Chapter 14

Why did He Zhou have to encounter it?

About half a month later, I finally learned the answer.

Seven years ago, when he went to rescue hostages kidnapped by pirates, he fell into the high seas.

But by some stroke of luck, he was saved and brought ashore.

And by sheer coincidence, he uncovered a piece of information.

-Over the years, many people who had quietly disappeared within the country were all connected to a top-secret human pharmaceutical laboratory overseas.

He contacted his superiors back home, and after deliberation, they decided he would find a way to stay there as an undercover agent.

Because the matter was so significant, the mission was ultimately classified at the highest level of secrecy, and no one was informed.

“I was there, watching our country’s citizens, lured by promises of high-paying jobs, happily walking into their trap to become test subjects for their drugs…”

“The effects of those drugs on the human body are beyond what ordinary people can even imagine.”

He Zhou gritted his teeth, his eyes filled with pain. “There were countless times when I wanted to pull out my gun and kill them all.”

But he couldn’t.

For so many years, he was the only one who had successfully infiltrated that laboratory.

And for that, he even paid the price of being exposed to nuclear radiation.

All just to bring those demons to justice in one fell swoop.

The turmoil in the months that followed was not something someone like me, an ordinary person, could fully comprehend.

Because of the confidentiality agreement, even He Zhou couldn’t know everything.

I only learned bits and pieces while accompanying him during his treatment at the hospital, catching glimpses of the news on TV.

It was reported that, after years of effort, the country’s police had obtained critical evidence.

They had dismantled several large groups secretly colluding with the overseas laboratory.

They had arrested numerous powerful and influential accomplices.

And they had rescued hundreds of citizens who had gone missing over the years.

Some of them had been tortured to the brink of death by the drugs.

Others had already found eternal rest beneath foreign soil.

“I’m luckier than they are. Missions like this are always a matter of life and death,” He Zhou said, spitting out a mouthful of blood. He wiped it away with a calm expression and looked at me.

“If I had really died there, as long as I could get the evidence and the list back to the country, I wouldn’t have had any regrets.”

“…Except for you.”

“Because information always leaks, they would suspect me every now and then. To prove my loyalty, I would voluntarily request to test the drugs.”

“When I encountered radium, my body didn’t feel much at first. But suddenly, you came to my mind.”

In my memory, He Zhou was never a man of many words.

But during the time I stayed with him at the hospital, he would talk to me a lot.

As if trying to make up for the seven years of silence.