Operation Cardinal Fall

After being thoroughly scolded by Yue and Yin for trying to peep and ultimately failing, they worked out the details of their partnership and began preparations for the next operation. But from our group, only Aurelia and Lia were paying attention, Wanjing and I had called asleep at some point, only waking up once it was time for dinner.

"You two are unbelievable, sometimes I want to go digging through your head to find out how you can manage to fall asleep in situations like that, but I'd rather not have my brain turn to mush," Aurelia says as she helps set the table.

"You'd sound a lot more convincing if you hadn't tried to peep with us," I say.

"Pure intellectual curiosity, nothing more, I assure you. Now, why don't you make yourself useful and help us set the table? Even that ruffian He Lin is doing his part," Aurelia says.

"Hey, I don' take too kindly to bein' called a ruffian, even if it's true," He Lin says.

Ignoring both their comments, I just keep lazing around and petting Wanjing until Lia calls us over to eat, alongside to the love birds who decided to leave their nest and join us. Over the course of dinner, Yue explains to everyone who either wasn't paying attention or just not there about the partnership with Yin and her gang, as well as the details of the next operation, named, Cardinal Fall.

The basic overview is that it will be a joint heist on the major families of Hong, and Cheng. The purpose isn't only to take from the two of the wealthiest families excluding the Imperial Family but to also reveal the darker sides of the Scion families.

Wei asked about the Hei Family of the Black Tortoise, which came as a surprise to everyone because of his very intimate relationship with Shuren who was in charge of gathering and sorting information. But Yue still explained that they aren't a target because they're completely clean, or they're very good at hiding any incriminating evidence. Though, Yue believes it to be the former since the people of the Hei Family tend to have good reputations and often donate to the same orphanages as the Scarlet Wings.

Yue says that the operation will commence in one month. She went on to explain that the main reason for the wait is a matter of manpower. We're waiting for the other members of the Scarlet Wings to arrive in Long as well as negotiate deals with other groups like Yin's.

She then went on to outline the operation. The first step was actually directions for me, as she wants me to set up a large timed explosion just outside of the city to distract any guards and other military personnel. But she also wants me to at least try to avoid drastically changing the environment and harming innocents. I said the obvious and didn't agree and said that she can have two of the three options but not all can't happen. We settled on not harming innocents, but if someone happens to wander into the blast zone, it's not my problem, but I didn't mention that part.

The next part is the division of labour. Splitting into two sides and four groups, one side goes to the Cheng owned lands while the other to Hong. Two combat groups to attract attention from the targeted families and two infiltration groups to search and obtain any incriminating evidence as well as grab whatever valuables they can.

It was decided that Yin and her team along with Aurelia and some members of the Scarlet Wings would be one of the combat groups while the other would be Yue, Lia, Wanjing, and some of the combat oriented members of the Scarlet Wings, just like the first group. The two infiltration teams are to be lead by Wei and Shuren. As for me, Yue actually wants me to use my robot army to assist both teams and to manage them, she wants me to find a vantage point from where I can view both battlefields. This doesn't seem too difficult since from what I've seen, there are plenty of stupidly tall structures in the central district, maybe the architects were compensating for something.

Then much like in the previous operation, signal flares have been prepared to signal a retreat after the infiltration team either meets their objective or is compromised. Each side has its own unique flares so as not to confuse with each other, as well as two different flares to signal success or failure.

Once both our food is gone and the debriefing over, the members of the Scarlet Wings go into a frenzy to make their preparations while the collaborators, like Yin and I, are glad we don't need to scramble with logistics as they do. And all I have to do as make a big explosion, my speciality. I wonder what I should use as materials, since I got Yue to let me ignore the environment I wonder if I can get away with nuclear fission. I just know this will be a fun month.