All six Blood Wolf members removed their gears while onboard. They could finally relax and make small talk.
Every one of them had their respective roles - Ye Cheng was the tactical analyst of the operation, Fang Zhuo was the defender who covered for the frontline, Da Sha was the one who dealt with any bombs, and Jiang Hai was the frontline who communicated directly with the robbers and the hostages. Although their job scopes were all different, all of them had the same anti-infrared camouflage coatings on their faces to keep their identity concealed.
Their mission was a great success. As a reward, Lao Cai tacitly consented to their undisciplined chit-chats.
Quietly, Lu Beixiao sat aside and excluded himself from their conversation.
"Lu, my dearest comrade, please spare some of your precious time and talk to the rest of us. You shouldn't be hiding there in the corner by yourself. Have you gotten lovesick?" Ye Cheng was the one who interrupted Lu Beixiao's train of thought. He was also the only one among the team who was unafraid to provoke him.
"It's your sister that I was thinking about!" Lu Beixiao answered without looking at him.
Hold on. That did not sound quite right, though. He had just openly admitted that he was thinking about the guy's sister.
"I do have a few sisters if you'd like me to introduce them to you. Which one do you have in mind?" Ye Cheng teased.
"What? I thought Lu wasn't into girls?" Puzzled, Da Sha could not help but scratch his head.
"Ha! Ha! Ha! Haha!"
Those who used to question Lu Beixiao's sexuality began laughing in unison.
Lu Beixiao, whose sexuality became the subject of their mockery, remained noncommittal to their old question. He remained single because he had not found the right one. But now, he looked forward to finally introducing the girl to his mates. They would be so jealous of him, for sure.
…
By the time the helicopter arrived at their base, it was already getting dark. Thankfully, Lao Cai did not make things any more difficult for them, which was rather unconventional. He let them off for the night, as an acknowledgment of merit for their successful operation.
Lu Beixiao walked straight towards the dormitory without saying goodbye.
Fortunately, the boys were sensible enough to tell that he was in a bad mood. As soon as he stripped off his protective gear, the first thing that he reached out to was the pager under his pillow.
It began beeping, to his surprise. Lu Beixiao was a little caught off guard at first. Then, he became so amused that he could not hide the smile on his face. "It'd better be you," he thought.
Her lack of concern for him over the past few days deserves some punishment. She'd better be calling him more often.
The tiny screen on the pager only had enough space to display a limited set of words. The message was sent half an hour ago, but it came in late because of the slight delay in connection.
"Xiao, I'm currently in L City. I miss you! Mwah!"
'I miss you!' All Lu Beixiao could see were these three words. All he could think of was Ye Qiao's sweet little face that dimples when she smiled.
All of his disappointments were gone in an instant as her message brought him so much joy that he began rolling around on his bed in excitement.
"What's going on with Lu? Has he been possessed?" Lu Beixiao was already rolling in his bed like a madman when Da Sha and Ye Cheng entered the dormitory. It was a rare occurrence, which frankly, concerned Da Sha.
Da Sha was a man who wallowed in superstitions. No amount of science could talk him out of his reverence for the supernatural.
Ye Cheng, on the other hand, was convinced that Lu Beixiao had gone mad.
Lu Beixiao had returned from home as a changed man, for he was rarely concerned with something so trivial such as his pager. That was a sign of a boy at the dawn of love.
After being on cloud nine for a while, he was finally able to calm down. He reread the message and began wondering what the girl was doing in L City. If he was not mistaken, L City was the place where she grew up.
The last word of her message was a little puzzling, though. While he was trying to figure out what 'mwah' means, his train of thought was abruptly interrupted by Da Sha, who boldly placed a rune of exorcism on his forehead.. There was nothing but dead silence in the dormitory.