Love Began with the First Meeting

"What's going on?" Edgar asked after he went downstairs and boarded the Jeep. There was only cold ice present in his sharp eyes. "Why did someone die?"

The dignified-looking driver, Gordon, glanced at Edgar, then at Daniel, who gestured for him to set out. Gordon gulped down his nervousness, squared his shoulders, and drove for Eagle. There was heavy silence inside the car. The tension was so thick that one could cut it with a knife.

Gordon shuddered at the thought of Edgar losing his patience. Daniel sighed and retold the whole story to Edgar.

There was an army deserter in the armored brigade. They sent people to trace him. Then someone from Eagle got involved and joined the chase. Something strange happened. The deserter managed to escape, but the man who was responsible for the chase was killed by the man from Eagle. It was made to appear that the whole charade was true. But whatever the truth was, people from Eagle knew nothing about this. This was the only explanation given by Mr. Wang. Now the man from Eagle was locked in a closed guard chamber and no one could come visit him.

The closed guard chamber was said to be a horrible place. It didn't have any light or windows. Just pure nothingness. It was like being trapped in a void. It could turn someone mad. Its terror could fill up the human heart and no one knew what could happen next. That was not even the worse part. To destroy any glimmer of reason, they used the sound of a clock ticking.

The man in the closed guard chamber would never know what would happen.

Daniel finished his story, wiping the sweat off his forehead with a small towel. Eyebrows were tightly knitted as Edgar was deep in thought and the finally told Gordon, "Hey, don't go back. Go to the closed guard chamber."

"Yes, sir!" Gordon immediately shifted the car to a different direction.

"W-wait, are you serious? You're going to the closed guard chamber now?" Daniel asked puzzled.

"I am always serious," Edgar replied.

Initially, Edgar didn't had any plans tonight but the situation had forced him to make an action. He knew that if it was his man's fault, Eagle would surely take the responsibility whether it was intentional or by accident. But if it wasn't, the one who tried to make false charges against Eagle would be in big trouble.

When they arrived at the closed guard chamber, Edgar didn't walk in directly. Instead, he went towards the duty room and peered at the soldier through the security cameras. He noticed that the Eagle soldier who used to be energetic looked gloomy. Generally speaking, an ordinary person could endure one day in the closed guard chamber. A trained soldier could endure around three days and a special soldier could endure five days or even more. The soldier didn't behave as expected.

Maybe it was because a life was involved, or maybe the whole thing was a huge blow to him. His current state was even worse than an ordinary person.

"Can you tell me what's happening inside?" Edgar asked, putting a hand under his chin.

The man on duty, who looked pale, took a deep breath before replying, "At first, he was silent and kept pacing in circles. After three hours, he started to cry and scream, saying that he shouldn't be blamed. He only calmed down after crying for two hours." Edgar squinted his eyes and said firmly, "Bring him out."

"B-but, Sir, are you sure?" The man on duty shivered and bullets of sweat formed on his forehead. "B-but the Political Commissar had ordered that the man should be kept inside the closed guard chamber for at least three days."

"Didn't you hear what I just said?" Edgar coldly cut him off. "He is my soldier and it isn't up to any other brigade to decide for his punishment. Now, take him out!"

The watchman was completely scared now at Edgar's threatening anger. He chewed his lower lip and swung his eyes towards his other colleagues, unable to make a decision.

"Excuse me, sir," his colleague asked, causing the watchman sigh in relief. "Did you come because of him or did your superior commanded you to?"

"Well, what do you think?" Edgar's sharp gaze remained. He didn't answer his question but threw another question instead.

The other watchman glared at Edgar for a moment before finally saying, "Very well then. You can bring him out." The first watchman was surprised. The other watchman took out the key and said, "Come with me." Then walked out first. Edgar followed and Daniel picked up the rear, giving a polite nod to the first watchman. The watchman unlocked the chamber and took out the poor soldier.

Edgar tried to keep his cool facade but different sorts of emotions were raging inside him. 'Who could have done this?' he thought as he looked at the wavering solder. 'This place is utter hell. Not even a superhuman can handle it.' They sat down the soldier first and Daniel offered him a glass of water. Then he sat down beside Edgar's side quietly.

With trembling hands, the soldier took the glass and drank it. Some of the water was spilling on his hands. His wide eyes stared back at Edgar and Daniel in horror, as if he was guilty of something.

When the soldier had finally drank the water and put down the cup, Edgar asked slowly," Do you still remember your name, your rank, and where you serve as a soldier?" A serious expression painted around Edgar's face as he put his hands together. The soldier raised his eyes and nodded weakly. After a moment of silence, he said, "M-my name is Jeffrey Liu. Second Sergeant. The monitor of the second platoon, third squad, Lightning Special Combat Company, under Eagle Special Brigade." Edgar internally felt relieved that Jeffrey was finally recovering his consciousness. "What happened regarding Tom Zhou's death? Also, what happened to Henry Shen? Can you tell me something about it?" Jeffrey Liu paused for a moment.

He tried to recall what happened and made his recollection. "Honestly, nobody knew Henry chose to be a deserter. When I came back, I ran into Tom chasing Henry. I was confused when Tom asked me to stop Henry.

After all, Henry was a scout in the armored brigade so he succeeded in escaping my interception. But it allowed Tom to catch up with him. Henry mumbled something, and then I understood that Tom did something inhumane to him. At that point, I don't know anymore. It made my blood boil and I tried my best to split them apart. I went ahead and joined their so-called battle.

One said that other didn't treat him well and fairly while the latter said that the former was a deserter. It was a terrible mess." Jeffrey was originally intended to separate the two people and brought them back to S Army, but the final result was that Henry became a deserter, and Tom was accidentally punched down by him, falling on the ground with a few convulsions before he finally died.

Jeffrey was well-aware of his own physical strength, which was the result of his daily training. The fact he killed Tom with a punch was a deadly blow to his career. Aside from the mandatory discharge he was facing from the army, he would also be sentenced to voluntary manslaughter. A rural soldier such as Jeffrey had experienced a lot of hardships and training way before entering Eagle. Despite not being locked up inside the closed guard chamber for too long, the experience was bad enough to make him shudder.

His sobs filled the room as Edgar and Daniel gave each other a serious look. From their knowledge, Tom had gotten broken ribs way earlier before the incident. There was a large possibility that Jeffrey might have punched Tom's broken ribs which, in turn, poked his heart.