August 19th, Monday, morning.
A new day began with Jiang Yan and Jiang Yao waking up almost simultaneously, then walking into the bathroom together, followed by another awkward moment of mutual courtesy.
According to Zhou Ping's experience, adequate nutrition was key during these few days. The breakfast Jiang Yan had prepared was extremely abundant, at least in terms of quantity.
Drinking milk and eating eggs, Jiang Yao kept secretly observing Jiang Yan's face across from her, as if trying to discern something.
"Why do you keep staring at me? Is there something on my face?"
After several consecutive times, Jiang Yan felt somewhat baffled.
"Bro— I mean, sis, what time did you come back last night?" Jiang Yao asked cautiously. "You didn't wander around the riverside park until after midnight, did you?"
Jiang Yan didn't answer, just quietly looked at her face.
Perhaps this was the first time she had observed so carefully, taking in all of Jiang Yao's current external details.
Like the golden beauty of seventeen or eighteen years old, pure and lovely, fresh and charming. Except for those familiar personality traits, tone of voice, bad living habits, and memories, everything else was strange and unfamiliar, impossible to connect with the former Gu Yao.
Perhaps in this world, humans truly had dual attributes of soul and body. The only question was which one was the driver of fate's vehicle.
"Sis, you've been spacing out since you woke up today. Did something happen yesterday?"
Seeing that her expression was a bit off, Jiang Yao quickly waved her hand in front of her eyes.
"Nothing... Xiao Yao, yesterday at the welfare institute, I met Commander Meng again and chatted with him all afternoon."
Jiang Yan smiled and reached for some bread.
"You didn't give anything away, did you?!" Jiang Yao's whole body trembled, her face showing some tension. "He's appeared at the welfare institute two Sundays in a row. Did he discover something?!"
"Because Xia Yan and Gu Yao sacrificed themselves... in the literal sense."
Jiang Yan sighed lightly, her gaze turning toward the window. "It was the first time I'd seen him so talkative. He kept telling my stories, as if facing a stranger, desperately trying to prove a martyr's greatness and existence."
"Does he really care that much about his team members' lives and deaths? The first time I met him face to face, I felt he was just a war machine, incredibly arrogant."
Jiang Yao snorted contemptuously, her tone somewhat dismissive. "In his eyes, there shouldn't be such a thing as comradeship. Now he's suddenly changed his nature? Whether we're dead or alive, wouldn't he know?"
"You don't know. Five years ago, he personally executed the previous squad leader. He told me about it himself last year... The Xuan Jia Squad back then wasn't what it is now."
Jiang Yan looked down at her hands, as if she was transforming into Meng Huai himself at this moment, experiencing the events and emotions of that cruel instant.
"He talked for hours, starting from the day I first joined the squad, all the way to the last time he and I ate out together." Jiang Yan smiled bitterly, gently shaking her head. "I really hadn't expected he could remember so many things about me... Maybe he actually remembers all the other sacrificed comrades too..."
As she spoke, a glimmer of moisture appeared in the black-haired girl's eyes, light and transparent.
Jiang Yao was also slightly stunned, not knowing what to say. After all, she only had two days of memories with Xuan Jia Squad.
The living room fell quiet, with only the sound of gentle wind rustling the leaves in the small courtyard.
"If he knew that yesterday, standing in front of him was actually..."
Strange images suddenly appeared in Jiang Yao's mind, her expression becoming increasingly heavy, hesitating to speak.
"Let's not talk about my situation anymore. How was your time with Zhong Jing yesterday?"
Seeing the atmosphere wasn't good, Jiang Yan quickly rubbed her face and changed the topic, while peeling another egg for herself.
"Don't even mention it! My period actually came early while we were eating! I hadn't prepared anything and almost couldn't make it back!"
Jiang Yao immediately perked up, recounting how she had assigned Zhong Jing to help her out of trouble. Though her expression was relaxed and natural, the blush on her face grew more intense.
"You should always keep supplies in your bag when going out."
Listening to Jiang Yao's embellished description, Jiang Yan was both shocked and embarrassed. In the end, she tapped Jiang Yao's hand with her chopsticks, her laughter mixed with some seriousness: "Remember, crude words like 'damn' and 'shit' are forbidden from now on. Cherish that beautiful appearance of yours...
"Also, we're in much better condition this time than last month. We'll return to work tomorrow. Although Brother Zhao Peng and the others won't say anything, we can't be special cases at the club."
"Oh..."
Jiang Yao was startled and quickly lowered her head, burying it in the large bowl containing congee with preserved egg and lean meat.
Ding dong, Jiang Yao's phone rang.
She quickly pulled out her phone to see a message from "Outlaw Maniac": Transfer completed! Plus a smug emoji.
At the same time, several pieces of secretly monitored information traveled at light speed through countless fiber optic cables, servers, and data stations, ghostlike entering Shadow Arrow Force headquarters' central monitoring system.
In the Western Surveillance District of Shadow Arrow Force, in the command headquarters conference room, Chief of Staff Zhen was conducting a feasibility discussion for the 430 Task Force's subsequent action plans.
Regarding the proposal Han Xiao had put forward, many details still needed scrutiny, especially the first phase experiment that had begun a week ago, which had yet to yield any results.
If they couldn't confirm whether Xia Yan and Gu Yao were still in C City, then discussing subsequent plans would be meaningless.
However, the debate about Han Xiao's plan to use old lady Jiang Chunhua and the entire W District Children's Welfare Institute as bait had become the focus of the still-theoretical plan, including extremely sharp critical commentary.
Probably already knowing the nature of the contentious issue, Han Xiao instead sat calmly like an angler, smiling without speaking. Meanwhile, Han Jieli beside her kept looking at her face suspiciously.
"What are you looking at, little brat? Are there words on my face?"
Han Xiao turned her head and rolled her eyes, adjusting her posture again to make herself more comfortable.
"Third Sister, either your thinking has gone wrong, or you're forcing the higher-ups to make a choice... Everything else can be real, but Granny Jiang herself shouldn't be involved. This should be a military iron rule."
Han Jieli rarely showed such a serious expression toward his cousin, gently shaking his head.
"Little Li, do you know this saying? If you want to remove a window, it's best to include removing the roof in your application. Then the superiors will ultimately allow you to remove the window while forbidding you to remove the roof."
Han Xiao's lips moved with sounds only the two of them could hear, her expression still very relaxed, but a trace of sadness was hidden in her eyes.
"This is manipulating human psychology... Burning down Xia Yan's home, how much hatred do you want Xia Yan to carry to increase the stakes for walking into the trap himself... I originally thought Brother Meng was obsessed, but I didn't expect you're not far behind, Sister Han."
Han Jieli smiled bitterly and said nothing more.
"Report! The Intelligence Department just received analysis data from headquarters' central monitoring system. Seven minutes ago, several monitored accounts at W District Children's Welfare Institute simultaneously received multiple anonymous transfers from Hong Kong. One of them was the same account that previously sent money to old lady Jiang Chunhua."
A military officer pushed open the conference room door, bringing news everyone had long awaited, and causing the argumentative voices to abruptly cease.
According to previous behind-the-scenes deployment, the fundraising information for those disabled abandoned infants transferred from other cities to W District Children's Welfare Institute was strictly controlled in its dissemination, basically guaranteed to remain confined within C City's boundaries.
This meant that Xia Yan or Gu Yao was in C City!
"Excellent! Little Han, you've achieved great merit this time, opening up the situation for our subsequent actions!"
Someone started applauding, and the conference room erupted in applause. Even Chief of Staff Zhen, who had been frowning throughout, couldn't help but stand up and loudly praise her.
A carefully planned experiment had achieved perfect success, meaning that regardless of how subsequent plans were modified, there would no longer be any feasibility obstacles.
To complete Han Xiao's experiment, from media content to behind-the-scenes operations to data monitoring, Shadow Arrow Force headquarters had already spent tens of millions in budget.
Next would be another high-stakes gamble costing hundreds of millions, though for two targets already marked as B-level missions, this cost was hardly worth mentioning.
The only variable was whether Xia Yan would, as the psychological analysis suggested, throw himself into the trap regardless of everything.
Han Xiao, still sitting in her position and being praised by Zhen Guangquan leading everyone, was actually a bit shy at this moment, but her small fists under the table clenched tighter and tighter, her mood very good.
"Third Sister, if you successfully capture Xia Yan this time, you can walk sideways in the Western Surveillance District." (TN: Show of arrogance.)
Han Jieli applauded while smiling at his bashful but pleased cousin: "Now we just need to see when Brother Meng will be taken down too."
"Shut up... a little brat talking nonsense all day..."
Han Xiao secretly glanced at a certain tall male officer not far away whose expression remained cold, feeling a surge of pride in her heart.
"Do you really like him?"
Probably having detected something, although Han Jieli smiled on the surface, a trace of unease flashed in his eyes. Because his mission was far more than just participating in the 430 Task Force.
"That kind of male chauvinism, looking down on this and that... who cares about that now..."
Han Xiao lowered her head slightly, muttering words only she could hear.
Han Jieli smiled and said no more, sitting back down and turning his head toward Meng Huai's direction.
Meng Huai was also one of only two people who hadn't stood up, just turning his head to quietly watch the beaming Han Xiao, his facial expression becoming increasingly complex.
Inadvertently meeting Han Jieli's gaze, Meng Huai seemed to also see the trace of worry in the other's eyes, and could only sigh and shake his head.
He knew that to avoid affecting Han Xiao's emotions during this period, the higher-ups had been concealing the news of Han Xiao's brother Han Jiesheng's sacrifice, planning to tell her after the operation ended. Han Jieli was obviously also privy to this information.
"Little Han, tell us your next plan. Let's finalize the action timeline today. Whatever difficulties you have, I'll fight for resources at headquarters to solve them! This is a good opportunity for our Western Surveillance District to turn things around. We must do it beautifully!"
In his excitement, Chief of Staff Zhen gestured for everyone to sit down, then looked toward Han Xiao.
"However, I still agree with other comrades' opinions. Anything can be attempted, but ordinary civilians cannot be involved, especially old lady Jiang Chunhua cannot be harmed. You can only fake it. The Intelligence Department will fully cooperate. I hope you won't cross lines on this matter of principle."
His tone gradually became serious. Not only the other male and female officers present, but Han Xiao herself had to sit up straight and nod slowly.
"Yes, Chief. Now please everyone look at the screen. I'll skip other details and directly present the final deployment plan..."
A few minutes later, Han Xiao's voice stopped, and everyone present looked at each other.
"Well, still very imaginative! Little Han, are you betting everything on Xia Yan's character flaws? Burning down the welfare institute can cause greater psychological damage to Xia Yan's mental stability? Can we just do some partial demolition?"
Chief of Staff Zhen stroked his chin, still somewhat hesitant.
"Only by burning down the welfare institute can we disrupt his judgment and make him believe it's unrelated to Shadow Arrow Force. After all, our actions have been quite intensive this past month, which might arouse his suspicion."
This time Han Xiao wasn't planning to "bargain" anymore, her attitude unusually firm.
"There's risk of failure... Fine, once the bow is drawn there's no turning back. Let's proceed with the deployment according to the plan. I now announce that the 430 Task Force's second phase operation is set for three weeks from now on Friday, September 6th! Concentrate three squads and succeed in one decisive battle!"
After thinking for dozens of seconds, Zhen Guangquan stood up and looked around.
As his words fell, all the officers present stood up again, spirits running high.
After the meeting ended, Meng Huai drove directly back to Xuan Jia Squad's base. The journey across most of C City meant he arrived near noon.
As soon as he returned to the base office, he saw Tao Qiao'er, now wearing captain's rank insignia, waiting for him.
With only two years of service, Tao Qiao'er had risen step by step from sergeant when she first joined to captain, full of cruel irony but also inevitable.
Like Xia Yan before her, as the next candidate for Xuan Jia Squad leader, she would be directly promoted to captain upon official filing and serve as commander of the assault company, a position that the squad leader normally filled concurrently.
"Commander Meng, this is the ammunition and supply replenishment list for base training. I drafted it, but since it's my first time doing this, I'd like Commander Meng to review it before I get Deputy Squad Leader Zhao's signature."
Seeing Meng Huai return, Tao Qiao'er quickly handed over a folder.
Meng Huai sat down, took out his pen, and began checking line by line, occasionally modifying some content. Previously, these tasks had been Xia Yan's responsibility.
Yesterday, he had chatted with that girl named Jiang Yan at the welfare institute for half the day. Except for classified parts, he had told every story about Xia Yan from his memory, while the girl quietly listened all afternoon, occasionally turning red-eyed and bowing her head in silence.
Meng Huai felt he had treated Jiang Yan like a tree, a tree that could provide real emotional feedback, to whom he could confide his inner pressures and secrets without the self-deceptive melancholy that would follow such confessions.
Actually, it wasn't just Xia Yan, but many, many people and events from his memory, covered with indifference but weighing on his heart...
"Commander Meng, is there a problem?"
Tao Qiao'er noticed her squad leader seemed to be spacing out, his pen having stopped for several minutes without moving, so she stepped forward half a pace.
"Hmm?" Meng Huai came back to his senses, a slight smile appearing at the corner of his mouth. "No problem. Very detailed, exceeded expectations. When Xia Yan first did this, I scolded him harshly. Hehe, when I first did this, I really angered the old squad leader too..."
Now it was Tao Qiao'er's turn to be stunned. This was the first time she'd seen the squad leader say so much to her, with such rich and gentle expressions. More importantly, he was beginning to mention "the past."
Capping his pen and checking his watch, Meng Huai stood up and put on his military cap: "It's already 12:30. Little Tao, haven't eaten yet, right? Come on, let's drive out to eat together!"
As decisive as always, but with a very natural expression and gentle tone.
Probably, possibly, the only people who could be treated this way by Commander Meng were those who became squad leader candidates? Before it was Xia Yan, now it's me...
Tao Qiao'er stared in amazement, slowly reaching out to poke her own face, somewhat doubting whether she stood up too fast earlier, causing hallucinations and auditory illusions.