A figure in fully black tactical gear faced off against 6 assassins.
You could tell the assassins were well trained - their footwork was flawless and their moves were well coordinated.
Unfortunately for them, Huo Shen was simply better.
He pivoted, barely a shift of weight, and caught the first attacker's wrist mid-thrust. The deadly blade he held clattered to the ground.
With a decisive crack, he broke his wrist and pushed him out, just as the second assassin reached him. Huo Shen didn't avoid this attack. Instead, he stepped into it and using the assassins body weight against him, threw him cleanly over the shoulder.
He swept out his leg in a sweeping kick, making the other two fall down and rolled over to pick up a fallen knife.
With a decisive flick he threw the knife to the right and it hits bulls-eye - the fifth one fell down like a puppet whose strings were cut off.
Without turning to check, Huo Shen lunged at the final assassin, his hand holding him by the throat in a vice like grip. The assassin couldn't move. Instead of tossing him, Huo Shen turned and cleanly used the body as a shield midst a hail of bullets.
"How much longer?" came Falcon's steady voice across the gunshots.
"5 mins - we want the trace to hold" replied Lin Ke, sweat beading his forehead. Beside him, Mo Jiali typed away at electric speed, blocking hacking attacks and ensuring the code held up to scrutiny.
It was the same old pattern. Lin Ke on tech, Falcon the command. Viper on extraction while Rhino and Huo Shen were on the field.
The only difference was this time they had Mo Jiali with them.
The released Nexus files had the effect they anticipated, perhaps even more so. Not only did the military get involved, but Black Lotus tried intercepting as well.
Every personnel with highest clearance at Qinghe Institute was tasked with validating the Nexus files. They were also closely monitored, to prevent theft. The Military, under Major Shen's team, thwarted 3 attempts at leaks.
Until today.
At exactly 5 pm that evening, someone from inside Qinghe Institute took an offline copy of the files.
Rhino and Huo Shen were instantly on their trail - leading to an old warehouse. Their plan was simple - catch the spy conveniently after the transfer was done.
This way, they could track the whole network, whenever the file changes hands. And, they could also identify the leak within Qinghe.
What a time for a glitch grumbled Lin Ke.
"Someone injected a polymorphic packet into the encryption stream," Lin Ke growled. "It's rerouting through a quantum-shadow node - if I don't patch it, Black Lotus basically has backdoor access to our top-tier military intelligence".
He knew his team didn't need his explanations - they trusted his expertise and trusted him to have their backs. But he did anyway - because any bit of info could come in handy on the field.
Currently, Huo Shen was waiting for the trace to be confirmed and then proceed to the inner chambers to catch the spy.
But I have to finish this patch first thought Lin Ke frantically.
"Take 10 more" came in Huo Shen's voice calmly, as though he wasn't under fire. For him, defending the country always came first. "Make sure there are no gaps."
"Yes boss" gulped Lin Ke, his fingers trembling, but made a split second decision. He deployed a rough patch to hold as a temporary solution. Once the mission is done, they could ask the kid Lumina to help to fix it up
Currently, his boss needed the support and he daren't linger.
"Done" he called. 7 minutes.
Huo Shen didn't waste another second. He threw a smoke grenade, and weaved through the smokescreen like a lethal phantom.
Every direction he moved, assassins dropped, making his earlier moves look like child's play. It was apparent he was clearly holding back on them before.
Kicking the final assassin to the ground, Huo Shen burst into the room beyond - only to be greeted by a hail of bullets. But he was prepared. He shoved an unconscious assassin in front of him as a shield and with that cover, fired back.
Every shot was precise. When his gun emptied, there were no more gunmen left.
Han Zheyu lounged on a chair, like a king. He looked untouched by the violence and gunfight around him, as though he was merely watching a very interesting play.
"Welcome Aegis" he grinned. "Your skills are fading - I expected you 10 mins back"
Next to him, the figure shrouded in a dark hood froze. Huo Shen noticed the movement from the corner of his eye
So, the mole didn't know he would get exposed. Interesting.
Without letting his inner thoughts show, Huo Shen simply raised his hands and waited.
Han Zheyu found Aegis's calm demeanour particularly irritating.
"Hand over the researcher. Or he dies" Han Zheyu said, smoothly pointing a gun at the mole.
"They had a trap set up - just like Boss predicted" transmitted Falcon to the team quietly. "Team, plan B. We begin extraction. Boss, we are 3 minutes from you" he clarified quickly.
Inside the warehouse, the frantic calculations of Huo Shen's team felt like another world. Time seemed frozen, as Han Zheyu motioned for Huo Shen to make a move.
"Make the call" he said smiling sharply, toying with the gun. "Every minute you delay, I take a shot."
To prove his point, he fired a careless shot. The hooded figure next to him went down with a yell.
"Bastard. How dare you doublecross me!" It was Professor Tong Yaohui.
Gone were his neat clothes and scholarly persona. He now wore an old sweatshirt, with the hood pulled low on his head. The gunshot directly crippled him and he rolled on the floor wailing.
"Oh hush you old man. As if you are something special." sneered Han Zheyu. "You couldn't give us the files the first time - do you really think we had any other use for you except as bait?"
"You there" he ordered his men, ignoring this fallen team mate, "Remove his mask". Even if they couldn't get researcher Mo, confirming Aegis' identity would be a good win.
"One minute out. Boss, we are ready to meet you" confirmed Falcon.
Huo Shen moved like a whirlwind. He seamlessly cut thorough the haze of knives as though he was pushing them away with magic. These were the final bunch of fighters. They had no more gunmen left and had no advantage over Huo Shen.
"Useless" yelled Han Zheyu angrily. He couldn't accept another failure. One more would mean his head. But his anger was of no use. Huo Shen simply gave him no opening to attack.
In exactly a minute, Rhino barged in, to find their boss facing off with Han Zheyu holding a weak Professor Tong Yaohui as a hostage. There was a pile of unconscious bodies around them.
Somedays, boss makes me feel useless thought Rhino.
By tactic agreement, he moved to cover Huo Shen from behind.
Han Zheyu frowned. This script was wrong. Aegis showed up with a partner again? How could that be? Aegis always operated alone!
Unwilling to concede, Han Zheyu made a split second decision. He shoved Professor Tonghui at Huo Shen violently and in the same motion, flicked open a small metallic capsule concealed in his palm.
It was a pressurized micro-dispersal canister. With a hiss a haze of poisonous green smoke filled the air.
It was Black Lotus's newest prototype neuro-inhalant. Once finished, it will be their ultimate chemical warfare weapon.
It was still under development, and strictly, was not allowed to be exposed.
But Han Zheyu had calculated it well. This would help him escape now. And, if Aegis gets affected, he would be out of action.
I will investigate to see who's under the influence - and expose Aegis' identity. Han Zheyu planned gleefully. And fled. This was a successful victory!
Huo Shen noticed Han Zheyu's hand moving towards his pocket and felt a foreboding. Without questioning his sixth sense, he ducked and pulled Rhino at his back away from the range of the drug.
Huo Shen didn't swivel though - moving away meant exposing Rhino to whatever was thrown. He took the front of it himself.
Despite his quick reflexes, he got a good whiff of a shimmery green substance. It felt like inhaling acid, and burned his passageway.
"Fall Back" he called sharply into his mike. "Possible aerosolized neurotoxin. Level Two exposure. Activate bio-containment protocol."
Rhino's eye widened "Boss - "
"Move" coughed Huo Shen.
Viper burst in through the right wall in an armored truck.
"Major Shen's team is heading our way" he confirmed, taking out gasmasks for the three of them.
Major Shen, despite his family affiliations, was a competent soldier. Leaving this mole for him to clean up would be just right.
"Boss - your nephew is flanking left" called in Falcon urgently. "It looks like he's going solo".
Huo Shen paused for a second. That meant Huo Yichen would charge in, regardless of risks and would get exposed to the green smoke.
"Do not secure perimeter. Withdraw. Now." he barked. Without another word, he moved toward the wall junction and drove his elbow into two adjacent industrial water pipes. Ice cold water flooded the base.
The green smoke thinned under forced humidity and rapid airflow disruption.
Standard military protocol would now require a chemical hazard assessment before entry. Hopefully, that would keep them safe from this toxin and limit exposure.
"Contact Qingzhe" wheezed Huo Shen. His insides were still burning and he could already sense the drug trying to dull his mind. "I want a tox screen done."
""Falcon," he continued evenly, though each word felt slightly slower to form, "Black Lotus is escalating to chemical warfare. Scrape every channel. I want procurement trails, experiment logs, precursor compounds. Now."
"Copy."
As the armored truck cut through the night, a heavy silence fell inside. The team knew they had scored another victory - they had uncovered the mole inside Qinghe and had introduced a counter tracker into Black Lotus.
Rhino and Viper exchanged grim glances. But it came at a terrible price. Rhino felt ashamed. On their first mission against Black Lotus, he had been dead weight. Not only had he not assisted his boss, but had dragged him down.
Rhino wasn't a fool. He knew Huo Shen was exposed because he had resolutely chosen to protect him.
I will make this right. He promised himself fiercely, his hands fisting on his lap. He had lost count of how many times his boss had shown up for him.
He did it effortlessly, without asking and Rhino felt humbled. His heart burning with gratitude, he once again quietly promised to walk with his Boss, whatever path he chose to tread.
Huo Shen's fingers quietly brushed the thread bracelet in his wrist, his mind slowly becoming dark. You aren't around to save me this time, little one, he smiled bitterly.
"If I am not contagious, move me to the Huo Residence" he grunted, before darkness claimed him.
Unsurprisingly, he was eager to get back to place that felt more like home.