Chapter 4

But I couldn't figure out when she'd started impersonating Thea.

Three years ago, Thea went missing. Of the four undercover agents the organization had planted in the drug trafficking syndicate, all died except Thea.

At that time, everyone thought Thea must have met with disaster too.

Without hesitation, I applied to become the new undercover agent. Three months later, following the organization's arrangements, I connected with one of the leaders and made contact with the criminal organization. That's when I saw Thea.

She was tied up in a water dungeon. You could tell it was her, but her body was rotting beyond recognition.

The leader smiled and told me, "We probably made a mistake. The boss suspected she was a cop, but no cop could last six months with us without talking."

Besides fear, I didn't dare show any other emotion.

In that brief glance, our eyes met for just a moment.

She was in terrible pain, but her eyes were bright and resilient.

She mouthed the words: "Tree of Vengeance."

In that instant, I nearly broke down in tears.

She'd withstood torture we thought no one could endure.

I was certain that Thea at that time was still Thea.

Later she was released. One of the leaders was a pervert who liked Thea's scars and kept her by his side.

The two of us exchanged information through our unspoken understanding and formulated plans. Not only did she never betray me, she saved my life several times.

So the Thea during that period should have been the real Thea too, right?

When exactly did she get replaced? I wracked my brain but couldn't find any leads.

"Hernandez, your custom snow globe should be ready soon."

"Let's book the earliest flight and go home as soon as we pick it up."

The Thea before me suggested going home again, and this time I had no reason to delay.

I could only make an excuse about having a stomachache, asking her to wait while I went to the bathroom alone.

Then I had my colleagues send me all the communication records between Thea and me during our undercover operation.

We'd pretended not to know each other. All our communications used coded symbols, exchanging information under a safe, inconspicuous tree.

Now all this information had been preserved. I needed to read it word by word, looking for any trace of inconsistency in phrasing or other details to determine when Thea had been replaced.

But I read through it again and again—the Thea outside was getting impatient—and I found nothing unusual.

"Hernandez, if your stomach really hurts that bad, I'm going to get you medicine!"

"If we delay any longer, we'll miss tonight's flight."

Her urging voice came again.

A chill ran through me as I suddenly realized an overlooked problem.

What was the point of her impersonating Thea?