Although, it was about a private party what the footage actually showed was an incident involving Lia just outside that party.
She emerged running out of the party hall drenched in sauces and drinks. Also the corner of her dress was torn and their were clear signs of physical violence on her. She rushed towards ladies washroom but, two gigglos also emerging from the party had already caught up with her. Following the gigglos were a bunch of fat, old geezers. She struggled to free herself unfortunately, surrounded by all those men she was totally out numbered and weak. One of the geezer who seemed to be the ring leader landed a hard slap across her face, not liking her resistance one bit. She fell hard on the floor because of the impact and blood dripped down from the corner of her lips. The sight was intoxicating not only for them, but also for those sitting in the lounge. Especially Zhuang Gohan. The man on the screen began close in on her and tore off her sleeves. Another began touch her inappropriately , hardly able to control himself any further. Following their lead of the rest of them also jumped on her as well. They were all over her, crushing her under their lust. Lia kept struggling to free herself.
Something snapped inside Zhuang Gohan but Richard was able to hold him back just in time.
At that point, something unusual happened on the screen.
All those men who jumped on Lia were suddenly thrown off really hard by an unseen force far and wide across the corridor. The men began to groan in pain feeling the impact of their fall. They were perplexed and couldn't gauge the reason or the cause of their fall. Lia was also shocked herself as to what happened however, she quickly grabbed her bearings and ran away in tears.
Extremely traumatizied, Lia ran as fast as her legs could carry her in a random direction until she found herself out of breath. She was looking around for a place to hide when she saw the basement door ajar. Without a second thought, she opened the door and entered just in time to save herself from those bunch of predators. Unable to find Lia those men split themselves in different directions all over the property.
An hour passed by and there was still no sign of Lia coming out from the basement. After another fifteen minutes, the basement doors slowly opened and a young woman stepped out wearing the same outfit as Lia. The only exception was that hers was without the stains or any signs of struggles. She also wore the same necklace as Lia. The woman was young and beautiful no doubt nevertheless, she didn't possess that mythical vibe nor was she as young as Lia. On the contrary, while Lia was still underage at that time and possessed an youthful innocence, this woman was quite matured. Also the woman wasn't as timid, weak or introvert and someone who totally lacked self confidence as Lia. Instead, she was much more bold, outgoing and strong. She exuded a cold and murderous aura compared to Lia, who was gentle,warm and compassionate.
The woman stepped out of the basement and locked the door from outside with a key and left the place. Seeing the woman dressed as Lia the bunch of men mistook her for Lia and attacked her altogether.
The woman didn't run away like Lia instead, she faced them head on and in a matter-of-seconds she was able to wipe them off their very ground. Her combat power and skills astounded not only those who were on the receiving end of it but also those who were in front of the screen.
But that wasn't the main question...
After that she left the spot as if nothing ever happened, leaving those fatally injured men on their own devices.
Following her through the footage, they arrived at the entrance of resort. The scene on the screen was exactly as Zhuang Gohan remembered it. He saw the woman leaving the resort but what had actually attracted him to her was the necklace she was wearing. He stood stunned at the entrance for a minute then dashed off towards the direction the woman went.
The screen turned off as the footage came to an end.
No one dare speak first. The massive lounge was pin drop silent.
Liang Jie looked at the gravely calm and collected Richard, wanting to ask atleast a thousand questions. However, his only concern at moment was his boss's mental condition. He knew that if he could deduce the undertone of what they saw then surely his boss must have already done so long before. Hence the implications will be unbearable for him.
Zhuang Gohan on the other hand was visible shaken inside out. His bearings were completely blown off. It was just as Liang Jie understood, he had already deduced the situation when he saw Lia running out of the party hall wearing her necklace.
Memories and facts began to overlap with each other ; contradicting each other at every point.
Memories overwhelmed him. Everything from that night came rushing back to him only to remind him how wrong he was.
The world crumbled before him.
To err is human; to forgive is divine. Then what about him? He had committed a crime!
Forgiveness can be sought for mistakes; not for crimes.
A thought crossed his mind but he didn't have the courage to ask. He was afraid that he would not be able to accept the answer.
The pain in his heart rose to a level where he was totally numbed by it. His guilt was crushing him.
" Don't underestimate the situation. I'm nowhere near from being done. " Richard said in a gravely dead tone breaking the bitting silence a bit, at the same time his words hiked the tension even further.
Liang Jie and Zhuang Gohan both felt horrified...
" What more could there possible be Sir? Don't you think you are being too cruel? " Liang Jie acussed. His voice was filled with anguish. He didn't understand why Heaven was so cruel to Zhuang Gohan. He was worried that this seemingly unbreakable man who has suffered only the cruelty of this world from a very tender age might not be able to take this blow.
" Every action comes with its own set of consequences. What you saw just now was nothing more than that. But its not these consequences that is the end result of our seven years of search Jie, instead they were the first step that lead into this search. " Richard replied with a sad smile.
" But Sir - " Liang Jie was about to argue when Zhuang Gohan held him back. His cold and emotionless tone sent chills down Liang Jie's spine.
" Let him finish Jie. "
Liang Jie didn't say anything further although he had tons he wanted spit out.
" Your deduction is correct Gohan. Lia was pregnant with your child when she managed to escape from there. " Richard dropped the very bomb Zhuang Gohan was trying avoid. His tone was dead serious. " But there is more than what meets the eye. As you saw in the second footage, the woman you thought was Li Lanying was actually the agent we were looking for. She somehow managed to swipe her identity with Lia in order to escape from us. " Richard continued. " As for us finding the wrong person at the wrong place was the handy work of the CZ Limited. "
" CZ Limited! You mean ' The CZ Limited ' from China? " Liang Jie was thunder struck. He literally felt the ground shaking under his feet. " What the did they have to do with any of this? "
Richard signed exhaustedly. " I wish knew, Jie. Unfortunately, I don't. And that's what concerns me the most. Moreover, they were in fact able to kill her, when our sources couldn't even find. "
" What!! " Both Zhuang Gohan and Liang Jie yelped in unison.
" Yes..She's dead. " Richard replied with a grim expression.
This confused them even more.
What Richard was saying made no sense....
Why would that notoriously private group suddenly come after a government spy?
It finally hit Liang Jie what Richard meant when he said he was nowhere near from being done. He was increasingly getting worried because things have escalated beyond Zhuang Gohan's control by a massive margin.
" Sir, you just said that these footages lead you into your investigation, what did you mean by that?? " he asked.
Richard gave a short, dry laugh before replying.
" When I first began this search operation, I came across the second footage purely by accident. I couldn't get heads or tails of it but atleast had something to work with. My instincts told me to search for the girl instead of the agent.
Investigating about Lia was like an indirect world tour for me. At first I searched every corner of Dubai but there was no sign of her anywhere. Infact no such person was ever born or lived there in past thirty years. After searching for her in more than fifty countries I landed in India. " Richard couldn't help but, chuckle as he remembered his journey. Lia was one of those handful of people who actually managed to give Richard a run for his money. " That's where I found out about Lia. Mind you, what I found exploded my bearings as well. Lia is not even the girl's real name, her real name is Lianna Abraham. "