Chapter 17

Zhan Wu crossed his arms as he waited for the girl to stand up on her own. It might look like a cold move from an outsiders perspective, but it was actually an important psychological step after a fight to get up on your own. Only once she stood up, though with slightly trembling legs from exertion and pain tingling all over her body sending her mind into noisy mess, did he pat her shoulder.

"Not bad. You haven't slacked off too much since we last saw each other."

Lin Yun Xi nodded slightly.

Smiling, he said, "Let's go inside."

The two of them walked inside the house and into the living room where he sat down on the couch while Lin Yun Xi walked into the kitchen to grab a pair of glasses of water.

"Thanks." Zhan Wu said as he received a glass and brought it to his lips. After taking a few sips he lowered the glass to his knees but kept holding it, his fingers tapping gently at the side of the glass as his expression turned solemn as if he was contemplating something serious.

The ticking of a clock somewhere in the room was all that could be heard for the next couple of minutes.

"You have a mission for me?" Lin Yun Xi was the one who suddenly interrupted the silence.

Zhan Wu's brows furrowed at the sound of her voice. This was the first time she had spoken first in this type of situation and she already knew what troubled his mind.

"I..." Zhan Wu paused his words as he tapped a few extra times on the side of the glass before continuing. "I think it's best we wait for your father to come home before we continue speaking."

Lin Yun Xi didn't respond or show any expression and simply brought her own glass up to her lips and drank a few sips of water of her own.

Meanwhile, a hundred thoughts and emotions were flashing by inside Zhan Wu's mind, however none of it showed on his face, at least to an ordinary person. As for Lin Yun Xi, she sensed it all, but ignored it as noise.

A full hour of silence went by before the noise of an engine approaching the mansion could be heard outside followed by car doors opening and closing. Then the front door opened.

"Ha ha!" The sound of her father laughing could be heard coming down the hall as he realized they had guests from the additional pair of shoes at the entrance. "Zhan Wu! Long time no see!" The man laughed with mirth in his eyes as he entered the living room, ready to greet the benefactor of his family, but when he noticed the solemn mood in the room he could only awkwardly chuckle as he calmed down and took a seat in an armchair on the opposite side.

Lin Yuan glanced between the two of them, noticing Zhan Wu's solemn expression and his daughter's aloof expression.

"I've already said my daughter is an adult and can make her own decisions, no need for you to wait for this old man to give you any sort of approval. You're this family's benefactor and you already made a promise all those years ago to keep her safe and away from harm and I trust you."

Zhan Wu drew a deep breath before meeting the old man's weary eyes with his own. "I might not be able to keep that promise this time."

A slight expression of surprise appeared on Lin Yuan's face which then turned into a frown. "It's that serious?"

Lin Yuan wasn't a fool. He knew Zhan Wu wouldn't come here and ask his daughter to be put in harms way unless it involved the national security of this country and they were out on their limbs looking for a solution. And while he was a business man who had traveled and lived all across the world, he was still a patriot for his home country at heart, though it had wained a little over the many years spending so much time seeing so much of the world and loosing the concept of borders across countries.

"Mm." Zhan Wu grunted in confirmation. He couldn't tell the old man anything about the mission details except that it was dangerous and his daughter might risk her life.

"What do you think?" Lin Yuan asked, glancing over to his daughter.

"I'm willing." Lin Yun Xi stated very simply, no hesitation at all.

Both men frowned at this, especially Zhan Wu who felt terrible inside for doing this. He was hoping the old man would strongly refuse.

"Well then. Then it's decided." Lin Yuan said as he forced a smile and stood up and walked over to Lin Yun Xi and patted the top of her head. "Come back safe, you hear!"

"En." Lin Yun Xi said as she looked up at her father and gave him a simple smile.

***

The sun had already set and a pitch black night had draped over the earth. A pair of bright headlights lit up a desolate road as a jeep approached Secret Military Base 5A.

The jeep took a turn and drove down a narrow dirt road before it stopped in front of a gate and a guard standing by a station stepped forward toward the window on the driver's side.

The person in the jeep rolled down the window and showed him his pass before the guard waved as the gate opened.

The jeep continued driving for another hour before arriving at a small grassy airport field and a camouflaged hangar. If anyone looked at any satellite photos of this place it would be difficult to near impossible to determine there was a small military base here.

The jeep parked near a large camouflaged military tent and two figures stepped down, one a muscled military man sporting a black tennis shirt and a pair of camouflage pants and the other a petite girl in a gray hoodie that was pulled tightly over her head hiding her beautiful features.