To Love You Again

Ming Zhi Yi told his men to investigate deeper and contact the other spies. 

However, what his men found out instead was that their former striving organization was now obliterated by the opposing forces, and the survivors had all fled.

Ming Zhi Yi was stumped.

How could the situation come to this point?!

His mighty organization! 

The organization he carefully molded to his liking, an undefeatable and powerful force. How come only ruins were left of it now?!.

When his people reported how the mighty organization had fallen to this extent, Ming Zhi Yi's face and neck turned red in anger!

That stupid Ifel Abromich! 

When Ifel Abromich previously called Ming Zhi Yi and asked for the latter's permission to use the organization, Ming Zhi Yi only intended to give him a tiny 'bit' of power, so Ifel could protect himself from the international bureau until Ifel could use his own strength. 

But that man used all his men like expendable ammunition! His painfully built organization was ruined by Abromich's careless and lousy strategy!

Ifel's orders forces Ming Zhi Yi's capable men to suicide missions! 

Ming Zhi Yi's killing intent rose once more. He looked at Lu Jin coldly. "I had trusted that you would do your job well, but you gave me a shocking surprise instead."

Lu Jin tried to open his swollen eyes. "Your people...did they tell you that the two opposing forces have excellent strategies that made the organization fall?"

Ming Zhi Yi chuckled at Lu Jin's response.

"Ha." Keep lying, son.

He crouched down and roughly pulled Lu Jin's head backwards by the hair. 

"Lu Jin, ah, Lu Jin. Do you really think that you can fool your own father? My loyal men will not obey Ifel to suicide missions without my permission. Unless they are encouraged by the 'Young Master' whom they look up so much. My organization and spies are all hidden well. For the opposing parties to know them in a timely and organized manner, this just tells me one thing." His tone became emotionless. "They have a spy on my side who has been working for me for a long time."

Ming Zhi Yi's face went closer to Lu Jin's. He jerked the latter's head back with a tighter grip. "And there is only one person who can intercept my men and prevent them from contacting me. Lu Jin, there is only one person who can make me blind and deaf to what is happening down there. I don't have to guess who it is."

Ming Zhi Yi's eyes shone with a cold and cruel light. His aura emanated killing intent.

The gall!

Lu Jin was forced to stare into his father's dark and unfeeling eyes. However, within those empty eyes were trembling irises.

"My son, tell me, why did you betray me, your father?"

Lu Jin did not answer immediately. He pondered for a while, while looking at those eyes that spoke a thousand words. 

'Aside from anger, what else is there?'

Seeing his silence, Ming Zhi Yi's eyes narrowed. His hold in Lu Jin's hair got tighter. 

"Who did you betray me for?"

Silence.

"Speak." The hand tightened even more.

Lu Jin did not even grunt from the pain on his head. He was still looking into his father's eyes. 

He could only see anger and rage.

Ming Zhi Yi became more irritated by Lu Jin's silence. He forcefully let go of his hair, threw him down, and took a deep breath. 

He looked at the men who were holding Lu Jin.

"All of you, leave."

The men let go of Lu Jin and left the room.

Lu Jin slumped on the ground. His knees were bleeding. His whole body ached with Ming Zhi Yi's brutal strikes and kicks from earlier. He did not even protect himself with qigong. He received his blow with his bȧrė body.

A strike of his father could easily kill a man. If Lu Jin's body was not honed as a martial artist, he would have been killed twice now.

The tense atmosphere in the air got heavier when only the two of them were left.

Ming Zhi Yi looked at his hand that was dyed with his own son's blood. 

No matter how much he thought about it, Lu Jin was surely working with other people. And his hunch was telling him that it was a group he did know of yet. 

It could not be the legendary family. If it was the legendary family, he would have known. Or else why would those old men be on the receiving end if they knew where Ming Zhi Yi would attack them?

It must be a third party who harbored grudges against him. A group of capable people that his son could entrust his life to.

Whoever Lu Jin was working for, they had the capabilities, and they surely hid them well.

Ming Zhi Yi glanced at his son. His eyes were filled with killing intent. 

'So it has to come to this.'

He went to one of the drawers and opened its lock.

The familiar sound of his father's movements made Lu Jin know what kind of fate was waiting for him. 

He tried to open his swollen eyes and look.

His steps echoed in the whole room.

Ming Zhi Yi put down the case beside Lu Jin. He started to wear his synthetic black gloves. 

"I never imagined that I would use this set of magnificent knives for my own son. In the end, I am not any different from 'that man'." Ming Zhi Yi suddenly chuckled. "Haha, when did we ever become so different? Since the beginning when I married your mother, I have never become different from him. What a twisted fate, don't you think, my son?"

Lu Jin looked at his father's face. It was a face of many secrets, a face that could be maddeningly angry at one moment then would laugh like he was imprinting a happy memory the next. 

But now, when his eyes met his father's, he could only see crazed rage and ruthlessness.

Ming Zhui Yi opened the case. The sounds of knives hitting another metal made the image of man in gloves eerie.

"Why did you not defend yourself with your qigong? If you have done so, you can still stand up and walk on your own. Then you can last with these knives longer."

Lu Jin lowered his eyes. "I never used qigong against you."

Ming Zhi Yi's hand halted. 

He looked at his son with a smile, but his eyes were unfeeling. "Is that so? What a foolish child."

Lu Jin stared up at him again. 

That was right. His father was the kind of man who became calmer the more that he was angry.

A truly scary person.

"So why did you do it? Why did you betray me?" Ming Zhi's voice was calm as if he was only chatting about some random everyday stuff with his son.

Lu Jin plopped on the ground and looked up at the ceiling. He could not describe what he was feeling at the moment.

Was it fear? Acceptance? Or disappointment?

Perhaps all of it.

Lu Jin slowly answered. "I...fulfilled my promise."

"What?"

"I fulfilled my promise to you."

"Ha..." Ming Zhi Yi gave an exasperated laugh. It was for a short moment at first, but then grew louder into a full-blown laughter. "Hahaha! What nonsense! A promise? Did I make you promise to betray me at the most critical time? To destroy what I have when I needed it the most?" 

Ming Zhi Yi's eyes turned red. The anger that was boiling inside his heart overflowed. 

"You spoiled everything! You did not only ruin my organization, but you gave out all the things to my enemies that could bring me down. You destroyed my plan!"

Ming Zhi Yi figured it out. 

If his son was willing to bring down the organization, there was no question that he would not bring him down in other ways. Ming Zhi was sure that Lu Jin must have given out all of his secrets, his plans, and his well hidden spies to that mysterious force. 

Or else, why could Ming Zhi Yi still not bring down the legendary families with his perfect plan?! Why was nothing going in his way?!

Ming Zhi Yi clutched the small knife. The light from the lamp glinted off the paper thin blade. 

"Son, I never considered losing. Especially not because of a traitor on my side."

Lu Jin silently watched his father. 

He was searching for something in his father's eyes. Yet, even when it came to this point, he never once found it. 

His eyes dimmed.

He truly hoped that at least once before everything ended, he could see it.

....