In the director's office at the Spear Bureau, inside an unremarkable office building, far from the bustling center of Hu City, the city's iconic "three highs" were barely visible from the office window.
The office was dim. On the wide-screen LCD mounted on the wall, an interrogation video was playing. The person being interrogated was someone the few people watching were all familiar with: Temugin.
In the footage, Temugin was sprawled on a hospital bed, his chest, abdomen, and legs wrapped in bandages and braces. But he was in high spirits, his face twisted in a snarl as he shouted at the interrogator beyond the camera.
"Our warriors are endless, our faith unshakable. We represent God's will. We are justice on earth. Our cause is bound to succeed..."
"You may be powerful, but with every day, with every second, you're sliding toward the abyss of defeat, while we're marching toward success..."
"You may have caught me, but you'll never find my father. He'll bring you eternal fear. He'll grant you utter defeat..."
Saber, who had been brought back along with Xiang Tian, impatiently shushed. "There's no saving this guy's brain."
"Keep watching!" a cold, authoritative voice came from behind the desk.
In the next part of the interrogation footage, Temugin suddenly mentioned Xiang Qian's name, and Xiang Tian and the others perked up.
"I know that man. He wanted to destroy me, but he couldn't. I know him. He's Xiang Qian. He's in your news every day. They all say he's a genius."
"Too bad I was a little slow to react. I never expected a tech genius to show up on the battlefield. If I'd known, I should've detonated my ring the moment we met and taken your genius to hell with me..."
"He's dead. You must be heartbroken..."
"Go back and tell Xiang Qian this: he took away my honor as a warrior, and he took away my future. But soon, he'll learn what it feels like to have something precious taken from him..."
After Temugin delivered this declaration, he fell silent for a long time.
The footage ended, and the lights came on. Only a handful of people had been watching, including Xiang Tian, Saber, Vector, and the other Special Task Force members who had helped capture Temugin. They gazed at the now-dark screen, turning Temugin's final words over in their minds.
Behind the desk, a middle-aged man rested both elbows on the tabletop, his hands clasped together to cover half his face. He silently watched the few subordinates seated around the desk.
Zheng Xian, the current director of the Spear Bureau, was in his early fifties. He was of average height, with a long, narrow face, thin eyes, and a slightly pointed chin. His features were typical of Northeast Asians.
He looked younger than his actual age. His hair was short and neatly combed, and the corners of his mouth curved faintly upward, giving him a mild, almost smiling expression. But on closer inspection, it was clear there was no smile in his face.
(This description of Zheng Xian's appearance is based on the comic.)
"Our interrogators conducted an emergency interrogation of Temugin. This footage was just sent back from Tajikistan," Zheng Xian explained.
Emergency interrogations were standard practice in the intelligence world. Intelligence was time-sensitive. Once key personnel were captured, you had to get information out of them immediately. If you waited too long, the enemy might sever ties with the prisoner, and any outdated intelligence would be worthless.
Xiang Tian was undoubtedly the most concerned. "The Ten Rings are already targeting Xiang Qian. Can we trust what Temugin said?"
Zheng Xian's voice was as calm as metal. "I sent our best interrogation experts. Their report says Xiang Qian's torture and questioning of Temugin at the start were very professional. They also laid excellent groundwork for the psychological pressure we applied afterward."
As he spoke, Zheng Xian glanced at Saber. Saber rubbed his nose sheepishly and looked away.
"According to the interrogators' analysis, there's a seventy percent chance Temugin was telling the truth."
"But that doesn't make sense. After Temugin was captured, our Special Task Force kept him under guard. He had no chance to contact anyone outside. Even if the Ten Rings are planning to retaliate against Xiang Qian, there's no way he could've found out so quickly," Xiang Tian said, puzzled. "Was he guessing? Or was it just a threat?"
"It may not be retaliation after the fact." Zheng Xian pushed a document across the desk to Xiang Tian. "This is information we received a week ago, before the joint counterterrorism operation began."
Xiang Tian opened the file. The report was brief, containing only a few short passages.
"The Ten Rings have been moving personnel around in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria?" Xiang Tian asked, confused. "It looks like they're planning something big, but what does it have to do with Xiang Qian?"
"The interrogators' report says that, based on Temugin's microexpressions and the shifts in his tone, they believe he wasn't making an empty threat, nor was he improvising a plan for revenge. He was describing a deliberate, planned operation."
Zheng Xian pointed to the file in Xiang Tian's hands. "Based on the intelligence we received beforehand, the Ten Rings had already planned an attack connected to Xiang Qian. Xiang Qian capturing Temugin may simply have been a coincidence."
"Connected to Xiang Qian, but not targeting him directly?" Xiang Tian suddenly realized there might have been more to Temugin's choice of words.
Zheng Xian was pleased by Xiang Tian's response. A genuine smile touched his face. "Our intelligence analysis team reached the same conclusion. The Ten Rings probably aren't targeting Xiang Qian directly. They're after someone... or something he cherishes. His family, his friends, or some cause that matters to him."
When Zheng Xian mentioned "someone Xiang Qian cherishes," everyone at the table turned to look at Xiang Tian.
"Since our grandfather died, I'm Xiang Qian's only immediate family member," Xiang Tian said. Knowing that she might not be the direct target actually made her calmer. "But a lot of people know Xiang Qian has an older sister. Few know that I'm the Weather Witch."
Zheng Xian nodded, understanding what Xiang Tian meant.
As a public figure, Xiang Qian's family background was bound to attract scrutiny from anyone with an interest in him. Many people outside knew that Xiang Qian had an older sister who rarely appeared in public, and that her name was Xiang Tian. But very few knew her true identity.
In the public eye, Xiang Qian's sister was simply a private person. Many wealthy families had relatives who preferred to stay out of the limelight.
"Besides a few people at the top, almost everyone who knows your real identity is in the bureau," Zheng Xian said, his expression grave. "I'll arrange an internal investigation to make sure there hasn't been a leak. Still, the odds of you being the target are very low."
"Could it be a woman who was romantically involved with Xiang Qian?" asked a middle-aged woman beside the desk, her presence so easy to overlook that she had barely seemed to be there.
She had an ordinary face, the sort that would disappear in a crowd. She was the Spear Bureau's deputy director in charge of intelligence analysis. Her name? Classified!
"There are plenty of those." Xiang Tian casually glanced at Vector, who was trying hard to look unconcerned beside her. "Even if we sent every field agent in the bureau out, I doubt we could protect them all."
Vector lowered her head, pouting in grievance. She knew the team leader was reminding her again. What made her feel even worse was that Saber had unknowingly twisted the knife in her heart once more.
"It can't be those women. Didn't Temugin say the target was someone Xiang Qian cherished?" Saber made no effort to hide his disdain for Xiang Qian. "Those women? Once they got out of bed, Xiang Qian might not even remember their names."
Xiang Tian whipped around and fixed Saber with a death glare. Her eyes made one thing clear: Only I get to insult my brother!
Saber shrank back a little and said nothing.
"If the target isn't a person, then it can only be some enterprise connected to Xiang Qian," the deputy director said.
The first thing that came to Xiang Tian's mind was a major experiment led by Xiang Qian. "Project Kuafu?"
Project Kuafu—the "Practical Controlled Thermonuclear Fusion Design"—was being led by the Five Elements Laboratory. Its final public demonstration was scheduled for a month later, and the whole world was watching.
Given the experiment's impact on the global clean energy sector, and its far-reaching political and economic significance, it certainly fit the Ten Rings' criteria for a target.
"Project Kuafu." Zheng Xian nodded. "It's certainly possible, but I'm not especially worried."
"Why?" Xiang Tian asked, greatly surprised.
"In fact, the final test for Project Kuafu succeeded at the beginning of the year," Zheng Xian said calmly. "The test a month from now is essentially just a public demonstration."
"The countries participating in the fusion project will all send representatives. The site will have the highest level of security. With the Ten Rings' limited resources, they may not even dare to show up."
"Besides Project Kuafu, what else could there be?" Xiang Tian was still worried. "Xiang Qian's main enterprises, whether the Five Elements Laboratory or the Wude Group, are focused on domestic operations. The other, peripheral interests hardly seem important enough for him to cherish."
"Actually, there's another plan connected to Xiang Qian within our bureau." Zheng Xian's expression was now utterly solemn. "What I'm about to tell you concerns a plan for which the Spear Bureau, the Ministry of State Security, and Military Intelligence share responsibility for maintaining secrecy. It has the highest security classification. Starting now, Xiang Tian, your Special Task Force is to cancel all other assignments and leave. You'll undertake a new protection mission."
Xiang Tian and the others grew solemn.
"You'll be responsible for protecting a top-secret joint project between us and the Five Elements Laboratory, and ensuring it proceeds successfully. The project's name is Project Houyi."
As Zheng Xian and the others racked their brains trying to guess what person or thing Xiang Qian cherished, Xiang Qian, who had narrowly escaped with his life in Xiang Tian's hands, received a call from across the ocean.
"Hey, Tony. Your help with that satellite last time really saved me!"