At night, a crescent moon hung in the sky, and its bright light streamed through a glass window, casting a glow over a pale-skinned teenager.
After sorting through the intelligence on his phone that afternoon, Bai Yexiu had been sprawled out on the sofa, sleeping until now.
He was woken up by the vibration of his phone. His bright, clear amber eyes seemed to glow faintly in the dark room.
"What is it, Gin."
This had to be how many times his sweet dream was interrupted now. A hint of irritation laced Bai Yexiu's tone.
"Get down here, we have a job," Gin stated his purpose, concise to a fault.
As expected.
He knew Gin never called him with anything good; all he wanted right now was to sleep.
Bai Yexiu stood up, didn't bother turning on the lights, and walked straight to the door, throwing on the black trench coat hanging nearby.
Ever since he could remember, his eyes had night-vision capabilities, saving him the trouble of turning on the lights now. In situations like this, whether the lights were on or off made no difference to him.
Quickly putting on his shoes and grabbing his gear, Bai Yexiu trudged heavily down the stairs.
It was nine-thirty in the evening. To be honest, he wanted to sleep a bit longer—it was rare to have a few days of peace and quiet.
Bai Yexiu spotted the black Porsche parked by the roadside at a glance, walked over, skillfully pulled open the door, and climbed in.
Seeing Bai Yexiu get into the car, Gin snuffed out the cigarette he had just lit.
Inside the car sat an open laptop and a communication earpiece. The earpiece had even been pre-molded to fit. With only Gin and him in the vehicle—Vodka seemed off handling an errand—it was self-evident who had prepared it.
"Huh?" Bai Yexiu feigned surprise as he picked up the earpiece resting on the laptop. "Gin-chan, you're so considerate."
"Cut the crap. Put it on."
Glancing at him, Gin continued, "Tonight's target is a politician holding a dinner party at his home. Chianti and Korn are on their way to the sniper perch, and Bourbon is already at the venue."
He pointed toward the laptop beside him. "This is the surveillance feed from inside the party. Soon, Bourbon will act under your command. Watch for the right moment and have Bourbon lead that politician over to the window."
Listening to Gin's detailed explanation, Bai Yexiu shot him an unenthusiastic glance. "Directing Bourbon—isn't that something you could do all by yourself?"
Bai Yexiu found the name Bourbon vaguely familiar. When he racked his brain, the image of the handsome black-haired guy he had met while working a part-time job recently popped into his mind. How curious.
Hearing his question, Gin pointed to his own ear. Another communication earpiece was fitted right there.
"I'm talking to Chianti, Korn, and the others," Gin said expressionlessly.
Fine. Mission evasion failed.
Bai Yexiu picked up the pre-molded earpiece, put it on, adjusted it, and gave it a light tap to connect his line to Bourbon.
Toru Amuro, an undercover officer for Public Security, was currently at a politician's dinner party, pressing his earpiece as he waited for instructions.
The connection established quickly, but to Toru Amuro's surprise, the voice on the other end didn't belong to Gin or any other known member; it was the voice of a teenager.
"You're Bourbon, right? Just do as I say from now on. I'm your commander."
The boy's voice was remarkably clear, his tone lazy and casual, sounding like he hadn't even turned fifteen yet.
Toru Amuro felt a flicker of surprise.
This appeared to be yet another member of the Organization. The fact that he could act as a commander for Gin's mission meant he at least held a codename. But a minor with a codename...
Toru Amuro clenched his teeth, silently adding another tally against the Organization in his mind. Recruiting minors into their ranks—it was nothing short of depraved.
Yet the boy hadn't stated his codename. Could he be an outer-layer member? No, impossible; outer-layer members weren't qualified to command codename members.
Or... was he intentionally keeping it under wraps?
His thoughts, however, were quickly interrupted.
"You can see the politician, right? Follow Gin's original plan and find an excuse to approach him."
Bai Yexiu stared intently at the surveillance screen, watching a handsome, blonde, tanned young man walk toward their target.
This handsome guy was none other than the one Bai Yexiu had met during his part-time job.
It really was him.
Bai Yexiu wasn't too surprised; the mission came first, and he could always catch up with him later once everything was done.
Before long, Bourbon successfully approached the target and struck up a conversation. Meanwhile, Bai Yexiu found himself boredly examining the other guests at the party through the monitor.
Honestly, commanding a mission was dreadfully dull.
At that moment, Bai Yexiu noticed a corner of the banquet where a man accidentally groped a woman's backside. Mistaking the culprit, the woman slapped the man's friend instead, leaving the actual groper standing there in awkward bewilderment.
The corners of Bai Yexiu's lips curved upward slightly—only for Gin to catch it.
"Keep your mind on the task. Stop looking at irrelevant things." Gin spoke up abruptly like a ghost, giving Bai Yexiu a proper scare.
Bai Yexiu promptly shifted his attention back to Bourbon.
Bourbon and the target were deep in conversation, chatting animatedly as they gradually edged closer to the window.
Evidently losing patience, Gin muttered under his breath, "Tell Bourbon to hurry up."
"Bourbon, pick up the pace," Bai Yexiu relayed to Toru Amuro.
At that moment, Toru Amuro was racking his brain over how to sabotage the Organization's operation while ensuring his own clean getaway. Because they were linked via earpiece, anything he said could be heard on the other end; cutting the connection would immediately raise suspicion.
Still, Toru Amuro recalled Gin's earlier warning through the earpiece: *"Stop looking at irrelevant things."* From the sound of it, Gin seemed rather strict with this boy.
His curiosity about the boy's identity grew even stronger. But the top priority right now was to do as the teenager said.
"Watch out, don't let anyone call the target away." Bai Yexiu noticed several people on the monitor who looked like they wanted to intercept the target. At the same time, he caught sight of that corner from earlier: the woman who had hit the wrong person was apologizing to the wronged man, then abruptly spun around and slapped the man who had actually groped her.
Quite the fierce woman.
A smile played on Bai Yexiu's lips, and once again, unfortunately, he was caught by Gin.
"What on earth is so fascinating? Just keep your eyes on the target and Bourbon, and ignore everything else."
Having received yet another warning from Gin, Bai Yexiu simply went expressionless, forcing his face to remain a blank slate.
Did Gin's eyes swivel a full 360 degrees or something?
Bai Yexiu couldn't help stealing a sideways glance at Gin before turning his gaze back to the monitor.
If he weren't wearing an earpiece—whereby anything he said out loud would be heard by the other end—he would have blurted out that internal complaint right then and there.
Mainly because if the other members heard him trash-talking Gin, the fallout wouldn't be pretty.
On the screen, Bourbon and the target had finally reached the window.
"Hold him there." After issuing the command, Bai Yexiu raised his head and shot Gin a look. Gin immediately gave the order to fire.
The monitor clearly showed the target collapsing to the ground.
"Phew..." Bai Yexiu pressed his earpiece and delivered his final line: "Okay, you can cut the feed now. Mission accomplished."
With that, Bai Yexiu led by example and cut his earpiece off.
Because whatever came next was Bourbon's problem, and Bai Yexiu had no desire to get any more involved than necessary—it was just paperwork, after all.