Chapter 106, Chapter 105: El and Gil

El: There is a 25% chance that this operation will succeed.

Rag: Then do it four times!

Lag: Beetroot, oh me!

El: ...

Kiel: "..."

Hondo Emi looked down at the black-haired girl who barely reached her waist, forcibly banishing the cute expression she had just made from her mind before finally finding traces of the fifteen-year-old girl on the child's face.

It was El, who was only fifteen years old when we last met.

Four years ago, she was exchanging intelligence with her father, who was also an undercover agent, but they faced a major crisis of being exposed because they missed the transmitter that the organization had placed.

Upon seeing the transmitter, Ethan Hondo immediately made a decision. He bit his own wrist and stuffed it into his daughter's mouth, willing to sacrifice his own life to give Hondo Emi a chance to survive.

The man, his mouth full of blood, stared into his daughter's trembling eyes and said with a mixture of reluctance and determination, "Don't give up, Yinghai."

"As long as we persevere and wait, our companions will surely appear."

He grasped his daughter's trembling hand, which was shaking from pain, panic, or something else, and turned the gun towards himself.

Hondo Emi wanted to say something, but the nauseating taste of rust filled her throat like sand, preventing her from uttering even a single syllable.

It's so hot, a bullet grazed it.

It's so hot, the blood splattered on my cheek.

It was so hot. The life of a loved one was burning through his throat and into his abdomen like a raging fire, illuminating the dark and endless path of his undercover mission.

"Complete the mission properly for me." Ethan Hondou tilted his head back and pressed the still-hot muzzle of the gun against his soft chin.

Hondo Eikai felt his finger being guided by his father, slowly pulling the trigger.

Just like when her father held her hand and guided her through the first time she rang the bicycle bell.

With just a light press of the fingertip on the trigger, a crisp bell will ring, alerting pedestrians ahead to give way.

But if she pressed the button now, her father would die.

Hondou Emi instinctively tried to pull her hand back, but Ethan Hondou paused for a moment before firmly pressing down on her hand, making sure the fingerprints on it were clearly visible.

In the midst of dodging and blocking, the moment of pulling the trigger seemed to stretch on endlessly, until the crisp gunshot struck my eardrums like a ringing bell, and my father's figure fell to the side...

Hmm? Falling to the side?

Her nerves, stretched to the limit, allowed her to quickly spot the burst of blood on Ethan Hondou's shoulder. Hondou Emi only had time to turn her head to look in the direction the bullet came from before a second bullet accurately knocked the gun out of her hand.

Her hand, throbbing from the impact, clenched into a fist in an instant, and she swung it at the dark figure that came along with the bullet. But after she actually threw the punch, she realized that the target position was set too high, and the enemy that suddenly appeared was a short person.

The fist, unable to change its direction in time, missed its target. The short man easily dodged the attack by tilting his head, then kicked himself down and pointed the gun at her forehead.

"Calm down." The girl in black with her hair tied in a high ponytail held a gun in each hand, pointing it at Ethan Hondou, who was swaying as he stood up while clutching his shoulder, and Hondou Emi, who was lying on the ground. Her tone was indifferent. "Or I'll kill you both."

"Are you part of the organization? But why didn't they just eliminate the traitors?" Hondou Emi stared grimly at the dark muzzle of the gun in front of her, while Ethan Hondou beside her demanded sharply, "Who are you? And what do you want?"

"Al wine. Ethan Bentang, our last mission together was ten days ago."

The girl in black's answer made Ethan Hondou tighten his grip on the wound on his shoulder. He and Elju had indeed cooperated on missions more than once, but the person in front of him was mainly responsible for infiltrating mission locations to gather intelligence and provide covert support, and rarely revealed her true face to the other members.

In addition, as a trusted confidant trained by Rum, he followed his superior in adhering to the same mysticism. Most members of the organization only knew that Rum's Lager and Ale were very young, but had no further information.

"As for the reason..." Elju paused for a moment, then sharply flicked the taut nerves of the two people present.

Ethan Hondou stared intently at the extremely young-looking girl, waiting for the opportunity to retaliate and take her down with him.

Just as the father and daughter were about to break down, the girl in black, who had been silent, politely said, "Excuse me, please wait a moment, let me hear your reason."

What?! The father and daughter felt that they were being treated with courtesy, but the gun pointed steadily at them showed no politeness or courtesy whatsoever, only threats and manipulation.

“Ah, my reason is…” Elle explained her reason to the wary Hondo father and daughter with a cold face and expressionless expression: “I want to kidnap CIA undercover agent Ethan Hondo so that I can hold Gil’s hand and force you to help me run people over in Japan every year for free.”

Ethan Hondou: ...?

Hondou Hidemi, who hasn't received the codename "Kiel" yet: Who is Kiel??

Perhaps it was an illusion, but from this perspective, she seemed to see a miniature earpiece on Elg's ear... Perhaps what she said just now was merely a repetition of what was said on the other end of the earpiece?

That's really strange.

"Okay, that's it." Without using any punctuation, Al offered no after-sales service after finishing his long speech. Instead, he neatly put away his gun, picked up the black bag on the ground, and threw it into Ethan's arms.

"The model commonly used by the CIA. Get it installed before Gin arrives and blow this place up."

"I brought a substitute along the way. You can take care of the wounds, Rena Mizunashi."

The fifteen-year-old girl was still short and spoke with a childlike voice, but when directing the staged death scene, she was clear-headed and meticulous, making thorough preparations that were chilling to think about.

Ethan Bendou opened the bag and saw it was packed full of eight commonly used CIA-branded eggs: ...

Hondo Eikai, who was pushed directly in front of a male corpse: ...

The girl, under the intense gaze of the father and daughter, remained unfazed and simply said, "You have three minutes left."

There was no time to ask about the transmitter or how to deal with the exposure of their identities. Under the "care" of Al's two guns, the father and daughter were forced to blow up the rendezvous point before Gin arrived at the distillery.

When Gin and Vodka arrived, Hondo Hidemi still had her father's fresh blood on her lips, her heart pounding in her chest as she watched Elle reveal her identity to the two and hand Gin the fabricated interrogation recording.

"I got the rat for you." The black-haired girl looked expressionlessly at the silver-haired assassin who was several heads taller than her, and made a request under Gil's terrified gaze: "Gin, give me some of your salary."

Gin neither said it was good nor bad, but simply flipped the thin recording card between his fingers and looked at Hondou Hidemi, who was disheveled and clearly had just gone through a tough battle. "Ethan Hondou is dead and can't testify. How can I trust you?"

Yes, this is the inevitable consequence of faking death. Hondou Emi's jaw clenched for a moment, just as she was about to organize her thoughts to address this crucial question that would determine her life or death, when Elju answered first.

"I watched as Mizunaku killed that CIA agent." The girl with the high ponytail put one hand on her hip and turned to look at herself, still as indifferent as ever. Her words still sent a chill down one's spine: "Gin, you know I can't be wrong."

Alcohol was vouching for her. Hondou Emi's five fingers dug deep into the gunshot wound she had deliberately left on her arm, and bright red blood was squeezed out, conspicuously staining that sleeve.

"So, I should reward her?" The silver-haired assassin, his face hidden in the shadow of his hat, walked towards Hondou Emi with his hands inside his trench coat. He raised his hand and wiped a trace of blood from the woman's tightly pursed lips. "Is this the rat's blood?"

Hondo Hidemi cautiously nodded, took the sampling paper from Gin, and stained it with the blood sample. Vodka carefully put away the sample that would be sent for testing.

The sample couldn't be more genuine. Once the test results came out, she could use this "counterattack" to continue piercing deep into the tissue like a sharp blade.

"I don't interfere with the task force's affairs; whether or not to reward or punish them is that gentleman's business."

Al calmly shifted his gaze from Hondou Hidemi, then pulled out a black mask and covered himself with it. "But I do hope I don't have to work with a codenamed member who could get herself into the hands of the CIA."

"Put your salary in my account. See you next time, Gin."

The girl left the warehouse that was still burning fiercely.

Hondo Eikai had thought this would be the beginning of a collaboration, and that he and Elju would meet again—after all, his father, Ethan Hondo, still had his life in Elju's hands. This was a collaboration under threat, wasn't it?

However, this certainty began to waver after following Gin and Vodka into the car, because Vodka complained that the phrase "see you next time" was almost the same as a final farewell, and bluntly stated that this was the first time he and his older brother had met Algol in person.

"The mysticism fostered by rum," Gin commented.

While her wounds were being treated at the hospital organized by the organization, Hondo Emi felt that it wouldn't be a matter of never seeing him again, after all, her father was still alive—

"dad?"

Hondou Emi and Ethan Hondou, who had been released on the spot, stared at each other in the safe house.

The certainty in their hearts shattered into pieces in an instant. The father and daughter spent the whole night discussing whether to report the matter of El Wine, and finally decided to wait until they contacted the right person before making a decision.

This wait lasted for almost a year. Shortly after Ethan Hondo obtained a false identity, Gil's deeds earned the gentleman's praise, winning the organization's trust and the codename "Gil," and she joined the Gin Action Group that appreciated her.

Binga, who was still in the intelligence group trying to bring down his cronies, was envious of the rapid promotion and salary increase.

Just as Kiel began to doubt whether she had truly been forgotten by El, she received a text message while on a mission in Japan, containing a photo of a strange man and his detailed personal information.

The message was very brief, consisting of only four words and a signature:

From Ale:

Title: No theme

Charge headlong into the car.

'

Kiel: ?

Kir, realizing he couldn't kill the man at all: ??

The woman with the lightning bolt bangs watched the bomber being lifted onto a stretcher in the ambulance, and hesitantly dialed the number on the text message: "Hey, that man seems... like he can't be killed by running over?"

"Well, as long as he doesn't die," Elle's voice came from the other end. "Keep an eye on him, and it would be best to hire someone to run him over as soon as he's discharged from the hospital."

Remembering that the other person had indeed mentioned regularly running people over with their car: ...

That's it?

If you were to risk your reputation and become an undercover agent just for this, wouldn't that be a completely unprofitable deal?

But Al and Rag did this unprofitable deal with her for four whole years.

Until the news of their defection and death arrived, aside from running errands to deliver local specialties from business trips, periodically running people over with his car, and occasionally intimidating the chairman of the Sindora Group in the name of the organization, Kiel had never really done any "proper" missions.

When she heard that the beer crew had defected, she thought she would be punished by Gin, but the silver-haired assassin obviously knew something and let her continue her mission without even a threat.

Kiel is determined to take the risk and find the answer from Gin.

But before she could uncover anything, the supposedly dead Lager suddenly transformed into the organization's Boss, and on his third day in office, he sent her to infiltrate the CIA.

Back in America, Kiel once again faced off with his contact, Ethan Bentham: ...

If there are no further instructions, then... let's wait a little longer?

Fortunately, this time, the beer didn't keep her waiting too long. Soon she received a mission from Lager, asking her to assist Al in infiltrating the lab and secretly take some photos of Al to send to him.

Ignoring the second half of the sentence, Kiel felt that the sisters had finally returned to normal.

But upon seeing Al, she suddenly realized that the second half of the sentence could not be ignored.

"...El, so you're a little elf who can change your age at will?" Gil looked at the tiny girl sitting in the passenger seat, completely exposing Laggle. "So Laggle asked me to secretly take pictures to record your various forms?"

"No photos allowed, Kiel." Zhuge Tongzhi firmly rejected the request; she didn't want Rag to know her current state.

I feel like if I found out, something really "bad" would happen.

The woman with a few strands of lightning-shaped bangs peeking out from under her hat chuckled and said, "Alright, so where shall we begin this infiltration mission?"

"Let's start by adjusting to the time difference." Zhuge Tongzhi yawned deeply. This child's body wasn't as resilient as an adult's, and the significant time difference between Japan and the US had left her mind a complete mess.

The dark-haired girl, drowsy in the comfortably air-conditioned car, raised her eyes and looked into the empty space before her:

"Target detected. Planned route has been automatically enabled for you."

"Next stop: Iron Wall Laboratory (in progress)"

"No need for any extra preparations, just follow me when the time comes."

-----------------------

Author's note: Today, Chenxing went to the Guangdong Guild Hall for dinner!

Why don't you poke and pinch him, hehehehe

I love freshly steamed char siu bao!

…

Laggle is in charge of internal affairs, El is in charge of external affairs.

Therefore, it is usually El who dispatches Lag logistics.

These two adorable children are working hard to change the fate of others, and also to change their own fate!

…

Mwah!