Kilian Shazabi, the youngest true disciple of the Spirit Research Society's third generation, whose religious name was "Fish Intestine," sat in the passenger seat of a well-appointed SUV, dressed in a finely tailored tweed coat. Using the specially reinforced window for cover, he watched the alley across the street while washing down a red bean bun with hot coffee.
In his clothes and manner, he was the very picture of an undercover detective conducting surveillance. But with a baby face that made him look a few years younger than he really was, he seemed more like an exceptionally precocious middle schooler playing detective.
Of course, even if someone did notice him, they would never guess that this teenager, who looked no older than sixteen or seventeen, was actually a prodigy who had graduated early through an accelerated program from the Empire's renowned Saint Su Luo Medical University. He had also passed the Blue Star Commonwealth's civil service exam and was now serving as a third secretary in the Presidential Palace.
They would be even less likely to imagine that beneath his elegant tweed coat, he was wearing a close-fitting protective suit and carrying a multipurpose special-operations pistol and two collapsible, detachable psychokinetic blades.
There was no helping it. Though both jobs involved being a secretary, a Presidential Palace secretary differed in certain small ways from a coal tycoon's secretary. The president's secretaries could be seconded to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Joint Security Committee as special commissioners, intervening in—or even directly commanding—certain internal security operations. Leading a group of secret police in ambushes, infiltrations, surprise attacks, or even forced entries was perfectly reasonable.
And that was exactly what Kilian Shazabi was here to do.
The location was near the plaza outside the Beishan District light-rail station, on the