Unexpected Second Chance at Love

Chapter 1011: The One Who Escaped

That same night, everything grew quiet over Imperial.

While most of the city slept, the lights inside Liu Shan’s new condominium remained on.

Perched on a hill overlooking Imperial, the luxurious condo offered a sweeping view of the city below. Beyond its floor-to-ceiling windows, countless lights stretched across the skyline, while the winding roads along the hillside glimmered beneath the night sky.

Inside, the spacious living room had been temporarily transformed into a makeshift operations center.

Laptops, tablets, and several folders covered the coffee table.

On the television, surveillance footage from the night Red Militant was eradicated played in silence.

Liu Shan sat forward on the couch, his elbows resting on his knees as he studied the screen.

Beside him, Lin Hui reviewed a stack of photographs.

Qi Li occupied the armchair opposite them, while Gui Tian Lan and Gui Zhongmin stood near the windows.

Tang Zhonghui, Ju Suo, Lian Ni Shang, and Shan Sinan were scattered around the room, each examining a different portion of the information they had gathered.

It was well past 2 am.

None of them appeared particularly interested in sleeping.

"Play it again," Lin Hui said.

Liu Shan pressed a key.

The footage returned to the beginning.

On the screen, several vehicles approached Red Militant’s headquarters under the cover of darkness.

Members of Fate had already secured the surrounding streets, while Lu Tian’s Wolf Team watched from a secured distance in case things went south.

The operation had been swift.

By sunrise, Red Militant had ceased to exist.

At least, that was what they had believed.

Qi Li leaned forward.

"Pause."

The image froze.

He pointed toward a figure emerging from one of the corridors.

"That one."

Liu Shan enlarged the frame.

The image was grainy, but the man’s profile was recognizable.

Liu Peng.

The man who had run back to Red Militant during the chaos when they rescued Ji Jingxu.

For several seconds, nobody spoke.

Then Gui Zhongmin frowned.

"Wasn’t he supposed to be inside when our people entered?"

"He was," Lin Hui replied.

"Then where is he?"

Liu Shan opened another file.

"That’s what we’re trying to establish."

They had initially gathered to review the operation and finalize the remaining records.

Red Militant’s headquarters had been cleared and its surviving assets seized. However, Liu Shan had noticed an inconsistency while comparing the original personnel list against the cleanup report.

One name remained unaccounted for.

Liu Peng.

At first, he assumed it was a clerical oversight.

With the number of men involved in the operation, a misplaced identification record would not have been unusual.

But when he contacted the cleanup crew for confirmation, the answer had been far from reassuring.

They had not recovered Liu Peng’s body.

Nor had they found any evidence that he had been taken into custody.

The man had simply disappeared.

"Show us the last confirmed sighting," Tang Zhonghui said.

Liu Shan switched to another recording.

The footage showed a narrow corridor inside Red Militant’s headquarters.

Several men rushed past the camera.

A moment later, Liu Peng appeared.

He looked over his shoulder before disappearing through a side door.

The timestamp indicated that this had occurred shortly before Fate’s main assault reached the upper floors.

Lian Ni Shang narrowed her eyes.

"Where does that door lead?"

"Service stairwell," Liu Shan answered.

"Connected to?"

"The rear loading area."

Shan Sinan straightened.

"Wasn’t that entrance secured?"

"It was supposed to be."

Gui Tian Lan folded his arms.

"Then either he slipped through before our people arrived, or someone overlooked him."

Neither possibility was pleasant.

Liu Shan opened the building’s original floor plan.

"The rear loading area connects to an underground service passage. It was used for deliveries."

Ju Suo studied the layout.

"Does it connect to the neighboring building?"

"Not directly. But there’s an emergency exit at the far end."

Qi Li let out a quiet breath.

"So he knew the building well enough to find another way out."

Gui Zhongmin’s expression darkened.

"He was working for Hung Woo. Of course he knew."

Lin Hui looked back at the screen.

"And while everyone was focused on the main assault, he ran."

Liu Shan retrieved his phone and called the head of the cleanup crew again.

The others fell silent.

The call connected after several rings.

"Sir?"

"It’s Liu Shan. I need you to confirm something."

"Yes, sir."

"During the cleanup at Red Militant, did your team recover anyone matching Liu Peng’s description?"

A pause followed.

"No, sir."

"Are you certain?"

"We checked the identification records twice. His name wasn’t among the deceased."

"What about the unidentified bodies?"

"All accounted for, sir. None matched him."

Liu Shan’s expression hardened.

"Any prisoners?"

"No. We made sure there were none."

"Understood."

He ended the call.

The room remained quiet.

Finally, Tang Zhonghui spoke.

"So it’s confirmed."

Liu Shan nodded.

"Liu Peng is missing."

Qi Li leaned back in his chair.

"Wonderful."

His tone carried no amusement.

"We wiped out an entire organization, and Hung Woo’s closest subordinate managed to crawl out of the ruins."

"Not necessarily his closest," Lin Hui corrected.

"But close enough to know things he shouldn’t despite just joining," Gui Tian Lan said.

That was the real problem.

Liu Peng had been present during Ji Jingxu’s captivity.

He had only recently started working directly under Hung Woo and had minimal access to Red Militant’s internal operations.

More importantly, he might have uncovered things they haven’t.

The room grew still as the same realization settled over everyone.

Although they had already confirmed Ji Chu Hua’s involvement, Liu Peng could possess information capable of establishing other unwanted problems.

And now he was somewhere beyond their reach.

"He’s not just a loose end," Lian Ni Shang said quietly.

"He’s a witness."

"Or a liability to Ji Chu Hua or someone else," Shan Sinan added.

Lin Hui nodded.

"If Ji Chu Hua finds out he is alive, she may be looking for him too."

Liu Shan rubbed his forehead.

He had reviewed the operation more than once.

The deployment had been thorough. Every entrance had been assigned to a team, and every floor had been cleared before the building was handed over to the cleanup crew.

Yet somehow, Liu Peng had slipped through.

He turned back to the television.

"Run the footage from the rear loading area."

The recording changed.

A dimly lit service road appeared.

For several minutes, nothing happened.

Then a vehicle passed through the frame.

Liu Shan slowed the footage.

"Wait."

He enlarged the image.

A dark van had approached the loading area shortly before the first reports of gunfire.

Its headlights briefly illuminated the rear entrance before it continued down the road.

"Can you get the plate?" Ju Suo asked.

"Working on it."

Liu Shan adjusted the image.

The plate was partially obscured.

He frowned.

"Not enough."

"Check the traffic cameras along the next intersection," Tang Zhonghui suggested.

Liu Shan opened another window.

A few moments later, a different recording appeared.

The van passed through the intersection.

Its license plate was visible.

"Got it."

He entered the number into his system.

The search returned a registration record.

Liu Shan stared at the screen.

"Interesting."

Qi Li looked over.

"What?"

"The vehicle was reported stolen two days before the operation."

Gui Zhongmin scoffed.

"Convenient."

"Too convenient," Lin Hui murmured.

Liu Shan began tracing the vehicle’s movements through the available cameras.

The van appeared at two intersections before disappearing into a section of Retro with limited surveillance coverage.

There was no clear footage of Liu Peng entering it.

But its presence near the service exit gave them another lead.

"We can’t confirm he used that vehicle," Liu Shan said.

"Not yet," Qi Li replied. "But it’s somewhere to start."

By the time they finished reviewing the recordings, it was nearly two in the morning.

Several empty coffee cups had joined the documents on the table.

Liu Shan closed the personnel file.

"We need to tell Boss."

The statement brought another silence.

Lin Hui looked toward him.

"Now?"

"She’s supposed to know whenever something goes wrong."

"And what exactly are we going to tell her?" Qi Li asked.

Liu Shan looked at him.

"That Liu Peng escaped."

"Then she’ll ask where he is."

"We don’t know."

"She’ll ask how he escaped."

"We don’t know that either."

Qi Li spread his hands.

"So we’re going to wake her up in the middle of the night and tell her we lost the one man who was part of her brother’s kidnapping? Mind you, it’s been weeks, and don’t forget, his kids, whom he abused for years, are under our protection."

Liu Shan’s jaw tightened.

Nobody could dispute the point.

Yue Ling had only recently begun returning to her usual routine.

Ji Jingxu was recovering, Grandfather Ji’s health remained a concern, and she was already carrying responsibilities across several organizations.

They knew how much the kidnapping had affected her.

And they knew exactly what would happen if she learned that one of Hung Woo’s men was still at large.

She would immediately involve herself.

Regardless of the hour.

Regardless of how exhausted she was.

Gui Tian Lan broke the silence.

"She’ll want him found."

"Then we find him," Gui Zhongmin replied.

Lin Hui looked between them.

"We can’t conceal this indefinitely."

"No one’s suggesting indefinitely," Tang Zhonghui said.

"We have a lead. Let’s follow it before reporting back."

Lian Ni Shang frowned.

"And if the lead goes nowhere?"

"Then we tell her what we know," Shan Sinan answered.

Liu Shan remained quiet.

He disliked the idea of withholding information from Yue Ling.

She trusted them to handle matters precisely because they did not keep her in the dark.

But Qi Li was right.

At present, they had nothing useful to offer her beyond the knowledge that Liu Peng had escaped.

He looked at the photograph displayed on his laptop.

"Twenty-four hours."

Everyone turned toward him.

"We give ourselves twenty-four hours to establish where he went. Check the vehicle, his known associates, his financial activity, and every property connected to Red Militant."

He paused.

"If we find him, we bring him in."

"And if we don’t?" Lin Hui asked.

Liu Shan’s expression grew serious.

"Then I report it to Boss myself."

Qi Li nodded.

"Fair enough."

The team immediately divided the work.

Tang Zhonghui and Ju Suo would trace the stolen van and review traffic surveillance beyond Retro.

Lian Ni Shang and Shan Sinan would examine Liu Peng’s financial records, known contacts, and any recent activity associated with his aliases.

Gui Tian Lan and Gui Zhongmin would investigate the service passage and revisit the surrounding area.

Lin Hui would contact the remaining field operatives and verify whether anyone had seen Liu Peng during the assault.

Qi Li would work alongside Liu Shan to reconstruct his movements.

"Nobody approaches a potential location alone," Liu Shan instructed.

Gui Zhongmin gave him a look.

"Are you worried about us?"

"I’m worried about losing the man again."

"Point taken."

Liu Shan looked around the room.

"And keep this within Alpha Team for now."

The others nodded.

They all understood what was at stake.

Liu Peng was not simply a fugitive from a destroyed organization.

He was a surviving piece of the conspiracy that had nearly cost Ji Jingxu his life.

And somewhere in Imperial, he was still breathing.

After the others had begun gathering their belongings, Lin Hui remained beside the coffee table.

Liu Shan noticed.

"Something else?"

She glanced at the photograph of Liu Peng.

"Do you think he knows Red Militant is gone?"

Liu Shan gave a humorless smile.

"By now? He’d have to be living under a rock not to."

"Then he’ll know Hung Woo isn’t coming back."

"Yes."

Lin Hui folded her arms.

"Which means he has no reason to remain loyal to him."

Liu Shan considered her words.

Liu Peng had survived the night his organization was destroyed.

He had lost his leader, his protection, and whatever position he once held in Retro.

A man in that situation would either disappear completely or seek protection elsewhere.

"Unless he already has someone protecting him," Liu Shan said.

Lin Hui slowly turned toward him.

Their eyes met.

Liu Shan looked back at the screen.

"Find the van first."

Lin Hui nodded.

"Got it."

The final member of Alpha Team left shortly before dawn.

Liu Shan remained alone in his apartment, seated before the television.

The city beyond the windows had begun to lose its darkness.

He replayed the footage one last time.

Liu Peng appeared in the corridor, looked over his shoulder, and vanished through the service door.

Liu Shan froze the image.

His gaze hardened.

"You should’ve stayed inside."

He closed the recording and opened a new file.

Across the top, he entered a single name.

LIU PENG — ACTIVE SEARCH

Then he began working again.

The following morning, sunlight spilled across the snow-covered grounds of Imperial.

At the Lu residence, the household staff had been busy since early morning preparing for the arrival of the young couple.

Madam Lu had personally instructed the kitchen to prepare several of Yue Ling’s favorite dishes.

The engagement party and wedding arrangements had been on her mind for some time, she was eager to resume the preparations.

She had already assembled several folders containing venue options, guest lists, invitation designs, and proposed dates.

There was much to discuss.

And she intended to discuss all of it.

At their own residence, Yue Ling stood before the bedroom mirror, fastening a delicate pair of earrings.

She wore a fitted cream-colored ribbed knit mid-length dress beneath a long winter coat, her dark hair falling neatly over her shoulders.

Lu Tian emerged from the dressing room. He wore his usual all-black while adjusting the cuff of his coat.

"Ready?"

"Almost."

He approached her from behind and rested his hands lightly at her waist.

Their eyes met in the mirror.

"You look beautiful."

Yue Ling smiled.

"You’ve said that three times already."

"And I’ll say it again."

He pressed a kiss against her temple.

She turned in his arms.

"Are you trying to distract me?"

"Is it working?"

"A little."

Lu Tian chuckled.

She reached up and straightened the collar of his wool coat.

"Your mother sounded excited last night."

"She is."

"How excited?"

He considered the question.

"Enough to have probably planned half the wedding before we arrive."

Yue Ling laughed.

"Then why are we going?"

"To approve her decisions."

She lightly struck his chest.

"Lu Tian."

He caught her hand and brought it to his lips.

"I’m joking."

"Somehow, I don’t believe you."

He smiled.

"Come. We shouldn’t keep her waiting."