Dawn, secret hideout.
When it was time to evacuate, the agents from both sides packed their belongings and prepared to leave.
"Brother Xiao, Brother Xiao, where is he?" Lin Yao pounded on the cargo compartment door, looking annoyed. He had been knocking for three minutes, and the agents from the Thirteenth Bureau were getting impatient.
Li Yalin asked doubtfully, "He doesn't seem to be in the car. Where did he go?"
The group looked at each other in bewilderment.
Han Xiao said he'd go back to the car last night, but he's gone now. What did he do last night?
Qi Baijia asked Zhang Wei's team, "What are you planning to do?"
Zhang Wei: "... We'll stay and wait for him to come back."
"Is this necessary?" Di Susu asked in surprise.
"The car keys are on him!" Zhang Wei gritted his teeth, feeling as if the veins on his forehead were about to burst into flames and fly away.
Everyone's faces twitched. Having such a teammate, it's hard to say whether it's their luck or their misfortune...
Qi Baijia looked displeased. He hated any unstable factors in the mission. He had initially thought Han Xiao had a great sense of the big picture, but now it seemed he had been blind! Team members who acted without authorization were all bastards!
If anything goes wrong, I'll be the one to take the blame!
What a rip-off!
Meanwhile, the Hesla agents noticed the actions of the Thirteenth Bureau members and discussed it amongst themselves.
"Some people on their side want to stay."
"Didn't we agree to act together?" Ye Fan frowned, went to ask Qi Baijia, and after receiving a reply, returned to the Hesla people to explain.
Who is missing?
"That's the support staff member wearing a mask, his name is Han Xiao."
"So it was him." Wenna's expression suddenly tightened. "We received the intelligence yesterday, and Han Xiao denied us without any evidence. He disappeared that night without leaving a message and didn't return all night. It's really suspicious. Could he be... a spy?"
The Hesla agents were all taken aback.
"Be careful what you say." Ye Fan frowned. He didn't believe the deduction, but Han Xiao's behavior was indeed suspicious. He whispered, "Once we get back to the camp, report the situation to the commander truthfully."
The agents withdrew, leaving only Zhang Wei and three others at the base.
"What exactly did Brother Xiao go off to do?" Lin Yao couldn't help but ask.
Li Yalin rolled her eyes. "How should I know? He didn't say anything last night."
Zhang Wei shook his head, feeling utterly exhausted.
That guy really doesn't respect me as the team leader!
A few hours later, agents from both sides returned to the border.
Wenna and Ye Fan immediately reported to Kelt.
"A Thirteenth Bureau agent hasn't returned all night?" Kelt paced back and forth, his brow furrowed, and asked, "Are you sure?"
Wenna nodded. "He left without a word last night, right after we gathered intelligence on the Dark Crow Valley Base."
Ye Fan added, "While it's suspicious, it doesn't necessarily mean he's a spy."
Kelt nodded slowly. "I'll verify this with the Stardragon later. Let's talk about the intelligence issue first."
Wenna: "The prisoners we brought back have been put on lie detector tests, which proves that everything they said is true. This information was personally collected by Ye Fan after hacking into the enemy's network, so its authenticity can be guaranteed!"
Kelt's gaze sharpened, and he declared decisively, "Then we must set out immediately, or things may change!"
Ye Fan hesitated for a moment, then said, "If the army is officially mobilized, the team of the Thirteenth Bureau agents still stationed at the secret base will be in danger."
Kelt didn't care at all, "What does it matter if one or two Stardragon are sacrificed for the sake of strategic goals? Those who are not of our country will surely have different intentions."
at the same time.
After a long and arduous journey, Han Xiao finally led the two prisoners back to the spot where he had buried his toolbox, bypassing all the detectors and sentry posts. The ordeal was incredibly difficult, nearly causing him to vomit blood. These two burdens lacked protective clothing, and it took him several hours to navigate around all the restricted areas. Fortunately, the two prisoners were technicians responsible for debugging the detectors and mines, providing a wealth of intelligence; otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to leave so quietly. The two prisoners tried to seduce Han Xiao a couple of times along the way, attempting to deliberately lead him into the restricted area and expose him, but he saw through their schemes immediately and punished them severely. Only then did they give up and obediently submit.
The sun was high in the sky. Han Xiao calculated the time and sighed, "This is bad. We've exceeded the expected time. I guess everyone else has already left."
He dug out his toolbox, took out his communication equipment, and contacted Zhang Wei.
"Hello, Yangtze River, this is Yellow River. Please respond."
"I'll fucking kill you!" Zhang Wei's furious voice immediately blared into the earpiece. "Where the hell have you been? You haven't been seen all night. Everyone else left, and we had to stay at the base and wait for you!"
"That's right, that's right, you have to make it up to me, I want new gear!" Li Yalin squeezed into the channel, and just from her tone, you could imagine her pouting and dissatisfied look... It's kind of cute, isn't it?
Han Xiao shook his head, got down to business, and said, "I infiltrated the Dark Crow Valley Base and discovered some classified information!"
Zhang Wei's expression turned serious. "I'll contact Staff Officer Qi for you."
At the border military camp, Qi Baijia received a communication and asked, "Zhang Wei, what's wrong? Has Han Xiao returned?"
He wants to speak with you.
Qi Baijia said irritably, "Then let him explain it to me properly."
Han Xiao entered the channel and said, "I've obtained classified intelligence. The Dark Crow Valley Base is divided into inner and outer bases. The outer base is the work area for peripheral personnel, while the inner base is the area for core members, hidden deeper inside the mountain. Peripheral personnel don't even know there's an inner base. Intelligence about the inner base is kept secret from all peripheral members. The passage between the inner and outer bases can be closed and blocked at any time..."
He interrogated the two prisoners and learned that the Dark Crow Valley Base was divided into inner and outer layers, with an even deeper secret base hidden deep inside the mountain, storing important supplies—the true core area. Moreover, the base leadership had not revealed the existence of the inner base to outsiders; it was a secret even to most of their own people, and even players from his previous life were unaware of its existence.
The inner base is connected to multiple evacuation routes, allowing core members to leave unnoticed. Like a cunning rabbit with multiple burrows, the locations of these routes are classified, and no one knows which route the base's leadership will choose until the evacuation is imminent.
Qi Baijia immediately understood the value of this intelligence. If the Hesla side was unaware of the existence of the inner base, they would be misled by the illusion of victory once the army breached the outer base, and then withdraw their troops. In reality, the enemy's core strength would be unscathed, the inner base would be preserved, and it could be secretly moved back in the future to become an even more secretive stronghold.
Qi Baijia was secretly shocked. He hadn't expected that Han Xiao's unauthorized actions would actually yield results, and such crucial intelligence at that!
Ahem, well done, but I must emphasize again, acting without authorization is bad behavior...
"Wait a moment, I'll go report to the commander right away!"
Qi Baijia requested an Kelt, but was stopped by his adjutant. He waited anxiously for five minutes before being granted an audience. Upon entering the office, he found Ye Fan and Wenna there as well.
Kelt glanced at Qi Baijia indifferently, "What do you want?"
"One of my team members has obtained classified information and needs to report to you."
"Han Xiao?"
"It's him."
Qi Baijia nodded, unaware that the strange looks in Wenna, Kelt, and Ye Fan's eyes had become peculiar.
Kelt's eyes flickered. "Speak."
Han Xiao repeated himself over the communicator, adding at the end, "If we attack rashly, we'll only destroy an empty shell. I hope we can postpone the operation and have our people scout out the enemy's evacuation time and route, and figure out the structure of the inner base. Then we can directly intercept and kill their evacuating troops, avoiding a frontal assault on their fortifications and reducing losses."
After listening, Kelt remained expressionless, then suddenly asked, "Where did you get your information from?"
"I disguised myself and infiltrated the Dark Crow Valley Base, capturing two insiders..."
Kelt suddenly shouted, "You're lying!"
In Kelt's view, it was impossible for Han Xiao to have infiltrated the place. Even if he had disguised himself, it wouldn't make sense. Making a realistic human skin mask would take at least several tens of minutes. He didn't know what kind of enemy he would encounter, so it was impossible for him to make the mask in advance. This was a paradox, similar to the logical fallacy of "Xiao Ming climbed a tree, found that he was too high off the ground, so he went home to get a ladder and climbed down the tree."
Han Xiao was taken aback, then realized that these people were unaware of the ability of the Simulation Mask.
The Simulation Mask's function is his trump card, which he won't reveal; however, this makes it impossible to explain the details of his infiltration.
"This is my ability," Han Xiao could only say ambiguously.
"Unless you demonstrate it, it's not convincing at all."
Kelt remained expressionless, but was secretly on guard.
This person... is definitely suspicious!