The airport firefight Xia Mi had just described appeared, on the surface, to be the Eight Clans of the Serpent's enemies bribing the police and using them to kill by proxy, with the headquarters agents merely unlucky innocents caught in the crossfire. But in truth, the exact opposite was the case. They were the primary targets!
This was a carefully designed "welcoming ceremony" by the lurker in the shadows.
The sudden, high-intensity armed police interception and firefight had one fundamental purpose: to brand them as "dangerous individuals" and "police fugitives."
In Japan, a society with strict rule of law and a subtle yet powerful xenophobia, once they bore such an identity, they would instantly lose all freedom and legitimacy to act openly.
At that point, they would have no choice but to rely on the Eight Clans of the Serpent, who had so warmly received them and were willing to offer them "protection."
Once they accepted that "protection," it would be like stepping onto a vast net woven long ago. Every channel and every safehouse provided by the Eight Clans of the Serpent would become invisible threads binding them. They would naturally be absorbed into the internal system of rules governing Japan's Hybrid world, forced to live at the mercy of the other side.
If, in the future, the interests of headquarters and the Japan Branch came into fundamental conflict, or if they tried to break free of control or uncover certain secrets, today's protection could instantly become the cruelest noose around their necks.
The Eight Clans of the Serpent would only need to step away lightly; they would not even need to act in person. The combined pursuit of both the authorities and the underworld would arrive right on schedule.
Police warrants would provide a perfectly legitimate excuse for