As Slacovich arrived in Russia, he was welcomed by a group of men wearing black suits. Per General Nushka's instructions, he was taken immediately into his office. They talked about future possibilities if they worked together.
"Mr. Slacovich, nice to finally meet you. The way you handle your assignments left a great mark on me. No wonder you're quite the man when it comes to these jobs. I know you might be wondering why a general would deal with such illegal things. One thing's for sure: it makes my job a little easier, especially dealing with those people who abuse their authority."
"Aren't you one of them, General?" Slacovich hit a spot on the General's ego.
"Think what you want. I'm not like them, that's for sure. To get straight to the point, I know why you're willing to come to me. Your assignment was quite a handful—I know every detail of it because Blu laid it all out. I may know the Doctor's whereabouts. I can help you if you do me a favor. This is going to be a win-win situation for us."
"How?"
"You're not much of a talker, huh? That makes you more interesting."
"What's this favor you want?"
"Well, I need a representative to enter a facility where your target is currently at."
"A facility? Why not send someone from the military?"
"No, I can't do that. They will not trust someone from the military who works under me."
"If I go there, what's the difference? For all I know, I will be disguising myself as one of your military underlings."
"Not quite. You see, I'll send you there for one reason: to seize something valuable inside, which coincidentally Dr. Spencer is assigned to take care of."
"I see. I'll be there to rescue someone for you and at the same time do my job. Makes a great deal—just make sure everything's set before I get there. And I want all the layouts of this facility so I can familiarize myself with it a bit."
"You're not that difficult to deal with then. That's a deal. I'll send you there immediately once you're ready."
Slacovich rested for a bit at the General's headquarters before setting off to the facility. Not knowing what lies ahead, Slacovich was very eager to finish his job so he could start a new life.
---
China
In a very crowded city in Beijing, a woman in her mid-20s stood in front of a very big building. She didn't even know what she was supposed to do in that particular area. People saw her as a crazy woman who wandered off the busy streets often to catch attention. She was always driven away from restaurant doorsteps or even mall entrances. Her name was Li Ying. She was a beauty before her boyfriend cheated on her a few months back. She thought it was about time to settle down with him, yet on their very anniversary, she caught him red-handed. Since that day, the impact of being heartbroken drove her mad. Now she wandered without any absolute place or destination. Li Ying sometimes ended up being beaten by bullies, and passersby didn't even mind. No one knew what she had been through; no one dared to approach her.
While walking towards their favorite place from when they were a couple, she noticed a familiar face. This time, he was with someone else rather than her. They were so sweet and openly showing their love. She was torn apart again. Too broken, too exhausted, too depressed—she passed out. On that very spot, General Yang happened to pass by. He saw how this woman collapsed while glaring at someone a few distances away. He asked one of his men to take the girl to the car, then they headed to their headquarters. General Yang could see the beauty behind the messy hair, chapped lips, pale skin, bruises, and, yeah, the smell. She had been like this for so long that she forgot she was a woman.
"General Yang, may I ask why you chose to take this woman with us?"
"A woman disgraced by love can be a perfect weapon," General Yang said with a grin on his face.
"If you put it that way, sir, there's nothing left for me to ask."
"When we arrive, ask someone to take care of her bruises and tend to her. We will dig into her information while waiting for her to come back to her senses."
A few moments later, they arrived at the headquarters. Li Ying was taken to a ward, wiped clean, and cared for. Her body was far too weak and it would take some time for her to recover her strength. On the other hand, General Yang did a thorough investigation into her background. She was codenamed Poison Lily by the underground society for her hacking skills. He was so amazed he wondered why someone like her ended up on the streets.
After four days in a coma, Li Ying woke up in an unknown place. She observed her new environment. When facing right, she saw someone masculine walking toward her direction. She tried to fake sleep, but it was too late to pretend. General Yang walked toward her with a smile on his face.
"Good thing you're awake, Ms. Ying. I'll call the doctor to check on you." General Yang called Dr. Liu to check on her.
"All vital signs are normal; she's doing well, General."
"Thanks, Dr. Liu. You may go now."
General Yang preferred not to let Li Ying know that she had been investigated. But whatever he asked, Li Ying didn't say a word. She remained silent and spaced out. But the kind General still talked and talked to make her at ease. He assured her that everything was going to be alright. Li Ying, on the other hand, knew something was off. Why would a General take care of her out of kindness? She doubted maybe the General knew her secret identity.
The sound of an alarm broke the silence between the two. General Yang then headed off to the intel camp and was debriefed about the situation. He called on his most outstanding men to stop the virus from spreading into their security system. The hacker was so efficient that he or she could pass through the firewall; even his men weren't good enough to stop the hacker from taking down their system.
Li Ying overheard the doctors' conversation about a hacker trying to break down their security system. If the hacker succeeded, all confidential files could easily be taken too. This would lead to chaos. She knew she need not dwell on this kind of situation because she would reveal who she really was. But to repay the General for taking care of her for days, she took measures to help him in some ways. She asked one of the doctors if she could borrow their phone to call her family. The doctors looked at each other; they weren't allowed to call someone else's number if it wasn't registered on the list, for safety and confidentiality. She began to cry, and one of them handed her the phone to make her stop crying.
"Dr. Liu, you can't give her your phone or General Yang will get mad."
"Dr. Gao, if she cries and the General sees us not doing anything to make her stop, what do you think he will do to us?" The doctors seemed to misunderstand the General's relationship towards Li Ying.
"I'll be quick. I just need to tell my family that I'm doing well." She then let out the sweetest smile she could fake. The doctors felt very touched, so they left her with the phone.
When no one was around, Li Ying dialed an old friend's number.
"Ring... Ring... Ring..." Someone on the other line answered the call.
"Who's this?" A man's voice sounded suspicious about the caller's identity.
"Dragon Claw, this is Poison Lily. No time to ask questions."
"Poison Lily? How can I be sure that's you? And who's Dragon Claw?" Still suspicious.
"Code PL-356, last mission that was given to me." After hearing the code, Dragon Claw felt relieved, knowing his subordinate was alive.
"What can I help you with?"
"Trace my location and interfere with their current situation. I know this will be a piece of cake for you."
"What situation?" Confused, he started opening his computers and began tracing her call.
"You'll know when you're able to trace my location. I can't talk to you for long."
"You owe me every single detail about what happened when you suddenly disappeared!"
"I know. I'll find you as soon as I can leave this place."
Dragon Claw's system was interfered with by two sides having system wars. Both were persistent to eliminate each other.
"Poison Lily, which of which?"
"Block the hacker and resecure the other's system. Also, try to find out who's behind all this." She ended the call and gave the phone back to Dr. Liu. She then rested and fell asleep.
Dragon Claw did what Poison Lily instructed. He interfered in the cyber war and successfully eliminated the hacker virus and set up a new firewall on General Yang's system at their headquarters. All his professional programmers were confused about what just happened. No one exactly knew who blocked the hacker and built a new phase of firewall system that even they couldn't get through. General Yang had someone in mind but played a blind eye to it because he didn't have any evidence to point to whoever helped them. He was grateful and at the same time defenseless—what if the one who helped them turned around and brought them down instead? He needed to clear his intentions first and try to bring the heroine closer to him. How or when she does it is something for him to figure out.