“…Will you really wait for me?” Gu Nianzhi suppressed her sobs and pressed her ear to the phone.
“Mhmm.”
“Ok, I’ll be quick! Wait a minute!” Gu Nianzhi put down the phone and shot into the bathroom like a firecracker to turn on hot water and scrub her face quickly. She then took another towel and rushed out while wiping her face.
“Uncle Huo! Are you still there?” Gu Nianzhi frantically picked up the phone.
“Here.” Huo Shaoheng flipped another page of the National Defense bulletin, “Speak.”
Gu Nianzhi was frazzled when he continued the call and too shy to ask her anything overly personal. She pondered for a long time before uttering, “Uncle Huo, when will you come back?”
Gu Nianzhi hadn’t seen him for a long time and found that she really did seem to miss him. Huo Shaoheng didn’t take his eyes from the National Defense bulletin and casually said, “Once I finish business.”
Gu Nianzhi gaped, unable to ask any further. He already said it was business and that wasn’t something he could easily disclose to anyone due to classification. Gu Nianzhi was a little dejected. She flopped over on the ground and laid on the fluffy white sheepskin rug to stare at the beige ceiling above her head. She asked scrupulously, “Well, can you come back in two weeks?”
Her vacation was only two weeks. It’d be great if Uncle Huo could come back by then. Huo Shaoheng casually leaned on the sofa and his strapping body was so huge that the spacious single-seater became cramped.
“I’ll have to see.” Huo Shaoheng’s hand paused, then steadily flipped another page of the bulletin.
Gu Nianzhi couldn’t hold herself back anymore and drew out her “Ohhhh.” Her disappointment was obvious.
“What? You want me to come back?” Huo Shaoheng kept his head down and flipped through the pages of the bulletin to quickly browse through all types of important international exchange events taking place in the Empire recently.
“Yeah, I haven’t seen you in so long.” Gu Nianzhi pouted and grabbed a little panda plush from the bed to hug tightly.
“Why do you want me back? You want morning training again?” Huo Shaoheng asked with composure.
Gu Nianzhi, “…”
What? Get the out of here, morning training!
“Mhmm, since you’re back on the base–in the morning, do 10 kilometers of cross-country racing, 50 chin-ups, 100 abdominal curls, 100 shots of target practice, 50 reps of weight lifting. Remember to do this everyday.” Huo Shaoheng arranged a morning training regime for her without mercy.
Gu Nianzhi shot up and said with total seriousness, “Uncle Huo, the air quality hasn’t been great lately because of the heavy pollution, so I’m not going to go cross-country racing. If I get sick from running it’ll only be trouble for Brother Chen.”
“That’s fine too, there’s a treadmill in my gym on the third floor. Remember to run in the gym everyday, the treadmill will record the steps and I’ll check it when I come back.” Huo Shaoheng wasn’t easily deceived.
Gu Nianzhi pursed her lips, “Oh, I’m hungry now, it’s time for lunch. Uncle Huo, we’ll talk when you get back.” She neatly hung up.
Huo Shaoheng head the click from the other line and smiled faintly as he shut off his phone to prepare to go to a meeting. Just as he was about to leave, his phone strangely rang once. It was the sound of a text from the encrypted line. He froze.
…
In the supercomputer control room, Zhao Liangze looked at the set of data he scoured and gasped in shock. He picked up the phone to immediately call Huo Shaoheng, but the line appeared to be in use the entire time… Zhao Liangze couldn’t help but access the communications intranet to have a look. He discovered the number Huo Shaoheng’s cellphone had been calling was his own extension. And the only person in Chief Huo Shaoheng’s quarters was Gu Nianzhi, who had arrived last night… Since it was a call with the Great Miss Gu, Zhao Liangze didn’t dare interrupt it. But the information he found was too grave and must be reported at once. Zhao Liangze considered his options and chose to text on the encrypted line.
“There’s been an important finding with the past year’s customs shipping container records for C City.”
“There are more smuggled military munitions than predicted…”
“What the criminals possessed at Dufeng Mountain Resort Villa was just the tip of the iceberg.”
“Investigation of the route of smuggling has revealed a link with the Secret Service. Uncertain if it was inside job or set up.”
…
Huo Shaoheng unlocked his phone and found encrypted texts from Zhao Liangze. He read each one and his face remained passive as he called him.
“Little Ze, what’s going on?”
“Mr. Huo?” Zhao Liangze hurriedly connected the call with his headset as he continued to download data to his computer, “I’ve found the information you requested, the foreign army munitions that the kidnappers possessed at the Dufeng Mountain Resort Villa wasn’t a coincidence at all. I found that there is a group that participated in this large scale smuggling of army munitions and when I dug deeper I found that the Special Forces and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is involved.”
“It’s not a surprise that the Secret Service is involved, but what’s the connections with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs?” Huo Shaoheng glanced the National Defence bulletin in his hand and his gaze stopped at a major international conference on the third page.
This major international conference was about to be held in C City shortly —The International Extraordinary Women’s Commendation Conference. It was founded by the United Nations women’s and children’s rights group to honor women who had achieved great success in various fields around the world, and was equivalent to a Nobel Prize especially for women.
At that time, renowned female politicians, entrepreneurs, scientists, artists, philanthropists, and celebrities would be invited from around the world to C City for the conference and award ceremony–this was one of the most important international exchange events of the year for the Empire.
Zhao Liangze replied, “The International Extraordinary Women’s Commendation Conference is soon to be held soon in City, and is being organized in title by the Imperial Ministry of Foreign Affairs from the United Nations. The smuggled military munitions we dug up has close ties with this international conference.”
Huo Shaoheng’s fingers tapped on the bulletin–it was as he just thought, his intuition had always always accurate. The Secret Service was responsible for the security detail on such large scale international events, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was in charge of organizing.
“Tell me, which people from the Secret Service and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are involved, I want exact names and evidence.” Huo Shaoheng pressed the recording button. Zhao Liangze read out a list of names. The highest ranking in those involved were the Deputy Director of the Secret Service and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Deputy Representative to the United Nations. The names were all familiar to Huo Shaheng and a few even had close ties with himself. But in face of enoraching on the interests of the nation, he wouldn’t spare mercy on even his own parents.
“Got it.” Huo Shaoheng pressed on the button to stop recording and commanded Zhao Liangze, “Immediately eliminate the warehouses storing the smuggled military munitions in C City and seize all smuggled military munitions. Arrest all involved, no matter what involvement, no leniency will be given and have the Special Operations Forces carry out the operation.”
“Oh?” Zhao Liangze was in an awkward position, “Arresting the gangsters concealing military munitions won’t be difficult, but the ones who paved the way are internal members of the government, and if this was a set up, arresting them would mean…”
“Not your concern. After arresting them, the ‘higher ups’ setting this up will naturally come find me.” Huo Shaoheng stated coldly, “To set up something like this with no conscience, I’ll have to see how many lives they have to spare!”