Chapter 17: A Dead End
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On the way back, neither of them said a word.
Ouyang Lin closed her eyes to rest, while Yang Qing watched the outside through the window.
The scene was almost always the same. Yang Qing sometimes even felt as though she were the only person in the car.
“You were gone for quite a while. What were you doing?”
This time, however, something changed.
Ouyang Lin suddenly spoke.
“Nothing much. Since I rarely get the chance to visit a small town like this, and I had some time to spare, I simply had someone show me around.”
Yang Qing’s expression remained calm.
“Oh? And how was it?”
“Nothing particularly special. It can’t compare with the prosperity of Kyoto. There are a lot of trees, though. Now that the leaves have turned yellow, they’re quite beautiful.”
Yang Qing thought for a moment before answering slowly.
“Oh. Yang Qing.”
“Yes?”
“How long have you been by my side?”
“About three years, I suppose. Three years and five months.”
“That long already… You’ve helped me so many times. You’ve really worked hard. Actually, I’ve always wanted to ask you—what are your plans for the future?”
Yang Qing froze.
“The future? Of course I’ll continue staying by your side. I haven’t considered anything else for now. There’s no point in considering it, anyway. With a profession like mine, who can say whether an accident or tomorrow will come first?”
At last, Ouyang Lin opened her eyes. She looked quietly at Yang Qing for a while before speaking.
“I know the nature of your profession doesn’t allow you to think too far ahead, but after all this time, you’ve more than fulfilled your mission. If I were to personally request a replacement and vouch for you, your superiors would most likely agree to let you transfer elsewhere. So… you should give it some serious thought.”
Yang Qing’s mind went blank. In disbelief, she said, “You want to replace me? Have I done something wrong? If I have, please tell me. I’ll correct it immediately.”
“No. Quite the opposite—you’ve done very well, almost perfectly. Relax. This isn’t a test. I’m speaking to you about this seriously. We’re all made of flesh and blood. I couldn’t bear to watch you die in front of me one day. If that is a scene destined to happen, then at the very least, I hope the person standing there won’t be you.”
Ouyang Lin spoke with complete seriousness.
Yang Qing looked at her, her heart lodged in her throat.
The words sounded warm and tender, but Yang Qing knew this woman far too well.
Tenderness and Ouyang Lin existed in two entirely different worlds.
Simply put, when something was out of the ordinary, there was bound to be a hidden motive.
Yang Qing had no idea what she was planning, and countless suspicions began to surface in her mind.
“I…”
Before she could finish, Ouyang Lin had already made the decision for her.
“Take a few days off first. That’s settled.”
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Yang Qing fell silent and could only obey.
The car did not return to the hotel. Instead, it drove straight to the military compound.
Yang Qing knew that Ouyang Lin was preparing to make her move.
Passing through checkpoint after checkpoint, the car entered the heavily guarded compound.
From that point onward, the two of them did not exchange another word.
After getting out, Ouyang Lin went straight into the compound under the guidance of the officer waiting for her.
Yang Qing, meanwhile, had already been assigned an escort. An officer led her to an empty room not far away.
The room was plain, furnished only with basic furniture and toiletries. It was no match for the hotel.
But Yang Qing had no time to care about that. She had noticed the two vigorous, fully armed soldiers standing outside the door.
I’ve been locked up here!
The thought sprang directly into her mind.
Despite her indignation, Yang Qing forced herself to calm down and consider what might happen next.
“The plan must be carried out. That is the most important thing, and it will not change.
“I’ve been temporarily removed from the operation and confined here. That means Ouyang Lin or the military has begun to suspect something about my identity.
“Apparently, yesterday’s questioning still wasn’t enough to dispel their doubts…
“But what exactly triggered those doubts?
“My contact with Dawnbreak, or… him?”
The image of Shen Xing embracing her in the park surfaced in Yang Qing’s mind.
She unscrewed a bottle of mineral water and took two sips, trying to steady herself.
“Or perhaps… both?”
Yang Qing’s face turned slightly pale.
She was worried not only about Shen Xing’s safety. She had also suddenly realized something.
“So Ouyang Lin never truly trusted me! Without my knowledge, she even arranged for people to monitor me!”
Yang Qing’s breathing grew labored. An indescribable emotion, almost indistinguishable from betrayal, surged violently through her chest.
She was not certain whether monitoring her had been Ouyang Lin’s idea, but one thing was beyond doubt.
Ouyang Lin definitely knew everything about it.
“So it wasn’t routine questioning. She was testing me while already holding the answers…”
Recalling the questions she had been asked the previous day, Yang Qing’s many doubts were finally resolved.
“So taking me to the Tang family today was also meant to see whether I would contact Shen Xing again? If I did, that would mean… I had leaked information…”
Yang Qing realized that her well-intentioned warning today had not brought Shen Xing any real benefit. Instead, it had plunged him into an enormous crisis.
Would Ouyang Lin and the military believe that she had merely been saying goodbye to Shen Xing?
“No. Most of the time, they’re emotionless, cold-blooded creatures. If I were in their position, I wouldn’t believe it either.”
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“So next comes Shen Xing’s arrest… Maybe now, maybe after the plan is carried out. In any case, there isn’t much time left.”
Yang Qing grew tense at once. She did not believe the military would simply eliminate Shen Xing to silence him. They were not quite that brutal.
But prolonged interrogation and imprisonment were unavoidable.
And even if they ultimately found nothing, he would be watched for the rest of his life, stripped completely of the freedom and dignity of a human being.
“No… He might not even be able to reach that outcome, because he won’t get past the stage where they question him about what happened. He doesn’t know what I told them. Our statements are bound to contradict each other.”
It was over.
Yang Qing’s face went deathly pale.
Instinctively, in an attempt to save herself, the optimal solution flashed through her mind:
Tell the truth and expose Shen Xing’s secret.
The truth could withstand suspicion and repeated verification.
But the drawback was that Shen Xing’s fate would become uncertain.
He might be studied as an experimental subject. He might be molded into a completely obedient tool.
In any case, the outcome was unlikely to be a good one.
“That child’s life hasn’t even begun. He shouldn’t have to endure any of this. Yang Qing, don’t make a decision you’ll regret for the rest of your life. You have no parents and not a single relative. Now, at long last, someone is willing to call you his sister. Are you really going to push him into the abyss with your own hands?”
Yang Qing muttered to herself, torn between two impossible choices.
The simplest solution would also be the one most advantageous to her.
But if she refused to choose it, she would be facing an almost insoluble dead end.
Shen Xing was already under military surveillance. That was an unchangeable fact.
What options did she have left?
Yang Qing had never liked thinking too much. In her profession, execution mattered more than anything else.
Too much deliberation only bred hesitation and robbed her of courage.
But at that moment, her concern for Shen Xing forced her to rack her brain.
Time passed second by second.
Before she knew it, night had fallen.
When she heard the roar of military-vehicle engines outside, Yang Qing’s body jolted violently.
She had been sitting motionless in the same position for several hours. Only now, returning to her senses, did she feel the ache spreading through her body.
But she had no time to care. She immediately rose and went to the window, looking outside.
More than a dozen military vehicles, packed with fully armed warrior-soldiers, filed out one after another with an air of absolute certainty that victory was theirs.
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