I Have Returned, but I Cannot Lay down My Gun

"What the hell is going on?!"

"I... I don’t know! Something flew up and exploded in the sky!"

"Is that what you’re calling an explanation?!"

"The debris... Aaaaagh!"

Boom!

The remains of the UAV exploded brilliantly in the early morning sky, scattering like fireworks. The deafening noise that filled the night sky forced even those who hadn’t been looking up to tilt their heads.

Everyone stared blankly at the sky, as if buffering. Several tons of debris split into thousands of large and small fragments, pouring down to the ground. Fortunately, it wasn’t deep in Manhattan, so no buildings were struck.

The fragments, each weighing several kilograms, tens of kilograms, or in some cases, hundreds of kilograms, hit the ground randomly. The moment they touched, another deafening sound rang out, accompanied by the screams of the unlucky few who were hit.

However, the issue of someone being injured by the debris was secondary.

The situation was spiraling out of control.

In fact, it was very serious.

"Who did this?! Who fired the missile?!"

"What happened?! Who did this?! How do you plan to handle this?!"

"Someone fired a missile from outside! It seems someone fired our hidden ground-to-air missile into the sky!"

"So who was it?!"

"I don’t know! It was hard to see because of the silhouette in the dark!"

At that moment, with a loud crash, Agent Jensen burst into the room where the protest leaders were gathered, his face pale, raising his voice.

It didn’t take long for the expression of panic that Agent Jensen was – or rather, was pretending to be – to spread to the Chinese protest leaders in the room.

No one would want to create a scene at this timing. Shooting down something with a missile should have been a last resort, even for the most radical of radicals among the protesters.

"But why... why now...?!"

Something that should have never happened had just occurred.

In the minds of the protest leaders, thoughts were racing like a storm. But one fact was as clear as day: They had successfully shot down a U.S. military asset, and HQ would be coming after the culprit.

All the public relations work they had built up beforehand had been completely shattered by this one event. The narrative of their persecution – which was actually false – no longer mattered.

The situation was clear. They had attacked U.S. assets, and by extension, the U.S. military.

Without a declaration of war.

• We’ll prepare some hot chocolate that’s sweet enough to rot your teeth.