First-Class Security

Bai Ran serves as team leader at the IS special services division of a well-known international private military and security company, responsible for the daily life and travel security of politicians and dignitaries across multiple Asian countries. In the industry he is known as the "Eagle of Asia" and, together with a colleague, as the "Twin Shields of Asia." An unexplained frame-up costs him his original identity and platform; under the alias Li Qi, he returns to the domestic city of Tinghai and starts from the most ordinary grassroots security guard job, secretly investigating the mastermind behind his downfall. After leaving IS, he has neither high-tech equipment nor logistics and intelligence support, and can rely only on risk-assessment instincts, observation, and interpersonal judgment honed over years of training as he maneuvers through petty posts in property management, bodyguarding, and field work. Meanwhile, with the opening of the Chinese market, international master thieves, violent organizations, and professional assassin groups all set their sights on this "new business opportunity," while domestic security companies are outwardly strong but inwardly weak, riddled with nepotism and hollow in technology, facing unprecedented challenges. The novel advances through episodic events such as kidnapping cases, escort missions, infiltration reconnaissance, and counterterrorism operations, depicting the protagonist switching back and forth between everyday city life and the gray zone: on one hand handling neighborhood disputes, paparazzi stalking, and celebrity protection, on the other confronting international theft rings and mercenary forces head-on. With a concise, restrained style, tight pacing, and abundant industry detail, the book presents the real logic and risks of security work—a profession "above ordinary people, below spycraft"—and also writes of the rebuilding of teamwork, friendship, and trust amid interests and frame-ups. The work finished serialization on Qidian Chinese Network in 2013, totaling about 1.82 million characters.