Chapter Thirty-One: A Token of Allegiance

3:00 PM, “Shadow Bureau” Command Center.

Xiao Ran was delivering the final, second-by-second task instructions to the two elite operatives who would undertake the infiltration mission in two days.

The whiteboard was covered with floor plans of the auction venue and a meticulously detailed operation schedule.

“…At seven-thirty, the security shift changes, creating a thirty-second visual blind spot. That’s your best window for entry.”

“…At seven-thirty-five, Lin Feng will remotely disable the security system in the VIP suite. You’ll have three minutes of absolute safety to execute the switch.”

“…At seven-forty, Group C, disguised as janitors, will arrive punctually at the waste disposal corridor to receive the ‘package’.”

The entire team moved like a finely tuned clockwork mechanism, every cog poised in its place, awaiting the final command.

The atmosphere was taut, yet orderly.

But at that moment—

“Beep—!! Beep—! Beep—!!!”

The shrill, red alarm for highest security blared unexpectedly through the floor!

Everyone jolted upright, stunned by the abrupt turn.

“What’s happening?”

“Is it an external breach?”

Before old K, the tech lead, could react, the main screen in the conference room automatically popped up with a video call request.

The source of the call made everyone gasp.

—National Security Bureau, Main Command Center, Director Wang!

Xiao Ran’s heart sank.

She answered.

Director Wang’s face appeared, usually smiling and commanding authority with ease. But this time, his expression was grave, devoid of any warmth.

“Xiao Ran,” his voice was low and forceful, “Operation ‘Frame’—drill, halt.”

“What?!” Xiao Ran’s pupils contracted sharply. “Director! Why? We’ve already—”

“Because,” Director Wang cut her off, “we… have a visitor.”

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“A visitor you could never have imagined, an uninvited guest.”

…

Half an hour later.

Inside the National Security Bureau, in the “Reflection Room”—a chamber reserved for only the highest-level meetings.

Xiao Ran and Lin Feng’s holographic projections met the “uninvited guest” for the first time.

When Lin Feng saw the visitor’s face, even his typically irreverent expression couldn’t hide the shock and disgust.

The visitor was none other than the man who, at the Martyrs’ Cemetery, had arrogantly tried to kick the old army medal—Skyward Network’s Chief Security Architect, Wang Zhe.

But now, the swagger and pride were gone.

He wore a crumpled suit, hair in disarray, eyes sunken, his pallor that of a gambler who hadn’t slept in a week. His gaze betrayed uncontrollable fear… and regret.

“Chief Xiao… Mr. Zhu Rong…” He saw the two, his lips trembling, and suddenly dropped to his knees with a thud!

The bizarre gesture made Lin Feng and Xiao Ran both frown.

“Wang Zhe,” Xiao Ran’s voice was icy, devoid of emotion, “what are you here for? To surrender?”

“Yes! I’m here to turn myself in!” Wang Zhe clung to his last hope like a drowning man, desperately knocking his head to the floor. “I was wrong! I know I was wrong! Please! Save me! Anderson… Anderson’s going to kill me!”

“Oh?” Lin Feng’s hologram sneered, “A dog that bit its master now finds the new master even more terrifying and wants to come back wagging its tail? Isn’t it a bit late?”

“No! It’s not that!” Wang Zhe lifted his tear-stained face, trembling as he pulled a heavily wrapped encrypted USB drive from his pocket.

“I know you don’t trust me! But this… this is my pledge of loyalty!”

He set the USB on the table.

“Li Jianguo… our CEO, he wasn’t Anderson’s partner!”

He opened with a bombshell that could shake the entire Chinese Internet industry.

“He… from the very beginning, was Anderson’s plant in Skyward. No, in the entire Chinese Internet sector, he was Anderson’s biggest…”

“…pawn!”

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“This USB,” he pointed to it, voice quivering, “contains all the secret agreements from the past five years between Skyward Network and ‘Orion Capital’ for ‘technical cooperation.’ Including… how they exploited their positions to help Israel’s NSO Group develop the backdoor program and Chinese adaptation for ‘that thing’… all the evidence!”

“Anderson already knows you’re targeting the summit. He’s afraid I’ll be exposed, so he wants… wants to clean me up. I escaped in secret!”

…

Wang Zhe was temporarily taken away for isolation and interrogation.

In the “Reflection Room,” only Xiao Ran and Lin Feng’s silent hologram remained.

“I don’t trust him,” Lin Feng spoke first, his gaze icy. “A dog that has bitten its master could easily bite us. This could very well be Anderson—knowing we plan to steal the painting—setting another trap within a trap. Wang Zhe is just another Trojan Horse he’s inserted into our ranks.”

“I don’t trust him either,” Xiao Ran’s brows knitted tightly as she paced the room.

“But the evidence he brought—I had old K do a preliminary check—it’s genuine. Every line of code, every number, is enough to ruin Li Jianguo and Skyward Network forever.”

“And,” she stopped and turned to face Lin Feng, her expression growing complicated.

“…He’s made a request—a request I cannot refuse.”

“What request?”

Xiao Ran looked at him, speaking each word deliberately:

“He wants…”

“…to personally take part in our operation two days from now.”

“He says he knows how to, without triggering the self-destruct protocol, physically and completely disable ‘that thing’ Anderson hid in the picture frame.”

“This is his…”

“…pledge of loyalty.”

A colossal, unavoidably dangerous and tempting dilemma crashed down before them.

Only forty-eight hours remained until the auction began.

Should they risk the entire operation’s success… and trust a ‘traitor’ who, yesterday, was their deadliest enemy?