Inside the main hall, Jiu De Mayi and Zero from The Trio had already arrived and been granted seats by Wa Lord.
"I suppose you're probably wondering why Chips didn't come. As for the reason... she said she was clerical staff, only involved in planning and not in operations."
—After all, Su Enxi could only direct things from behind the scenes even when she went on operations before. This time, since they would be working with the great families, she figured someone like Wa Lord would never hand command over to outsiders, so she simply lay flat and indulged herself in drink after drink.
As she spoke, Jiu De Mayi spread her hands toward Wa Lord and the others.
"..." Wa Lord frowned. "Don't you people doing business together believe in honoring contracts? If she can command on-site, then she can contribute too, can't she? Perfect. The members of the other great families surrounding Chen Family Manor are short a commander. Is she taking the job or not?"
"Fine, then let's observe a moment of silence in advance for Chip Girl, who'll be working overtime during her vacation."
Jiu De Mayi accepted on Su Enxi's behalf without hesitation, casually setting her friend up as she chatted.
She crossed her legs ostentatiously. Her two long, slender legs, tightly wrapped in her combat suit, overlapped in stunningly alluring lines that drew every man's gaze. If she became an art model, every art student in the room would probably have to plug both nostrils before they could paint.
Zero beside her looked much more proper and composed. Her pretty, frosty face was slightly raised, revealing the cold elegance and noble bearing of an Imperial Princess from the polar regions. Unfortunately, her frame was noticeably more petite, diminishing her presence for no reason. If she stood straight, she might not even be as tall as a suitcase handle. Thus, as she sat on the high stool, her two fair little feet dangled in midair.
When Emiya and Old Tang entered the main hall, Jiu De Mayi naturally waved at Emiya and greeted him with a warm smile. "Hi, young hero Emiya!"
Seeing this, Zero also fixed her gaze on Emiya and nodded.
"Mm?... Hello." The instant Emiya greeted them, he sensed the low pressure radiating from Wa Lord's side. He wondered to himself, I've only met The Trio once, haven't I? Is Jiu De Mayi really that familiar with me?
Old Tang, whose face had been ashen before, immediately perked up upon seeing the two beautiful women. Brimming with confidence, he greeted them as well, raising his thick brows as he tried to get closer and ask for their contact information.
Jiu De Mayi ignored him. She cast a slightly disdainful glance at him—his torn sweatpants, with their ragged holes and flapping openings, were still swaying around his wriggling legs, like some kind of performance art—then quietly turned to Zero and asked, "Is he here specifically to play the ugly fool and make everyone laugh?"
"Doesn't look like it. He might just be showing his true colors." Zero spoke bluntly, her icy words like a public sentence being handed down.
Old Tang's face turned ashen again from the blow. He drew in his legs, heartbroken, and could only silently lick his wounds to console himself. There are plenty of fish in the sea. A good man's ambitions lie in all four directions. It doesn't matter if I hit a setback while chasing girls, but I can't give up the whole forest for one or two trees...
While Old Tang was lost in thought over here, everyone else had already entered an intense operational meeting over there.
"The latest intelligence indicates that they intend to transfer valuable equipment and materials from the research facilities in that complex to other unknown bases... possibly even overseas. They've been organizing and coordinating recently, and the transfer is expected to take place the day after tomorrow. We must complete the entire operation by tomorrow at the latest."
Jiu De Mayi revealed the intelligence she had stolen.
"This move... has the Chen Family noticed something?"
"Who knows? But they're clearly very nervous. It seems their alliance with the temporarily recruited Gattuso Family isn't particularly close, and it hasn't given the Chen Family much sense of security... Or perhaps Gattuso simply doesn't want to be dragged into the conflict among your Shenzhou great families."
"If it's tomorrow night, that's enough time to arrange a joint operation among the great families." Wa Lord nodded at the schedule. "You have detailed intelligence on the building layout and personnel deployment in this Chen Family complex, right?"
Jiu De Mayi tossed out a stack of documents. "Other than the highly classified parts, most of it is fairly detailed... First of all, every company and institution in this complex has received investment from the Chen Family, and a large portion of the employees are ordinary people who know nothing."
"Fortunately, in order to consolidate and transport those shady things at night—and to keep ordinary people from wandering around and accidentally discovering anything—the Chen Family made up an excuse and forcibly ordered all regular employees at the companies to leave work and go home on time."
"Starting tomorrow, they're even giving all employees three days off, with triple pay during the holiday... Any employee who stays at the company without permission will be forcibly removed and fined."
"—Not bad. That certainly makes things much easier for us."
"Mm. Next are the areas unrelated to ordinary people. From what I've observed these past few days, the places where their security is tight and signals are blocked are concentrated in these locations. Their common feature is that all of them have supporting logistics and warehousing buildings."
"But I had Chips investigate and compare the cargo manifests with personnel transfer records. We found that the other locations are all decoys, while only one has frequent dispatches and issues involving imported goods... As for the Chen Family's suppliers in South America and East Asia, we've also confirmed that they are backed by mixed-blood forces. They're highly suspicious."
"...Now, let's look at the specifics of this location. The main buildings are a large medical research institute, a testing and inspection center, and logistics warehouses... There may be underground structures as well, but infiltration would be difficult..."
"Judging from the surface building plans, it's a semi-enclosed complex-within-a-complex, with two entrances and exits, located respectively by the medical institution and the warehouse. If you want the greatest results, you'll need to split into at least two groups."
After Jiu De Mayi finished, she spread her hands. "Based on my guess, if the Chen Family really keeps Death Servants, then judging from the number of their containers and shipping manifests, the scale is probably not small. So the commotion when the time comes won't be small either."
Wa Lord's reaction was mild. "Other great families will naturally handle matters like sealing off the area and intercepting them."
"Oh, wonderful. Having such a huge organization really is nice. For people like us, only Three-Nothing and I count as combat power. We can barely manage infiltration, but a frontal assault is out of the question. And Chips only has Money Ability."
Jiu De Mayi conspicuously praised the Zhou Family, while not forgetting to sigh as though belittling herself. Ah, a small group.
"I've arranged the combat personnel like this. Take a look."
Emiya picked up Wa Lord's roster of operation members. He and Old Tang would each serve as the "main damage dealer" in one team. The "secondary damage dealers" were Jiu De Mayi, Zero, and several Zhou Family members, along with defenders, scouts, and others.
"This... Old Tang is being entrusted with such an important duty?"
In Emiya's view, although Old Tang was now sharp-minded and had some firepower, he was still terrible with directions. On top of that, he had once suffered from amnesia and occasionally sprang some ridiculous surprises.
Was he reliable? He didn't feel entirely reliable.
Snapping back to his senses, Old Tang protested forcefully. "Brother, how can you distrust me like this? I, Old Tang, have turned things around and can be put to great use now! When the time comes, my masterful fire magic will send all of you straight into the sky, all right?"
"If you can live up to my trust... do you dare swear that you won't fall behind and get lost halfway through?"
"What's so hard about that? Would I, Old Tang, get lost in a place this small? Impossible, absolutely impossible!"
Old Tang was full of confidence.
Thanks to Hagwskly, Yu Changqing, Huang Youwen, and reader 20170525162540375; and thanks to Fu.ad, Bianwei Chanshan, and Bailuyuan Zhisheng for the monthly votes!
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