When Xiao Zong arrived at the location mentioned in the text, there was no one there.

The hotel’s glasshouse garden, located by the sea, had a stable temperature system that kept the flowers blooming even in the dead of winter.

The Chamber of Commerce event was quite the grand affair, with nearly all the major businesspeople from Country H gathered here. The hotel had been fully booked by the organizers, and Xiao Zong didn’t see many people along the way, likely because they were busy helping at the venue.

Leng’s family had good foresight in choosing to build a seven-star resort hotel here.

The glasshouse was actually a seaside bar, where the minimum spending for one table started at five figures. During the tourist season, the prices would increase further. The transparent glass walls allowed one to see the waitstaff bustling around inside, with the warm yellow lighting making the place feel cozy from the outside.

Fang Chi once sighed, “That’s the light and heat generated by burning money.”

The glasshouse was built on a cliff, more than 20 meters above sea level, offering an excellent view of the pristine, unpolluted blue ocean. During sunset, the sun cast a golden veil across the water, and the distant sky turned a shade of violet.

Due to the unique terrain and scenery, this place was called the “Federation’s Most Beautiful Sunset.”

The smooth, winding pebble path stretched ahead, but Xiao Zong didn’t move forward.

At night, the vast blue sea turned dark and turbulent, and the sound of the waves crashing against the shore was like the ceaseless roar of an abyss.

He seemed to hear the faint sound of an engine, drowned out by the howling wind and the crashing waves.

As he stood still, a waiter approached and asked, “Sir, is there anything I can help you with?”

Xiao Zong smiled and looked at him. “It’s a bit cold by the sea. Could you get me a coat?”

“Certainly, please wait a moment. If you’re cold, feel free to sit inside the glasshouse.”

The waiter took two steps toward the hotel but suddenly stopped and turned around sharply.

Xiao Zong stood there, motionless, staring at him.

The waiter hadn’t expected Xiao Zong to be this alert. The glasshouse was filled with people who had been planted there in advance, waiting to discreetly kidnap him once he entered.

But seeing that Xiao Zong wasn’t cooperating, the waiter spoke into his concealed earpiece, signaling his comrades who had been hiding near the glasshouse.

Xiao Zong stepped back slightly and quickly glanced at the surveillance camera hidden in the trees. It was clear these people were acting with impunity.

The surveillance system was probably already hacked.

His expression remained unchanged, and he even smirked sarcastically. “Are you after my money or something else?”

“Your life,” the waiter said, pulling a knife from his waist and thrusting it toward him.

Both were Alphas, but Xiao Zong clearly appeared to have lived a pampered life. Even going out at night, he was impeccably dressed, as if ready to pose for a business magazine cover shoot at any moment.

Businessmen usually prefer peaceful negotiations rather than resorting to violence. If Xiao Jingchuan were here, the waiter probably wouldn’t have even had a chance to make a move before being taken down.

There was a speedboat waiting below the cliff. Today, they had to take Xiao Zong away.

However, as the attacker got close, Xiao Zong sidestepped to the left and quickly grabbed the waiter’s wrist, twisting it sharply!

The waiter felt a sharp pain in his wrist, followed by the sickening sound of bone cracking. In the next moment, his abdomen was struck by Xiao Zong’s knee with unimaginable force, causing him to double over. The knife in his hand was already in Xiao Zong’s possession.

The cold wind carried the woody scent of alpine spruce into the distant night.

The whole encounter happened so quickly that the other assailants hadn’t even reached him before the fight was over.

The waiter had been scouting the area, intending to lure Xiao Zong into the glasshouse if he noticed anything suspicious.

Xiao Zong had been kidnapped during his school days and had injured his ribs. He had started learning martial arts during rehabilitation. As an Alpha, he already had a natural physical advantage, and his family had produced two high-ranking military officers.

He pulled out his phone to call the police, only to find that it had been disabled.

This area was a bit distant from the hotel’s main building, and the ambushers were rushing at him one after another. Xiao Zong noticed they were carrying stun guns, and his expression turned cold.

Eight years ago, while waiting for his boyfriend at the space station, a group had used stun guns to knock him unconscious and kidnap him.

The scar from that incident still remained on his shoulder blade, and Uncle Lu had asked him several times if he wanted to have it removed. Xiao Zong had refused each time.

Some lessons should stay with you for life.

A brawl broke out in the darkness. Xiao Zong, usually composed and refined, fought with a brutal ferocity, his attacks as swift and fierce as lightning.

In a flash, he grabbed one attacker by the arm and threw him over his shoulder, slamming him to the ground. He followed it up with a punch to the temple. The man didn’t even have time to scream before coughing up blood and losing consciousness.

Although Xiao Zong fought well, he was outnumbered. In the chaos, he was hit by stun guns several times, but thanks to his thick winter clothing and his efforts to protect his head and neck, his attackers hadn’t managed to subdue him completely.

However, Xiao Zong soon realized something was wrong: none of these disguised hotel staff seemed to be the leader of this operation.

Was the leader on the speedboat? Or—

“You…”

His words were cut short as something cold and hard pressed against the back of his head.

It was a gun.

“Stop playing these childish games,” a raspy voice said from behind him, as cold as a snake’s breath. The words were directed at the attackers. “Someone noticed us. Let’s move quickly.”

Xiao Zong’s pupils shrank.

He had heard this voice before but couldn’t place it at the moment.

As a prominent social figure, Xiao Zong met thousands of people each year. A voice this distinct should have been memorable, yet in this life-threatening moment, with a gun to his head, his mind froze.

“We want to discuss a business deal with Old Master Xiao. Second Young Master, please come with us.”

Xiao Zong slowly raised his hands and calmly said, “I’m in charge of the Xiao family now. Why not speak directly to me?”

“Don’t stall for time,” the professional killer’s sharp instincts were far superior to those of the lackeys. He let out a short laugh, unfazed. “We can talk when we reach our destination.”

Xiao Zong understood.

They weren’t going to kill him right away.

As long as they had demands, there was room for negotiation.

But if he went with them, there would be no negotiating.

“Click.”

Xiao Zong heard the sound of a bullet being chambered. His nerves tensed like a drawn bowstring. The gunman didn’t give him time to think and pressed the gun harder against his head. “Move.”

The attackers cleared a path, and Xiao Zong led the way.

Just then, the hotel’s air raid siren suddenly blared, and all the lights began flashing red in alternating patterns!

Amidst the deafening alarm, the attackers were momentarily blinded by the flashing red light. Then, without warning, the garden’s automatic sprinklers hissed to life, rapidly rotating and spraying water everywhere.

If time had frozen at that moment, it would have shown three events happening simultaneously.

Xiao Zong twisted around, grabbed the gun, and with a swift sweep of his leg, knocked his assailant off balance. The attacker reacted quickly, locking his arm around Xiao Zong’s neck, and the two of them tumbled down the slope, rolling together!

Xiao Zong thought he heard someone curse, “Damn it! What’s going on? Did the central control system break?”

But the voice quickly faded as they rolled faster and faster down the slope.

“Bang! Bang! Bang!”

As they rolled, the small gun fired several times, and a stray bullet shattered a surveillance camera high above.

The 20-30 meter slope was covered in decorative shrubs and dry winter branches. The combined weight of the two Alphas, exceeding 300 pounds, sent dust and broken branches flying as they rolled down. Their bodies, arms, and necks were scratched, and Xiao Zong’s back slammed into a large rock, finally bringing them to a stop.

Cold air rushed into his lungs, and his white shirt was stained with shocking streaks of blood. His throat was filled with the metallic taste of blood, and he could barely feel the pain anymore.

The piercing alarm filled his ears, and his dark eyes reflected the fiery red light. The abyssal waves swallowed him again, dragging him back into the sea of flames.

One was a pampered young master, the other a trained killer. The difference in their combat abilities was vast. The killer discarded the now-empty gun and pulled out a Swiss army knife, lunging at Xiao Zong.

With his back pressed against the rock, Xiao Zong kicked him away with all his strength and then turned to run.

The assailant staggered back a few steps before regaining his balance. He looked around and realized they had rolled near the hotel parking lot. The flashing red alarm lights made it difficult to see clearly.

But he quickly realized where Xiao Zong had gone.

The headlights flicked on, the engine roared to life, and a black military vehicle reversed out of the garage and came straight at them!

“Yuan, watch out!” someone shouted from the pursuing group.

Shen Yuan jumped back, only to collide with another car, watching as Xiao Zong sped off in the vehicle.

“Damn, Xiao Zong, that lunatic.” He spat and said, “I’ll kill whoever messed with the central control system!”

“Everyone, hurry and give chase!”

The mountain road at night was winding like a snake, and all the streetlights had gone out.

Xiao Zong drove fast, leaving the sound of the alarms far behind. The hotel was full of people, but these attackers were after him, and he couldn’t leave the danger behind for them to deal with.

The nearest town was forty minutes away from the seaside. With all the commotion at Fu Hua Hotel, someone must have called the police by now, right?

He had just rounded an S-curve when the headlights of three vehicles appeared in his rearview mirror.

Xiao Zong had hit his head during the fall, and his vision was blurry. He gripped the steering wheel, blood from his injured arm trickling down and dripping onto his leg.

His heart raced, driven by a surge of adrenaline.

Suddenly, the dim interior of the car was illuminated by a glowing light—his phone, which he had thrown onto the passenger seat.

A masked face appeared on the screen.

“Damn it, they hacked my phone,” Xiao Zong cursed under his breath.

“Second Young Master Xiao, we’re here to discuss a business partnership with the Xiao family.” This time, the voice was robotic, free of the previous static, and it sounded eerily calm in the quiet car.

Xiao Zong sneered coldly, “I can feel your sincerity.”

To hell with your sincerity.

“Zing—!”

A bullet whizzed through the air, striking the ground and creating a series of sparks across the road.

The military vehicle swerved to the left, its right wheels briefly lifting off the ground before slamming back down, causing the entire car to jolt.

At high speeds, even the slightest mistake could lead to a rollover.

“We’ve crossed paths before at LAVCA,” the voice said.

LAVCA was a casino in Country A. The first person that flashed through Xiao Zong’s mind was the blonde young man.

“Money laundering?” Xiao Zong scoffed. “I don’t do business with scum.”

The voice continued, “Haven’t you always been investigating how Xiao Sinian died?”

Xiao Zong’s lips pressed into a hard line.

“They told you it was a drunken, reckless, hot-headed race, didn’t they? Oh wait, no—they told the entire Federation that.”

“We’re mere specks of dust in the vast expanse of the universe, while the real predators wear masks of righteousness. What you’re doing right now? You’re helping the wolves.”

The shadows of trees flickered past the car window like ghosts. The voice seemed to toy with him, and as Xiao Zong drove past, two rows of street lights flickered on, only to shut off one by one behind him.

Another bullet shot out, causing the car to shake even more violently than before.

It was a show of power—as if to say, no matter where you run, you’re still under my control.

“Zing—!”

The third bullet finally hit the rear tire. If the car hadn’t been modified, it would have lost control and crashed into the mountainside by now.

Modified…

The red alarm lights from the hotel had lit up half the night sky, and Xiao Zong’s vision grew more and more blurry.

“Do you know why my grandfather was able to work until he was almost ninety?”

The off-road vehicle suddenly made a 180-degree turn in the middle of the road.

The interior of the car fell silent.

“Because he never meddled in things that weren’t his business.”

Shifting gears and accelerating in one smooth motion.

The modified off-road vehicle had unparalleled acceleration capabilities. It could go from 0 to 180 kilometers per hour in just 0.12 seconds. Before the pursuers could react, Xiao Zong’s vehicle shot toward them like a missile!

—Boom!

The entire mountain forest shook with a tremendous explosion, and a flock of birds was startled into the sky, swirling into a dark cloud.

The billowing smoke on the mountain road took more than ten minutes to dissipate, and the air was filled with the acrid smell of burnt metal.

Xiao Zong had slammed into the airbag, and it took several minutes before he gradually regained consciousness.

Did it work?

His ears were ringing, and it felt like the blood in his chest was surging upward. He struggled to undo his seatbelt, opened the car door, and nearly collapsed as his feet hit the ground.

This new alloy-modified car was really tough… He should definitely assign one to each company executive when he got back.

Thinking about the company even now—he was definitely more dedicated than Assistant Wei.

Just as Xiao Zong steadied himself and looked up, he saw someone standing in front of the overturned car across from him.

The man was severely injured, having regained consciousness not much earlier than Xiao Zong, but that was enough—

The man murmured something into his walkie-talkie, then slowly raised his gun at Xiao Zong.

The air grew tense, the red warning lights flashing rapidly.

“Bang!”

A line of blood spurted out, and Xiao Zong watched as the man collapsed in front of him.

The world suddenly went silent.

It was a long time before he could hear his own heavy breathing and racing heartbeat again.

The trees rustled as their branches were whipped by the gusts created by helicopter rotors. Several helicopters flew over the mountaintop, their searchlights scanning the chaotic scene on the road below.

Xiao Zong squinted against the blinding light.

“Cousin!” someone shouted from one of the helicopters. As soon as they saw the man leaning against the car door, they grabbed a loudspeaker and yelled, “Cousin, it’s me, Fang Chi! Are you alright?!”

Do I look alright?

Xiao Zong didn’t even have the strength to speak.

“This is too much, too much! You’re playing with your life!”

Fang Chi was pacing in circles on the road, both angry and anxious.

Of the three cars chasing them, two had been knocked off the cliff, and the other had flipped over on the road. Xiao Zong’s windshield was completely shattered, and the front of the car was totaled.

The bandits in the car at the bottom of the cliff were all dead. In the other car, one was dead, one was injured, and one had escaped.

A security perimeter had been set up around Fu Hua Hotel for several kilometers.

“Don’t worry, the lawyer is on the way. I’ve asked around, and with your tire shot out, the car was at serious risk of losing balance. If you had kept driving, you would’ve ended up flipping anyway. They were clearly out to get you. The car had a sniper rifle, tranquilizers, and truth serum. This counts as self-defense.”

He added, “The military district is sending people too. You won’t have to worry about the aftermath.”

Xiao Zong’s wounds had been treated, and he was sitting on the side of the road. He asked the staff for a cigarette and lit one up.

“How did you find me?”

“The hotel’s central control system was forcibly hacked, which automatically triggered the alarm system,” Fang Chi said, standing a few meters away, one hand on his hip and the other rubbing his forehead. “You probably don’t know yet, but the entire Federation’s network was hacked tonight. It’s still being restored bit by bit!”

“It’s already been classified as a terrorist attack by the government. The economic damage hasn’t even been calculated yet.”

Xiao Zong sat there in a daze, his mind replaying the scene of the person being shot in front of him.

“Who fired the shot just now?” Xiao Zong asked in surprise.

“A shot? Who fired a shot? Wasn’t it you?” Fang Chi replied, shocked.

Xiao Zong thought, If I had a gun, why would I have run? But before he could respond, they were interrupted by a commotion nearby.

A police officer had just received a call from his colleague and was urgently speaking into his phone, “What’s going on? How did the hotel have a gas leak explosion? Were there any casualties?”