and also to do something good for ordinary people.
A year had almost passed in the blink of an eye, and Chen Tanliang and his team were about to embark on their final mission.
Their target was an arms smuggling ringleader named Evan Fitzgerald. According to intelligence, he was likely in possession of weapons of mass destruction. However, he was extremely cunning and treacherous, making him virtually impossible to track down; all that was known was that he had recently been loitering in several remote towns near the border.
“I remember… there’s a man in one of the cities on our danger list; he might know something,” one of the subordinates said.
This man, nicknamed ‘J’, was a local tyrant, and even several gangs dared not mess with him.
They needed to send someone with an undisclosed background to pretend they were going to buy intelligence from him. But this J was very clever and difficult to deal with; if he figured things out, it could be dangerous.
“I’ll go,” Chen Tanliang said.
“Then we’ll be outside ready to support you.”
Chen Tanliang shook his head. “Since this person is so clever, your actions will only expose me. Let me go alone.”
Finally, the group compromised— they decided to send two more people in disguise to infiltrate the city, so that they could help Chen Tanliang if anything unexpected happened.
Chen Tanliang looked down at the documents in his hand… In the folder, there was a secretly taken photo of a black-haired man’s profile.
The next day, a group of people arrived at the border city. Chen Tanliang, disguised as a wealthy merchant, first gave the other party a large sum of money as a meeting fee. After being introduced by his underlings and held hostage by the guards, Chen Tanliang ventured alone into the city and finally stopped in front of a two-story building.
“The boss is inside. Go up to the second floor,” the person leading the way said expressionlessly.
The guards in front parted to the sides, and Chen Tanliang went in.
Upon reaching the second floor, Chen Tanliang found the entire space utterly chaotic. Colorful rugs with exotic flair from small countries hung on the walls, while on the other side hung a modern revolver and two old hunting rifles. A brand-new laptop sat tossed on a Brazilian-style long table, and in the very center, a traditional Chinese-style mahogany bench.
A young, handsome man leaned back on the bench. He had black hair and eyes like Chen Tanliang, but his eyes seemed unfathomable. Although he was relaxed, he still exuded a sinister and oppressive aura.
“Hi.” Chen Tanliang smiled warmly. “You’re the legendary J?”
“So you’re the wealthy businessman who gave us the big sum of money?” J— that is, Chu Jingyuan— said calmly, “Tell me, what do you want?”
“I’m looking for someone,” Chen Tanliang said. “Can you help me find them?”
Jing Yuan smiled dismissively.
“In these cities near the border, no one can escape my watchful eye,” he said. “Tell me about it.”
“I’m looking for a man, Evan Fitzgerald.”
After Chen Tanliang finished speaking, he observed Chu Jingyuan’s expression. Sure enough, Chu Jingyuan had been playing with his lighter rather casually at first, but when he heard him say that name, Jing Yuan looked up.
What do you want with him?
“Naturally, it’s about buying weapons.”
“This person is troublesome. If you want to buy something, I have other channels to get it for you.”
“No, I just want to see him,” Chen Tanliang said sarcastically. “Don’t you know where he is?”
Jing Yuan’s eyes narrowed slowly, and he stood up.
“I know the whereabouts of everyone in this area, but you may not necessarily meet him.”
“Why?”
“I’m giving you one chance. Tell me, who exactly are you?” Jing Yuan said dangerously. “Which country and which department do you belong to?”
“I’m a businessman,” Chen Tanliang said, feigning anger. “You investigated me before we met, and now you doubt my identity?”
Jing Yuan remained silent. The next second, Chen Tanliang felt a gust of wind rush towards him, but he couldn’t resist it. An ordinary rich man couldn’t possibly react so quickly.
Bang! Chen Tanliang was thrown onto the long coffee table by Chu Jingyuan, and the glass coffee table shattered instantly.
“J, what do you mean by this?” Amidst the shards, Chen Tanliang raised his head and said coldly, “You always beat people up before doing business with them?”
“Still pretending with me?” Jing Yuan suddenly switched to Chinese and said coldly, “Your eyes have already betrayed you.”
“I don’t understand what you’re talking about.” Seeing that he had been exposed, Chen Tanliang’s gaze gradually turned cold.
Jing Yuan’s lips curled slightly, revealing a cold smile.
Chu Jingyuan reached out and pinched Chen Tanliang’s chin, making him raise his head.
“Fight me,” he said softly. “If you win, I’ll tell you.”
The author has something to say:
It must be a special fate that we were born into a family in this lifetime~~~~
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