“Mr. Wu? Mr. Wu?”
Wu Letian’s pleasant memories were abruptly cut short by the voice of a middle-aged woman behind the counter.
He felt a strange sense of disorientation. Why is it that every time I interact with a woman today, Sylvia comes to mind? It’s only been a day since we parted, and yet it feels like years.
The woman, unaware of the storm swirling in his thoughts, continued politely when he returned to the moment:
“Sorry again, Mr. Wu, but I just double-checked the system… and your name really doesn’t show up.”
“That’s impossible!” Wu Letian forcefully shoved Sylvia out of his mind—he needed to resolve this last issue of the day.
“I mean it. I checked twice. If I may ask… is this the passport you used when you booked the ticket and boarded the flight?”
“Of course it is. What’s wrong with the passport?”
“Oh, nothing, just confirming…” the woman managed a strained smile, but inside she was muttering: Just my luck to get a difficult passenger right before closing.
“I’m certain I boarded the flight with this passport,” Wu Letian said firmly. “Can you try checking the baggage tag?”
There were only two possibilities: the passport or the luggage tag. If the passport didn’t work, the only remaining lead was the luggage.
Honestly, if he had encountered this situation during one of his own investigations—a passenger whose identity wasn’t in the flight manifest—it would have raised red flags. It could be a critical lead, something to be pursued relentlessly.
But what was he supposed to do now? Investigate himself?
“Hmm… same result,” the woman said. “I scanned it several times, but the system didn’t respond.”
“No response?”
“Yeah, just like if… someone were scanning a baggage tag from another airline.”
“You saying I’m making this up?” Wu Letian’s voice rose slightly. “Look carefully—this tag clearly has your Tianlong Airlines logo and the flight date on it.”
“No, no, Mr. Wu, I didn’t mean that…” She was clearly trying to defuse the situation. The airport was nearly empty, and this guy looked… very physically capable.
“How about this,” she offered quickly. “The next flight from New York to Dongdu arrives tomorrow at 8 a.m.—well, technically this morning, just a few hours from now. A few other passengers also reported missing baggage. It’s possible yours was loaded onto the next flight by mistake…”
“You expect me to believe that?” Wu Letian cut in. “There’s no such morning flight!”
“Oh, we just launched a new route last year,” she said. “With newer aircraft. Arrives early in the morning.”
Seeing he was at least intrigued, she kept going:
“Really sorry again. Your flight was delayed due to weather, so maybe there was a mishap with ground handling in New York. Your baggage probably got redirected to the next flight.”
She tried to look sincere, silently praying, Please just leave already. I want to go home.
“Hmm…” Wu Letian thought it over.
He saw through her delaying tactic. How would a regular passenger even get in here at 8 a.m.? This is the international arrivals zone, connected to customs. No way.
But he wasn’t a regular passenger. His badge from the AeroSpace Investigation Bureau gave him free access to every corner of the airport.
So he decided to go along with her excuse. It wasn’t like he could storm onto the tarmac and start rummaging through the cargo hold. Sure, he had the authority—but abusing it just hours before assuming his new role as department chief wouldn’t look great.
“You’re certain the next flight from New York lands at 8 a.m.?”
“Yes, Mr. Wu. I just checked the status—it’s on time.” (She hadn’t actually checked anything.)
“Alright, I’ll be back in the morning…” Wu Letian nodded. “Will you be here then?”
“Yes, handsome. Don’t worry. I’d recognize you without a passport.”
“You better not be playing any games,” he said coldly before turning and walking away.
As Wu Letian’s silhouette faded into the distance, the woman slumped in her chair, dropping the fake smile and professional posture.
“Good god, I need sleep. Whoever’s on shift tomorrow morning is screwed. Guy’s a lunatic, waving some random passport and luggage tag around demanding his bag. And how the hell did he get in here anyway? This is international arrivals! Note to self: never take another night shift. It’s killing me…”
Unaware of her cursing, Wu Letian was already beyond caring. Exhausted, his senses numbed, he finally stepped outside and breathed his first real breath of fresh air since landing.
It was the crisp, dry scent unique to Dongdu.
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What a day.
The late-night air was unusually refreshing, sharpening his mind. Dongdu Airport’s surroundings had changed since he’d last been here. Though it was the middle of the night, the ramps leading to the highways were brightly lit. Clearly, there were now multiple expressways branching into the city. Nearby, several brand-new hotels stood tall, neon lights flashing in the dark like beacons.
“Things move fast here… I was only gone a year,” he murmured.
He glanced at the large LED display above the parking lot. It read 3:30 a.m.
Might as well crash at one of those hotels. I need to be back here by 8 to get the bag, then go report to HQ… Not enough time to head home anyway.
Not far behind him, in the shadow of one of the support pillars, a man watched him silently.
As soon as Wu Letian disappeared into the parking lot, the shadowy figure pulled out a phone and dialed.
“He showed up at customs, just like you predicted. But… he wasn’t departing. He entered the country. No clue what he’s up to.”
“Entered?” a low voice replied from the other end. “Where did he go?”
“Into the parking lot. Looks like someone’s picking him up. Should I follow?”
“No need. Are you sure he’ll show up at your place tomorrow?”
“Guaranteed.”
“Good. Whether he’s coming or going doesn’t matter. Stick to the original plan.”
“Understood. I’ll make sure everything is in place.”
“No mistakes.”
“Of course…” The man hesitated, then asked, “Um… did you get the message I sent earlier?”
“Hmph. We’ll talk rewards after the job’s done. Not before.”
“Please, I—”
Wu Letian chose the most low-key hotel near the parking lot, the one with the least flashy neon lights. When checking in, to avoid any further trouble, he used his national ID instead of the passport that had already caused him quite a bit of hassle.
This time, everything finally went smoothly. As soon as he entered the room, he collapsed onto the large bed.
He couldn’t help but suspect that someone had tampered with his passport. But if that were the case, why had Chief Zhang from customs lied and told him there was no problem? Was there a larger conspiracy at play against him?
"Forget it, just get some sleep!"
But the moment he forced himself to lie down, Sylvia and all those bizarre cases he had dealt with during special training in New York came flooding into his dreams. One moment it was absurd and twisted, the next it was a bloodbath. He couldn’t tell whether he was asleep or awake, whether he was in New York or Dongdu, whether he was supposed to enjoy or endure it.
With jet lag and unresolved questions hanging over his head, Wu Letian spent the whole night—or rather, what little was left of it—tossing and turning in a nameless unease, a feeling as though he were sleeping with a sword by his pillow.
Sleepless night.
When he finally made it to 7 a.m., he decided not to waste any more time in bed. He hurried through his morning routine, checked out, grabbed a quick breakfast. Aside from his wallet, ID, and a laptop containing important data, everything else he owned was in his checked luggage. Since it hadn’t arrived, staying the night at the hotel had made him unexpectedly light.
He once again crossed the parking lot and returned to the arrivals level of Dongdu Airport. At this hour, his mind was just as foggy as the early morning mist that blanketed the airport.
Sure enough, when he tried to enter the baggage claim area, a security guard stopped him: "This is the international arrivals exit. You can't go in."
Wu Letian had no choice—he needed his luggage. There was a lot of valuable stuff he’d brought back from New York.
So he pulled out his work badge and flashed it.
"Ah… Detective Wu. My apologies," the guard quickly stepped aside.
Wu Letian walked in with his head held high.
It was still early, so international flights were few, but there were already significantly more passengers than during the night.
Just as he was about to leisurely head over to the airline counter, a sudden, inexplicable pressure came crashing in from all sides. His chest tightened. He quickly looked around, but saw nothing out of the ordinary.
"Maybe I didn’t sleep well last night..."
He shook off the thought and decided to head to the airline desk as quickly as possible. Getting his luggage and reporting back to the bureau was the top priority.
He quickened his pace, and just as he was approaching the Tianlong Airlines counter, he overheard a few security guards chatting nearby.
"What’s going on today? So many people from the White Bureau at the airport—I’ve never seen that before."
"Must be a big case or something. Otherwise, they wouldn’t make such a big move…"
“White Bureau? Big case?” These two phrases hit Wu Letian like a double shot of adrenaline.
The White Bureau was the nickname for their agency—the Aerospace Investigations Bureau—taken from the acronym "BAI" as pronounced in Chinese. Wu Letian never liked the name. It sounded like a chess or go enthusiast club. Still, it was better than the alternative pun: "Defeat Bureau."
"So our people are here today... Better grab my luggage and go join the fun. If I see Old Man Zhong, maybe I can hand over my reports right here, haha."
Hiding behind the pillar next to carousel 11, Wu Letian mentally replayed the series of bizarre events from the last few hours over and over again. Still, he couldn’t piece them together.
"Why did my passport stop working? Why didn’t my luggage arrive? How did I end up dead on a baggage carousel? And why was I holding Sylvia’s pendant from thousands of miles away? What’s the big case happening today?"
As for Tianlong Airlines’ lousy customer service, that was the least of his concerns now.
He was drowning in question marks, yet couldn’t find the key to unlock even one.
Only when he thought of Zhong Sheng, the veteran investigator who was both mentor and father figure to him, did his anxiety ease a little. In all his years at the Bureau, he’d seen countless puzzles and dangers—but Old Man Zhong always found a way to clear the fog, to turn peril into peace.
"If I had just gone to see him at the Bureau first, instead of coming here for my luggage... would things have been better?"
"What am I thinking? If I weren’t here, would my corpse not have shown up at the baggage carousel? Since I’m alive here by carousel 11, but the ‘me’ at carousel 9 is dead, that means the two events must be separate!"
"Could the ‘big case’ those guards were talking about actually be my body?"
"Impossible—when they mentioned the ‘big case,’ the corpse hadn’t even appeared yet!"
He continued to analyze, playing devil’s advocate with himself, fighting both sides of every argument.
No breakthroughs yet—but one lead was clear: the luggage belt fed directly into the loading area outside the terminal. If he checked it out immediately, there might still be clues. The longer he waited, the more likely the scene would be tampered with.
But his instinct whispered: "Now is not the time to show your face. Who knows what’s coming? You can’t afford to take risks. After all, you’re a dead man."
"You’re a dead man!"
The phrase sounded strangely familiar—but he couldn’t recall who had said it.
If he’d heard it during a case, that would be normal. He’d handled countless cases before. In one, a pilot and co-pilot got into a fierce argument mid-flight. The captain, in a fit of rage, stabbed the co-pilot to death with a metal knife from first class and dropped that very line—caught on the cockpit voice recorder.
But this time, he was sure someone had said it to him, face to face.
The vividness of that moment made his skin crawl, despite the airport's blasting central heating.
From another angle, though… if someone said it to him, then he must’ve already been dead at that moment.
But how could a dead man hear… and remember those words?