September 6th, Friday, 10:00 AM.
Early that morning, over ten buses carrying nearly a hundred children, caregivers, and staff drove out of W District Children's Welfare Institute.
On the rooftop terrace of a commercial building not far from the welfare institute, Meng Huai and Han Xiao stood side by side, both dressed in casual clothes, quietly watching the welfare institute below.
The scheduled operation time was still a few minutes away. Meng Huai's expression was grave, while Han Xiao beside him appeared calm and composed.
"I heard from Chief of Staff Zhen that you can't inject anti-blood infection immune medication for this operation. You have to stay in the back and command honestly."
Han Xiao suddenly said this without any particular expression.
"You're the frontline action commander designated by the chief. I can't steal your job no matter where I am."
Meng Huai replied indifferently, not even glancing at her.
"Meng Huai, I know you're in the second stage... Transfer positions, or transfer out of service... My father can help you. This has nothing to do with whether I like you or not..."
Han Xiao's voice suddenly became much lower, with a somewhat anxious tone. But the tall officer beside her remained silent, or rather, didn't yet have the mindset to face such topics.
Time was up. Sharp police sirens came from the end of the sidewalk, interrupting Han Xiao and Meng Huai's thoughts.
A police car with flashing lights was chasing a van that was frantically accelerating to escape. Immediately after, from the other end of the street, a SWAT armored vehicle charged out of the intersection, executing a magnificent drift to block the van's path.
The van made a sharp turn and desperately crashed through the gates of the Children's Welfare Institute, zigzagging and crashing directly into the entrance of the institute's administrative building.
Two gunmen hurriedly got out of the vehicle, one after the other, dragging a long black box.
Several gunshots followed, and frightened cries from the welfare institute's remaining staff echoed from inside the building.
More police cars came roaring in, blocking the street in front of the welfare institute completely. Large numbers of armed officers in black combat uniforms poured into the welfare institute and surrounding high-rise buildings, beginning to occupy advantageous positions.
Citizens from near and far gathered around, but most were stopped by armed police about a hundred meters from the scene. Some took out phones trying to film, but most were discouraged by the police.
On the commercial building's rooftop terrace, Meng Huai had already turned around, no longer interested in what was happening below, or rather, these scenes had already been rehearsed countless times in the plan.
"According to our investigation visits, Xia Yan is someone who lives an extremely disciplined life with no particular hobbies, but whenever he has time, he likes to watch the news. This live broadcast will continue until dawn, basically covering all his information reception periods."
Han Xiao spoke lightly, but the corners of her mouth had already formed a slight smile, probably satisfied with the opening ceremony she had carefully arranged, which also diluted the sadness brought by her brother's sacrifice.
"It's an open conspiracy. When the Embroidered Uniform Squad appears in the news, he should know what's happening inside... Old Jiang Chunhua being attacked by an Attendant-level vampire, what will he do?"
Han Xiao suddenly laughed out loud, turning to look at the cold-faced Meng Huai.
"To create a realistic atmosphere, you even transferred a vampire Attendant undergoing live research from headquarters... Everyone including the headquarters chiefs are betting that your plan will succeed."
Meng Huai took a deep breath and walked toward the rooftop stairwell without looking back, his tone somewhat unfriendly: "The van that just played the robbers has already caused two pedestrian collision accidents. It was indeed realistic enough... Since it's already started, I'll also return to base to prepare."
Reaching the stairwell entrance, Meng Huai happened to run into Han Jieli who was arriving. The former only nodded slightly before passing by.
Watching Meng Huai leave, Han Jieli took off his military cap and walked to Han Xiao's side, also beginning to appreciate the drama being performed below.
"Sister Xiao, Brother Sheng's remains have been returned to the country. Aunt and sister-in-law rushed over this morning... Rest assured, the superiors will properly handle all funeral arrangements. I heard Brother Sheng received a first-class merit."
"Heh, first-class merit. Does the Han family need such things... Xiao Li, you're now the only male of the Han family's generation. Listen to your sister, apply for transfer in a couple of years."
Without outsiders present, Han Xiao's eyes gradually reddened. Looking at her young cousin beside her, her eyes were full of worry, and her tone was quite dejected: "The Han family has done right by everyone. We can't all be consumed in the Shadow Arrow Force... Get married and have children early, don't be like my brother."
"Hehe, Third Sister, don't worry about me. I work at headquarters' Intelligence Bureau, so it's safe. With my conditions, I can pick and choose among girls!"
Han Jieli held his military cap with a smile, as if he had never worried about his future, his tone particularly calm: "Do you think my mother had some premonition back then? Before First Uncle and Second Uncle sacrificed themselves, when I was still in her belly, she changed me to the Han surname and entered me in the family registry, making my father depressed for several years..."
"Hmph, Han family men, you all just go and court death..."
Han Xiao wiped the corner of her eye and turned to leave.
12:00 PM.
Golden River Club, still an hour before afternoon business hours. Currently all employees were taking turns having lunch.
Next door, Jiang Yao's advancement hibernation had passed another critical milestone. Even after injecting external hormone suppressants, one could sense an aura much more formidable than an Attendant's at relatively close distance.
Lower-tier Knight was the staged achievement of Jiang Yao's hibernation for over half a month, and it wasn't even the final result.
Judging from Jiang Yao's currently intensifying aura waves, her advancement was far from over. Perhaps when her hibernation ended, reaching the realm of mid-tier Knight was not impossible. Perfect to the point of being flawless.
Only a few people had witnessed Jiang Yao's process of fighting four Black Blood Clan members alone back then. Now that she had become a Knight, Jiang Yao's combat potential was even more filled with imagination.
The Hyacinth leader seemed to have forgotten about the small disturbance that occurred in Jiang Yao's room a few days ago, personally formulating an external blood and nutrition supplement plan for Jiang Yao's advancement hibernation, probably also full of expectations for the results.
Under Wan Yue's prohibition, no one within Hyacinth discussed Jiang Yao's hibernation anymore, as if this matter had never happened.
In the employee cafeteria, Jiang Yan and several girls held their bowls, eating carefully. On the table before them was an array of dishes, not only high quality but also abundant and filling.
For Golden River Club, such dining treatment comparable to star hotels in both quality and quantity was undoubtedly a significant investment, after all, everyone's appetite was not to be underestimated.
On one wall of the employee cafeteria hung a large screen TV, currently broadcasting the midday news.
"...This is a live report from the scene at XXX Street in W District. City and district police forces have completely blocked traffic around the Children's Welfare Institute. Eyewitnesses have confirmed that two armed robbers are currently hiding in the institute's administrative building, holding some welfare institute staff hostage.
"...Fortunately, just two hours before the incident, all the welfare institute's children and most staff had already left by bus for an autumn outing. Currently, all those remaining in the welfare institute are middle-aged and elderly staff.
"Police have currently begun dialogue with the armed robbers, hoping they will release some of the elderly and weak in the welfare institute. It is understood that Jiang Chunhua, provincial and municipal advanced women's representative and municipal people's representative, is currently in the building!"
Jiang Yan's face suddenly changed. The bowl in her hands fell to the ground with a bang, oil, soup, dishes, and rice splashing across the clean floor in an unsightly mess.
"Xiao Yan, what's wrong?"
Zhou Ping beside her quickly put down her chopsticks, grabbed a stack of napkins to cover the food on the ground, preventing the soup from spreading further.
Jiang Yan didn't speak, just stared fixedly at the TV screen. In a fleeting scene, she caught an intriguing sight: several armed Shadow Arrow Force members.
For the Shadow Arrow Force to appear on scene, there was only one possibility: Blood Clan had appeared at the incident site!
Fugitives, robbers, drug dealers, mental patients, or fires, traffic accidents... these were common terms used to conceal Shadow Arrow Force operations from the public in densely populated areas.
The current robber case at W District Children's Welfare Institute was almost certainly caused by a mistake while pursuing fleeing Blood Clan.
"Sister Xiao Ping, Sister Xiao Ling, please watch over Xiao Yao. I... I need to go out for a while. Please ask Brother Zhao Peng for leave!"
Jiang Yan's face grew paler and paler, her body even trembling. When leaving, she almost collided with others.
Several streets around W District Children's Welfare Institute were blocked by police cars. The nearest crowd of onlookers could only crane their necks from hundreds of meters away, constantly retreating under police persuasion.
The earliest batch of online videos had obviously been subject to information control. Most videos involving sensitive content were deleted, making people suspect the severity of the situation in the welfare institute.
On a footbridge hundreds of meters from the Children's Welfare Institute, among the surging crowd of onlookers, Jiang Yan squeezed to the front row, looking panicked.
She could already sense a turbulent and chaotic Blood Clan aura appearing in the Children's Welfare Institute, mixed with bloodthirsty violence and despair after blood-boiling. That was a precursor to blood thirst losing control.
Beside several SWAT armored vehicles, familiar black combat uniforms and armbands, heavily armed, were so menacing and conspicuous. Jiang Yan recognized them as the Embroidered Uniform Squad, and even saw tracking butterflies flying in mid-air.
Jiang Yan squeezed out of the crowd with mixed feelings, slowly sitting in a corner of the footbridge, staring blankly at the ground.
"Xiao Yan, let's go. Sister Wan is back. If there's anything, you can let Sister Wan help you think it through."
Zhao Peng appeared beside Jiang Yan at some point, crouching down to comfort her.
"The old director... she's inside."
Jiang Yan became increasingly agitated. Although she believed that a wandering Blood Clan Attendant was far from being a match for the heavily armed Shadow Arrow Force, she had witnessed many times how crazy Blood Clan could become when falling into blood thirst collapse.
"Mm, we all saw it in the news. With the Shadow Arrow Force's capabilities, if they weren't considering the hostages' safety, they probably would have eliminated that wandering Blood Clan long ago."
Zhao Peng didn't know why, but for the first time he so hoped the Shadow Arrow Force could perfectly execute a combat mission against Blood Clan. At least, the girl in front of him certainly hoped so.
"Let's go back. Watching here is useless. Let's go find Sister Wan to discuss."
Zhao Peng pulled Jiang Yan to her feet, and the two disappeared into the crowd.
After their figures completely vanished, a middle-aged European man with a large belly walked out of a shop under the footbridge. He first looked toward the welfare institute, then glanced toward the footbridge, slowly squeezing out a smile on his rigid face.