Commander Li Wenqiang did not argue when he was called into a meeting the moment the convoy had returned to base.

Again.

After the third unsuccessful mission.

He stood through the briefing, listened to Meilan’s father, the Minister of Civil Security, repeat the same objective three different ways, and watched as language shifted without its meaning ever changing.

Secure the property. Remove the occupants. Recover anything of value.

The phrasing had been changed, but the intent did not.

By the time Li was dismissed, the words had blurred into something dull and persistent, the kind of repetition that didn’t clarify a situation so much as grind against it until it became unavoidable.

It left him with a low, steady headache and the clear understanding that nothing he said would alter the outcome.

What was worse was that, by the time he left command, the order had already spread through the operational chain.

Vehicles were being reassigned. Ammunition was being redistributed. Additional personnel had been put on notice.

The return to Xu Zhenlan’s house was no longer just a field anomaly or a failed sweep. It had become an official objective, and the base responded to official objectives the way it always responded to anything above common sense: quickly, thoroughly, and with far too much confidence for someone who had never stepped foot into that house.

Corporal Chen found him near the motor pool. "They’re adding another team."

"I know."

Chen hesitated. "Do we know why?"

Li looked toward the line of vehicles being prepped. "Because someone above us thinks a bigger hammer solves every problem."

That got the slightest twitch at the corner of Chen’s mouth.

Meilan’s unit arrived a minute later without announcing themselves.

Shen Kaiyang carried himself like a man used to working around unstable variables and worse personalities. Tao Jun had already begun checking the assigned vehicle before anyone asked him to. Lin Cheng stood with a tablet in hand, scanning logistics as if he trusted data more than people. Guo Ren said nothing at all, which made Li watch him twice. Huang Zedong looked like he belonged in the front of a fight, not the planning phase, but the quiet way he listened suggested otherwise.

She stopped beside Commander Li and looked out over the motor pool as if the entire operation existed for her convenience.

"It should’ve been handled already," she sighed like the world was going against her on purpose.

Li didn’t turn toward her. "Then you agree with me," he replied with a sigh as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

She gave him a sideways glance. "If it wasn’t important, my unit and I wouldn’t be back here. We are only brought out for the important missions."

"Then I guess that that depends on who decided it was important," Li replied with a shrug. "Knowing Xu Zhenlan’s name tends to distort judgment. It seems like the Minister has a grudge against him."

"Of course it does," she said. "That’s the point. What the minister wants, the minister gets. It’s really that simple."

Li finally looked at her. "You know him? You seem to be familiar with the way he does things."

"Yes," she replied scornfully. "He’s my father. I’m pretty sure that I told you that before, too."

There was no hesitation.

No explanation.

Just pure fact.

Li held her gaze for a second longer before the movement in the motor pool shifted.

Jiang Guowei crossed through the men and vehicles toward them with the kind of confidence that came from never having to consider the possibility of being wrong. Two aides followed behind him, both carrying files they clearly hadn’t read.

"Commander," he grunted, nodding his head like he was doing Li a favor.

Li straightened. "Sir."

The Minister didn’t waste time. "I know you military types. More brawn than brain. But this mission is too important to let you misunderstand. Your objective remains unchanged. You will establish control of the property, remove unauthorized occupants, and identify all concealed resources. I do not care whether those resources are financial, material, or otherwise. Xu Zhenlan did not build his holdings by accident."

"Yes, Sir. You’ve already said all that. An hour ago, and a day before that. I have a firm grasp as to your expectations with this mission. But I feel the need to remind you that we had to leave the mansion due to a zombie infiltration. Xu Zhenlan may no longer control the location," Li said his voice carefully blank.

Jiang Guowei’s eyes sharpened. "Then we remove whoever thinks they do. If the property is unclaimed, it defaults to us."

Meilan said nothing.

She didn’t need to.

"There is a chance that there are civilians still inside," Li added.

"And you will be armed," the Minister replied. "I trust you to resolve smaller problems without returning to me for reassurance."

He handed Li a folder. Property records. Business affiliations. Old money mapped across paper as if the system that created it still functioned.

As Jiang Guowei turned away, Meilan spoke softly like Li like they were on the same side. "He doesn’t give orders without a reason."

"That is obvious," Li replied, not taking the bite. He would be professional, but he wouldn’t be working with her if he could help it.

She gave a slight shrug. "Then we take it."

There was no hesitation in her tone. No doubt. No attempt to understand what they were walking into.

Just certainty.

Li opened the folder and skimmed the first page. Ownership structures, investment vehicles, political ties—layers of influence that meant something to the people who still believed the world could be held together by names and numbers.

"Then we go back," he said.

Chen exhaled quietly. "A fourth time."

"Yes."

"And if the house breaks again?"

Li closed the folder. "Then we leave again. But this time, we prepare better before anyone sleeps."

Meilan’s gaze shifted toward him. "You’re still treating this like it’s going to go wrong."

"I’m treating it like it already has," Li countered, shaking his head.

She considered that for a moment, then inclined her head once. "Fine."

By nightfall, the return operation was no longer ’getting ready’.

The vehicles were loaded, the routes were mapped out, and the teams were reassigned and blended. The house on the edge of the city had become the center of too many priorities at once, none of them aligned and all of them pushing in the same direction.

Li stood over the map one last time and looked at the address.

Fourth visit.

The third set of orders.

A fourth attempt to force the same place into something it had already proven it would not be.