The photos were so intimate that nobody had any doubts about directly congratulating the union of the Dou and Huo family. One was the eldest daughter of the Prime Minister, and the other was the a rising elite in the military world. Regardless of how people saw it, this was a good marriage between two esteemed and appropriate family backgrounds. Even more fortunate was that the pair clearly loved each other, something that was truly rare in high society marriages. The Prime Minister and his wife were practically drowning in the felicitations. From the stage, Dou Qingyan heard everyone’s well wishes, but was quickly overwhelmed by the entire event and suddenly passed out in Dou Haoyan’s arms.
Dou Haoyan’s expression was dark, but he couldn’t give a real reaction in front of all the guests. He had no choice but to call a few people to come bring Dou Qingyan back upstairs.
…
Huo Shaoheng calmly finished watching the video and didn’t even turn around before issuing the command. “First, break all network interfaces to foreign countries and initiate the “Great Wall” blockage to intercept all IPs that attempt to circumvent it.”
Zhao Liangze quickly took out a digital pen to record Huo Shaoheng’s words.
“Second, lockdown all the airports, highways and passages out of the city. At the same time, apply for a military court arrest warrant to arrest Specials Operations Forces veteran, Dou Qingyan. Third, deploy Special Operations Forces Military Police to accompany me to the Prime Minister’s official residence. Effective immediately.”
“Roger, Chief!” Zhao Liangze snapped his heels together and saluted Huo Shaoheng. “May I ask: what crime did Dou Qingyan committ, that we are submitting for the application of the arrest warrant to the Special Military Court?”
Members of the Special Operations Forces had a special existence in the Huaxia Imperial Military. They belonged under the jurisdiction of the military and the military court, and their duties overlapped with the Secret Services of the Cabinet of the Prime Minister. However, the executive capacity and armed forces of the Special Ops was not merely slightly stronger than the Secret Service—the Special Ops were in a category of their own. And that was why members of the Special Ops were far more powerful than the Secret Service; as the chief of the Special Forces, Huo Shaoheng acted as the chief of military and his terms of of residence were shockingly broad.
“Publically announce the crime as illegal forging of evidence and slander against her superior. Each crime is enough to put her in jail for the rest of her life,” Huo Shaoheng replied dryly. There was no change in his neutral face. It was like he was talking about something trivial.
“Also, issue the order to all the Special Ops members in Italy and North Ireland and have them immediately stop all their missions and come back at once, without delay.”
Zhao Liangze suddenly understood what was happening: Huo Shaoheng wasn’t admitting the authenticity of these photos currently. Even if they were real, he had to insist that they were fake at this time, otherwise it wasn’t just an issue of forging evidence. This compromised the identities of the Special Ops members currently in other countries, and if they were exposed, their safety would be jeopardized.
Zhao Liangze calmed down and responded solemnly, “Roger, Chief!” He quickly issued Huo Shaoheng’s orders. Breaking the network interfaces was his responsibility and he was equipped with all the programs necessary to quickly initiate lockdown sequences and also set up an interception system that would record any IPs attempting to circumvent.
Yin Shixiong had originally been the one responsible for requesting an arrest warrant from the military court, but because he was still at the Prime Minister’s official residence, Huo Shaoheng sent his confidential personal secretary to instead. Based on the military ranks, Huo Shaoheng was allotted four personal secretaries. Two were publicly recognized as Zhao Liangze and Yin Shixiong, while the other two had confidential identities and never made public appearances. Even in the case of requesting an arrest warrant from the military court, these secretaries would have to use a disguised identity. Although it was around eight or nine in the evening on New Year’s Day, Huo Shoaheng was able to quickly obtain the arrest warrant for Dou Qingyan from the special military court. By the time the warrant was delivered to Huo Shaoheng, he had already changed into his military uniform and was driving in his military vehicle. The Special Ops dispatched 100 Military Police, 100 of Huo Shaoheng’s orderlies, and 4 large Humvees in a procession to the Prime Minister’s official residence.
At midnight of New Year’s Day, at the Imperial capital, the weather was so particularly cold that one’s breath could nearly turn into ice. Huo Shaoheng donned his coat and gloves as he quietly watched the Prime Minister’s official residence grow closer and closer ahead. When they approached Willow Hutong, the police and plain clothes Secret Service at the security check blocked the military vehicles. Before the representatives of the police force and Secret Service could even say a word, the fully armed Military Police and Huo Shaoheng’s orderlies had already seized control of the guard duties at the Prime Minister’s official residence. They surrounded the building. The police and Secret Service were immediately taken into the military vehicles and sent to the Specials Ops’ secret detention base to be taken held in temporary custody for a few days.
“Huo Shao, they are resisting and asking for how many days they’ll be locked up.” Zhao Liangze was slightly anxious as he reported to Huo Shaoheng.
“Ignore them. They can go home when our people from Italy and North Ireland retreat,” Huo Shaoheng said dismissively in a low voice with a wave of his hand. “We’re now going to the Prime Minister’s official residence to not only arrest Dou Qingyan, but everyone inside as well: they have to be taken away. The Prime Minister and his wife can be placed under house arrest in their official residence. The others will all be taken to the Special Ops base.”
“Mr. Huo, are you really going to cross everyone this time?”
“If I don’t do this, can you guarantee that nobody in the group will try to worm out information and escape prosecution?” Huo Shaoheng stepped out of the car. “Just say that I suspect there’s a foreign spy in there, so we need them to go back to the Special Ops base with us for further investigation.” The chief of the Special Ops had a special permit and search warrant that could be acted on with only unilateral suspicion to back the use of it. This power was given to the Special Ops by the Senate. Of course, if the Special Ops deliberately made false charges to frame someone, the Senate could also initiate discharge procedures to abolish the special privileges of the chief of the Special Ops. However, in order to convict the chief of the Special Ops, it needed to go through the military and the military court—this was resulted in the balance of powers between the two.
“Roger!” Zhao Liangze immediately led the way, guiding a number of Military Police and orderlies to the the Prime Minister’s official residence.
The hall of the Prime Minister’s official residence was boisterous with music, dance and laughter. The banquet was at its peak: the long buffet tables had been removed in order to transform the hall into a great dance floor. The lights dimmed and the guests were about to dance. Suddenly, the doors of the mansion were forced opened with a great slam— so powerful was the force that the two redwood doors fell to the ground, clean off their hinges.
“Who the h*ll was that?!”
“What’s going on?!”
The music screeched to a stop and the lights were brightened once again. Everyone looked towards the door and was shocked to see many armed soldiers rushing in.
Dou Haoyan parted through the crowd to confront the soldiers and said with dissatisfaction, “What unit are you all from? Why are you intruding into the Prime Minister’s residence?”
A solemn faced Zhao Liangze walked over as he presented the arrest warrant at Dou Haoyan. “May I ask where Dou Qingyan is?”
Dou Haoyan blanched: he had never thought that the Special Ops would have arrived so quickly! They had just managed to assure Dou Qingyan and were about to send her abroad later that night! “Why are you looking… for my sister?” He stuttered in attempt to delay the soldiers.
“If you don’t tell me now, I will arrest you for obstruction of military orders,” Zhao Liangze said, his handsome face serious and his eyes holding not even an ounce of hesitation.
Bai Yueran saw this from the crowd and nodded with approval. She also made her way through the guests and said to Dou Haoyan, “Mr. Dou, please cooperate with us and hand Dou Qingyan over.”
Zhao Liangze gratefully glanced at Bai Yueran, but still shook his head. “Director Bai, please go wait over there. All the people here today will be taken to the Special Ops base for investigation.”
“Of course.” Bai Yueran was unperturbed as she gave him a smile and walked back to where Bai Shuang was standing.
Bai Shuang was staring at Zhao Liangze. He appeared different from his normally gentle demeanor when he wore his perfectly ironed uniform: he now had a sense of military ruggedness.
Bai Yuran looked at Bai Shuang with a quiet sigh. She took his hand. “Stop looking, we have to go back to the Special Ops with them for investigation later.”
“Yeah.” Bai Shuang nodded unhappily and finally looked away.
He Zhichu quietly witnessed this from the door, a hint of a smile appearing in his pursed lips. He muttered to himself, “They came just in time, and even a bit earlier than I’d expected.”
“Guard all the exits! Not even one person will be missed!”
The Military Police and orderlies Huo Shaoheng had deployed quickly took control of the entire hall.