Peng Xiu sat in her dimly lit office, biting her nail in frustration. The encrypted chat with Chief Xi, and his urgent message still echoed in her mind: "Come back to the Bureau." Her plan had backfired spectacularly. She had hoped to frame Xiang Yu by planting firearms and C4 in his warehouse, but Xiang Yu had outsmarted her with hidden cameras. The men she sent were caught on tape, and Chief Xi had already arrested them. The only silver lining was that they hadn't started talking yet, or Chief Xi would have mentioned it.
Staring at the black chat interface, the white cursor blinking impatiently, Peng Xiu pondered her next move. She finally typed, "I can't come in now, things are hot."
A minute later, Chief Xi, under the username Starlight, replied, "What do you mean you can't? Do you know they are threatening to fire all of us and shut down the bureau? Unless you can give me useful evidence against Han Xin, we are screwed."
