Plans Can Never Keep Up with Changes

Xiang Qian walked out from the crowd, and Vector found it hard to look away from his effortless, charming demeanor. For a young man who was both wealthy and talented, he was far too accustomed to such admiring gazes from women; Xiang Qian nodded naturally at Vector as a greeting, then turned to meet the Weather Witch's scrutinizing stare.

It was as if a specific switch had been flipped; the moment he made contact with the Weather Witch's gaze, Xiang Qian's stride faltered, and his previous air of ease was instantly replaced by a look of awkwardness.

"They seem to be preparing the attack plan. Aren't you going over?" Xiang Qian gestured toward the group of officers who had entered work mode; even Vector could tell from his hesitation that he genuinely wanted to steer the cold, elite team leader away.

The Weather Witch watched Xiang Qian with cold eyes, remaining silent for a long time until he began to grow increasingly uncomfortable. Only then did she speak slowly: "No need. Their tactical thinking is cut from the same cloth as the Russians; I can guess it without asking. You've already identified all the potential escape routes for the terrorists, so the next step is simply to seal the exits, trap them in the cave, and wait for the bunker-buster bombs to arrive from the rear to flatten the mountain. If one bomb isn't enough, they won't mind dropping ten or eight more."

Xiang Qian's expression suddenly darkened: "I thought the Bureau's goal was to take them alive. If we want to bait the Mandarin, Temugin is the best lure."

"I want to take them alive too, but this is Tajikistan. Even if it's a joint operation, it's ultimately someone else's territory, and we can't call all the shots."

"Can't you do something? You're the team leader and our representative in this joint operation." Xiang Qian's tone turned questioning, his earlier awkwardness replaced by a stern expression.

The Weather Witch remained unmoved by his shift in demeanor: "I said, if there's a chance, I want to take them alive, but I also know what I must do. It is precisely because I am the team leader that I must be responsible for the lives of my subordinates. I will not let my people die blindly."

Under the Weather Witch's gaze, Xiang Qian's harsh words faded as quickly as they had come; he couldn't hold the team leader's stare for even half a minute before awkwardly shifting his eyes away.

Vector stood beside them, twisting and turning in embarrassment as if she were standing on thorns; before she could think of an excuse to leave, she felt her hands suddenly lighten. The folder she had been holding, which contained all the briefings for the joint operation, had been snatched away by Xiang Qian.

Watching Xiang Qian find a corner and plop down to grumpily review the mission briefings one by one, Vector felt a fleeting sense that she was looking at a child who had been wronged and was sulking by himself.

No, no, how could that be? Who was Xiang Qian? A recognized genius in the field of frontier technology, a future business leader touted by public opinion as likely to become the world's richest man before forty, and a man notorious within the Spear Bureau for his sharp tongue and bad temper. With that prickly personality, who could possibly make him feel wronged?

"It must be an illusion!" Vector secretly found her own wild imagination amusing and shook her head to drive the "absurd" thought away. Then, she saw her captain walk over to Xiang Qian, crouch down, and say softly: "I will go to the front line of the blockade. As soon as the bombing ends, I will go in to search and rescue. As long as Temugin is still alive, even if he has only one breath left, I will bring him back."

"This... why does this look more and more like a parent comforting a child?" Inspiration exploded in Vector's mind, and she began filling in a dozen layers of background story for the scene before her.

Xiang Qian showed no reaction to the Weather Witch's comfort; he flipped through the mission briefings rapidly, his brows furrowed. Just as the Weather Witch was about to say something more, Xiang Qian suddenly looked up, shook a page of the briefing in his hand, and asked urgently: "This Hashimov, is there more detailed information on him?"

The Weather Witch was taken aback: "Hashimov? Who is that?"

"The commander of the Kuliya Armed Police Force. He's the one who commanded the police units that refused to execute the joint command's orders several times. Is there more detailed information on this person?"

The Weather Witch was even more confused. As the Chinese representative in the joint force, she dealt mostly with members of the command staff. Although she had been to the front lines, she hadn't had much contact or interaction with local forces—after all, there was even a language barrier. Seeing Xiang Qian's solemn expression, the Weather Witch turned to look at Vector, who was responsible for processing the documents and data.

Vector hurriedly shook her head: "No. The Kuliya Armed Police are a local Tajik force, barely more than a paramilitary unit. Their combat effectiveness is poor, and they are at the lowest level in the joint command's operational sequence. Aside from the commander's name and basic unit data, there is no further information."

"What's wrong with this person?" The Weather Witch noticed Xiang Qian's grim expression and pressed him.

Xiang Qian glanced at the group of officers discussing heatedly not far away and consciously lowered his voice: "Temugin has an assistant named Maksum, who is Kuliya. Maksum's mother was a widow who remarried; the surname 'Maksum' is one he took from his stepfather after the remarriage, but his biological father's surname was Hashimov."

"Are you saying that the commander of that armed police unit is related to a key terrorist subordinate of Temugin? Is your information correct?"

Xiang Qian tapped his temple and sneered: "My memory never fails. Don't you think this is a bit too coincidental? Both men were originally surnamed Hashimov, both are Kuliya, and yet it happens to be this Hashimov's unit that has repeatedly dragged the command's feet during operations. And there's another coincidence..." Xiang Qian pointed to the cave topography map on the projection screen, "Hashimov's unit appears to be responsible only for flank security and is not participating in the front-line blockade, but in reality, his sector faces an hidden tunnel exit... The briefing says the militants have already successfully raided your blockade lines several times, right?"

The Weather Witch's expression turned serious: "Is there more concrete evidence?"

"No!" Xiang Qian shook his head decisively. "Unless you thoroughly investigate the family lineage of the parties involved, no one can say for sure. Such an investigation is easy to conclude, but it is also very time-consuming."

"Without evidence, we cannot take action. We cannot question a police commander based solely on your suspicions. Besides, to them, we are ultimately outsiders."

Xiang Qian looked up at the Weather Witch with a half-smile: "I don't intend to move against that Hashimov. Actually, I hope he really is in collusion with the terrorists; if that's the case, at least Temugin won't be killed on the spot by a bunker-buster."

The Weather Witch immediately grasped Xiang Qian's intent. She was silent for a long moment before finally nodding in agreement: "I will go and watch him myself. If that Hashimov really does open a gap for Temugin, none of them will escape."

"Temugin probably doesn't even want to escape." Xiang Qian scanned the briefing in his hand and, with a grim look, offered another suggestion: "When the operation begins, leave Saber behind to protect our logistics and civilian personnel. I have a premonition that Temugin is going to give us an unexpected surprise."