Volume 1: The Tiger Leaves Its Leash Chapter 3: Da Heng Returns Home (Part 1)

  After Gu Weimin left, the room became as quiet as death. Wang Yilin picked up a pack of cigarettes from the table, slowly pulled one out and lit it. He wasn't a non-smoker, just someone who rarely smoked, and only did so when he really needed to use his brain.

  "The reason for the failure of the operation is under investigation, and it can basically be determined that there was a traitor. Zhou Guohui lit his second cigarette,"The specific link where the problem occurred is not yet clear, the main suspicion is that there was a problem with the intelligence department, but it also does not rule out the possibility of a traitor within the 'Snow Leopard' detachment."

  "How many people can the scope of suspicion be narrowed down to?" Wang Yilin directly asked the key point.

  "Between 20 and 50 people, now mainly uncertain how many people in the military intelligence agency know about this action, and whether anyone inadvertently leaked the news before."

  Wang Yilin nodded slightly and then fell silent again.

  "I've ordered the 'Snow Leopard' squad to continue with the search and rescue efforts, now the most troublesome thing is... " Zhou Guohui hesitated for a moment, "Who's going to tell Second Brother about this?"

  Wang Yilin let out a long breath and rubbed her face hard with both hands to make herself more alert.

  "Although Ling Tianxiang may not have fallen into the hands of the US military now, but has gone into hiding and temporarily lost contact with the rear..."

  "I know," Wang Yilin interrupted Zhou Guohui's words, "how confident are you that he didn't fall into the hands of the US military? If things get worse, how confident are you to bring him back?"

  "This...," Zhou Guohui hesitated for a moment, "Now I have at most 50% confidence that he has not fallen into the hands of the US military. If the result is reversed, then it will be almost impossible to rescue him through military action."

  "That's to say, we have to consider two possibilities." Wang Yilin stood up and walked back and forth in the room twice before continuing, "One is that the US military doesn't know his identity, and the other is that the US military knows his identity."

  "So we have to be prepared for both possibilities." Zhou Guohui's gaze followed Wang Yilin as she wandered around the room.

  "If it's the former, then it's easier to handle. We can exchange him back through secret channels. At least we still have leverage over the US and they want our people." Wang Yilin stopped in his tracks beside his desk and looked at Zhou Guohui, "If it's the latter, then it's troublesome."

  Zhou Guohui let out a sigh and heavily crushed the cigarette butt in the ashtray.

  "We should tell Second Brother about this as soon as possible, otherwise..." Wang Yilin said while picking up the phone on his office desk.

  "Lao San, isn't it a bit too early?" Zhou Guohui called out to Wang Yilin as he stood up at the same time.

  Wang Yilin hesitated for a moment and put down the receiver.

  "Now we can't be sure if Ling Tianxiang has fallen into the hands of the US military, even if the situation is worse, it's impossible to confirm whether the US military knows his true identity. If we contact Lao Er at this time, will it affect what he is doing?"

  "You mean, wait until there's further news before telling Second Brother?"

  Zhou Guohui nodded firmly. "If we can control the situation, there's no need to let Lao Er know. Similarly, if even we can't control the situation, what's the use of Lao Er knowing?"

  "But have you thought about it?" Wang Yilin walked to the front of Zhou Guohui, "If we don't tell Second Brother about this matter and ultimately can't solve the problem, what kind of reaction will Second Brother have?"

  "This..." Zhou Guohui took a step back, his expression also sinking down.

  "We all know what Second Brother is like." Wang Yilin sighed, "No matter whether the matter is resolved smoothly or not, if we hide it from him, he will definitely blame us. If the matter is resolved smoothly, maybe we have a reason, but the problem is, if it's not resolved well..."

  Zhou Guohui also sighed, before coming to the Prime Minister's mansion, he had blamed Gu Weimin for not sending someone else, but instead sending Ling Tianxiang to carry out this most dangerous task. But what could blaming do? Gu Weimin was already filled with regret and guilt over it.

  "Ling Tianxiang's position in Er Ge's heart, we both understand very clearly. Since childhood, he has been the one Er Ge values the most. If there are any serious consequences this time, neither of us can explain it to Er Ge!" Wang Yilin paused for a moment, "I won't make the decision on this matter, whether or not to tell Er Ge, you decide."

  "But..." Zhou Guohui still hesitated a little.

  Wang Yilin didn't say anything else, he threw the extinguished cigarette butt into the ashtray, picked up his tea cup and waited for Zhou Guohui to make a decision.

  The room was eerily quiet, Zhou Guohui also sat down, with only the grayish-white smoke rising continuously.

  From a young age, Ling Tianxiang was one of the most capable children in the second family, so the second family paid extra attention to him. If it weren't for Ling Tianxiang's determination to join the army despite the risk of offending his father, Zhou Guohui would not have accepted this new recruit. However, Ling Tianxiang's performance in the troops fully confirmed the saying "a tiger father has no dog son." When Zhou Guohui was transferred to the Western Military Region and became the commander of the special forces, Ling Tianxiang also graduated from the Special Forces Training School and became a formal special forces soldier. At that time, in order to take good care of this nephew, Zhou Guohui tried every means to transfer Ling Tianxiang to the Western Military Region, originally intending to let him serve as a communications soldier for a certain special forces battalion or other positions that only required serving in the rear and did not require participating in frontline operations. However, what Zhou Guohui never expected was that within less than two years of joining the "Snow Leopard" Battalion, Ling Tianxiang became the best sniper in the battalion, and his scores in various assessments were also among the top in the battalion, even showing a tendency to replace the battalion commander Gu Weimin. In order not to let more people know about Ling Tianxiang's background, Zhou Guohui could not directly interfere with the internal personnel arrangements of the special forces battalion, resulting in what happened now, which was the last thing he wanted to see.

  Many things were beyond Zhou Guohui's expectations. Ling Tianxiang successfully completed twenty-four missions without a single failure, and he had never been injured. Originally, Zhou Guohui thought that he was just lucky and had the protection of the gods of fate, but as soon as something went wrong, it became the most severe problem.

  After extinguishing the fourth cigarette, Zhou Guohui raised his head, his eyes were filled with bloodshot, and then he nodded firmly at Wang Yilin. As Lao San said, such a serious matter should not be hidden from Lao Er, the earlier Lao Er is told, the easier it will be to solve the problem!