Chapter 43: Wake Him Up Quickly!

Before heading out to the crash site for the rescue mission, Lieutenant Wang had already obtained detailed information about the incident from the embassy. It was confirmed that among the passengers on the downed plane, there were two citizens from their country—a man and a woman.

The man was named Xing Xiaolong, a soldier recently discharged from the military, less than half a year ago. He had secured a labor visa through a foreign trade company and signed a contract with Great Rain Agricultural Products, planning to work on one of their farms in the southern region controlled by the Kahoma government forces. Xing Xiaolong was to serve as the farm’s security officer.

In recent years, Africa’s fertile but underutilized land had drawn the attention of many from Panda Country, leading to a wave of agricultural ventures on the continent. Large farms inevitably required robust security, but the local workforce was often unreliable; local recruits could barely handle subordinate roles, and the heads of security teams were usually brought in from back home or sourced from PSCs—professional security contractors.

Xing Xiaolong, a well-trained veteran, fit the bill perfectly. Coincidentally, his former female apprentice had a pressing need for someone in his line of work. Most importantly, the overseas salary was high—basic pay exceeded ten thousand a month. Even knowing the job was in a war zone, the financially desperate Xing Xiaolong couldn’t possibly refuse. With only a high school diploma and five years spent watching the barracks gate, the chance of securing such a lucrative position at home was, frankly, nonexistent.

So, this was how he found himself about to cling to the “stocking-clad” leg of a wealthy woman, heading abroad to do the job he knew best—guarding gates and making money—only to have disaster strike in the form of a plane crash.

The other citizen was a woman named Su Dayu, the general manager of Great Rain Agricultural Products—in other words, the “wealthy lady” Xing Xiaolong had been hoping to rely on.

Unfortunately, the familiar urban fantasy of a dashing, retired “King of Soldiers” and a charming, capable boss lady hadn’t even had a chance to begin before tragedy struck in the form of a brutal air disaster.

In the end, there was still no word of the lady boss.

...

Lieutenant Wang, who had just left, pulled open the flap of the hospital tent. Before entering, he shook the rain from his soaked coat and retrieved two small suitcases hidden beneath it, placing them beside Xing Xiaolong’s hospital bed.

“I’ve brought your things. Both these cases were roughly searched. This one here has your passport. When we found it, everything inside had been dumped out and scattered nearby.”

He patted the red suitcase on the right. “This one was ransacked as well. Passports, tickets, landing cards—anything that could prove identity—are all missing. At first, we couldn’t figure out who the owner was, but inside was a photo of two people. The man looks like you. We thought the woman might be the missing female citizen, so we brought it along for you to confirm. Is this you?”

Lieutenant Wang opened the bag and handed a photo to Xing Xiaolong, who was half-sitting in bed. Though he had been holding himself together, as soon as he saw the photo, something stung his eyes—he suddenly felt a pang of emotion.

His mind drifted back to those youthful years, and to the tomboyish girl who had looked up to him with adoration.

The young man in the photo was indeed Xing Xiaolong, wearing a large red flower on his chest. The woman was his former CF apprentice, who, if not for the crash, would now be his boss—Su Dayu.

The photo had been taken over five years before, when Xing Xiaolong was leaving for the military. He hadn’t told her about his departure, only mentioned it in passing during a game session, yet Su Dayu had shown up to see him off, insisting on a photo together.

Though she was beautiful enough to be a campus belle in any novel, Su Dayu’s bold, generous nature and boisterous gaming style made her more like one of the guys—a tomboy at heart.

At the time, Xing Xiaolong hadn’t thought much of it. Even when, less than three months after returning home from the army, he “accidentally” ran into Su Dayu—who had already made it big in the city—on the streets of their small county, and was then offered a job as a security guard at her company, he still didn’t read too much into it.

After all, despite their past as mentor and apprentice, Su Dayu was not only attractive but genuinely wealthy—a real heiress, and an only child at that. Xing Xiaolong, a rural lad, was self-aware enough to know his place.

He’d always seen her as a friend. But seeing this well-kept, five-year-old photo, carefully carried by Su Dayu, something finally clicked.

Realizing this, the pain of her disappearance, which had merely saddened him before, now gripped his heart with unbearable intensity.

Xing Xiaolong had no experience with such feelings. He didn’t understand what he was feeling—only that it hurt. It was as if, unless he did something now, he’d spend the rest of his life in regret, forever losing what mattered most.

“This really is me in the photo. Besides these, do you have any other leads?”

Xing Xiaolong’s voice was suddenly low and heavy. Lieutenant Wang, puzzled, couldn’t help but wonder if there was something between the discharged soldier and the lady boss. “The woman in the photo is indeed quite striking, and the guy’s got that soldierly bearing. Maybe there’s really something there,” he mused, feeling a surge of sympathy for Xing Xiaolong’s misfortune in the wake of the crash.

Lost a girlfriend just like that!

Softening his tone, Wang said comfortingly, “Don’t be too anxious. We don’t have any concrete news yet, but there were a lot of eggshells and traces of vehicle activity at the scene. We also heard gunfire when we arrived. It’s possible some local armed group got there before us. That’s important information, and we’ll focus our investigation on it the next few days.

You and Mr. Smith are the only survivors. When embassy staff arrive tomorrow, they’ll need your cooperation for the investigation. It’s getting late, and you both need rest. Don’t hesitate to call if you need anything.”

With that, Lieutenant Wang tapped the red call button above the bed, then left. Out of sympathy for “the soldier who’d just lost his girlfriend,” he didn’t take the suitcase away as evidence, leaving it so Xing Xiaolong could find solace in familiar belongings.

But all of Wang’s thoughtfulness went unnoticed. Xing Xiaolong’s mind was fixated on one thing Wang had said: there were many eggshells and traces of vehicle activity.

He’d woken up after being bitten by wolves, with no clear memory of what had happened before. But he did know that the area between the two rows of seats and the ground outside the hole in the fuselage had not been soaked in blood.

Combined with Wang’s report that armed men might have arrived before them, it meant that the woman who’d sat beside him by the window—Su Dayu—might still be alive.

She hadn’t been devoured by wolves, as he’d first feared.

The more Xing Xiaolong thought about it, the more possible it seemed, however slim the hope. His despair and sadness gave way to a rush of anxious excitement.

“Hello! Excuse me, sir, can you show me the photo in your hand?”

Just then, the white man who had been silently sitting nearby spoke up, addressing Xing Xiaolong in a stream of English he could barely understand.