The night was deep and quiet when Qi Taiguo stood on the balcony, pinching a cigarette in his hand, pondering the events of the day.
He never expected that Ning Ge would appear here, at such an important meeting, and he didn’t hurt anyone, didn’t do anything, except for that visit to the room which allegedly held top-secret documents. It was only there that he struck. Could it be that was his sole target?
Qi Taiguo gazed into the flickering lights of the night, reflecting on the oddities of before. Could all this have been the reason? Was this young man already infiltrating the villa at that time?
So many days had passed, and yet this young man had hidden himself quite well.
Qi Taiguo snorted.
He took a drag from his cigarette, resting his elbows on the railing, and thought carefully about Ning Ge.
From the start, when he first appeared before him, claiming he had been robbed, Qi Taiguo felt it was wrong, too coincidental, but at that time, he didn’t think deeply about it. Now that he looked back, there really were quite a few loopholes.
Afterward, the young man behaved like a spoiled scion, with the temperament of a master spoiled by his family. Then he started doing business with Cheng Su, further dispelling Qi Taiguo’s suspicions.
Qi Taiguo took another puff of his cigarette, thinking of Ning Ge’s silhouette that day, when suddenly another figure flashed through his mind.
He was startled.
The figure in his mind was none other than the person who had escaped from Master Wei’s side during that bandit blockade mission...
The two silhouettes overlapped, merging into one.
Qi Taiguo’s breathing hitched, his lips pressing into a straight line.
During that mission, someone had tipped him off about Master Wei’s escape. Later on, that same person had given him suggestions on how to handle the information slip they had obtained.
Would someone not close to him really offer such guidance?
Qi Taiguo found it hard to believe, yet it all seemed to make sense, it all felt plausible, if it was indeed him.
So, it was him?
What exactly was this young man’s background!
He had been involved in the bandit blockade mission and now he had stolen documents. What was he trying to do, and for whom was he working? Did Chief Ning and the others know about this? A pain in his hand snapped Qi Taiguo back to reality; he had inadvertently flicked the cigarette ash that had burnt his finger.
Flicking away the cigarette, Qi Taiguo patted the ash off his hands when suddenly his ears twitched.
"Who’s there!" He shifted quickly in a defensive stance, turning to look behind him like a leopard eyeing its prey, his entire body tensed.
Someone emerged from behind the curtains, and in the faint light, Qi Taiguo’s breathing relaxed for a moment before tensing up again.
"Are you insane, daring to come back here?" He glanced around and lowered his voice, demanding.
The person was not somebody else but Ning Ge, who had escaped during the day. Qi Taiguo couldn’t believe he had the gall to return; wasn’t he afraid of being caught?
Ning Ge said, "Don’t worry, if I had the means to come to you, I have the means to go unseen by others."
Qi Taiguo scoffed and suddenly moved, grabbing Ning Ge’s collar with one hand, his voice cold, "Sure, for a mere spy, this really isn’t anything. But don’t you forget who I am!"
He was a soldier, and even though Ning Ge was someone he knew, a member of the Ning Family, if he truly was a spy for a foreign country, a threat to his own nation, then no matter who Ning Ge was, Qi Taiguo wouldn’t spare him, disowning all kinship!
"Speak! Who exactly are you, and what is your identity?" Qi Taiguo pressed him against the wall and demanded.
His voice was harsh, and in the darkness, a pair of eyes sharp as an eagle’s bore into the other man unflinchingly, an imposing aura all around. Ning Ge, however, began to laugh.