Sixteen Years

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Liu Ruosong’s reaction was quick as well. He tilted his head for a moment and said, “Is Fu Yan trying to tell us to go here?”

“Judging from the direction he’s traveling, it seems so,” Shao Qiu muttered. “Our captain is quite fast; he doesn’t even take a moment to rest. I can barely keep up with him.”

“That’s true. I was surprised he didn’t return to his post this time,” He Tang added nonchalantly. “I always thought that Captain, being so by-the-book, would never make decisions on his own. But this time, he seems quite resolute.”

In fact, not only Shao Qiu and He Tang, but even Liu Ruosong himself was puzzled. Since the beginning of the disaster, Fu Yan had shown an almost unusual determination. He planned his own route of action, requested an extension of his leave, traveled across most of the country to rescue Fang Sining, and now he was going after something called “core documents.”

Although these were things he was capable of doing, it occurred to Liu Ruosong, thanks to Shao Qiu’s comment, that he had been “acting first and reporting later.”

For someone like Fu Yan, who strictly adhered to regulations, this was indeed out of character.

“I really can’t figure out our captain,” He Tang sighed, speaking with a hint of mystery. “He doesn’t say much, so who knows what he’s thinking.”

She seemed to have something on her mind and suddenly changed the subject, asking Liu Ruosong in a subtle tone, “Liu Ge, what do you think?”

“I’m not sure,” Liu Ruosong thought she was asking about the mission, so he answered honestly. “We don’t really talk about work much, and I don’t know what he’s like when he’s on a mission.”

“Well, that’s not what I meant,” He Tang said with a sly smile, changing her approach. “I mean… what’s Captain like when you’re at home? Is he the same as in the military, reserved and not saying much?”

It was clear that He Tang had changed her line of questioning, trying to dig up some embarrassing stories about Fu Yan to amuse herself.

But when it came to “stories,” Liu Ruosong had quite a few in stock.

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Perhaps it was because of love, but he always felt that Fu Yan, despite being a bit stiff, could be unintentionally humorous at times.

He still remembered their first “date” after Fu Yan had officially asked him to be his boyfriend. They were still in high school and lived on campus, so it could be considered an “early romance.” Fu Yan had climbed over the school wall for the first time, then called him to meet at the unmonitored back gate, where he handed Liu Ruosong a package of steaming barbecue through the gate.

At that time, the young Liu Ruosong had not reached the level of unwavering composure he would later achieve. Trembling, he asked, “Did you do something wrong? Are you apologizing to me?”

“What… no, not at all,” Fu Yan seemed a bit flustered. He furrowed his brow, took a step forward, and pushed the package into Liu Ruosong’s arms, saying, “here,”

“Why are you doing this? It’s not a special occasion, and it’s so sudden,” Liu Ruosong couldn’t understand.

“My roommate told me,” the young Fu Yan said with a wooden face. “He said we should create surprises regularly to keep things fresh.”

Liu Ruosong: “…”

He slowly looked down and saw that the barbecue paper was slightly crushed, revealing a very tempting charcoal-grilled pig’s trotter.

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Liu Ruosong: “…”

That was Fu Yan’s first attempt to learn about “romance” and “surprises,” Unfortunately, it ended in a disastrous failure and became the last attempt as well.

Even now, when he thought about it, Liu Ruosong still felt a lingering fear.

After that incident, Liu Ruosong completely gave up on unrealistic romantic fantasies. For Fu Yan, expecting him to learn about romance and pleasing a partner was like asking a six-year-old to cook; it was bound to lead to disaster. So Liu Ruosong preferred to let Fu Yan be himself, which often resulted in some amusing experiences.

But, of course, Liu Ruosong couldn’t tell Fu Yan’s teammates about these things. Otherwise, “Captain, the wooden block,” would become his new nickname, and his “dark history” would spread throughout the military district.

“Actually, I pursued him,” Liu Ruosong said casually, “He’s a good person. When he came out, he didn’t even tell me. He just went home and got beaten up alone.”

He Tang blinked and glanced at him.

Liu Ruosong never said a bad word about Fu Yan to others. He casually brushed off the topic, “Thinking back, I actually wanted to scold him for that. Why was he so stubborn? I was so angry that I almost broke a couple of his ribs.”

He Tang couldn’t help but laugh, and even Shao Qiu, who had been resting with his eyes closed, sat up and leaned in to listen to some gossip.

“Speaking of which, are we going to meet up at this coordinate?” Liu Ruosong naturally changed the subject and pointed to the screen with the location. “Should I set up navigation in advance?”

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“No need,” Yao Tu spoke up. He took the laptop from Liu Ruosong and then operated the screen for him.

“Based on the Captain’s current location, we can guess his route,” Yao Tu said. “We’re heading to the same coordinate now, so we can adjust our route along the way to meet up with him.”

Yao Tu explained while quickly drawing several marked routes on the screen, including highways and national roads, all converging on the same destination. It looked a bit chaotic on the screen.

“Remove all the highways,” Liu Ruosong suggested. “Fu Yan doesn’t usually take the highway.”

Yao Tu followed his instructions, erasing three or four routes from the screen, and then asked why.

“When we separated, he took nothing with him,” Liu Ruosong explained. “Even if he can endure it himself, with Fang Sining, they would need to find food, water, medicine, and gasoline. Taking the highway is too risky; Fu Yan hasn’t chosen any highways on his route so far, and he probably won’t take that risk later.”

After removing several routes, the map on the screen looked much clearer. Liu Ruosong pressed the zoom-out button, and the satellite map automatically moved up, revealing the driving routes of their two groups.

In the planned routes, two green fluorescent lines extended outward, eventually converging at a distant point. The blue planned meeting point was blinking, and it automatically generated a set of coordinates.

“Let’s head in this direction first,” He Feng said. “If the Captain’s route deviates later, we can adjust our course to get closer to him.”

He Tang glanced at the meeting point and acknowledged with a nod.

Liu Ruosong’s gaze unintentionally swept between the siblings—He Tang held the nominal command of this operation, and Shao Qiu was the deputy leader of the entire team. However, when it came to deciding the direction, it was actually He Feng who made the decision. Although it wasn’t a significant issue, Liu Ruosong found their subconscious allocation of responsibilities intriguing.

“When we were in the air, ‘Peregrine’ was always on Captain’s right,” Yao Tu explained openly, not avoiding Shao Qiu. “Because we had to provide backup and surveillance in the air, He Feng could only watch Captain by himself and couldn’t give orders.”

“Although our code names were drawn by lottery, they do have some personal connections,” He Feng added with a smile.

Liu Ruosong understood now. Peregrine was a race that could be trained into falcons. Flying alongside Captain for route confirmation had become a habit. After landing, it was probably hard for them to adapt to a different role.

“Based on this meeting point, if nothing unexpected happens, we should be able to meet in two days,” He Feng said. “Captain won’t stay out of contact for too long; he will probably find a way to communicate with us at the latest tomorrow night.”

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“Not necessarily,” Liu Ruosong said. “If Fang Sining has been with him all this time, there’s a high probability that Fu Yan won’t choose to contact us directly.”

He spoke with confidence, and before He Feng could respond, He Tang was the first to react, looking slightly puzzled.

“Why?” He Tang asked.

“He doesn’t trust Fang Sining,” Liu Ruosong explained. “Otherwise, he wouldn’t have asked me to check the documents.”

Liu Ruosong paused for a moment and added more clarification about Fu Yan, “Actually, he isn’t a sensitive or suspicious person. I don’t know what Fang Sining said or did, but Fu Yan must believe that Fang Sining is holding something back or doesn’t fully trust him to tell the whole truth.”

“If that’s the case, when he judges that Fang Sining is not entirely trustworthy, he won’t reveal our internal communication methods recklessly,” Liu Ruosong concluded.

“Captain’s judgment is correct,” Shao Qiu suddenly spoke after staying silent for a while. “What good things can one learn from Shao Xuefan’s students?”