Impossible to Disentangle

At 9:00 p.m., Spring City time, a briefing on the Cixin Hospital robbery was held at the Spring City Military-Police Joint Defense Center. As an important provider of clues, a senior officer in the Field Army Special Forces, and partly a guest, Meng Tu was allowed to attend the meeting and obtained the full set of intelligence materials.

At this point, more than half of his objective had already been accomplished. Just as he was considering whether to speak with his immediate superior, Tian Bang, someone from the seated attendees nearby greeted him. He turned and saw a familiar face.

"Major Chen—no, Lieutenant Colonel Chen. Congratulations."

Lieutenant Colonel Chen, who had taken the initiative to greet him, was the commander of the forward supply base where the expedition team had stayed when it first arrived in Spring City. Half a year ago, he had still been a major. Now he had risen one rank, and he was not yet fifty. Even within the Close Defense Force system, that was worth celebrating.

Lieutenant Colonel Chen had a good temperament and an easygoing personality. He was the smooth, tactful sort and knew how to keep a conversation going. He knew that while greeting Meng Tu was fine, there was not much for them to discuss, so he decisively introduced someone else. "Senior Colonel Meng, this is Spring City's military hero, Captain Chou Wei..."

Meng Tu had been wondering who the man beside him was, already in the conference room yet still wearing sunglasses. At those words, he immediately understood. He rose, saluted, and extended his hand. The other man moved almost in sync, and their hands clasped.

"Captain Chou—no, I should call you Junior Chou. I was a trainee in the Burners Third Cohort, so I should be one class ahead of