by <unknown>
Han Xiao was smuggled in as usual. Following the map, he found a villa at the edge of Maple Leaf. It was a safe house that Dark Net had bought with a fake account and identity. The contact would be waiting inside.
The villa had three floors. The door was made from gray glazed wood and had exquisite carvings. Han Xiao grabbed the door knocker and thumped to the rhythm of their secret code. The door opened with a squeak, and an old female butler who had more wrinkles than an expired orange invited him in with a plain face.
After entering the house, the old woman, whose true identity was a long-term resident contact, closed the door and said, “Both guests are waiting in the basement.”
Han Xiao nodded. He opened the hidden door in the cabinet beside the staircase and walked down to the basement. It was not as dark as he had imagined it to be; it was bright and surrounded by metal walls. Many pieces of equipment and firearms lay around. There was also a specially designed lathe and a material case at the corner.
The two contacts were waiting at the meeting table in the middle. They both looked toward Han Xian. His face was changed back to Black Phantom, so he was recognized.
Of the two contacts, one was Golden Fox, and the other was a young man.
Golden Fox hesitated and said, “Black Phantom?”
Han Xiao’s eyes brightened. He laughed and said, “Oh, it’s you. I’ve seen you before. You seem to have become prettier.”
Golden Fox was frightened. She touched her face and said in her head, Please don’t be interested in me, I beg you!
The other contact was a young man in his twenties. His code name in the Blood Pact Society was ‘Ghost Blade’. He was a scorpion—lowest rank—and a new member who had only joined recently. He was staring at Han Xiao with judgement and slight doubt.
Ghost Blade had been trained as an agent in Raylen, but he had escaped before graduation. Having been trained in an agent training organization, he naturally always felt a sense of superiority toward these underground killers. He had joined the Blood Pact Society around the same time Han Xiao did, but Han Xiao was already a legend in the organization while he was still struggling in the scorpion grade. So, he had always been unconvinced.
In terms of experience, Han Xiao actually did not have much of it, but he became the ace of Blood Pact Society with his strength and Bennett backing him up. There were a small group of proud contract killers who were unconvinced—most of them had other successful experiences before they turned to become a killer. Despite the results of these battles were written clearly, there would still be people who were in doubt unless they saw it themselves.
“I heard about your battles. They say you’re a legend, but it seems like there’s nothing special,” Ghost Blade said with a plain face.
Han Xiao glanced at Ghost Blade but could not be bothered with him.
Golden Fox cut in hurriedly and started talking about the main topic. “Ahem! There are five targets: Harry Reymen, Sennin Miller, Billy Angus, Dick Van Vancity, Dorasi Farami. They are all government officials who opposed the plan. There are guards around them when they’re out and where they live.”
With a glance to Ghost Blade, he snorted, took out a map, and laid it out on the meeting table. “This is the terrain map of the target’s villa. The guarding power and the patrolling routes of police nearby are also marked out.”
The data was very detailed. Ghost Blade’s ability to collect intelligence was the textbook example that strictly followed the training booklet of Raylen. He had collected almost every detail there was in this mission. With the secret knowledge he had as an agent, Golden Fox did not need to help at all when he was gathering the data. It made him feel superior to these killers. After all, he was a pro, and amateurs were on a different level.
Ghost Blade peeked at Han Xiao. He was confident that such detailed intelligence would surprise the Black Phantom, but Han Xiao kept a straight face as if it was a common occurrence to him.
With a frown, Ghost Blade said in a deep voice, “I have designed an action plan for you. You see these red lines and marks? These are the action routes I have planned out. As long as you keep to my plan and don’t make any mistakes, you will definitely succeed. I’m assuming you understand what I wrote here. These are special symbols used by agents. If you don’t understand them, I can explain for you.
“No need, I will look at it myself.” Han Xiao knocked the table while reading through the intelligence carefully. He then asked, “What is the exact mission?”
“To place these documents into the targets’ homes, somewhere obvious that ensures the target sees them. Inside, there are some pieces of evidence that have the ability to cause them harm. As long as they realize that we can put these in their house without anyone noticing, they will know they are not safe. This will act as a threat but not cross the line,” Golden Fox said.
“I will be infiltrating. What will you guys do?”
“I am only responsible for providing intelligence. Carrying out the mission is your mission as an ace, so don’t think about seeking my help,” Ghost Blade snorted.
Golden Fox gave Ghost Blade a stare, before saying in a pleasing tone to Han Xiao, “If you need me to back you up, I can do it.”
“Never mind, there’s no need for that.” Han Xiao waved his hands. “It’s a pretty easy mission. I can do it alone.”
“It is indeed easy when you follow my plan.” Ghost Blade nodded lightly. He had actually left out some intelligence in the data. It would not affect the mission, but it would give the person carrying out the mission some slight challenges. He wanted to test out Black Phantom. Although the latter was an ace of the organization, unless he could pass the test, Ghost Blade would still maintain a cold attitude toward Black Phantom.
However, Han Xiao looked at the plan and shook his head. “The plan is too complicated. I will do it my way.”
Ghost Blade was unhappy. “This plan was made from my careful and precise research of all the intelligence we have, and you came up with a better one within a few minutes of looking at it?”
“This mission is not challenging at all for me,” Han Xiao said.
Quit messing around! Ghost Blade snorted with anger and walked away. He was very discontent that Black Phantom did not follow his plan. He was a professional, and his plan was perfect; Black Phantom had no idea of what he was looking at.
There will definitely be accidents if he doesn’t follow my plan, Ghost Blade thought. He had some dark thoughts, and he even wanted to gloat at Black Phantom’s failure. To him, not following his plan was basically screwing around. Black Phantom had better have meant what he said. If he ends up using my plan, I will only look down on him.
Han Xiao looked at his watch. “I will act tonight. You guys just have to wait.”
The two contacts were not involved in the field action, and Han Xiao did not need a supporting intelligence crew. Since it was just Han Xiao acting alone, there was no need for a headset.
“He’s only just arrived, and he is already going to act. How impulsive.” Ghost Blade shook his head. He felt this mission was most likely going to fail.
Not listening to suggestions from professionals would almost always result in failure.
…
Night arrived in no time, but clouds covered the moon. Han Xiao had changed into a black outfit. He hid whatever he was not going to need in the safehouse. Then he made sure the circuits were working and reset the password to prevent anyone from opening it. He brought along the necessary equipment and left.
At night, the streets of Maple were quite. The night wind blew past the trees and made a calming sound as fragrance from the gardens at the side of the street filled the air. There were few pedestrians on the street. In fact, those pedestrians were mostly patrolling police, which hinted at the high-pressure policies within the country and the security not being as peaceful as it looked.
Han Xiao walked past quiet streets one after another and arrived at the political area of the city. Patr
ols on the street became more frequent, so he hid in the shadow of an alley, observed the situation, and waited patiently.
About ten minutes later, a patrolling police officer walked toward him.
‘This is B3248. We are clear,” he said into the walkie talkie and walked toward the alley entrance. Then, he unconsciously looked into the dark alley.
A pair of arms reached out suddenly and dragged him into darkness. His yelling only lasted a mere second before it stopped.
One minute later, Han Xiao changed into the police uniform with the walkie talkie at the side of his waist. His face had changed completely—the skin mask had scanned the policeman’s face and imitated it perfectly.
Chapter 186. Accident (1) |
Han Xiao injected sleeping medicine into the police officer and hid him in a rubbish bin in the alley. He probably would not be discovered until the next morning.
The strong sleeping medicine was not the normal kind one would find on the market but a secret recipe made by Golden Fox. She claimed that it could make a three-meter-tall elephant fall asleep in ten seconds. As for why she used an elephant to experiment, Han Xiao was confused too.
Golden Fox had the intention of endearing herself to Han Xiao by providing the sleeping medicine, but Han Xiao had a feeling that the atmosphere between him and Golden Fox was very weird. Every time their eyes met, it felt like it ignited a spark in the air. Golden Fox would shrink backward like an injured little beast and turn to look at somewhere else, not daring to look Han Xiao in the eye.
If Han Xiao did not remember giving Golden Fox a weird impression back when he was too bored, with Golden Fox acting like a young girl in love, he would have thought she wanted to do something inappropriate to him. However, he knew that she was actually afraid of him.
Han Xiao diluted the medicine so that it was not that strong. Normal people would wake up after about ten hours. He had tested it himself and was notified that one with Endurance higher than 45 would be immune to it. He had more than 80 and close to 90.
The average Endurance of a LV 55 Mechanic is around 70. Han Xiao did not exceed that by a large portion, but his health was more than 1.5 times of the same level Mechanic!
With Molding Ability [Basic Strengthened Life] and the recently awakened [Extraordinary Physique], Han Xiao’s health was an astonishing amount of about 3,400. Together with Magnetically-Controlled Retractable Armor and Viper that only a Mechanic would have, he was at the same standard as the same level BOSS.
However, this was the capital of Maple. If he was to be too high profile, he would probably not end up well, so he decided to do an ordinary infiltration like Hitman 47.
Wearing the police uniform, Han Xiao swaggered toward the villa of the first target, Sennin Miller. Trees and vegetation filled the garden on the side of the road, and branches sliced the light from street lamps into thin light curtains.
Using Night Stalker’s ability, Han Xiao entered [Stealth]. He walked around the villa and observed the cameras on the streets.
Total of three surveillance cameras looking at three different directions of the villa. They rotate at the same speed automatically… hmm? Seems like there’ll be a blind spot for a brief moment.
Han Xiao found the opportunity, but this was not written in the data. He wondered if Ghost Blade did not realize or did not write it on purpose.
In order to sneak in, I’ll first have to deal with the cameras.
Every five minutes, the cameras’ field of sight will leave a two-second blind spot, which made things much easier. There was no need to go through to trouble of accessing the circuits of the camera and invading the surveillance network. As long as he was fast enough to enter the villa, he could avoid getting caught by the cameras.
Due to the surveillance of the city not being looked at every hour of the day, a patrolling officer going missing would not be noticed immediately unless it was seen by the surveillance monitor.
He was not hoping to infiltrate perfectly without leaving any trace—all he wanted to do was complete the mission that night.
There were secret service agents standing both inside and outside of the villa, detection devices at the door, and electrical railings on the wall. But other than that, it was no different from a normal residence. The agents outside were easy to deal with—he just needed to divert their attention. However, there were also people in the manor, and he could not identify their positions with his eyes.
Han Xiao had his ways though. He put on a pair of sunglasses. They looked just like any normal sunglasses, but they actually had a portable version of the electromagnetic scanner. By clicking the mini switch on its side, the biological reaction inside the manor would appear as blurry human shaped images, which was enough to identify their location.
However, it was weird to wear a pair of sunglasses during the night. It reminded him of a scene in ‘Kung Fu Hustle’.
The officials of Maple had guards around them all day as if they were afraid of being attacked even on the streets, which was an indication of how much they were disliked by the civilians. Unlike the other five nations, which did not have this kind of measure, even the air in Maple felt pressurizing.
The cultures of various nations were different, and this protective measure of the government officials in Maple had not been there in the beginning. It happened because of the same reason that lead the government to create the policy of evicting low-class civilians in the capital—the ‘Ulrich Assault’, the government assault event that everyone in Maple knew but was afraid to talk about. It happened in the 11th year of the new era of the Six Nations. Han Xiao had seen this segment of history in the Dark Net history events.
Every civilization in Galaxy had some history that was worth digging for. However, in the case of Maple, whether in his previous or current life, Han Xiao did not know much about it.
These thoughts flashed passed as he was in the middle of the mission, then he continued to think about the infiltration plan.
The secret service agents patrolling the villa had looked like they should not be messed with. Han Xiao put down a Spider Detector and observed from a hidden corner. If he himself passed by the villa too many times, it would have raised suspicions.
He found an opportunity very soon. The second a blind spot appeared between the field of vision of the secret service agents and the cameras. He activated his Electromagnetic Hover-boots and slid over the wall without a sound, smoothly landing behind a tree in the manor.
Although he controlled his movements as much as he could, the leaves still shook a little. A highly alert secret agent hiding below the tree notices the movement and immediately looked up.
Han Xiao had a plan the moment he jumped in. Without any hesitation, when the secret service agent was carefully looking up with squinting eyes, Han Xiao moved like a phantom with his more than 100 points of Dexterity and appeared from behind the tree. He covered the secret service agent’s mouth and injected a syringe. Before the secret service agent could struggle, he was already quiet.
It did not make a loud noise, but there was another agent not far away that saw his friend leaving the position in the edge of his vision. Fortunately, Han Xiao was too fast for him to see.
“Seeley?” The agent called his friend’s name quietly and walked over.
Shit, Han Xiao thought. Traditional infiltration was all about timing. He kept his nerves tight at all times and came up with a solution very soon. He quickly scanned the face of the agent he knocked out and changed into his face. He walked out from behind the tree and shook his head, signaling that everything was fine.
“What were you doing behind the tree?” The agent who had walked over loosened his alert as he saw his friend. He continued to close in, wanting to know what happened behind the tree.
Han Xiao flipped his hands and a tiny handgun appeared. It shot a syringe out quietly and hit the neck of the secret service agent. The agent’s footsteps became unstable as he was falling asleep. Han Xiao immediately dashed
forward and held him up. Then he carefully dragged the man behind the tree.
There were four patrols in the manor. They contacted each other with walkie talkie constantly, so within a few seconds, the others would realize two of their colleagues had lost contact.
I’ve got to knock out all the patrols, Han Xiao thought. The secret service agents inside and outside were two different teams, and they only contacted each other once in a while. Removing the external agents would give him about half an hour, which was enough time for him to act.
Han Xiao moved quickly and quietly like a cat. The other two patrolling agents were knocked out in no time. They were just well trained normal elites, so they could not resist Han Xiao at all.
After making sure the patrols were cleared, Han Xiao entered the Villa from the window. He turned on the electromagnetic sunglasses, and the villa’s structure was presented clearly before his eyes. The bald official was sleeping while hugging his young and beautiful wife in the master bedroom, and there was a maid sleeping in another room. In such a big house, there were only three people.
Han Xiao found his way to the study. He took out the document that had evidence collected by the Dark Net and placed it in an obvious position on the table. One target was completed.
“I shall not delay. There’s still some time till Maple finds out someone has sneaked in. I have to speed up.” Han Xiao swiftly sneaked out of the manor. The secret service agents that were guarding outside were still doing their job, not knowing what had happened inside.
Han Xiao infiltrated three more targets’ villas. The guards were all different from each other, but with his LV 55 senses and intelligence provided by Golden Fox and Ghost Blade, together with his skin mask and Electromagnetic Hover-boots, the action was carried out rather smoothly without many hiccups.
