You can go back to sleep

Bzzzt. Bzzzt.

Fei Huangjin had always been sensitive to sounds, and he woke up a little past five in the morning to the persistent vibrating sound of his phone. He pulled away to look for his phone, and Ying Yue stirred when he drew his arm from under her head.

"Is it five already?" She asked groggily. Her hair was a mess and her face was devoid of any trace of makeup, but to Huangjin, she looked even more beautiful just like that.

"Mmm. I'll make breakfast. You can go back to sleep." He planted a kiss on her forehead, watching her lips slowly curve upwards into a smile.

"Okay." Ying Yue snuggled back under the covers, and was back asleep almost instantly.

A frown appeared on his head as he fumbled around the room, looking for his phone, until he finally traced the vibrations to his pants lying on the floor. Bzzzt. Bzzzt.

The screen indicated that Guan Ting was calling. A complicated look flashed on his face, and he eyed Ying Yue's sleeping form before leaving the room quietly. "What is it?" Fei Huangjin answered the call with a slightly hoarse voice and he cleared his throat twice as he padded downstairs.

"Good morning, sir."

"What is it?" He repeated.

"I'm updating you regarding the investigation of the man called Ying Shen, sir." Guan Ting had just received an e-mail from one of the older generation members, who had retired and chose to stay in the Philippines. It was hard to track him down there. This member was one of the few men still alive who were present from Fei Yangcheng's appointment as master of the Dragon Club, up to the period of time right before the said master had succumbed to heart disease. Most of the members didn't know much about Ying Shen, but this elderly man seemed like he did. "One of the retired members have responded, telling me he knew Ying Shen personally."

Fei Huangjin was cracking eggs on to a bowl when he heard this, and he stopped what he was doing to listen intently. "Go on."

That was all Guan Ting needed to hear. "Lemme read you what he said." He opened the e-mail and took a deep breath. "Eleven years ago, the late master Fei's vehicle had been ambushed at the corner of 25th street at the Hudong area. The driver that time had been shot in the head and I was injured in the front seat. I had been trying to call for back-up. By then, the men from Kuailun had us surrounded."

Kuailun… Fei Huangjin frowned. That was the syndicate based in B city that was obliterated around ten years ago. He remembered that the competition between them and the Dragon Club had been tough that time, until Fei Yangcheng of the Dragon Club decided to end them once and for all.

It was a bloody battle, however, and it cost a few innocent lives, too.

"Beside the street where we were at a standstill, was a convenience store. And out of the blue, a young boy came out, took my gun, and shot down almost everyone sent by Kuailun. That boy was Ying Shen."

Fei Huangjin pursed his lips in thought. If this happened eleven years ago, Ying Yue would have been about 13 years old. Their father had just passed away at that point.

"He took the late master out of there, and came back for me. You can imagine how grateful master Fei Yangcheng must have been to that boy. And so he offered to adopt him into the Dragon Club, as a special agent of some sort. The boy didn't need training; he was well-versed in firearms and martial arts. Ying Shen never socialized, and he stuck to the master like a young child would to his father. The only thing I knew about him was that he had a sister that he was taking care of -- which was why he hardly slept over at the base. When the Black project was initiated by the master, Ying Shen was sent by the master to lead the annihilation of the Kuailun syndicate. And years later, when the Jade Circle started growing stronger, he was again sent there to act as a double agent. I do not know what happened between the master and his prodigy after that. It seemed as if the master didn't want to hear his name at all--"

"Did you ask him about the documents?" Fei Huangjin cut in. He felt a slight twinge of jealousy when another man was called a prodigy of his father, and his lips were tensely pursed together into something that resembled a begrudging pout.