82: Chapter 82 Wrath in the Shadows: If You Can't Kill It, Destroy It

Inside the conference room deep within the ancient castle, the air was as heavy as if it had been filled with lead, stifling enough to make one gasp for breath.

On the massive holographic screen, there were no longer K-line charts representing power and wealth, but several shockingly high-definition photos—the corpses of the Hellfire squad, laid out neatly like cured meat and "exhibited" on Pangkham Square.

Especially that close-up: the face of their captain, Tombstone, eyes wide open in death and still wearing an expression of terror, with his retired U.S. military ID and a wooden plaque inscribed in Chinese with "Those who offend us will be punished, no matter how far away they are" placed beside him.

This wasn't just murder; this was a psychological strike! It was ripping off the face of Council of Elders and throwing it on the ground to be trampled mercilessly!

The Chairman, sitting at the end of the long table, was entirely shrouded in deep shadow. Only the obsidian ring on his finger, symbolizing supreme power, tapped rhythmically against the tabletop, emitting a "tap, tap, tap" sound. Each strike seemed to beat against the hearts of the elders present, making them unable to stop themselves from trembling.

"Hellfire has been completely wiped out. All members killed in action. Time taken... less than five minutes."

The elder in charge of intelligence spoke in a dry voice, as if he had swallowed a handful of sand, cold sweat dripping down his wrinkles from his forehead. "According to data fed back from the scene, that Zhang Cheng's security system has displayed an extraordinary level of technology. That kind of active defense system, along with his individual combat capabilities... our assessment was a grave error. He is by no means a common warlord; behind him, there may be a complete and highly advanced military-industrial complex supporting him! It may even... exceed that of some current major powers!"

"Enough!"

The Chairman waved his hand violently, his movement as irritable as an enraged lion, and the holographic projection instantly shattered into countless points of light.

"I don't want to hear these excuses! What technical level? What complex? He is just an upstart hiding in the mountain ravines of Northern Myanmar! A bug that got lucky and picked up some high-tech scrap!"

The Chairman's voice no longer maintained its aloof coldness, instead carrying a trace of flustered fury. Since taking control of Council of Elders, in all these decades, he had never fallen in the same place twice, nor had he ever been humiliated like this!

"The Four Great Families are gone, 'Blood Moon' is gone, and now even Hellfire is gone. Our layout in Southeast Asia is being sliced away by him like sausage, chewed up, and swallowed! If we don't stop him, this bug will turn into a man-eating monster! By then, the entire Golden Triangle, and even the entire Indochinese Peninsula, will slip out of our control and become the backyard of the Dragon Kingdom! Do you understand what this means? It means our 'Asian Strategy' will completely collapse!"

He stood up abruptly and paced back and forth in the conference room, his leather shoes making dull sounds on the expensive carpet, as if he were trampling on someone's bones.

"Since the path of armed assassination won't work, we'll change our approach." The Chairman suddenly stopped and turned around, his eyes flashing with a venomous, cold, and damp light like a viper. "If we can't kill his body, then we will destroy his heart. Destroy the 'Order' he is so proud of, destroy the 'popular support' he has worked so hard to build, and turn him into a rat crossing the street that everyone wants to beat!"

"Mr. Chairman, what do you mean..."

"Fear." The Chairman slowly spat out the word, a cruel arc curling at the corner of his mouth. "The most primitive and powerful instinct of humanity is fear. When death is ubiquitous, when every breath of air is filled with toxins, no one will believe that the so-called 'Dominator' can protect them. They will bite him and curse him like mad dogs."

He pressed the communicator in front of him, his voice becoming incomparably frigid, as if coming from the Nine Nether Hells:

"Contact Bao Youxiang in the south. Tell that idiot this is his last chance. Initiate the 'Equinox Flower' project."

When the words "Equinox Flower" were uttered, the elders present couldn't help but shiver, their faces turning pale instantly.

It was a new type of nano-scale biological toxin developed by a biochemical facility under Council of Elders known as the "Devil's Laboratory." Colorless and odorless, it could spread through air and water sources, with an incubation period of up to 24 hours. Once it broke out, the infected would suffer from total organ failure, skin rot, and an extremely miserable death, and it was highly contagious, with basically no cure. This was originally the ultimate means used to cleanse certain out-of-control small countries and carry out genocide when necessary.

"Chairman... once this thing is used, the entire Pangkham city, and even the surrounding areas, could see tens of thousands, or even over a hundred thousand deaths... Internationally..." An elder swallowed hard and spoke hesitantly, "This is a crime against humanity..."

"Crime against humanity?" The Chairman sneered, his eyes full of disdain. "History is written by the victors. As long as we leave no evidence, who can prove it was us? We'll just say an epidemic broke out locally, or that Zhang Cheng's own biochemical experiments leaked. We will mold him into a demon against humanity, and let everyone want to kill him! By then, to avoid suspicion, the Dragon Kingdom won't dare to protect him anymore!"

"This is war. In war, there are no innocents, only victors and corpses."

The Chairman sat back in his chair and waved his hand, as if shooing away a fly: "Go do it. Notify that latent pawn, Huamei, and have her take action. Tell her that as long as she gets this done, I will grant her freedom and give her a sum of money she couldn't spend in several lifetimes."

"If she doesn't... hmph, have her think about her younger sister studying abroad in Europe. That little girl is quite cute, and I don't want her to have any 'accidents'."

An order carrying the scent of blood and the aura of destruction was issued from this isolated island, traveling through undersea fiber optic cables and flying towards the distant East.