Half an hour later.
Counselor Liu walked into the reception room and announced:
"Don't worry, everyone. Counselor Wang just woke up, but his condition is a little unusual. He's lost his memories of the past week. As far as he remembers, it's still a week ago, just before he was about to pick Gao Jian up at the airport."
"A whole week ago?" someone asked in surprise.
Counselor Liu nodded. "It's baffling, but that's how it is."
"Has all the tea been tested?" the Deputy Consul General asked.
Counselor Liu replied, "We've run basic tests on all seven cups. So far, we haven't detected any neurotoxins or sedatives, but we're trying to find out what caused Counselor Wang's memory loss..."
"There's no need."
The Consul General suddenly spoke.
Everyone paused, and most turned to look at him.
For some reason, they all felt that the Consul General had changed from a kindly older man into someone cold and distant. That hard-to-describe shift in his demeanor seemed to stem from his newfound wariness, as though he now regarded everyone in the reception room as a potential threat.
Compatriots, comrades-in-arms, partners, fellow comrades... The sense of security those labels offered had vanished the moment Counselor Wang's memory loss was confirmed.
The Consul General's face looked a little ashen. "I said there's no need to investigate the cause of his memory loss. As long as he's all right."
Seeing that the Consul General was serious, everyone had no choice but to drop the matter and suspend the investigation into Counselor Wang's memory loss.
The Deputy Consul General thought for a moment, then asked, "What about Elon Musk? What's he doing now?"
Counselor Liu said, "He's still in the lobby, making calls. It looks like he's arranging a helicopter."
The Deputy Consul General asked, "Let him get on with it. What about Gao Jian?"
Counselor Liu replied, "He's in Old Chen's car, ready to leave."
"Then let's get moving. First, make some noise."
Counselor Liu nodded, took out a radio, and pressed the transmit button.
"All vehicle teams, listen up. Follow the planned procedure and start simultaneously in three minutes. Team A takes the front gate, Team B takes the rear gate, and Team C heads to the back alley to meet them. Depart in numerical order, no more than twenty seconds apart. Anyone who falls behind can eat everyone else's dust."
A chorus of synchronized replies came over the radio.
Three minutes later, the garage shutters at the Houston Consulate General rose simultaneously.
Six identical black Cadillacs started their engines, switched on their lights, and filed out through the consulate's three exits at the same time: two through the front gate, two through the rear gate, and two through the back alley. Every car had dark sunshades drawn across its rear windows, and every car bore diplomatic plates issued to the consulate.
At the same time, more than ten ordinary civilian vehicles filed out behind the Cadillacs and scattered in all directions.
The FBI surveillance posts erupted into chaos almost simultaneously.
Gao Jian sat inside one of the cars, watching the carefully orchestrated chaos through his divine sense. He couldn't help marveling at how much trouble the consulate had gone to for him.
After this commotion, the Americans might well "summon" the Consul General for talks and lodge a protest. Even the diplomatic envoy far away in Washington, D.C., would likely be dragged into it. And all of this was just to get him out.
In truth, he had ten thousand ways to get home.
He could even swim across the Pacific Ocean unaided.
Unfortunately, he had to take this official route. Otherwise, he would have no way to explain it.
As for Elon Musk... Under the circumstances, forcing a Dust-Settling Pill down his throat was no longer appropriate. He would have to find another way later.
The two cars leaving through the front gate split east and west. One took a freeway on-ramp, while the other turned onto a side street in a residential neighborhood. The two from the rear gate split between downtown and the highway along the Gulf of Mexico. The two from the back alley headed straight onto the freeway.
The plainclothes FBI agents clearly hadn't expected an operation on this scale.
They started their cars, reporting the situation while trying to keep up with some of the vehicles. Teams A, B, and C all had someone tailing them, while Gao Jian lay low in the back seat of a white private car.
Old Chen glanced at him in the rearview mirror.
"Engineer Gao, don't duck so low. Normal passengers don't sit like that. The lower you duck, the more you stand out."
Gao Jian had no choice but to push himself upright in the back seat, pull over the seat belt, and buckle up. The streets outside the window slid steadily backward, and the Houston suburbs were especially quiet at night. In the distance, headlights crossed in different directions, followed by a brief siren that quickly faded away.
"Ah, I'm really sorry for all the trouble. What a mess this has turned into," Gao Jian sighed.
Old Chen remained calm. "They're getting desperate now, too. They've called in the State Police and are using patrol cars to intercept us. But for now, we've got more cars than they do. At least no one's noticed ours."
Gao Jian felt that the FBI agents really hadn't had an easy time of it today, either.
What should have been a simple trip home had turned into something like fighting behind enemy lines.
A low thrum of rotor blades suddenly sounded overhead, drawing closer until it drowned out the wind noise inside the car. Old Chen turned the wheel to the right, and the white car pulled into an unlit side road and stopped beside a wall.
But the pale beam of a searchlight still swept across the roof, pinpointing the white car they were in.
The beam flashed three times, lighting up the car's interior three times as well.
Old Chen's expression shifted slightly. "A helicopter? They've even brought one of those in? Engineer Gao, what exactly did you do at NASA?"
"No, no, Old Chen, don't worry. I think this one's on our side."
Gao Jian swept it with his divine sense and quickly confirmed his judgment. Elon Musk must have arranged this helicopter at short notice.
Soon, Elon Musk's voice came over the radio in the car:
"My friend the police chief is happy to do us a little favor. Drive south. The helicopter will follow you. It's a light helicopter, so landing is easy. He'll find somewhere to set down, and then Observer Gao just needs to get aboard."
"Must be nice to have money..."
Old Chen's admiration was heartfelt. He had assumed Elon Musk's people would meet them in another private car or something similar. He had never imagined it would be a helicopter, and one apparently provided by the local Police Department at that.
Before more FBI agents could close in, the white car reached a reasonably open area. The helicopter overhead, flying without lights, quietly touched down.
"Get out."
Old Chen was just about to turn and urge him on when he saw Gao Jian shoot out of the car like a rocket and sprint toward the helicopter. He hardly needed a reminder.
Under Old Chen's somewhat worried gaze, Gao Jian opened the helicopter's cabin door and climbed straight inside.
The helicopter rose without hesitation. In little more than ten seconds, the police helicopter had become a tiny black dot against Houston's skyline.
Seeing this, Old Chen picked up the radio. "Consul General, Gao Jian has boarded that police helicopter Elon Musk arranged. Is this guy reliable?"
"Trust our friend, the world's richest man. Drive around for a bit, then come back. Don't worry about being stopped."
"All right."
The white car lingered for a moment longer, then reversed and headed back onto the road, disappearing into the night.
Up in the night sky.
The helicopter climbed rapidly. The urban sprawl below soon blurred into patches of color, everything shrinking swiftly amid the roar of the rotors. Houston's lights glittered to the southeast, while the plains to the north lay in utter darkness, broken only by the occasional private car tracing a thin line of light along the freeway.
Gao Jian deftly buckled his seat belt and looked at the silent helicopter pilot. With a relaxed expression, he asked, "What should I call you, friend?"
The pilot turned his head stiffly.
Gao Jian got a clear look at his face, and his heart jolted.
"Colonel Robert? What are you doing here?"
Realizing that the man before him was actually the commander of the Moon Landing Crew, Gao Jian was stunned. But he soon noticed something wrong.
He couldn't sense his Heart-Binding Curse on Robert.
Before you continue