Chapter 1 A Reception Banquet

Around seven o'clock on a Friday evening, a reception banquet was being held inside the No. 165 manor on Central Avenue in the town of Coniel.

The manor covered a vast area, about the size of six football fields, and consisted of four modern villas and a century-old European-style castle. Inside the manor, the scenery was picturesque, with green willows providing shade, resembling a garden for ancient European nobles.

Inside the old castle's main hall, the reception banquet had already begun. Under the bright lights, well-dressed men and women wandered around, chatting with each other.

Beside a dining table covered with a white tablecloth, Ruan Zheng Tan sat in a chair with his legs crossed, holding a glass of red wine, listening to the soothing music.

After defecting with more than twenty high-ranking officials from the Old Triangle, he first arrived in the Fifth District, where he waited for several days, and finally took a plane to the First District, seeking political asylum.

In fact, political asylum was a very pleasant-sounding term, as if one had suffered unfair treatment and was forced to choose a new patron to protect oneself.

But in reality, its nature was to betray the "District" and the nation, because the premise of political asylum was that you had to be valuable, you had to be able to bring some surprises to the new patron.

What the hell were surprises?

For example, Ruan Zheng Tan had been a high-ranking intelligence official in the Old Triangle for many years, and he possessed a large amount of valuable information about his own side, as well as intelligence about the Hua District, and these were the surprises.

As for other types of high-ranking officials, either they came with important information, or they controlled many important industries and personnel of the Old Triangle outside the district, so they were received so warmly.

Inside the hall.

A middle-aged fat man turned his head, glanced around, bent down and sat next to Ruan Zheng Tan, and said in his native dialect, "I've taken a walk around, and a lot of people from the First District's Security Bureau have come, but the highest rank is only a Major General."

"Isn't that normal?" Ruan Zheng Tan replied with a smile, "If you show your biggest card, maybe a Lieutenant General would come today. Alas, you only get the corresponding treatment if you demonstrate your value."

The fat man slowly nodded: "Where do you think we'll end up being assigned? What kind of treatment can we expect?"

"Hard to say." Ruan Zheng Tan took a sip of red wine: "If they can give us a separate department, give us some funding subsidies, let us work for two terms, and not kill the donkey after it's done grinding, that would be the best outcome."

"You're so pessimistic?" the fat man asked.

"Otherwise? We only have this many people and this many resources. Do you think they'll give us the establishment of an entire army?" Ruan Zheng Tan turned his head and glanced around: "To put it bluntly, none of us are very valuable. Because the First District isn't very interested in the Old Triangle, they want things from the Hua District... If you can defect a big shot from the Hua District Intelligence Department, or take down a key station, that would be different, and you would definitely be valued!"

The fat man grinned and asked, "Do you have any ideas?"

"Now that we're here, we're definitely trying to save our lives," Ruan Zheng Tan replied with a smile. "Our Supervisory Department has a lot of cooperation with the Hua District, and I really know a lot of inside information, such as the intelligence agents hidden in Hua Fu and New City... I'm going to find two clear leads and earn some merit badges."

"Count me in! My whole family is here, and if I can't get a foothold here, where else can I go?" The fat man immediately requested: "I can't go to South Africa to mine diamonds, can I?!"

"Hehe, easy to say, we'll talk later," Ruan Zheng Tan replied with a smile.

...

At the main entrance of the manor.

Three black business SUVs drove over and stopped outside the fence.

Inside the gate, more than a dozen armed soldiers immediately approached and automatically dispersed, forming a combat formation.

The car window lowered, and a middle-aged Asian man leaned out and shouted in English, "Corporal, raise the gate. We need to go in."

The leading soldier approached, saluted, and asked, "Please show me your credentials, sir!"

The middle-aged man impatiently handed over his credentials: "Please hurry!"

"I'm talking about everyone's credentials," the soldier emphasized.

"Are you protecting a group of traitors with your precious life, Corporal?" the middle-aged man asked jokingly.

"Haha!"

A group of people in the car laughed and took out their credentials to hand them out.

The soldier took the credentials and checked everyone's photos one by one before returning to the duty room.

Inside the guardhouse, the leading soldier opened the guest list and began to compare the credentials with the information and photos on it.

Many departments were present at this reception banquet, and the security forces were unable to verify identities using a system, so they could only use manual verification.

After about five minutes, the leading corporal walked out of the duty room, saluted, and replied, "Sir, your information is not on our list."

"Perhaps you can call my unit to verify our identity. Because you may not be aware that banquets of this scale often have additional guests added temporarily. Please be smart, okay? Our time is very precious, Corporal." The middle-aged man replied sarcastically.

The corporal looked at the middle-aged man with disgust and patiently returned to the duty room to call the upper-level organizing unit of the reception banquet. Because the credentials the other party had were from the District Security Bureau, he was definitely not qualified to directly call them to verify the identities of these people, and even if he asked, they would not say.

After about three minutes, the soldier verified the vehicle information, personnel information, and number of attendees before walking out of the duty room, returning the credentials to everyone, and saluting, "You may enter, Colonel!"

"You are very smart." The middle-aged man waved his hand and winked at the driver.

...

Five minutes later, in the parking lot.

The middle-aged man turned around and looked at Su Tiannan, saying, "You're new here. I'm giving you the easiest job. You go in last and are responsible for providing backup."

Su Tiannan looked at him and replied, "Once the shooting starts, it will be difficult for us to get out."

"Anyone who dares to come here hasn't thought about getting out first," the middle-aged man replied with a smile. "This is war in a time of peace. We do things for money, so naturally we have to risk our lives!"

Su Tiannan was silent.

"Get out of the car!" The middle-aged man urged. Everyone got out of the car.

...

Half an hour later.

Li Chenguang, the leader of the defected Old Triangle, stepped onto the podium amidst cheers and applause.

Li Chenguang's face was rosy, and he waved to the crowd, saying in a solemn tone in English, "Our mood at this moment is heavy, because we have left our home. But at the same time... our mood is also joyful, because we have come to a free district, where everything is filled with...!"

"Bang!!!"

A dull gunshot rang out from the ventilation duct on the second floor.

"Pfft!"

Li Chenguang's head was blown apart by a single shot. His body stood next to the brown podium, his hands still gripping the table boards on both sides of the microphone, but his head was gone, leaving only his neck spurting blood.

"Traitors must die!" A shout came from the ventilation duct, "Kill!!"

"Shua!"

As soon as the voice fell, the lights in the hall went out instantly.

"Bang!"

Outside, Su Tiannan pushed open the car door, got out of the car with a gun in his hand, and cursed with a gloomy expression, "Damn it! You dare to mess with my family!!"