Hello, Mr. Major General - Chapter 1215
Chapter 1215: The Longest Night
Huo Shaoheng calmly took the letter from Bai Shuang before glancing at her again and asking, “Are you really alright?”
She was still wearing that eye-catching red dress. Zhao Liangze had draped his tuxedo over her, but it had fallen to the ground when she was running and fighting.
The red dress made her face appear even paler, but her pupils were especially shiny, like the brightest stars in the night sky.
Bai Shuang shook her head and replied in a deeper voice than usual, “…I’m okay.” She still sounded like she had strength.
“Bai Shuang!” Zhao Liangze finally rushed over and pushed Huo Shaoheng away with an anxious look. He quickly went to Bai Shuang, asking nervously, “Bai Shuang, are you okay? You almost scared me to death. Why did you have to act so brave? What if… What if…”
What if Li Dexi reacted quickly and detonated the grenades around his waist? Bai Shuang would have been dead meat since she was closest to him!
Recalling the situation just now, Zhao Liangze felt so nervous that he didn’t even feel the pain in his shoulder.
He desperately grabbed Bai Shuang’s hand and looked her over to check for injuries.
Fortunately, even though her dress was wrinkled and her hair, originally pulled into a bun, was a little messy, there was no sign of injury anywhere else.
Yet her face was too pale, and her hands were as cold as ice.
“…Why are your hands so cold?” Zhao Liangze asked instinctively.
A faint blush appeared on Bai Shuang’s face as she said, “Brother Ze, it’s zero degrees in here, and I am only wearing a dress. How could I not be cold?”
“Where is my tuxedo jacket?” Zhao Liangze remembered the tuxedo jacket he had given Bai Shuang earlier. Looking around, he saw it in a corner and hurriedly walked over to pick it up and drape it on Bai Shuang again. “Wear more clothes if you are cold! Stupid! Why are you so stupid!” he said.
Zhao Liangze gently took her hand with great concern.
Huo Shaoheng glanced at them again and frowned before briefly looking around, scanning the sixth floor of the basement. “Close the safety deposit box and wipe off the fingerprints. Leave the corpses of Li Dexi and his men here. Let’s wait for their own people to come claim them.”
After Huo Shaoheng gave the order, the field personnel who had arrived with him quickly cleaned up the battlefield.
Five minutes later, the work was completed.
Huo Shaoheng calmly gestured towards them and said, “Withdraw!”
Everyone walked to the door together.
Gu Nianzhi only took a few steps, then turned around to see Bai Shuang still standing alone under the light. She was standing motionlessly as she looked at Zhao Liangze.
Zhao Liangze took her hand and said, “Let’s go. Why aren’t you leaving?”
Bai Shuang looked at him with a faint smile on her lips. Tilting her head, she said playfully, “I can’t walk anymore. I need you to carry me out of here.”
Zhao Liangze was amused by Bai Shuang’s tired and lazy appearance, yet there was also a touch of sweet warmth that continually vibrated and expanded in his chest as he took in her scent with each breath.
“Okay.” Zhao Liangze had been shot in the shoulder. Although he wore body armor, he was still injured.
But when Bai Shuang asked this of him, Zhao Liangze didn’t care about his injury at all.
As long as she was still alive, as long as she was still with him, he would do anything she asked.
Besides, she was just asking him to carry her.
He gave his arms a small shake before lifting Bai Shuang up and quickly walking towards the door.
Zhao Liangze was a little surprised when he held Bai Shuang in his arms.
She weighed so little…
Gu Nianzhi, “…”
She looked up at Huo Shaoheng. The expression in her eyes was plain. She was looking at her boyfriend…
Huo Shaoheng grabbed Gu Nianzhi and said, “We can walk faster than them.”
As he said this, he took Gu Nianzhi’s hand and strode past Zhao Liangze, who was carrying Bai Shuang.
As they passed by, Huo Shaoheng looked back at Zhao Liangze quickly and said, “Time is running out. We don’t want any more trouble.”
“It’s okay, I can handle carrying her,” Zhao Liangze responded.
Zhao Liangze carried Bai Shuang carefully like he was holding a treasure he had newly recovered.
Carrying Bai Shuang in his arms the entire way, he quickly stepped into the elevator.
The elevator went up to the parking lot, and he stepped out while still holding Bai Shuang.
It was already 10:00 pm.
It took them less than an hour to sneak into the basement, find the data, and then quickly end the battle.
There were no other casualties. The only injuries were two field staff whose arms were bruised by bullets and Zhao Liangze’s bruised shoulders.
This could be considered a major victory.
Although Gu Nianzhi wanted Huo Shaoheng to carry her like a princess, she still did not dare to be as bold as Bai Shuang upon seeing Huo Shaoheng’s solemn and stern expression.
With a smile on her face, she squeezed Huo Shaoheng’s hand tightly and did not leave his side for even a moment.
…
Their group arrived at the parking lot.
“Get in the car. Go back to the port first and get ready to sail.” Huo Shaoheng made a gesture and let the field personnel get in the cars first.
News of the incident would probably spread throughout Cape Town by daybreak.
They must leave Cape Town before the police arrived there and realized what was happening.
“Nianzhi, get in the car.” Huo Shaoheng pulled up in Zhao Liangze’s Jeep and let Gu Nianzhi get in the front passenger seat.
Zhao Liangze came out of the elevator door with Bai Shuang in his arms and quickly shouted, “Wait for us.”
Gu Nianzhi slumped against the window as she watched Zhao Liangze carry Bai Shuang like a princess as he ran. Staring with wide eyes, she said, “I never knew that Brother Ze was so strong!”
Huo Shaoheng looked at the two of them getting closer to the car and ignored Gu Nianzhi, but his brows gradually furrowed.
“Huo Shao, let me drive.” Zhao Liangze pulled the car door open to put Bai Shuang in the back seat, then went to sit in the driver’s seat.
Huo Shaoheng pushed him away and said, “You go to the back seat, and I will drive.”
He glanced at Bai Shuang again.
Bai Shuang was still smiling, illuminated under the starry night sky.
Her lips were unusually plump for an Asian woman, so she was especially alluring when she smiled.
She kept looking at Zhao Liangze and beckoning him, saying, “Little Ze, sit down with me. Let’s talk.”
Zhao Liangze got in the back seat like he was in a trance. He sat beside Bai Shuang, closed the back door, and said, “We can talk once we get back. We need to go back to the base right away.”
Bai Shuang smiled and put her head on his shoulder before murmuring, “But I want to hear you talk.”
From the driver’s seat, Huo Shaoheng looked into the rearview mirror to see that there seemed to be blood on the corner of Bai Shuang’s lips. He turned around and sternly asked, “Bai Shuang, are you injured?”
Bai Shuang smiled subtly and replied like nothing was wrong, saying, “A slight injury is nothing to get worried about.”
Zhao Liangze seemed to finally understand something was wrong. His expression darkened, immediately changing as he asked, “A slight injury? Where? Where?”
“It’s on my arm. Why are you shouting over a little scratch?!” Bai Shuang grumbled and tried to push Zhao Liangze away, but she didn’t have much strength. After pushing him, she almost fell off the seat.
Zhao Liangze took Bai Shuang’s hand and noticed that her hands were colder than when they had been in the basement.
His heart suddenly dropped inside his chest.
It seemed that the most terrifying thing in his life was finally becoming a reality.
But he didn’t dare to face it, so he kept comforting himself mentally, saying, “This can’t be… This can’t be… This definitely won’t happen…”
The voice in his head screamed uncontrollably, “Drive! Drive! Go to the hospital! Go to the hospital now!”
Huo Shaoheng’s eyes darkened as he slammed on the accelerator to race out of the parking lot. “I will call the consulate first since the doctors there are more reliable than the local doctors.”
Gu Nianzhi noticed Zhao Liangze and Huo Shaoheng’s anxious expressions. She also seemed to understand something was wrong, but no one dared to even breathe too loudly as she sank down in her seat.
“Bai Shuang, Bai Shuang, didn’t you want to talk to me? Say…” Zhao Liangze carefully hugged Bai Shuang against his body and said, “Talk to me!”
“What are you talking about? Little Ze, aren’t you an expert at making conversation? But every time you went out on a date with me, I always had to lead the conversation. I will punish you today and get you to make the conversation.”
Bai Shuang’s smile was elegant, like silk that had tightly bound Zhao Liangze in her web of love.
Zhao Liangze couldn’t help but laugh. Seeing that she could still crack jokes, he felt a little more relaxed. He pulled the collar of his camouflage uniform and said with some residual fear in his voice, “You really scared me over the past few days. I really thought you… ”
“You really thought that I would commit treason?” Bai Shuang replied slowly and did not seem to shy away from the topic.
Gu Nianzhi turned around and interrupted them with a smile now, saying, “I knew Sister Bai wouldn’t do it! You were acting so strange that it seemed as though you had stuck a label saying, ‘I have a problem’ on your forehead.
“Although I don’t know Sister Bai very well, such an obvious difference in behavior was still noticeable when you acted like that in front of your closest friends. It was impossible not to be suspicious about it…
“Fortunately, I did not misunderstand you!
“You’re amazing! You even fooled Li Dexi!”
Bai Shuang smiled indifferently. She watched Huo Shaoheng drive and replied weakly, “Actually, I am not that great of a person. When Li Dexi revealed the true cause of my father’s death, I was full of anger and hatred. I also thought about taking revenge and making you all pay the price.”
Gu Nianzhi quickly shut her mouth.
Zhao Liangze hugged Bai Shuang tightly, not knowing how to comfort her.
Bai Shuang sighed and continued, saying, “But when Li Dexi showed me the intelligence my father offered to them, and I saw how all those field personnel died because of him, I knew that my father deserved a fate worse than death…”
She thought that her father had only been suppressed because he had disagreed with others.
What happened to the North American branch of the Secret Service was top secret. After leaving her position as the country’s spokesperson, she never had access to such information again.
So, this misunderstanding had been buried in her heart all along.
That was until Li Dexi appeared. He first used the true cause of her father’s death to ignite the anger in her heart and provoke all resentment.
Then he used her father’s offerings to foreign intelligence agencies to completely extinguish her anger and resentment.
She could no longer ignore her conscience and say that her father had not deserved to die…
She was the only one who knew how she survived that period of time.
“I just want to do something to atone for my father’s crimes…” Bai Shuang’s vision gradually slacked. She stared blankly into space, as if her father and mother were there, and said, “My father did something wrong, and I am his only daughter. I must pay for his crimes.”
“You did a great job…” Zhao Liangze hugged her tightly and pressed his face to her forehead. She was getting colder and colder. Although he tried his best to hold it in, he couldn’t help but choke as he said, “Bai Shuang, I am proud of you!”
“You saved all of our lives. You helped us retrieve important data, and you killed that b*tch Li Dexi! I’ll go back to the Senate to ask them to grant you honor!” he said with a hoarse voice.
Bai Shuang signed deeply, her voice becoming increasingly erratic as she said, “No, don’t ask them for that… I am too ashamed… Apologize to them for me…”
She raised a trembling hand to touch Zhao Liangze’s chin and whispered, “Little Ze, I will ask you one last question, and you must answer it honestly.”
Zhao Liangze nodded his head.
“Do you really love me? Don’t lie to me, don’t patronize me, don’t lie to me just to be polite, just because I pursued you. Tell me honestly, do you really love me?
“It doesn’t matter if you don’t love me; I just need to hear the truth.” Bai Shuang stared at Zhao Liangze with wide eyes. Her vision was blurred, and she almost couldn’t see clearly anymore…
Zhao Liangze hugged Bai Shuang’s body. It was growing increasingly colder. His lips trembled fiercely, but he still managed to give a resolute answer and say, “I love you. Of course, I love you. I have always loved you, and there has never been anyone else!
“I’m an idiot! I couldn’t even figure out who I truly love.
“Bai Shuang, hold on for a bit longer, don’t sleep! We’ll be at the hospital soon…
“When you get better, we’ll get married right away! I’ll discharge from the army, and you don’t need to work again. Just stay with me.
“I will start a company to earn money for you. Let’s have two children, one boy, and one girl. The older brother must love his younger sister, or I’ll break his legs.
“Let’s buy a house in a good school district together, no matter how expensive it is. We may fight over our children’s education, but don’t ignore me. Even if we quarrel, please come talk to me after the fight…”
Bai Shuang listened quietly as she laid in his arms. She smiled and said, “…How wonderful.”
Then she took her last breath and closed her eyes forever.