47: SIA finally left the drums

Pierpoint, Chen Hao's private bedroom.

"Stinky Host! Get up now!" Xiao Jixiang suddenly appeared in Chen Hao's sweet dream, delivering a face-smashing inflatable hammer to Chen Hao, who was playing beach volleyball with Gardevoir.

So, Chen Hao 'thudded' up from the bed, then hugged the blue narwhal plushie at the head of the bed. He sat blankly on the bed, his eyes revealing a clear innocence.

"What the heck? Did I get hit in the face with a volleyball?" Chen Hao was trying to recall what happened in his dream.

"Stinky Host, you promised to let me watch the show! I've already rewatched 'Fat Orange and Wan Wan Resemble Each Other' three times, did you forget about me?!" Xiao Jixiang used 'Preemptive Strike', and it was highly effective. Chen Hao's recollection was interrupted.

Chen Hao instantly sobered up, "Oh no, I've been busy with spaceships lately and left everything regarding the Emerald Principality to Emerald and them. I almost..."

"Host, you did forget, didn't you!" Xiao Jixiang huffed, stomping her little feet in Chen Hao's mind.

"Oh, how could I forget~ I was just waiting for the main event to start before calling you to join in the fun, how could I forget my cute Xiao Jixiang~... (300 words of coaxing a child omitted)"

"Alright~ I'll believe you this once. So, what's the good show? Spill the beans?" Xiao Jixiang showed that she was easily angered but very easy to appease.

"Hehe, you always say I'm a war criminal, so today I'll be a war criminal once."

"Ya Ya, there's work to be done." Chen Hao ended his mental communication with Xiao Jixiang and began to call Bronya.

"Coming, coming~ What are your orders, Master?"

"The intelligence deception against SIA can end now. Next up is showtime~"

"Okay~ Bronya is getting curious too. Bronya will go get some cyber popcorn."

"Hehehe~~~~~"

Grayson Coleman, Deputy Director of SIA Headquarters in the Emerald Principality, stared at the constantly flickering communication screen, his fingers unconsciously tapping on the table. The safe house, located on the outskirts of Jinta Port, was stiflingly hot, and the old air conditioner hummed annoyingly.

"Seventh verification passed." Technical analyst Derek took off his headphones, his brow furrowed, "The contact person from Mandala police is confirmed, but..."

"But what?" Coleman snatched the communication log.

"Voiceprint comparison shows an anomaly." Intelligence officer Alena pulled up the spectrum analysis chart, "Although the encrypted channel and verification password are correct, the voiceprint fluctuation has a 25% deviation from Officer Sothun's archived record."

Coleman abruptly stood up and paced back and forth in the small safe house. Ever since the Emerald Principality government announced the 'Bloody Dawn' operation, which extensively cleaned up drug production and trade in the north, the entire intelligence network of the Emerald Principality felt as if it had been infiltrated by some invisible force. On the surface, everything seemed normal, but there was always an indescribable sense of dissonance.

He had a premonition that all of this was directly related to the Titan Group that had suddenly appeared in Mandala.

He had reported it to Director Yetu, but the Director only told him that there were other arrangements from above.

"Sir, there's something even stranger." Derek pulled up the communication log from the past 72 hours, "All our internal contacts' reply delays varied between 2.5 seconds, 2.5 hours, and 2.5 days, not a single millisecond off. It's like..."

"It's like they're controlled by a program." Coleman interrupted. He grabbed the satellite phone and dialed the emergency contact code that had been dormant for years.

"Nighthawk calling Eagle's Nest, verification code Zulu-Xray-8-2-6." His voice was hoarse with tension, "Request immediate activation of 'Mirror Detection Protocol'."

The communicator was silent for three seconds, then a mechanical female voice replied: "Verification passed. Warning: 92% of intelligence assets within the Emerald Principality may have been compromised. Repeat, 92% of assets may have been compromised."

Alena's tablet suddenly emitted a sharp alarm, and her face changed dramatically: "Sir! News just came from the Rosewood Palace, the Gray Market Allied Forces Commander Maung Win, whom we confirmed dead, appeared in Mandala this morning!"

In the surveillance footage, the man who should have died in 'Bloody Dawn' was dressed in a sharp suit, raising a toast with local Mandala officials. As the camera zoomed in, Coleman noticed that his left ring finger was missing a segment when he raised his glass, perfectly matching the characteristics of the real Maung Win.

"Damn it..." Derek suddenly pointed to another screen, "Officer Sothun of the Mandala Police Department just sent a secret message, saying he found traces of the Four Great Families remnants. But surveillance at the police station at the same time shows him sleeping in the conference room!"

Coleman felt a dizzying sensation. His intelligence network, painstakingly built over twenty years, now suddenly appeared to him as a puppet show stage covered in strings. What was even more terrifying was that they couldn't even tell which strings were still in their hands and which had been quietly replaced by Titan.

"Immediately execute 'Phantom Protocol'." He tore off his tie and took a microchip from his personal necklace, "Sever all contact with local assets, activate Level 3 encrypted channel."

When Alena inserted the chip into the main console, the lights in the entire safe house flickered eerily. The electronic map of the Emerald Principality on the wall was covered with new markings; more than four-fifths of the originally dense blue friendly indicators had now turned a glaring red.

"They are mimicking our communication patterns." Alena's voice trembled, "Not destruction, but... perfect replication. Like quietly swapping out the genuine article."

Coleman stared at the few remaining blue dots on the map, suddenly realizing an even more terrifying truth: these seemingly uncompromised informants were very likely bait deliberately left by Titan. Like a spider intentionally preserving a few intact threads of its web, only to catch more prey.

Outside the window, an unmarked black drone silently flew past. In its infrared sensor, the heat distribution inside the safe house was clearly visible. Including the string of verification codes Coleman was currently entering, which he believed to be top secret.

Federal Central District, Langley City, SIA Headquarters.

At 3:15 AM, the lights in SIA Deputy Director Mark Hansen's office were still on. He rubbed his tired eyes and gulped down his seventh cup of black coffee. The computer screen displayed an intelligence document that had just arrived from the Emerald Principality branch, its title boldly stating: "Preliminary Analysis Report on Abnormal Situation in Emerald Principality."

"This is impossible..." Hansen murmured, his fingers trembling as he dialed the internal line, "Immediately convene all supervisors of the Emerald Ocean Analysis Center, emergency meeting, 30 minutes from now in the seventh-floor conference room."

After hanging up, Hansen re-examined the report. The document showed that over the past year, the Mandala Province of the Emerald Principality had undergone earth-shattering changes: GDP growth of 47%, unemployment rate dropped to 3.8%, infrastructure investment increased tenfold... What was even more unsettling was that all of SIA's interest representatives in the northern Emerald Principality had gone missing.

All changes pointed to one mysterious entity, the Titan Group.

30 minutes later, seventh-floor conference room.

"A year! We were completely unaware for an entire year!" Hansen angrily slammed the table, making the coffee cup clatter. According to normal procedures, geopolitical changes of this magnitude should have been detected by SIA's global monitoring system within a day.

"Twenty years! Twenty years of planning!" His voice trembled with anger, "The Four Great Families, the Ke Qin Independent Army, the Wa State Army... Our proxies, whom we painstakingly cultivated with so much effort and eagle dollars, were all gone overnight!"

"Take a good look at these materials! You office-bound people had better give me a reasonable explanation!"

The supervisors present, looking at the analysis report in their hands, all had furrowed brows and worried expressions.

Lisa Wu, Head of Intelligence Analysis, pulled up another set of intelligence: "Sir, we have checked all satellite images and surveillance backups, and still don't know what exactly happened that night." In the footage, the Ke Qin Independent Army headquarters' surveillance suddenly turned to static at 2:14 AM. When it resumed at 2:16 AM, the entire command center was strewn with corpses.

"Damn 'Bloody Dawn'!" Williams punched the projector, "46 strategic strongholds were attacked almost simultaneously within 20 minutes, not a single undercover agent was missed, even our informant in the Rosewood Palace was precisely eliminated! The Emerald Principality government absolutely couldn't have done this!"

The atmosphere in the conference room grew heavier, and Marilyn Kate, Head of the Emerald Ocean Analysis Center, added, "The most bizarre thing is that our system showed daily routine reports uploaded from the Emerald Principality branch over the past year, but a retrospective check found that all these reports were meticulously falsified. The true original data was artificially blocked."

"Why was this only discovered now?" Hansen demanded sharply.

"Because the information blockade was lifted." Kate felt cold sweat breaking out on her forehead, "Yesterday morning at 8:17, the system suddenly received a backlog of raw data from the Emerald Principality branch, spanning from last September until now. It's like, like someone deliberately pressed the play button."

Hansen's pupils contracted slightly: "You mean, someone had the ability to completely control our intelligence network for nearly a year, and then decided when to let us know the truth?"

The conference room fell silent. This possibility was more chilling than the emergence of a super-group in the Emerald Principality.

"Has the technical department confirmed this?" Hansen's voice was hoarse.

"Confirmed." Thomson, Head of Cybersecurity, was pale, "This isn't an external hacker intrusion, but... but the system's own filtering mechanism was activated. Like a pre-set program, it automatically blocked all information about the Titan Group."

"Our own system blocked our own intelligence?" Hansen felt his worldview collapsing, "Who could do such a thing?"

"Theoretically... no one." Thomson said with difficulty, "Unless it's from the Emerald Principality..."

"Immediately notify the Roman Palace." Hansen stood up, "Also contact Starlight Command. I need to know what we need to prepare if we take emergency military action."

As SIA high-ranking officials scrambled, Lin Mo stood on the stone steps outside the Zijin Pavilion, the morning dew dampening his leather shoes. This centuries-old royal architectural complex shimmered golden in the morning sun, its glazed tiles on the eaves reflecting a rainbow of colors. He tightened his tie, feeling a lump in his throat; this was his first time entering the nation's highest decision-making center.

"Relax." Zhou Zhenguo reminded him in a low voice, "Remember, you are only reporting facts, do not add personal speculation."

After passing through three layers of security, they arrived at an antique conference room. Blue and white porcelain teacups were arranged on the mahogany long table, and landscape paintings by famous artists of past dynasties hung on the walls. If not for prior knowledge, it would be hard to imagine this was where the nation's fate was decided.

Nine Premiers were already seated, with the Premier in the very center. Lin Mo noticed that a copy of the report marked "Top Secret" was placed in front of each of them, and some even had reading glasses next to their teacups.

"Begin." The Premier's voice was gentle yet brooks no argument.

After Zhou Zhenguo's brief introduction, he gestured for Lin Mo to present. When the large display screen lit up, showing an aerial view of Titan Industrial City, several Premiers leaned forward in unison.