By the edge of a footpath trodden out by human feet, Mao Akai spotted a tall tree. She climbed up, where she had previously stashed a set of clothes, and changed into an identical uniform to the supply crew's.
Next, Mao Akai spent the rest of the day setting up various traps throughout the woods. She worked tirelessly until nightfall before finishing everything, and finally installed a makeshift pulley on the hidden tree she had chosen, after which she began to wait.
A night passed, and as day broke, several cars arrived right on schedule.
The drivers parked their vehicles by the roadside, and workers in the truck beds unloaded the supplies. Armed guards thoroughly inspected the various goods before signaling that everyone could head up the mountain.
With heavy supplies strapped to their backs, everyone moved very slowly as the bodyguards patrolled back and forth, checking the surroundings.
Seeing that the team was about to pass beneath her tree, Mao Akai triggered the mechanism she had prepared beforehand. A drone emitted a burst of noise, instantly putting the patrolling bodyguards on high alert.
They ordered the porters to stop in their tracks. Two bodyguards went off to investigate while the remaining few kept a cautious eye on the surroundings.
Just then, the person standing at the very tail end of the procession suddenly heard a faint rustling sound behind him. Before he even had time to cry out, he was electrocuted into unconsciousness.
Mao Akai caught his body, tied him to the pulley, and pulled the switch.
The moment the man's body was hoisted up into the tree, she pointed toward the opposite woods and screamed in a disguised voice of terror, "There's something over there! Something's in the woods!"
The bodyguards and porters all looked in the direction she pointed. One of the bodyguards raised his gun and fired into the brush.
The sounds of cawing crows and the flapping of wings rang out, and only then did the shooting bodyguard's tense heart settle. He forced a nonchalant tone and said, "Don't make a fuss over nothing, it was just a bird."
Soon the scouting bodyguards returned, dragging a damaged drone with them. One of them shrugged. "Looks like someone accidentally crashed their drone here."
Someone initially suggested checking further, but the lead bodyguard impatiently cut them off. "Drop it. The handover time is almost here, and they'll check everything again once we get inside the villa."
Mao Akai quietly fell in behind the procession, passing through the woods and arriving in front of the mountaintop villa.
The workers moved the supplies to various locations as instructed by the bodyguards. Mao Akai and a few others followed a bodyguard in a black suit and dark sunglasses toward a building with tightly shut doors and windows.
"Listen up, everyone stay right behind me from this point on. If you wander off and get blown to pieces, don't say I didn't warn you beforehand."
Mao Akai calmly observed her surroundings, memorizing the route they took. Standing at the villa entrance, the bodyguard rang the doorbell and held his ID up to the camera.
After the people inside confirmed his identity, the heavy main doors swung open. Two armed guards stood in the doorway, and an elderly man who looked like a butler gave them a slight nod.
"Keep up," the bodyguard waved his hand, and the group silently followed him inside. As they rounded a corner, Mao Akai caught sight of her target lounging on a soft sofa while a fair-skinned maid knelt to serve him. Perhaps believing himself completely secure, her target was not hiding away.
Mao Akai looked away and lowered her gaze, silently calculating how much time she had to complete her mission.
Five minutes. From the moment she made her move until her escape, she had only five minutes.
From the front door to the storage room, combined with the floor plan she had previously acquired, Mao Akai had already mastered every single exit and room in the building.
She picked a spot near the exit inside the storage room and unloaded the burden from her back. Freed from the heavy weight, the porters stood up straight, which instantly made Mao Akai's shorter stature glaringly obvious.
"Hey, you—" The bodyguard who had led them in noticed the anomaly as well. Just as vigilance rose in his chest, Mao Akai closed in and snapped his neck.
Dropping the limp corpse to the floor, Mao Akai left the storage room and broke into a run toward the grand hall. The elderly butler who had guided them earlier had not yet walked far; when he heard the scream and saw Mao Akai charging toward him, he still had no idea what was happening.
But soon enough, amid a dizzying spin, he understood that something had gone wrong—though unfortunately, by then he was no longer able to move.
Before the bodyguards could react, Mao Akai blew two of their heads off with direct shots. However, the gunshots now drew the attention of the target and the remaining bodyguards. She rounded a corner at a sprint, and the moment she poked her head out, she saw her target frantically fleeing upstairs.
Bang.
A pale corpse came tumbling down the stairs, while several bullets peppered the wall right beside her.
She pulled a grenade from her clothes and hurled it. Seconds later, a violent explosion brought down a wall, turning the poor bodyguard into a bloody mess.
"Poor bodyguards, if you want to blame anyone, blame your employer. Honestly, why couldn't you just cooperate and let me take his life?" Pitying the men for a single second, Mao Akai sprinted up to the second floor, dashed into a room near the edge of the house, hooked a climbing anchor to the window frame, and leaped out.
By the time the bodyguards rushed in, they found only their employer's corpse and utter chaos left behind. Mao Akai had already escaped.
Scuffed with scrapes all over, Mao Akai returned to the Organization's safehouse. She tapped on the counter. "Where is Bourbon? My mission is complete."
The Organization member, disguised as a bartender, said nothing. He kept his head down, meticulously polishing a glass in his hand. Mao Akai heard the sound of clothing rustling behind her, and a cold object pressed against the back of her head.
Via the reflection on a liquor bottle, Mao Akai caught sight of a head of silver hair behind her.
"Gin? What do you think you're doing?"
*Click.* The sound of the safety catch clicking off rang out.
Mao Akai spun around, using her elbow to knock Gin's gun-wielding hand aside. A bullet grazed past her ear, shattering a bottle on the liquor rack and sending crimson liquid cascading down like fresh blood.
"Gin, stop playing games." Mao Akai's tone was laced with exasperation, yet her movements were far from harmless.
A vicious punch slammed directly toward Gin's temple, the rush of wind parting his long hair—yet Mao Akai's fist stopped precisely one centimeter away from Gin.
Every single person around the room had their guns leveled right at her.
Seeing Mao Akai halt her attack, Gin finally chuckled. He reached out, grabbed a handful of Mao Akai's hair, and forced her head up.
"So, did you betray the Organization?" Even while completely at the mercy of others, Mao Akai's words managed to thoroughly disgust Gin.
Gin laughed out of sheer fury. "The one who betrayed the Organization... isn't that you?"