During an operation to exterminate a group of militants, Sergeant Ren lost two men. The loss wasn’t caused by the enemy, but by their own weapons that had backfired during the operation. One time was enough to be considered an accident but for it to happen twice was suspicious.
Despite further requests for an investigation, the military had already declared both incidents as accidental deaths caused by negligence. The rulings infuriated Sergeant Ren; he knew his men better than anyone. They were thorough and wouldn't make such a mistake during the crucial moments.
Determined to clear the stain on the deceased, Sergeant Ren investigated the incident on his own. There were at least a dozen similar incidents reported in other units, which were also declared as accidental. While inspecting the armory, he discovered that the latest batch of weapons was of poor quality, not like the ones he was currently using.
He complained to his lieutenant, pointing out the multiple flaws in their equipment. Rather than taking the report seriously, his unit of sixteen men was reprimanded by the lieutenant for disobeying orders.
"This s******, he started yelling at me for going into the armory without permission!" Sergeant Ren complained to his friend at the bar.
"Lieutenant Bing?" Asked his friend. "He's from the same hometown as me. Arrogant f*****, I heard his wife got a new imported Benz."
"On military salary? No way, what does she do?"
"Her? Not sure, I don't think she's working."
Sargeant Ren dug in deeper into the gun manufacturer and found that they had a poor reputation, often using inferior materials and pocketing the remaining money. Aside from the luxury cars, the Lieutenant was getting kickbacks from the manufacturer for securing them with the military contract.
Sergeant Ren was pissed to learn about it, and gathered all the findings and evidence directly to the general. The report was publicly revealed, causing the general to remove the Lieutenant from his post. The military quickly overturned the previous rulings against the deceased and gave their surviving family members merits. Afterward, the military continued on with their regular missions and everything about the incident was forgotten.
A few weeks later, Sergeant Ren’s unit was sent to secure the border. During that time, a bomb was triggered, killing half of the men in his unit. Sergeant Ren was also severely injured and carried off to the military hospital.
As Sergeant Ren lay in the hospital bed, he knew his life was in danger. His instinct was telling him that everything was off about the mission and the bomb. He knew too many secrets to be let go freely. Their missions often ranged from political assassinations to international sabotage. If he didn’t continue working, the only option was death.
The next moment, a doctor with six Jeiba dots entered the room and injected him with poison. His heart gave out and they immediately declared his time of death. He never expected to wake up in the temple. The doctor he had seen earlier, Abbot Haoyang, appeared and explained to him the situation.
The military generals were all skimming off 1% of the military budget for their personal benefits. The bomb was a way to silence those who could be controlled or willing to keep quiet for a piece of the 1%, which at the time was 250 million yuan (35 million USD) and it was being done repeatedly every year.
After hearing the truth, Sergeant Ren wanted to reveal all the dirty secrets of the military to the public.
“You don’t have anyone to return to outside of the military, but how about your remaining men?” Haoyang asked. “If you continue with your vengeance, your entire unit will be marked.”
Sargeant Ren didn't care about much, but he cared about his comrades.
****
Luba stared at the two monks still squirming in bed.
"What should we do?" Asked one of the monks restraining Laco.
"We will take them to the hospital," Abbot Haoyang decided. They were not directly related to the incident, so there shouldn't be any problem. "You should return to your hotel. I'll contact you if anything comes up."
Luba called the taxi and returned back to his hotel. By the next morning, the archeological team met in the hotel banquet hall.
"Everyone, the archeological site had been taken over by the military," Professor Luisa updated everyone. "They have informed me that since our contacts information have been taken, we are free to leave. They believe the robbers are hired mercenaries and it would be difficult to track them down."
"Professor, what about our project?" Asked the other archeologist.
"Not all of the artifacts are stolen and we still have photographs of the items, so we will start studying them at the university," replied Professor Luisa. "It is a great loss to the country, but we need to make do with what we have."
After the announcement, the team ate breakfast while Professor Luisa personally apologized to Luba, Li Yun, and Rouxi.
"Mister, please don't apologize," Luba blocked Luisa before he completed his bow. "This is something beyond anyone's imagination."
"Monk Luba is right, this is beyond your control," Rouxi stated. "And besides, it's the weekend, so there's nothing really urgent."
Professor Luisa shook his head. "I cannot believe something like this could happen either, but we should have been more careful."
"Professor, you shouldn't be too hard on yourself," said Li Yun. "You just had hip replacement surgery."
Professor Luisa was surprised and wondered how he knew. It wasn't a secret, but his team wouldn't casually mention it to a stranger. His head suddenly tilted up as he remembered something, "Are you the young doctor Li who operated on Minister Yue?"
"I'm surprised you know," Li Yun remarked, most people outside of the medical field didn't keep track of medical events in the world.
"Small world indeed!" Professor Luisa commented. "Minister Yue is also on the board for archeological research."
As they were talking, Luba's phone vibrated once. His face frowned upon reading the latest message, something had happened.
"Is something the matter?" Professor Luisa asked, seeing the look of concern on Luba's face.
"My brothers are coming to pick me up, but they unexpectedly encountered a strange medical condition," said Luba. "They are at the hospital, so far, the doctors haven't been able to figure out what was going on and none of the painkillers are working."
"That's unusual!" Professor Luisa then looked at Li Yun. "I remember that during Minister Yue's operation, you have used acupuncture in place of anesthesia, is this something Dr. Li can look into?"
"I'm not allowed to practice here, but let me call the hospital for permission," Li Yun replied as though he was unsure, but he had already requested permission yesterday for Chief Zhang to process the paperwork.
"We can take a look now," said Luba. "It shouldn't be a problem if Dr. Li just takes a look."