“That’s the situation. An analysis using the information from business leaders, mafias, and especially the ShanXi government show that four powers entered and left ShanXi in masses during the time frame that the Buddha statue might be lost. The worst case scenario we could be in is the Buddha statue got split by the four powers.” Xuan said without taking his eyes off the table where it was covered by sheets of papers.

These papers came from the information systems of people with influence in Shanghai. However, the information came in fragmented pieces and needed specialists to assemble the pieces into something useful. Yet manpower was what team China lacked in addition to time. The core members were asleep. The most powerful person was protecting the Buddha head. Two of the remaining members had no combative strength. During this difficult time, Xuan had to become the strategist, the combat force, and also take on all the various tasks. He was working in an overloaded mode.

“The four powers are one, the Kuomintang. ShanXi is located within their area of influence. There’s a thirty percent chance a part of the Buddha fell into their hands. Two, the Japanese army. It seems that the Japanese army bribed Yan Xishan after the appearance of the Buddha statue. They have a twenty five percent chance of obtaining a part. Three, the Communist Party. Their force is small but they have the support from the locals and the flow of fate. They also have a twenty five percent chance of obtaining a part.

“The last power only has a twenty percent chance but I worry the most if the Buddha statue did fall into their hands. They are the powers outside Asia such as Germany, the Soviet Union, the United States, Britain, France, Italy and more. We will have to resort to the Magic Canon if a country in the fourth power has the statue.” Xuan said to WangXia.

WangXia was standing next to Xuan. He totally turned back into a soldier at this moment. The only two people who could joke with Xuan in this team were Zheng and ChengXiao. The rest either felt stressed or maintained a superior and subordinate relationship with him.

Xuan continued looking over the papers and asked, “What time is it?”

“Day two, four o’seven. I will sleep in twenty three minutes and wake up at ten thirty.” WangXia glanced at his watch.

“Wake up at eight thirty. We don’t have much time.” Xuan said. “There are five days left... Has Zheng contacted you yet?”

“No. I inquired with TengYi every two hours since the hypnosis regulator lighted as you assigned. Zheng still has no signs of waking. It’s been eight hours since the Yellow Turbans last attacked.”

“Is that so?” Xuan put down the papers and raised his head to look at WangXia. He massaged his eyes and said, “Contact them again after you wake up. If Zheng is still sleep at that time, adjust the regulator to its max power. At fifty times the efficiency, the dream will also progress with fifty times the speed. You have any questions?”

WangXia hesitated and couldn’t decide if he wanted to ask. “Will running the mind in such speed cause any damage to them mentally? Even though Zheng has unlocked the fourth stage and overcame his heart’s devil, if you push the experiment too far —“

“Not an experiment.” Xuan’s eyes returned to the papers. “It’s a conclusion backed by numerous researches. A human’s mind can theoretically run at infinite speed. For example, you had a dream at night. This dream lasted so long that you felt like you lived in the dream for ten years. However, in actuality, this dream lasted merely seconds. Rapid convulsions of the eyes and high intensity activity of the cerebral cortex are what a dream is. This might happen for an instant throughout the night but that instant will feel like ten years to you. The concept of time does not exist in a dream... Of course, forcing the mind to run at such speed will exhaust a person mentally. Zheng should have the physical attributes to handle it. Probably.”

“Should? Probably? I bet Zheng will want to beat the crap out of you after he wakes up.”

“That will only happen on the precondition that we survive.” Xuan raised his head to look at WangXia again. “We will contact the Kuomintang and the Communist Party tomorrow. Go take some rest. You are not me.”

WangXia nodded then walked to the door. He stopped at the door and suddenly asked, “You mentioned destroying Shanghai’s harbor with the tidal waves being part of the plan. What’s it for? It would become difficult for us if the statue was in one of the ships.”

𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

Xuan lowered his head. “Oh, that is a possibility but less than one out of ten thousand. The place and time have to be right to transport the statue on a ship. The reason I destroyed the harbor is to intimidate the witnesses.”

“Intimidate?”

“Yes.” Xuan continued. “There was no need to bring the foreigners along with the people of influence. I wanted to let them know of the statue’s existence and importance. Greed is the most powerful driving force of desires. The foreigners and spies will relay the power of the Buddha statue to their governments, the power on the level of nuclear bombs. The countries that obtained a piece of the statue will in turn react differently and show evidences of this fact. It isn’t possible for us to gather all the information we need in five days. Intimidation will push them to expose themselves.

“Destroying the harbor also stops the possibility of them bringing the statue back to Shanghai and hide it under a blind spot, which is a difficult situation to resolve. Not even I will be able to find it if they hide the statue in this city. Let them bring the statue away. As long as it’s still moving, we have a high chance of finding and obtaining it. We want the statue to come to light by itself.”

WangXia exhaled then quietly walked out. He didn’t know how to describe Xuan.

Xuan’s voice came from behind once more. “Notify Heng to begin his mission after you wake up. Eliminate a Japanese army unit of size division or higher near him. If the Buddha statue is in the Japanese army, this will act as a warning.”

Team China split into five locations in China. Everyone savored their different feelings as they gazed at the same starry sky. Time was running short.

“What tragedy people in this era experienced from the Japanese and the Koreans. Is what the grandpa from yesterday said true? The Japanese slaughters and Koreans skin people. Are the Koreans really more wicked than the Japanese?” Heng sat on a rock and muttered to himself.

He appeared lonely yet at the same time it seemed that he was pouring his feelings to someone.

“Hehe. Stop acting angry like a nationalist kid. You killed dozens of people yesterday. Why did nothing happen to you? Weren’t you supposed to be scared of blood? Or had you always been faking it? You will only act scared when you didn’t have the strength. And now that you do have the strength, you can bully normal people. Oh, how strong you are.” A woman’s voice said sarcastically. YanWei sat not far away from Heng with a cold smile on her face. She took a bite from an apple then said. It was as though anything Heng said would be returned with similar retort.

Heng turned his head around abruptly and surprised her for a moment. He said in a serious tone, “It has nothing to do with being nationalistic. It’s one thing to not act when a person is getting killed in front of you and another to berate the person who saved a life. This isn’t funny! Since I am here, even in this movie world created by God, I will not stand by and watch! This has nothing to do with nationalistic! I did what I must do!”

(Is — this Heng?)

YanWei was dazed as she stared at Heng. She felt as though she had never known him before this day.