Meanwhile.
Inside a luxury apartment.
"Holy crap!"
[Man-Rat] watched the tense standoff on her screen and sprang out of her gaming chair. The lollipop in her mouth dropped to the floor with a clack.
Her pretty face, usually wearing a devil-may-care grin, was now filled with shock and fury.
"They're insane! Have these foreign bastards all lost their freaking minds?!"
On the screen, the dark muzzles of Smith's men's guns were pointed at Elder Xu and Yue Xiaofei. She trembled with rage.
This was no longer provocation. They were practically begging to die!
Her small hands flew across the keyboard, almost leaving afterimages as countless lines of code cascaded down the screen.
"Connect me to Brother Octopus! Highest emergency clearance! S-Level!"
A second later, an encrypted communications channel was forcibly established.
Bureau 7 Headquarters, the Bureau Chief's office.
"Beep, beep, beep-"
A special communications request with the highest priority forced a connection directly to the private phone of Zhang Beihai, Bureau 7's chief.
"Who is this?!"
Zhang Beihai's slightly irritated voice came over the phone. He was swamped, trying to find Elder Xu as quickly as possible.
[Man-Rat]: "Brother Octopus, it's me, your little rat! I found Elder Xu!"
What?!
Zhang Beihai shot up from his chair, his voice filled with delighted surprise. "Where? Is he all right?"
[Man-Rat]: "The Martyrs' Cemetery at Bureau 7's Modu branch! You'd better hurry! Any later, and you can start preparing to collect Elder Xu's body!"
"What do you mean?!"
Zhang Beihai's heart clenched.
[Man-Rat]: "That idiot Hou Liangbing has colluded with Smith, Eagle Country's special envoy! Smith has over fifty fully armed agents with him, and they're pointing AKs at Elder Xu's head!"
Boom!
The news struck like a thunderbolt out of a clear sky, leaving Zhang Beihai reeling.
*Hou Liangbing! Smith!