Undercurrents

The next day.

Less than twenty hours remained before Lin Tian launched his operation.

An invisible tension permeated the air of Jinling.

Ordinary people couldn't detect it.

But those standing at the center of the storm could already smell the gunpowder.

At ten o'clock in the morning.

Shen Fei left the house.

His destination was the Shen Group headquarters for a routine board meeting.

The black Maybach drove out of the villa gates and merged into Jinling's traffic.

Ling Xue sat in the passenger seat, while Ling Shuang stayed behind to guard the villa today.

Less than two kilometers into the drive, Ling Xue's gaze locked onto the rearview mirror.

"Young Master, we have a tail."

Shen Fei leaned back in the rear seat, not even batting an eyelid.

"How many?"

"Two cars. A black Buick minivan and a dark gray Toyota. They've been following us for three intersections, and their lane-changing rhythm is perfectly synced with ours."

"Professionals."

"Yes. Military-grade tracking techniques. A front-and-back pincer formation, maintaining a fixed distance, using cover vehicles to block lines of sight during lane changes."

Ling Xue's tone was calm, but a hint of excitement flashed in her eyes.

She was born for combat.

The greater the danger, the more thrilled she became.

"Are they from the Dragon King Palace?"

"Eighty percent sure. This kind of tracking technique doesn't exist in the civilian world. It's obvious they've received special ops training."

Shen Fei nodded.

"Don't shake them off."

Ling Xue paused for a moment.

"We're not shaking them?"

"Let them follow. But find a way to reverse-track and lock onto their communication frequencies."

Ling Xue understood instantly.

The Young Master was never one to take a beating passively.

He wanted to use their own momentum against them.

Let the enemy track him, while he stole their intelligence in return.

"Understood."

While driving, Ling Xue reached under the center console and pulled out a black device the size of a palm.

This was a military-grade signal interceptor that Shen Fei had specially acquired a couple of days ago.

Paired with Shen Fei's god-tier hacking skills, it could lock onto and decrypt all surrounding wireless communication signals in a very short time.

Ling Xue turned on the device and placed it on her lap.

A massive amount of signal data began scrolling across the screen.

In a major city like Jinling, wireless signals were as numerous as hairs on an ox.

Cell phone signals, WiFi signals, Bluetooth signals, walkie-talkie signals—they were densely packed.

But Ling Xue didn't need to filter them one by one.

She only needed to pay attention to signals with unusually high encryption levels.

Ordinary civilian cell phone communications used standard carrier encryption.

But military-grade encrypted communications used entirely different protocols.

Higher frequencies, faster frequency hopping, and deeper encryption layers.

Amidst a pile of ordinary signals, it was like a black cat in a nightsuit standing among a flock of white doves.

Hidden, but not impossible to find.

Sure enough.

Three minutes later, the signal interceptor locked onto two abnormal frequency bands.

Source direction: directly behind them.

It perfectly matched the locations of the two trailing vehicles.

"Locked on. Two encrypted communication bands, recording now."

Ling Xue handed the device to Shen Fei in the back seat.

Shen Fei took it and connected it to his laptop.

His fingers fell onto the keyboard.

He began decrypting.

God-tier hacking skills in this scenario were simply an overwhelming, dimensional strike.

The encryption protocol used by the Dragon King Palace was indeed military-grade; an ordinary hacker might take days to crack it.

But for Shen Fei, it took less than two minutes.

The encryption layers were peeled back one by one.

The communication content appeared on the screen as plain text.

Shen Fei began to read.

The first communication.

"White Tiger calling Vermilion Bird. Target vehicle has left the villa area and is heading towards the city center along Changjiang Road. There is a female bodyguard in the passenger seat, confirmed to be one of the twins. The other bodyguard is not accompanying him and is likely guarding the villa."

"Vermilion Bird copies. Continue tracking, maintain a two-hundred-meter distance, do not break cover."

The second communication.

"White Tiger calling Black Tortoise. What is the status of the perimeter reconnaissance around the villa area?"

"Black Tortoise reporting. There are three surveillance blind spots on the east wall of the villa. The north side near the woods can be used as a breach point. There are at least four hidden guards inside the villa, with shift changes roughly every three hours."

"Copy that. Mark the topographical map and send it to the command channel."

The third communication.

This communication had the largest data volume.

It was a file sent by Vermilion Bird to the shared channel of the Four Heavenly Kings.

Shen Fei opened it.

His eyes narrowed slightly.

File Title: [Operation Dragon Slayer — Troop Deployment Plan]

The contents were extremely detailed.

Attack route maps.

Troop allocation tables.

Firepower configuration lists.

Breach points and retreat routes.

Communication codes and emergency contingencies.

It was even precise down to the specific tasks and time nodes of every single squad.

Shen Fei quickly skimmed through it.

Two thousand men divided into four battalions.

Five hundred men per battalion.

Led respectively by Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, and Black Tortoise.

They would simultaneously encircle the Shen family villa from the east, south, west, and north.

The main axis of attack was the woods on the north side.

There were surveillance blind spots there, and the complex terrain was conducive to a concealed approach.

The secondary attack directions were the east and west sides.

Snipers would be deployed on the south side to block any retreat.

The Four Heavenly Kings would personally serve as the assault team leaders for each direction.

Lin Tian himself would not participate in the initial assault; he would wait until the perimeter was cleared before personally entering the villa to "reap the harvest."

Operation launch time: 2:00 AM tonight.

The sheer professionalism of the entire plan made Shen Fei raise an eyebrow slightly.

As expected of the commander of a hundred thousand military veterans.

This combat plan would not look out of place in the staff headquarters of a regular army.

If Shen Fei were just an ordinary rich heir, facing this level of military strike would basically be a dead end.

Fortunately, he was not.

Shen Fei saved the entire plan.

Then he continued scrolling down.

In the file package sent by Vermilion Bird, he found something even more valuable.

A roster.

The complete personnel roster of the Dragon King Palace within the country.

Not the overseas one from before.

It was the domestic one.

All the Dragon King Palace members lurking within the country, including military veterans, intelligence personnel, logistics staff, and financial white gloves.

A total of 12,371 people.

Everyone's name, original military unit designation, retirement date, current address, contact information, and their position and rank within the Dragon King Palace.

All were listed.

Vermilion Bird had shared this roster to the command channel to make it easier for the Four Heavenly Kings to deploy manpower during the operation.

But he never imagined that this channel had already been intercepted by Shen Fei.

His every move was under Shen Fei's watchful eyes.

Shen Fei looked at the densely packed names on the screen.

12,371 people.

Added to the ones taken down overseas, more than half of the Dragon King Palace's hundred-thousand-strong system was now exposed before him.

But the most important thing today wasn't those peripheral members.

It was these two thousand elites who were about to launch an attack tonight.

As well as their complete combat plan.

Attack routes, firepower configurations, time nodes, communication codes.

He had obtained it all.

Shen Fei saved the roster as well.

He made two copies.

One saved to a local encrypted hard drive.

One uploaded to an encrypted overseas cloud server.

Having done all this, he closed his laptop.

He leaned back against the seat.

"Ling Xue, are those two cars still following?"

"Still following. Very persistently."

The corners of Shen Fei's mouth twitched slightly.

"Let them follow. They won't make a move during the day."

"The real show begins tonight."

Ling Xue glanced at Shen Fei through the rearview mirror.

"Young Master, did you get all their battle plans?"

"Yes."

"Then about tonight..."

"You and Ling Shuang don't need to worry too much about tonight. You only need to do one thing."

"What is it?"

"Protect Lin Ruobing and Su Qingxue. Leave the rest to the professionals."

Ling Xue froze for a moment.

Professionals?

More professional than her and Ling Shuang?

She wanted to ask who they were, but seeing Shen Fei close his eyes, she swallowed the question.

The Maybach continued down the streets of Jinling.

The two cars behind them followed at a steady distance.

Like two loyal guide dogs.

They were blissfully unaware that their proud encrypted communications had been completely stripped bare and exposed over the past ten minutes.

...

3:00 PM.

Shen Fei returned to his villa from the Shen Group headquarters.

The tails behind him stopped at the perimeter of the villa district, no longer following.

They had completed their tracking mission for the day.

Shen Fei entered the study and locked the door.

He turned on his computer and sorted and filed all the intelligence intercepted today.

Then, he did three things.

First.

He packaged the complete domestic roster of the Dragon King Palace and the plan for Operation Dragon Slaying, and sent it to his uncle.

He attached a single message:

"At 2:00 AM tonight, the enemy will surround my house from four directions. Two thousand men, four Grandmaster-level commanders. See the attachment for the detailed plan."

The reply came quickly.

"Received. You don't need to do anything. Sleep peacefully tonight. Your uncle guarantees your absolute safety."

Second.

He sent a message to Ling Shuang.

"Is Lin Ruobing arranged for?"

"All set. Under the guise of signing a cooperation agreement, she will arrive at the villa at 7:00 PM. I've already had the butler prepare a guest room."

"Good. Once she arrives, don't let her leave. It won't be safe outside tonight."

"Understood."

Then, Shen Fei opened the system panel.

He glanced at Lin Tian's real-time data.

[Child of Fortune Lin Tian's Current Status: Highly tense, abnormally high adrenaline levels, rapid heart rate. Currently conducting final pre-battle deployments at the Dragon King Palace stronghold.]

[Dragon King Palace Domestic Assembly Progress: 92%]

[Number of Elites Arrived in Jinling: 1847. The remaining 153 are expected to arrive before 8:00 PM tonight.]

[Countdown to Operation Dragon Slaying: Approx. 11 hours]

[Lin Tian's Current Fortune Value: 9600]

After reading, Shen Fei closed the panel.

He stood up and walked to the window.

The sun was still out, but it had already begun to set in the west.

In a few hours, the sun would go down.

Night would fall.

And then the storm would come.

Two thousand elites.

Four Heavenly Kings.

Asura Dragon King.

All forces deployed at once.

This was Lin Tian's desperate gamble.

And his final act of madness.

Shen Fei watched the gradually setting sun outside the window.

He was so calm that he didn't look like someone about to face a siege.

Because he knew something Lin Tian didn't.

Lin Tian thought he was launching a surprise attack.

In reality, he was walking right into a trap.

A trap where all his deployments, routes, and secret signals were known in advance.

His two thousand men were already sitting ducks before they even set off.

Shen Fei turned around and walked out of the study.

He went downstairs.

Su Qingxue was reading a book in the living room.

"What do you want to eat tonight?"

Shen Fei sat down opposite her.

Su Qingxue put down her book and thought for a moment.

"You decide."

"Hotpot then."

"Okay."

Su Qingxue stood up to go prepare the ingredients.

Shen Fei sat on the sofa and picked up the book Su Qingxue had just put down.

He flipped through a couple of pages.

It was a mystery novel.

He glanced at the title on the cover.

"The Perfect Crime."

Shen Fei smiled.

He placed the book back on the coffee table.

The sun outside the window dipped a little lower.

The countdown continued.

In eleven hours.

Jinling would welcome a very long night.