Chapter 178 My wife is my life, a resolute rejection of affection.

Under Lu Jingyan's command, the battle was quickly quelled.

The leader of the venomous snakes was being pinned down in the mud by two special forces soldiers, but his sinister eyes were fixed on the man directing the battle.

Lu Jingyan walked up to him, squatted down, took out a military dagger from his pocket, and slowly wiped it on his trouser leg.

He gently tapped his cheek with the tip of the knife: "I have many ways to get you to talk. I hope you choose the quickest one."

After saying that, he stood up and ordered the team members behind him: "Take them away and interrogate them separately."

At this moment, Chu Yunfei quickly walked to Lu Jingyan's side, holding a first aid kit in her hand.

"Brigade Commander Lu, your arm is injured." Her voice trembled slightly, a mixture of lingering fear from surviving a close call and nervousness at being close to her beloved.

During the surprise attack, a piece of gravel blasted by a bullet cut Lu Jingyan's arm, leaving a bloody gash about half a finger long.

Lu Jingyan glanced at it, completely unconcerned: "It's just a minor injury."

"No, the environment here is prone to infection," Chu Yunfei insisted, pulling his arm without further ado, opening the first-aid kit, and taking out cotton swabs and disinfectant.

Her movements were very light and professional.

The dim firelight illuminated her focused profile, and the sweat on her forehead made her look less heroic and more feminine.

The surrounding area was filled with the noise of soldiers moving back and forth, but there was an unusual silence between the two of them.

Chu Yunfei could clearly smell the strong masculine scent emanating from him, a mixture of sweat, gunpowder smoke, and earth. This scent made her heart race and her cheeks burn.

Finally, she finished bandaging the wound and tied a neat knot.

She didn't let go immediately. Instead, she mustered the greatest courage she had ever had, raised her head, and her usually clear and sharp eyes, now like a deep pool, stared straight at Lu Jingyan.

“Brigade Commander Lu…I…” She bit her lower lip, as if she had made up her mind.

"I don't care if you've been married before. A man like you deserves the best. I can wait."

The air fell silent for a moment.

Lu Jingyan stopped moving.

He slowly withdrew his arm, a small movement, yet carrying an undeniable sense of detachment.

He didn't even use the bandage Chu Yunfei had already applied; instead, he pulled a new roll from the first-aid kit and neatly rewrapped it, as if the hand that had just touched his skin carried something dirty.

He remained silent throughout the entire process.

After the bandage was finished, he finally raised his eyes and looked at the pale-faced woman in front of him.

His gaze was calm, devoid of anger or disdain, only a pure, cold indifference, as if he were looking at an insignificant stranger.

“Captain Chu,” he said, his voice flat and emotionless, “watch your manners and your words.”

"My wife is waiting for me at home."

"She is my life."

These two simple sentences, each word like a knife chilled to the bone, pierced Chu Yunfei's heart.

Her proud family background, her military rank earned through her own abilities, and all her confidence as a proud daughter of heaven were shattered in this moment by this man's nonchalant approach.

What followed was even more despairing for her.

Lu Jingyan seemed too lazy to even glance at her again, and carefully took out a folded, somewhat worn photograph from the pocket of his military uniform.

He opened the photo and looked down at it.

In that instant, all the icy composure on his face, befitting a "cold-faced devil," melted away.

In those deep eyes, a tenderness that Chu Yunfei had never seen before, a tenderness capable of drowning a person, rippled out. The corners of his mouth even turned up slightly, forming an extremely subtle yet real curve.

The photo shows a woman with a radiant smile.

She sat under a crabapple tree, wearing a simple white dress. Sunlight filtered through the leaves, making her glow. Her beautiful peach blossom eyes curved into crescents, and her smile seemed to overflow.

After all, she was a woman, and Chu Yunfei couldn't help but glance at her. In just one glance, she was stunned.

It's so beautiful.

It's not the kind of beauty that's aggressive, but rather a gentle and lively charm that's ingrained in one's very being, like that of the water towns of Jiangnan.

This beauty made her, a woman herself, feel no jealousy whatsoever, only a sense of shame.

She looked at Lu Jingyan's gaze as he stared at the photo; it was a complex mix of emotions, including love, cherishing, longing, and absolute possession.

His world was completely filled with that woman; there wasn't even a tiny gap to squeeze into.

Chu Yunfei turned around in a disheveled state, almost fleeing in panic.

She was afraid that if she stayed even a second longer, she would burst into tears.

On what grounds?

Where exactly did she go wrong?

A strong sense of resentment and curiosity grew wildly in the depths of her broken heart.

...

Meanwhile, in Beijing, a thousand miles away.

The underground base of Renxin Clinic.

"Bang!"

Qian Weiguo smashed an expensive German-imported glass beaker to the ground, shattering it into pieces.

"Useless! You're all useless!" He roared like a mad tiger at his trembling subordinates.

"So many people, so many days! And we can't even find a single peasant selling fake medicine?!"

“Mr. Qian…” a man who appeared to be the leader began tremblingly.

“We investigated all the connections in the black market, and all the clues pointed to a local thug called ‘Scabby Head,’ but… but this guy seems to have vanished into thin air, and his gang of henchmen have all scattered and gone into hiding.”

"Disappeared into thin air?" Qian Weiguo grabbed his collar, his eyes bloodshot. "Then dig him out of the ground! Don't you understand?!"

"Yes...yes!"

His men scrambled out of the room.

Qian Weiguo irritably loosened his tie, picked up the phone on the table, and dialed an encrypted number.

When the call connected, he immediately adopted a respectful and humble tone: "Sir...it's me."

A synthesized, altered voice, indistinguishable as male or female, came from the other end of the phone: "Any progress on the stuff?"

"Sir, something unexpected has happened..." Qian Weiguo, sweat beading on his forehead, recounted how the "miracle drug" was highly poisonous, causing all the test subjects to die suddenly.

There was a long silence on the other end of the phone, a silence that terrified Qian Weiguo more than any angry outburst.

"Qian Weiguo." The electronic voice sounded again, cold and devoid of any warmth.

Do you know how many resources it takes for an organization to cultivate a qualified 'tyrant'?

"I...I know..."

"Do you know what I promised my superiors?"

"I……"

"I'll give you seven more days," the synthesized voice interrupted him.

"If you can't find the person selling the medicine or get the real formula in seven days, you'll just have to lie in a petri dish yourself."

"Beep...beep...beep..."

The call was disconnected.

Qian Weiguo gripped the receiver, feeling as if all his strength had been drained, and cold sweat soaked his back.

Go lie down in the petri dish...

He knew better than anyone what that meant.

Extreme fear breeds extreme madness.

Qian Weiguo suddenly raised his head, his eyes flashing with a ferocious, beast-like light.

Investigation?

No, that's too slow.

He wanted to use the most direct and bloodiest method!

He pressed the button on the intercom, his voice hoarse and ruthless: "Notify all action teams to drop everything! Level one alert!"

"Target: Rascal's Head!"

"Dig three feet into the ground, bring him here with you!"

"I want him alive! I want to interrogate him myself and pry his mouth open!"

Night has fallen.

In a secluded tenement building in Beijing, a thin man was squatting on a small stool, slurping up a bowl of steaming instant noodles.

It was the bald-headed leper who had hidden himself.

"Damn it, when will this ever end?" he mumbled indistinctly as he ate.

"Chairman Bai is really something. He told us to hide, but he didn't say how long we should hide, and he didn't even send us a message."

Unbeknownst to him, in the dark alley downstairs, a dozen shadowy figures had already silently dispersed like ghosts, blocking all the exits.