Dragon Group base, three-story wooden building.
Yang Tianhai sat upright in a rosewood grandmaster's chair. The golden dragon embroidery on the cuffs of his black brocade robe swayed faintly with his breathing, as though it would break free of the fabric and soar into the sky the next second.
His fingers unconsciously stroked the Taotie pattern on the armrest. In his ears came his subordinate's low but crystal-clear report, every word like an ice-tempered steel needle piercing this seemingly tranquil wooden building.
"The Knights of the Round Table from Country Y exchanged fire with the Azure Dragon Squad at a farmhouse on the outskirts of Magic City last night."
There was barely concealed urgency in his subordinate's voice as his fingers slid across the holographic map on the tablet. The trails of red and blue points clashing were still flashing.
"The battle lasted twenty-seven minutes. We lost two team members, and three were severely wounded.
The enemy left behind three corpses wearing silver-white inner armor. Seven fled under cover of darkness and disappeared into the suburban shelterbelt.
Captain Qiao Feng has established three cordon lines at the scene. The Black Armor Group experts we dispatched arrived ten minutes ago and are currently conducting a dragnet search alongside the Magic City Municipal Bureau's Criminal Investigation Division and Armed Police mobile units.
The drone squad has already taken off. Thermal imagers are scanning the entire forest."
Yang Tianhai's knuckles suddenly tightened, and the nanmu armrest gave a faint crack.
Before he could speak, another urgent transmission connected to the room's Holographic Projection. The screen displayed real-time footage from a southwestern border outpost.
The black tactical helicopters of Country M's Titan Force hovered above a canyon near the border. The skull-and-crossed-battle-axes insignia painted on their fuselages was especially glaring in the morning light.