Enforcer Manual
Chapter 507: Preserving the Fire Seed_1

Chapter 507: Chapter 507: Preserving the Fire Seed_1

"I don’t understand what you mean,"

Lu Xiang felt a vague sense of foreboding. As Langinus spoke of his reflections on life, she couldn’t help but rack her brains to ponder the purpose of his visit to Region Seventeen at this particular moment.

Was such an important figure meeting her simply to warn her not to continue her investigation?

"Go work in the Counter-Intelligence Department in The First Region; that is the new position offered to you by the Review Meeting, and where your talents can be best utilized."

Lu Xiang was stunned.

She had certainly heard of the Counter-Intelligence Department in The First Region, which served as the intelligence hub of the United Government and was the place countless students from Morning Star Academy aspired to be.

Unlike Military Intelligence Section Seven, due to the Counter-Intelligence Department’s involvement with the core secrets of the United Government, it had strict restrictions on personnel selection. Only those with high-birth backgrounds and aligned interests with corporations and familial dynasties could hope to work there.

Lu Xiang had not expected Langinus to use a position in the Counter-Intelligence Department as a bargaining chip. Once in the department, she wouldn’t need to delve deeper into her investigation; by simply looking into the department’s internal data, she could easily understand all of the United Government’s recent deployments against the "Outside," which of course included the distribution of Dream Manufacture products.

Was the Review Meeting’s method of stopping her investigation to bring her into the United Government’s most central intelligence agency?

That clearly made little sense.

"In the Counter-Intelligence Department, you can learn all the answers you want to know, but at the same time, you’ll understand the reasons behind every decision we make,"

Langinus paused, then said, "I believe with your wisdom, you would be able to make the wisest decision after knowing everything."

"I have no intention of leaving Region Seventeen for the time being."

"This is for your long-term benefit. One day you’ll understand the reasons."

As they spoke, a figure quietly emerged at the entrance of the hospital ward.

A youth she had never seen before was covered from head to toe in heavy clothing, revealing only a pair of cybernetic eyes.

The blue light flickering from the cybernetic eyes halted on her, and the youth’s voice, also encrypted, said, "We have arranged a special plane for you to The First Region. Please follow me to the waiting area, as we are in the process of evacuating other personnel."

Evacuating?

The sense of unease in Lu Xiang’s heart grew stronger.

In the live-exercises at the academy, she had participated in such secret evacuation operations, though not in United Government territory, but in a Neutral Country.

Before the use of weapons of mass destruction, the United Government would secretly evacuate certain important figures from a city beforehand.

Lu Xiang still had vivid memories of that evacuation operation. The day after their squad covertly moved the staff out of the Neutral Country’s city, satellite weapons leveled the city.

She missed the moment of the satellite weapon’s arrival, and upon returning to the academy and receiving commendations, she saw the destroyed city in the news reports. Of course, in the United Government’s propaganda, this was another resounding victory in the fight against the Rebel Army. They announced the killing of an entire elite unit of the Rebel Army and several cadres.

As for the specific reasons, Lu Xiang remained ignorant to this day.

"Please trust me; this is for your own good,"

the youth said indifferently.

As Sir Langinus would say, this plan was designated to protect the ’seed’ of the United Government.

And he, as a Six-Star Rescuer, was also listed among those to be protected—after Sir Langinus’s arrival, their mission had a temporary change from tracking Angle Saffire to evacuating important personnel.

The Review Meeting did not wish for them to confront "Justice" head-on without clear intelligence.

Unlike his two teammates, he never bothered with reasons behind the tasks from the department, nor did he ponder deeper motives; his only concern was to complete his assignments.

"Please come with me; the evacuation work is nearly complete."

..................

Shortly thereafter, at the Law Enforcers Department of Region Seventeen.

In the long wait, some faint sounds emanated from outside the cubicle.

Song Lan looked out to see that the visitor was not an agent from the black-clothed Investigative Bureau for Unusual Cases but a crude homemade flying device, which wobbled as it delivered a letter through the window into Lu Xiang’s office.

Such a method of delivering a message was extremely rare, almost taking Song Lan back to the era of homing pigeons.

The letter’s heading read "From a Friend."

This mysterious friend wished to meet in the alley outside the Rescuer Department in a quarter of an hour.

Song Lan immediately thought of his recently acquired Assassin friend; he was genuinely pleased that his friend had managed to escape from the agents of the Investigative Bureau for Unusual Cases.

He left Lu Xiang’s office, locked the door, dodged all the surveillance cameras in the department, and arrived early at the address mentioned in the letter.

The torrential rain outside had stopped.

Song Lan arrived at the rendezvous five minutes before the agreed time.

Mr. Killer was a punctual man; he was already there waiting.

The Assassin’s spirits seemed much improved today, although his attire was becoming more reminiscent of Dorago Safron.

Thick overcoat, a half-face mask, sunglasses even on an overcast day; walking down the street, one would be treated as a suspect.

It seemed as if the border Assassins would eventually go through the process of questioning Dorago, mocking Dorago, to finally becoming Dorago.

"You’re here,"

said the Assassin as he approached Song Lan.

Before coming to Region Seventeen, he had never imagined he’d end up sharing adversity with a hostage, and once again, it proved that official departments of the United Government were not good partners, being prone to omissions in their briefings and to discard you like used wrapping at the first sign of a mistake.

However, for a professional Assassin, betrayal by an employer was hardly a novelty.

Professional Assassins have their own principles. For him, never repaying benevolence with enmity was the rule he abided by.

"I saw your text, but now I have even worse news, much worse than Lu Xiang taking out a huge insurance policy on you,"

"What happened?"

"I don’t have much time, so I’ll have to be brief. A friend of mine is keeping an eye on Lu Xiang. After leaving the hospital, she was taken to a collection point near the airport. There are some United Government officials and corporate executives there. It looks like they’re about to evacuate."

"Evacuate?"

"Evacuate the city,"

said the Assassin seriously, "To minimize potential losses before the arrival of weapons of mass destruction, it’s their usual trick."