In the pitch-black night, six helicopters skimmed low over the forests of the Golden Triangle on their approach.
The three teams of National Security Department elites Zhou Quan had brought could hardly claim mastery of everything in the air and sea.
But piloting a vehicle like a helicopter was clearly no challenge for them.
Cross-checking the coordinates displayed by the theodolite against Fang Xinwu's intelligence, the six helicopters finally landed on a grassy plateau roughly three kilometers from Eight-Faced Buddha's hideout.
"Each team, leave two men to guard the helicopters. Everyone else, infiltrate silently!"
At Zhou Quan's order, each Action Group detached two men to establish defensive positions on the spot.
They would both guard their means of evacuation and serve as reserve support in an emergency.
Everyone else followed Fang Xinwu toward Eight-Faced Buddha's hideout at a run.
About half an hour later, Zhou Quan led his men to the outskirts of a village.
Raising his clenched right fist beside his ear, Zhou Quan ordered the men to halt and conceal themselves among the vegetation.
His eyes narrowed slightly as he studied the village ahead.
Every building was made of timber and looked extremely crude and rudimentary.
Yet this shabby village, which could even be called downright impoverished, housed the largest drug den in the entire Golden Triangle.
This was Eight-Faced Buddha's most deeply concealed hideout, as well as the vital core of his drug manufacturing operation.
The latest Buddha Tu Number Four currently in circulation came from here.
Since Khun Sa's surrender a few years earlier, the Double Lion Globe Brand had declined, replaced by Eight-Faced Buddha's Buddha Tu Brand.
Although it was still extremely dark, the cutting-edge night-vision goggles everyone wore allowed them to see the scene ahead as clearly as in daylight.
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