CHAPTER 1: VANISHED INTO THE MIST

The Delta-6 special operations team was enjoying a rare period of leave in the northern mountains when tragedy struck. Or at least, that was how they initially perceived it.

Lam, the team leader, stared blankly at his cold cup of coffee. Across from him, Phuong’s chair was empty. She had left the table to grab drinks fifteen minutes ago, and the roadside shop was less than fifty meters away. Phuong was no ordinary woman; she was a top-tier sniper with the instinct to sense danger from a kilometer away. For her to vanish without a trace in a peaceful town was unthinkable.

“Find anything?” Lam asked as Minh, the team’s tech specialist, returned with a laptop in hand.

Minh shook his head, his face pale. “Every camera within a 200-meter radius was disabled by a micro-EMP right when Phuong walked away. No signs of a struggle, no witnesses. She simply… evaporated into thin air.”

Delta-6 went into red alert. For three months, they turned the world upside down—scouring secret police files and scouring the information black market. The answer was always a hollow zero. The Ministry of Defense issued an official notice: Phuong was listed as “Missing While on Leave.” To the comrades who had faced death together, it was a slap in the face. They didn’t believe she had deserted, nor that she could be kidnapped so easily without sending a distress signal.

CHAPTER 2: THE GHOST OF “THE CROWN” CASINO

Six months later, Delta-6 received a new mission from Central Intelligence. A transnational criminal organization called “Snake Eye” was conducting a bio-chip transaction at a luxury casino in Macau. The team’s mission was to infiltrate, recover the documents, and eliminate targets if necessary.

The night in Macau was a blur of neon lights and the scent of money. Lam, dressed in a sharp suit and playing the role of a real estate tycoon, moved slowly into the VIP area of The Crown Casino. His earpiece crackled with Minh’s voice from the covert van: “Captain, look toward Baccarat Table 4. I just ran facial recognition on a cocktail waitress. It’s a 98% match.”

Lam nearly dropped his cards. He turned, and his heart skipped a beat.

It was Phuong. But it wasn’t the Phuong of ponytails and dusty fatigues. She wore a sleek black dress, her hair in loose waves, her makeup sharp and sophisticated. She moved past drug lords with a professional, distant smile.

“Don’t move, Lam!” Minh’s voice was urgent. “She doesn’t recognize you. Look at her eyes.”

Lam intentionally bumped into Phuong as she passed. Red wine spilled onto his sleeve. He reached out to grab her wrist by instinct, but Phuong recoiled instantly, one hand balancing her tray while the other moved to her waist—a combat-ready stance for a concealed weapon. Her gaze was cold, hollow.

“I am sorry, sir,” she said in a raspy, expressionless voice. “Let me call someone to assist you with the stain.”

She turned away, her walk graceful but every step calculated like an assassin’s. Lam noticed a tiny detail on the back of her neck: a microscopic barcode tattoo that hadn’t been there six months ago.

CHAPTER 3: THE SUPERIOR’S SECRET MANDATE

That night, instead of hitting the primary target, Delta-6 tracked Phuong to a dilapidated apartment complex on the outskirts of the city. When Lam kicked the door down, he found himself staring down the barrel of Phuong’s gun.

“Freeze, or I’ll blow your head off,” Phuong said coldly.

“Phuong! It’s me, Lam! Delta-6!” Lam shouted, hands raised high.

Phuong froze. A violent headache seemed to seize her, making her stagger. The gun in her hand trembled. Suddenly, a deep voice crackled from a radio on the table: “Verification Code 0-7-2. Activate Awakening State.”

Phuong took a sharp breath. The icy void in her eyes vanished, replaced by her familiar sharpness. She lowered the weapon, exhaling in relief. “Damn, you guys are a week earlier than I expected.”

Lam and the team were stunned. As it turned out, Phuong’s disappearance was no accident. She had been personally summoned by the General for a top-secret assignment called “Project Mirror.” Phuong had been implanted with a chip to temporarily overwrite her personality so she could infiltrate “Snake Eye”—an organization notoriously paranoid about agents with military backgrounds. To bypass their brain scanners and polygraphs, she had to truly believe she was someone else.

“The higher-ups required me to disappear completely, even from you, to ensure absolute authenticity,” Phuong explained as she peeled off the fake skin covering the barcode. “I’ve been undercover here for 180 days, crawling from the bottom to become the boss’s bodyguard. What you’re looking for isn’t just a bio-chip; it’s a list of corrupt officials protecting this syndicate.”

CHAPTER 4: THE LIFE-AND-DEATH STRUGGLE

Just then, the building shook from a massive explosion. Snake Eye’s security had detected Delta-6’s breach.

“We’re compromised!” Minh yelled through the comms. “A battalion of mercenaries is surrounding the block!”

Phuong grabbed a sniper rifle hidden under the bed and tossed a magazine to Lam. “My mission is to protect this list at all costs. Are you guys ready for a battle that isn’t in the textbooks?”

Lam grinned, his face full of adrenaline. “Welcome back to the team, Phuong.”

The battle was suffocating in the narrow hallways of the apartment block. Phuong and Lam coordinated seamlessly as if they had never been apart. Phuong took the high ground, her shots so precise that the enemy feared to show their faces. Lam led Minh and the others in clearing the corridors.

Amidst the hail of bullets, Phuong spotted the Snake Eye leader attempting to board a helicopter on the rooftop. Without hesitation, she dove through a window, grabbed a suspension cable, and swung herself to the top floor. A spinning kick sent the boss sprawling, and the briefcase containing the secret files flew open.

By the time military reinforcements arrived, the smoke was still lingering. Phuong stood there, a streak of blood on her forehead but her eyes shining bright. She gave Lam a crisp military salute.

CHAPTER 5: THE END AND THE PROMISE

Back at the base, Phuong’s “missing” file was deleted, replaced by a First-Class Achievement Medal awarded in a closed-room ceremony. The General looked at Delta-6 with pride but sternness: “This secret must be taken to the grave. To the world, Phuong is just a nurse returning from a long medical leave.”

That evening, the team sat together at their old cafe. Phuong looked at the empty chair beside her—it was finally occupied. She smiled and pushed a glass toward Lam.

“Next time there’s a secret mission, at least leave a signal on the cameras,” Minh grumbled while munching on a sandwich.

Phuong winked. “If I left a trace, it wouldn’t be a secret mission from the superiors, would it?”

Laughter echoed through the grand mountains. The girl had returned—not from the dead, but from the shadows of silent sacrifices that only those in uniform could truly understand.