2:00 p.m., Military Chief Office ;

"Will this much amount be okay, Abram?", the girl asked, as she confirmed the transfer of One Million dollars from her brother's account to 'Albert Fedorov's' bank account.

"Yeah. It should be.", the man replied, "I can take care of Aftaab Ali for a while here, Xinghe. You just focus on the task at hand. I won't be calling you for the next few days, obviously. We can't afford to let my cover get blown, right?"

"Hmm. Stay alert. And signal your subordinates to text me if anything comes up. Don't connect to me directly, until you've recognized Ahmed Ali Fadhil.", the girl said, her voice void of any definite emotion.

"Okay."

Elijah Williams walked in, the moment the girl disconnected the call, as he handed her a piece of paper, "The informer's dead. But judging by this message, I am assuming that Ahmed Ali Fadhil's planning something massive on Independence Day. The 17th of September."

"Alright, then. Ten days to go before the D-Day finally arrives. Let's get on with it, shall we?", Rong Xinghe smiled, her eyes turning a few shades darker, "Activate all our stringers and informants, Mr. Shou.", she commanded her assistant.

_____________

8:00 p.m., Xi Corporations HQ, City A ;

Xi Yuan leaned against the back of his chair, as he closed his eyes for a power nap of fifteen minutes. It had been a long day. Back-to-back meetings, and constant field-checks. Not to mention, he'd barely gotten the chance to talk to his girl since this morning. The Florence brothers had shown up too early, and the girl took off shortly after that. He understood how busy she was, of course. In fact, that was primarily the reason he didn't disturb her either. He was trying his best, to be as supportive of her work as he could. But wasn't it normal for him to miss her too?

"Brother.", at this time, Xi Fang knocked against the man's door, "Can I talk to you?"

"Hmm. Come in.", the man opened his eyes, "What's up?"

"Would it be okay if I started dating Jiang Yue again?"

Xi Yuan lifted his head up to look at the man staring at him nervously, "Why would you need my permission for that, Fang? That's your life. Do whatever you feel like."

"I noticed how her father has been attacking Xi Corporations, both publicly and privately. He has been joining hands with our rivals lately, causing us all a lot of trouble. I thought that you wouldn't want me to get involved with Yue now that--"

"Now that we are not on talking terms with President Jiang?", Xi Yuan cut in, as a smile appeared across his lips, "No, Fang. I would never expect you to do that. One should never let their professional and personal life overlap. When you are here, you are nothing but my confidant, brother, advisor, and friend. But when you are with her, you should just be the best version of yourself and not a Xi Corporations' employee.

"As far as Jiang family is concerned, well... we did hurt their sentiments, didn't we?"

"I did, brother.", Xi Fang shook his head, "Not you. You weren't even aware of what was happening then.

"I am sorry I couldn't handle everything as efficiently as you would've been able to. In order to assist and protect Sister-in-law, I ended up ruining everything with Yue. I don't even deserve to stand by your side, brother. You would've never been this stupid."

"Don't be so hard on yourself. You just need to have a decent conversation with the Jiang family.", Xi Yuan smiled, "Back then, you did what had to be done. The only mistake you made was that you never gave a proper closure to Yue. Now, be a god damned grown-up, and clean the mess you made."

"Yes.", Xi Fang nodded, "You are right."

"Come on, now. I will help you fix this.", Xi Yuan stood up, as he buttoned up his suit.

"Wait... you're going to be my cupid now?", Xi Fang's eyes flew wide open, "But you never get involved with mine or Ying's or Wei's relationships."

"That doesn't mean I can't get involved now, right?", Xi Yuan questioned solemnly, "Moreover, I am getting bored. Your Sister-in-law is too busy to call me. And this... little fiasco seems to be an interesting diversion for me. Not to mention, Xinghe is already looking forward to getting you two married.

"So let's go and impress your to be in-laws. Trust me, Fang, you'll need me for that. I have, after all, awed and dazzled the most austere Six men across the country. I am a professional in the field!"

As the man picked up his car keys and walked out of the office, Xi Fang couldn't help but feel exhilarated at the idea. Xi Yuan had never volunteered to do something like this before. Other than business, his brother never really cared about such insignificant things. Bromantic, Xi Fang laughed to himself. The first time his brother was just a brother. Not a CEO, not the Young Master of Xi Family, but just a brother. Birds of a feather did flock together, after all. One year with Rong Xinghe and his brother was already halfway to being a matchmaker. How adorable!

__________________

11:00 p.m., Military Chief Office ;

Rong Xinghe sat in the Conference Hall, as more than two hundred administrative officers and diplomats counted the most populated locations in Country X to her, one by one. Every year, more than five million people participated in Independence Day Parades and Flag-hoisting events and Theatre plays to express their love and gratitude for Country X. It was not possible for her to quarantine the entire nation just because there was a possibility of some destructive attack.

"For the next ten days, step out of your VIP shoes and interact with the public as much as you can. In Civil Code.", Rong Xinghe ordered, after thinking about the pestilent ordeal for a few seconds, "Encourage them to stay alert and request them to report any unusual or suspicious activity happening around them to you.

"Also, mark the locations with the highest numbers of visitors on I-Day and tourist locations as Hotspots on the state maps. We might have to distribute the bomb squad officers fairly, throughout the country, pretty soon.

"Everyone dismissed. Only the Intelligence team shall stay behind."

"Understood, Ma'am.", the bureaucrats saluted in unison as they walked out hurriedly. The Military Chief seldom ran a meeting this long. It had been nine hours since they were discussing the arrangements for Independence Day, and clearly, something huge, something frightening, was about to happen in Country X.