Chapter Two

As the rain subsided, I carried Elena into the armored car.

When I saw her again five years later, she looked utterly disheveled. I gently stroked her hair, and she didn't say a word, but gripped my arm tightly.

I looked at my adjutant: "Let's go back."

Through the car window, I saw Miller scramble and crawl into the bulletproof Ford. I didn't stop him from escaping; that was his only value—as a living camera, to bring the news of my return back to the Vientiane Building, thus inducing Julian to activate the conglomerate's top-level logistics security.

Once he activates the protection, his previously airtight core database will expose the physical interface connecting to the entire Gray Harbor logistics network during the synchronization process.

I took off my mud-splattered gloves and climbed into the command vehicle. Inside, the faint hum of electronic components replaced the sound of rain outside the window.

"Commander Long, the locator under Miller's car has been activated." The adjutant's voice was exceptionally clear in the enclosed car. "Julian's private task force is gathering on the outskirts of the industrial zone, but instead of pursuing them, he has chosen to tighten his defenses across the board and raise the security level of the headquarters building to the highest level."

“He’s waiting for me.” I stared at the dense blue defense lines on the tactical terminal, my fingertip tracing a precise path on the touchscreen. “He thinks that as long as he retreats into the fortress of the Vientiane Building, he can isolate me with those outdated firewalls.”

I didn't hunt down Miller. That kind of low-level slaughter of scapegoats in the stronghold would only alert a predator of Julian's caliber. What I wanted was to strip him of all credibility as a member of the tycoon class from the very core of his being.

"Broadcast a logistics announcement to the outside world." I issued the order extremely quickly, without the slightest hesitation. "Through public channels, send an 'asset liquidation list' to all multinational trading companies that cooperate with the Vance Consortium. Tell them that the Vance Consortium's core logistics warehouse will cease all data interaction for the next thirty minutes due to an unknown procedural glitch."

"This is forcing him to disconnect from the internet to protect himself." The adjutant glanced at the screen, which was Julian's core logistics hub. The previously stable traffic curve was now twitching violently like an electrocardiogram.

“He will not only cut off the internet, but he will also completely expose his money laundering path that he has been hiding for five years in order to protect this data.” I pressed the Enter key, and an invisible tactical wave instantly covered the entire financial back office of the gray port.

The view inside the building was clearly displayed on the vehicle's screen.

Julian Vance rushed into that all-too-familiar office on the top floor. He sprinted to the screen, staring intently at every inch of the code. He didn't need to monitor the screen, because at that moment, he knew better than anyone else—his prized conglomerate logistics was being reduced to a piece of rotten flesh, to be arbitrarily cut and shredded by him.

That broken wine glass represented the complete collapse of the "absolute control" he had established five years ago when he plundered my family. It was fear, but more than that, it was a dizzying fall from the pinnacle of civilization into the mire.

I leaned back in my chair, gazing at the skyscraper in the distance that stood like a black tower in the night. It still looked unshakeable, but in my eyes, it was already an empty shell leaking from all sides.

“Three hours,” I whispered to my adjutant. “In three hours, not only the Red Light Industrial Zone, but the entire commercial credit system of the Grey Harbor will be strangled.”

I didn't mention Miller again, nor did I mention the message from the cemetery. Because for Julian, when his logistics assets were truly wiped out, when all his trading partners knew his true hand at that moment, he wouldn't just go to the cemetery; he would find himself already in a tomb he had built himself.

The rain started again, but I didn't feel cold. This was the most satisfying part of revenge: silent yet enough to suffocate him.