66: Chapter 66: After hanging up the phone, he also blocked the Chen family.
"Red Queen."
Chen Yuan gave a faint command to the air.
"Yes, boss."
Alice's cool, detached voice emanated from the room's sound system.
At this moment, she was not just Chen Yuan's personal bodyguard, but also the physical "terminal" for the Red Queen AI.
"Take that number from just now, along with all contact information related to the 'Jinghai Chen Family,' and add them all to the blacklist."
Chen Yuan's voice held no ripples, as if he were ordering something trivial. "I don't want to hear any more noise from that place."
"Command executed."
The Red Queen's efficiency was astonishing. "The global communication network's firewall protocols have been updated. Any IP addresses, phone numbers, or even encrypted communication channels related to the Chen Group will be automatically intercepted and flagged as 'spam'."
"Very good."
Chen Yuan nodded with satisfaction.
He walked to the massive floor-to-ceiling window, looking out at the endless rain and the vast Scottish Highlands.
Mist swirled, shrouding the distant mountains and lakes in a hazy veil, like a splash-ink landscape painting.
It was quiet here.
Quiet enough to hear his own heartbeat.
This feeling formed a sharp contrast with the courtyard house filled with rules, oppression, and hypocrisy from his memories.
"Also, help me look into something."
Chen Yuan's voice was very soft, as if he were talking to himself. "Why did those old fogies suddenly remember me? Logically, they should be wishing I died out here."
"Searching..."
The Red Queen's voice sounded again.
Immediately after, a massive holographic projection unfolded before Chen Yuan, replacing the rainy view outside the window.
It was a massive, tree-like diagram of commercial relationships.
At the very top was the logo for the "Chen Group," with countless subsidiary and holding company names extending below it, covering various fields like real estate, finance, pharmaceuticals, and energy.
Once upon a time, this business empire seemed so unreachable and awe-inspiring in his eyes.
But looking at it now...
"Tsk tsk, strong on the outside but weak on the inside."
Chen Yuan looked at the sectors flashing with red warning lights and couldn't help but shake his head.
"According to public financial reports and analysis of non-public capital flows."
Alice walked to Chen Yuan's side and began to explain, "Over the past six months, because of misaligned allegiances in several key overseas energy projects, the Chen Group's relationships with several established European consortia have fractured, and their main sources of funding have been cut off."
"At the same time, political enemies domestically have taken the opportunity to attack. Their real estate projects have been halted, several core products of their pharmaceutical company have been found to have issues, and the stock price has plummeted by over 70%."
On the screen, the candlestick chart representing the Chen Group's stock price looked like an avalanche, plummeting straight down.
"Currently, the group's debt-to-asset ratio is as high as 200%, and the capital chain is on the verge of breaking."
"Multiple banks have already issued ultimatums. If they cannot raise at least 10 billion USD in emergency funds within a week..."
Alice paused, then delivered the final verdict: "They will face bankruptcy liquidation."
Chen Yuan listened quietly.
There was no expression of schadenfreude on his face, only a calm that came from expectation.
This was the so-called "centuries-old family."
It looked infinitely glorious on the surface, but in reality, its foundation had long been hollowed out by the times and internal decay. It would only take a slightly stronger gust of wind for it to come crashing down.
"So, they are treating me as their straw to clutch at?"
Chen Yuan couldn't help but laugh, his laughter filled with endless mockery.
"They want me to take the money I earned abroad and go back to fill their holes?"
"They want me to use the technology in my hands to save their outdated industries?"
He remembered the high-and-mighty look on Chen Tianba's face when he was kicked out of the house.
He remembered his cowardly father, whose eyes would dart away, not daring to even glance at him.
He remembered the mean stepmother, and the contemptuous look she gave him when she tossed him a check, like she was handing out charity.
"Back then, you ignored me."
Chen Yuan picked up the black tea on the table and looked at his reflection in the cup. In those pitch-black eyes, cold flames flickered.
"Now, I am someone you cannot reach."
This was the most classic trope in a satisfying web novel.
Although it was cliché, when it happened to oneself, it was damn satisfying.
"Boss, do you need me to short their stock?"
Alice asked, "As long as we use our leveraged funds on Wall Street, I can make them completely disappear from the exchange within 24 hours."
"No rush."
Chen Yuan shook his head, toying with the teacup in his hand.
In a game of cat and mouse, if the mouse dies too quickly, it's no fun.
He preferred watching the prey struggle in despair, slowly being consumed by fear.
"Let them jump around for a few more days."
Chen Yuan's voice was soft, but it carried a chilling cruelty. "I want that old thing called Chen Tianba to watch with his own eyes how the family he prides himself on falls apart, bit by bit, in front of me."
"I want him to kneel, beg, and offer the position of Chen Family head on a silver platter."
"Then, right in front of him, I will crush that position... into pieces."
Just then.
On the holographic screen, a previously inconspicuous folder was suddenly marked by the Red Queen with a red highlight box.
"Boss, while searching the internal data of the Chen Family, I discovered a special file that had been triple-encrypted."
For the first time, there was a hint of confusion in Alice's voice.
"What kind of file?"
"A medical record. Belonging to your... stepmother, Zhao Ya."
Chen Yuan raised an eyebrow slightly.
That mean woman, what secrets could she have? It was nothing more than going to South Korea for a few facelifts, or keeping a few gigolos on the side.
"Open it."
"Decrypting... first layer of the password... second layer... third layer... decryption successful."
The file opened.
There were no plastic surgery records, nor any evidence of an affair.
There were only detailed blood test reports and a purchase list for an extremely rare genetic drug.
"【Immunosuppressant (GR-3 Type)】?"
Chen Yuan looked at the unfamiliar drug name and frowned. "What is this used for?"
"Used to suppress rejection after organ transplantation."
Alice quickly provided the answer. "But the strange thing is, Zhao Ya has not undergone any organ transplant surgery. Her body is very healthy."
"However..."
Alice's voice paused, as if she had discovered something even more shocking.
"In her genetic sequence, we discovered a segment of... 'foreign' DNA that does not belong to her."
"What does that mean?"
"It means that she might not be 'her'."
The Red Queen pulled up another file.
It was a report on a cross-border missing person from twenty years ago.
In the photo was a Japanese girl with a bright smile, wearing her hair in a short bob, looking pure and lovely.
And next to this photo of the young girl was the wedding photo from when Zhao Ya married into the Chen Family.
Two faces.
The features, the contours, even the curve of the upturned corners of the mouth...
Were exactly the same.
"Boss."
Alice's voice became solemn. "This missing Japanese girl is named 'Fujiwara Masako'."
"Her father was Japan's top genetic biologist twenty years ago, Fujiwara Shin."
"And not long after his daughter went missing, this scientist also died... mysteriously in an 'accidental' car crash."
Chen Yuan looked at the two nearly identical faces, and a bold and crazy idea slowly emerged in his mind.
Swapping the fake for the real.
The dove occupying the magpie's nest.
"It seems that being kicked out of the house wasn't just as simple as being an illegitimate child."
A cold murderous intent flashed in Chen Yuan's eyes.
"The water here is even deeper than I imagined."
He picked up the satellite phone on the table and dialed a number.
"Natasha."
"Get ready."
"Your first mission has arrived."
"Send your most capable subordinate, take the 'little toy' I gave you, and make a trip back to East Asia."
Chen Yuan looked at the hypocritical smiling face of Zhao Ya in the photo, the curve of his mouth becoming immensely grim:
"Go home... and take a look for me."