574: Chapter 569 Afraid he'd run away?

The 'Sand Lizard' kicked up sand under the moonlight.

It sped across the empty sea of sand.

The atmosphere inside the vehicle was completely different from when they arrived.

Kade's hands gripping the steering wheel no longer trembled; they were exceptionally steady.

He occasionally glanced at Shen Yan in the rearview mirror, his eyes a mixture of awe and a touch of fanaticism.

Batu remained in the back seat, like a silent statue.

But the scimitar in his arms seemed to be held even tighter.

That wasn't vigilance; it was self-examination.

He was scrutinizing everything he had perceived as power in the past.

On the horizon, a faint light appeared.

That light grew closer, eventually forming a line.

Kade slowed the vehicle down.

"Mr. Shen, it's the Tribe's people."

Shen Yan opened his eyes and looked out the window.

At the entrance of the Tribe, torches formed a continuous line.

Almost everyone was standing there, craning their necks, looking in the direction they had come from.

The old, the women, the children, and the warriors holding weapons.

The night wind was cold, making the animal hide robes on their bodies flap loudly.

There was no expression on Shen Yan's face.

The 'Sand Lizard' slowly came to a stop.

The heavy truck following behind it also let out a heavy braking sound.

The car door opened.

Shen Yan stepped out.

All eyes instantly focused on him.

Elder Wu He leaned on his bone staff and walked out from the crowd.

Behind him followed Ge Shan, whose expression was complicated, and the Priest Sang Mu.

"You have returned."

Wu He's voice carried an imperceptible hoarseness.

Shen Yan nodded.

"Mhm."

He didn't ask why they weren't asleep so late, or why they were all standing there.

He knew the answer.

They were afraid he would run away.

Afraid he would leak the secret of the 'Divine Stone' to outsiders.

Afraid he was a fraud who would disappear into the vast sea of sand after taking the precious raw stone samples.

Wu He's gaze swept past Shen Yan, landing on the enormous truck.

The mountain of supply crates piled on the truck reflected the cold, hard sheen of metal and plastic under the firelight.

Those uniform boxes were printed with symbols the Tribe members couldn't understand.

But they could understand the meaning they represented.

That was order, that was power, a world they had never encountered.

"These are..." Wu He's Adam's apple bobbed.

"A deposit."

Shen Yan only said two words.

He turned to Kade.

"Unload the cargo."

Kade immediately jumped out of the car and called over several strong young men from the Tribe to start moving the supplies down.

The first box was pried open.

Inside were neatly stacked high-compression nutrient agents, their silver packaging shimmering in the firelight.

The second box was opened.

It was a field medical kit, white background, a red cross, conspicuous and sacred.

The people let out suppressed gasps of surprise.

They looked at the supplies as if they were witnessing a miracle descending from the heavens.

Shen Yan didn't look at the people anymore.

He walked straight toward his stone house.

Batu followed him silently, like the most loyal guard.

The crowd automatically parted a path for him.

No one dared to look directly into his eyes.

Tonight, what he brought back was not just a truckload of supplies.

He had also brought back an impact called 'reality'.

This impact was more powerful than any language.

Back in the stone house, Shen Yan closed the door.

Batu stood guard outside like a door god.

Inside the room, there was only a dim oil lamp.

Shen Yan sat on the animal hide mat, eyes closed, resting.

In his mind, he was rapidly calculating every step ahead.

Just then, his wrist-mounted micro-terminal sent out a barely perceptible vibration.

It wasn't a notification sound, just a pulse at a specific frequency.

It was a request for encrypted communication.

Shen Yan opened his eyes and connected the communication.

A multi-layered encrypted holographic projection appeared before him.

In the projection was a middle-aged man in a suit, but he was dripping with sweat.

It was Wang Haidong.

"Mr. Shen... President Shen..."

Wang Haidong's voice was slightly distorted with nervousness.

"I've made up my mind, I'll risk it all this time. But... are you really going to do this?"

"Our capital chain is about to hit its limit."

Shen Yan's expression didn't change in the slightest.

"What's the panic?"

His voice was flat, yet it was like a basin of ice water poured over Wang Haidong's head.

"Li Ze is digging his own grave by throwing money around."

"But... what if..."

"There is no 'what if'."

Shen Yan interrupted him.

"Now, listen to my instructions."

Wang Haidong immediately picked up a pen, like a primary school student, ready to take notes.

"At exactly 3:00 AM North America time zone, have Fund Pool Number One sell off all short contracts for 'Skydome Technology' at ninety-five percent of the market price."

Wang Haidong's hand trembled.

"Sell... sell? President Shen, the positions we painstakingly established, selling them now will result in a loss of over thirty points!"

"Execute."

Shen Yan's tone held no emotion.

"Yes..."

"After the sell-off is complete, use all the funds, plus triple leverage, to go long on 'deep blue Energy'."

Wang Haidong's eyes widened.

"deep blue Energy? Isn't that Li Ze's core asset? We're going long on it?"

"Problem?"

"No... no..."

Wang Haidong dared not ask further.

"Remember, the time to establish the position cannot exceed five minutes."

"Five minutes later, regardless of the price, have Fund Pool Number Two detonate the 'information bomb' I had you plant earlier."

"And after the detonation?"

"Sleep."

Shen Yan finished speaking and directly cut off the communication.

The holographic projection vanished.

The stone house returned to dimness and silence.

A cold smile curled at the corner of Shen Yan's mouth.

Li Ze.

Did you think war only happened on the battlefield you could see?

The impenetrable fortress you built in the open was nothing more than a sandcastle in my eyes.

The real hunt is always completed quietly in unseen places.

The next day, the sun had just risen above the horizon.

The people of the Sand Viper Tribe were still savoring the shock of the previous night.

They gathered around the supplies, touching and discussing them with curiosity.

Just then, a low, thunderous roar came from the edge of the sky.

Everyone subconsciously looked up.

The sky.

Three massive dark shapes were slowly descending from the clouds.

Those weren't birds.

They were colossal steel constructs, infinitely larger than the legendary giant eagles, something they had never seen before.

"What... what is that?"

A child, frightened, hid in his mother's arms.

The warriors nervously gripped their weapons.

Ge Shan's face was deathly pale.

Priest Sang Mu's lips trembled as he muttered to himself.

"A... a miracle..."

Only Wu He stared intently at the three behemoths.

He remembered what Shen Yan had said yesterday.

"The things I promised you won't grow out of the sand."

He hadn't lied.

Those three massive steel constructs were 'Kun Peng' class heavy transport aircraft.