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Xie Lian was forced to his knees on the floor in front of Bai Wuxiang, the fingers of the guards who were restraining him digging painfully into his shoulder. He refused to let his pride crumble and kept his head held high, even when the man he was the most afraid of turned around and looked down at him, his face concealed by the half-laughing, half-crying mask he always wore.
“Oh, little one, look how we meet again,” he said in a condescending tone, “You could have joined my side when I had invited you, but now you’re kneeling before me, completely fallen from grace.”
He reached out an arm and stroked Xie Lian’s hair, and the spy held back from flinching at the touch.
“Everyone left you,” Bai Wuxiang continued, “They ran away and left you behind to get captured instead of them. Don’t you resent them? Don’t you wish they were the ones in your place?”
He didn’t. Xie Lian would never wish misfortune upon anyone, especially not his friends, his fellow agents, the ones he had sworn to fight and die with. Ever since Bai Wuxiang and his virus had appeared, they had made an oath to take him down no matter what. If Xie Lian had to sacrifice himself for that cause he wouldn’t feel any regrets.
It was supposed to be a safe mission. They had planned all of its details carefully and had been confident in its success. The first parts of it had all gone according to plan, and then suddenly everything had gone south.
They had gotten ambushed while still inside the building, and Xie Lian had told his companions that he would distract Bai Wuxiang’s men and hold them back so they could escape. He had then charged against his enemies, but he’d been outnumbered and it had only been a matter of minutes before he’d been outnumbered and disarmed.
“You’re just a number to them, little prince,” the man continued to taunt him, using the nickname he had addressed Xie Lian with before in the past, referring to his reputation as the spy organisation’s prodigy, “A statistic. One agent down means nothing to them. But not to me. I see your talents, I see your power. I can let you use them and have the whole world at your feet. All you need to do is join me.”
He pulled his hand back and held it out in front of him as an invitation.
Xie Lian looked up at him through his bangs. “We’ve been here before,” he told him, “And last time I said ‘no’. What ever made you think that this one would be any different?”
His lips curled up into a smirk as he said his last sentence and, before his words could register completely in Bai Wuxiang’s mind, he elbowed the two guards who were holding him down, causing their grip on him to slacken. Having caught them off guard, he whipped around and grabbed the one on his right tightly so he could turn him around and bash his head into that of the other guard, effectively knocking them both unconscious.
Then, with the speed he was known for, he pulled a knife out of a hidden pocket in his jacket and moved behind Bai Wuxiang so he was holding it up against his neck.
“How—” the man uttered.
“Your men only took my gun, the obvious weapon,” Xie Lian explained, “You should teach them to look closer next time.”
With that, he hit the pressure points he’d memorised during his training and watched as Bai Wuxiang crumbled to the floor like a puppet whose strings had been cut off.
Not wasting any time, he pulled a USB stick out of a satchel hanging from his belt and approached Bai Wuxiang’s computer. He plugged it in and began transferring all of the computer’s files onto it. He couldn’t resist the delight that took over him as the last piece of the puzzle that was his plan perfectly fell into place. Pretending to fall into Bai Wuxiang’s trap, allowing himself to be captured because he knew how much the hacker wanted him on his side, so much that he would bring him into the room where he kept the computer through which he controlled everything, using his hidden weapon to take him out and, finally, bringing the information he’d set out for back to headquarters.
The USB stick loaded, he put it back in its satchel and exited the room calmly so as to not attract any attention. Once he left the building, he brought the R.U.O.Y.E. band close to his mouth and said, “Xianle,” his password. The band lit up and he immediately contacted the rest of his team.
“Gege!”
Unsurprisingly, the first one he heard was Hua Cheng.
He pushed his earpiece into his ear so he could hear him clearer. “I have everything!” he said.
Loud cheers erupted in his ear, and he smiled.
“I knew you could do it!” Shi Qingxuan told him, “Those idiots, we outsmarted them so easily!”
“Of course we did with gege’s plan,” Hua Cheng said, causing Xie Lian to blush
“Are you on your way back?” He Xuan asked.
“I’ll be there soon,” Xie Lian reassured him.
“Great! We’ll see you there,” Shi Qingxuan said, and with that they logged off, He Xuan following soon after.
“You’re not hurt, are you?” Hua Cheng asked when it was only the two of them.
“Not a scratch,” Xie Lian replied.
“Good,” his boyfriend said, “Because if those fuckers had touched a hair on your head—”
“I know, San Lang,” Xie Lian told him, “But you can let them live a day longer.”
Hua Cheng huffed and the other agent chuckled.
“I’ll let you look me over when I get there,” he promised Hua Cheng.
“Alright,” Hua Cheng agreed, “Don’t be too long.”
“I won’t,” Xie Lian told him, “Love you.”
“Love you more.”