𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐡

❝code twenty-five❞

February 1, 2:23 PM

BLACK SPADES' SUBMARINE

"Everyone here?" Ruibin asked, looking around. It was the first time the Spades are out together. All of them.

"Bu Fan and the others are not here yet," Zhengting says.

"And my brother..." Yuqin trailed off as Zeren squeezes her shoulders.

The door squeak opened as it revealed Lou Zibo, Qin Fen, Han Ruiying, Bu Fan and three other people who the group doesn't recognize.

Xiao Gui stands up from the couch, "Is that...?"

Qin Fen nods, "This is Yongguk. Zhenya's real brother."

"And this is Kenta and Yuriko," Ruiying adds, pointing at the two. "They're on our side."

Mingjun nods, "So is this Youngmin guy!"

Justin suddenly pops up from beside Yongguk and eyed him fromt head to toe. "Hmm, I don't see the resemblance."

Yongguk rolled his eyes and pushed Justin's face out of the way, "And I don't like to see you."

Bu Fan walked in the middle of the room, "What's our status?"

Xikan leans on the wall, "We know Zhenya's with the Knights."

"And the Emeralds and Rubies are nowhere to be found ever since the blow up." Zhenghao shares which he later regretted since Xiao Gui was glaring at him.

"Blow up?" Qin Fen asks, thinking he was hearing things. "What blow up?"

"It's a—" Xiao Gui's sentence was cut off when Zhangjing spoke.

Zhangjing tilts his head, "Xiao Gui blew up the Serpents' HQ."

"WHAT?!!!" Bu Fan shouts and Yuqin thought the submarine shook for a few seconds. "How could you do that, Wang Linkai?"

Xiao Gui sent Zhangjing a mean look. "Nice going, loser." He suddenly faced a furious Bu Fan. "Listen... Ge... at least I saved them."

Ruibin comes into Xiao Gui's defense, "Look if Xiao Gui didn't blow up the place we'd be hostages."

"Ruibin's right," Ziyang also comes to back him up. "And we can't risk fighting them without knowing where you guys are."

Bu Fan sighs as Kenta speaks up, "I think they're right to blow up the place. It'd be a mess if you fight with the Emeralds and Rubies."

Yuriko nods, agreeing with him. "It may not be obvious but the Rubies and Emeralds love to fight and they'll eliminate those who stand in their way."

Xiao Gun scratches the back of his head. He smiled at the thought that even the enemy agrees with him.

Qin Fen was furious as well but there were bigger things to worry about, "Let's just talk about this after we take Zhenya back."

"If we take her back.." Dinghao whispers, on the verge of tears. "She went with Kang Daniel right??!"

"We don't know that." Zibo assures him. "She might be acting,"

"I doubt it." Bu Fan shares, "She pointed a gun at me. She never does that to a fellow member."

"Maybe she needed to make it believable?" Li Rang asks, understanding the situation the recent group had encountered.

"Still, we need to find a way to save her." Xukun says, earning everyone's attention. "We can't just sit here and wait for her to come back."

Linong looks at Yongguk who was quiet. He knows everyone is thinking the same thing, so he asked first. "I'm curious. If you're really Zhenya's brother, where were you all these years?"

Dongdong rested his chin on his hands, "You know, I've been thinking the same thing."

"I got captured because I betrayed the Knights." Yongguk flatly explains. "I was in a cell for two years. I couldn't get a hold of her."

"Y-you betrayed the Knights?" Ling Chao asks.

And the interrogation for Yongguk started.

He explained that whatever Kang Daniel told Zhenya earlier was a lie. None of it happened except for the part where his parents made the syrum and Yuriko's mother died.

The truth was— Daniel's father got obsessed with the syrum. He was the one who stole the syrum and when he finally did, Yuriko's mother intercepted him so he had no choice but to kill her.

Kenta's father found her that night and he died in his arms. Which is why Kenta is so protective when it comes to Yuriko. He wasn't in favor of her being in the front lines but Yuriko showed him she can handle it.

Daniel's father was also the one who framed their parents, killing them afterwards. Yongguk had no choice but to flee and save his sister. They arrived at Ruiying's place with the remaining syrum.

"Hold on." Xingjie stands up. "If you took the syrum to Ruiying's doesn't that mean that we have the syrum?"

Yongguk and Ruiying looked at each other, as the woman decided to answer the question. "My dad destroyed it. He realized how dangerous it is. He saw what the syrum did to his friends and he didn't want it to happen to me— to us."

"That's why he made the Black Spades." Bu Fan adds, "When all of us moved back to China. He established the group because he wanted to form a family that could protect each other."

"When they moved, I left Zhenya with them but I also injected her with a memory syrum..." Yongguk trails off. "I don't want to let her remember the pain it felt losing a family. I know it was wrong of me but I did that to protect her."

The group was quiet. They were slowly understanding and taking in everything Yongguk said— all at once.

"Hey..." Shengen says, "If the syrum is destroyed and there aren't any left, what happens to Zhenya?"

Ziyi looks out the window, "You're right. If Kang Daniel finds out..."

"He won't." Kenta spoke up for the first time. He looked at the group. "Besides, there's still one syrum left."

Yuriko nods, getting the idea as she says a name— unfamiliar to any of them. "Tsurubo Shion."

"And I know exactly how to use him," Kenta looks at Yongguk. "And save Zhenya in between."

Youngmin stands up stretching his body, "I like your plan."

"We haven't even heard it yet!" Yanjun argues.

"Yes, but this Takada Kenta you're facing. He's a mastermind."

"So this is how it goes," Yongguk interjects, as he stands in the middle. "Zhenya is safe as long as none of us does something irrational."

Not even a minute after Yongguk said that, someone came rushing inside the room. Everyone turned their heads and spotted Wenjun and Yanchen panting.

"It's... it's Xinchun." Wenjun says in between his breaths. "He's— he's been taken!"