In early December 2026,
At nightfall, Shamron II boarded a yacht at the tranquil harbor of the Kingdom of Lujia, heading towards the scenic island nation of Green Island, to the Port of Aphrodite. Traveling at a speed of 25 knots, he was expected to arrive before dawn the next day.
Shamron II was a key figure in the Ding Tian organization, the intelligence agency of the Kingdom of Lujia, responsible for leading intelligence and operations towards Europe, the Middle East, especially the Yuhang country. His father, also named Shamron, was a hero of the Kingdom of Lujia.
Shamron II, in his sixties, had a long face, lean, with gray hair, and a large nose sitting on his uneven facial skin. No matter when, as long as he was awake, the pungent Shuangzhou cigarettes never left his hand.
The name of Green Island came from its rich copper production, with the southern Port of Aphrodite being a tourist hotspot.
On the southwest peninsula of the Port of Aphrodite, there was a 15-acre area with beaches and rocky shores called Venus Bay. Its ownership belonged to the Yage International Group of Country F, a Fortune 500 company specializing in tourism real estate.
Incredibly, Yage Group owned tens of thousands of islands worldwide and had built many tourist resorts on them.
The group pioneered the timeshare vacation model, creating a paradigm of combining the tourism and real estate industries, which endowed the group with strong cash flow and competitive hotel pricing.
Venus Bay had a greenery coverage of over 60%, lush with trees, among which stood two five-star hotels, each less than ten stories tall.
Dozens of villas of various sizes were scattered along the cliff coastline, nestled among trees and rocks, offering great privacy for timeshare vacation members of platinum and diamond levels.
Alfonso held a platinum membership card from Yage Group, granting him 60 days of free accommodation at any Yage Group hotel worldwide over ten years. Alfonso was the CEO of Bol Electric Company in Country F, an expert in environmental equipment.
Alfonso's grandfather was a Lujian in Country F, who successfully concealed his Lujian identity with friends' help during World War II. By Alfonso's generation, there was no trace of Lujian ancestry.
However, Alfonso had been recruited by the Lujian country's Ding Tian organization in his youth and now managed Country F's intelligence network, serving as the head of the Ding Tian organization's intelligence station in Country F.
Alfonso's villa was modest but well-designed, with stunning views. The spacious bedroom was on the second floor, and the ground floor had an open-plan kitchen adjacent to the living room. The living room faced the sea with a row of floor-to-ceiling glass doors that could be fully opened.
Sitting in the outdoor leisure chair connected to the living room, Alfonso's feet rested on the ground paved with large blue stones, elevated about ten yards above sea level. At the end of the platform, steps led down to a small private dock.
A yacht anchored far away on the sea, and its small boat was rapidly heading towards the dock. Alfonso welcomed Shamron II from the dock back to the living room, where after exchanging pleasantries, they got down to business.
"Alfonso, you know that for the past twenty years, Yuhang country's nuclear threat has been my biggest concern. We've devised various methods to eliminate their core researchers and tried many ways to destroy their nuclear facilities," Shamron II said slowly, puffing on his cigarette while staring at the sea.
"Haven't we eliminated several key researchers of Yuhang country and successfully killed their chief nuclear weapons expert, Su Sai Muzadi, in November 2020?" Alfonso asked, looking at Shamron II.
"The Yuhang people have hidden enriched uranium material and thousands of high-speed centrifuges in caves. Our A15 fighter jets have launched missiles twice to collapse the entrance, but unfortunately, we can't destroy the entire cave," Shamron II murmured as if talking to himself.
Alfonso kept his gaze fixed on Shamron II, knowing his superior too well. Only when Shamron II's gaze shifted back from the sea to him, would he discuss the purpose of their meeting. Sure enough, Shamron II looked at Alfonso and calmly said:
"The Yuhang people's cave has its pros and cons. The advantage is that we can't hit it, but the downside is the cave is damp, with extremely high salt content in the air. Now we have an opportunity. We've learned that the cave environment is causing trouble for the Yuhang people, their high-speed centrifuges are nearly corroded into scrap metal."
"What can we do?" Alfonso asked.
"If Yuhang country's cave indeed has severe environmental issues, they might either move the equipment and material out, storing them elsewhere, which we can monitor via satellite and destroy en route; or they might add better environmental control equipment to the cave, and we might find an opportunity to tamper with it," Shamron II said, his eyes shining, then continued:
"Regardless of the subsequent measures, our current goal is to test and analyze the cave's air samples. You will personally conduct this test in your company's lab, no problem, right?"
"My company's lab is well-equipped and safe. I can certainly test various air samples, but how do we obtain air samples from the Yuhang country's cave?" Alfonso asked.
"We've developed an informant among the Yuhang people who have access to the cave. He agreed to bring a specially designed empty lunch box we provided into the cave to collect air samples and then bring it out to our courier. However, this informant's range of movement is very limited, so to avoid suspicion, our courier's normal work range should ideally intersect with the informant's small radius," Shamron II raised his chin, gesturing towards his assistant Lev standing on the distant yacht, and said to Alfonso:
"Lev says he's lucky to have found a Lujian-descendant engineer temporarily working in Yuhang country. That's our courier."
"After the courier succeeds in Yuhang country, will he come to Xiangmo City to meet me?" Alfonso asked.
"No, according to the plan, the courier will retrieve the lunch box from the Yuhang country informant on December 22nd and fly directly to Xiangmo City on the 23rd to hand it over to Tinik at the intelligence station of Yuhua country also in Xiangmo City. You are our senior agent; for safety reasons, Tinik will hand over the lunch box to you after receiving it. You don't need to meet the courier face to face. After you get the lunch box and complete the test, securely send the data report to me."
After briefing the mission, Shamron II asked a question he always asked whenever he saw Alfonso: "How's Madan?"
"Yes, he's working at a biological company in Yuhua country. We don't talk much, but in a few days, he'll come to Xiangmo City to spend Christmas with our family," Alfonso replied.
Madan was the adopted son of Alfonso's mother, thus Alfonso's brother, who had been studying and working in Yuhua country for over ten years. Every Christmas, Madan would return to Xiangmo City in Country F to visit his foster mother and spend the holiday with Alfonso's family.
What Shamron II and Alfonso didn't know was that Lev's courier was none other than Madan, temporarily working in Yuhang country. Lev was unaware of Madan's relationship with Alfonso, nor did he know that Shamron II cared deeply for Madan, who was originally unrelated to the Ding Tian organization.
As dawn broke, Shamron II stood up, patted Alfonso's shoulder, and turned to walk towards the outdoor dock.
The morning mist rose, enveloping Shamron II's departing boat, with the yacht on the sea no longer visible. On the eastern sea, a red sun leaped out from the thin mist.
Standing on the platform, Alfonso brushed his golden hair with his hand, muttering to himself:
"Lunch box?"