Where's that guy

"Sir…" one of the Juyan tech team staff turned to Xi Shenghui, concern marring his eyebrows and obvious worry on his face. "It's been about an hour since we lost any sort of communication with red dragon and shadow fox."

"T-the satellites haven't picked up anything, either," another one added.

The atmosphere in the control room had been tense and somber ever since Ying Yue had gone back inside, and with no vital signs registering in their computer and no updates whatsoever from the two, the outcome from the mission was bleak. One by one, the staff started removing their headphones and turning off their mics.

One of the younger staff, the same one who had run an errand for Ying Yue before, looked around at the unhappy faces of the others and bit his lip. He didn't want to give up just yet. Shadow fox was the best that Juyan had – and when he met her as the director, he was starstruck and in awe at how hard she worked. There was probably something they could do, right?

He raised a hand to get Shenghui's attention. "Sir, should I call for a retrieval operation?"

Xi Shenghui glanced at the young boy who looked like he was just out of college and sighed. The mission outlined by Ying Yue had clear instructions for him – if they don't come back, Juyan should not, in any case, send men to finish the job or to retrieve their bodies. Because if that did happen, it meant that the operation was too dangerous for anyone – even enough to get rid of the best spy in Juyan and the master of the Dragon Club.

Xi Shenghui sat up suddenly. Wait, the Dragon Club… "Where's that guy Guan Ting of the Dragon Club? The one who was supposed to go with Ying Yue?" His eyebrows furrowed at the confused looks gazing back at him. "Put on your damn headphones and search for Guan Ting! I want his location in ten minutes!"

"Yes, sir!"

The room echoed with replies of affirmation and fingers started flying off keyboards. And thankfully, in a few minutes, one of them had tracked down the man in question.

"I've got him!"

"Where is he?" Xi Shenghui stood up. "Put it on the screen."

The large screen upfront glowed with a satellite view from above, with a red dot in the middle. The view zoomed in until it showed a large rental apartment in the middle of a city, where Guan Ting was seen smoking on a balcony, his eyes occasionally flitting to the nearby surveillance camera at the adjacent house.

Xi Shenghui squinted at the sight he saw. The place didn't look familiar. "That doesn't look like S city."

"It's not," the staff confirmed. "He's in X city, and he's about a mile off from the facility."

A mile off… He was close to the facility, but not near enough to garner attention. If Guan Ting's there, then the rest of the Dragon Club might also be around. Realization dawned on Xi Shenghui at that moment. Fei Huangjin must have prepared them. Juyan may be skilled in reconnaissance and spy work, but not much in terms of offense and waging war. Fei Huangjin must have figured out that the Dragon Club could be their only way out.

"Call him. Connect me to him right now!" Xi Shenghui hoped he could send the Dragon Club to the facility on time. It would be useless if they arrived only to find Ying Yue and Fei Huangjin's dead bodies.

***

At the end of the basement hallway waited the security personnel that Song Yinan had brought with him underground. And when they saw Fei Huangjin step out of the room, they automatically drew their guns at him.

Fei Huangjin winced at the pain on his shoulder as he assessed the situation. He had one gun with a few bullets, just enough to take out each one with one bullet. The hallway was narrow, so only two at a time could come onto him.

His hand tightened over the gun and he hitched Ying Yue higher on top of his shoulder, even if it pressed on his gunshot wound and made him hurt twice over. He couldn't afford to let her fall off. He needed to save her no matter what.