After a restless night on the sofa, which was not really big enough for two people, and dreams in which the nightmarish images of the dead in the villa had crept in, as well as reliving how Isla Isari died, Zhan woke up in a cold sweat, breathing quickly and heavily. Yibo was already awake and sitting on the other side of the sofa, wrapped in his blanket. "Uh, good morning." Zhan said slowly as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes, tired and dazed.

"Mhm. Sure." Yibo replied absent-mindedly.

"What's going on? Have you been having nightmares too?"

"That and the fact that you pushed me off the sofa three times and I ended up on the hard floor. After the third time, I just sat there. I was afraid that the next time you would kick me so hard that I would be thrown against the table."

Zhan laughed. "I pushed you off the sofa?"

"Yes you did! Every time I reached the deep sleep stage, you just wiped me off the sofa with your legs and I smacked the floor!"

Zhan laughed even harder. Tears formed in his eyes. "Oh god... hahaha... I'm... hahaha... sorry... hahaha."

"Yes, you can laugh. It's not like you suddenly woke up when you realized there was nothing underneath you and then slapped the floor." Yibo tried to remain serious. But he didn't really succeed. And finally they both laughed and Yibo added with a laugh: "Next time we'll be lying together so that I can hold on to you!"

"Whatever you want. It's fine with me." Zhan replied and had to reach for a handkerchief because his eyes were watering so much. Of course, Yibo had to believe that Zhan was crying with laughter. But Zhan knew that he was also crying because his heart felt so heavy after what they had experienced in the villa. He couldn't and didn't even want to imagine how Isko must be feeling after witnessing everything.

After a few minutes, they stopped laughing. Zhan's eyes were still watering and he couldn't help it. Yibo now seemed to realize why Zhan's eyes were really watering. He slid close to Zhan, wrapped his arms around him and Zhan began to cry. And seeing Zhan, the man he had fallen in love with, cry made Yibo cry too. He blamed himself for the fact that Zhan, his -not yet- boyfriend was crying. Because if it hadn't been him and his colleagues who dragged Zhan into their mission, he would never have had to experience something like this. And so, after their fit of laughter, they cried arm in arm for a few minutes until they calmed down again.

They both found it difficult to break their embrace, but they could no longer hold each other in their arms as there was a knock on the door. Almost at the same moment, they both remembered that Wen Rouhan had actually wanted to come. But would he knock? He had the spare key to Zhan's apartment door. They both got up from the table, wiped their faces with handkerchiefs and went to the door. Zhan looked through the peephole and recognized Agent Lee.

Zhan opened the door and let Agent Lee in, who immediately went into the living room and simply threw the two blankets next to the sofa. "So I'm here because I'm here to pick you up. We have to go to the agency. There's going to be a special meeting. The director wants to see all the agents and Xiao Zhan."

"You could have told me that on the phone. Then I would have come with Zhan." Yibo said as he neatly folded the blankets and put them in an armchair.

"Yes, I know. But since you obviously switched off your cell phone, we couldn't reach you. And Xiao Zhan's cell phone is probably on silent, because we couldn't reach him either. We were worried about you. So I came here to check on you and to take you with me."

"As usual, I switched off my work phone at 10 PM and wanted to switch it on at 8 AM. Now it's 7:17 AM." Yibo replied.

"The meeting starts at 8:30 AM."

"I'm still in favor of Zhan and I driving ourselves. To keep up pretenses, we still have to go to his office today and he has to work. If you drive us, you'd have to take us to the office and then pick us up later and take us home." Yibo explained.

"Then we'll do it like this today. We'll check Xiao Zhan's car later and remove the GPS tracker. And we'll check your car too. Since you've always been seen together recently, we want to make sure that there isn't a GPS tracker on your car too. Now get ready so we can get going."

"I have a few questions. Why doesn't anyone actually ask me if I agree? My agreement to help you doesn't mean I'll jump as soon as you call! I have a business to run and I can't afford to lose customers. And besides, why do you want to check our cars today? That woman is dead! Her driver is dead! And so they're no longer following my every move. And I wonder why the mission hasn't been completed yet? With the death of this woman, it should be over, right?" Zhan asked.

"The mission won't end until all the investigations have been completed! Apart from that, the Dark Purple Rose mission is far from over. And when the director calls a meeting, everyone has to show up. All agents and civilian employees. Immediately and without complaining. After all, you will receive compensation from us and even a salary. As far as the mission is concerned, it never ends immediately with the death of the target or the arrest. There are even more points to be gained. Because we have to find out who this Pete Kapajewski is and why he killed Mrs. Isari. We're also feverishly searching for a certain memory medium that you two supposedly know nothing about. And of course Isko doesn't know anything about it either, does he?" Agent Lee replied maliciously.

Zhan wanted to reply angrily, but Yibo stopped him and told him that there was no point in arguing and that they should get ready and then accompany Agent Lee. Zhan gave in, went to the bathroom and showered faster than ever before in his life, knowing that Yibo also had to shower. He then got dressed and when Yibo was ready, they set off for the agency with Agent Lee.

Nervous before the first meeting with so many agents, Zhan didn't pay any attention to the route they took to the agency. His eyes had been on the sky almost the whole time. It was raining lightly and the thick gray clouds didn't look like they were going to go away today. They were stuck up there in the sky and didn't seem to move an inch. And somehow the weather reflected Zhan's mood, just as it had the night before.

When they reached the agency, Zhan walked slowly behind Agent Lee and Yibo. He looked around to all sides, but was disappointed at the sight. Everything looked like a normal office. Agents at computers were busily typing on their keyboards, making phone calls or reading papers. Two agents were standing at a vending machine buying coffee. Three agents were standing together looking at tables on a sheet of paper and talking about them. Everything looked old and cold. The bare walls, where you could see the concrete because there was no wallpaper or paint, reminded Zhan of a school trip when his class visited a former prison and they looked at the prison cells. They looked exactly like the walls in the agency.

Zhan's astonishment at the poor state of the agency continued. Because when he entered the conference room, he couldn't believe what he saw. Here, too, the walls were bare, except for a few pictures of the country's president and a few pictures of some men Zhan didn't know. In the middle of the room, a long table had been made from many small tables. Simple and old chairs stood at the long table and stacked against one wall. Bare neon lamps hung from the ceiling, not all of whose tubes worked. Some didn't work at all and others flickered.

"Have we traveled back to the 80s?" Zhan asked, mumbling to himself as he sat down at the table next to Yibo.

"What did you say?" Yibo asked, looking out for his colleague Jackson Wang and excited to see how Zhan reacted to him.

"I wonder if the government doesn't like you?" Zhan replied without repeating what he had asked before.

"Why?" Yibo asked, confused.

Zhan looked around demonstratively and said: "It looks terrible here. Can't you even afford some decent tables and chairs? Or at least some paint for the walls?"

"The money goes towards our missions. Every cent that comes in here is used to equip us with the latest technical equipment." Yibo explained.

"I can understand Xiao Zhan's shock." Said someone behind them. Yibo turned around and grinned. It was Jackson Wang.

Zhan also turned to him, smiled, stood up and shook his hand. "Hello and thank you for your approval. I'm Xiao Zhan." Said Zhan, not letting it show how excited he was about meeting Jackson Wang, THE Jackson Wang.

Jackson Wang smiled. "Ah, finally we meet. How do you do, Zhan? I'm allowed to say Zhan, right?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Yay. And tell me, is it true that you're a fan of Yibo and that's why you're helping us?"

"Um, yes. But not just because of Yibo."

"That's clear. What do you actually think of me? Are you a fan of mine too?"

"Sure. I like your music and stuff."

"But not as much as you like Yibo's music or?"

"Well, he has a lot of talents and is a very fascinating person in his own right."

"Oh yes, that's true. I envy that about him. He learns new things in no time at all that would take me months, if not years, to learn."

"He's just super."

"Yes, he is." Jackson Wang sat down in the empty seat next to Zhan and asked: "Have you been able to process yesterday's horror a little?"

"Not really. I'm sure it will take some time." Zhan said thoughtfully.

"Yes, probably. And you Yibo?" He wanted to know from Yibo.

"I wish I could say that I didn't mind and that I'm fine. But honestly, it was a nightmare. I agree with Zhan that it will take some time to get over it." Replied Yibo.

"I couldn't just shake it off and pretend nothing happened either. Um, where's our team leader, Agent Nax? The director is already standing in the doorway and she's still nowhere to be seen." Said Jackson Wang. Zhan and Yibo also turned to the door and then to each other. What was the meaning of this?

The director entered the conference room, threw a thick file on the table and waited until the door was closed before he began to speak. "Good morning. I've called a special meeting because we have new orders. The death of Isla Isari does not close the file, because the investigation is still ongoing. But our bosses at the top have decided that we no longer need a special unit. This means that the teams will be disbanded. All teams, except Team 4, are no longer responsible for the case. You can go to your team leaders and you'll be assigned new tasks and missions." The agents stood up, some of them looking visibly relieved, and hurriedly left the conference room. Only Agent Lee, Jackson Wang, Yibo and Zhan remained.

Are they the entire team? Where is Agent Nax? And where are the others from the team?