Chapter 1062 - Seizing the Treasure in the Perilous City

The "safe house" at the rendezvous point was an ordinary shop. The owner's entire family had reportedly been dragged out of the city and killed by local Liaodong people just days ago—accused of "exploiting the Liaodongese"—and their belongings had been looted clean. Empty shops and residences like this littered the street; the better ones were already occupied by rebel soldiers. Since this street was relatively deserted, Huang Ande had chosen this place as the safe house for receiving the Special Reconnaissance Team.

This was also Huang Ande's first time witnessing the "Senate's Sword"—the Special Reconnaissance Team—in a combat state. This Praetorian Guard of the Senate rarely appeared in public. Except during joint exercises or occasionally passing through the entrances of Bairen City, almost no one was aware of their existence.

He stared at their peculiar attire and various unrecognizable equipment with undisguised astonishment—even the guns they carried differed from his own, and differed too from the weapons Senators used during target practice.

Naturalized citizen cadres who had the most contact with Senators often remarked in private conversation: the Special Reconnaissance Team members and the confidential secretaries looked the most like the Chiefs themselves.

"Finally, you're here..." Huang Ande glanced nervously toward the street. "Come, come inside." He looked over the group and realized there were only seven or eight people. He could not suppress a hint of disappointment: "Only this many?"

The leader did not answer. With a wave of his hand, several team members stormed rapidly into the house to search, moving like phantoms. Huang Ande and Zhu Si stood dumbfounded, and before they could comprehend what was happening, they were ushered inside.

The team members took up positions guarding the doors and windows. Only then did the leader speak in a low voice: "Report the situation." As he spoke, he extracted a pocket map from his chest pouch and switched on a shielded flashlight.

"Yes... yes..." Huang Ande was no coward—if he were, he would never have lurked in the city and organized a team prepared for drastic action. But witnessing how fiercely these men operated, half-human and half-ghost, his legs could not help but tremble. Killing a person would probably be as easy for them as blowing out a breath, he thought.

Zhu Si, meanwhile, had completely lost the capacity to react. Everything before his eyes exceeded the bounds of his comprehension. It was only when the shielded flashlight was switched on that he recovered somewhat, leaning in curiously to examine this "glowing cylinder"—though he dared not touch it.

"Lord Sun Yuanhua... is right here, in the Circuit Supervisor's Yamen," Huang Ande said, pointing carefully to the location on the map board. He could read maps—not surprising, given that the large-scale map of Dengzhou City had been drawn largely thanks to his contributions.

He steadied his nerves and first explained the route he had planned. The leader did not speak, simply listened with focused attention.

Huang Ande reported that as of nightfall yesterday, the security and guard situation at the Circuit Supervisor's Yamen had not changed; it remained exactly as described in his last report.

Sun Yuanhua was detained alone in the main courtyard behind the yamen—probably because of his high rank, and also because Kong Youde and the others intended to treat him well. Since his capture, not only had his living conditions been generous, but Kong Youde, Li Jiucheng, and others had visited him and held conversations with him.

After a rapid intelligence exchange, the assault team—led by Huang Ande and Zhu Si—split into two groups and headed straight for the rear courtyard of the Circuit Supervisor's Yamen.

The main gate of the yamen faced the main street and was relatively exposed, so the assault team chose to breach from the rear gate.

By the standards of the Special Reconnaissance Team, the guards at the Circuit Supervisor's Yamen were lax. According to reconnaissance by Sun Yuan and others, there were no roving sentries or hidden sentries inside or outside the yamen—only open sentries.

More than fifty rebel soldiers were stationed inside the yamen, guarding day and night. Additionally, a local gentry's residence not far from the yamen was now also garrisoned by a considerable number of rebel troops. Combined with the fact that all city gates of Dengzhou were now tightly sealed, by seventeenth-century standards, it would have been impossible for Sun Yuanhua to escape even if he had sprouted wings.

The pitch-black streets lay utterly deserted—except for the occasional passing night watchman, not a soul stirred. The curfew actually facilitated their night operations. The watchmen carried lanterns while beating their gongs, making them easy to avoid.

At 0233 hours, the assault team arrived at the narrow alley behind the Circuit Supervisor's Yamen. According to intelligence, two rebels were stationed in the "storage room" of the alley, so the team members neutralized these two first. Subsequently, three team members worked together to hoist one member up to the rear courtyard wall.

He raised his infrared binoculars to observe the situation inside the courtyard. Unexpectedly, there was almost no security to speak of in the rear courtyard. According to Huang Ande's intelligence, a subcommandant leading ten soldiers guarded the rear courtyard—but at this moment, the courtyard was silent and empty.

These guards were almost all asleep; only two soldiers and an old man guarding the back door were still awake. In the freezing weather, the three of them were huddled in the gatehouse playing leaf cards by the stove to pass the time. Probably to facilitate observation of movement in the courtyard, the windows and door were left open.

According to plan, four assault team members quietly crossed the courtyard wall. They crept up to the window and main door of the gatehouse and drew the hand crossbows from their leg pouches.

The leading sergeant raised a hand and extended three fingers. Three hand crossbows were raised simultaneously.

After a silent countdown from three to one, the three hand crossbows emitted a slight twang at the same instant. The three people playing cards in the room collapsed together, their bodies twitching a few times before becoming motionless.

The crossbow bolts were coated with a neurotoxin extracted from plants and animals by the biology lab. It acted with terrifying speed, stopping a person's breathing within seconds.

Two team members quickly opened the back door and admitted the others. Huang Ande and Zhu Si followed them in. He watched as two team members crept into the wing room where the guard soldiers were sleeping. A moment later, they emerged and made a gesture. The leading sergeant gave a hand signal, and the group continued forward. Huang Ande felt a chill run through his heart, knowing those ten or so unfortunate souls had most likely just lost their lives.

Once inside the rear courtyard, movement became much more efficient. Passing through the courtyards layer by layer would require repeated searching and neutralization, consuming too much time and increasing the risk of discovery. Leaving two team members to control the rear, the team took the service lane that ran through all the front and rear courtyards of the yamen, breaking directly into the main courtyard.

The door to the service lane was locked, but this kind of padlock offered essentially no defensive capability. It was easily snapped open with bolt cutters. The entire team moved quickly and silently through the pitch-black service lane. The leader, wearing two small cylinders over his eyes, periodically reminded everyone to bypass obstacles in the lane.

Following the team members' instructions, Huang Ande stared fixedly at the back of the person in front of him. In the pitch darkness, there was actually a yellow light on his back like ghost fire, which made his scalp tingle. But at this moment, he had no choice but to follow without falling a step behind.

In the darkness, the team leader quickly found the side door leading to the main courtyard according to the map. He quietly observed through the crack in the door. The courtyard was empty, and there were no lights in either the main house or the wing rooms; evidently, everyone had gone to sleep.

The assault team members quietly cut the padlock. Huang Ande carefully entered the courtyard. According to their prearranged signal, he mimicked the call of a night owl three times. A figure immediately flashed out from under the porch—it was Sun Yuan.

"I've been waiting for you." Seeing Huang Ande suddenly appear, Sun Yuan finally relaxed.

"Into the service lane—talk there!" Huang Ande said quickly.

Sun Yuan glanced around and saw several phantom-like figures in the service lane. Though he knew they were people brought by Huang Ande, he was still terrified in his heart. He could not help but take a step toward the door before whispering:

"Only Lord Sun is confined in this courtyard. The east wing room houses me and Lord Sun's two original servants. The west wing room houses the people sent by Kong Youde to monitor us..."

"How many people?"

"Ten."

"Where are the sentries?"

"There are two people guarding over by the courtyard gate—one shift every two hours." Sun Yuan's voice dropped to barely a whisper. "Look carefully, they are right on the corridor by the main courtyard gate."

"No other guards?"

Sun Yuan was taken aback. "Who could possibly run away? Everything is locked everywhere—plus there are the city walls."

"Good. In a moment, take us to Lord Sun's bedroom." Huang Ande looked back at the leading sergeant. The sergeant merely nodded—Huang Ande noticed that from start to finish, they almost never spoke, communicating only with gestures and eye contact.

Two team members entered the courtyard in low posture, their hand crossbows pointed down, activating the simple laser target designators taped to them.

This was experimental equipment. Though it looked decidedly rough—almost "shanzhai" in quality—it had achieved good results in several simulated drills under dark conditions, whether mounted on firearms or crossbow mechanisms. This was its first deployment in actual combat.

Since the red light of the laser pointer was visible, both team members remained hidden in the shadows, waiting for the two soldiers on night watch to turn their backs.

When the two watchmen turned around again, exposing their backs, the two team members raised their hand crossbows together. Almost simultaneously, both guards collapsed.

Several team members immediately slipped into the courtyard with agile movements and crept toward the wing rooms.

"Brother Huang!" Sun Yuan said quickly. "The two kids living with me are good people; I'm friends with them. Don't kill them..."

"We won't kill them, but they have to come with us. You too." Huang Ande's voice was firm. "Otherwise, come dawn, you'll all be dead."

At dawn, if Sun Yuanhua was missing, everyone in the yamen would become a suspect. Sun Yuan and these old servants would be the prime suspects—if not tortured to death, then killed to vent anger.

Sun Yuan nodded repeatedly. "Alright, I'll go!"

"Go wake them up, then take us to Lord Sun's bedroom. Hurry!"

"Okay, I'm going right now!"

Ten minutes later, under the supervision of two team members, Sun Yuan and the two young servants carried Sun Yuanhua out of the bedroom. To prevent him from refusing to leave or attempting suicide, the assault team members had administered a sedative immediately upon entering.

"Don't just stand there—pack up!" the sergeant whispered. "Sweep and check!"

All team members immediately inspected their personal equipment and recovered gear, including the fired crossbow bolts.

"Salamander reports: Mission accomplished!" the sergeant reported via radio. "Preparing to withdraw. Over."

The group quickly carried Sun Yuanhua back through the service lane to the rear courtyard, rendezvoused with the gate-guarding team, and rapidly retreated to the safe house at the first rendezvous point.

(End of Chapter)