Saga of the Swordbreaker 6: Invincible Under Heaven by Kit Sun Cheah

Author:Kit Sun Cheah [Cheah, Kit Sun]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: anonymous
Published: 2024-05-25T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter thirteen

Positive Identification

“We have our first target,” Bao Mao said.

The words electrified the briefing room. The junior biaohang perked up, sat straighter, coiled their muscles. The veterans relaxed, sinking their weight into the floor, carefully keeping a neutral mien. Everybody’s qi swelled up and blended together, condensing into dense thunderheads, swamping the room. The ceiling lights glowed brighter and hotter, responding to the sudden surge of raw energy.

A jolt ran through Li Ming. He couldn’t help it. The intense training had left him running the ragged edge of exhaustion. His limbs were leaden weights, aching to the bone. His head felt as though it had been beaten flat by a hundred hammers. Yet the words electrified him, chasing away the fatigue and recharging his reserves.

“We’re going operational? So soon after training?” An Hai asked.

“The Shadow Horde isn’t going to wait for us,” Old Snake replied.

An Hai was drained. His dull eyes had hooded over. Stress lines aged his face a decade. Nonetheless, he pursed his lips and nodded tightly.

There was a stranger in the room. Short and wiry, his bald pate gleamed under the light. He could be twenty or two hundred or any age in between. His uniform was sanitized, bearing no rank, no badges, not even a name tag.

“Everyone, this is Mantis, our operations officer. He’ll be handling the day’s brief,” Old Snake said.

Mantis nodded tersely at Old Snake, then addressed the group.

“Your target is Gao Yi Xiang. He’s a black market procurement specialist based in the village of Huzhu in the Central Plains. The mission is to capture him and recover all available intelligence materials in the area of operations.”

Gao’s face appeared on the projector screen. Soft and pale and puffy, he had the air of an academic, or perhaps a modestly successful businessman. His frameless spectacles accentuated his image. The only hardness in him was his short, coarse hair. Here was a man who had lived most of his life indoors, who never had to work with his hands. And yet, his black eyes danced with hidden secrets.

“This photo was lifted from his driver’s license and digitally aged five years. Be advised that he probably doesn’t look like that now,” Mantis said.

People could change a lot in five years. Nonetheless, Li Ming stared at the photo, burning the image into memory.

“Mr. Gao runs an import-export business out of his home, specializing in cultivator supplies. Forensics accounting has uncovered many discrepancies in reported sales and shipment of goods. Intelligence suspects he uses the flow of goods and money to conceal his underworld activities, including sending funds and supplies to the Wanjianhui,” Mantis continued.

“The Wanjianhui?” Guo Han interjected. “Weren’t we targeting the Shadow Horde?”

Mantis gave Guo Han a sharp look.

“As I was about to explain, the intelligence community believes the Shadow Horde is collaborating with the Wanjianhui. On the evening the White Tiger headquarters was destroyed, there was a beast attack in Bao An. Dayong responded to the incident. During the attack, they shot down an unmarked drone equipped with a strange device.

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