25: Chapter 25 The Undercurrents Under the Dragon's Gaze, and the Last Struggle of the Four Great Families

Dragon Country, Kyoto.

This was a secret base hidden deep in the mountains, without a sign, a blank space on the map. Only the occasional hq-17 sedan and armed guards signaled its extraordinary nature.

Inside the underground command center, a huge circular screen occupied the entire wall. It displayed high-precision, real-time satellite imagery of the Kokang region in Northern Myanmar. Although it had been denoised, the ruins still emitting black smoke and the shocking scorched earth at the bottom of Gunlong Gorge still made the bigwigs with stars on their shoulders furrow their brows.

The conference room was filled with smoke, the atmosphere so heavy it felt like it could drip water.

"Gentlemen," Zhao Gang stood at the reporting podium, his laser pointer tapping on the red circles on the screen, his voice steady. "That is the situation. The contact codenamed 'Wang Wu' is like a heartless repeater, spitting out highly strategic information only at specific moments. And based on our comprehensive analysis of border radar, drones, and ground intelligence networks, we have only one conclusion —"

Zhao Gang took a deep breath, his tone deepening: " 'The Sovereign' was not bragging. Forty-eight hours ago, he did indeed annihilate an elite regiment under Yang Maoliang using tactical means that we cannot fully analyze. The combat loss ratio... is exaggerated to near zero."

"Zero combat losses? Wiping out a reinforced regiment of a thousand men?" An old general wearing glasses took them off and rubbed his brow. "Zhao Gang, are you sure the intelligence is correct? Even if our special operations brigade went up there, in that kind of terrain, they wouldn't dare say they could achieve this level."

"Sir, this is the most bizarre part." Zhao Gang pulled up a blurry satellite photo; it was Gunlong Gorge after the battle. "Everyone look, Yang Maoliang's troops were covered instantly while almost in a marching state. The craters are distributed extremely evenly, the firepower density is shockingly high, and... no traces of heavy artillery traction were found at the scene. The opponent's heavy firepower seemed to have fallen from the sky and disappeared right after the strike."

"And this 'Sovereign' himself," another intelligence chief interjected, "No record of him. It's like he popped out of a crack in a rock. But his style of action... ruthless, decisive, and extremely hostile toward telecom fraud groups. He not only killed Scarface but also publicly executed all the core backbone members of that park, with such cruelty that many small warlords in the area were scared out of their wits."

The conference room fell into a brief silence.

"Regardless of who he is, or where his equipment came from." The old man sitting in the main seat finally spoke. His voice was not loud, but it had the power of a stabilizing force. "The enemy of an enemy is a friend. At least at this stage, he is doing dirty work for us. We have been eyeing Feifan Park for a long time, but we haven't been able to act because of too many concerns. Now that he has pulled this nail for us and sent back more than three thousand compatriots, this is what you call — a 'letter of allegiance'."

The old man looked around, his gaze piercing: "Pass on my order: First, maintain contact with 'Wang Wu', do not try to force control to avoid backlash; Second, increase surveillance on the border, I want to know what his next step is; Third... if he really is like he said, and wants to continue clearing out other parks, then we can give him a 'green light' when necessary. For example, the circulation of certain supplies, or the 'inadvertent' leakage of certain intelligence."

"Yes!"

Meanwhile, in Kokang, Northern Myanmar, the Yang Family's old mansion.

This was once the center of power in Kokang, filled with lights and guests every night. But tonight, this mansion was like a sinking Titanic, permeated with an atmosphere of despair and madness.

Yang Maoliang, this local emperor who had held sway in Kokang for decades, was currently slumped in a grandmaster chair, the two walnut trinkets in his hand already crushed into powder by him.

"Gone... all gone..." he muttered to himself, his eyes hollow. "The second brother's regiment was my family's foundation that I had saved for five years! That was the root of our Yang Family's standing! Just like that... gone without even hearing a sound?"

Sitting opposite him were representatives of the other three of the Four Great Families.

Bai Yingneng, the eldest son of the Bai family, had lost his usual scholarly demeanor, his face as gloomy as a stone at the bottom of a river. Liu Family's Liu Zhengqi was even worse; the cigar held in his hand was shaking. As for the representative of the Wei Family, that usually most arrogant Wei Chaoren, was currently wiping cold sweat from his forehead incessantly.

"Old Yang, now is not the time to feel sorry for the soldiers!" Bai Yingneng slammed the table, his voice sharp. "Don't you see it yet? That Zhang Cheng is not here to grab territory; he is here to take our lives! Feifan Park was just the beginning, and Gunlong Gorge was just a warning! His target is all the assets of our Four Great Families! It's the entirety of Kokang!"

"He dares!" Yang Maoliang jumped up like a cat with its tail stepped on. "Kokang was conquered by us! Who is he, an outsider, to do this?!"

"Because he has cannons in his hands! Because of those hundreds of soldiers who are like ghosts!" Liu Zhengqi roared. "Old Yang, don't you know how your regiments were lost? Our private armies combined only amount to a few thousand people, and they are usually only good for bullying commoners. If we really go up against that kind of god of slaughter... I think it's hopeless!"

"Then what do we do? Do we just stretch out our necks and wait for him to chop?" Wei Chaoren said with a crying tone. "If all the 'piglets' in the parks of my family are released by him, what are we going to drink, the northwest wind?"

The secret room fell into dead silence again. Profit was their only bond. Now, this bond was about to be severed by a sharp knife.

"We cannot sit and wait for death." Bai Yingneng took a deep breath, a cold light like a viper flashing in his eyes. "Fighting alone, none of us are his match. We must unite! Bring out all our family assets! Guns, cannons, men, concentrate them all!"

"Also," Bai Yingneng lowered his voice and pointed to the ceiling, "Relying on ourselves is not enough. We need to find help. We need to find that big guy."

"You mean... Naypyidaw?" Yang Maoliang was stunned for a moment. "Find the military government? Isn't that inviting a wolf into the house?"

"If the wolf comes in, at most it bites off a few pieces of our meat. If Zhang Cheng comes in, he will swallow us skin and bone!" Bai Yingneng gritted his teeth. "Send someone to Naypyidaw immediately! Bring the gold bars and dollars we've saved all these years! Tell General Min Aung Hlaing that special forces from the Dragon Country have disguised themselves as local armed forces and invaded! Intending to split Myanmar! Request support from the government army!"

"With this big hat put on him, I don't believe Zhang Cheng can withstand it!"

"Yes! Do it!"

"Fight him to the death!"

A pack of wolves driven to a dead end bared their fangs in the dark corner, starting to weave a huge net against Zhang Cheng.

However, what they didn't know was that on the ceiling beam above their heads, a mechanical insect the size of a rice grain was quietly clinging there, transmitting every word they said, and even every expression, in real-time to a screen a few kilometers away.

Old K watched the warlords making fools of themselves on the screen, the corners of his mouth curling into a cold arc.

"Sovereign, they are desperate."