My Dearest General: It Has Always Been You

Ru Meiqi drove her car into the underground parking lot with ease. Her hands holding the steering wheel were as steady as ever but her soft lips were pursed tight in nerves. The security guard at the underground parking lot gave her a few glances and jotted down her car's plate number. "Miss, how long do you plan on staying? Should I upgrade your lot to VIP?" he asked as she came out and approached.

Ru Meiqi smiled faintly. "No need. I will be quick."

Her high heels made a sharp clicking sound on the marble floor as she pushed the glass door open and stepped into a luxurious hotel lobby. Foreigners with blond hair and blue eyes could be seen lounging around with a few local Asian faces strolling by. The women who sat behind the receptionist counter offered a smile as they saw her. A bellboy pushing a trolley filled with suitcases passed through, greeting her along the way. "Hello Miss. Welcome to Shangri-La Hotel & Entertainment. How may I help you?"

"Thank you, but there's no need to." Ru Meiqi nodded slightly and made a beeline straight to the elevator. Pressing the number to the seventeenth floor, she stared blankly toward the ascending number, no one knew what was on her mind.

It was the soft ding and the door sliding open that snapped her out of her thoughts. She grabbed her purse, brushing her hair and strode out with confidence as if she was just another customer in this five star hotel. The thickly carpeted floor muffled the sound of her shoes, creating a dull thumping sound across the empty hallway.

Ru Meiqi stopped in front of room 1705 and gave the CCTV at the upper corner of the hallway a fleeting glance.

She raised her hand and knocked firmly. Three times slow and two times fast.

The peephole's color lightened and Ru Meiqi waited for a full five seconds before the door clicked open. She pushed forward and closed the door behind her.

The hotel room was exceedingly luxurious. The living room was spacious and elegant with a chandelier hanging directly up on the soft, long couch emitting a dim yellow light. Amidst the darkness of the room, a figure of a plump man made his way to the sofa as if he was floating and plopped down onto it.

"Have I awoken you?" Ru Meiqi scanned her gaze around the room and in a fit of occupational disease, she pulled out a bug detector from her purse and started to circle around the room.

"Don't need to worry about that, Senior Ru," The man lifted his head and his muffled voice became clearer albeit it was still thick with sleepiness. "Do you think that with me here, tiny things like listening bugs can work?"

Ru Meiqi chuckled at his arrogant words but didn't deny. "I know your skill, after all, it's Jin Renguang who invited you into the team, Comrade Wang Chengbing."

She walked toward the closed curtain but Wang Chengbing spoke up in time. "There's people across the building. Don't let them see you." Ru Meiqi stopped and turned around as she sat on another sofa. Her brows crinkled as she saw the assortments of snacks, empty cans of beers, empty takeaway boxes spread evenly on the low table.

"Are you having a party now that you are off work?"

"Off work?" Wang Chengbing ruffled his hair and laughed dryly. "I will call Captain my grandpa if he is willing to give me a day off."

Ru Meiqi didn't ruminate on the topic and got to her point. "How is it? Any development?"

Without answering, Wang Chengbing grabbed a remote control on the low table and pressed on the power button. The TV lit up but instead of a film, there were sixteen boxes with different timestamps and locations, all originating from the surveillance records.

He pulled out a thin laptop from the compartment under the low table and flipped the cover up. Rows of code lined up neatly, illuminating Wang Chengbing's haggard face and the dark circles around his eyes. "As expected, there's some problem with Mr. Yu Chuan."

He tapped on his laptop and the screen on the TV started to change. One of the sixteen boxes enlarged and dominated the whole screen, showing the record of the entrance of a famous casino in City S. "Mr. Yu Chuan owed twenty million in debt—rounded—from gambling, and his current house is still on credit. His wife and families has no idea of it." Wang Chengbing's fingers flew on the keyboard and the screen changed again, showing Yu Chuan with three different women in a different time frames, but the licentious arms and lewd leer as he groped their butts and waists was one hundred eighty degrees different than the upright, timid and innocent Yu Chuan in the police station.

"Two of them are famous prostitutes and one was a nineteen years old girl whom he dubbed into sleeping with him after he drugged her. The girl is a freshman in University of Arts in City S, currently infected with AIDS and has dropped out from her school, but give me a few moments, I will definitely find her by the end of this day."

Ru Meiqi was startled. "This Yu Chuan have AIDS?"

Wang Chengbing calmly pulled out photos after photos of him with different women. There were at least twenty of them. "He has started hiring prostitutes even before he was married. But I am not clear when he was infected with AIDS, maybe it was six months or a year ago, or maybe it's recent. I have asked Captain's men to get his hair and blood tested and the result came out positive. Mr. Yu's yearly medical checkup was dated on November, so he has no idea that he's sick yet."

Ru Meiqi was speechless as she witnessed the calmness—almost indifferent—face of Wang Chengbing who was always smiling sunnily. He typed furiously without even a change of expression and with a click of his fingers, he could pull out the history of your thirteen ancestors, no secret remained as secret in front of him, even one that you had no idea of.

"So," She drawled. "Do you have any evidence that he has something to do with the culprit?"

Hearing that question, Wang Chengbing sneered with contempt. "Of course. It's enough that they want to place the blame on my head but to escape from me again and again? I am not the King of Hackers in the underground world for nothing."

"You promised to stop committing crime when you joined the police." Ru Meiqi's face turned serious.

"Come on!" Wang Chengbing's façade collapsed as he groaned in agony. "I am already so miserable, can you let me show off my glorious era once in a while? I have to ask for permission to even surf the internet, is there anyone more pitiful than me in this world?!"

"No can do." Ru Meiqi chuckled in amusement. "And stop acting like a sissy.. It doesn't fit your image as a king."