Mission 3: Data Heist in Chinatown
Location: Binondo, Chinatown & Makati's old consulate tunnels
Role: Tommy Brown joins as hacker. Maria decrypts files. Truth about Lim's political connections revealed.
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Binondo – A week after La Sombra Roja
Juan, Maria, and Tommy Brown huddled in a safehouse above an old Chinese herbal store. The walls were thin, and the smell of camphor and incense clung to the air. Outside, the lanterns of Chinatown danced in the wind.
They were running out of time.
The documents Maria gave them pointed to something far more dangerous than a syndicate. It was infrastructure. A whole web of corruption running through ports, banks, and politicians—anchored by Señor Lim.
But the names were encrypted. Hidden behind a firewall buried in the servers of the Old Chinese Consulate in Makati—now abandoned since 1975, but rumored to house secret archives beneath its foundation.
"Breaking into a forgotten consulate," Tommy smirked, adjusting his glasses, "Well… at least it's not boring."
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The Plan
Juan and Maria would infiltrate through the consulate's old sewer entrance.
Tommy would act as mission control, setting up in a nearby carinderia disguised as a tourist internet café.
Their goal: retrieve the primary hard drive from the central vault under the consulate.
According to Tommy, the vault was protected by a 1990s Filipino-Chinese AI system called "ZhiLang"—a leftover experiment from Cold War espionage.
"It speaks in Hokkien and Spanish," Tommy said. "And it hates Americans."
Juan raised an eyebrow. "So you're staying outside?"
"Hell yes."
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The Heist
They entered the tunnels just before midnight.
Inside: catacombs of rusted pipes, Spanish-era bricks, and old porcelain tiles engraved with Chinese poetry. Maria moved like smoke. Juan covered her with a suppressed handgun.
The deeper they went, the more symbols of secrecy emerged: Qing dragons, Spanish crosses, American radio towers—all carved together on the same stone walls.
It was no longer just espionage. It was a cathedral of treachery.
Finally, they reached the vault door: steel, dust-covered, and humming with static.
Tommy's voice crackled over the earpiece.
"Plug in the receiver. I'll do the rest."
Maria slid the device into a port.
Suddenly, a voice rang out in mechanical Hokkien-Spanish:
> "¿Quién osa entrar en la Cámara Oscura?
誰敢進入黑影之門?"
They had 90 seconds.
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Firewall and Revelation
Tommy worked like a madman. Fingers flying. Sweat pouring. Inside the old carinderia, electricity flickered as the system resisted him.
Juan stood ready, eyes on the hallway. Footsteps echoed. Syndicate guards were coming.
"Almost there—just keep me covered!" Tommy shouted.
One last code: Espanya1898.
The vault door hissed open.
Inside:
A map of the Philippines with red pins on Davao, Subic, and Zamboanga—marked "Shipments."
Receipts for private weapons bought from a former CIA depot.
A photo of Lim Tionco shaking hands with Senator Salvador Laxa.
And a USB drive labeled: "Proyecto Luz Oscura - Phase II."
Maria grabbed it all.
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Escape Under Fire
Sirens howled. Syndicate men flooded the tunnels.
Maria gunned down two. Juan slashed through the next with his bolo. It became a blur of smoke, water, and blood. They escaped through a drainage canal, emerging in Makati River—cold, bruised, but alive.
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Back at the Safehouse
Tommy decrypted the USB.
What they saw was… unbelievable.
> A video briefing.
A map of Southeast Asia.
And Señor Lim, standing in front of a whiteboard saying:
"In five years, the Philippines will be the center of trade, arms, and shadow diplomacy. We will not just own the ports.
We will own the government."
Maria's eyes widened.
"This isn't just a crime ring," she whispered.
"This is a silent coup."