506: Chapter 51 The Lament of the Distant Mountains

“Or, find a place and burn it.”

Shen Yan’s words, devoid of any warmth, echoed in his ears.

The firelight flickered across Zhang Jufeng’s face, casting shadows that shifted constantly.

He stared at the ashes that carried both hatred and hope, yet felt no sense of relief.

Instead, he felt a deeper, more dominating fear.

He was no longer the player.

He wasn't even a piece on the board.

He was merely the person responsible for placing the pieces onto the board.

The one truly playing the game was the young man sitting in the abyss, looking down upon all living beings.

By burning away the past, Zhang Jufeng felt like he, too, had become an empty shell.

He didn't know what to do.

It wasn't until three days later that his phone received an encrypted text message.

There was no sender number.

Only an address, a time, and a cloud drive link.

Inside the link were scanned copies of several processed documents, with all information sources pointing to his master removed, leaving only the most direct and fatal evidence.

That was the fund flow pointing to Wang Zhenting, the person in charge of the acquisition case within the Jiangnan Group.

As well as the email correspondence records between Deputy Manager Zhao Guang—that internal mole—and Wang Zhenting.

At the end of the text message, there was one more line.

“Vultures like to eat carrion.”

Zhang Jufeng’s pupils constricted.

Vulture, Li Ke.

The most famous, and most reckless, investigative reporter in the finance world.

He specialized in targeting commercial giants, making a living by exposing dark secrets, earning the deep-seated hatred of countless large corporations.

Shen Yan had calculated even this step.

He had even chosen the target for the 'leak' on Zhang Jufeng's behalf.

Following the instructions, Zhang Jufeng logged into that cloud drive using a brand-new computer in a secluded internet cafe.

He downloaded the files and then sent them via an anonymous email to Li Ke’s public exposé mailbox.

There was not a single sentence in the body of the email.

Only a few cold attachments.

Send.

Delete all traces.

Format the hard drive.

Throw the computer tower into a river dozens of kilometers away.

He executed every step with extreme caution, as if a pair of eyes were watching his every move from behind.

After finishing everything, he returned to his cramped rental room.

And waited.

Like a prisoner awaiting judgment.

Waiting to see what kind of bloody storm the knife he personally handed over would stir up.

One week.

A full week passed in calm silence.

Zhang Jufeng almost thought that the reporter named Li Ke had dismissed his email as junk.

Or perhaps the power of the Jiangnan Group was so immense that even the 'Vulture' dared not provoke them.

He began to grow restless and suffered from insomnia.

Just as he was about to despair,

The storm arrived.

A deep-dive report titled, 'The Lament of Yuanshan: Who is Gnawing on the Bones of a Hero?', suddenly appeared in a major financial weekly.

Li Ke used his sharpest pen, not directly naming the Jiangnan Group.

But by skillfully linking old incidents one by one, he pointed the spearhead toward a commercial titan who had 'low-priced acquired a meritorious enterprise, leading to its founder's death by depression.'

The report included screenshots of those few key pieces of evidence.

Although the crucial information was blurred out, industry insiders could tell immediately.

One stone stirred up a thousand ripples.

Within three hours of its release, the article was reposted across the entire network.

The topic 'The Truth Behind Yuanshan Heavy Industry's Bankruptcy' surged to the top of the trending searches.

Countless former Employees of Yuanshan Heavy Industry spoke out one after another.

They recounted the painstaking efforts of Old Master Li Chongshan in those years.

They described the rapid decline of the company after the acquisition.

They shared the tragic experiences of them, the old workers.

Public indignation flared up.

The torrent of public opinion instantly converged into a tsunami, sweeping overwhelmingly toward the Jiangnan Group.

The stock price of the Jiangnan Group plummeted in response.

Within one hour of opening, it dropped by seven percent.

Billions in market value evaporated into thin air.

Zhang Jufeng sat in front of his computer, watching the rapidly falling green line, watching the angry denunciations online.

His hands were trembling slightly.

This was the first and second steps Shen Yan had mentioned.

【Infiltrate internally, plant evidence.】

【Create public opinion, sow seeds of doubt.】

It was too fast.

So fast that it felt unreal to him.

The revenge he had planned for so many years, exhausting every method, had only been like striking a rock with an egg.

Yet Shen Yan hadn't even shown his face personally.

He had merely sat in a teahouse, had a cup of tea, and said a few words.

And now a commercial empire worth hundreds of billions was tottering.

On the television, an emergency press conference was being broadcast.

Wang Zhenting, the CEO of the Jiangnan Group, the man who personally orchestrated the acquisition all those years ago, was now standing under the spotlight, his face ashen.

“The relevant reports are pure fabrication, malicious slander from a competitor!”

“We have already initiated legal proceedings and will pursue the rumor-mongers to the end!”

His voice was loud, but it could not hide the weakness and panic in his words.

Zhang Jufeng looked at the familiar face on the screen, the face that once filled him with bone-deep hatred.

He suddenly recalled what Shen Yan had said when refilling his cup of hot tea in the teahouse.

“Public opinion will force them to react.”

“They will first deny it, then become angry, and finally, they will find a scapegoat to quell the public’s fury.”

“That Deputy Manager Zhao Guang—his good days are over.”

All of this was happening now.

Exactly as written in the script.

Zhang Jufeng turned off the television.

He slumped into his chair, his whole body soaked in cold sweat.

He thought he had only lit the fuse.

Only now did he realize that what Shen Yan had placed in his hands was not a fuse at all.

It was a nuclear button capable of destroying everything.

And he was just the person responsible for pressing it.

He looked out the window.

The city's night view was still prosperous.

Traffic flowed, lights shone brilliantly.

That was a world unrelated to him.

Until a few minutes ago, when he personally turned a corner of that world upside down.

He held his phone, his fingertips icy.

He had saved that number in his contacts with just one character: Shen.

It was like a mountain pressing down on his heart.

He remained silent for a long time.

So long that the neon lights outside seemed to change color several times.

He finally pressed the dialing key.

The monotonous 'beep... beep...' sound from the receiver felt like a hammer striking his heart with every ring.

The call was connected.

There were no polite greetings.

Only one word.

“Yes.”

It was Shen Yan’s voice, calm, betraying no emotion, as if the storm that had just swept through the entire heavy industry sector had nothing to do with him.

Zhang Jufeng’s throat felt dry.

He opened his mouth and finally managed a hoarse sound.

“CEO Shen, it’s me.”

“It’s done.”

There was a second of silence on the other end.

Then came Shen Yan’s signature, brief reply.

“Mm.”

Just one word.

As if to say, I know.

As if to say, this was entirely within my expectations.