The elevator slowly ascended to the top floor of the airport terminal.

  Wu Letian felt a growing pressure in his chest—an unprecedented heaviness.

  His instincts were becoming more certain: the bizarre chain of events that began in the early hours of the morning was far from over. In fact, it might have only just begun. And he, like an unprepared actor, was about to step onto the stage. The elevator doors would be the entrance.

  Originally, he had been looking forward to returning home, to stepping onto a new stage in life. But now, without warning, he had been thrust onto a completely different stage.

  What kind of role he was to play on this stage, who he would act alongside, what plot would unfold, or how it would end—there was no director, no script. He had no clue.

  “Why does the system have no record of my boarding or luggage? Why was my baggage delayed? Why is there an issue with my passport? Why… am I dead? Why is Sylvia’s pendant here? Why were Zhang Ke and Chen You watching me at customs? And what exactly is today’s ‘big case’?”

  That was why he was so eager to meet Zhong Sheng. His colleagues had said that Old Master Zhong was upstairs—this had to be the place.

  The elevator doors opened. He peeked out. No one in the corridor. He quickly stepped out.

  Yes, if Zhong Sheng was “upstairs,” it could only mean here.

  He knew this place like the back of his hand.

  This floor was the top level of the airport terminal. Though not large in area, it offered the best view in the building, just below the towering control tower. A ring-shaped corridor provided a 360-degree view of the entire airport and its surroundings. One side was a glass curtain wall; the other side, a series of offices belonging to various airport authorities, airline headquarters, and the Civil Aviation Administration. The Aerospace Investigation Bureau had an office here too.

  The offices had doors but no windows—there was no need. Open the door, and the sky spread out before you.

  This was the command hub of the entire airport. Yet few knew it existed. Even the inconspicuous elevator had no access control—anyone could ride it up. To most people—hurried business travelers, dreamy tourists, or even airport employees—the airport was just a stop on their journey. They would never linger.

  But for aerospace investigators like Wu Letian, the airport was both workplace and home. Even for cases that occurred mid-flight, investigations usually couldn’t begin until the plane landed.

  So he knew—everything downstairs, whether departure, arrival, or the tarmac—was directly or indirectly controlled from here.

  Every puppet thinks it moves of its own volition, rarely aware of the strings behind the curtain.

  Were it not for the dense fog outside, standing here would feel like overlooking the world from above.

  Every time he had come before, he would stand by the gleaming glass wall, watching the neatly moving planes of every color glide, take off, land, and dock—like an internist watching blood flow through the body with delight.

  But not today. He had no time for sentiment. The fog outside—and the fog within him—was what he now wanted to disperse.

  He crept forward, alert and observant.

  This floor was familiar, yet subtly changed. The tiled floors had been replaced with deep blue carpet—a welcome change, as his footsteps were now nearly soundless.

  But many of the offices he passed had changed hands—or perhaps had simply been taken over by former neighbors. “So many airlines merged in just over a year…”

  To be cautious, he didn’t head straight for the Bureau’s office. Instead, he circled the corridor once and returned to the elevator.

  It was still early—before office hours. Every door was shut. The whole floor was eerily quiet.

  The main entry points hadn’t changed: one elevator, one emergency stairwell. The two formed a line that split the ring corridor in half.

  But as he completed the circuit, he suddenly realized—“Why didn’t I see our Bureau’s logo?”

  The office that belonged to them should have had a large logo on the door—a stylized BAI, forming the outline of a plane and satellite.

  Yet he hadn’t seen it.

  He had to circle again.

  This time, he was even more focused, examining the sign of each room carefully, trying to locate his target.

  One by one, he checked—but none were it.

  Just then, he caught a faint, clean whiff of cologne. He stopped and sniffed again. Yes—Eau de Cologne, the kind Western men often wore.

  He had traveled extensively in recent years, and though Chinese men had started wearing fragrance, this specific scent he had only ever encountered on Westerners.

  “Would a Westerner even be on this floor?” he wondered. He couldn’t recall ever seeing one here.

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  Airport officials, government offices aside—even foreign airlines’ local reps were fellow countrymen.

  As he pondered, a soft click of a door closing echoed ahead, followed by footsteps that grew louder.

  “A woman in heels. Thick carpet can’t even muffle it…”

  No sooner had he made the judgment than a young Asian woman appeared, rounding the curve of the hallway ahead.

  Judging by her outfit, she was likely a flight attendant for a foreign airline. Tall, dressed in a pale blue uniform, her skirt reached just to her knees. Her blazer wasn’t fully buttoned, revealing a white shirt and a curvaceous figure. On her feet—5 cm high heels.

  Looking upward, her face was delicate and striking—barely in her twenties. Youth clung to her.

  But her makeup was smudged, her hair loose over her shoulders instead of pinned up.

  Her wide eyes now brimmed with panic.

  Clearly, she hadn’t expected anyone to be up here this early.

  Under Wu Letian’s sharp gaze, she blushed, lowered her head, and brushed past him in a hurry.

  He didn’t turn to look, but soon heard the ding of the elevator, the click of heels on its floor, and then the doors closed again.

  Silence returned.

  The faint scent of cologne was now overpowered by a stronger, classic women’s perfume—freshly applied.

  “Why wear a summer perfume in the dead of winter? Either she’s clueless about scent etiquette, or the man who gave it to her was in a rush.”

  He shook his head with a sigh.

  After circling around again, Wu Letian still hadn't seen the familiar logo—but by now, he already knew which office belonged to them.

  There was only one office on the entire floor without a logo. After eliminating all other possibilities, this had to be the one—there was no way the Sky Investigation Bureau wouldn’t have an on-site office at Dongdu Airport.

  “Have we become this low-profile now?”

  Just as he was about to approach, the door to the office next door suddenly opened, and the strong scent of that flight attendant’s perfume flooded the hallway.

  But the one who came out was a middle-aged man.

  As soon as the man saw Wu Letian, he panicked. “Ah, sorry! Sorry for taking up your time. I’ll leave the office to you right away…”

  With that, he bolted out the door, fumbling with his zipper as he walked off.

  Wu Letian stared at the half-open door in confusion. The logo on the door belonged to that foreign airline. The room inside was empty. Amid the lingering perfume, there was also a faint trace of another smell.

  “Tch, things like this really never end.”

  He had already pieced together what happened. That flight attendant clearly wasn’t here for a pre-flight briefing.

  Some attendants, in the name of “career development” or simply out of vanity, often cozied up to people on this floor—regardless of what kind of person they really were.

  In the end, selling one’s body—wasn’t that one of the oldest professions in human history?

  Two years ago, he had handled a case on this very floor. A manager from an airline had a tryst with a flight attendant here. For the thrill of it, the attendant sat on the man and asked him to choke her while they did it. The man applied too much pressure and ended up strangling her to death. During her death spasms, she clenched so tightly that she snapped the man’s genitals.

  When Wu Letian and his team arrived to handle the case, they didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “Was this really something the Sky Investigation Bureau needed to be called for? Doesn't airport security handle this kind of thing?”

  Still, the case became one of their favorite bits of gossip over tea. And as for that airline’s logo—it mysteriously disappeared from the floor not long after.

  Wu Letian collected himself, then stepped up to the door of the office without a logo and knocked gently.

  “Come in!” A few seconds later, an elderly voice answered—and Wu Letian was instantly overwhelmed with emotion.

  “If that’s not Old Man Zhong, who else could it be?”

  He pushed the door open excitedly, ready to rush in—but what greeted him was a dark room. No lights on. The air inside was heavy and warm, just like the room next door where things had just gotten indecent.

  Right in front of the door was the same old office desk—it hadn’t changed. The rest of the furnishings were a bit different, but the style remained minimalist.

  Using the hallway light seeping in from behind him, Wu Letian saw an old man sitting behind the desk, eyes dull. Once square and spirited, his face now looked weary and lost. His hair was almost completely white, and his stubble hadn’t been shaved, giving him an unkempt appearance.

  Wu Letian could hardly believe it—had Old Man Zhong aged this much? But if the man before him wasn’t Zhong Sheng, who else could it be?

  He was about to speak when a familiar scent hit him—cologne, faint earlier in the hallway but now thick and unmistakable in the room. Zhong Sheng never wore cologne.

  “Is there someone else in here?”

  Wu Letian’s body tensed. He scanned the room quickly—nothing.

  “Wait, there was no scent like this in the elevator earlier… whoever it was, they took the stairs. This person is cautious. Who is he? And why is he in our office?”

  His mind raced so fast he forgot to greet the old man he had missed for so long—even though he was right in front of him.

  When he finally came back to his senses and looked again, the old man’s eyes had suddenly lit up.

  “Xiao Wu? Is that really you?” the old man called out, almost shouting.

  “It’s me! It’s me, sir!” Wu Letian couldn’t hold back his excitement. He rushed forward and grasped the old man’s hands tightly. “I’m back!”

  “That’s wonderful… truly wonderful…” Zhong Sheng was almost incoherent. “He… he just said you were dead…”

  “But I’m standing here just fine, aren’t I?”

  “Not just him— them. They all said the same thing just now…”

  As he said this, Zhong Sheng’s warm gaze suddenly sharpened into something fierce—an expression Wu Letian knew well from interrogations. That look alone could make an ordinary criminal crack.

  Caught off guard, Wu Letian was suddenly shoved hard. He stumbled, regained his balance—and saw that Zhong Sheng had stood up, holding a pistol in his right hand, the dark barrel aimed straight at him.

  “Sir, what are you doing?” Half fear, half confusion.

  “Doing? Who the hell are you?” Zhong Sheng barked. “You’re not Wu Letian. He’s dead!”

  Wu Letian didn’t know how to respond. He was Wu Letian—but was he really alive, or was he dead?

  “Sir, I am Wu Letian! I swear!” He chose to stick with the first half of the truth.

  Zhong Sheng wasn’t convinced. “Cut the crap. Who are you really? If you don’t speak honestly, I’ll shoot you.”

  “Sir, I don’t know what’s going on, but I am myself. I came today to take over your position. We’ve fought side by side for years. You’ve guided me like a father. I don’t know why things turned out like this… but please believe me—I am Wu Letian…” His voice was earnest, almost pleading. “Can you put the gun down? Let’s talk—really talk.”

  He spread his hands, eyes full of confusion and sincerity.

  “Changing a face or appearance is easy. But copying someone’s whole demeanor… that’s still hard.” Zhong Sheng seemed somewhat swayed, but his eyes were still locked onto Wu Letian, the gun still raised.

  “Sir, how about this—give me a question, like you used to. Test me. See for yourself whether I’m really Wu Letian.” An idea suddenly struck him. Ever since being recruited into the Sky Investigation Bureau, he’d often been tested by Zhong Sheng. He had always enjoyed those challenges.

  At those words, Zhong Sheng’s body shifted slightly.

  “Fine. I’ll test you.”