Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Mo Ye, who was stronger and healthier, had majorly recovered from his gunshot wound. Since he wounded both his legs, he could not quite move around freely but was mainly fine. Claire hence allowed Mo Ye to be discharged ahead of time.
It was Meng Lianying who was overly emotional and the concentration of viruses spiked in her. As her life was in danger, Clair, who was well experienced from the five years he treated her, was able to keep her condition in control.
Mo Ye, who did not like the smell and atmosphere in the hospital, was not the happiest in the wheelchair as his legs were not good to move. He did not visit Meng Lianying at the hospital often and merely called her once a day to check in on her. Meng Lianying was utterly upset.
If this were before, Mo Ye would never have treated her this way. He would have been extremely nervous about her even if she had a minor cold, let alone her being grievously wounded and experiencing a viral relapse. He would have never checked in on her only once a day and never said it in person like he did in the past seven days in the hospital. She was unable to emotionally bear it and was naturally upset.
As she underwent checkups daily and faced those cold machines, the routine and medical diagnosis that showed no signs of improvement over the past five years left her heart dry and wilted.
The few beautiful nurses responsible for caring for her were trembling and in fear out of her unstable state of mind. They were afraid of ending up as collateral damage should they unintentionally offend her. Meng Lianying made life exceptionally difficult for one of the nurses because the latter served water that was too hot by splashing a cup of boiling tea onto said nurse that caused blisters.
The nurse complained to Claire, but Claire nicely suggested that they empathize with Miss Meng’s feelings. As Miss Meng was uneasy and had no kin, she put Mo Ye above all and would undoubtedly feel aggrieved and hurt whenever Mo Ye was around. Her venting her frustration was normal and he would put up with it as long as she did not go overboard.
“Claire, when exactly can I be discharged?” Meng Lianying asked Claire once the checkups for the day were done. “I do not want to lie in this cold place. I want to go home.”
Claire smiled and comforted her. “Miss Lianling, do not worry. As long as the virus does not relapse within the next two to three days, you can be discharged.”
“Really?”
“Yes!” Claire smiled and had the nurse send Meng Lianying back to the room. Meng Lianying seemed to be in a better mood today, and she seemed to become the Meng Lianying of before—a lively, good-tempered, gentle, and understanding person.
The nurses were amazed at how the incredulous effect of the patient’s diagnosis had on the patients.
When she returned, she received Mo Ye’s call. His calls were extremely timely, and he called when her checkups were done. When she returned to her ward, he called.
He asked the same questions as before, and Meng Lianying was in a much better mood than better. “Hi, Claire said that I can be discharged in two to three days,” she said happily.
“Uh, okay. As long as you’re fine, all’s good,” Mo Ye replied coldly. Meng Lianying did not seem to mind that, and all she wanted was to quickly return to his side. Following what happened with Eleven, she could no longer be certain about anything.
She used to be extremely certain that he would be by her side for the rest of her life. She, instead, felt him drifting away from her and did not dare to leave his side. While Meng Lianying was okay seeing Mo Ye once or twice a year, she was anxious when she did not get to see him for just one day.
“Will you come to pick me up?” Meng Lianying asked in anticipation.
Mo Ye went silent for a moment. He then said, “I’ll think about it on the day you are discharged. Little Jue has arranged for a transfer, and he’s at the final stage and may be busier.”
Meng Lianying’s gaze darkened and she bit her lip in indignation. She did not want to show her begrudging side and instead smiled and joked. “Please do not wait until you’ve left and I’ve yet to be discharged.”
“You know where we’ll be. Come over yourself.”
“That’s different.”
“Little Jue has some issues and I’ve to hang up.”
“Wait…” Meng Lianying called for him and sounded a little weary. “Ye, I really miss you. Do you miss me?”
“Lianling…”
“I know. We have to relocate and you are busy and don’t like the smell of the hospital. I know that, and it’s okay if you do not pick me up. I understand,” Meng Lianying said as tears flowed down her cheeks despite her sounding perfectly normal. “As long as you pick me up… Ye, I cannot live without you.”
Even the most hardened of men would soften if they heard that.
“…Very well then.” Mo Ye agreed after a moment. Meng Lianying nodded furiously and hung up the phone. One could not tell whether her tears were of elation or disappointment. She grabbed the phone and curled on the bed and sobbed. She then wailed.
Mo Ye hung up the phone and passed his phone to Ding Ke. He pushed his wheelchair around the central atrium and looked toward the ocean whose water became an even darker shade of blue further away as waves lapped and clouds drifted overhead. The sun shining overhead made the place an ideal vacation hot spot.
He was, however, feeling extremely moody.
Mo Jue said that he encountered resistance when he was investigating what happened five years ago. A secret force was gradually crippling his information network and he could not figure out what was happening. He had no idea who was deliberately obstructing him.
The Mafia’s information network was actually not the best, but the Mo brothers’ exceptional computer skills allowed them to easily access some classified information and accomplish some tasks.
These, however, required information that was archived, and their wings were clipped if there was no information they could fall back on. Whatever happened five years ago was a cold case and many back then had died to the point information could not be corroborated. Under such circumstances, the difficulty of reopening what happened back then became much harder. Even if Mo Jue was capable enough, he needed people to scour for clues to gradually make sense of what happened back then.
When it came to information networks, regardless of archived information or otherwise, the terrorist organization’s information network was the strongest. Thanks to illegal gains that served as capital for their arms smuggling ventures, Chu Li and Black J were able to establish an intelligence network, forming their position of strength and offering intelligence. Black J, whose meticulousness and level of detail surpassed many, was responsible for the intelligence network and its inception. The intelligence network under Black J became even more comprehensive and was complemented by the terrorist organization’s own network of satellites.
The Dragon Gate came in second. The Mafia, during Mo Shitian’s era, was at its strongest and the largest underworld power back then. The underworld responded to Mo Shitian’s clarion call and fell in line. Since Mo Shitian’s death, the Mafia had five different godfathers and became the second power in the underworld. If it weren’t for the Mafia being stronger than the Dragon Gate at its demise, the Mafia would have been leagues away from the Dragon Gate.
Information sources and communication in the earlier days did not really rely on computers and satellites since technology twenty years ago had yet to mature. With technology catching up, the most primitive means of communication ended up drying up.
Mo Jue’s current task was to investigate whether somebody had been informed about what happened five years ago in advance. If they were out to interfere with investigations, Mo Jue was clearly outclassed and would not be effective. This resulted in his investigations hitting a roadblock.
A piece of information scrambled Mo Ye’s heart more than the truth.
Five years ago, Eleven and Ye Wei happened to be in Eastern Europe too. They happened to be taking part in an operation against Eastern European terrorists aimed at sabotaging the collaboration between the terrorists and drug lords.
Ye Wei and Eleven’s movements became a secret, and he was able to discover that Ye Wei was gravely wounded five years ago in a famous incident that involved five hundred people—three hundred from the terrorists’ and two hundred from the Eastern European drug lords—pursuing Ye Wei.
Ye Wei was brazen enough to single-handedly divert their attention so that Eleven had the freedom to operate. Ye Wei’s single-handed diversion took a hundred lives, and the opposition, looking to refocus on Eleven, tried to neglect Ye Wei, but Ye Wei changed course following safety and raided the base camp of the Eastern European terrorists. She took out three hundred—equivalent to a small government force in size—in said raid and was on a roll. Ye Wei even went on to prevent the drug lords from sniping Eleven and single-handedly took out ten-over top killers and over fifty third-rate killers. She took a few bullets by accident as she was fatigued and was trapped in a cloud of poisonous gas.
Eleven, thankfully, arrived in the nick of time and saved her. Although she almost died from her wounds, she had left behind an insurmountable record.
While the incident was undoubtedly sensational, somebody deliberately suppressed information about it. Those who survived the incident were terrified at the mention of the incident, and few hence knew about it.
Mo Ye and Mo Jue had investigated Ye Wei and Eleven thoroughly but coincidentally overlooked this loop. Mo Ye was extremely flustered. He did not know that he had unwittingly collaborated with Ye Wei and Eleven five years ago because they had the same objectives.
Mo Jue could only discover this much, and it was afraid he had to personally head to Eastern Europe to thoroughly investigate clues left behind from five years ago in order to investigate what happened further.
This incident left his mood in chaos, and he pondered about countless possibilities. He recalled an earlier conjecture he made, and he did not dare to accept the possibilities that associated him with Eleven that rushed at him.
The days which Mo Ye was recuperating felt like years.
Mo Jue went up to the second floor and gently called,” Brother.”
Mo Ye regained his senses. “How are things going?”
“The transfer is complete, and all that is left is just the few of us,” he said. Moving from an island to another was not a difficult issue, and it seemed that Ye Chen and Jason seemed to know that they were in the Caribbean Ocean and focused their investigation efforts. He did not easily shake off the spies from the Dragon Gate.
Mo Ye nodded in silence.
“Brother, when do you plan to leave? Will you be leaving with Meng Lianling when she’s discharged?”
Mo Ye still remained silent. “Is any progress made to what happened five years ago?” he asked instead.
“No. Give me some time, and I’ll head to Eastern Europe once things have settled down,” Mo Jue flatly replied. This was no longer Mo Ye’s problem as he did not know anything about Ye Wei from five years ago.
When he just got wind of it, he was shocked and could not believe that this had happened to her. Somebody clearly laid a trap for her to walk into in her fatigue and wasted her. For somebody as intelligent as Ye Wei to walk into such a trap implied that said person had an exceptional M.O..
He wanted to know who was after Ye Wei five years ago.
“Save it. I’ll look up what happened myself once I’ve recovered,” Mo Ye replied. “You’ll manage all affairs of the Mafia from today onward. Avoid direct confrontation with the terrorist organization and stick to our original plan of avoiding them and secretly rebuilding our strength. We’ll discuss the rest after this.”
“Brother…”
“That’s final!” Mo Ye flatly said and did not allow Mo Jue to dissent. He wanted to personally investigate what happened, and for some reason or other, disliked people telling him things.
He wanted to personally unravel the truth.
“Is there information on Eleven?” Mo Ye asked as he subconsciously turned the ring on his finger.
Mo Jue noticed what Mo Ye night not have noticed. Whenever Mo Ye was nervous, he could not help but touch the ring on his finger.
“There is no news yet,” Mo Jue replied.
“Is it so?” Mo Ye gently acknowledged as he looked out to the sea. “Once you do, please immediately inform me,” he said.
“Noted,” Mo Jue replied.
The two brothers sat quietly for a moment. “If you’re waiting here for Meng Lianling for two to three days, Ye Wei and I will go over first,” Mo Jue said.
Mo Ye pondered for a moment and then broke into a smile. “Whatever works for you then. I’ll hold my position for the time being.”
He was not waiting for Meng Lianling but needed the calm. He did not know where he had gone wrong on many issues and had yet to sort them out. He, however, knew that he was definitely wrong somewhere.
In the hospital, Meng Lianying’s cell phone rang. She thought Mo Ye had called and was overjoyed. But she became ghostly pale when she saw the number.
She dropped the cell phone on the blanket and struggled to calm herself. “Please leave,” she said to the three nurses.
She picked up the call after the three nurses left. She then said with a slight shudder, “Hello…”
“Yingying, it’s time to go home.” A cold voice came through a machine that sent a chill through Meng Lianying’s heart. The number, which had not appeared for five years, reappeared once again. Why was he looking for her?