227: Chapter 228 A Hidden Trap Across the Blockade: A Series of Overt and Covert Schemes to Kill and Destroy the Spirit

Secretary Shen Hai strode over the high threshold of the Shen Family's ancestral home, his leather shoes striking the bluestone slabs with a rapid, dull thud.

Before he had even fully entered the main house, he could keenly sense a stifling, low-pressure atmosphere hanging over the entire ancestral home.

The guards in the courtyard stood ramrod straight, not daring to even breathe loudly.

The rosewood grandmaster chair in the center of the main house, which always belonged to the Old Master, was empty.

The Old Master of the Shen Family, who had weathered countless storms and remained unflappable even if Mount Tai collapsed before him.

Was, for a rare moment, leaning on his dragon-headed cane, pacing back and forth in the hall.

The tip of the cane struck the expensive gold-brick floor with heavy, repetitive thuds.

The "thud, thud" sound betrayed an agitation that could not be concealed.

Secretary Shen Hai stopped outside the threshold, took a deep breath, and a flash of grave darkness flickered in his eyes.

Seeing the Old Master in such a state of agitation, he understood the reason better than anyone.

If Shen Du had only caused trouble within the country, as long as the boy didn't touch the high-voltage lines of murder or arson.

With the heaven-reaching influence the Old Master held, even without a word, countless people below would be lining up to clean up the mess completely.

But as it happened, Shen Du had never touched any crooked paths all these years; he was so clean that it almost felt rigid.

Yet, once he finally acted, it was a shocker.

This incident had directly brought down a cross-ocean sanction order from the US Department of Commerce!

It wasn't just China's Ministry of State Security taking action; it even involved a joint operation with the United States FBI.

This earth-shattering bombshell was completely beyond the scope of conventional rescue operations.

It directly touched upon the most sensitive and difficult-to-reach blind spot of international diplomacy for the Shen Family's power!

Secretary Shen Hai rubbed his face hard, suppressed the turmoil in his heart, and bit the bullet as he stepped into the main house.

Just as Secretary Shen Hai stepped into the main house and before he could speak.

A piercing screech of tires suddenly echoed from the alley entrance outside the ancestral home's outer wall.

An old taxi, covered in mud and bearing a Zhejiang license plate.

Came to an abrupt and jarring halt outside the gates of this heavily guarded restricted area.

The car door was pushed open.

A woman dressed in simple clothes, with a face weathered by the elements, stepped out quickly.

Even though time and labor had left deep marks on her.

The coldness and composure carved into her bones remained undiminished in her every gesture.

Ignoring the hidden surveillance cameras around her, she walked straight toward the heavy, vermilion-painted gate of the ancestral home.

"Halt!"

The armed guards at the gate instantly became alert.

Two guards lunged forward, their arms barring the woman's path like iron rods, their eyes sharp, and their tone extremely severe as they barked:

"Who are you?! This is a classified restricted area, no unauthorized entry allowed. Retreat immediately!"

Facing the guns mere inches away and the threatening shouts, the woman didn't even blink.

Not only did she not retreat in fear.

Instead, meeting the guards' gaze, she spoke in a tone as flat as if she were stating a simple, obvious fact:

"This is my home."

Looking at the vermilion gate, the woman's voice held no fluctuations of emotion:

"It's just been many years since I last returned."

Just as the tension outside the gate reached a breaking point and the guards were preparing to use force to remove her.

The security captain inside the courtyard, who was preparing to rotate shifts.

That is, Uncle Wang, the former adjutant who had followed the Old Master through life and death, happened to pass by the spirit wall.

He turned his head subconsciously, his gaze passing over the guards' shoulders and landing on the woman's face.

Uncle Wang's stern face, which had weathered countless storms, twitched violently for an instant.

The vigilance in his eyes was completely shattered by a look of utter disbelief.

"Stop! Let her through!"

Uncle Wang raised his arm abruptly, his voice cracking slightly with emotion.

He immediately ordered the two guards, who were on high alert, to stand down.

He rushed out of the gate in a few strides and grabbed the woman's hands tightly.

This iron-willed man, who had never even frowned in a hail of bullets, now spoke with an uncontrollable tremor in his voice:

"Wang Hanmei... it's been over twenty years, you've finally returned. You have suffered so much out there all these years!"

Facing the old elder who had watched her grow up, Wang Hanmei's originally cold face finally melted into a gentle smile.

"Uncle Wang."

She patted the back of Uncle Wang's rough hand, her tone gentle yet extremely firm:

"Seeing that you are still so robust and healthy, my heart is at ease."

The two did not exchange any unnecessary pleasantries or reminiscing.

Wang Hanmei let go, her gaze passing over Uncle Wang's shoulder and fixed straight on the brightly lit main house deep in the courtyard.

Then, without any hesitation.

She stepped on the familiar bluestone slabs and strode into the deep mansion she had been away from for twenty whole years.

The moment Wang Hanmei stepped over the high threshold of the main house.

Standing in the center of the hall.

The Old Master and Secretary Shen Hai, who were standing in the center of the hall with grave expressions preparing to discuss countermeasures, caught sight of that familiar figure simultaneously.

Their movements seemed to have been hit with a pause button, and their eyelids could not stop twitching violently.

However.

There were no teary-eyed scenes of a twenty-year reunion, nor any of the sentimental exchanges one might expect.

"Secretary Shen Hai! How are you handling your security protocols?!"

The Old Master slammed his dragon-headed cane onto the gold bricks, erupting in a deafening, sharp rebuke.

His breathing grew heavy:

"A cross-border joint arrest of that level in Shanghai, the news was suppressed tightly by the higher-ups!"

"How could such a top-secret matter reach the ears of Wang Hanmei, who is far away in the deep mountains of Zhejiang, so precisely and in such a short time?!"

Facing the Old Master's thunderous rage.

Secretary Shen Hai gritted his teeth, not uttering a single word of rebuttal.

A layer of cold sweat instantly seeped onto his back, and a storm raged in his mind.

A dangerous chain of logic became crystal clear in the blink of an eye.

This was not just a cross-border sanction initiated by the US Department of Commerce!

Hostile forces within the country had already seized this critical moment to strike in the shadows!

The opponent had deliberately bypassed all information blockades and precisely delivered the news of Shen Du's arrest to Wang Hanmei.

It was to use the Shen Family's instinctive protective love for their kin as a lethal bargaining chip.

Forcing the Shen Family to voluntarily enter this murky international water!

Secretary Shen Hai forcibly suppressed the chill rising from his heart due to the shock.

He took a deep breath, stepped forward, and opened his arms, attempting to give his own sister, who had been away for twenty years and had suffered so much, a hug:

"Wang Hanmei, it's been so many years, you've suffered..."

However, Wang Hanmei did not buy it at all.

She raised her hand sharply and pushed Secretary Shen Hai's arm away without mercy.

Then, under the gaze of Secretary Shen Hai's violently contracting pupils, Wang Hanmei, without any warning, felt her knees give way.

With a dull "thud" sound.

She knelt straight down in front of the rosewood grandmaster chair.

Wang Hanmei kept her back straight and lifted her head.

Those eyes, weathered by the elements, stared fixedly at the Old Master in the chair, throwing out the most desperate trump card in her hand.

"In my life, I have never bowed my head to ask you for anything."

Wang Hanmei's voice was not loud, but every word was dripping with blood, carrying a determination that bordered on mutual destruction:

"This is the last time I will beg you. Save your grandson, save my only son!"

This kneeling was like a poisoned blade, ruthlessly slicing open the Shen Family's most fatal weakness.

Standing to the side, Secretary Shen Hai closed his eyes in pain.

He knew all too well how vicious the interlocking schemes behind this were.

Shen Du was currently in the embassy, and in reality, there was no threat to his life.

This was, in itself, an unsolvable meat grinder custom-made for the Shen Family!

If the Shen Family were forced to use their highest authority to forcibly intervene and get him out right now.

It would be equivalent to actively confirming Shen Du's sensitive red background under the global spotlight.

Exploding such a bombshell at the critical juncture of international patent arbitration would instantly trigger an uncontrollable public opinion tsunami.

It would be falling completely into the dead-end trap dug by hostile domestic forces!

But if they didn't save him...

Secretary Shen Hai opened his eyes and looked at the Old Master sitting on the grandmaster chair.

Looking at his own daughter kneeling on the ground, this old man who had spent his life in the military gripped the dragon-headed cane tightly with both hands.

The veins on the back of his hands bulged, and even the muscles in his jaw were trembling uncontrollably.

To advance is to fall into the enemy's vicious, soul-crushing interlocking scheme.

To retreat is to watch his own flesh and blood remain imprisoned, a lifelong regret.

At this moment, this powerful old man had been pushed onto the fire by this lethal, open scheme, caught in a dilemma with no way out!