Several days later, an international airliner broke through the clouds and landed at the international airport in the capital of the Bald Eagle.
Tianyi sat by the window. Beneath the gray sky outside, the city's outline flickered in and out of view in the dusk.
He wore dark casual clothes, a pair of plain glasses, and his hair was styled in an ordinary side part. He looked just like a typical young tourist.
The middle-aged woman beside him asked in English whether he had come to study abroad. He smiled and shook his head, saying he was only there to travel, then closed his eyes.
Once the plane taxied to a stop, the passengers rose one after another and retrieved their luggage from the overhead compartments.
Tianyi took a passport from a black backpack and glanced at it. The name field read Li Wei, an utterly ordinary Chinese name.
It was a false identity prepared in advance by the intelligence department. The entry and exit records, hotel reservation, return ticket, and even social media accounts had all been carefully maintained for more than half a year.
Li Wei was an ordinary office worker visiting the Bald Eagle as a tourist. He liked photography and had come to tour the capital.
Tianyi followed the crowd out of the cabin, crossed the jet bridge, and entered the terminal, following the signs.
The terminal was packed with people, conversations in all kinds of languages mingling together. Tianyi pushed a luggage cart toward the exit.
The suitcase was light, containing only a few changes of clothes and a Canon DSLR camera. The lens cap had not even been removed; it was merely part of his disguise.
Outside the exit, taxis formed a long line. Tianyi got into a yellow cab and said in fluent