66: Chapter 66: If Hard Tactics Don't Work, Try Soft Tactics
Chameleon kicked open the hotel door, his delivery uniform shredded and his face marked with bloody gashes. As soon as he entered the room, he leaned against the wall, panting heavily.
Rhino was wiping his dagger. Looking up at his miserable state, he chuckled. "What happened? Chased off by the city inspectors? Were you delivering food or delivering your life?"
"Shut up!" Chameleon glared at him, his voice incredibly raspy. "You guys have no idea what kind of thing I ran into."
Everyone in the room turned their attention toward him.
Snake Eye emerged from a corner, his expression unreadable as he stared at him. "Speak."
Chameleon caught his breath and grabbed a water bottle from the table, draining half of it. "I disguised myself as a delivery guy and rushed toward the construction site, trying to get a closer look. The young security guard came to stop me—no problem there. But the old one, our target... something was wrong with him."
"What kind of problem?" Witch asked. She had already pulled up the final footage transmitted from the camera on Chameleon's person.
"His eyes," Chameleon recalled, still feeling uneasy. "I made up a fake address, and he immediately heard the problem, saying I'd ridden the bike from the opposite direction. With just one sentence, I knew I was exposed."
Rhino snorted. "A security guard with eyes that sharp? Were you just too nervous?"
"I wasn't nervous!" Chameleon's voice rose. "I've spent my whole life playing mind games with people. I can tell at a glance who's faking and who's real. That man... that gaze of his could see right through the thoughts in my head. The moment I moved, he moved too."
He held out his wrist, showing a faint red mark circling it.
"My 'Viper's Kiss' technique involves three instant transitions; the blade never leaves the throat. The result? He just raised his hand, and my knife felt like it had stabbed into a glob of glue—soft and sticky. I couldn't exert any force at all."
Rhino's expression changed. He knew Chameleon's skills; no one in this group could claim they'd definitely win against him in close-quarters combat. For him to say such a thing, what kind of monster was the opponent?
Chameleon continued, "I wanted to retreat right then, so I threw my other hand at his face. But the hand gripping my wrist suddenly... vibrated. Just once, and half my body went numb instantly, like I'd been electrocuted. I've never encountered anything like it! It wasn't a device, wasn't a stun baton, it was... a surge of energy that shot out from his own body!"
The room fell silent.
Witch played the final piece of blurry footage. The image shook violently; all that could be seen was a shadow using a strange posture to entangle Chameleon's hand before the screen went black.
"I looked at the sensor data," Witch's voice also sounded strange. "When he vibrated your wrist, the sensor recorded an energy reaction we've never seen before. The frequency was ridiculously high. Our system can't analyze what it is; it's not any known martial art or weapon. The impact was too strong, and the subsequent data was corrupted."
Snake Eye remained silent, walking to the window to look out at the city lights.
He connected the dots in his mind. The Oasis in the desert, unidentifiable energy, the young girl with no background behind this massive project, and now a monster security guard. Everything tied together was becoming increasingly bizarre.
In his previous missions, his opponents were either people or things. People had weaknesses—greed, fear, desire. Things followed physical rules. There was always a way in.
But this time, what was he facing?
An unheard-of new technology? Or some kind of biological modification he didn't understand at all?
"Boss, what do we do?" Rhino stopped joking. "These guards are monsters; a frontal assault is suicide. How about I find a chance to snipe one from two kilometers away? If we can't get a live one, bringing back a corpse for research works too."
"No," Snake Eye rejected immediately.
"Why?"
"We're completely in the dark about them." He turned around. "We don't know how many there are, and we don't know the extent of their capabilities. Opening fire now will only blow things out of proportion. The Xia Country side would surely lock that place down tight, making it even harder for us to get close."
He paused, then continued, "Besides, haven't you thought about it? That guard only chased Chameleon off; he didn't pursue or use lethal force. What does that tell you?"
Witch was quick to react. "It means their primary mission is to guard that place, not to kill. They have rules."
"Correct." Snake Eye nodded. "This is a closed circle with its own rules. Trying to break it from the outside with brute force is the worst possible strategy."
His fingers tapped lightly on the windowpane.
"Since we can't fight our way in from the outside, we'll find a way from within."
Everyone looked at him.
"No matter how perfect a system is, it must have a weakness inside." Snake Eye's expression turned cold again. "These people still have to eat and deal with the outside world. The project also needs countless ordinary people to work on it. Workers, suppliers, local officials... these people are the vulnerabilities."
He looked at Witch. "Stop focusing on those 'super guards.' Spread all our operatives out to infiltrate the project's supply chain and approval processes. I want to know what they need every day, where it's shipped from, and whose hands it passes through. For every local official involved in this project, dig up their backgrounds, their families, and their finances. See who has a crack in their armor."
"Boss, you mean... we corrupt them?"
Snake Eye let out a cold laugh. "If a lion can't bite through a turtle's shell, it waits—waits for the turtle to stick its own head out."
He walked to Witch's computer and pointed at the Donghai City relationship network on the screen.
"This project was assigned directly from above; the local government is just cooperating. This kind of cooperation can't possibly be without friction. There are bound to be people who are unhappy, people who feel they've lost out, and people who... are short on cash."
His fingertip finally landed on a name—a deputy director in the planning department. The files said his son's overseas education was expensive and he himself had recently lost a large sum in Macau.
"Witch, initiate Project Seagull." Snake Eye's voice was very soft. "Let this Director Wu give us a little help."
"Yes."
A war without gunpowder had begun on the other side of Donghai City.
...
Inside the command center.
Director Zhao Lixin's face darkened as he read Dongfang Shuo's report.
"You're saying a top-tier foreign agent reached the edge of our core positions, engaged you, and you let him escape?"
Dongfang Shuo lowered his head, his face flushed with shame. "Yes, Director Zhao, I failed in my duty. I didn't expect him to be so slippery. He ran as soon as he struck; we didn't have time to surround him."
"This isn't your fault," a voice came from the side.
Jiang Ning walked over from the sand table, scanned the report, and looked at the confiscated dagger.
"This kind of person has received the highest level of training. If they are determined to run, you won't catch them," she said to Dongfang Shuo. "You held your position and didn't let him take another step forward. The mission is considered a success."
Hearing this, Dongfang Shuo finally felt at ease, and his admiration for Jiang Ning grew even more.
Director Zhao Lixin was still worried. "Engineer Jiang, this was only the first attempt to test the waters. Since they failed this time, the next people they send will only be more devious and harder to deal with. We are in the light while they are in the dark. How do we defend against that? Should I apply to mobilize a special operations regiment to seal the construction site off completely?"
"No need." Jiang Ning shook her head, her tone as calm as ever.
"How can that be! What if they use bombs, or long-range weapons..." Director Zhao grew anxious.
"Ordinary people fight wars based on numbers and firepower. But here, the rules are different." Jiang Ning pointed at the sand table. "This net will be complete in two more days. By then, the entirety of Donghai City will be under my watch. Anyone with a guilty conscience or abnormal mental state will be like a bright fire in the dark to me—they won't be able to hide."
She paused, then said something that stunned both Director Zhao Lixin and Dongfang Shuo.
"You don't need to go looking for them. Let them come."
"Let them come?" Director Zhao didn't understand.
"This great net can facilitate construction and provide defense, but it is also a ready-made trap." Jiang Ning looked at the points of light on the sand table, her tone flat yet brooks no argument.
"I'd like to see just what kind of trouble these few flies can stir up."