The ultimate blue sea

Chapter 93

Fang Xiu stopped the car, looked all around, and frowned. There was no one there.

He was wearing a dark jacket and a slightly old-fashioned pair of sunglasses. As low-key as possible, he parked the car by the side of the road and rolled down the window. His eyes glanced over the crowd hurriedly coming and going. He saw nothing unusual.

The communication from headquarters had been cut off for unknown reasons, so he had a bad feeling. He put a cigarette in his mouth and touched the guns hidden at his waist and under his pant leg. He opened the car door and got out. He walked into a newsstand and pretended to flip through a magazine, glancing out of the corner of his eye from behind the sunglasses, sizing up the crowd.

Just then, a payphone next to him rang. Fang Xiu stared. He didn't move.

The phone rang for a moment, and then the caller hung up. He deliberately lingered for a while longer, flipping through a military magazine and beginning to chat with the proprietor. After a moment, the payphone rang again. He closed his eyes, got out his wallet, and bought a newspaper. He turned and squeezed between two people who were also buying newspapers and picked up the phone. "Hello?"

"It's me," Hu Bugui's voice came from the phone. "The plan has changed. Is there anyone following you?"

Fang Xiu paused. "I haven't found anyone at present."

"Did you drive?"

"Yeah."

"Leave the car. You have a single-use phone card on you right now. Change to it and give me the number. Then go to the nearest subway station. I'll tell you where to go."

A field agent was always prepared for this kind of thing. Fang Xiu didn't waste words. He immediately gave him the number. He didn't ask why they had suddenly changed places or broken off the connection. No communication equipment was completely hidden. They could be overheard anytime by the other side using all kinds of means.

As he transferred from one means of transport to another, Fang Xiu kept his phone in his pocket and didn't take it out. He had his earbuds in his ears. He didn't need to respond; he only needed to act according to orders.

Fang Xiu could sense that though Hu Bugui's voice sounded pretty calm, it was graver than at any time before. He couldn't resist being a little perturbed. What was going on? Had the communication equipment from headquarters been bugged? What had they been doing all this time?

The omnipresent wanted notices in the papers the last few days hadn't had specific photos of the RZ Unit's members, but Zheng Wan's photo had been published. The claim was that they were a criminal gang roaming over the whole country, illegally selling human organs. Zheng Wan meanwhile had been called a missing person. Why not directly mention the RZ Unit by name? Was it because people above were protecting the RZ Unit, or was it because Zheng Qinghua knew that he couldn't appear in public view?

If they couldn't appear in public view, what was it that had made all the countries' governments shut their eyes and stop their ears? What benefits had Utopia given them?

"Leave the station," Hu Bugui's voice came over the earbuds.

Fang Xiu turned and left the subway, finally picking up the phone. "What's going on? Have you been spotted? Has the new comms system been tapped?"

Hu Bugui gave an affirmative and didn't explain.

Next, Fang Xiu asked, "What's your situation now? Are you safe?"

"Don't worry," said Hu Bugui.

Fang Xiu nodded and left the station as he had said. When he had reached the entrance, he seemed to remember something. He resisted, but after a while he couldn't resist anymore. He asked, "How is Chang Dou? I saw that he wasn't with you then... Of course I don't mean anything by it, just that that brat's experience is limited. I'm afraid he won't even know to have a backup phone ready..."