Redeeming The Golden Ticket To Life

[POV Zhang Wei]

I stayed back with the squad to look after Beta. As I look at his recovery process, a hundred drums are beating in my heart. 

'How did she do it?'

It is beyond my imagination that injuries that would take at least a month to heal even after superior medical care just got healed in a matter of one day right before my eyes.

Even if I think with my knees I know, this type of medical service is unprecedented in our world.

'Did she inherit the old Master's Family secret?"

While my brains are trying to draw its own inferences, I know I have to handle the squad first. Because, if this leaks out we are doomed.

Finally, I put together Beta's medical charts and gathered the squad for a team meeting.

"Everyone gathers around the bed, its team meeting time," I called out.

rush … rush….

The members form a line at the tail end of the patient bed, Beta is still lying down on the bed, but colour has returned to his face, a sign of good recovery. I am standing beside him.

"Gentlemen, you are aware of what happened during this mission? List it out for me."

"Sir Yes Sir," Alpha responded, "The mission objective was to babysit target 1 name- Feling. At sixteen hundred hours on Wednesday, we followed Target 1 to an abandoned factory at the outskirts of the city. There we witness a deal taking place between target 1 and some other person. We tagged the person as Target 2.

Target 2 profile- tall around 165 cm, age range around thirty-eight to forty-five. Distinct feature- salty hairs and higher rank military officer.

Due to the lack of audio surveillance tools, we were unable to eavesdrop on the actual conversation. We opted for lip reading. 

We summarised that there is a conflict among them due to some classified information dubbed 'Project 33'. So we decided to follow target 1 and target 2 separately. Alpha followed target 1 while Beta followed target 2. We separated our paths from the same venue, each following their respective targets.

As I followed my target, there was no further suspicious activity, other than his frequent calls to the military base. Inside the camp, what happened is a blackout zone for us.

Then at zero seven hundred hours, I got an SOS signal from Beta. The location was a predetermined meet point near Rubric junction. When I arrived there, I saw a heavily bleeding Beta in hiding. We followed protocol as directed by the head commander and arrived here on the Villa.

End of report."

I keep my silence. It is the same as last time only with more details. 

I looked towards Beta, "Report in detail, your pursuit of target 2".

"Sir yes sir," Beta responded, albeit with a little less vigour than Alpha, "I started my pursuit of target 2 from the abandoned factory, at eighteen hundred hours on Wednesday.

First I followed behind him at a safe distance of hundred fifty meters. Target two lives a much high profile life. He was identified as a Lt. General in the Army. Mostly in-charge of Military Research and Development, he had access to various resources and a huge amount of liquidated funds at his hand. 

He had access to social connections like politicians and high ranking underground members. After his meeting with target one - Feling, he had another meeting with some Russian illegal arms dealer at the same factory. This time as I followed them I sent out signals of my activity to Alpha.

In the factory, target two made deals with the underground dealer buying arms as well as powdered substance, Which I suspect was drugs. Then they moved towards the more interior parts of the factory and started discussing 'Project 33'. 

For the better hearing purpose, I moved towards the interiors of the factory. They were trying to reach a middle ground on a specific part or component of 'Project 33'. While the on body camera recorded it all, a reflective surface compromised my position. One of the lackeys of the arms dealer got whiff of me from the reflective surface and called out a warning to the units. They mostly had AK-47 and semi-automatic rifles. While I tried to make my escape from the place I got shot and came to exchange blows with the doorman. He was skilled in close combat and sharp knife skills. That is where I had heavy combat. 

I exchanged my safety with his quick decapitation. After decapitating the doorman, I hid my trail using head commanders first aid and reported to our meeting point. And then I lost my consciousness."

"Umm hmmm"

I took a deep breath and said, "Do you know your mistakes?"

"Sir Yes Sir, we didn't call for an extra backup," Beta replied.

"Good, that you are self-aware, otherwise…" I composed myself, "this time you were lucky. But this would not be the case every time. You of all people should be more aware. Do not repeat your past mistakes," I warned him.

"Squad, let this mission be education to you, there would be no next time. This time do not disappoint the master of Shui family who raised you, we have to protect our 

Miss at any cost this time. We can't let history repeat itself and lose Miss again to some unfortunate events," I reminded them.

"As for anything related to Miss, they are to be classified to first order, right. No discussion, even among yourself. All things you witness or hear are to be confined within these walls alone, Am I clear?" I commanded.

"Sir Yes Sir," the squad replied with vigour.

"Fine, you all will remain here, for the time being, do not touch anything. If we find any disobedience, they will be judged according to strict martial law," I reminded them before I took my leave from the squad and returned to the main house.

****

The whole evening passed by without any hitch. I wanted to discuss something with Bai Chang, so I headed towards her study room.

As I moved closer to the door, I heard voices from inside, It was Xiao Wei and Bai Chang having a conversation. As I was about to knock the door the context of the conversation caught me off guard.

"No Mamma, I know the last time they took me to have leverage on you. I don't want the past to repeat itself."

"I trust you the most, Mamma," Xiao Wei replied in his sweet adorable voice.

At this moment I realised there is deep trauma within this child. He was with Bai Chang during the whole accident, only when Bai Chang saved him did she get caught by the enemy.

'So for all these years, this boy has hidden the truth from others as well, deep inside him. All alone blaming himself and hurting from it too.' I thought to myself.

"Munchkin, what do you remember from that night of the accident?" she asked as she tested the waters. And sure enough, the little boy falls apart and cries.

"Wuhh Wuhuuu Wuhhh Wuhuuu"

"Wuhh Wuhuuu Wuhhh Wuhuuu"

(How did they take care of this child? Are they his family at all? How have they been with him for the last four years?)

She tried to console the child and let him cry his heart out.

"Munchkin, Mamma promises that Mamma will always try to be by your side and be with you. Now that Mamma is back, stay with Mamma and I will take care of the rest." She said with determination.

Listening to all this, I realised its best to give them their own space.

Thus I left without knocking on the doors.

****

Next morning-

I finished my early morning exercise and conducted some drills for the squad members, together we ran across the perimeter of the property and double-checked the security measures.

As I fixed breakfast for the people around I picked up today's newspaper.

"Government bust major corruption among the elites"

The headline itself piqued my interest so I read through the article.

The more I read, the more I felt incredulous.

The squad joined in for breakfast and we turned into a news channel.

"Breaking news! Government exposes major corruption."

"Military officials were found guilty."

"Politicians wanted their share of the soup, needless to say, they are all sharing wine of punishment in the detention centre."

As we watched the whole news, we were all puzzled.

"Captain, How did our target and surveillance material get posted in the National News channel?" Alpha asked.

I keep my silence. 'I have to talk to Bai Chang ASAP.'

At this moment Bai Chang walked down the stairs.

"Zhang Wei, what's for breakfast today?"

We all simply stared at her, contemplating how to break the news to her.

"Why are you guys staring at me?"

She looked towards the TV screen, the news channel was broadcasting the incriminating video material for people nationwide to see.

"Oh! It aired faster than I thought," she said and sat down on the dining table to have breakfast.

"What do you mean?" I asked her, not sure what to make out of it.

"Nothing, that's my way of getting back at people who try to mess with me, do not worry, the Lt. General is having a blast of his time getting VIP treatment from Feling and other senior officers. As for those arms dealers, they were assassinated by the Military," She said.

"Huh"

We all collectively took a deep breath.

Alpha gave her thumbs up and said, "Our head commander is OP in the truest sense".

We are not aware of how it happened? But we got to see the result, it was an absolute massacre, a total annihilation.

"Anyone who messes with us the wrong way will get a ticket to the highway of the purgatory," she stated.