Reborn in 1993, Dark Sea

"They hid the bombs in that little sofa in the corner of the basement. They're huge bombs, and there are three of them! The detonation time is set for 9 p.m. tomorrow!" the round-faced girl said while massaging An Xiaohai's shoulders.

"Hmm, how are those two wounded soldiers doing?"

"One of them was saved and his wounds have been treated. He should recover after a period of rest. The other one couldn't be saved."

"The one who can't be saved is the one who knows you, right?"

"Hehe! An Xiaohai, tell me, if the person you saved knew his comrades wanted to blow him up, would you betray him?"

"I think it's highly unlikely," An Xiaohai gently shook his head. "These people are all mentally unstable, but whether he betrays us or not doesn't matter... You've led him astray. This isn't betrayal, it's abandoning darkness for light!"

"Isn't it the same thing..." the round-faced girl said, pouting.

"You know my name, but I don't know yours."

"My name is Wang Zhaodi, hee hee."

"So, how many younger brothers did you take in?"

"Not one! My parents had two more girls, so I have two more little sisters now, haha!"

"...I see you're always so cheerful, it's really nice."

"Why should you be all gloomy and unhappy every day?!"

"That's true. Your massage felt really good. Did you have any special training?"

"Of course I studied it. I graduated from a nursing school, a professional one! I was only seduced by Director Xu a few years ago."

"All right…"

------

Perhaps because they were really tired, almost everyone slept until almost noon the next day. Just after lunch, Mai Xiaoyu came back from outside and nodded to An Xiaohai as she entered the door.

"Mr. Igawa, the weapons and ships you requested are ready. Would you like to come with me to take a look?"

Is it convenient?

"Of course it's convenient, let's go."

An Xiaohai led everyone into the car, and after driving for a while, they arrived at a very remote abandoned dock. An Xiaohai was quite familiar with this place; he had met Xu Tianyou and divided the spoils with Xu Congzhou here before.

Ah Huo was the one who came to deliver the ship and weapons.

"Mr. Chen, things are getting tense lately, so you'd better be careful what you do!" Ah Huo offered cigarettes to everyone, and everyone else accepted them, except for Igawa Yu, who politely declined.

"Don't worry, don't you trust me? We've been working together for so many years, when has anything ever gone wrong?"

"That's true, Mr. Chen is indeed an excellent partner, haha!"

"Mr. Chen, I have a favor to ask!" Igawa Yu suddenly interjected.

"Please speak, Mr. Igawa."

"I want to call my men over to familiarize themselves with the weapons and the ship, so that we can prepare for the operation."

"You mean we're about to part ways?"

"I think...yes!" Igawa Yu nodded.

"Mr. Igawa, there's really no need for you to be in such a hurry. We've known each other for a while now, and I haven't even had a proper meal with you. I've prepared a lot of good dishes tonight, so why don't you stay for dinner before you leave?"

"Thank you, Mr. Chen, but no, I'm so sorry! Time is tight, and our mission isn't finished yet. We're not honored to receive your hospitality. Please forgive us!"

"Alright... since that's how it is, I won't stop you. Be careful, and I wish you a resounding victory!"

"Thank you for your blessings, Mr. Chen. If you ever visit Japan in the future, please be sure to visit me and Kazuko. We will certainly treat you to a wonderful meal!"

"That's for sure, I believe there will be that opportunity."

"Alright, I'll let them know to come over."

"Please do as you wish."

Igawa gave a wink to his two men behind him, and the two men immediately jogged to their car and drove away. Forty minutes later, Igawa's men arrived at the abandoned dock in three cars.

Everyone except the wounded came. They carried Igawa Jiro's body onto the boat, said a brief goodbye to An Xiaohai, and then sailed away from the abandoned dock.

"Xiao Hai, why do you seem a bit down?" Ah Huo turned to look at An Xiao Hai and asked.

After Igawa and the others left, An Xiaohai did not go back immediately. Instead, he climbed up a rock, sat down, and stared blankly at the sea. Ah Huo simply climbed up to keep him company.

"Yes, I really wasn't interested..." An Xiaohai threw the weed he was holding out of the water. The weed swayed in the sea breeze and quickly disappeared into the rocky beach.

"I thought I could finally have a proper showdown with him this time, but who knew he would be absent. I cast my net with all my might, but all I caught were small fish and shrimp."

Ah Huo grinned and patted An Xiaohai's shoulder hard: "You've changed!"

"What?" An Xiaohai didn't react for a moment.

"I said you've changed!" Ah Huo smiled even more brightly: "Think back to when we first met, you would be happy for half a day even if you gained the slightest advantage. If you wanted to deal with Zhou Weiguang, you had to ask your second brother to stand up for you."

But now, you've slaughtered a fearsome international assassin organization, leaving it stained with blood, and outmaneuvered international spy agencies, yet you find it boring. Isn't that a change of heart?

"You bastard!" An Xiaohai was slightly taken aback, then reached out and punched Ah Huo hard on the shoulder.

"Thank you!" Ah Huo took a deep breath and looked at the distant sea.

"Why are you thanking me if there's nothing wrong?"

"Thank you for always protecting me, Xiaohai. Do you know what the most memorable moment of my life was?"

"have no idea."

"It was when we parted ways at the dock that day that you suddenly called out to me and said, 'Ah Huo, you don't need to do anything. Maybe those drug dealers will soon destroy themselves...'"

I thought you were joking at first, but later I found out that what you said was true. You did all the things that were supposed to be my job.

You know what? I was depressed for a long time because of this.

Later, in many operations, you kept me out. To be honest, I was very sad. I couldn't understand why you just wouldn't believe me.

Later, I fell for their trick, which was also related to this; I was too eager to prove myself.

But now I finally understand. It's not that you don't trust me, but that you're protecting me. You've always been protecting me. You're not only protecting me, but also Captain Wang, which is why you've always kept us out of the loop.

I don't know why you did this, but I'm truly grateful to you. Captain Wang and I are very thankful. Thank you for everything you've done for us and for Deepsea City!

"What are you saying..."

"To be honest!"

Xiao Hai, don't be discouraged, you should be happy! And don't rush, take it slow. I believe that one day we will be able to completely dispel the gloom in this sky!

"Alright, let's go. The mission isn't completely over yet. Oh, and tomorrow we're hijacking the prison van. I'll be playing the cop, so you'd better go easy on me!"

"What, are you going to play a police escort tomorrow?"

"Yes, I volunteered. I suddenly really wanted to wear my police uniform again, so I applied for tomorrow's operation. I didn't expect it to be approved so quickly, haha."

"Okay, I'll definitely do it for you, and I promise I'll go easy on you!"

"I have a feeling you're up to no good!!"

"How could that be? You're telling me this now just so I'll do something bad?"

"You little rascal! I'll give in to you! I'll let you be naughty for now, let's go!"

Ah Huo left, and An Xiaohai stood on the rock, watching him until he disappeared from sight before stepping down from the rock.

"Mr. Chen, are you sure you want to let the bombs explode? Actually, if we let them discover the bombs by accident, we can achieve the same effect."

"That villa was quite nice, it's a real shame to blow it up!" Mai Xiaoyu said as she walked up.

"Forget it, let's just blow it up. There's nothing to regret."

Knowing and seeing are two completely different things.

That's how people are; once the scar heals, they forget the pain, unless the scar is very deep, so deep that they can remember the excruciating pain for a lifetime.

Let's blow it up!

"Alahan, Ahmed, it's almost time to say goodbye. I'll really miss you both. Thank you so much for coming all this way to help me!"

"We're all on the same side, why are you being so polite? Hahaha!" Ahmed put his arm around An Xiaohai's shoulder. "We're all thanks to you. This doesn't feel like a mission at all; it's like a vacation! It's so comfortable!"

"Yes, and we even saw the sea! I always thought I'd never have the chance to see the sea in my life!" Alahan said with a smile, "Don't forget, you promised us you'd come visit us in the Northwest!"

"That's for sure. As long as I go there, I'll definitely look for you!"

"Haha, we're waiting for you!"

The three of them walked towards the car arm in arm. The sun was very strong, and it felt a little hot and painful on their skin.

"Are you really not going anywhere? Are you... really leaving?" Mai Xiaoyu thought silently as she watched An Xiaohai's retreating figure.