A few miles away, in the same Capital city, Huo Shen stared at the screen in front of him.
For the first time in a long while, disbelief crept into his eyes.
Lin Ke stood rigid at his side, fingers hovering uselessly above the keyboard. "Captain… there was a breach. But.." he trailed off, finding it hard to explain.
Huo Shen leaned forward.
On the screen, lines of cascading code unfolded like a living organism. Encryption stacked atop encryption, access tokens expiring before they could be traced. Not brute force.
Not elegance either.
This was… defensive intelligence.
He rolled his shoulder once, fingers flying across the console as he pulled raw packet data, cross-checking hashes against archived Black Lotus signatures.
Thirty minutes passed. Nothing.
He then stripped the metadata down to bare logic. He still wasn't close.
"Interesting," he murmured at last.
He leaned back, eyes dark, sharp. "And we have no idea who this benefactor is?"
Lin Ke shook his head nervously. "No, Captain. I was on the trail the second the alarm triggered. But it was like catching a loach in muddy waters, except… we were the ones being shaken off. They slipped through every snare.".
Huo Shen shot him a cold look.
"That idiom means taking advantage of chaos, not escaping it."
Lin Ke winced. "Yes, Captain."
"For that misuse alone, you can.."
Before he could state the punishment however, Bai Renzhou rushed in without knocking "The grand commander general is on the line - urgent" he said breathlessly.
The room went silent.
One by one, the team exchanged looks and wordlessly filed out. No order was needed. Everyone knew the atmosphere between Huo Shen and the Grand Commander General.
Even with the same last names, you couldn't guess they were related - that was how distant they acted when together. For the General to call now, during leave, meant nothing good.
If Huo Shen was thinking the same, he didn't show it. He calmly picked up the phone "Yes?" he asked in one word.
This was an unofficial call, made to his personal phone. The usual Military formalities could be set aside.
"Researcher Mo could be in trouble - we need you to extract him" came the crisp voice of his father.
Huo Shen's eyes darkened but he still replied calmly "Please let my Division Lieutenant know - my team will mobilize immediately".
"Shen'er, that…" The Grand Commander General was momentarily tongue tied.
Aegis could not exist on paper.
Every time Huo Shen left as Aegis, a parallel mission, a dummy mission, was logged under his official identity with falsified locations. If anyone suspected Huo Shen to be Aegis, the trail will disprove it - for the dummy mission will place them both in different parts of the world.
Now that Aegis had a team, the protocol extended to all of them - and their Division Lieutenant had to know.
But, going by the Grand Commander's hesitation, that wouldn't be the case this time.
Which meant only one thing.
Huo Shen smiled faintly "So what does the Grand Governor General want from a disgraced soldier like me?" he asked, baiting him to lay it all out.
"Shen'er" sighed Huo Jingchuan exasperatedly. However, they didn't have time for this now.
"It's like this. Yichen is on the mission and we lost contact with Qinghe Research Institute 10 minutes back. Our tech experts are trying to get back - but the encryption is like nothing we've ever seen."
"The Grand Commander General is too anxious. Your grandson is capable, being a Major at such a young age. I am sure he will perform splendidly" replied Huo Shen sarcastically.
"Now is not the time to hold grudges" snapped Huo Jingchuan. "Where is your sense of family duty? Your nephew is in trouble and you can easily…"
"I assure you, between the two of us, it is not I who lacks a sense of responsibility towards the family." Huo Shen responded sharply, his tone like cutting diamonds.
Huo Jingchuan took a deep calming breath. He couldn't afford to loose his temper. "Think of the bigger picture - this is Researcher Mo! Our National Treasure. If the Black Lotus gets him, then all that we have worked for is lost. Shen'er, can you bear to see that happen?" he urged relentlessly.
Huo Shen gave a deep humorless laugh. "Indeed, I see The Grand Commander General's skills of moral kidnapping are still impeccable. I will leave now."
"No. Take your team, don't go alone.." started Huo Jingchuan.
"Your concern is touching. But I am not your incapable grandson. Wait for the results" said Huo Shen curtly, ending the call.
"Jeep. Usual gear. 5 mins" he ordered Bai Renzhou, already walking out.
At the entrance to his study, he stopped short. His team stood at attention, already changed into unobtrusive tactical gear. Behind them, in a makeshift tray lay all their identification details and a closed envelope.
When in critical missions, they leave behind their ID so that if they are captured, they aren't recognized.
The envelope held a farewell letter to their closest loved one. If they sacrificed, this would be their final words to them.
Huo Shen's eyes flickered. "Thank you" he said quietly. "But this is a favor to a father, from a son. I am going solo."
"Negative boss, please let us come" blurted out Lin Ke.
Rhino gave him a dirty look. That was an useless way to convince someone, most of all a stubborn person like Huo Shen.
"Let me assist in this mission - so that I can repay the favor I owe you" said Viper suddenly.
See. Rhino made eyes at the embarrassed Lin Ke. That's an argument. That's how you play it.
Huo Shen saw right through it however. "There will be plenty of chances later. Or, if I don't make it, take care of my son. That will do" he joked.
None of his team found his gallows humor funny.
Behind Huo Shen, Bai Renzhou pursed his lips. Boss really doesn't value his life anymore! He thought worriedly. All that he cares about is his son. He dearly wished something would make Huo Shen be more worldly again. He almost could empathise with Huo Shen's mother!
Shaking himself from futile thoughts, Bai Renzhou fluidly continued making preparations, his finger flying as he keyed in the safety codes.
The team exchanged desperate glances as they watched Huo Shen turn away.
Falcon stepped forward, his voice steady.
"Who was it," he asked softly, "who stood in front of us that winter night and said a lone blade breaks, but a forged edge holds?"
He met Huo Shen's eyes without flinching.
"You taught us to trust our backs to each other. To survive together. If you walk into this alone… then everything you built in us means nothing."
"You will not follow a demerited soldier on an unrecognized mission against the Black Lotus" rebuked Huo Shen impatiently. "If we fail -"
"You made us this way, Boss." said Rhino solemnly. "You taught us to rely on each other when the world wouldn't. So don't take that away now."
"Let us come." Viper urged.
"Let us come boss. This is what we work towards. This is who we are." whispered Falcon.
Huo Shen had nothing to say to that. "Renzhou, get them geared up…" his voice trailed off.
Behind the team, their tactical packs were already laid out checked, calibrated, comm units synced. Even the spare batteries had been pre-sorted.
His team smoothly picked up the gear they had packed the moment they stepped out of the study.
"They would've followed you anyway boss - even if you had said no. I was just being highly efficient when I gave them the passkey" Bai Renzhou defended himself weakly under Huo Shen's glinting stare and quickly went back to arrangements.
"Head to Qinghe Research Institute.." ordered Huo Shen.
"Our ward is there"
"My sister is there" exclaimed Bai Renzhou and Lin Ke at the same time.
"You don't have a sister" refuted Bai Renzhou.
"Now we do" claimed Rhino cheerfully, ignoring Lin Ke's indignant "It's my sister, not yours!"
"Do you and your wife have a ward?" asked Viper looking at Bai Renzhou curiously.
"Now we do!" replied Bai Renzhou smugly.
"Debrief. Now." Called Huo Shen curtly. "Your capacity for gossip is worse than a team of village women" he grumbled.
But they weren't the top team trained by the great Aegis himself for nothing. Despite the conversation and ribbing, the team smoothly assembled inside the Jeep, heading to the institute.
Lin Ke cursed under his breath. He had just started dismantling the comms channel at Qinghe. "Hard block! They have a multi-layered air-gap spoofing, rotating AES keys with quantum-noise masking. I'll need time."
"How much?" Asked Huo Shen, not bothered in the slightest.
"At least half an hour - if we are lucky. 2 hrs utmost" he grunted, furiously typing away code after code.
"No problem, we go in blind, when the comms come on…" Huo Shen abruptly cut off. The entire screen turned green. The codes Lin Ke was typing, disappeared fast.
"In already?" he frowned
"All access re-routed" confirmed Lin Ke.
"It's not me - someone from inside the institute opened the grid" said Lin Ke tersely. And, they did it in less than a minute, he thought stunned.
That wasn't always good news, as the team knew. It could also mean that the enemy had a hostage or a demand and had opened a pathway to trap them.
"Don't engage" said Huo Shen, his jaw taut. They needed to ascertain intent…
"SOS signal sent" called Lin Ke urgently.
"Seems to be a friendly" murmured Huo Shen.
But now there was a decision to make.
With the SOS signal, and opening up of comms, regular military will be on the way.
At best, it made their presence redundant. At worst, it increased their chances of being noticed - which would mean permanent disbarment from the Military for going in without proper orders or credentials.
"Lumina made contact" exclaimed Lin Ke incredulously. The series of events seemed was almost too much for him to grasp.
"This kid has 'someone important' inside Qinghe - in the control room, apparently and has asked what to do."
"How did he even know this so soon" murmured Rhino in awe.
The team waited quietly for Huo Shen to speak, knowing how the boss would decide - they owed this kid a favor after all! Plus, they had their wards stuck inside. This was personal to the team.
"We proceed. But if anyone…"
"Boss, no. We aren't leaving" Lin Ke rolled his eyes.
Viper reached out from his seat and gave him a clip in his ear. Rolling eyes at the boss, this kid has a deathwish.
"Tell our friend we are here and will reach the control room in 10 minutes." Huo Shen ordered Lin Ke. "Rhino that's you"
"Viper, hostage mitigation and sabotage. I am heading in for Senior Mo" Huo Shen smoothly re-assigned the plan.
"Lin Ke" he called, just as they headed out "you're sparring with me for the rest of the year"
And the team fanned out - unaware that at the exact minute someone had already breached the control tower.