These individuals were all internal members of the Special Operations Forces and had violated the Special Ops command–so Huo Shaoheng had the authority to arrest them directly.
“Roger Chief!” Yin Shixiong accepted the order and quickly made arrangements to carry out the arrests.
…
It was early morning of January 2nd. A thin man in a black coat arrived to a residential building and led several other people to knock on the door of the property management. They presented documents and quickly got on an elevator to the 12th floor. The doorbell rang to rouse someone up from their dreams, who then opened the door groggily.
“Gao Hongshi? This is your arrest warrant, you’re coming with us.” The man in plainclothes stood outside the door and waved the documents, waking Gao Hongshi immediately. He stepped back with vigilance, “What are you doing? I belong to the Special Operations Forces!”
“You’re suspected of stealing confidential intelligence from the Special Operations Forces database and have been arrested.”
Gao Hongshi blanched immediately, he truly never thought the incident would come to light six or seven later…
At the same time, numerous people were taken from the residential homes in C City and the Imperial capital the early morning hours to enter the interrogation process. At first, the people had no idea what was happening and thought they were being framed. But when the personnel who arrested them mentioned something about Dou Qingyan’s photos, they collectively froze. Each face grew ashy and legs trembled as nearly every single of them had to be carried away on a gurney. Thanks to Huo Shaoheng’s timely handling of the potential catastrophe at the Prime Minister’s official residence, there was basically no leakage of news. The arrests of the moles in the Special Ops lasted all night and came out of the blue, so many people who planned to use connections to weasel out were left stranded. They finally understood that their time had passed.
In the foggy dawn of the day, Huo Shaoheng received four reports as he sat in the office of the Special Ops headquarters. He was informed that all the people directly involved in the case had been successfully arrested.
Huo Shaoheng was now half relieved, he looked at the map on his computer and asked Zhao Liangze who was standing in front of his desk, “…Are our people in Italy and North Ireland on their way back now?”
“They’ve all boarded their flights now.” Zhao Liangze confirmed each one individually, “We issued a Code Orange yesterday, that’s the most serious public alarm so they understand the severity.”
Huo Shaoheng closed his eyes and crossed his arms as he leaned back against the chair. He was still worried because in their line of work, one could board a flight and still be asked to get off. He asked Zhao Liangze quietly, “Have someone wait for them at the airport, then take them through the special passageway as soon as they land and return to the base.”
“Roger, Chief!”
Zhao Liangze went out to dispatch personnel, while Yin Shixiong was still dealing with matters related to Dou Qingyan’s case.
…
At six in the morning, Yin Shixiong called Huo Shaoheng with great distress, “Mr. Huo, Dou Qingyan… is going through withdrawal…”
“Let her bear through it.” Huo Shaoheng calmly opened the curtains, “Send a doctor to observe and don’t give her any drugs.”
“…The doctor is already here.” Yin Shixiong was quiet for a moment, then looked at Dou Qingyan tied up in a contorted position on the bed, “I’ll have the doctor speak with you.”
The medical officer from the Special Ops quickly took the phone from Yin Shixiong and said hastily, “Mr. Huo, Dou Qingyan’s drug addiction as exceeded what a human body can handle, she probably can’t bear through it if we don’t give her the drugs…”
The key was that the military court had not yet tried her. If she died like this with the manuy bruises and wounds on her body caused by the drug addiction, the Dou family could easily retaliate and press charges against Huo Shaoheng for torturing a confession out of her and causing her death… If it came to that, the Dou’s wouldn’t accept it and may even say the military are slandering Dou Qingyan even if Huo Shaoheng came up with evidence that shedied of withdrawal.
Huo Shaoheng pursed his lips, further accentuating his rigid jawline, “…Call Chen Lie over, he knows what to do.”
Chen Lie just woke up and was called to duty by Yin Shixiong. When he arrived to Dou Qingyan’s room, he saw Dou Qingyan tied up on the bed and her eyes had already lost all focus. He shook his head helplessly. “A single slip can cause a lasting sorrow, why did she have to do this? Administer the sedative first, I still have to report something to Mr. Huo.” Chen Lie walked outside and called Huo Shaoheng from a small, empty room.
The personnel in Dou Qingyan’s room were very obedient towards Chen Lie and she finally fell asleep after being injected with the sedative.
Chen Lie took out a vial from his medical box and peered at the the drug inside as he called Huo Shaoheng, “…Boss, there’s a way that we might be able to turn around Dou Qingyan’s condition.”
“What way?”
“This depends on you.” Chen Lie recognized Dou Qingyan, she was a friend from all those years ago, “Have Nianzhi donate a bit of blood marrow…”
“No way!” Huo Shaoeheng immediately rejected the idea, “What do you think Nianzhi is? Your universal pharmacy? Chen Lie, don’t disappoint me!”
Chen Lie, “…Calm down Boss, I was just asking. It’s fine if you refuse, but remember to reject the idea like this no matter who asks you this request in the future.”
“As if I need you to tell me? Keep your mouth shut.” Huo Shaoheng hung up and threw the phone on the ground, burying himself in his laptop to write the report.
Although Chen Lie didn’t use Gu Nianzhi’s blood marrow, he still had a tiny amount of blood sample left that he diluted into several vials. He originally planned on using them for experiments. Now that Chen Lie faced Dou Qingyan’s body destroyed by drugs, he planned to take a gamble and see if it’d work. He carried the medical box back to Dou Qingyan’s room and first took several vials of her blood for analysis, then administered his special cocktail of drugs into her system and connected her to various instruments to observe her physical condition. By the time it was noon, Dou Qingyan’s condition had stabilized to the point that the illicit drug level in her blood had lowered to a controllable amount. If she is forced to go through rehabilitation after this, there was a chance she could recover. Chen Lie looked at the data in the afternoon and was in a good mood as he called Huo Shaoheng with a smile, “If Dou Qingyan stops using drugs, she shouldn’t go through withdrawal again. But Boss, I have to be honest with you–I still used a bit of Nianzhi’s help.” He admitted to using a bit of Nianzhi’s blood sample to dilute into a drug.
Speechless, Huo Shaoheng gently rapped his forehead with his fist. His voice was slightly raspy, “I already told you that this is the only exception. If you know what’s good for you, you’d better destroy those vials on your own. Otherwise you can continue your experiments in jail.” It was the first time that Huo Shaoheng felt that it was a burden to have a nutcase morbidly obsessed with medicine as a friend…
Chen Lie pursed his lips, then looked at the vials in his medical box. Although he loathed to do it, he still turned on the video camera on his phone to show Huo Shaoheng, “Watch, I’ll destroy them myself.”
Chen Lie placed the vials into a lead can, then added various chemicals to destroy the active ingredients inside and put it aside for 15 days. After this, the drug would be completely useless.
Huo Shaoheng silently watched Chen Lie destroy all the drugs and finally raised his head, “You’ve already used an exception this time and owe me a favour. Remember to pay me back.”
“Oh? Since when did I owe you a favour?!” Chen Lie shrieked, “I was helping save your ex-girlfriend! You’re not appreciative and want to turn around to blame me?”
“I don’t have an ex-girlfriend.” Huo Shaoheng refuted sharply, “Don’t speak nonsense.”
“…Be truthful, Boss. For the mission, you lived together with Dou Qingyan for six months and pretended to be an unmarried couple, did you guys really not… develop feelings over that time?” Chen Lie was the one who loved gossip the most and couldn’t help asking now.
Huo Shaoheng didn’t expect Chen Lie to ask him too, this was basically questioning his professionalism–so he stabbed at Chen Lie’s sore spot without mercy, “…You’ve been colleagues with Dr. Ye for so long, did she develop feelings over that time?”
Chen Lie’s face turned purple and his neck stiffened as he screamed, “Boss! Beat one’s body but not their pride! Don’t be so smug now, I’ll woo Dr. Ye for sure! Just you wait!”
“I’ll wait and see.” Huo Shaoheng stood in front the window to watch the view, “So you should focus your attention on wooing Dr. Ye, instead of meddling with other people’s business.”
Huo Shaoheng hung up, leaving Chen Lie to stare at his phone and feeling all his organs aching. He wouldn’t dare cross Huo Shaoheng again–just one sentence and it was enough to hit his sore spot, making him unable to eat, sleep or focus on his work, study and research.