Prelude to the Operation

"Alright, some mistakes were made and we're off schedule by a couple of days, but it's not that big of a deal as the situation is still manageable, we only have a bit less time to prepare," Yue says to everyone currently in the conference room.

"Big Sis, that was more than a simple mistake..." Shuren says.

"Yeah, I mean, the base almost got discovered then our guests got to enjoy prison for a few days. Although, I've heard Cordelia was only awake for their escape," Wei says.

"Right, I've been meaning to ask, how are they treating that prison break, the police that is?" Yue asks.

"We haven't really gone anywhere since our return. At most I've hung around on the ground floor eating the dumplings, so I don't know if there are any rumours of our escape or if they're looking for us," I say.

"I had someone go check it out a few hours after you returned the other day," Shuren says. Bringing up a paper she continues, "from the report I received, there isn't a hostile response. The official statement is that you all were released after repenting and apologising, but this is naturally a false statement, likely meant to cover up your escape from their superiors," she explains.

"Basically it's business as usual for them, I swear the only ones taking their job seriously are the military police and the border guards. They made a mistake and are trying to prevent the higher-ups from finding out. I don't think it will remain a secret for much longer, but since it doesn't seem like they found out the real identities of Cordelia and the others it shouldn't be much of a problem. But I suggest changing up the makeup and wearing a different wig whenever you guys go out, a the very least it should fool those idiots from the Law Enforcement Bureau," Yue says, "but moving on, how much longer until the target arrives?"

"According to the last report from our scouts, the Vice-Minister of Court Finances, Hong Cheng, will be arriving in four days. This report was from three days ago, so the day of arrival should be tomorrow," Shuren says.

"Not much time left, but it's just that old Cheng, shouldn't be too difficult," Yue says.

"So what's up with this guy?" I ask,

"One of the elders of the Hong family and has a degree of control over the budget of the Imperial Court, although from what I hear, a good portion finds its way into his own pockets and often accepts bribes to manipulate the budget for the various departments under his jurisdiction. But there's a bit more other than the usual corruption, from the reports of our spies, he's also has a thing for gathering young children and selling them off to the highest bidder."

"Alright that's all you needed to say, when can I eat him?" Wanjing asks, which gets her a few looks from the people who haven't been informed of her race.

"I'm pretty sure all of us here want a turn at him and it will come soon. Thankfully he doesn't have a talent for combat and his natural abilities are weak, so it shouldn't be too difficult to grab him. But he also keeps a few strong guards around him to compensate this weakness and they almost never leave him alone," Yue explains.

"What do we have on these guards of his?" Wei asks.

"Not much, unfortunately. We have some info on one and a bit less on another, but we hardly have any information on the last one. First is a swordsman by the name of He Lin, a tall man about 1.8 metres with a lean muscular build, suspected to practice a form of body cultivation, and has a notable scar that stretches across his face. Next is someone we suspect to be proficient in arrays, their name is Xu Kang, has a small stature at roughly 1.6 metres. As for the last one, we don't really have anything other except that we assume that they're stronger than the other two since they refer to her as 'Boss Lady', but our we don't know anything else," Shuren explains.

"So what is this? An assassination? A theft? Or a capture and interrogation mission?" I ask.

"Uhh, yes," Yue says, "the old man undoubtedly has plenty of stuff for you to take for yourself, and I'm pretty sure we all want to give him a good thrashing, then when we're done we can kill him," Yue says.

"So what will be the plan?" Lia asks.

"The first part will be keeping those three guards of his busy, I think leaving this to you should be fine. Incapacitating and capturing them would be ideal or killing them if it's really necessary, but winning isn't important so long as you can keep them busy while everyone else moves to take care of any of the other guards that may be around as well as the actual capture of the old man," Yue explains.

"Where is this going to take place?" I ask.

"On the night of his arrival, at his private residence in the centre. Its location is relatively far from any of the local law enforcement and military police, as well as the Hong family estate. We only have one chance though and we have a time limit of around forty minutes until another group shows up from the government side. Ideally, we would have more than a single day to prepare, but, well, mistakes were made," Yue says.

A few seconds of silence pass until Yue says, "the hell you all standing around for!? Get moving, we don't have much time! Find out the guard patrols for tonight and look for all our possible entrance and escape routes. Make sure all the equipment is in a ready state for the operation! Move, people move!" Yue yells as everyone begins running like mad to get things done.

It's been a while since our last actual fight, I'm kind of looking forward to this.