In the police station in Shanghai.
In the interrogation room, Officer Murong chewed on a pencil and looked at the smiling fellow in front of her. She frowned.
She, too, did not believe that the young man who stabbed the aggressive hijackers and rescued the entire plane was a most-wanted terrorist.
However, the arrest warrant had been sent over from Interpol. It couldn’t have been a mistake.
Was this just a good disguise?
Officer Murong smiled coldly, ready to tear into Ye Fei's deceit:
"Name?"
"Ye Fei."
"Age?"
"Twenty-one years old."
"Occupation?"
"Unemployed."
Officer Murong asked quickly, and Ye Fei answered quickly. With his narrowed eyes and a permanent smile on his face, he seemed less like someone being interrogated and more like a tourist lying on a beach in Hawaii.
"Unemployed?"
Officer Murong rapped her fingers on Ye Fei's case file with a sneer. "I think you’re mistaken. Ye Fei, the sniper of the terrorist organization ‘Falcon’, code-named Eagle Eye. Proficient at using the Barrett XM109 anti-materiel sniper rifle and knife-throwing?"
When Officer Murong read ‘knife-throwing’, she was slightly surprised. Could there still be anyone proficient at knife-throwing these days? Moreover, Ye Fei was one of the world’s top snipers; why would he practice knife-throwing? However, she remembered the testimony of the eyewitness on the plane. Ye Fei used three plastic knives to subdue the three hijackers.
Ye Fei's face suddenly turned livid. He stood up sharply.
"Ye Fei, what are you going to do? Assault a police officer?" Officer Murong was startled, taking out her pistol and aiming at Ye Fei.
"Falcon is not a terrorist organization! You can insult me, but you can't insult Falcon." Ye Fei grit his teeth, eyes burning with rage.
Officer Murong saw Ye Fei had taken the bait, and loudly said: "How did I insult Falcon? Falcon planned terrorist activities in the United States to assassinate a State Governor. Interpol classified it as a terrorist organization, yet you still have objections?"
"I’ll say it again, Falcon is not a terrorist organization!"
With sharp eyes, Ye Fei grabbed the pencil on the table and threw it toward Officer Murong.
Whoosh!
The pencil shot over Officer Murong’s head like a missile.
The next moment, her ponytail suddenly fell and long hair covered her face, giving her the appearance of a female ghost.
Behind her, the pencil nailed her purple hairband to the wall of the interrogation room.
"How dare you attack a police officer?"
Two tall policemen came in at once, punching and kicking Ye Fei. He did not resist, and was soon spitting out blood.
Murong was embarrassed. With one hand holding her hair and the other pulling at the pencil, she tried to reclaim her hairband, but it just wouldn’t budge.
The pencil was lodged too deep in the wall.
Officer Murong's was astounded. This young man was extremely dangerous. Anything in his hands could be a potential weapon.
"Stop."
The door was pushed open, and a tall figure came in. It was an old man in a military uniform. His spirit was as strong his voice.
Officer Murong was surprised to discover that the director of the Public Security Bureau, Zhou Hongtao was standing behind the old man. She hastily saluted, "Director Zhou."
The old man began, "Young lady, listen up. Falcon is not a terrorist organization, they’re a group of heroes. You are young and there’s much you still don’t understand. Please leave us. I have something to say to Ye Fei."
The old man's expression was serious. He put a special emphasis on the word "heroes".
Officer Murong did not question him and hastily evacuated the room along with the other officers.
"Director Zhou, who was that old man?" Officer Murong asked as she slowly closed the door behind her. She could see the admiration Director Zhou had for that old man.
Director Zhou said with a dry voice, "He is the central Leader."
In the interrogation room, Ye Fei stood up with tears in his eyes. "Leader!"
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The leader motioned for Ye Fei to sit down. "Fei, you've been wronged. Please, take those off yourself."
Ye Fei nodded, walked over to the wall, and pulled out the pencil. Biting the pencil with his mouth, he carefully maneuvered the tip of the pencil into the keyhole of his handcuffs.
Click.
The handcuffs opened.
Ye Fei stood at attention, giving the old man a military salute. "Falcon Ye Fei, reporting to the leader."
"Fei, Falcon team is China’s most outstanding commando team. Even you, the youngest, are incredibly skilled."
The leader nodded, "This mission failed. Falcon’s intel was not wrong, it was someone from within that betrayed us and unfortunately, you’re taking the blame for it. All the members of Falcon were labeled as terrorists. I apologize on behalf of the nation."
"Leader, thanks to you, the other six members of the Falcon team will rest in peace." Ye Fei shed a tear.
"I want to know why you disobeyed the order of the organization. The organization has arranged for you to take refuge in South America. Why did you venture back home? Are you not afraid of being caught by Interpol?" The old man said gravely.
"The airport in Rio de Janeiro was so chaotic that even hijackers could get on the plane, and Interpol couldn’t catch me. Besides, I came back for a reason. Leader, the death benefits of the other six members of Falcon have not been paid out. Tie Tou's dad has cerebral thrombosis; Huzi's son, just three years old, needs to go to kindergarten. They all need the money." Ye Fei stood at attention, speaking loudly.
"The death benefits haven’t been settled yet?" The old man was surprised, "Wait a moment. I will make a phone call."
As a sniper, Ye Fei not only had extraordinary eyesight, but was also extremely observant.
On the plane, he just glanced around and noticed three passengers with bulging waists and furtive behavior, and surmised that they were armed hijackers.
Now, Ye Fei observed that there was no shoulder board on the old man's military uniform. Also, the issue about the death benefits not being settled⋯ the leader should have known that. There would be no need to call anyone.
Ye Fei frowned. What was going on?
After a few minutes, the leader came back with a livid face. "Fei, the death benefits have been approved. However, the mole in our organization has leaked the information and the account holding the money has been frozen by Interpol."
"Then what should we do?" Ye Fei said.
"Now there is only one thing we can do - wait. The organization cannot arrange for another sum of money. However, the money has only been frozen temporarily. After a period of time, the death benefits will be settled." The old man frowned.
"Leader, no! The family members of my comrades need to cover their expenses, which amounts to at least 50,000 Yuan a month. They cannot wait! I’ve even sold my sniper rifle and throwing knives, but that’s still not enough. Leader, can you think of a way, perhaps through individual contributions..." Ye Fei anxiously said.
"Individual contributions?" The old man smiled bitterly, "Once, even a million Yuan wouldn’t have been a problem for me to arrange. However, because of Falcon, I was also implicated, and have now been forcefully retired, with only 8000 Yuan a month for a pension."
"What...? Leader, are you retired?" Ye Fei felt something was wrong, but he never imagined things were so serious.
The old man frowned in thought. "Fei, now that you’ve returned, you cannot go abroad for a while. You have no contacts in the country, and it is difficult to find a job. Although I am retired, I have a few strings I could pull for you. I have a friend who’s looking for a bodyguard. The conditions are very good. I’ll talk to him and I’m certain he can offer you 50,000 Yuan a month. What do you think?"
"A bodyguard for 50,000 Yuan a month? Okay, I'll do it."
As a Chinese elite Special Forces operative, Ye Fei would normally look down on this kind of work, but he would do anything for his dead comrades, even kneel down on the street and beg for spare change.