The Shadow Arrow Western Surveillance District, being the most extensive in area, most complex in terrain, and longest in border lines, comprises nine action squads in total.
Each action squad possesses an independent military airfield and supporting squad base facilities. Besides the core Assault Company, they also include various combat support units such as Support Company, Logistics Company, Intelligence Company, and Security Company, operating at battalion level with independent capabilities to carry out Blood Clan strike missions in specific regions.
Unlike the other seven squads that only have numerical designations, both Xuan Jia Squad and Embroidered Uniform Squad belong to the most elite Heritage Squads in China's Shadow Arrow Force.
Heritage Squads represent China's over two-thousand-year historical foundation and blood-soaked memories of fighting Blood Clans. Their predecessors were secret organizations from various historical dynasties specifically dedicated to hunting Blood Clans, maintaining uninterrupted inheritance through dynastic changes that continue to this day.
The rise and fall of history caused many feudal dynasties' secret Blood Clan hunting organizations to vanish into the dust of time, or even to be wiped out entirely with their inheritance terminated.
Xuan Jia Squad inherited from the Tang Dynasty. Embroidered Uniform Squad from the Han Dynasty. Brocade Guard Squad from the Ming Dynasty. Ice Well Squad from the Northern Song. Swift Squad from the Southern Song. Scout Cavalry Squad from the Sui Dynasty. Battle Watch Squad from the Three Kingdoms.
After taking up history's baton, today's China Shadow Arrow Force only has the above seven Heritage Squads remaining, with two of them under the Western Surveillance District, showing the district's importance.
......
August 9th, Friday.
In a logistics compound, at Shadow Arrow Western Surveillance District Command, a collective meeting regarding follow-up tasks for Operation X497.4.30 was in progress.
All action squad leaders from the Western Surveillance District were present, with the meeting hosted by newly appointed Chief of Staff Zhen.
Zhen Guangquan, 48 years old, Senior Colonel rank, was one of the legends of the Western Surveillance District–no, of the entire Shadow Arrow Force. The only person to serve a full ten years as frontline action squad leader. Even more incredible was that he only had an ordinary blood type!
In years of brutal secret operations, squad leaders serving over five years were already quite fortunate. The tradition of leading from the front resulted in extremely high casualty rates among commanders like squad leaders and company commanders.
Veterans like Zhen Guangquan could truly be called living legends.
"According to headquarters' final directives regarding Operation X497.4.30 results, the Western Surveillance District leadership has decided to form the 430 Working Group, headed by Deputy Commander Han with myself as deputy leader.
"The pursuit mission level for Xia Yan and Gu Yao has been upgraded by headquarters to B-level, making it a national priority task with no time limit! Mission execution will also be handled by our Western Surveillance District–this shows headquarters' trust in us."
Except for Meng Huai and Han Xiao, the other seven ordinary squad leaders all showed puzzled expressions.
After all, with the frontline application of anti-blood infection immune medication, cases of Shadow Arrow personnel fleeing after blood infection had become rare. Even when one or two cases occasionally appeared, they weren't considered major incidents, yet never before had such massive mobilization been seen, even alarming headquarters.
Chief of Staff Zhen's expression was serious as his gaze swept across the faces of over a dozen young male and female officers in the conference room, speaking with gravity that forced most officers unfamiliar with the inside story to take it seriously.
"Mission-related content has also been reported to the other four surveillance districts. Once intelligence is confirmed, joint operations may be implemented. To strengthen operational capacity, the Headquarters Intelligence Bureau has specially dispatched an investigator to participate in the 430 Working Group's work."
As his words fell, a young lieutenant in the front row stood up, turned to salute everyone present, and when his gaze swept over a particular position, the young officer slyly winked.
"Little brat..."
Seeing who had stood up, Han Xiao in the back row was stunned and couldn't help rolling her eyes.
Han Jieli, from the Han family's fifth branch, the only son of Third Aunt Han Jing. Because he followed his mother's surname and entered the family tree in the "Jie" generation, he was considered Han Xiao's cousin, only 21 years old this year.
"Now, the 430 Working Group's mission execution unit is the Embroidered Uniform Squad. Squad Leader Han Xiao will now provide the briefing."
After speaking, Zhen Guangquan's gaze deliberately lingered on Meng Huai's face for several seconds, showing a comforting expression.
He was the former leader of Xuan Jia Squad, and Meng Huai across from him was considered his direct subordinate. In Heritage Squads that placed extreme importance on historical honor, such mentor-protégé relationships ran very deep.
The embarrassing incident that occurred under Meng Huai's command naturally forced Zhen Guangquan to consider avoiding suspicion. What should have been a "family matter" ultimately fell to the Embroidered Uniform Squad.
A striking military figure passed through several rows of seats to the main platform, and Zhen Guangquan yielded his position.
The room's lights dimmed as the huge electronic screen behind the platform lit up.
"In early May, after the first phase of D City search operations concluded, I compiled related intelligence materials and preliminarily judged that Xia Yan and Gu Yao most likely remain within S Province's borders."
Right from the opening, Han Xiao unexpectedly dropped this conclusion first, stunning everyone present, with Meng Huai frowning particularly deeply.
Regardless of others' expressions, Han Xiao at this moment was full of heroic spirit, serious and unsmiling, continuing to speak confidently to the electronic screen: "After repeated confirmation, surveillance from all grade-four and above highways leaving the province failed to capture any image data of Xia Yan and Gu Yao."
"Squad Leader Han, this doesn't mean the two couldn't have crossed the blockade on foot through wilderness areas!"
One ordinary squad leader raised his hand.
"Blood servants in early stages of blood infection, even if they don't die from immune collapse, will quickly experience blood thirst reactions, making high-intensity wilderness infiltration impossible. D City is surrounded entirely by mountainous areas. Even well-supplied Shadow Arrow elites would need over seven days for mountain trekking.
"In the early morning of May 2nd, the blood bank at Qiaotou Town Township Health Center in D City's northern suburbs was burglarized. From the amount of blood stolen, it would be difficult to support Xia Yan and Gu Yao's wilderness activities for over a week."
Han Xiao turned a page in her investigation report as the screen displayed a satellite map: "Qiaotou Town is located west of Operation X497.4.30's coordinates. This shows that Xia Yan and Gu Yao's movement trajectory was not toward outside the province. In one week, forget leaving S Province - whether they could even leave D City is questionable."
"Little Han, what about identity forgery?" Zhen Guangquan stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Even theoretically, they wouldn't necessarily have to escape through conventional passenger transport - they could hide in large trucks and such..."
"The factors Chief of Staff Zhen considers certainly exist and once had me and Intelligence Department comrades in a predicament."
Han Xiao seemed to have anticipated such questioning and turned another page.
"Just when I was about to abandon my judgment that the two remained in S Province, headquarters' central big data monitoring system received a very interesting piece of information. On May 6th, Xia Yan's personal bank account logged into multiple Hong Kong ATMs and withdrew all cash from the card - up to one million."
The screen showed a masked stranger from an ATM camera, with Han Xiao specially drawing a red circle around the man's face.
"This person wore a mask, preventing facial recognition. Through contact with Hong Kong authorities and on-site evidence collection, we found all fingerprint information on the ATM's keys had been wiped clean."
Under the electronic screen's glow, Han Xiao's beautiful face beamed with confident smile: "This key information indicates that by the third day after blood infection at the latest, Xia Yan and Gu Yao had obtained financial support from local Blood Clan forces."
"With sufficient funds, Xia Yan and Gu Yao's willingness to hide in S Province would greatly increase. As for probability, I personally believe it's ninety percent. After all, new rare blooded blood servants are treasures–those who could shelter them certainly wouldn't be madmen and beasts like the Black Blood Clan."
"Squad Leader Han, even if they've begun obtaining survival resources through Blood Clan forces, whether they're still in S Province is still somewhat too subjective."
In the dim conference room, Meng Huai, who had remained silent, finally spoke.
"Mm, it is quite subjective. Next, I'll present some even more subjective clues to supplement the remaining ten percent probability."
Han Xiao remained unfazed and opened another page: "Over these two months, I visited Xia Yan's former unit and some people in Xuan Jia Squad who had lengthy contact with Xia Yan. They unanimously revealed that Xia Yan regularly sent money to retired director Jiang Chunhua at W District Welfare Institute.
"This is data I retrieved from the banking system. From when Xia Yan enlisted until last year, for four consecutive years, one annual remittance behavior, all occurring in July-August timeframe. Through checking W District Welfare Institute archives, Xia Yan was adopted by Jiang Chunhua on August 25th, 1996, and afterward treated this day as his birthday.
"Just the afternoon before yesterday, another anonymous remittance from Hong Kong arrived in Jiang Chunhua's personal account. If this is still Xia Yan's doing, that makes it the fifth time!
"Additionally, over five years, Xia Yan also made three in-person visits to Jiang Chunhua, all within this same timeframe. This is an interesting personal subconscious habit."
The dozen-plus male and female officers below showed expressions of both interest and confusion. Especially Han Jieli, who had been taking notes throughout, occasionally looking up to smile at Han Xiao for a few seconds.
"In Xia Yan's Shadow Arrow personnel files, Jiang Chunhua is listed as family contact and W District Welfare Institute as contact address. I believe Xia Yan is someone who places extreme importance on familial ceremonial sentiment. After suffering blood infection and living under false identity, his loneliness would drive him toward greater emotional and contact needs regarding Elder Jiang Chunhua.
"The news of Xia Yan and Gu Yao's sacrifice was only officially announced on Army Day, and only limited to C City. Although there was local TV station coverage, it didn't spread through online media, yet anonymous remittance occurred afterward. Could this really be coincidence?"
The electronic screen turned off and conference room lights came back on. Han Xiao wore a mysterious smile as she made a shocking statement: "Therefore, I have an even bolder subjective judgment: Xia Yan and Gu Yao are currently in C City!"
"All subjective emotional judgments, but Squad Leader Han spoke very brilliantly."
Before others could refute, Han Jieli gently clapped twice from his seat in respect, and several ordinary squad leaders around him smiled in agreement.
"Can't help it–women are more emotional."
Han Xiao directly rolled her eyes at him, then turned to Zhen Guangquan: "Chief, I want to conduct an experiment to verify my subjective conjecture."
Zhen Guangquan was stunned and slowly nodded: "Experiment... feel free to propose any ideas. The opponents are B-level mission targets. As long as we can complete the mission, not just one experiment–ten would be worth it!"
Han Xiao took a deep breath, her expression becoming particularly grave: "I want to create some accidents around Elder Jiang Chunhua. However, I guarantee they'll only appear serious on the surface without endangering her life safety. Related news must then be published, but must and can only be seen in C City locally. This requires careful control of information and cooperation from relevant departments!"
"Fake won't work? After all, the elder is already 75 years old... I also watched yesterday's news. Jiang Chunhua donated almost all her money to the welfare institute. For such people who've made tremendous contributions to country and society, we should be protecting them, not..."
Chief of Staff Zhen looked troubled. The nature and sensitivity of such matters made it difficult for him to decide.
"It must be real, and the more real the better! Because this is only the first step of the plan!" Han Xiao firmly shook her head.
Murmurs arose as many considered this experiment somewhat reckless.
"I support Squad Leader Han's idea!"
From below, Meng Huai suddenly stood up with resolute words, and the scene fell silent.
Han Jieli, who had maintained silence, was also stunned, turning his head to look between Han Xiao and Meng Huai several times.
......
After the meeting, Han Xiao hurried to catch up with Zhen Guangquan's steps. The female major who had been commanding authority on stage minutes before now showed some girlish demeanor.
"Hehe, thank you for supporting me, Chief!"
Looking at the beautiful female officer beside him, Zhen Guangquan also showed a slight smile: "You Han family people are always so careful yet bold, with imagination that runs wild. If I hadn't insisted back then, with Deputy Commander Han's attitude of avoiding suspicion, you'd probably have been assigned to other surveillance districts long ago. The Western Surveillance District would have lost a great general."
Just then, they saw Meng Huai stride past without looking sideways. Zhen Guangquan grabbed the tall young man: "Little Meng, don't carry any psychological burden. You and Han Xiao must cooperate well this time. Even if you fail, it doesn't matter."
"Chief, may I ask a question? Regarding operations against Xia Yan and Gu Yao, is it annihilation or live capture?"
Facing his current direct superior and former squad leader, Meng Huai remained humble yet dignified, his gaze sharp.
Zhen Guangquan hesitated slightly, lowering his voice considerably: "According to headquarters leadership's opinion, capture if possible. If truly difficult..."
"Understood!"
Before Zhen Guangquan could finish, Meng Huai saluted and strode away.
Such an abrupt and incomplete exchange left both Zhen Guangquan and Han Xiao beside him bewildered.
......
......
An hour before closing time, Golden River Club's guests had all left.
Cleanup work continued at a leisurely pace while Jiang Yao again huddled in a corner, holding her phone and playing mobile games.
"Xiao Yao, you've been playing somewhat excessively lately. Do you have an internet addiction?"
Jiang Yan, already changed into her clothes, walked to Jiang Yao's side with an increasingly helpless expression.
“What else is there to do? They can sit there dazing, chatting, playing pool–I'm playing games alone without affecting anyone. When guests come, I don't neglect serving water and reception duties."
Jiang Yao pouted in dissatisfaction, seeming uncomfortable that Jiang Yan had been watching her closely these past two days.
Forget it. She doesn't have other bad living habits. For someone her age, playing is probably normal. Jiang Yan said nothing more and sat down directly.
"My phone's dead. Let me charge it a bit first, then I'll go change clothes!"
Connecting her phone to power, Jiang Yao hummed a little tune as she quickly walked toward the employee passage.
Looking at the phone on the sofa, Jiang Yan suddenly had some thoughts. She hesitantly reached out, then pulled back, repeating this several times without deciding.
"Forget it, maybe I'm overthinking..."
Jiang Yan shook her head self-mockingly, trying to dispel the strange thoughts in her mind.
Ding dong! Gu Yao's phone screen flashed with a quick notification–a social media chat message.
The sender's nickname was clearly visible: Outlaw Maniac. Content: My phone's almost dead, going home to use the computer!
Jiang Yan also had Zhong Jing's contact information with the same nickname: Outlaw Maniac.
This time without hesitation, she directly grabbed Jiang Yao's phone, easily unlocked it using her birthday as password, opened the social media app, clicked on Outlaw Maniac's avatar, and casually scanned dozens of lines of chat messages.
When she saw certain content, nameless fury shot straight to her head, and Jiang Yan's face nearly twisted with anger.
In the distance, Jiang Yao had already changed clothes and was walking over. Jiang Yan could only forcibly suppress her inner emotions, acting as if nothing had happened.