The Technical Consultant on an Outside Assignment

The barren ridges and rocky hills were swept by fierce winds, kicking up clouds of yellow dust. The scorching July sun beat down on the desolate, treeless slopes. Below the hills, on a makeshift dirt and gravel road, a convoy of heavily armed off-road vehicles sped past. The thick armor plating bolted to their hulls gave them a curb weight unreachable by civilian vehicles, ensuring that even on the pitted, uneven road, there was little sense of turbulence.

"Saber," a major in the Spear Bureau Special Task Force wearing desert camouflage, leaned against the back of the passenger seat, his eyes locked onto Xiang Qian in the back seat through the rearview mirror.

Even though the temperature inside the cabin had climbed past thirty degrees, Saber still wore a grey, metallic tactical mask that obscured most of his face. Only his exposed eyes betrayed the fact that the major was in a foul mood, and the culprit behind his sour disposition was, naturally, the man dozing off in the back seat: Xiang Qian.

Saber was an undisputed elite of the Spear Bureau Special Task Force, an all-around ace on the battlefield. He served in the bureau's most classified, best-supported, and most lethal special operations unit. As a special warfare expert, he had always been the tip of the spear in any operation, yet this time, because of Xiang Qian, he had been forced to abandon his frontline combat duties to grumble his way through a bodyguard assignment.

Unfortunately, the primary source of Saber's misery remained oblivious to his bodyguard's internal turmoil. Shortly after getting into the vehicle, Xiang Qian had closed his eyes to nap. His tinted, non-prescription goggles shielded his eyes, and judging by the rhythmic bobbing of his head, his sleep quality seemed quite excellent.

Saber felt as though his lifelong supply of patience was being drained by Xiang Qian's bobbing head. He reached toward the back seat and hammered the window next to Xiang Qian's head several times. The "clang-clang" of the window didn't wake Xiang Qian, but it did startle the young woman sitting on the other side of the back seat.

"What are you doing?" The young woman, sporting a crisp, professional short haircut, shot Saber a glare of intense dissatisfaction before returning her focus to the stack of documents in her hands.

It was a long moment after the knocking stopped before Xiang Qian slowly lifted his head. He opened his eyes, scanned the cabin, stretched as comfortably as if he had just woken from a pleasant dream, and asked in a muddled voice, "Are we there?"

"Not even close!" Saber retorted irritably. "You certainly sleep soundly; you aren't picky about your location at all."

Xiang Qian didn't mind Saber's cold face. With a look of indifference, he countered, "Isn't it said that a good soldier is one who can sleep on the battlefield?"

"Cleaning up a bunch of cowards hiding in a cave isn't a real battlefield. Do they even deserve that title?" Saber sneered contemptuously. "Besides, you're just a technical consultant, not a soldier."

Saber's disdainful gaze and biting tone were heavy with provocation, yet Xiang Qian's expression remained entirely unruffled. He spoke in that same detached tone: "According to you, this joint counter-terrorism operation should have concluded successfully twenty-six hours ago. Why are you still being dragged out here, and why did the higher-ups send me on this trip specifically?"

"That's not our problem!" Saber slapped the car door, drawing an annoyed eye-roll from the driver. "The issue lies with the Tajik military, not us."

Xiang Qian nodded noncommittally, though his perfunctory expression showed no sign of agreement. "Since this is a joint operation, the Tajik military is our ally. If our allies have a problem they can't solve, it will inevitably become our problem—and I am here specifically to solve problems."

Saber stared daggers at the expressionless Xiang Qian in the rearview mirror, his gaze terrifying, as if he wanted to devour him. Xiang Qian's detached expression combined with that matter-of-fact tone—"You have a problem, I'm here to solve it"—was enough for even the dullest person to hear the mockery in his words. It was a verbal counterattack against Saber: light, effortless, yet piercing straight to the heart.

Watching Saber get shut down to the point of near-combustion, the young woman in the back seat who had been processing documents rolled her eyes internally. She was feeling annoyed not just with Xiang Qian, but with Saber as well.

Anyone in the Spear Bureau who had worked with Xiang Qian—from R&D to logistics, from command to frontline special ops—knew that this man was a living hedgehog who pricked anyone he touched. Saber, a brute who relied more on his fists than his brain, actually dared to trade barbs with him? Wasn't that just like trying to grab a hedgehog with bare hands, practically begging to be pricked?

Seeing the atmosphere in the cabin grow increasingly awkward—mostly due to Saber—the young agent "Vector" had to speak up to shift the focus. "We have the latest intel from the front. We've confirmed the final hiding place of the Ten Rings members. They've established an operational base relying on a local underground cavern, and they've dug tunnels to construct a very complex subterranean space. We've confirmed over a hundred Ten Rings members have entered the cave, including peripheral members."

"The operation has been delayed by twenty-six hours, and this is all the progress you have on the intel?" Xiang Qian wore an expression that suggested, Are you hiding more from me? It made Vector's internal eye-rolling speed double.

"The underground cavern there is extremely complex. It contains both natural formations and shelters built by locals to escape war throughout history. Combined with the tunnels the Ten Rings have recently dug, even the locals can't explain the full layout underground. Reconnaissance is very difficult. To determine the general location of the Ten Rings, we've already suffered over a dozen local guide casualties. Furthermore, for various reasons, many locals are unwilling to work for the authorities, and even the local police force, which is composed mostly of locals, has refused orders multiple times."

Vector patiently explained the situation to Xiang Qian, but in reality, Xiang Qian hadn't taken in a word, as he already knew these details by heart. Through the data he had organized on the Memory Planet, he had essentially reconstructed the full picture of the current situation at the front, even more meticulously than what Vector had reported. Xiang Qian's attention was actually on something else.

"Has the leader of the Ten Rings in the area been identified?" Xiang Qian asked, seemingly casually.

"Frontline troops haven't made contact with him yet, but based on the descriptions from locals who have encountered him, there is an 80% probability that it is Temugin, the son of the Mandarin."

"That's a big fish." Xiang Qian's pupils constricted slightly at the mention of the "Mandarin" before returning to normal. "Is the Bureau planning to use him to bait the Mandarin?"

"I don't know if the Bureau has further plans, but..." Vector's tone was hesitant. "This Temugin only appeared in the Ten Rings leadership in the last five or six years. All the information collected suggests he is the Mandarin's son, but we've never obtained concrete evidence to confirm it. We can't be certain of his true relationship with the Mandarin."

"It's fine. Once we catch him, we'll have plenty of time to ask," Xiang Qian said in his usual detached tone. Only those familiar with him could detect the thick murderous intent hidden beneath.

The off-road vehicle sped all the way to their destination—a field camp located in a mountainous region.

Xiang Qian got out and looked around, suddenly realizing something was missing. He turned to ask Vector, who was exiting the other side. "Where is your captain?"

"The Sky Team has been guarding the front. The Ten Rings have tried to break out several times, and the frontline Tajik troops are struggling to hold them back." Vector looked toward the center of the camp, where seven or eight officers in different uniforms were walking toward them. "The militaries of the various countries participating in the joint operation have sent people to welcome you. You have quite a lot of clout."

Xiang Qian looked disdainful. "What good is clout? Can you eat it? How do I make them understand that when I sell weapons, I never give discounts for the sake of clout?"

"Clout is given by others and lost by oneself. If people give you face, you take it, whether you want it or not." A cold voice rang out behind Xiang Qian.

Xiang Qian's body stiffened involuntarily at the sound. He turned his neck stiffly to look back, and the captain of the Spear Bureau Special Task Force, known to the outside world as the "Weather Witch," was watching him coldly from just a few paces away.

The Weather Witch wore a tight-fitting combat camouflage suit, her figure tall and athletic. She wore a pair of wide, windproof goggles that made it impossible to read her expression, but Xiang Qian had a gut feeling it wasn't a pleasant one.

After responding perfunctorily to Vector and Saber's salutes, the Weather Witch stared at Xiang Qian. "I received orders saying you brought specialized new equipment. What is it, and where is it?"

Xiang Qian took a deep breath, trying to maintain a relaxed tone. "Drones. They're in the sky. Passing through the airspace of several countries on the way here meant the air traffic control procedures took a bit more time." Xiang Qian ducked back into the cabin, pulled out a tablet, and tapped it rapidly. "Oh, they'll be here momentarily."

Xiang Qian held up the tablet screen for the Weather Witch to see, carefully observing her reaction. However, the lower half of her face, which was visible, showed no change. She merely glanced at the screen and turned to greet the approaching officers from various countries.

Watching the Weather Witch's back, Xiang Qian exhaled in relief. Facing that powerful aura was incredibly stressful—a trauma rooted in his childhood.

Vector, standing to the side, was bewildered. Why did it feel like Xiang Qian, that living hedgehog, was acting guilty in front of their captain? She turned to cast a questioning look at her teammate Saber, but Saber only shot Xiang Qian a mocking glance before following the Weather Witch, showing no intention of explaining anything to Vector.