Chapter 71: Dark Days For The Long Family!

Chapter 71: Dark Days For The Long Family!

After getting home, Mei and I took showers to clean the night's grime from our bodies. After applying a chemical cold pack to my left shoulder to soothe the dull ache from the Monk's kick, I had fallen asleep alongside Hana, resting peacefully until it was finally time for her to get up for the day.

At around nine in the morning, I had been awoken by a gentle kiss on my cheek, opening my eyes to find her beautiful blue eyes looking straight into my sleepy ones as she brushed a stray hair from my forehead.

"Rough night honey?" Hana asks softly, her hand tracing the edge of my collarbone. "I see you took a blunt force to your shoulder?"

"Morning, and I blocked a kick to end an assassination plot," I reply, offering her a reassuring smile as I stretch my uninjured arm. "But it is all over now. Everyone came back fine, but I am staying home after I send you to work."

"That's good I—, Oh no it's coming!" Hana gasps out, her eyes widening in sudden realization.

She smiles then her face looks awkward as she runs to the bathroom, throwing the door open to escape the bedroom. I listen to her footsteps, realizing that she still has occasional morning sickness. Well, Hana is about two months pregnant so she will still have some of those sudden symptoms to deal with for a while.

After our morning breakfast and routine, I sent Hana off in her car to work, watching her pull out of the driveway safely.

Mei Xia then comes right up to me in the living room and asks what our plans are for the day, so I look at her and tell her exactly what needs to be done.

"First I will take a look at your shoulder from the sniper rifle, then we will relax while watching the news and gathering information," I explain, walking over to the couch. "We can just order takeout for lunch then cook dinner later. Or if you have personal things you want to do, go ahead."

Mei Xia shakes her head, adjusting her maid uniform as she looks at me.

"No, there are too many domestic and foreign groups watching me, so doing anything too abnormal will bring you trouble," she answers, stepping a bit closer. "For a while I will just stay still. Also that ice-pack you gave me last night really helped my shoulder, but if you insist on stripping your maid as an excuse then I will be obedient, fufu."

Flick! I utilize my Grandmaster level Kung-Fu reflexes to flick her forehead with such incredible skill and precision that even her heavily trained spy reflexes could not avoid the sudden impact. Mei Xia was completely stunned by the move, stepping back as she rubbed her forehead like an abused puppy. I smile at her dramatic reaction and tell her to cut it out.

"Put your seduction skills away," I state firmly, crossing my arms. "I only need to make sure my partner is fine. You might be worldly and can teach me a lot that I don't know, but this master has the skill to put you over his knee and spank you."

Mei Xia only grins at my comment and still plays right along with the joke.

"Oh my, so now we are going to the naughty maid play, fufu?" she asks, tilting her head with a mischievous glint in her eyes.

I roll my eyes at her playful teasing and turn around to walk back into the main part of the house to look for the remote.

Watching my back as I walk away, Mei Xia's wide grin then turns into a soft smile as she stands alone for a brief second, quietly muttering to herself, "Captain, you are right, he is a good kid."

Then Mei Xia follows along with her master to help look for some fresh clues on the television screen.

Back in time to just after Victoria's first university class started for the day...

Victoria had been waiting patiently for Rick to come through the classroom doors, and she immediately noticed the total lack of him, Tina, and Jenifer in their usual seats. She already knew from his outfit yesterday that he had heavy bodyguard work on his schedule because he had been wearing his signature black long coat to protect his clients.

So knowing for a fact that he was not coming to campus today, she started passing around the attendance sheet to the students.

She noticed that Ashley was smiling widely while talking to James, and he seemed to be completely unaware of Rick's absence from the lecture hall, when suddenly Victoria's phone started to loudly ding with urgent text alerts. Ashley's eyes dropped down to her own smartphone at the exact same moment, her smile vanishing into a deep frown.

Both women, seeing their respective callers on the digital displays, looked right at each other across the room, simultaneously stepping away from the desks and heading out into the quiet hall to take the urgent phone calls.

Ashley broke away from James without saying a word and went straight to the left side of the hall, tapping her screen to answer this persistent call."Father, what is so urgent?" Ashley asks, her voice echoing slightly against the hall walls.

[ The Mountain Temple... It's gone, ] her father's heavy voice delivers through the earpiece. [ And your mother is in critical condition in the ICU in Star General. ]

Ashley was significantly more shocked about her lifelong home completely vanishing than her mother being admitted to the hospital. The Temple was the exact place where she grew up after all, and the news hit her hard.

"W—What happened?" she whispers, her hand shaking against the glass of her phone.

[ Your mother ignored all of our warnings and tried to kill Rick Lee again last night, ] her father explains, a deep exhaustion evident in his tone. [ She also tried to personally kill him, and that's why she is in the hospital. That is not even the worst of it... Your mother knowingly worked with the Southern Cross terrorist group and was declared a traitor to the Nation. That is why our home is gone. ]

"Uh?!" Ashley gasps out, leaning her back against the hallway wall for support. "But why? Why did she do all of this..."

[ Ash, your mother is not well in her heart, ] her father sighs over the line. [ Sometimes, humans have mental afflictions in their brains. This can be called insanity. No amount of logic or mediation can quell the demons in her heart. Sadly this is my fault. ]

"Why is this your fault?" Ashley asks, a single tear beginning to form in her eye.

[ When I took over the Hidden Dragons, I should never have allowed your mother to run the Mountain Temple, ] he states, his voice cracking slightly. [ This is my sin to bare in my heart. I should have chosen Brother Hank. The loss of our birth home falls on my shoulders little Ash. Do not seek revenge for this. Don't be like your mother. ]

Ashley has a completely defeated smile on her face at her father's grim words, realizing the absolute futility of the entire situation.

"Father of course I would not seek revenge, and even if I was dumb, I would only end up dead," she admits, wiping her cheek before shifting her thoughts to the mystery. "Why did Rick let mother live?"

[ ...Honestly I am at a loss?! ] her father answers after a long pause. [ I did not expect Rick Lee to even save her life after they fought. I think only he knows. You should see your mother one last time before you can never see her again. She may be a sinner, but in the end she is your mother. You must give her that minimum level of manners to say goodbye with honor. I will see you at the hospital. ]

The line goes dead with a sharp chime, leaving nothing but a flat tone playing through her speaker, [ Click... do do do... ]

She felt absolutely devastated by this entire situation as she slid her phone into her pocket. The Hidden Dragons group didn't deserve this, no, her mother just had to go ahead and ruin a perfectly purposeful life out of pure madness.

Standing alone in the left side of the hall, a single tear was shed for all of the innocent people that died last night during the tactical bombing.

Victoria, seeing her niece go down to the left side of the hall, immediately went over to the right side to answer her own blinking screen and pick up the line.

"What is so important Kimberly?" Victoria asks, her voice dropping into a hushed tone.

[ It's bad... The Central Government is currently raiding the Long Estates removing anything related to your sister Laura, ] Kimberly's voice rattles through the small speaker. [ She is in the ICU at Star General, and is branded a National traitor. ]

"What? A traitor?" Victoria gasps out, her eyes widening in utter disbelief. "I don't understand what you're trying to tell me, Kimberly?"

[ Stupid Laura tried to kill Rick Lee twice last night, and once personally, that's why she is in the hospital, ] Kimberly snaps back sharply over the line.

Victoria, remembering that Rick was completely absent from her classroom today, instantly feels a bit of intense panic flooding into her chest as she blurts out, "Is Rick okay?"

[ .....Of course out of all of that, that's your first concern? ] Kimberly lets out an annoyed scoff. [ Not, how is Long going to survive this, or will your sister live? No, Rick Lee survived and is fine. He even saved Laura's life after he defeated her. ]

Victoria felt her heart lighten considerably upon hearing that piece of good news, allowing her brain to finally shift focus and ask other pressing questions about the family disaster.

"Why was she branded with traitor status?" Victoria inquires, leaning her shoulder against the cool drywall. "I don't understand that part."

[ Laura and her Mountain Temple joined hands with the Southern Cross, ] Kimberly explains with a heavy sigh. [ Now the Government threatened us to let them audit us or we would also be seen as traitors. They used the excuse of wanting to clear our names of being co-conspirators with the terrorists group. ]

"But we don't have a connection with them so we are fine," Victoria counters softly, trying to find a silver lining.

[ Sigh, Vick you are such a naive little sister, ] Kimberly groans into the receiver. [ There are other things all families don't want leaked that can still hurt us. Just hope some things will be overlooked. ]

"Are you saying you have done things that can bring us down?!" Victoria whispers harshly, her grip tightening on the casing of her phone.

[ Relax little sister, I am just saying I personally might get slapped on the wrist a bit, ] Kimberly replies dismissively. [ Nothing traitorous or anything, but private things I don't want exposed. Just forget about it. Just take care of Victoria Long inc and your job. Now go and say goodbye to your stupid sister before you cant anymore. She will never see daylight again. ]

The call abruptly ends with a series of digital tones, leaving nothing but an empty signal pulsing into her ear, [ Click... do do do... ]

Victoria, feeling deep down that her oldest sister is still actively hiding massive secrets from the rest of the bloodline, grows incredibly worried about how this scandal will permanently affect the entire Long family as she slowly holds her phone down by her waist.

Then she looked over across the wide hallway and saw her very sad looking niece standing near the hallway wall, knowing instantly that the girl had also just received some terrible news, which was probably the exact same kind of news.

Victoria pulled up her contacts page on her screen and let her finger hover directly over the label marked Rick Lee, really wanting to press the call button to hear his voice, but she hesitated, thinking that maybe he wouldn't want to talk to her at all right now after what her family did.

She struggled internally for a few agonizing moments before finally deciding it would be much safer to call him later in the evening, absolutely hating how complicated things were and how life just couldn't be easy. The absolute only thing she does not want to happen is for him to grow to hate her, especially because she still deeply wants to find a way to get close to him.

Before she even fully realized what her fingers were doing, she had already opened up a blank text box and started a short message for him, realizing that yes, at least this minor effort is something to bridge the gap.

[ Victoria Long: Student Lee, I see you are not here today... Get well and hope to see you tomorrow. ]

And send! Well, she knew the simple text message felt a bit cheap under the circumstances, but at least it was something to show she was thinking of him, and right as the message transmits, Ashley walks back over to her side to speak up.

"I need to leave class, my mother is in Star General..." Ashley states, her voice cracking as she looks down at the linoleum floor.

"Yes, I will drive you, let me let the class know," Victoria answers instantly, nodding her head before leading the way back into the room.

And with that brief announcement, Victoria walked up to the podium and officially let the entire class have free studies or informed them they could simply leave for the rest of the day due to a sudden, pressing Long family emergency...

Meanwhile, while May Lee's own university class was going on across campus on its own schedule, she was sitting comfortably behind her desk with her laptop open, pulling strings behind the scenes like an absolute master puppeteer.

Most of the students in her class who happened to look up at her face only saw a highly creepy, intense smile stretching across her cheeks as she furiously worked the keyboard, making them all think she was playing some high-stakes First Person Shooter game because of the fierce way she glared directly at the glowing monitor.

May was completely and utterly happy with the latest developments regarding her brilliant nephew, feeling immensely proud of how effortlessly he had taken total charge of the hostile situation out on the highway last night.

Sadly, she could not watch the live combat feed herself due to the fact that his custom software was incredibly formidable and blocked external access, but she was still able to gather some interesting snippets using satellite cameras positioned right above the state. Too bad the forest trees were far too thick down there, meaning she only managed to pull partial thermal imaging alongside an occasional clear shot of the clearing.

She smiled to herself, understanding perfectly why he did not outright kill the woman on the spot; beating her viciously but choosing to let her live actually made it so she could exploit the entire Long family on a much deeper political level.

May knows for a fact that Rick hesitated to pull the fatal trigger due to his subconscious feelings for Victoria, but this outcome is ultimately fantastic for the country since it allows them to extract far more information from the survivors the fun way.

Then she opened up a hidden directory on her screen, pulling up a massive batch of secure information regarding Kimberly, her husband Rex, and their son Nick Long, her smile widening as she muttered softly to herself, "I have sat on this for far too long. To even dare steal from your little sister, tsk tsk tsk. But now that Laura is out, I think Rick can finally be compensated for your action against him. Well if he loves her."

With that pleasant thought completely out of the way, she stepped away from her desk and walked out into the corridor to call her official boss under her deep-cover alias as Lucy Shen.

"Yes boss it is me, oh you're on the road to the hospital?" May speaks into her phone, her tone shifting into a perfectly innocent, polite cadence. "Well I called to inform you that the Central Government contacted me for information. Do you want me to cooperate with them? Sure no problem, the inspection lady seems nice, sure no problem. She said it will take no time to do it, see you tonight then."

Putting her phone away back into her pocket, May giggled softly to herself as she adjusted her glasses.

"See, I am a nice lady, I have already finished, Ufufu," May says to the empty wall. "Well that was interesting to ask me to look in on Rick with a call as his teacher, sure I can do that, giggle."

If an actual, literal Cupid existed for real on this Earth, he would absolutely facepalm hard at this eccentric woman's wild, overactive imagination when it comes to her intense methods of matchmaking!

Sitting on the couch in my living room, I watch the local news while eating a thick-crust bacon and tomato pizza. I chew through the greasy slice, silently swearing to myself that this is the absolute last time I will ever let Mei Xia choose the toppings for our lunch orders.

Mei Xia is sitting right beside me on the cushion, completely in love with her own slice as she keeps making stupid, happy food noises with every single bite.

The television screen suddenly transitions to a field reporter standing in front of a massive gate as the audio broadcasts through the speakers, [ ...Yes Daniel, I am outside of the Long main family estate, but I have received no official stance on the Long family's views of the second eldest daughters' crimes against the Nation. Sources from the government have confirmed that as of now, the Long family is only under investigation and not officially charged with any crimes. So far, it is treated as Laura Long was acting independently from her estranged family, back to you... ]

The live news broadcast quickly cuts away from the gates to display a video feed of a wealthy-looking married couple being tightly handcuffed and arrested right outside their fancy suburban home.

The news anchor's voice takes over the audio segment to explain the clip, [ Lindy and Philip Di, parents of University student Ronald Di, have also been charged with their son for hiring and working with the Southern Cross criminal group. The evidence is so overwhelming that they too shall face severe sentencing. The highway blockage incident was orchestrated by both Laura Long and Ronald Di. Now to Lane for the entertainment news... ]

Mei Xia swallows her last bite of thick crust and wipes her fingers with a napkin, turning her head toward me to ask, "Based on this and the news we got off the internet, what is the takeaway that the government is doing here?"

I think deeply about all the fresh news clips and clues we just gathered, and the glaring pattern suddenly hits me.

"No matter what incident I have been a part of, my name has never once come up?!" I blurt out, setting my half-eaten pizza crust back down onto the cardboard box.

"Bingo, and that's why the videos of your fathers death also vanished from the public view as well," Mei Xia answers, shifting her weight on the couch to face me directly. "This is the Central Government keeping you hidden from foreign threats for as long as possible, but one day you will shine too bright to hide."

I lean back against the cushions, looking her straight in the eyes to probe deeper, "Mei, be honest if you can. Why doesn't the Central just confine me or lock me up?"

She leans in close to me, her voice dropping into a serious whisper as she maps out her personal example, "Let's pretend they locked you up and I was loyal to the Empire... What if this beautiful spy broke you out of prison and kidnapped you to her homeland and did everything you wanted to assure your every joy?"

She moves her face until she is standing exactly one inch away from my nose, a knowing smile spreading across her lips to make her point crystal clear."Now would you want to go back to the people that locked you up or stay in Heaven?" she asks softly, her breath warm against my cheek. "That's right, imprisoning the Yellow Emperor is the worst thing to do. Killing you is less bad. Spreading the Li seed to all of your enemies' homelands only assures them prosperity in a few hundred years, right?"

Deciding to brush off the intense weight of the conversation, I tilt my head back and choose to play along with her by acting completely silly, "So when they lock me up, you can break me out?! Nice!"

Mei Xia's playful expression completely freezes for a silent moment, her jaw dropping slightly until she notices the obvious spark of amusement in my eyes teasing her.

"Sigh, well you see why Central is in a bind with you," she groans, letting out a defeated huff as she sinks back into her seat. "They can't treat you badly, they have to keep you alive to make the world better, and they don't want you to leave them. They even were desperate enough to place me with you. That is a risk, but my bosses told them I was trustworthy and that's why I am here."

I look at her maid uniform, voicing the obvious logical question that had just popped up in my head, "Is it because you're a spy for the Empire? But they want you in this case because I knew you already and hoped I would have sympathy for you. But... Why not just betray and cut off your connection to the Empire?"

She smiles softly at my question, reaching out to gently poke the side of my face exactly like an older sister teaching a young kid a lesson. "Because if I betray them and stay at your side, they will get suspicious of you and spies will flock to you," she explains patiently, dropping her hand back to her lap. "But if one of their spies is already on you, they don't notice you at all, overlooking you. I can feed them fake information on you and hide you better than a normal agent, get it?"

I nod my head to show I understand the tactical layers, and then I transition directly into the deep concern I had been chewing on since last night, "Then what about your China Empire mission?"

The second the question leaves my mouth, she stops being playful entirely, reaching up to swat the top of my head before stating, "Well naturally it's the same as I had with Scott."

She rubs the back of her neck and looks out the living room window, her tone turning entirely practical as she adds, "But I have years till I have to show major progress, so for at least one to two years, we only need to be normal master and maid. Honestly I have not thought that far. I might die before that with all of your enemies."

I give her a firm nod, truly appreciating the fact that she chooses to be completely honest with me instead of sugar-coating our reality.

Seeing that I just calmly accept the dangerous truth without flinching, she instantly switches right back to her usual playful side, covering her mouth to giggle, "Oh?! Is the young master planning on pushing this helpless maid down, fufu."

"Har Har, you are real fun—" I start to reply, but my words are cut off by a sudden vibration.

Ring! Ring! Ring! My smartphone begins loudly ringing on the coffee table with an unknown number, prompting me to reach out, slide the icon across the glass, and bring the speaker to my ear, "Rick Lee here, hello?"

[ Ah! Student Lee, this is teacher Shen, ] May Lee's voice chirps merrily through the line, using her standard university cover name. [ I know you are out today, but I was asked to look in on you. ]

"I am fine, but who asked you?" I ask, my eyebrows knitting together in suspicion.

[ Ufufu, my Boss Victoria Long was very worried about you and was too embarrassed to call you, so she had me do it, ] she answers, her tone dripping with mock sweetness.

"But she texted me earlier already?" I counter, feeling entirely confused by the double communication.

[ Sigh, you young boys are stupid, ] May Lee groans loudly over the network, entirely breaking her professional character. [ Rick, she had a family issue at the hospital, and she would not tell me how it was tied to you being out, but, she is very worried for you, do you get me? But she is concerned about her teacher's appearance and cant look like she cares if you are fine, so just say yes you understand and hang up, sigh. ]

"I understand," I say flatly.

Then, a massive grin spreads across my face as I deliberately press the red button to hang up right in the middle of this nosy woman's sentence. Yes, this is officially the second time in twenty-four hours I have managed to completely hang up on someone like that, and it feels absolutely great.

I scratch the back of my head, turning my eyes back down toward the screen to read Teacher Long's actual text message one more time.

[ Victoria Long: Student Lee, I see you are not here today... Get well and hope to see you tomorrow. ]

I stare at the short sentence on the glass, thinking carefully about her situation before I decide to type out a manual response to it, even though I hadn't originally planned on answering her text at all before the phone call.

I open the chat box and type out my reply, [ Rick Lee: Thanks for wishing me well. I will be in class tomorrow. Keep being a great teacher, and a nice woman. ]

Looking at the letters on the screen, a heavy thought crosses my mind as I wonder how she will react once she eventually finds out exactly what I did to her criminal sister out in the woods last night.

I honestly just wish my life could be simple and a lot less complicated, and with a silent sigh, I tap the screen and hit send.